3:55 p.m. - April 03, 2008
Smed's Top 200 - #121 to #107. Home Made Video R US!
For those of you stumbling in from the cold (wait, it�s not cold anymore!), I am doing my Top 200 songs by number of plays on my iPod as of December 31, 2007.
Yeah, Smed�s Top 200.
Sure, it�s taken a while to do this thing, but I�m a busy man.
When last we left the countdown, we were at #122. So I guess the place to start is #121, eh?
(Note: I�d better get on the stick here lest I finish my countdown in 2009, when it�ll be IRRELEVANT. Oh, wait, it�s less than relevant now. Sigh.)
121. Our Sweet Love � The Beach Boys. What a wonderful, heartfelt song! This illustrates all of the beautiful things about Brian Wilson�s production techniques. The Sunflower album is quite underrated, and should be purchased by any fan of recorded music. Just listen and be moved.
120. Boom Boom � Trio. Yeah, it�s those guys who did �Da Da Da�. Well, I heard that one too, as well as �Anna�, but I saw this clip and was enraptured by the kick ass riff. Hey, did you know they were German? (NO!) Well, of course they were, and in Germany, it�s called Bum Bum. You may not touch his monkey.
119. It�s Just A Thought � Creedence Clearwater Revivial. CCR released three great albums in 1969, and three great albums in 1970. This cut from Pendulum show the depth and progressive thought that John Fogerty moved towards near the end of CCR. And look, someone has excellent taste in music and used it for a home-grown video tribute to someone or other.
118. Jesus Is Just Alright � The Byrds. You know that Doobie Brothers� version? Well, they copped the arrangement from the Byrds, who debuted it in 1969, though the Byrds� version is a bit more countrified. Clarence White plays the hell out of the guitar (well, in an understated yet dignified way � that�s not a steel guitar � it�s his �stringbender�). The vocal bits are the same, though. I don�t know if the person who made this video is all down with the rock and roll, though.
117. Hell If I Could � Prong. One without video goodness. Sorry. Prong was a loud punk / metal trio that first started at breakneck speed, then just decided for a while to kill one with volume, and then moved into a morph of a heavy band with dance beats. This particular version is a remix of one of their better songs into a dance club favorite. Ok, well, not on normal dance clubs. Some dance club, somewhere, where people like to bang anvils on their head. At any rate, it�s loud and kicks butt, and has a great sentiment. �You wanna know something / well, I�d give you hell if I could / I swear you�ve not far to go.�
116. Scratch � Morphine. I am currently finalizing a project where I plowed through everything on my iPod and I discovered that I was selling Morphine short. I always went with the same couple of songs, when they had a lot of great tunes to mix. But still, with a song this tremendous it�s hard to NOT mix it.
115. Slow Dog � Belly. Oh, I had high hopes for Belly, and Tanya Donnelley gave us two pretty good albums. With a song like this you wonder why they missed. BTW, this video has a different intro than what�s on the album. They�re interesting live, too.
114. For No One � The Beatles. It�s hard to believe that a song THIS GOOD was just used as an album cut and never really performed live. Pretty incredible, eh? Paul McCartney seemingly could write a song like this before breakfast each day.
113. I�m Telling You Now � Freddie And The Dreamers. Wow, I guess I did mix this quite a bit a couple of years ago. What choreography!
112. As We Go Up, We Go Down � Guided By Voices. Robert Pollard could write THREE songs like this before breakfast, and he probably did. And released them, which for good or bad is the reason why GBV is a perfect band to cherry pick through their catalog and move many songs to the trashcan. It�s a perfect psychedelic tribute song, ya dig?
111. Happen Happened � The Three O�Clock. Sorry, no video for this, but it�s actually by the Salvation Army, who became the Three O�Clock when some other organization became all sue-y like. The guitarist was named Johnny Blazing, and frankly, he wasn�t, but this is a prefect little punky pop psych tune about Doris Day�s pharmaceutical habits.
110. Subculture � New Order. While I think New Order is great in theory, and on record, I have always wondered why you went to a New Order concert? I mean, because of the sequencing and programming they really can�t change the arrangements or jam or make the songs different, and they�re really about as exciting visually as plaster. But, this is a fantabulous song that makes me feel odd in many weird places.
109. Mr. Brightside � The Killers. Yeah, I was all into this a couple of years ago. While I think it�s still good, I overplayed it myself. In fact, the last play on my iPod was August, 2005. Yowza!
108. Save My Soul � Wimple Witch. The second CD box set volume of Nuggetswas chock full of great tunes like this from across the pond. Wimple Witch had a cult following, but was just one of many groups trying to hit the big time in the 60�s and got lucky and released singles. Though, they didn�t go anywhere, at least they had a chance. And now everyone can hear them and use them for experimental film making!
107. Gaby � The Boots. Another refugee from that Nuggets collection. This is a group of Germans that released a couple of albums and singles in West Germany in the 60�s and soon disappeared. This one has a fantastic swirling guitar pattern and hypnotic beat that�ll make you either reach for the substances or swear off of them.
Hey, I can say that more good stuff will follow. When? Dunno. But someday, we�ll go from 106 into the Top 100. Far out!
