Top ten "soul" songs

So, after the countdown of my favourite albums, its time to return to normal programming!

This time the list theme is top "soul" songs, well, songs that have soul in the title at least rather than the genre or the thing on the bottom of your shoe..

Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think, always like hearing thoughts, comments and alternative suggestions.

thanks

10 – Its All About Soul – Billy Joel

 Well yes, Billy, you are quite right, that is exactly what this list is about.

 

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

 

9 – Soul Kitchen – The Doors

 From the Doors debut album, this is a great track with those trademark Doors keyboard sounds and Jim’s great vocals.

 

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

 

 

8 – Soul Man – Sam and Dave

Does anyone remember a short lived TV sitcom called “Soul Man” where Dan Ackroyd played a priest? Its not really relevant, just had a memory, although I am pretty sure that the theme music was a version of this song. Great piece of soul from the sixties.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVx2i6jGzf8

 

7 – Awake My Soul – Mumford & Sons

I do like Mumford & Sons, although it is probably fair to say that there is a certain formula that a lot of their songs seem to be written to. This is another trademark Mumfords song, a really enjoyable listen.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzM69btqtYI

 

6 – You Can’t Make Love Without a Soul – Jimmy Barnes

On Barnesy’s “Flesh and Wood” album, he went all acoustic, and the results were surprisingly good (for example, I love his “Love Me Tender” cover, not the sort of song you would immediately think  would suit his screaming but he handles it well) . “You Can’t Make Love Without a Soul” comes from this album and has some back up vocals from Ross Wilson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cttp1zzCcKQ

 

5 – Soul to Squeeze – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Wouldn’t call myself a Chilli Peppers fan, but I do enjoying giving their best of a spin every now and then, so I had to make room for their “soul” song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XcN12uVHeQ

 

4 – Soul Bossa Nova – Quincy Jones

This one might be better known to you as the theme from Austin Powers. I never really got into the films in a big way, but hey, what a great piece of music!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ALPzS0QfQ

 

3- Who Will Save Your Soul – Jewel

I liked the Jewel songs that I heard on the radio – this one, “You Were Meant For Me”, “Foolish Games” and really wanted to get the album. When I did though, I was disappointed, it just didn’t stack up for me apart from the singles. This is her finest moment though. A great track.

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

 

2- Soul Kind of Feeling – Dynamic Hepnotics

You gotta love the 80’s because it produced such moments of pure enjoyment like this song. So catchy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUbxaSw1yiM

 

1- Sweet Soul Music – Arthur Conley

Could this be the greatest one hit wonder of all time? I can’t describe what it is about this song, but I really love it. Its catchy, enjoyable, it name drops great soul artists – what’s not to like!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grE0lwTsSPg

 

So that is my top soul songs...what gives you a soul kind of feeling?

Dean’s favourite albums – the number one place – Abbey Road – The Beatles

 

So, its come to this, the number on spot one my list, and well, it really had to go to one of the biggest bands of all time. The reality is, just about all of their albums probably could have made it to my list , (except for “Please Please Me”, “Yellow Submarine” and maybe  “Beatles for Sale”). The “White Album” and “Rubber Soul” in particular were very close to making it, but just missed out.  But “Abbey Road” was the first album picked for the list, and was always going to be my number one.
 

A fun album, it effortlessly mixes up classic rock tracks with more whimsical tracks (and I do love a good novelty song), and then just to show off, produces a killer medley of short tracks that blend in and reprise each other with the end result being a masterpiece.

The rock on the album is fantastic, getting underway with “Come Together”, and continuing through with several other fine tracks like “Oh Darling” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”. But my favourite on the album is, in my opinion, George’s best Beatles track (sounds like a great topic for a future list by the way), namely “Something” (see link). I don’t have the words to describe how wonderful this track is, and I really think that George’s songwriting really came to the fore for this album. His other contribution is “Here Comes the Sun”, a fine track that adds to a great contribution to the album.

I mentioned the whimsical tracks earlier, and how can you go past “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”?  According to Wikipedia, both Ringo and John described this as “Granny music”, but I still like it, it’s a bit of fun. As too is the Ringo contribution to the album, “Octopus’s Garden”.

