The most beautiful music I have ever heard in my life. Composed for Jean-Luc Godard’s masterpiece film “Contempt (Le Mepris)” by Georges Delerue.
I can not even begin to describe how refreshing it was to discover The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion back in the mid-1990s. During the height of painfully earnest grunge and alt-rock, the Blues Explosion only sang about how great they were and how they kicked ass on stage (and they did). They were like some weird cross between the Butthole Surfers and the Rolling Stones and they were beyond awesome.
From the classic album “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” I discovered this album/song in 2010 and if anything defined that crazy year for me, this is it. This five minute-plus three-part rock opera is one of the strongest openings to an album ever. The opening starts off as an acoustic ballad, transitions into an a religious declaration, and then transitions into a loud, transcendent lo-fi thrash song around 3:36 in that sounds like a downpour in a windtunnel. Do not listen to part 3 under the influence of anything. You will never walk again.
Many people say that Ennio Morricone’s best score is “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” “Once Upon a Time in the West,” or “The Mission.” All of those are great, but his score for “Burn!” (“Queimada”) is magnificent, especially this majestic piece that played over the opening credits. Director Gillo Pontecorvo’s underrated follow-up to “The Battle of Algiers,” starring Marlon Brando.
Talk about intense. From the posthumously released live album “Dream Letter: Live in London 1968,” Tim Buckley could go from a whisper to a scream at the drop of a pin. A great acoustic performance of an already great song that segues into a Supremes song at the end. Most of the people from my generation are more familiar with Tim’s son Jeff, who like his father, died tragically at a young age.
FYI – Buckley was director Hal Ashby’s first choice to play Woody Guthrie in “Bound for Glory,” until Buckley died of a heroin overdose in 1975. David Carradine did a fine job, but I always wonder what Buckley would have done in the role. Ashby paid tribute to Buckley by using Buckley’s “Once I Was” during Bruce Dern’s suicide scene in “Coming Home.”
The sound of paranoia and imminent dread … Kind of what Black Sabbath would’ve sounded like had they gone to grad school and worried about writing their theses … OK, it’s actually better than that. I always thought this would be great to use in a film where the lead character gradually realizes they are in a world of s–t they can’t get out of.
Always liked Rob Zombie. When he was still doing music, he reminded me a lot of Alice Cooper. Like Cooper, Zombie knew how to wrap his metal and psychotronic film obsessions around a catchy beat and pop sensibility. Zombie also has a sense of humor and humility which seems to have eluded other Cooper-wannabes . For a while, Zombie’s film directing career was pretty interesting (“The Devils Rejects”) until he started making “Halloween” remakes.
From Procol Harum’s eternally awesome album “A Salty Dog,” comes this terrific psychedelic blues classic. I love the multi-layered vocals drizzled over the acid-drenched lead guitars. I realize “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (and, on occasion, “Conquistador”) are the Procol Harum songs of choice on classic rock radio, they really are a band that’s worth exploring in greater detail.
There was a time in the late 1960s when people turned to Fleetwood Mac because they thought the Rolling Stones were too pop (yes, this was during the “Beggar’s Banquet” / “Let it Bleed” years). Of course, this is ironic, considering that Fleetwood Mac achieved their biggest success by embracing pop in the mid-late 1970s. While “Rumours” is one of the deservedly massively popular albums of all time, I really dig their early blues-purist roots. This is Fleetwood Mac, pre-Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham/Christine Mcvie. Great hard-edged British blues.
As much as I believe John Phillips should be roasting in hell right now, this is a beautiful song. And yes, that is Keith Richards playing guitar and singing backup. From Phillips’ posthumously released “Pay, Pack, and Follow,” an album that was intended to be released on the Rolling Stones’ record label in the late 1970s.
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