The lower half of this page is for my own reference, and I've been converting the top into playlists rather than a ranking. Scroll to the bottom for my top 20 in chronological order. Also check out my Favorite Albums plus Hawkwind, my girlfriend's top 100, and my unhinged Big Blood page, Ecstasy and Doom.
The Light Behind The World
Now 100% weird!
Big Blood - Haystack (2007)
The Garbage and the Flowers - Carousel (1992)
Exuma - Baal (1970)
Witches of the Pinspecked Void Soundtrack
Read it
here.
Hawkwind - Infinity (1979)
The Creatures - Pluto Drive (1989)
Big Blood - Sequins (2007)
Orphans & Vandals - Incognito (2009)
Camper Van Beethoven - Surprise Truck (1986)
Windhand - Orchard (2013)
The "song from space" was inspired by another song, but this is way more accessible.
My favorite lyrics.
Space Elf Convergence
Cocteau Twins - Pandora (1984)
Joanna Newsom - En Gallop (2004)
This is the twee Stairway to Heaven.
Best of the 2010's
Excluding Big Blood, and in chronological order for now.
Red Fang - Wires (2011)
Great video!
Diane Coffee - Green (2013)
Esben and the Witch - No Dog (live 2014)
Play it loud.
Your Friend - Bangs (2014)
Her most distinctive song, but
Tame One is also great, and the band Living Hour has a similar sound.
Benjamin Clementine - Cornerstone (2015)
Heimat - Pompei (2016)
Les Filles de Illighadad - Eghass Malan (2017)
Now I'm looking for more African music that's this psychedelic.
Suicide Playlist
Leigh Ann helped me put this together for the blog and I archived it here. My favorite argument against suicide is that certain moments are worth staying for. From a 2016
reddit thread:
"A sunny spring day, and the rain clouds were moving in. I went past a daycare where a little girl was dancing around, away from all the kids, by herself. You just never know, I thought to myself. What if I had killed myself, all that long time ago."
Nothing here about dying, but it's very sad, and it leads into the next song, by a band that sounds a lot like Big Star's third album.
Benjamin Clementine - Cornerstone (2015)
Again, the lyrics don't mention a suicide, but I like that interpretation.
That edge in her voice is so unsettling.
The band has said that the lyrics are a suicide note from a mother to her son.
The best known version is not on YouTube, but this is pretty close.
This is so similar to Ballad of Hollis Brown that it's almost a cover, and a really good one.
Clearly about a suicide, but I can't imagine the Decemberists ever being that unhappy.
About the poet John Berryman, incorporating the traditional song Sloop John B, made famous by the Beach Boys.
I love that weird crescendo.
Band of Horses - The Funeral (2006)
About living on the edge of death as a heroin addict.
Orphans & Vandals - Terra Firma (2009)
A long and challenging song that I didn't appreciate until listening several times.
This must be the saddest song possible, because it also has so much beauty.
Unlisted Top Tier
Orphans & Vandals - Argyle Square (2009)
A beautiful, beautiful song that I just haven't been able to fit into a playlist.
This makes ordinary music sound like it was recorded with a cat sitting on the microphone. Every sonic texture is sharp-edged and beautiful, the mix is airtight, and the high keyboard and electric guitar, at 2:30 and again at 4:00, are brighter than the sun.
Neil Diamond - Holly Holy (1969)
It's not about a chick named Holly -- it's about the plant, and the earth, a perfect crescendo about the unity of nature and the divine.
Normally I don't even like emo, but you never know where lightning will strike. Bear the weight of yourselves lightly and keep your eyes on the road. (Thanks Troy.)
Another 1996 song that blows away its mediocre genre, in this case heartland rock. (Thanks Patricia.)
This unearthly masterpiece has Clarke's best lyrics and best backing music.
Corndolly - Come Out (1992?)
Blue Oyster Cult - Astronomy (live 1978)
Camper Van Beethoven - June (1989)
This song was a big influence on my musical taste. After lyrics like 19th century poetry, it explodes in a whacked out violin solo by Don Lax.
unknown - Misirlu (1927?)
OOIOO - Ina (1999)
The Kinks - Strangers (1970)
By Dave Davies. Ray is the brains of the Kinks but Dave is the heart.
Whistle as the wind blows to the
lee.
In the blend of sounds, this is like practice for their greatest song, Belong.
"September's coming soon, I'm pining for the moon, and what if there were two, side by side in orbit around the fairest sun?"
This has even happier music and sadder lyrics than "Tom Dooley". The narrator is unreliable: his hometown is the depressing place and it's his life that's being wasted.
Orphans & Vandals - Metropes (2009)
This is like an old Kinks song that cynically mocks the elite, but it's darker and stronger. The bit from 3:30-3:42 should last five minutes.
This makes Bohemian Rhapsody sound like children's music.
Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar (Sleepwalkers) (1999)
My favorite foreign language song, except for
this.
This is like the definition of psychedelic folk, unless it's
Secret Garden.
"How strange it is to be anything at all." This made me cry the first time I heard it, and for years it was my number one, but The Rise of Quinnisa Rose squashes it like a bug.
Neutral Milk Hotel - Little Birds (1998)
This "not finished" informal live version is probably the best thing Jeff Mangum ever recorded.
Basically an upgrade of the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset: sadder, deeper, and more raw. The bit starting at 1:25 is like nothing before and not much since.
Big Star - Kangaroo (1975)
I can't think of any other band that got this weird this fast while still being great.
To my knowledge, the only song with this stunning symmetrical structure: first verse, different verse, chorus, solo, chorus, different verse, first verse.
Harriet Wheeler was the hottest woman who ever recorded a great song. "The only thing I ever really wanted to say, was wrong, was wrong, was wrong."
Dean Wareham sings like Adam Sandler but in this song it somehow makes an epic guitar crescendo even better.
Instrumentals and Jams
Yo La Tengo - Spec Bebop (1997)
Is it pronounced Space Bebop? If you think it's boring, try it on marijuana.
Nisennenmondai - Mirrorball (2008)
Like Spec Bebop this is inspired by krautrock, but takes it in a different direction, toward space jazz. The complexity is mind-boggling.
Moondog - Torisa (1995)
I've never been into classical music, but I absolutely love this track because it has a hypnotic rhythm and gets gradually more epic. This and the one below are from the Rare Material double CD, the first half of which was a 1995 album called Big Band.
Ten minutes of primal space rock with a barrage of low horns playing the same two notes over and over. These remind me of two Hawkwind songs -- Invocation is like Space Is Deep and Torisa is like Wind of Change.
Rachel Flowers - Piano Phase (2011)
The best performance of the most hypnotic composition ever.
With inspired sonic layering and Nik Turner jamming on oboe, this is what the climax of Space Oddity might sound like stretched out to four minutes.
No other instrumental is this pretty and this raw.
The Velvet Underground - What Goes On (1969 live)
The first part with vocals is nothing special, but the jam for the last six minutes is unprecedented and all-important in the history of my favorite music.
Sort of a cover of What Goes On.
I love Bob Dylan's voice, and somehow he also did one of my favorite instrumentals. From the soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
My favorite post-rock band is almost post-human. If you put all music on a primitive-civilized spectrum, coyote packs are at one end and the other end is Mono.
The Voyager space probes recorded electromagnetic signals from around the solar system, and back on Earth these were converted into sound. Collages of these sounds were released as NASA Voyager Space Sounds, separated into ten 30 minute tracks from different places, and also as Symphonies of the Planets, with different planets blended into five 30 minute CD's. All the prettiest and spookiest stuff, mostly from the rings of Uranus, is on CD 1.
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Gathering Storm (2000)
GYBE took the slow buildup to a whole new level. My other favorites include East Hastings and Moya.
Sting's songwriting was a trick to get people to listen to the genius of Summers and Copeland, which was never better than this.
One of the deepest roots of my favorite newer jam music.
