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Songs That Send Shivers Down Your Spine (Part 2)


Mark L

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This song always gets me. The pathetic subject matter, taboo for its time. The dazed and slightly "stupid" ostinato chord progression. The "colored girls" and their amazing reverb treatment. The molto espressivo, temblando violins. The "busy" acoustic bass. Then lastly, Bowie's really excellent sax solo at the end. May be in my top 5 singles of all-time.

 

[video=youtube;WZ88oTITMoM]

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Lots of great posts above. Y'all have way better taste than I do.

 

Nat, I particularly enjoyed that Elbow, not least since I've never heard of them. Your intro was perfect. That's the kinda stuff I like to put on real loud when I have to clean the garage or something.

 

Here are some of my fave spine tinglers.

 

Jerry Douglas - The Suit - No youtubes; evidently nobody who is anyone listens to this.

 

kd lang does a nice version of this one too, but here's the orig:

[video=youtube;uyHQAdgcASw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyHQAdgcASw

 

This one gets me singing at the top of my lungs in my car. No doubt I look like a nut. This is a friend's band; let me know if you like it. Alt country, which usually isn't my bag.

Cordovas - Lousiana Hurricane

 

Another winner: take a slow song, and play it even slower:

[video=youtube;5-MT5zeY6CU]

Yeah, I know, you've heard that one before. :-)

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Nat, I particularly enjoyed that Elbow, not least since I've never heard of them.

 

 

My impression is that Elbow is not that well known in the US, but a lot bigger deal in the UK. I did get to see them at the Austin City Limits Festival which was a really big deal to me - but even in a supposedly hip town like Austin, they weren't that big a draw...nothing like Matt and Kim, or Girltalk, both of whom garnered massive crowds of bobbing and whooping and waving kids:facepalm: well, they are party-type bands, so I guess it stands to reason, but still.....

 

I have a soft spot for bands that sound like where they hail from, ya know?

 

nat whilk ii

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The sonics on this version are really bad but I got tired of fighting through amateur versions with "Sinatra" or "Holiday" in the vid title but no mention of it being a cover (and usually horribly sung, to boot).

 

Anyhow, Frainkie rips it up here, moving from his patented late autumn wistfulness to a pinnacle of aching heartbreak. Kid might go somewhere.

 

[video=youtube;C_ObUNriYZM]

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Al Green -- and Willie Mitchell -- took a while to win me over but by the end of the 70s, I was pretty hooked. This wasn't one of my big faves of his but it was certainly an agreeable way to spend 3 minutes or so.

 

The song below... while not exactly giving me goosebumps, always strikes me as just an insanely ingratiating combination of song, performance, and production... (the soundtrack is currently the Spinners' version -- who knows how long before the YT robots find it and replace it with the 101 Strings elevator music version). [i didn't bother watching the 'vid' so I have no idea what outrages it holds, if any.]

 

I think you'll see the connection... (And it kills me, late in the outro, when he 'ad libs,' "... even if I have to call you..." Freakin' classic.

 

[video=youtube;cCRwuEakkdo]

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Now this one, for sure, sends chills down my spine and, more than once, has sent hot tears streaming down my cheeks because it's just so freakin' amazing... Part of that is that a very, very long and delirious version of it was the encore as I recall Curtis Mayfield's last concert, a free show in an open amphitheater in downtown Long Beach. The next day, a freak stage accident ended up paralyzing him. (But, a musician's musician to the end, he actually continued recording, even as he had to record one line at a time in between sips from his oxygen. To say he's a hero to me is a colossal understatement. I wasn't crazy about all his music -- I loved the funk but not so much the ballads -- but this guy was a real musician, head to toe and all the way through his soul.)

 

[video=youtube;6Z66wVo7uNw]

 

 

 

And this one, this was probably the start of my love for Mayfield's music. I heard this and I thought, holy {censored}, this is some serious street music.

 

Studio -- as cool as the live version (included one below) is, Curtis really hit his stride in the studio... listen to this arrangement, it's really extraordinary. Curtis' long band and studio experience made him a master of the studio, as can be heard here and in the rest of the Superfly soundtrack, which he produced and which featured him doing the urban griot thing...

[video=youtube;ECgBXkil7YI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECgBXkil7YI

 

Live:

[video=youtube;Z9nwcpGZE6A]

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Ooh, I second that Spinners record. Never has emotional pain sounded so good!

 

Yeah, and "Freddie's Dead". If you're gonna push blow for the man, then don't be surprised if you end up on the corner. When i was very young in the 70's, such a blase' attitude toward death was indeed very chilling...

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