Here Comes Your Man/Pixies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCYkveGQUcY

Yes, yes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt sang this in "500 Days of Summer". Yes, yes, he's very hot.

Use Somebody/Pixie Lott

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHyuUHWTFk8

The acoustic cover is a sure-fire way to test the true power of a song.

The link to the original by Kings Of Leon..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRgFeZa_I48

SWAT (Samuel Jackson)/Hot Action Cop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx_vXi_Cits

Before the judgement starts to pour in let me explain that, for me, Samuel Jackson is the awesomest actor ever. If someone hadn't written a song about him already, I would've. Though I probably wouldn't be able to pack that much attitude into a 4 minute song.

Private Investigations/Dire Straits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLVFPAzG0Wg

Classic tune, with Knopfler's fingers weaving six-string magic as usual.

Distortion Therapy

Rainbow In The Dark/Dio
Just Because/Jane's Addiction
Down On The Farm/Guns N' Roses

The Rain/The Swell Season

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HaVNBEYVyw

From the same school of 'piano rock' bands as Train and The Fray. The Hansard/Irglova vocal duet is one of the best things I've heard so far this year.

Hey Ya/Obadiah Parker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ejeEBlDESc

As if the original song by Outkast wasn't awesome enough. Some songs are just made to be covered.

Check out the original too..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ytxZdmSqr0

Do It Again/Steely Dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Fs5GrUBwI

These guys were extremely touchy about their studio recordings. Hearing the song for the first time, I couldn't help but marvel at the brilliant production, considering this is a '72 song. Throw in the electric sitar (yes, sitar) solo and the pitch-bent organ, and you've really got some ear-candy. 

Great Albums (Within My Walls/The Idan Raichel Project)

Year : 2008

If the previous, eponymously titled album by the Israeli singer/songwriter has most of the hits, this one has a much more balanced and well-rounded collection of songs. The tone of the album is definitely mellower than the earlier material. Most of the songs have been recorded in collaboration with fellow artists, and feature some excellent guest performances.

Personal picks : "She'eriot Shel Ha'Chaim" (Scraps Of Life), "Mai Nahar" (River Waters) and "Min Nhar Li Mshiti" (From The Day You Left)

Gravity Eyelids/Porcupine Tree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PKpsWb9MlE&feature=related

The darkest chord progression I've ever heard. The chorus is the musical equivalent of a free-falling rush.

For What It's Worth/Stevie Nicks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR1kh5HHiSs

The former vocalist for Fleetwood Mac slows things down with a sweet country-styled ballad.

Bloodstream/Stateless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3b1CDLsiGU

A sustained piano just sounds great, even more so when accompanied by a clean bass and drums track.

Guantanamera (Guantanamo Girl)/Sandpipers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1anurhbeg

Beautiful rendition of an old Cuban folk song.

Sacred Ground/Craig Chaquico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiutK-vhbxI

Acoustic nirvana.

Never Be Lonely/The Feeling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv2xk1V_q9Y

These guys are awesome instrumentalists.

Dog Days Are Over/Florence + The Machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny4deVFsYuo

NWOBS (New Wave Of British Soul), I like to call it. The chorus is damn catchy <hums along>.

Delta Dawn/Tanya Tucker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSZINm3GKc

No, Monica doesn't sing it better in Friends.

Bluesy Tuesday

Good Day For The Blues/Ruth Brown  (She was one of the hard-hitters of the rhythm and blues sound of the fifties. The song has an awesome guitar solo towards the end.)

Red House/Jimi Hendrix  (He played and sang the blues better than he played any other genre.)

Pride And Joy/Stevie Ray Vaughan  (The walking bassline)

Southern Girl/Incubus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KyaS9Ov5q0

Bands like Incubus and Red Hot Chili Peppers define the bass-heavy sound.

Underneath The Sycamore/Death Cab For Cutie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hex4xDAydDk

My favourite track off their new album. Why, you ask? Because it sounds like them the most. I'm sorry, but with this band, I am that touchy.

Mojo Pin/Jeff Buckley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bawbk71Qh_g

The voice, the guitar, the song - surreal.

Great Albums (System Of A Down/System Of A Down)

Year : 1998

If you've heard some of the songs off their later, more prominent albums like Toxicity and Mesmerize/Hypnotize you've probably made up your mind about them already - an explosive, politically motivated bunch of nutcases who sound really low-key one moment and wreak havoc on your eardrums the next. Now if I tell you that their debut album makes the latter stuff seem almost tame in comparison, you can imagine the aural onslaught in store. Don't dismiss it as some kind of fancy noise, though. Malakian (guitar) comes through with a few riffs that would give many metal guitarists (I shall refrain from taking names here) a run for their money. And of course, this is one of the tightest bands around.

Personal picks : "Suggestions", "Spiders", "Peephole" and "Darts"

Wichita Lineman/James Taylor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JoXKpHKgUg

Awesome cover of a classic tune. The song was originally recorded by country & western legend Glen Campbell.

Know/Nick Drake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q58IHYJq8W4

Doesn't get much simpler than this. Acoustic brilliance.

Distortion Therapy

World So Cold/Mudvayne
Jessie/Paw
Home/Staind

No Quarter/Led Zeppelin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKOngTfTMs0

My personal favourite out of the entire Zeppelin catalogue. Primarily written by keyboardist/bassist John Paul Jones, it is also their most experimental composition (live versions would often stretch to more than 20 minutes).

Thought: Famous children's choir parts in rock music



I read recently that the (now grown up) children who had lent their voices to the song "Another Brick In The Wall" by Pink Floyd had tried to sue the band for royalties. Although they lost the court case, the truth is that had it not been for the choir part in the song, it wouldn't have been the hugely successful hit song it has become. Check it out,

Another Brick In The Wall/Pink Floyd  (Towards the end, just before Gilmour's epic solo.)

Some of my other choir favourites include

School's Out (For The Summer)/Alice Cooper  (Outro. The song ends with the sound of a dismissal bell.)

Youth Of The Nation/POD  (Outro. Not really a children's choir. Used to be one of my favourite songs to sing along to.)

Aeroplane/Red Hot Chili Peppers  (Outro. Bassist Flea's daughter too is among the singers.)

In A Big Country/Big Country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vhebiuuLqU

One of the stars of the class of 1987/'88.