The second half of the album largely consists of the medley, and what an arrangement of short snippets of songs – “Mean Mr Mustard”, “You Never Give Me Your Money”, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”, “Golden Slumbers”, “The End”, I could go on. I still haven’t really figured out what it is that I like about this, but I suspect it’s the fast pace of it all, moving from song to song  quickly.  Yet, having said that, its not like all of them are quick tracks, with stunning ballads like “Golden Slumbers”  being perfectly showcased amongst it all.

So there you go, the Beatles take the top spot on my list. For those of you that have read my list, provided comments etc, I hope you have enjoyed reading it, it was fun putting it together. I am very interested in your thoughts though – you have now seen my musical tastes, so perhaps you might like to share some recommendations about albums I might like, and indeed, what your favourite albums are, I would be interested in hearing from you!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrW7dlDHH28

Dean's favourite albums #2 - A Night at the Opera - Queen

Now I know and now I know that “A Night at the Opera” is number two on my list. An amazing album named after the Marx brothers film, it really has a bit of everything. Of course to most the highlight of this album would be the amazing “Bohemian Rhapsody”, but there is heaps more diverse moments beyond this. There are the rockers, like the menacing opening track “Death on Two Legs”,  and “Sweet Lady” as well as the epic “The Prophet’s Song.” Those of you that know me are aware that I am not averse to a novelty song, and you get two whimsical tracks on this album – “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon” and “Seaside Rendezvous”. You also get the completely over the top rock of  “I’m in Love with My Car”, which you could categorise into rock or novelty (indeed when Brian May heard the demo of this Roger Taylor track, he thought it was a joke.) Then there is the acoustic and nostalgic sounding “’39” and “Good Company”, and the ballad “Love of My Life”. “You’re My Best Friend”, today’s link, in my opinion is the perfect pop song, so catchy and if it weren’t for “Bohemian Rhapsody” would probably be the highlight of the album. And I haven’t even mentioned the closing track, an electric guitar led version of “God Save the Queen” that would rival Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” rendition at Woodstock. Some of the albums on my list are personal favourites, not necessarily widely regarded but this one is undoubtedly a classic album.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2JSUXaY-tw

 

 

So there you have it, after counting down 24 fine albums we reach the number one spot. We have covered indie rock, swamp rock, folk, rock, country, 80’s pop, 90’s rock , punk, and a host of other genres. I hope you have enjoyed reading the list as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. Although a difficult task, I really enjoyed re-listening to albums, not just the ones on the list, but also the ones that were in contention but didn’t quite make the cut.

 

Normally I have given you a bit of a hint as to the next album on the list, but not this time…you will have to just wait and see what the number one track is…but feel free to speculate in the lead up….

Dean’s favourite albums #3- Traveling Wilburys, Vol 1 – Traveling Wilburys

The term supergroup is thrown around a bit, but in the case of the Traveling Wilburys, when you get music legends Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, ex Beatle George Harrison, Tom Petty and the driving force behind ELO, Jeff Lynne together, I think the term is absolutely appropriate. Recorded in 1988, sadly just before Orbison’s death, the project essentially started as a bit of a jam session between mates, and the finished product ended up becoming a hugely successful album. It is probably fair to say they don’t make them like this any more!

Like several of the selections in my top 25 list, it may not be the most musically challenging album (not sure what this says about me) but it’s a great listen from start through to finish. The radio friendly hits like “Handle with Care” and “End of the Line” (today’s link) are well known and great tracks, but the album has far more depth than just these songs. Like those hits, it works well when they all sing together, but similarly when one of them takes the lead vocals, it is equally as great. For example,  “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” is classic Dylan, on “Not Alone Anymore” Orbison showcases his amazing vocals, Petty goes reggae-lite on the incredibly catchy “Last Night”, Lynne goes all early rock and roll on “Rattled” and Harrison provides the light and breezy “Heading for the Light”.  Add to these the slowest song on the album,  the extremely cynical “Congratulations” and you really have a great album. Probably the best song though to give you a sense that it was just a few mates having a bit of fun is “Dirty World” where like silly schoolkids they picked phrases out of auto magazines and turned them into an innuendo laden song. Great fun.  

