80. "Reflections of Passion" - Yanni
Like
most people in my age group, my first exposure to "Reflections of
Passion", if not Yanni in general, was in the greatest Beavis and
Butthead episode of all time, "Pregnant Pause". Its the one where
Beavis thinks he's pregnant and Butthead convinces him upon viewing this
music video that indeed Yanni is Beavis' dad. Brilliant stuff. But
yes, I am fully under the spell cast by the Yanni's mustache, so much so
that even these days when the stache is no more, he is as awesome as
ever. The Live At the Acropolis version of "Passion", equipped
with that "every great thing begins with a single thought" bit of
smiley-happy philosophy that only a man like Yanni could pull off
straight-faced, is the definitive version. With his orchestra and band
backing him up, Yanni's music really comes alive and this being his very
best composition, the full treatment just sends it over the roof. The
end of this song is one of my favorite things ever. And to truly
appreciate it, if you're not fortunate enough to be watching the man
play it himself, one simply has to picture the Yanni eyes closed and
smiling, soloing away on his synth.
Goddamn this song is gorgeous. The Dixie Chicks have really been the only contemporary country band I've ever listened to. Probably cause Natalie Maines' voice is phenomenal and Martie Maguire is a fucking babe. Well, at least that was initially what made me a fan. But anyway, all four of their Maines-fronted albums are great, but Home is really, REALLY great. And the album's swansong "Top of the World" is even more really, REALLY great. The vocal melody and harmonies on here and especially the last two minutes of the song just leave me in awe. Folk singer-songwriter Patty Griffin wrote said jam for her own ultimately shelved album Silver Bell, a re-do of it eventually showing up on her 2004 Impossible Dream album. Griffin also, wouldn't ya know it, wrote my other favorite Dixie Chicks song "Let Him Fly", which closed their previous album Fly. Both excellent choices in TOPping off an album. Eh, get it? Ah shut up.
78. "Angel of Death" - Slayer
The
greatest metal song of all time? Well certainly a contender and if any
a metalhead out there answered "yes", I would put up no argument
whatsoever, despite what the rest of this list may entail. Along with
"Raining Blood", both off the album almost of the same name, "Angel of
Death" is THE Slayer jam and what glorious jam it is. It's
kind of impossible to have metal in your veins and not immediately start
to go a little, or a lot, fucking crazy as soon as you hear the opening
riff to this mutha fucka. The fact that the lyrics are about the second
most notorious Nazi of all time Josef Mengele is irrelevant. It's
about those RIFFS! Holy mother of Satan could Jeff Hanneman kick out
the jams when he wanted to. Hanneman wrote basically all of Slayer's
most legendary tunes, including this, "Raining", "Seasons In the Abyss",
"South of Heaven", "War Ensemble", "Bitter Peace", (personal favorite
that last one). And of course he's the one that's no longer with us.
No matter I guess. I'm sure Satan has every Slayer album on repeat.
Starland Vocal Band? They suck! Yeah yeah, of this I'm aware. This is the only song on this list of mine by a band that in all honestly I really don't like. Lifehouse falls alongside any number of "aggressive man voice" singing hard pussy rock, (see Creed, Seether, Shinedown, etc). I've even checked out a handful of their songs since and no sir I don't like it. But I will never shy away from admitting to loving a song by a band or artist I otherwise shouldn't, which brings us to "Storm". For whatever reason, I can't specifically remember the first time I heard this song. I really can't put together a scenario in my head where I would've tolerated it being played in my presence to begin with. Thank the gods at least then that my shunning of said band didn't stop my exposure to it. However it happened, "Storm" is a song I always feel like listening to. Moody, sparse, borderline creepy, and floaty balladry.
Jeff Buckley's Grace
has more songs on this list than any album, (three total), and the
man's version of "Lilac Wine" I simply could not exclude. I've listened
to three other takes of the song, all from women actually, and they all
pretty much go the same route. So in that case since it's virtually
the same arrangement with yet another singer, it makes sense that a
being with a voice like Buckley's would naturally make the superior
version. The song was written by Jake Shelton in 1950 and made it's
first appearance in a revue called Dance Me A Song, the revue
itself long since forgotten about. The song on the other hand has
survived good and well and has been covered by everyone from Catwoman
Eartha Kitt all the way to Miley Cyrus. The song is splendid in itself,
very slow and moody, but yeah, it's really just Buckley's incredible
vocal that's killing it here. For my money, the very last line in this
song is the most beautifully sung anything I've ever heard. That part
alone sends chills down my spine each and every time.
