The Streets - Turn The Page
Mike Skinner recorded The Streets’ debut album, Original Pirate Material, in the bedroom of his Birmingham flat at 23. This is bumping club music with a heaping helping of clear-eyed commentary on life in a dead-end town. Turn The Page is a brilliant opening to a instant classic UK garage record.
Isaac Hayes - Theme from “Shaft”
While it has been used in a number of commercials, Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from ‘Shaft’” is a “commercial” track in an even deeper sense: it kicked off the soundtrack commissioned by MGM for the 1971 blaxploitation movie Shaft.
Does that detract from the result? Is it less perfect for having its roots in Hollywood’s raw, self-serving exploitation rather than some pure and noncommercial will to create? Listen to the track again before you answer, and if your answer is still “yes” I’ll be coming by to kick your ass.
Rest in peace, Mr. Hayes: black Moses and bad motherfucker.
The Kinks - Victoria
Its Monday morning. Lets rock out a bit. From their 1969 classic Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) the energy and catchy riff of this song cover up Ray Davies typical sarcasm, wit and melancholly. The album is one great track after another, and this opener, featuring Dave Davies’ best vocal performance, sets the stage perfectly.
King Khan and The Shrines - Torture
Not being inclined to timidity or understatement, this band also goes under the names “King Khan and His Sensational Shrines” and “The Supreme Genius of King Khan and His Sensational Shrines.”
This track is three minutes and eight seconds of flat out, uninhibited rock and roll rapture. As an opening track it sets a high bar for the remainder of the album [album entitled “The Supreme Genius of King Khan and The Shrines,” of course], but if this one grabs you you need to listen to the album all the way through.
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
I don’t know how it’s taken me this long to get around to this obvious openers post: Suzanne, the opening track from Leonard Cohen’s first album (1967’s Songs of Leonard Cohen). A beautiful song that sets you up for the album to follow—and for the rest of Cohen’s recorded output, for that matter.
Many of you following this blog are probably familiar with Leonard Cohen, but for those who aren’t: yes, this song (and Cohen’s music in general) have a little bit of the Simon & Garfunkel sweet melancholy sound to them.
There is a difference, however. S&G’s bittersweet songs are the memories of hard times and love lost called up with a glass of wine, sitting in your comfortable suburban living room. Cohen’s songs are memories of hard times and love lost called up with a bottle of whatever’s cheap at the liquor store as you sit alone in your pay-by-the-week hotel room.
Just so you know. In case you find yourself suddenly brooding and misanthropic…
Yo La Tengo - Barnaby, Hardly Working.
Love this track, it’s one of my favorite openers. Yo La Tengo’s new wave hot dogs + president yo la tengo (treating it as a single album) is one of my most listened to and loved albums. The transition at 2:39 when Ira sings, “As I could wait for hours … I could wait and never fall down” is one of those musical moments that fits perfectly into my opioid receptors and triggers bliss every time. The physical feeling (somehow) evoked is of a car cresting a hill - resistance, slightly slowing, then cresting and a kind of elation, gently gaining momentum on the downslope. It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s how it works for me.
Robert Wyatt - Heaps of Sheeps
(from 1997’s Shleep)
I have wanted to post this song since this blog started, and so here it is. I think it sets a records for fitting the most themes simultaneously :)
1. The first song (openers) on Robert Wyatt’s Shleep.
2. While having a bouncy Bo Diddly like beat, it recalls a night of insomnia when perhaps the most innocent behavior (counting sheep) takes a nightmarish turn. (sheep’s clothing)
3. It has the word sheep in it’s title, making it a theme pun.
4. It was the first Wyatt song I heard, while browsing other music spending the gift vertificate my brother got me for my birthday (Thanks Matt!), and I was instantly hooked (most memorable).
5. Much to my dismay, Robert Wyatt isn’t exactly popular. (obscura)
Enjoy!
Brightblack Morning Light - Everybody Daylight
Feeling stressed? Twitchy? Discombobulated? Over-tired and over-caffeinated?
Drop Brightblack Morning Light’s eponymous 2006 album on, and about fifteen seconds into Everybody Daylight you’ll start feeling better. I promise.
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
All night I have been jumping between albums. Then it hit me. The Stones. Duh. Explosive opener. One of the all time rock songs.
Soundgarden- Rusty Cage
The insane guitar lines that open this album (“Openers” theme natch) suck you into the vortex. I think this was Soundgarden’s pinnacle - musicanship, songs, vocals. Never got this good again.
