Month: December 2017

When I first thought about doing a top songs of 2017 post, I was a bit underwhelmed. I felt like my list focused two much on late career albums from artists I already liked, and there was a dearth of full albums that really blew me away. Still I made a list anyway and realized I wasn’t completely right in my assessment. My top ten included tracks by Portugal. The Man, Alvvays, and Ed Sheeran. Plus, some of those late career albums are really good, especially Sparks and Noel Gallagher. In the end, when I listened to the playlist, I really enjoyed it.

I also realized that 2017 was very much a year of pop music discovery for me, even if it wasn’t always new. I read Bob Stanley’s Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!, as well as a third of Scott Miller’s Music: What Happened? Both of these unearthed lots of older songs that I hadn’t heard before. 2017 was also my Year of the Bee Gees, and I can’t think of any two albums I enjoyed so much as Mr. Natural and Main Course. So I added a “side 2” to my playlist that includes my top ten new-to-me tracks for the year. With that in place, it felt better, fuller representation of my year.

So here are my top tracks of the year, along with one-sentence mini-reviews for each one. The Spotify links are for expanded playlists that include my top 20 in each category.

Best New Songs of 2017

1. Portugal. The Man “Feel It Still”: Commercial but deserving, “Feel it Still” was instantly identifiable as a hit — and it makes me happy to know that a hit song can still be a good song.

2. Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie “Feel About You”: There’s a lot to love, but possibly the best touch is the little two-note guitar build up to the chorus (runner up: marimba solo).

3. Alvvays “Dreams Tonite”: The line “Counting motorbikes/On the turnpike/One of Eisenhower’s” evokes a wistful blend of nostalgia and infrastructure.

4. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds “She Taught Me How to Fly”: I’m still obsessed with the melody on the lines “It doesn’t matter what your faith is/I see you praying all the time” — it’s also classic atheist Noel singing about God.

5. Sparks “I Wish You Were Fun”: Super catchy and humorous, but with a hint of darkness that bubbles up in a few minor key piano notes.

6. Wesley Stace “The Wilderness Years”: The line “Open your eyes up to love” achieves a musical opening up that feels like the heart of the song.

7. Josh Ritter “Showboat”: Josh Ritter is simply a pro; witness the hooks, the conceit, and the powerhouse coda on “Showboat” if you have doubts.

8. Circa Waves “Stuck”: This is a great, angry pop vocal, especially the snarl on the line “I fucked it up so much.”

9. Ed Sheeran “Galway Girl”: Cheesy, maybe, but Ed Sheeran has a way of connecting with the listener on each and every song, and that’s probably the key to his success.

10. Morrissey: “Spent the Day in Bed”: “Life ends in death/So there’s nothing wrong with being good to yourself/Be good to yourself for once.” Thanks for the reminder, Morrissey.

Listen on Spotify

Best New-To-Me Songs of 2017

1. The Bee Gees “Mr. Natural” (1974): The Bee Gees have pretty much ruined me for harmonizing by most other groups — just listen to the word “again” in the chorus of this song.

2. The Isley Brothers “Summer Breeze” (1973): I love the Seals and Crofts version, but the Isley Brothers electrify it literally and metaphorically.

3. Danny Wilson “Mary’s Prayer” (1987): The start of the second verse sounds like the clouds parting and the sun streaming in.

4. Steely Dan “My Old School” (1973): Among the many, many achievements Steely Dan should be lauded for is their excellent use of backup singers — the “whoa no” at the start of the chorus is tremendous.

5. Gilbert O’Sullivan “Out of the Question” (1972): O’Sullivan has a way with phrasing that really comes through on lines like “Don’t think that I don’t know/I do” — you can absolutely picture that line accompanied by raised eyebrows and a tilt of the head to one side.

6. Barry Ryan “Eloise” (1969): So emotional that’s it’s embarrassing, but glorious nonetheless.

7. Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson “I Know Him So Well” (1985): This song makes me want to pound my chest like Celine Dion while singing along.

8. The Bee Gees “Come on Over” (1975): I’ve really grown to love a Robin lead vocal: weird, tenuous, beautiful.

9. Prefab Sprout “Appetite” (1985): Super smooth, great backing vocals, and evocative lyrics: “Wishes she could call him heartache/But it’s not a boy’s name.”

