Acclaimed Music Forums

244. Billie Holiday – Don’t Explain - 6
245. The Guess Who – No Time - 7
246. Bruce Springsteen – Where the Bands Are - 9.5 [from my list]
247. Cold Chisel – Forever Now - 7
248. Emmy the Great - MIA - 9.5 [from my list]

Rob wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:58 am248. Emmy the Great - MIA

3

248. Emmy the Great - MIA - 6

239. King Tuff – Loser’s Wall
Year: 2012
Album: King Tuff
5- Didn't quite LIKE it right now but feels like it has the potential to grow on me over time
240. Big Star – You Can’t Have Me
Year: 1978
Album: Third/Sister Lovers
6-Really ODD sound for the power poppers what with the honking sax and burbling synth. Hook is OK but needs more "oomph".
241. The Pretty Reckless – Take Me Down
Year: 2016
Album: Who You Selling For
5-Pleasant but hook's a bit generic. Like the organ and the bit with the triangle.
242. Belle and Sebastian – I Want the World to Stop
Year: 2010
Album: Belle and Sebastian Write About Love
7-Now THIS is more like it. Snappy hook, handclaps, the arrangement just keeps building. Liked this one on first play and I expect it to only increase.
243. Phil Collins – You’ll Be In My Heart
Year: 1999
Album: Tarzan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
3-Meh
244. Billie Holiday – Don’t Explain
Year: 1946
Released as a single
4-Lyric didn't do it for me despite Holiday's usual great vocals

This is the second time Lee Perry and his Upsetters upset this game, this time with a song ranking at #6445 on Acclaimed Music:

249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread
Year: 1978
Album: Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread
Biggest Fan: Antonius (#309)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread - 4
Sounds like a nice meal, but the slow plodding pace of this track was not to my taste

244. Billie Holiday – Don’t Explain Smooth classic jazz track with this incredible voice, that does everything. 7/10

245. The Guess Who – No Time it's crazy, I didn't know that song. I love the guitar a lot ! 7,5/10

246. Bruce Springsteen – Where the Bands Are I'm still having a hard time with this classic American rock. 4,5/10

247. Cold Chisel – Forever Now I didn't know the band... and I can't say that the song made me want to go further with them. I'm missing a little something. 5,5/10

248. Emmy the Great - MIA This quiet little song is not bad. The melody is good, the instrumentation is nice 6,5/10

249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread she's super musically pleasant, I prefer not to understand the lyrics. The voice is superb. 8/10

242. Belle and Sebastian – I Want the World to Stop: 6
243. Phil Collins – You’ll Be In My Heart: 4
244. Billie Holiday – Don’t Explain: 7

Safetycat wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:17 am 249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread - 4
Sounds like a nice meal, but the slow plodding pace of this track was not to my taste

I agree, it's annoying - 2.

Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread: 7

Man, this song sounds spaced-out. It's probably the most druggy reggae song I've yet heard and with that genre that is saying something. It grew on me after a couple of listens.

1 | The Guess Who | No Time | 8
2 | Billie Holiday | Don't Explain | 8
3 | Bruce Springsteen | Where the Bands Are | 7
4 | Emmy the Great | MIA | 7
5 | Lee "Scratch" Perry & The Upsetters | Roast Fish & Corn Bread | 6
6 | Cold Chisel | Forever Now | 5
7 | Phil Collins | You'll Be In My Heart | 2

244. Billie Holiday – Don’t Explain 6
245. The Guess Who – No Time 9
246. Bruce Springsteen – Where the Bands Are 4
247. Cold Chisel – Forever Now 5
248. Emmy the Great - MIA 6.5

Cold Chisel - Forever Now 5 This starts off quite atmospheric while still being unmistakably 80s in production but can't sustain this mystique as soon as the whinnying vocals present themselves (I'm going to get such a justifiable kicking on here after the 2021 poll in revenge for some of my comments I've made about other people's choices!)

Emmy the Great - MIA 8 Apparently the second sweetly sung folk-tinged song about car crashes in successive months of Biggest Fan (Shark Smile being August's contingent), I could see myself being cynical about the naive sound of this track on a bad day but it burrowed into my affections quickly, even before I realised I was listening to the acoustic version. The flashes of images- the blood-stained shirt, the date she'll never go on- and the hooks are still strong enough to stand out when unplugged. The brief instrumental cameos on the album version make the song sigh that little bit more.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry & the Upsetters - Roast Fish & Corn Bread 8 I went to see Lee Perry in 2010 when a local band I knew were the support act- it was sad to see one of the most sizable figures in reggae doing little than admiring the badges on his jacket while he shouted occasional ad-libs over the music that he'd produced so innovatively but his shambolic charisma still had the crowd, including me, lapping up his every move. There's the same kind of perverse appeal about this track, which has him helping further dub's approaches to space and reverb at the same time as it's drowned out by mooing noises, the only thing stopping this from being a 9 in my book.

This song is bubbling under on AM:

250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)
Year: 1985
Album: St. Elmo’s Fire
Biggest Fan: ordinaryperson (#494)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

Rob wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:39 am John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)

3

John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)

8

The lyrics are (mostly) focused not on Brat Pack clichés, but on paraplegic athlete Rick Hansen, unrelated to the movie. Transcendent cheese.

John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion): 8

Yes, this 8 is ridiculously high for a song like this, but this is something of a guilty pleasure of mine. There is a lot here to laugh at: the over-zealous singing, the lyrics and even the way the movie title St. Elmo's Fire seems to be randomly inserted into the chorus to be shouted for no reason. For years I also though Parr at one point sang "I can see the panda's fly", but it turned out that what he saw flying were banners.

And that is a disappointment. Most songs can't survive mentioning flying panda's, but this is an exception. The go-for-broke exuberance of this song requires lyrics that are larger than life and perhaps even some silly lines. Parr perhaps thought he was singing a song for the triumph of the human spirit, but to me it works simpler than that: it is a great work-out energizer. This song makes me want to jump and run around like an idiot and is perhaps a rare one that makes me want to go to the gym. Among anthemic energizers with a double dose of cheese it only has to rank Eye of the Tiger and the Pokémon Theme Song as it's superiors. It's just glorious!

Never saw the film, by the way.

Rob wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:39 am This song is bubbling under on AM:

250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)
Year: 1985
Album: St. Elmo’s Fire
Biggest Fan: ordinaryperson (#494)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

6/10 for the cheese factor alone.

The Brian Eno song of the same name is a 9/10 btw.

250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) - 7

A classic "I heard this on the radio at some point in the past and liked it but never heard it again" type of song. Absolutely ridiculous, I really like it.

Today already the third song from The Netherlands here. Are we that popular around the globe? The song is even bubbling:

251. The Nits - Nescio
Year: 1983
Album: Omsk
Biggest Fan: BobPatience (unranked)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

Rob wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2019 7:05 am251. The Nits - Nescio

2

Be prepared for some more Dutch tracks in the post-2021 Biggest Fan as I can't see people sharing my clamour for Noisia!

The Nits - Nescio 7 It does overreach for sophistication, especially in the Italian (?) section, but otherwise would fit in with similar trends in Britain at the time with its jazzy flourishes and unobtrusive synths. I like its refusal to stay in one place as well.

Rob wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:16 pm John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion): 8
Among anthemic energizers with a double dose of cheese it only has to rank Eye of the Tiger and the Pokémon Theme Song as it's superiors.

Surely the most scarily inspirational 80s movie song is You're the Best AROUND! I've not even seen The Karate Kid but that shit is still tight! St. Elmo's Fire gets a 3 for not being YTBA

The Nits - Nescio: 6
Never been too sure about this one. It has a lot more atmosphere than a lot of similar 80's pop and the instrumentals are nice, but it also feels like The Nits are trying too hard to make their own Vienna (the Ultravox hit from just a few years before). The Nits have songs with more characters (I voted for the epic In the Dutch Mountains myself).

Rob wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2019 4:26 pm The Nits - Nescio: 6
Never been too sure about this one. It has a lot more atmosphere than a lot of similar 80's pop and the instrumentals are nice, but it also feels like The Nits are trying too hard to make their own Vienna (the Ultravox hit from just a few years before). The Nits have songs with more characters (I voted for the epic In the Dutch Mountains myself).

Nescio is a song I don’t hate but I don’t love. 6 sounds about right...but I’m glad you mentioned In The Dutch Mountains. Now that’s I song I love. Not sure how many voters it got last time, but it just might get another next time around!

251. The Nits - Nescio - 5

Proto-shoegaze or just a weird mix? It's an interesting song, with vocals lost in the instrumentation slowly getting louder until they're the focal point. I can see why it would be liked but it doesn't spark joy for me.

246. Bruce Springsteen – Where the Bands Are 7.25
247. Cold Chisel – Forever Now 3
248. Emmy the Great - MIA 7
249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread 8 (#6143 all-time)
250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) 2
251. The Nits - Nescio 6.5

Thanks!

249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread 6
250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) 3
251. The Nits - Nescio 4

243. Phil Collins - You'll Be In My Heart 1
244. Billie Holiday - Don't Explain 6
245. The Guess Who - No Time 6
246. Bruce Springsteen – Where the Bands Are 4
247. Cold Chisel – Forever Now 5
248. Emmy the Great - MIA 6
249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread 8
250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) 2
251. The Nits - Nescio 4

Today a song with a cool title:

252. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix)
Year: 1989
Released as a single
Biggest Fan: Sonofsamiam (#728)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

Rob wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2019 6:39 am252. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix)

5

Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix): 8
This is a very fun hip hop track. Pure joy in the mix. Very different than the original too, which is less than half the length and reminds me more of a restrained Run-DMC song.

252. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix) - 7

Love hip hop/rap when it's got a good instrumental sound to it, and this is a good example.

253. High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered
Year: 2002
Album: Surrounded by Thieves
Biggest Fan: Krurze (#273)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered: 6
Like a lot of metal from the nineties onward it is both frustrating and rewarding. It starts great with the extensive drum intro giving us reason to suspect something big and bad is drawing near. When the guitars enter they are not the most powerful I have heard in the genre by a long shot, but they are effective. The drums get more swift and loud and the sound is deliciously wrathful. But then the vocals enter and, well, I never can take these type of growling vocals seriously. I feel they try to be menacing and demonic, but to me they are so cartoonish that they always break the mood for me and I have to keep myself from laughing. Metalheads will disagree, but for me the genre died a little when grunting became the standard way of singing. To be fair, this isn't full-on grunting and the voice is somewhat buried in the mix, which means I can ignore it more than usual. I can't understand what he is singing about, but that is just as well, as the one thing worse in much modern metal than the singing are the lyrics (the glory of suicide, satanism and the joys of being an edge lord have never quite revealed their appeal to me). So all is well enough, but all the three times I listened to it - spread throughout the day - I found my attention evaporating before the last minute starts. Before it is all good, but I guess the thing is bit too repetitive to really reach the highs of the best metal songs.

Rob wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:42 am253. High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered

1

Please!

Make it stop!

I'll tell you where the microfilm is, Anything. Just turn that music off!

245. The Guess Who – No Time: 4
246. Bruce Springsteen – Where the Bands Are: 5
247. Cold Chisel – Forever Now: 5
248. Emmy the Great - MIA: 7
249. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Roast Fish & Corn Bread: 7
250. John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion): 2
251. The Nits - Nescio: 7
252. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix: 5
253. High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered: 2

252. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix): 4
253. High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered: 4

Thanks!

254. The Velvet Underground – New Age
Year: 1970
Album: Loaded
Biggest Fan: Brad (#495)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

Lots of great songs in the last few days, so time for me to vote again!

John Parr – St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion): Of course I've known this song for a long time, but I never knew what it was called or who performed it. So thanks Rob and ordinaryperson! The intro and chorus are as iconic as it gets. It's a radio favourite of mine and gets a decidedly unironic 8!

Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix): Heard it for the first time, but this is a great fun rap track and gets a 7.

High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered: I get what you're saying about this one, Rob. Metal tends to be hit or miss for me, too. But for me it all comes together here in an incredibly ferocious wall of sound that fills me with tremendous amounts of energy any time i listen to it. That's enough for a 9.

The Velvet Underground – New Age: Has recently surfaced as a personal highlight on Loaded, especially the last third ("It's the beginniiiiiiiing......."). Great closer for side one, gets an 8.

Rob wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2019 8:56 am254. The Velvet Underground – New Age

2

The Velvet Underground – New Age: 5

Much of what The Velvet Underground did can count on a high score for me, but not this one; perhaps the weakest track on Loaded and consequently of their first four albums. Say about Lou Reed's voice what you what, but I think his sardonic tone would have fit here more than Doug Yule's fine but rather non-descript singing. Though I'm not sure if changing the singer would do that much to save this song. It just isn't a very captivating piece of music; rather shallow and surprisingly for these guy also feels a bit empty.

Obviously I disagree.

The Velvet Underground – New Age: 9.5 (now #305 all-time).

Thanks!

The Velvet Underground – New Age

5

When I first started reading record reviews, Loaded was "the other Velvet Underground classic," but I ended up considering it the weakest of their 4 albums, due to the relative sonic normalcy, for one thing; Doug Yule, for another. Lou Reed, Peel Slowly and See box set: "No slur on Doug, but he didn't understand the lyrics for a second." But then, I don’t remember liking the song significantly more when Tori Amos covered it.

Today a massively popular song, with over 200.000.000 streams on Spotify. Ignored by critics though:

255. Daniel Ceasar, featuring Kali Uchis – Get You
Year: 2017
Album: Freudian
Biggest Fan: Henrik (#26)

Don’t forget you can always vote for earlier songs or change your vote!

255. Daniel Ceasar, featuring Kali Uchis – Get You 6
254. The VU - New Age 7.5 Love that song, I like the melodic side of the VU too

252. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix: 6.5
253. High on Fire – Hung, Drawn & Quartered: 6

Daniel Ceasar, featuring Kali Uchis – Get You: 3

I should be honest here: this never stood a chance with me. This type of neo-soul belongs to a type of music that just has zero effect on me. The extremely slow and languorous pacing combined with Lothario lyrics just never seem to add up to something that grabs my interest. I liked Kali Uchis album last year, but the playfulness of that one is misschien here (not strange as Daniel Ceasar admitted that he writes lines for women that he wants them say to him; it's never going to be something personal for the women performing them).

Daniel Ceasar, featuring Kali Uchis – Get You 10

Today I wouldn’t put this song quite as high as all time #26(!). I just chose not to nominate it for the overlooked 3 game although I could have - the song is actually bubbling under on AM, as a 2016 song.

Anyway, after many years of following critics and listening mainly to rock music, during the 2010s it got clear to me what genres I have grown up to like the most. Smooth soul is definitely one of these genres and my preference for this sensual style was perhaps at its height at the end of 2016, when this song hit me. It’s never too late for love.

Daniel Ceasar, featuring Kali Uchis – Get You: 6

Sorry I haven't kept up with this game cos of work.

Rob wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2019 8:44 am255. Daniel Ceasar, featuring Kali Uchis – Get You

4