Too Many Zooz - Dima (2014)
Have you ever seen a band complain that the audience wasn't giving them enough attention? The Beatles didn't do it so nobody should. Too Many Zooz started out in NYC subways trying to earn the attention of distracted listeners, and their music never wastes a second.
Moon Hooch - Bari 3 (2014)
Yes - Würm (1970)
The last section of Starship Trooper. It's no Space Is Deep, but it's still the best jam in prog rock.
Covers
Retro Remix Revue - Gerudo Valley (2009)
The best version of my favorite video game track.
Dick Dale - Misirlou (1962)
The 1927 version above is the original or close to it.
Also the guitar solo covers and improves the Our Man Flint movie theme.
Nirvana's famous live version is basically a cover of this, which covers a Leadbelly version of an old folk song called In The Pines.
R.E.M. - Crazy (1987)
Originally by Pylon.
Originally by Yoko Ono.
Loreena McKennitt - Greensleeves (1991)
Improvised in one take, and its rawness makes it sort of her best song.
Big Blood - Vitamin C (2007)
Originally by Can.
It's easier to unlock genius by trying to be bad than trying to be good, and this masterpiece of badness must be what Song For Baltimore sounds like to other people.
Second Tier
A weird brief epic about the eternal feminine, and a taste of the heights they'd reach on their next album.
Their happiest song.
Camper Van Beethoven - Klondike (199?)
And their weirdest song.
Stamey has put different versions on three albums, and the best is the one on Fireworks.
It took me a bunch of listens to hear that their best songs are the ones with both lead singers harmonizing on a repeating chorus.
Continuing in chronological order, this is the "hole in my head" song.
The "long goodbyes" song.
The first half is the scaffolding and the second half is the rocket.
Joanna Newsom - Sadie (2004)
"And all that we built, and all that we breathed, and all that we spilt, or pulled up like weeds, is piled up in back; and it burns irrevocably."
Best breakup song ever. Check out this
interpretation by MisterPuzzles.
I love the verse about the birds.
Bob Dylan - Idiot Wind (1975)
I can never resist singing along with this. YouTube only has the New York version that was correctly cut from the album.
Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna (1966)
Like many of my favorite songs, this is about the tension between the world of spirit (Johanna) and the world of flesh (Louise).
Bob Dylan - Girl From The North Country (1963)
On a good stereo the final harmonica solo is the heaviest thing Bob Dylan has ever played.
Bob Dylan - One More Cup Of Coffee (1976)
After REM's Belong, this is the song I'd play to convince aliens to not exerminate humanity. (If I wanted them to do it, I'd play We Are The World.)
"Sting me, queen me, queen sting dream me, dream queen sting me, sting queen!"
One of my favorite songs to dance to.
Beat Happening - Tiger Trap (1992)
Dire Straits - Skateaway (1980)
Their most magical song.
Their most ambitious and epic song, and one of the best guitar solos ever.
Like Skateaway, this is a beautiful song about the divine feminine. It's not as precise or complex, but the whole sound on Communique has a depth that's not on any of their other albums.
Sultans of Swing has a great guitar solo, but otherwise this leaves it in the dust.
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
You have to go back to "Like a Rolling Stone" for a song that's both this good and this influential. After listening to 90's rock inspired by Nirvana, it's incredible to listen to this and hear how much better it is.
Nirvana - untitled (1993)
Eventually titled "Sappy", it was untitled in its original release (on the No Alternative compilation) and there was no title consistently attached to it from the beginning. Great metaphysical song.
I played this loud and often in the early 90's.
Not a fan of their sound, but these are great lyrics.
Weird song about the ancient conflict between sedentary and nomadic culture.
U2 - Bad (live 1985)
Originally from his tinny-sounding first album, Gary Numan's best written song sounds
much better live in the movie
Urgh! A Music War.
This is like Space Is Deep backwards, with an incredible rising jam in the first half, and pretty good vocals in the second.
Bob Mould's best songs are the saddest, and Grant Hart's best songs are the happiest...