10. Kylie Minogue “Step Back in Time” (1990): More than just nostalgia, this song celebrates the fact that our musical past is always there for us; the lines “Remember the old days/Remember the O’Jays” have real warmth and joy to them.

Listen on Spotify

This month’s mix turned out to be a classics sandwich on 2017 bread. I usually like to have more integration between old and new stuff, but this one just seemed to flow best this way.

(Listen on Spotify instead.)

1. Public Access T.V. — “Metrotech” (2017) A catchy, funky new single with a definite BADII vibe, which of course I love.

2. Taylor Swift — “Call It What You Want” (2017) I don’t really have a fully-formed opinion about Taylor Swift’s new album. I didn’t like the first single, and I haven’t listened to the whole thing yet. But I do like at least this one song, which is little more in the vein of 1989. It has a sparse backing track similar to “Wildest Dreams” and a catchy chorus. The line “My baby’s fly like a jet stream” is also very good.

3. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds — “She Taught Me How to Fly” (2017) Noel’s new album, Who Built the Moon?, has proven quite a success. “She Taught Me How to Fly” is probably one of my two favorite tracks. The B part is the purest Noel Gallagher melody on the album, particularly the line “I see you praying all the time.” I’m not sure how to describe what’s going on there, but it’s the kind of thing that hits you right in the chest.

4. Teleman — “Bone China Face” (2017) I really like this group, they manage to mix melody and compelling lyrics with a modern electro sound.

5. Eddie Kendricks — “Son of Sagittarius” (1974) This song is a teaser for a larger project I’m working on that involves listening to a lot of songs from 1974. Kendricks was one of the lead singers of the Temptations, and he had a reasonably good solo career in the ‘70s. He’s got an awesome falsetto, and one has to imagine this track sounded a lot more modern and cool than the Temptations concurrent mix of increasingly clunky message songs and bland balladry.

5. The Doobie Brothers — Long Train Runnin’ (1973) I have a theory that music listening goes through three stages: 1) The naive stage where you just hear songs and like them without much reflection; 2) The self-aware stage where you start rejecting songs for being too mainstream or accessible; and 3) The full-circle stage where you begin to really understand that some of the songs you rejected are in fact good, despite the fact that they regularly get played at the grocery store. I’m definitely at Stage 3 when it comes to classic rock, and I have an unexpected new appreciation for the Doobie Brothers. “Long Train Runnin’” rocks pretty hard and it’s got a killer harmonica solo.

6. Fountains of Wayne — “Supercollider” (2003) One of my favorite bands (Fountains of Wayne) doing a straight-up pastiche of one of my other favorite bands (Oasis). It’s a wonder it took me so long to realize it. I wrote a more in-depth discussion of this critical issue earlier this month.

7. Allo Darlin’ — “We Come From the Same Place”(2014) I really miss Allo Darlin’. I recently listened to their final album for the first time in a while and was reminded of how much I love their ability to be open and vulnerable in their music. I was lucky enough to see them perform in Chapel Hill, NC, when they played to a crowd of about 30 people on a Monday night. Singer Elizabeth Morris had a self-possession about her that was very striking — I suppose you need that to write the kind of songs she does.

8. The Seekers — “Georgy Girl” (1966) Do you ever have this experience where there’s a song that’s sort of on the periphery of your listening universe, but you dismiss it until you learn that someone whose taste you respect really likes it. Then it just explodes into your consciousness like, “Oh right, this is good.” That’s what happened to me with “Georgy Girl” after reading about it in Scott Miller’s Music: What Happened?

9. Adam Schmitt — “Can’t Get You On My Mind” (1991) Adam Schmitt is a mainstay of power pop comps for a reason. “Can’t Get You On My Mind” is a classic of the genre both in terms of melody and the way the titles flips a cliche. I came across it on a random thing called “Power Pop Box” that’s on Spotify. It’s got quite a good track list and is also a steal on Amazon ($8.99 for 47 songs) if you’re still the buying type.

10. The Magic Gang — “Alright” (2017) This band can’t lose. They’re continuing proof that basic rock music still works as long as the hooks are there.

11. Sparks — “What the Hell is It This Time?” (2017) “What the Hell is it This Time?” is a great title for a song regardless of what it’s about. But of course Sparks come through in that respect. I love the idea that God is sitting around getting irritated at people’s low-priority prayers: “If Arsenal wins, he really don’t care.”