79. "Top of the World" - The Dixie Chicks
Goddamn this song is gorgeous. The Dixie Chicks have really been the only contemporary country band I've ever listened to. Probably cause Natalie Maines' voice is phenomenal and Martie Maguire is a fucking babe. Well, at least that was initially what made me a fan. But anyway, all four of their Maines-fronted albums are great, but Home is really, REALLY great. And the album's swansong "Top of the World" is even more really, REALLY great. The vocal melody and harmonies on here and especially the last two minutes of the song just leave me in awe. Folk singer-songwriter Patty Griffin wrote said jam for her own ultimately shelved album Silver Bell, a re-do of it eventually showing up on her 2004 Impossible Dream album. Griffin also, wouldn't ya know it, wrote my other favorite Dixie Chicks song "Let Him Fly", which closed their previous album Fly. Both excellent choices in TOPping off an album. Eh, get it? Ah shut up.
77. "Storm" - Lifehouse
Starland Vocal Band? They suck! Yeah yeah, of this I'm aware. This is the only song on this list of mine by a band that in all honestly I really don't like. Lifehouse falls alongside any number of "aggressive man voice" singing hard pussy rock, (see Creed, Seether, Shinedown, etc). I've even checked out a handful of their songs since and no sir I don't like it. But I will never shy away from admitting to loving a song by a band or artist I otherwise shouldn't, which brings us to "Storm". For whatever reason, I can't specifically remember the first time I heard this song. I really can't put together a scenario in my head where I would've tolerated it being played in my presence to begin with. Thank the gods at least then that my shunning of said band didn't stop my exposure to it. However it happened, "Storm" is a song I always feel like listening to. Moody, sparse, borderline creepy, and floaty balladry.
76. "Lilac Wine" - Jeff Buckley
Loved Coldplay since their excellent debut Parachutes, and the band's second album A Rush of Blood To the Head manged to be even more excellent. From the very first time I played this album I got really excited when track four "The Scientist" started up. "What's all THIS then?" was going through my head. This incredibly simple piano ballad played on an out of tune piano pretty much became an instant favorite song of mine. In itself, this is something that rarely happens, as most songs you love you've either heard since infancy and don't remember hearing for the first time, or they grow on you in some small or huge way. Not with this one. It was my favorite Coldplay song by the time it was over that first time and only "Fix You" has come close since. Textbook example of the perfect ballad.
Every Steely Dan album is either brilliant or at the worst, pretty damn good. The brothas from other muthas Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are easily one of the best songwriting duos of all time and I could listen to their records all fucking day. Aja still stands above all of them though as the quintessential Steely Dan album, just everything about the duo and their creme dela creme grab bag of session musicians at their very best. First off, "Peg" has one of the simplest and best damn drum grooves ever played. The fact that the seemingly "nothing to it" performance by Rick Marotta stands out on an album with a Steve Gadd drum solo and Bernard Purdie's "Purdie shuffle" says something indeed. Session man Jay Graydon's guitar solo is pitch perfect as well. And let us not by any means forget the incalculable Michael McDonald's impossible background vocals.
And enter Steve Perry. If ever there was a singer who joined the ranks of a band and instantaneously made them better, Steve Perry would be that singer and Journey would be that band. Perry's debut was on 1978's Infinity album and the opener "Lights" was most people's introduction to the greatest arena rock vocalist there would ever be. And yes, they hit it out of the park on the first swing. Perry wrote most of "Lights" before joining the band and upon doing so, finished it up with mainman Neal Schon. The result is damn near the best song in their hits-filled catalog, featuring easily the best guitar solo Schon ever played. Of course Perry himself still pretty much owns it. "Lights" always reminded me of a harder rocking "Easy" by the Commodores. Guess it's no surprise that I put both on this list here. Spoilers!
Naturally, Led Zeppelin, probably the most important band ever personally for me, had to show up sooner or later on this list. And sorry to keep being so boring in picking nothing but the mellower tunes from all these bands and artists, but shit, "Battle of Evermore" absolutely had to be here. I love the Tolkien sense of atmosphere this song conveys. It sounds like something Elvish minstrels would be playing in the twilight hours round a campfire. Mmm...nerds. But anyway, Jimmy Page wrote the tune on John Paul Jone's mandolin, Page claiming to have never played the instrument before that moment, and as they often did, he and Robert Plant simply bashed the song out in virtually one sitting. Throwing Sandy Denny into the mix do perform possibly the most impressive vocal duel in rock music also helps.
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