50 FAVOURITE SONGS/TRACKS

[Ruby]

Inspired by CH’s list, I’ve been trying to narrow down my choices – it’s a bit like playing solitaire!   

I think it would be correct to say that these are the songs, or pieces, that have pretty much informed my musical taste in general, made a big impression on me one way or another, and will remain forever favourites, or at the very least be firmly entrenched in my hippocampus (is that where music memories go?) until the end of time. That said, where does it all begin and end? These things are not linear – quite an interesting exercise.

This selection has nothing at all to do with their greatness and is 100% subjective. I think I’m going with 50 (there are more), and I can’t begin to order them. Here goes … (will update the list under the clip in this post) ... 

1. "The Ballad of Casey Deiss" - Shawn Phillips, Second Contribution 
   
2. "Forever Autumn" - Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds
   
3. "Parisienne Walkways"  - Gary Moore, Back on the Streets
   
4. "Morning Has Broken" - Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Firecat
   
5. "July Morning" - Uriah Heep, Look at Yourself
   
6. "Diamonds & Rust" - Joan Baez, Diamonds & Rust
   
7. "Be" - Neil Diamond, Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Original Motion Picture Sound Track)
   
8. "Tears and Pavan" - Strawbs, Bursting at the Seams
   
9. "Ice" - Camel, I Can See Your House From Here
   
10. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" - The Band, The Band
    
11. "Vincent" - Don McLean, American Pie
    
12. "Dust in the Wind" - Kansas, Point of Know Return
    
13. "Street Life" - The Crusaders with B.B. King & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Jam 
    
14. "Theme from Schindler's List" - John Williams, Itzhak Perlman, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Schindler's List: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
    
15. "The Eagle Will Rise Again" - Alan Parsons Project, Pyramid
    
16. "Bibo No Aozora"/"Endless Flight"/"Babel" - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jacques Morelenbaum & Everton Nelson / Gustavo Santaolalla / Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel Soundtrack 
    
17. "The Eagle" - ABBA, The Album
    
18. "Desperado" - Eagles, Desperado
    
19. "Learning to Fly" -  Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse of Reason 
    
20. "The Loadout/Stay" - Jackson Browne, Running on Empty 
    
21. "Sometimes When We Touch" - Dan Hill, Longer Fuse
    
22. "I Got a Name" - Jim Croce, I Got a Name
    
23. "Private Investigations" - Dire Straits, Love Over Gold
    
24. "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" - Klaatu, 3:47 EST
    
25. "The Pan Within" - The Waterboys, This is the Sea
    
26. "Space Oddity" - David Bowie, David Bowie
    
27. "Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin, untitled
    
28. "Run Like the Wind" - Mike Batt, Tarot Suite
    
29. "Comes a Time" - Neil Young, Comes a Time
    
30. "The Tao of Love" - Vangelis, China
    
31. "Wuthering Heights" - Kate Bush, The Kick Inside 
    
32. "Polovtsian Dances" - Alexander Borodin, Prince Igor
    
33. "I Ride Alone" - Lee Clayton, Naked Child
    
34. "Drafted" - Camel, Nude
    
35. "Southern Cross" - Crosby, Stills & Nash, Daylight Again
    
36. "Simple Man" - Timothy B Schmidt, Day by Day
    
37. "The Reaper" - Blue Öyster Cult, Agents of Fortune
    
38. "Sentinel" - Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells II
    
39. "Theme from Subway Sue" - Pavlov's Dog, Pampered Menial
    
40. "Ship of Fools" - Robert Plant, Now and Zen 
    
41. "Heavy Horses" - Jethro Tull, Heavy Horses
    
42. "Moonlight and Gold" - Gerry Rafferty, North and South
    
43. "Echoes" - Pink Floyd, Meddle 
    
44. "The Return of Per Ulv" - Terje Rypdal, If Mountains Could Sing
    
45. "Ripples on the Water" - Kayak, Seventeen
    
46. "Staircase to the Day" - Gravy Train, Staircase to the Day
    
47. "Nothing to Fear" - Chris Rea, God's Great Banana Skin
    
48. "Lisa se Klavier" - Koos Kombuis, Elke Boemelaar se Droom
    
49. "Til these Eyes" - Steve Hackett, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon
    
50. "The Turning Year" - Roger Eno, The Turning Year
    

[JeromeD]

Something I used to play in the pub back in the day. The whole album is a masterpiece. I have a funny feeling you and I are going to like the same songs so it is going to be very interesting to see what you come up with! Think I am going to have a stab at this myself but I will allow the lady to finish first...

[Music Head]

I am feeling pressure

[CRAZY-HORSE]

a good track to start off your list Ruby, im impressed.

[Ruby]

Almost as much for Richard Burton’s gorgeous speaking voice as anything else - no wonder Liz was besotted!

Atmospheric, thoroughly engrossing (at the time), and an unforgettable song, I think. 

2. “Forever Autumn” from Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds - written by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass with Justin Hayward singing, of course ... 

[Ruby]

Something I used to play in the pub back in the day. The whole album is a masterpiece. I have a funny feeling you and I are going to like the same songs so it is going to be very interesting to see what you come up with! Think I am going to have a stab at this myself but I will allow the lady to finish first...

Yes - I think you might be right, with one or two anomalies along the way, perhaps!

[Ruby]

I am feeling pressure

Go on. I dare you. 

[Ruby]

a good track to start off your list Ruby, im impressed.

Thanks CH - some way to go yet. Hoping not to be a huge bore! 

[CRAZY-HORSE]

not at all Ruby,
loving the first two tracks you posted.

[Ruby]

^Cool!

I’ve chosen this version because of the remarkable 26 second sustain which as far as I know remains unequalled, and it's a fab live take in any event. It’s not Phil Lynott singing, for obvious reasons - this was recorded in 1992, released in 1993. I’m not sure who’s on vocals here and whether it is indeed Andy Pyle as indicated in the YT credits which are sometimes not accurate.

Written by Gary Moore (popular opinion says he nicked it from Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa”) and Phil Lynott and with references to the latter’s absent father, Cecil Parris who was born in 1949 (which I hadn’t known before but now do). 

Moore’s signature song …  

3. “Parisienne Walkways”  from Gary Moore’s debut album, Back on the Streets

The original - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUBCXGeK694