"I Put a Spell on You"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You (1956)

"I don't even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death."

Alto and Baritone Saxophone for sure. Let's assume a Tenor as well. In between the chromatic reeds runs you can hear the drums better. It's mostly brushes on snare drum, tapped instead of stirred. Also a banjo. Possibly a guitar, but I think it's a banjo. The sax solo around 1:15 really wails. It's so short, in concert that would have gone on for two minutes by itself. Instead, the whole track is only 2:30. The vocals are what made the song famous. He screams and moans and grunts through the number. In its day, it was banned and called "cannibalistic". Hawkins maintained that he never meant the song to sound like that, but that producer Arnold Maxin brought in food and liquor to the recording studio, and they had a party. He claims that he blacked out and doesn't remember recording the song, and in fact had to learn how to sing it in the style of the record, from the record, so that he could tour with it. An entire act was built around the song, and the scary voodoo man who sang it, predating Alice Cooper, Kiss, and other 'shock-rock' stars by 20 years.

"Working Class Hero"

John Lennon - Working Class Hero (1970)

Lennon's first post Beatles album produced few hits, but this folk style song still gets covered.

Just a poet and an acoustic guitar. Channeling Dylan channeling Guthrie, Lennon here tells of the plight of the working man. He snears, and sings, and speaks, and beats on the guitar to get his point across. At the time, most of the press on the song made a lot of the fact that he curses twice. I didn't even notice. I did notice that the guitar, and his voice sound a little different around 1:26. then back around 1:48.

"Nothing Compares 2 U"

Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U (1989)

I remember being told that this song was about her mother, or her son, after their death. It was written by Prince and it's about post break-up depression.

Alright, starting with the backing track rather than the vocals. This sounds like somebody using a Casio keyboard on the 'strings' setting. Try to ignore the drum track, just focus on the string part. It is completely in unison, only changes on the one or the three, and the three only rarely. The personnel listing includes a conductor, and a line for string arraignments, and no keyboard player so I guess I should give them the benefit of the doubt and say it's a string section, but I just can't. That's a keyboard, and I know I shouldn't care, but I do, it doesn't sound good. The piano part is subtle and rarely used, just like the choir, I like it. I wish I could say the same about the drum part. I swear someone recorded 8 bars and the producer just said 'OK loop it". It's so boring and monotonous. I like the effect of giving this big sweeping almost church-like song a little swing, but let the drums breath man. There is a very brief violin part just before 3:00. It gives us all a break between verses, and we need it, I like it.

Vocally, I've got nothing negative to say. How can you? This woman could sing. She felt this song. More importantly, she makes you feel this song over 20 years later. We need that break around 3:00 because she has given us everything, and we need to breath, but just when we think we can... She gets a little mad, she gets a little crazy, she gets a little accepting, she gets a whole lot of sad in. I can't watch the video, I had to link to something with just the lyrics, her face... You just want to pick her up and hold her. Not that she ever wanted protection, but here, before the storm was unleashed, before Sinatra and Madonna and a Madison Square Garden full of people told her to go to hell, you just want to say 'I remember this, and thank you'.

"Northern Sky"

Nick Drake - Northern Sky (1970)

Described by NME in 2009 as "the greatest English love song of modern times".

Nick Drake - Northern Sky. Watch more top selected videos about: Nick Drake

I've listened to some Nick Drake. So have you, a Volkswagen commercial ten years ago made sure he rose in the popular consciousness. This has the same backbone as many of the other songs we've heard; it's the same tuning to his guitar, and he's got the same whispering/murmuring/telling-your-heart secrets voice he usually does. What makes the song special are the differences. There are three different keyboard instruments at work here. Laying down a bass line the others dance on is an organ. The piano is the one doing most of the light touch work. It plays the fewest notes and yet has the loudest sound in the mix. They use it to do accents. The interesting keyboard is the celesta. It's an upright piano looking instrument, that sounds like a glockenspiel mixed with a vibraphone. You can hear it through the whole song, it's the one that sounds like church bells ringing. All three keyboards were played by John Cale, formerly of The Velvet Underground. Another important piece of why this song is so enjoyable is the drums. Very few sources mention the oddity of drums on this album. Nick Drake doesn't often use drummers, and in fact they are almost non existent on his final album Pink Moon. In this song the drums are nothing crazy, just a steady beat that keeps the song going, high hat, snare, maybe some tambourine or a wooden block. The drummer was Mike Kowalski, who was at the time, the drummer for The Beach Boys. Even more unsung is bass player Dave Pegg. His bass playing in this song is very background, but he was a pioneer in the electric folk sound for bass players. He went on to join Jethro Tull in the 80's. This song's got quite the pedigree.

"I Predict a Riot"

Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot (2004)

Spooky for two seconds, then a strong, grungy, fuzzy guitar intro; this song opens like a strong angry rock anthem. The lyrics support this. The focus of the song is the goings on in clubs and underground bars in Leeds including policemen, half-naked women, people getting in fights, and ultimately the titular riot. I'm just not buying the vocals.

Musically, you can't fault anything. The intro I already mentioned is stellar. The drums are a driving snare heavy beat. The bass is great, he never really sits on one note for too long, other than the chorus, he's playing on every beat and that helps push everything forward with a lot of momentum. It's just that the vocals are not quite right for this. He's not angry, or sneering, or even slightly mad. He's well over 3 minutes into the song before I hear any urgency in his voice, otherwise he's just singing pop, and fairly clear pop as well. The video doesn't help. It's about a pillow fight for goodness sake.

"Another Girl, Another Planet"

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet (1978)

Another one hit wonder by a British band. At least this one is a great song.

Really good Punk/New Wave song. 3 Minutes long, perfect length. Rhythm guitar starts us off with a simple progression, hidden in the back of the mix. When the bass guitar starts in playing a few notes to bottom out the chords, the rhythm guitar adds a little bit of complexity in the strumming. The drums sneak up on you, kind of a rolling sound, with heavy bass drum and tom. By the time all the instruments are in we are almost 30 seconds into this short track and we've got a serious dance-able pop sound. The way the guitars interact around :40 makes it clear that this is not a polished band with the backing of millions of dollars, this is a couple of lads with a song and some guitars, and it may not be perfect, but you love it.

The vocals come in just before the first minute. He's not a professional either. His voice is nasal and his "flow" is off. the lyrics seem to just sort show up on the track when he feels like, rather than rhythmically along with the melody. He's behind the beat, then he's stumbling through a line with too many syllables trying to stay ahead of the beat; it's odd, but considering the lyrics are about drug use, it's a style that fits.

The guitar solo that starts at 1:45 and dominates the track is a real highlight. It's 30 seconds in a 3 minute long song. It's kind of got a surf rock thing (so do the drums later) going on. Actually, with the British vocals, space rock/surf rock sound, really short length, and vague drug references, this song could have easily been a hit a decade before it was written.

"Mr. Tambourine Man"

The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)

The less said of Shatner, the better.

Lots of interesting trivia on this one. Bob Dylan wrote and recorded this song, but it was The Byrds that took it to Number 1. Upon hearing their version, Dylan excitedly became interested in "going electric", which he did later that year. The band was not interested in recording it, even after changing up the beat and making it rock. The song is considered one of the prototypical songs of the Folk Rock style. Jangling guitars, poetic lyrics, all that 60s swirl coming together. Even though The Bird would eventually go on to be on of the most respected bands of the 60s, at the time, their record company didn't really trust them. For this, their first single, The only member of the band playing an instrument was Roger McGuinn on his 12 string guitar. The rest of the instruments were played by studio session extraordinaries, The Wrecking Crew. The vocals are all members of The Byrds.

The recording is in Stereo. The bass lives in the left side with the guitars coming out of the right. The tambourine also only shows up on the left side. Drums and vocals are mixed in the middle. The lead and harmony vocals are "soft". I don't mean quiet I mean they feel like a warm blanket, or something like that. They are the opposite of edgy. Most of the song is a relaxed folky thing, but the drum runs at 1:30 and 1:47 as well as the lead guitar and bass duo at the beginning and ending of the song give a hint to the edge that the 60s had as well.