Tim’s B-List

1. Becker & Stuhlen ‘Mellotron’ – This is a track from a rare library album of vintage synthesizers. Sublime and trippy.
2. Butthole Surfers  ‘Chewin George Lucas’ Chocolate’ & ‘Goofy’s Concern’ – expert punk nihilsim.
3. The Books ‘The Lemon Of Pink’ – schizophrenic sample-magic. Also notable: ‘A Cold Freezin’ Night’ (amazing video!
4. The Beastie Boys ‘Oh Word!’ – So many amazing tracks from the Beasties – I love MCA’s sections. Always sing this when I’m in NY.
5. Biffy Clyro ‘Questions And Answers’ – Scottish. These boy keep you waiting and then drop the magic – check the BVs at 2:14 then the harmony – oh yes! All this and an album cover by Milo Manara.
6. Beck ‘Beercan’ – I shortlisted a bunch of Beck – mostly from Stereopathetic Soulmanure, but nothing can beat his rhymes on Beercan. Zeitgeist 1994.
7. Blind Mr Jones ‘Mesa’ – Sweet shoegaze from a relatively unappreciated album of great songs.
8. Big Star ‘Blue Moon (demo)’ – Again – so many to choose from, but this demo has been breaking my heart of late.
9. Busta Rhymes (feat. Mysikal) ‘Iz They Wildin Wid Us?’ – A rare hip-hop post from me – Busta Rhymes production is insane and this song is hilarious. Be sure to listen until Busta’s section 1:39 – 2:13.
10. The Byrds ‘Draft Morning’ – So many Byrds tracks could’ve made this list, but this won out over ‘What’s Happening?’
11. Boards Of Canada ‘ROYGBIV’ – This song blows my mind every time – delicately poised between whimsical, fun and utterly devastating.
12. Billy Bragg ‘A New England’ – Just great.
13. The Breeders ‘Off You’ – Kelley Deal brings it home [swoon].
14. Blur ‘This Is A Low’ – Check this live video. Graham Coxon is high in my pantheon of guitar gods.
15. Bob Hund ‘100 år’ – 100 år är ingenting för mig.
16. The Bonzo Dog Band ‘Quiet Talks and Summer Walks (Unpeeled Version)’ – A relatively straight and beautiful song from the original Novelty Band, inspirations to Monty Python. Neil Innes on vocals and the inimitable Vivian Stanshall on recorder. For contrast check out ‘The Intro And The Outro’ and ‘Big Shot’.
17. The Beach Boys ‘Little Bird’ – Just one of my favourite songs of all time, courtesy of Dennis.
18. Bee Gees ‘Wind Of Change’ – I watched a documentary recently that made me despise The Bee Gees – this song makes me forget my hatred.
19. Björk ‘Army Of Me (Suckerpunch Remix)‘ – Björk is 100% brilliant, and 90% unlistenable. This is part of the 10%. Particularly loved this remix from the ‘Suckerpunch’ movie.
20. Bad News ‘Warriors Of Ghengis Khan’ – The first Bad News TV show was shot before Spinal Tap – both are brilliant but very different parodies of Heavy Metal. Produced (and played in places) by Brian May the eponymous first album is a staple of 1980s British humor. Highly influenced by ‘The Troggs Tapes’ and 100% profane. Very funny, very metal.

Mike’s Bs

Songs (in no particular order)

1. Carla Bley—”3/4“
2. Brothers Johnson—”Strawberry Letter #23“
3. Tony Bennett—”I Left My Heart in San Francisco“
4. Bon Iver—”Flume“
5. The Bee Gees—”Nights on Broadway“
6. Bonnie Prince Billy—”I See a Darkness“
7. Johnny Burnette—”Train Kept a Rollin’“
8. Beck—”Lonesome Tears“
9. Anne Briggs—”Go Your Way“
10. Kate Bush—“Mother Stands for Comfort”
11. David Bowie—“Heroes”
12. Toni Braxton—“Un-Break My Heart”
13. Lindsay Buckingham—“Surrender the Rain”
14. Buffalo Springfield—“Mr. Soul”
15. Buzzcocks—“Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”
16. The Byrds–“What’s Happening?“

Albums (in no particular order)

1. The Beatles—White Album
2. Kenny Baker—Plays Bill Monroe (“Lonesome Moonlight Waltz“, “Brown County Breakdown“,  “Jerusalem Ridge“). Totally transcends genre, but “progressive rock” works as well as “bluegrass” as a genre descriptor.
3. Richard Buckner—Bloomed (“Desire“, “Blue and Wonder“). One of the great guitar records of all-time, no percussion on the album, just a whole bunch of acoustic strings that makes you wonder why anyone country bothers with drums, a voice that resonates in your bones, and lyrics as true as anything this side of Dylan.
4. Anthony Braxton—Willisau Quartet (not online)
5. Tim Berne—Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) (not online)
6. Harry Belafonte—Swing Dat Hammer (“Bald Headed Woman“). As far from the light calypso/pop confectionary that dominated his career as you can get. Here are classic and incredibly obscure chain-gang and work songs. Tender, delicate and sensitive (Diamond Joe, Another Man Done Gone) to impassioned and powerful (Rocks and Gravel), Belafonte sings with incredible sensitivity or strength throughout, a perfect setting for his remarkable voice. Soul shattering.
7. Black Sabbath—Paranoid (“Fairies Wear Boots“)
8. Jack Bruce—Harmony Row (“Can You Follow?“, “Escape to the Royal Wood (on Ice)“, “Folk Song“)
9. Beach Boys—Smile (“Surf’s Up“)
10. David Byrne—Music for The Knee Plays (“Tree“, “In the Future“)

Tim’s Leaps

Sorry I’m late to the party – just got back in the country! I must admit that I found the ‘Leap’ concept pretty tricky – all the important leaps are the really obvious ones, but after reading all the posted lists I’m feeling inspired and excited to check out some of these seminal albums.

Leap Albums:

1. Screamadelica (Primal Scream) – With the chance intervention of newbie remix DJ Andy Wetherall, Primal Scream transformed themselves from  arch black-leather rockers to eclectic psychedelic house gurus. Anyone who took drugs in the UK in the 90s has a very special relationship with this album.
2. Fantasma (Cornelius) – This was the breakthrough album for Jap Pop in the UK. The production, humor, minimalism, choppy editing and sampling was unlike anything I’d ever heard. Keigo Oyomada made art-rock fun again – very very cool music. 
3. Ace Of Spades (Motorhead) – lumped in with the ‘New Wave Of British Heavy Metal’ Motorhead’s 4th album is unparalleled in rock music. While there are plenty of albums that influenced the later thrash scene, Motorhead were the first to play so unrelentingly fast! 
4. Kings Of The Wild Frontier (Adam & The Ants) – Early Adam Ant material is dark and edgy art-punk, inaccessible to most – but manager Malcolm McLaren’s bizarre additions of Burundi drumming, Vivienne Westwood pirate costumes and Native American yodelling transformed Adam into the biggest star of British pop in the 1980s. Yet for all its pop filliness, this is a brilliant and weird album with some of the most incredible vocals I’ve ever heard.
5. Debut (Björk) – the Sugarcubes were interesting, then this album came out and everyone realised that in fact it was just Björk that was interesting; actually she was fascinating, confusing and mesmerizing! 
6. Omslag: Martin Kamm (Bob Hund) – Bob Hund are the best-known and most beloved band in Sweden (after ABBA of course!) Their second album ‘Omlsag: Martin Kamm’ put them on the map with its quirky pop hooks amid the signature madness. The album actually has no title, ‘Omlsag: Martin Kamm’ translates as ‘Graphic Design: Martin Kamm’ and the inside-out white card CD sleeve features a black and white portrait of the eponymous designer. 
7. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (The Byrds) – an obvious choice, but I couldn’t omit it – I’m always stunned to think that Roger McGuinn was set on making an instrumental Moog album at this point in The Byrds career, but was open-minded enough to let Gram Parsons join the band and create the first country-rock album. Its a shame the record company insisted on McGuinn replacing many of Parsons’ vocals (his demo versions are my favourite), but its still an incredible album. A massive leap for one band, and an even bigger leap for country music.
8. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Pavement) –  in the wake of Nirvana, there were suddenly a lot of very contrived and over-produced bands in the charts. Steven Malkmus’ sardonic and effortless lyrics on the singles ‘Cut Your Hair’, ‘Gold Soundz’ and ‘Rangelife’ ushered in something new that became known as ‘Slacker’, though the likes of Beck and Eels never came close to Pavement’s irreverent and strung-out sound. 
9. Reveille (Deerhoof) –  When I first heard it, Deerhoof’s 4th album was the most modern and alien thing I’d ever heard. A decade later it still is.
10. Too Rye Aye (Dexy’s Midnight Runners) – considered a one-hit-wonder in the US, Dexy’s are actually a pretty well respected band in the UK. Their switch to violins and banjos was a huge shift from the band’s former incarnation as a working-man’s Northern Soul band (check out ‘Geno‘.) 

