Phil’s Faves: Songs, June 10, 2012

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Turn the clock back. Savage Grace rules my faves list this week and it has an incredible group of songs to surround it!
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of June 10, 2012

1. Turn Your Head—Savage Grace
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
3. Wild Weekend—Tinsley Ellis & The Heartfixers
4. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
5. Pontoon—Little Big Town
6. I Know You By Heart—Eva Cassidy
7. Ridin’ With the King—John Hiatt
8. Ships in the Night (Live)—Be Bop Deluxe
9. Linda Paloma—Jackson Browne
10. Over You—Miranda Lambert

1) “Turn Your Head”—I have been hooked on this classic since I heard it again! Of course, an incredible live performance by the current version of the band at The Magic Bag in Ferndale didn’t hurt it! The band did an amazing ensemble performance! If Savage Grace (Detroit Band featuring Al Jacquez) ever shows up at your town, run to see them!
2) “Banjo”—I thought that maybe the banjo might regain the top spot one more time, but I think that competition is going to start forcing this one down…………
3) “Wild Weekend”—I did not expect to have this song on the list for more than a week, but just like last year’s “Nut Rocker” by George Bedard, this Tinsley Ellis remake is hitting a nerve with me!
4) “Call Me Maybe”—I think this song stayed around longer than it probably should have just because Carly Rae Jepsen seems to have a universal appeal that cuts across demographics.
5) “Pontoon”—Ah, this Little Big Town sleeper will probably end up being my favorite song for the summer!
6) “I Know You By Heart”—This is the penultimate Eva Cassidy song, and it can make me cry every time I hear it. The vocal has so much emotion as it ebbs and flows between almost whispers to full throated sustains! The arrangement is perfect with muted background gospel humming, acoustic guitar, and a string arrangement that reminds me of “Long, Long, Time” by Linda Ronstadt. Her voice flits about like a butterfly in a meadow that goes to each flowered note sipping nectar. Sometimes she stays on this flower a little longer than you’d expect and just grazes the next one. It’s only the wind of the melody that pushes her along. I cry because Eva’s voice is so beautiful and it’s so unfortunate that she died so young from an untimely illness. (You can look it up if you want to. I only want to write about her music.) I don’t know that she would have been hugely successful, but I think she would have had a long career. I can only dream about the duets that never happened or the songs she didn’t sing. I hope to see her some day, if that is possible. Until then, we’re left with her beautiful songs that she made and released before they were even finished—but I know her by heart, and this one’s the best!
7) “Ridin’ With the King”Nick Lowe’s thick fat funky bass line that anchors this song and pushes the boundary of acceptable recording limits like The Beatles and Paul McCartney did with “Paperback Writer” is only part of the greatness of this John Hiatt tribute about Elvis Presley! The first several times I heard it, I thought he was black—so obviously, great vocals! The song is punctuated by great full organ work! You can tell it was pretty much an open jam. Eric Clapton and B.B. King covered it years later and changed some of the words, thereby altering its effect. The original raw version is where it’s at! Proceed brothers!
8) “Ships in the Night (Live)”—Taken from Be Bop Deluxe’s “Live in the Air Age” album, this version updates an earlier forced sounding studio track. This one moves much faster and has a slight ska feel to it. Not only does it feature Bill Nelson’s swirling guitar riffs but there is room at the end for a very nice keyboard solo. This is probably my favorite live track by the band and it makes me wish I had seen them in person!
9) “Linda Paloma”—Buried amidst some great songs on the Jackson Browne’s classic “The Pretender” album you’ll find a very mariachi-flavored song about someone named Linda Paloma. The narration takes it time pulling the listener in. You know you’re lost in the song if when he gets to the part where he describes the wind, you can feel the desert breeze as the fiddles simulate it. The song is constantly punctuated by some great harp work—the classical kind. The song builds as Linda Paloma (the Mexican dove), prepares to fly away. Jackson tries to reach up to keep her as the notes keep going higher. Beautiful!
10) “Over You”—Wow! This song should feel honored for being considered in this group.
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