Back from a brief hiatus, our Guest Spots are back. Here we see previous contributor, Brendan with a track that ticked a musical box for him this year....welcome back sir! Have you got a song you just can't keep to yourself? A great concert story or just simply a musical memory you'd like to share? Do it! Click here to submit your Guest Spot now here!
‘Hello Stranger’ by Julia Holter is the one song that made my heart miss a beat this year. It reminded me of the force 12 breath of fresh air that ‘O Superman’ blew through the charts back in 1981.
In the essence of our blog, we asked a few friends and blogs we follow to share with us their top tracks of the year. We are always interested in what makes people musically tick and hear to the stories associated with them, at the same time maybe learn a thing or two or catch something we've missed. So a big thank you to you all for taking the time to contribute.
Here we have Brendan Barry's suggestion for Track of the Year. Brendan was Flycasuals & SFW's English Teacher when they lived in Saudi Arabia. Thank you, Sir!
Top One Track of the Year 2012 As a Doctor you probably already know that 'Nostalgia' is officially recognised by the WHO as a bona fide medical condition, and ever since I started listening to the Allah-Las, it’s been coming over me in waves. It’s a bit like 'Melancholia', except that instead of feeling very bad you feel very good. So don’t bother sending me one of your famous prescriptions. I don’t want the symptoms to end.
We did not want this site to be all about us, we wanted people to contribute their musical experiences, favourite tunes, musical memories, legendary gigs etc and as a result we have compiled a number of excellent posts which have enhanced our site and our music collection. It's with great thanks to you guys for putting in the time and effort to write and share these experiences with us. Thanks again for contributing for the best of 2011 post too. Remember, feel free to submit any contributions at any time, they are always welcome and we enjoy them greatly.
Neal:- He's our in house 'covers' aficionado, pub quiz specialist and lovable geek who had a crush on Debbie Gibson, oh dear. Read some of his posts here....
Tape n' Tapes - 'Freak Out' My first standout track of the year. It hit me straightaway and 11 months on I'm still Freaked Out by it.
Clock Opera - 'Belongings' A cool piano intro and a Guy Garvey-esque voice. It builds and builds to a great ending.
Scroobius Pip - 'The Struggle' I saw Mr Pip live earlier this year expecting some of his classics. Instead he only played tracks from his new album Distraction Pieces. With the line "My name is Johnny Depp and I kill people" this stood out and still does.
Brendan:- My old school teacher from Saudi Arabia was late in handing in his 'Best of 2011' assignment but he gets A* for effort. Read his great Dylan post here for homework.
White Denim - 'Drug'
Every slight twist in this thrilling rollercoaster ride, however brief, is adorned with a devastating solo or flourish, and the meticulously organised chaos is topped off with some of the most delicious harmonised vocals this side of heaven. It’s like hearing all your favourite bands finally getting it together to form a supergroup that actually works.
Gillian Welch - 'Silver Dagger'
Gillian Welch connects with the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the singers and musicians of the near and distant past and towers above almost everything else on the modern musical landscape. This could be spirituality’s last credible stand.
Richmond Fontaine - 'The Mechanic’s Life'
Richmond Fontaine are one of the few bands to accurately convey the gradual dissipation of meaning from life and the mounting sense of foreboding about the future. They prove that aimlessness, hopelessness and pessimism are perfectly sane and reasonable life choices for the modern man, and like Leonard Cohen of old, their despair uplifts.
Whattalkabout (Michelle):- Relive those angst ridden school days with Michelle's Tom Petty Guest Spot here..but before that check out these quality choices.
Calvin Harris - 'Feels So Close'
I love how this song builds up. Just reminds me that life is an adventure, you can never really be sure where it's going, but it's so exciting.
Chase and Status -'Time'
I've never been a huge fan of theirs, but appreciate what they do. I heard this song stripped down and acoustic. Sometimes, you can listen to a song so many times without ever really listening to the lyrics. This completely changed my perception of them.
Foster The People - 'Pumped Up Kicks'
I wanted to be a bit different and not go for something as "obvious" as this. This, for me, has been the tune of this summer. It is genius.
(7) The Country Gentlemen’s sweet-as-honey bluegrass harmony rendition,
(8) Echo and the Bunnymen’s recent powerful Them re-tread,
(9) this one from 60s garage band, the Chocolate Watchband, which provides an imagining of what a Rolling Stones performance of a Van Morrison interpretation of a Bob Dylan masterpiece would sound like.
This week is our first, in a two part 'Dylan Cover' guest spot and comes from an old school teacher during Flycasual's days in Saudi Arabia. His class was the original school of rock, he was funny, he was good at maths, he almost led us to footy glory in Dhahran 88', he's Brendan Barry:-
Never Ending Baby Blue
No other Dylan song has yielded so many great covers as It’s All Over Now Baby Blue. One of the main reasons for this is that Them’s magnificent and highly original 1966 arrangement has itself been covered and reworked by so many bands.
Including Bob himself, I can count at least 9 versions that are worthy of stone cold classic status.
(1) Dylan’s own version, especially the one with his Blonde on Blonde voice from ‘Live 1966’,