 

Leap Tracks

1. I Feel Love (Donna Summer) – after feeling rather disappointed with Daft Punk’s new album, I put on some Giorgio Moroder and felt much better. ‘I Feel Love’ was the track that took electronic music onto the dancefloor – it’s every bit as futuristic and exciting today as in 1977!
2. The Electrician (The Walker Brothers) – Scott Walker’s strange career has peaked and trough-ed between pop, easy listening and disquieting avant-garde. Perhaps the most unexpected point in his career was a contractual reunion with the other Walker Brothers for the 1978 album Nite Flights, the highlight of which is Scott Walker’s ‘The Electrician’. 
3. Fool’s Gold 9:53 (Stone Roses) – the Manchester indie scene in the late 80s rather clumsily merged funk, hip-hop and psychedelic guitar-pop – the Stone Roses’ Fools Gold took it one step further – 10 minutes of grooves and hooks done in inimitable style. The Roses never did any advertising or interviews during their early career which made this 12″ single extremely mysterious and compelling. 
4. Painbirds (Sparklehorse) – ‘Good Morning Spider’ should have been on my album list, but its represented here by its devastating second track. Mark Linkous’ writing and production style were revolutionary. 15 years later I’m still hearing the Sparklehorse sound on new indie releases. A massive leap for music production, and a brilliant song to boot.
5. Doctor Who (Delia Derbyshire) – the original theme from the BBC TV series is one of the most important pieces of early electronic music, and the masterwork of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. I won’t go into the incredible way in which this piece was composed and recorded, but I highly recommend that you watch this brilliant documentary about Delia and her counterparts at the BBC in the early 60s! 
6. Stone Cold Crazy (BBC Session version) (Queen) – often credited as the first ‘thrash’ song, Stone Cold Crazy established Queen as a very serious and heavy band.
7. Anarchy In The UK (Sex Pistols) – its hard to say that the song was a leap for the band, as they recorded so little, but this was a huge leap from the US punk scene that spawned it. “I only like the Pistols – everything else is boring”.
8. Blue Monday (New Order) – Until Blue Monday, New Order were still recognizable as Joy Division – the transition was slow and uneasy – but this song marked Bernard Sumner’s triumphant grasp of pop music, production and songcraft. 
9. Freakscene (Dinosaur Jr.) – it was very hard not to put Nirvana on this list – their innovations are countless and brilliant, but including them would mean including The Pixies, Husker Du, Mudhoney, Butthole Surfers et al. For me, Freakscene is the song that eclipses the proto-grunge scene – snarly and devil-may-care, dirty, funny, profane and just plain cool.
10. Somethin’ Else (Eddie Cochran) – Eddie was in danger of becoming a bit more of a pop star than a rocker but this song, and particularly its production cements his legend as one of the great rockers. The riff at the start of Somethin’ Else is among the heaviest in rock.