Phil’s Faves: Songs, November 11, 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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Jessica Dayle stays on top into the middle of November, but the winds of change may be coming in the form of Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys and Annie Haslam and Renaissance……..
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of November 11, 2012

1. Summertime—Jessica Dayle
2. The Leaves Are Changing—Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys
3. Day of the Dreamer—Renaissance
4. Little Misunderstood—Barbara Lynn Doran
5. Tell Me Why—Frijid Pink
6. Lovin’ You Is Fun—Easton Corbin
7. Begin Again—Taylor Swift
8. What a Shame (Single Version)—George Bedard
9. Thirsty Monkey—Rock and Roll Monkey and The Robots
10. Love’s Gone Bad—The Underdogs

1) “Summertime”—Jessica Dayle’s song is still #1 on my list, and still #1 in my heart…for another week!
2) “The Leaves Are Changing”—I have a tree in front of my house that has a core batch of leaves that never fall off until the spring even though they’ve changed colors. Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys are just like those leaves with this song about…leaves! So catchy!
3) “Day of the Dreamer”—Man, am I getting hooked on this song again…and I’ve been hooked on it before! The song features many incredible piano and synthesizer sections that tie together the verse and chorus sections. I don’t really understand what all of the lyrics mean. I guess that’s pretty normal for a lot of prog—rock songs, but it’s the overall presentation of the song that makes it “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded! (GSER)”
4) “Little Misunderstood”—I’m not happy that Barbara Lynn Doran wasn’t understood when she was young…But I am happy that she made a GREAT song out of the experience!
5) “Tell Me Why”—A fuzzed out psychedelic romp from a forgotten Detroit rock band best known for their version of “House of the Rising Sun.” That one is great, too, but this one is my favorite. The song sounds like it’s ready to fall apart any second. There are several breaks. But the wah-wah guitars and ear splitting drums keep the funky song moving in the right direction! Parrot Records knew what they were doing when they signed this band!
6) “Lovin’ You Is Fun”—I think Easton’s run is coming to an end, but I’m glad he showed up…twice!
7) “Begin Again”—I guess I am falling into the hypnotic Taylor Swift trap as I keep replaying that line in my mind, “watched it begin again.” I don’t even want to. It’s not like it’s great or anything. It just pulls you in…………. Aaargh! I can’t stop it!!!!
8) “What a Shame” (Single Version)—I have always liked this George Bedard classic. It’s really cool to run across this early version of a song that would end up as the opening track on George Bedard and The Kingpins highly touted “Upside” album! georgebedard.com
9) “Thirsty Monkey”—A mostly instrumental track (except for a very cute often repeated “Thirsty”) featuring a nice twangy guitar line that would make Duane Eddy proud! Another rock band in the Detroit tradition!
10) “Love’s Gone Bad”—A Detroit area band from the mid-60s that released one of the best blue-eyed soul singles of the decade that no one knows about—or remembers. Using a very hooky hi-hat (the cymbals that the drummer mashes together) technique, The Underdogs moan through lines like, “Ice cold water running through my veins/Take me back to earth again.” The pain sounds so real…and danceable. An incredible single!
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