But what a few years! I love his playing style and from the opening riff he apparently created, played by Keith Richards, to his guitar solo to end it, this song just rocks. The Stones veer a little into Santana territory, but it's still one of their best non-hits.
Homogenic is my favorite Bjork album, and I include her "5 Years" immediately followed by "Immature" because, like the whole album, they flow so well together that it's hard for me to imagine one without the other. I also have a rare, more purely vocal take of "Immature" on here that's amazing.
The Bjork tracks lead to the equally emotional "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John. I still have no idea what it's about, but it strikes such a wistful mood, as it always did when I heard it as a boy. More piano: the incomparable Ray Charles with "What'd I Say (Parts I & II) and Duke Ellington with "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got No Swing".
Next, Billy Squier's rocking "Everybody Wants You", followed by Dizzee Rascal's Squier-sampling "Fix Up, Look Sharp". The Strokes weren't sampling The Cars with "12:51" but they should send them a check or something. The Cars are here with "Let's Go". In between all that: Funkadelic's awesome "The Electric Spanking Of War Babies".
I find that reggae songs on these mixes often serve as nice musical palate cleansers, Here, the lilting "My Conversation" by The Uniques gives way to the nearly spiritual "Open The Door, Homer" by Bob Dylan and The Band off the legendary Basement Tapes.
I have always loved the mellow 70s soul song "Natural High" by Bloodstone. The mellow groove is sustained, albeit with a likely unnatural high, by Snoop Dogg's "Tha Shiznit".
It's said that The Beatles were also on an unnatural high when they recorded the gentle "Girl". The back-up singing is supposedly Paul and George quickly repeating the word "tit" over and over. Well, maybe they were high, but the overall effect is really lovely. Also, the lines "Was she told that when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure/Did she understand it when they said/That a man must break his back to earn his leisure/Will she still believe it when he's dead?" was supposedly a dig at the Catholic Church.
These bits of aranca were often discussed by a group of Catholic school boys over a communal pipe a long, long time ago--and probably are right now.
Continuing the laid back vibe is the hushed "All Shook Down" by The Replacements, which reminds me of the same era of divining Beatles lyrics. On our dorm wall hung this album's poster, a sepia-toned photgraph of a rain-drenched dog on a desolate street.
The final song on here, the posthumously released and gospel-tinged "Piece Of Clay"by Marvin Gaye, is simply heartbreaking. When you consider the circumstances of his tragic demise, shot to death by his father after defending his mother from physical abuse, the opening line "Father, stop criticizing your son" takes on such sad meaning. It is still such a hopeful and beautiful song.