Red House Painters - Katy Song (1993)
I don't like Mark Kozelek's lyrics or voice as much as I used to, but this song is brilliant, and someone should cover it.
Galaxie 500 - Flowers (1988)
This is what reverb was invented for.
Bone Cellar - Dryrot (1994)
Great obscure Seattle band, with one of my favorite guitar solos.
The full-length version totally rocks!
The Flaming Lips edge out Neutral Milk Hotel in the category of best band worst name.
I like the KEXP live version best, and made the video with a camera toss image I found on the internet years ago.
The Velvet Underground - Candy Says (1968)
Their best written song. Sung by Doug Yule.
This song has never been released or even bootlegged -- you can only hear it by watching the movie
Cutter's Way, and only the first verse plays clearly. I bought the dvd just so I could extract it for the video.
The second best song title ever, after Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".
Of all the stuff my parents played when I was a kid, only Gordon Lightfoot has stuck.
The most mature breakup song I've ever heard.
(lyrics)
The superior Gord's Gold version of this song was cut from the CD and to this day has not been offered for sale in digital form. But it has been ripped from vinyl and it's on YouTube now.
I love the structure of this song: a simple 18 note vocal melody repeated 16 times with changing lyrics.
Violent Femmes - Never Tell (1984)
More like a collection of scraps than a song, but every scrap is intense and inspired.
The Beatles - Rain (1966)
My favorite Beatles song and Ringo's best drumming. I write more about the Beatles
here.
Did ZZ Top take their whole sound from this?
Neil Young - Helpless (1970)
Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done (1972)
A perfect song, and I love the unexpected quick ending.
Neil Young - Powderfinger (1979)
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You (1956)
The songwriting is nothing special but the performance is one of the most interesting things in the 20th century. Instead of covering it, other artists should try to play their own compositions with this kind of wild intensity.
The Old 97's - Valentine (1999)
Loudon Wainwright - New Paint (1972)
The best version of Kris Kristofferson's best song.
The best classic punk song.
The second best classic punk song, and my favorite band name.
The third best classic punk song.
Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City (1969)
The original alt-country band.
It's like a post-punk When The Levee Breaks.
I was heavily into Wall of Voodoo in the 80's. Later I found out they took most of their sound from the song "Machines" by Lothar and the Hand People.
Joanna Newsom's "En Gallop" is sort of a cover of this. They have the same theme, the conflict between the world of spirit and the money economy. They use the same uncommon meaning of the word "flesh" for how your body chains you to an unpleasant material world. And the riff near the beginning of "En Gallop" is almost the same riff that starts at 2:09.
The Muffs - Lucky Guy (1993)
I was obsessed with the Muffs in the mid 90's. This is the only song that made me dance the first time I heard it.
Kim Shattuck is the best screamer ever.
From their brilliant second album,
Leave Home.
This would make an awesome country song.
Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop (1976)
I didn't fully appreciate this song until I heard Yo La Tengo's instrumental version.
Donovan - Atlantis (1968)
The first half is an embarrassing spoken word bit, and the second half, a fourteen syllable repeating chorus, is one of the best things ever.
There are heavy bands that have great soft and pretty songs, but how often does a soft band make a great noisy song?
The Shins - New Slang (2001)
Here's another
video showing the album cover references in that video.
This is like the new wave Space Is Deep.
Have A Nice Life - Earthmover (2008)
Again, pretty good song, great jam.
The live version from
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball.
Forgotten political song about how people are tricked into believing in the system that feeds on them.
Antenna - Snakes (1991)
This has everything my favorite songs have except an edge.
Top 20 in chronological order
Neil Diamond - Soolaimon (1970)
Exuma - Baal (1970)
Hawkwind - Infinity (1978)
R.E.M. - Belong (1991)
The Garbage and the Flowers - Carousel (1992)
Joanna Newsom - En Gallop (2004)
Nisennenmondai - Mirrorball (2008)
Orphans & Vandals - Argyle Square (2009)
Orphans & Vandals - Terra Firma (2009)