The follow up to this album “Traveling Wilburys Vol 3” (there wasn’t a volume 2) although containing some good moments, was always going to struggle to live up to this one, especially without Orbison in the lineup.

One other thing to mention about the album is the  production, which was done so well by Lynne and Harrison and really adds to make it a gem of an album.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqhdRs4jyA

 

Coming up at #2 – we go back to the seventies for a rock masterpiece

Dean's favourite albums #4 - Imagine - John Lennon

So you are a member of the biggest band in the world. It breaks up, you release a debut solo album that is critically received. What then to do with the next year. Release another great album of course!

 

Imagine, the song, is very well known, and yeah, it’s a good song, but there are lots of other tracks that I really enjoy. “Jealous Guy” (today’s link) in my opinion is a stunning piece of songwriting and the highlight on the album. I love the country rock of “Crippled Inside” , it just provides such a toe-tapping feel to it. I have never really been a fan of Yoko Ono, but gee John wrote some great songs about her, and “Oh Yoko” is a wonderful example, lovely light pop.  The protest song “Gimme Some Truth” is amazing as well. Perhaps the  most intriguing moment on the album is “How Do you Sleep?”, a vitriolic criticism of Paul McCartney, which feels at odds with the sentiments that John sung about in the title track. Despite this, it’s a fine song. When John’s relationship with Paul later improved he sort of stepped away from the song and gave an unconvincing explanation that it was more about himself than Paul – I don’t believe that for a moment, but I guess that’s the thing with writing a song, you convey your feelings at a point in time and then could potentially spend the rest of your life singing that song over and over.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giN6m-sfzng

 

Coming up at #3 – a supergroup!

Dean's favourite albums #5 - At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash

“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”. And with this simple yet powerful phrase, Cash launches into a blistering set of music to the inmates at California’s Folsom Prison. Cash draws on the great American songbook to find songs with a prison/crime them and delivers the lyrics with the passion that he is renowned for, resurrecting his career that was stagnating at the time.  In the opening track, “Folsom Prison Blues” (see link) an old Cash song from the 50’s, he delivers that definitive version of this song, complete with the audience cheers after the infamous “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die” line. (I was disappointed to read that this didn’t actually occur though, the cheer was added later). Other great moments on the album are “Cocaine Blues”, ”Busted” and  “25 Minutes to Go”, which Cash really launches into character for, as he sings about the desperation of a man about to be hanged. There are also poignant moments, such as the thought provoking songs “The Wall” and “The Long Black Veil”. Throughout the album, Cash subtly makes fun of the prison guards watching over his audience with the odd snide comment. He wife, June Carter also joins him onstage and the album contains a version of their signature duet “Jackson”.

 

One other thing to say about this album – there are a number of versions floating around. I own the 1999 re-release version, which does contain a few different tracks and a different order to the original release. 2008’s legacy edition is different again, but I am sure that they are all great versions and any one of them would be a great addition to your music collection.

 

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

 

Next Time – we turn to the early 70’s for a popular album with a big big hit track on it

Dean’s Favourite Albums #6- (What’s the Story) Morning Glory – Oasis

1995. Britpop, the wave of British alternative music that Tony Blair decided to ride the coat tails of and get himself into office. The driving forces in Oasis were those Gallagher brothers, whose arrogance and bad behaviour could be quite annoying at times. Despite this, the band has produced some great tracks, and this album is a masterpiece. If I was writing this list a few years ago, this album probably would have been right up in the top two, but I haven’t listened to it much in recent years. I gave it another spin, and wow, it is still a great album.  Highlights abound, with the wonderful “Wonderwall” a piece of class (see link), but there are plenty of other great tracks, the sing-along catchy “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, the driving rock of the opening track “Hello”, the fun “She’s Electric”, and the anthemic “Morning Glory”. “Champagne Supernova” provides a great closer after the journey the band takes us through during the album.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc

 

Next time – the only live album to make it on my top 25 list launches us into the top five. Any guesses as to what it might be? Any predictions for the top five? Leave a post below…