when you get this, list 5 songs you like to listen to, publish. then, send this to 10 of your favourite followers ♡ (no pressure on the second part)
This is songs I like to listen to, but like filtered through longtime favorites? Sorted in reverse chronological order, because that’s fairest (and, honestly, puts the best song last). YouTube links because I don’t use Spotify, and you don’t have to have a YouTube account to listen. Song info in case YouTube doesn’t play nice and you have to look it up on your service of choice.
“Spectrum” / Andrew Belle / Nightshade (2021)
Andrew Belle did what I think of as a trilogy of albums, with a similar sound and mood, that I absolutely love. This is from the third album of those. The chorus is one of the most romantic I’ve ever heard. I am a sap.
“December” / Bleach / Astronomy (2003)
Now we jump backwards about twenty years, to a defunct band that people didn’t really know when they were current, and that even fewer people know today. I wouldn’t say Bleach is an amazing band, but damn it I really like this album, and I love this song. The “great day in December” is, for me, one that happened six years after this album came out, or fifteen years before this December. Like I said, I’m a sap.
“Some Might Say” / Oasis / What’s the Story Morning Glory (1995)
Out of all the songs in my iTunes/Apple Music library, this one has the most plays — and the library count is definitely lower than the actual one, since my app says I added this song in March 2017; I’ve been listening for at least ten years longer. Yeah, “Wonderwall” is a fun meme and “Morning Glory” rocks harder, but you really can’t beat the guitar texture and overall mood of this song.
“Breakthru” / Queen / The Miracle (1989)
Funny enough, I got Into™ Queen around March 2017, and The Miracle became one of my favorite albums. I love the choral intro, I love the synth bass, I love what May does on the guitar, and the rapid waviness when the electric bass comes in, and Mercury’s lead. But mostly, I absolutely love the line “Your smile speaks books to me.” It is the logical extension of “a picture speaks a thousand words,” and way more intimate. Like I said, I am a sap.
“As” / Stevie Wonder / Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
Another March 2017 addition. I was embarrassingly late to listening to Songs in the Key of Life. I’d heard singles by Stevie Wonder on the radio or in TV or movies over the years, but never (to my recollection) sat down and listened to album. Shortly after I signed up for Apple Music, I stumbled on a playlist that had this song on it and was blown away when I listened. Not only was it a song that didn’t get played anywhere I lived, but also, it was a mode I don’t think I had ever experienced. It might be the ultimate love song — for the universe, for the earth, for humanity, for acquaintances and friends and family and lovers, for one’s self. It pulls off the amazing feat of feeling both (a) longer than it actually is and (b) not long enough. The choral vocals, once they come in — and they come in early — feel like a never-ending ascension, never returning home, always soaring higher, like we are all rising to meet somewhere in the upper atmosphere, or maybe even some point in outer space, and we are waiting for everyone before and with and after us to arrive. The song ends the only way it can: by fading out. Because how do you stop what feels like the most joyous chorus ever put to tape? Like I said, I am a whole sap. And it does not hurt that the song (like the album) is impeccably produced.
