By ajostu
I used to be an avid reader of Robert Fripp's on-line diary, back in the day when he would avidly write it. It was there I first read the phrase "a point of seeing”– that moment when the pieces fall into place and you have a flash of insight that causes you to look at the world in a different way.
I really enjoyed everyone's insights this week. I discovered a great deal of new music, revisited some old favourites and re-evaluated some musicians I previously hadn't had much time for.
In the end I was guided by feel more than anything else; these were the songs that reached me, even if in a way I would find hard to explain. The long list was quite long indeed; I had to leave out many great tracks, and the B-list should be viewed as an A-list using a different set of criteria, rather than a set of also-rans.
While I'll give a brief overview of my guru picks, I won't go into track-by-track detail about the lists themselves. Each is a comfortable CD length worth of music. Having grown up in the vinyl era, I've long felt 20-25 minutes is a good chunk of music to digest as a unit, so I've broken up the A- list into three sections, and each of those three sections has a theme. I'm really happy with how the whole thing flows, I hope you enjoy it all.
EurekA-List Playlist:
LIFE
Studio Killers - Who Is In Your Heart Now (UncleBen)
10,000 Maniacs - Cherry Tree (ParaMhor)
Carly Simon - The Carter Family (amylee)
Ella Fitzgerald - How Long Has This Been Going On (severin)
Suzanne Vega - Night Vision (philipphilip99)
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (amylee)
THE UNIVERSE
Sagan/Hawking/Boswell - A Glorious Dawn (IsabelleForshaw)
Beastie Boys feat. Miho Hatori - Twenty Questions (Shoegazer)
REM - King Of Birds - (tubby Brewster)
The Sundays - Monochrome (tincanman2010)
Moby - We Are All Made Of Stars (IsabelleForshaw)
EVERYTHING
Julia Holter - I Shall Love 2 (Seth Miller)
Angel Olsen - Summer (TarquinSpodd)
The Police - Synchronicity 1 (Banazir Galbasi)
The Moody Blues - The Best Way To Travel (magicman)
Grateful Dead - Eyes of the World (Chris7572)
Clem Snide - Roger Ebert (barbryn)
The B-List - Collection From Another Dimension
The Headhunters – Here and Now (Banazir Galbasi)
Sun Ra - Door of the Cosmos (Seth Miller)
Earth Wind and Fire - Serpentine Fire (amylee)
Norman Connors - Revelation (Nicko)
Ultramarine - Discovery (Shoegazer)
Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions (Nicko)
John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up Everybody (magicman)
Alice Coltrane & Carlos Santana – Illuminations (Nicko)
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Laurie Anderson's "A Story About A Story" is, I believe, her finest spoken word piece. It starts off in the sardonic, wry style we might expect, before an moment of insight leads to a deeply sad, moving and reflective conclusion. Rather than leave you all in a downcast mood, I've bracketed this with two exultant songs of realisation: Natasha Khan's vision that shook off her writer's block, and Annette Peacock's exhortation to leave the past behind.
Bat For Lashes - Lilies
Laurie Anderson - A Story About a Story
Bruford (feat. Annette Peacock) - Adios a la pasada
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Eureka! Songs about realisation, discovery and enlightenment. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Fancy a turn behind the pumps at The Song Bar? Care to choose a playlist from songs nominated and write something about it? Then feel free to contact The Song Bar here, or try the usual email address. Also please follow us social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube. Subscribe, follow and share.
Please make any donation to help keep Song Bar running: