Acclaimed Music Forums

974. The Temptations – Don’t Look Back - 7
975. James Brown – Out of Sight - 6.5
976. U2 – So Cruel - 5.5
977. Avenged Sevenfold – Seize the Day - 5.5
978. Steve Earle – Fearless Heart - 6
979. Carly Rae Jepsen – All That - 6
980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It - 5

Hymie wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:53 pm

Rob wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:35 am980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It

2 this is putrid.

Hymie going out on Bury Me With It

979. Carly Rae Jepsen – All That - 6
Solid, but a bit slow for me.
980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It - 7
Often I don't like MM but in this case it works for me

Just a little over a months since their first appearance The Drifters are here again, taking Clyde McPhatter with them. Ironically it is a Hymie. I will still post his entries if they come up, because they really add something to the diversity of the list. I doubt anyone minds?

981. The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart
Year: 1954
Album: Rock & Roll: Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters
Biggest Fan: Hymie (#550)

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

980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It: 7

Thanks!

Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It: 8
Great lyrics! I also love the heavy sound. Really a band whose work I should take a dive into.

The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart: 6
The few Drifters songs I know are from the Ben E. King era. Clyde McPhatter has a very different voice. Not as smooth and more openly emotional. I don't think the song is too special, but the singing is quite good.

982. Dean Blunt - Papi
Year: 2013
Album: The Redeemer
Biggest Fan: Jackson (#624)

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

982. Dean Blunt - Papi - 5 The only value of this song, really, is the Pink Floyd sample. Not much else to say
981. The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart - 5. Nothing special, classic Hymie. I like to have some of this style of music from time to time, but wouldn't choose to listen to it.
980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It - 8. Nice angular indie rock, Modest Mouse can be hit and miss, this is a hit.
979. Carly Rae Jepsen – All That - 4 - Too nice, too poppy, not very interesting
978. Steve Earle – Fearless Heart - 5. Music's OK, not fond of Earle's voice on this one.
977. Avenged Sevenfold – Seize the Day - 6 - Nice melodies, a bit over-dramatic, but this is a solid song. The singing reminds me of Faith No More ?
976. U2 – So Cruel - 5 - Decent song from Bono & co, but on their "can do better" side.
975. James Brown – Out of Sight - 7
974. The Temptations – Don’t Look Back - 5
973. Robbie Williams - Radio - 6 - Good stuff from Robbie.
972. Ming Flute Ensemble – The Song of the Four Seasons - 3

You forgot a rating for Robbie

Dean Blunt - Papi: 7
This feels like a song that needs to be heard in context of an album. It's short length and the sudden ending give the feeling that it is a bridge of sorts. Still it works, with the the Pink Floyd sample, the soothing words and the warm vocals all adding up to something comforting.

981. The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart - 7
982. Dean Blunt - Papi - 5

983. Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder – Ai Du
Year: 1994
Album: Talking Timbuktu
Biggest Fan: panam (#442)

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

981. The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart: 6
982. Dean Blunt - Papi: 7

Thanks!

Rob wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:46 pm You actually improved Yankee Doodle's score to make Old Shep suffer more? What did Elvis' dog every do to you? Kill your grandparents?

Almost but Yankee Doodle and his pony gave them both CPR, it was a close run thing!

James Brown - Out of Sight 8.5 This is sick, like Papa's Got a Brand New Bag a year early! Definitely would've placed high on my 1964 list if I'd known it then

U2 - So Cruel 4
A7X - Seize the Day 5
Steve Earle - Fearless Heart 6
Carly Rae Jepsen - All That 3
Modest Mouse - Bury Me with It 7
The Drifters - Warm Your Heart 4
Dean Blunt - Papi 5
Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder - Ai Du 5

A bubbler today.

984. Chicago – Hard Habit to Break
Year: 1984
Album: Chicago 17
Biggest Fan: JohnnyBGoode (#952)

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

983. Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder – Ai Du: 5

Thanks!

981. The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart - 5
982. Dean Blunt - Papi - 6
983. Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder – Ai Du - 5
984. Chicago – Hard Habit to Break - 6

980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It: 5
981. The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter – Warm Your Heart: 7
982.  Dean Blunt - Papi: 4
983. Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder – Ai Du: 7
984. Chicago – Hard Habit to Break: 2

JohnnyBGoode brings us two songs back to back.

985. Deacon Blue – Shifting Sand
Year: 1988
Album: Riches [A compilation]
Biggest Fan: JohnnyBGoode (#487)

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

984. Chicago – Hard Habit to Break: 3

Thanks!

Chicago - Hard Habit to Break

2

The string section bit is all that kept this from being a 1.

Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder - Ai Du: 7
A sprawling yet at the same time laidback type of African blues. Almost transcendental, but perhaps a little too understated to get there.

Chicago - Hard Habit to Break: 3
Although I wasn't familiar with this song I might just in the future use it as Exhibit A as for why I don't like eighties mainstream pop. It starts as a ballad that is way to sappy for its own good; a sort of earnestness that strikes me as deeply fake. Then suddenly it develops into some sort of huge, overproduced epic with drum blasts and tacky synths. I think it needs to sell us on the enormity love that the singers feel for whoever this song is meant to, but all it does is make it more plastic and even more fake. Badly executed schmaltz. But yes, the strings if taken on their own are nice.

Deacon Blue – Shifting Sand: 4
Although not as sappy as Chicago, this is an eighties ballad without any recognizable character.

I think of Chicago as a '70s holdover. They were already on Chicago 17 by then. (And you thought Weezer's color titles were annoying.) The '80s, like any decade, has its share of bad love songs, with the early '80s ones leaving a bad corporate rock taste.

Live in Phoenix wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:10 pm I think of Chicago as a '70s holdover. They were already on Chicago 17 by then.

Perhaps, but it feels very eighties to me. Maybe they influenced that sound with If You Leave Me Now.
Also, it may have been number 17, but apparently it was their biggest seller! They were at peak popularity then, so we can't give them a backhanded compliment here for being a late-career song.

Chicago - Hard Habit to Break: 2

Rob wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 5:34 pm

Live in Phoenix wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:10 pm I think of Chicago as a '70s holdover. They were already on Chicago 17 by then.

Perhaps, but it feels very eighties to me. Maybe they influenced that sound with If You Leave Me Now.
Also, it may have been number 17, but apparently it was their biggest seller! They were at peak popularity then, so we can't give them a backhanded compliment here for being a late-career song.

In my view, Chicago was solid through 1972 and Chicago V.
Not sure why the band started to decline so dramatically after Chicago V.
The death of Terry Kath in 1978 can be considered as marking the end of Chicago's musical innovation.
The band seemed to be somewhat aimless after Kath's death until David Foster became their producer in 1981. After 1981, Chicago was little more than soft pop rock.

There are actually two artists with the name Utopia and both have released a song named Utopia Theme, but since today’s entry comes from Henry’s list I think it is safe to assume it is the Todd Rundgren outfit.

986. Utopia – Utopia Theme
Year: 1974
Album: Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
Biggest Fan: Henry (#393)

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985. Deacon Blue – Shifting Sand - 5
986. Utopia – Utopia Theme - 5

985. Deacon Blue – Shifting Sand: 6

Thanks!

Utopia – Utopia Theme: 6
Coincidentally, it's parent album appears this week on Moderately Acclaimed. I find both hard to rate, although this song is definitely not as strong as album highlight The Ikon. Utopia Theme sounds technically impressive, but also very mechanical and cold. More importantly, I bet this sounded very futuristic in 1974, but now it is almost archaic. It hasn't aged half as well as, say, Pink Floyd's Echoes. Nonetheless, there is fun to be had, especially when the song seems to go berserk somewhere near the halfway point right before the chorus. The guitar parts are also nice. Still, of all seventies prog this won't be one I see myself returning to.

986. Utopia – Utopia Theme - 9.4

986. Utopia – Utopia Theme (6)
985. Deacon Blue – Shifting Sand (5) - Reminds me of Prefab Sprout
984. Chicago – Hard Habit to Break (3)
983. Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder – Ai Du (7)

Potential new #1 today! Only the second appearance by Nickelback, weirdly.

987. Nickelback – Far Away
Year: 2005
Album: All the Right Reasons
Biggest Fan: Renan (#260)

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

Far Away is a generous 2

Nickelback – Far Away: 5
I don't actually particularly dislike this one. It is hardly inspiring, but for a band that really made some terrible songs this is fine.

986. Utopia – Utopia Theme: 7.25

Thanks!

At least it’s not If Everyone Cared.

Nickelback – Far Away

5,000,000

Nickelback – Far Away

1

Creed and Nickelback signaled a change where being the biggest rock band in the country was a lowest common denominator accomplishment.


And now I've completed my Biggest Fan bingo card:
Nickelback – Far Away: 1
Chicago - Hard Habit to Break: 2
Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music, Pt. 2: 3
Maroon 5 – One More Night: 4
The Velvet Underground – New Age: 5
Collective Soul - Shine: 6
Peter Gabriel - Red Rain: 7
Black Sabbath – Hole in the Sky: 8
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet: 9
U2 - So Cruel: 10

Today #3434 on the Acclaimed Music list.

988. The Knickerbockers - Lies
Year: 1965
Album: Lies
Biggest Fan: BryanBehar (#736)

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

973. Robbie Williams - Radio - 3

Nickelback – Far Away: 1

U2 - So Cruel: 8

Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music, Pt. 2: 1

The Velvet Underground – New Age: 9

Collective Soul - Shine: 7

Black Sabbath – Hole in the Sky: 8

980. Modest Mouse – Bury Me With It: 8

I’ve come back here now that Hymie’s gone…

He used to make this a real downer.

The Knickerbockers - Lies

7

This is a fun little number. It's practically *really* from the compilation Nuggets, a sort of famous collection of garage rock and psychedelic music; it typically involved minor league bands that came and went extremely quickly, so there's little use dwelling on the song being very derivative of the early Beatles.