Copious Liner Notes for "The Horizon"

Tis the season for another "best of" collection. If you're on the list, you got one, if not, you're welcome to use the template but you might not be able to find them all. It's even more eclectic this year, one possible title in the running was "All Over the Place" which would have worked both musically and emotionally, but I finally went with "The Horizon". After my first listen though I was kinda surprised at how well it all hung together and I had some fun finding some connections that I hadn't even known were there (find the ship motif!)



"Northline Theme" Willy Vlautin & Paul Brainard

I've already bared my soul about the book Northline's considerable impact so I'll just say the soundtrack is praiseworthy on its own merits. Simple but evocative, it deserves playing again and again. I'm still listening to it daily myself. I was hard pressed to pick just one song so I just went with the natural bookends.


"Keep the Car Running" Arcade Fire

I defy anyone to not to move their feet during this song. Not surprisingly, it's great for fast driving-the road unspooling in the rearview-but I bet it'd be good in your headphones running as fast as you can on the beach too. Anyway, I'd like to try.

"The Golden State" John Doe & Kathleen Edwards

I wrote about being obsessed with the song for weeks before and I still think it's terrific. A good song paired with just the right artists. Even people who are unfamiliar with the state described (and I gotta say I feel sorry for them) can get an idea of what the fuss is all about from these lyrics.

"Goodnight Rose" Ryan Adams

Another possible title for this collection was "The Whole Shebang" from this song. There are other terrific songs from "Easy Tiger" but I went with the most optimistic.

"I Must Be Lucky" Kelly Willis

If you're wondering what's country about this I'm with you on that but Willis and her husband, Bruce Robison, are close friends with Chuck Prophet and he stepped in to produce and play on this record. It's a good combo that made for a different sound though not necessarily one that I think plays to her greatest strengths. (She's good enough to sing almost anything but really excels on the bittersweet traditional country stuff.)


An Aside on the musical genre/body connection: I have a theory about musical genres wherein the listener processes each genre with a different part of the body. Classical is the head with the brain showing the pictures the music is making, rock is the feet-dancing or driving it works either way and so on. I bring it up here because we are entering the soul portion of the collection and some critics have taken issue with some of the artists I have chosen. The words neo soul have been used by some which I find both puzzling (what the hell is neo soul anyway?) and depressing (neo soul would seem to indicate soul is over which is too sad to contemplate). For me, soul music is processed through the, how shall we say? pink parts down south. (And I'm not talking about the heart here people.) I felt these songs in the right spot, thus they are included here.



"100 Years" Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

This is just a fun record with fabulous, fabulous horns. I missed them when they were in town which was disappointing as it would have been a great excuse to wear a vintage dress and go dance.

"I'm No Good" Amy Winehouse

She said she was no good, she lays it all out here so I don't know how anybody can be surprised when she shows up missing teeth or going to jail for beating on her husband. For all her faults no one can say she doesn't walk the walk. My vote for the best bad girl song since Fiona Apple's "Criminal" even though the Roger Moore line bugs me (Moore always seemed like the least likely Bond to tear anyone down). And if it goes well with the Dap Kings song before it should since they are her backing band as well. (This is actually a 2006 release but I got to know it in 2007)

"Before the Money Came" Betty LaVette w/ The Drive By Truckers

A great soul record with inevitabililty (after years in the biz Betty gets hers) and history (Patterson Hood takes up backing/producing duties from his daddy) on its side. I came for the DBT connection but stuck for the music and the truth in Betty's voice.

"Cold Cold Heart" Raul Malo

Besides just being the singer I'd most like to have phone sex with (That voice! Oh Baby!) Malo also has a fine way with standards, both here and on his holiday release, "A Marshmallow World". The easy choice would have been to include his cover of "For the Good Times" (the best sex with the ex song ever) which will break your heart but instead there's this song. I love swing but can't decide about this version. On the one hand it's proof that, like with a Shakespeare play, you can put a great song in any setting and it will work, but on the other I think how cold can it be if you're bopping along with the horns? I mean you can make jazz hands at the end for God's sake, what would Hank say? But when the time came, this is what I chose.

"Sometimes It Takes Balls" Elizabeth Cook

I know you hear the title and think it's one of those dismissable country novelty songs but this one has real heart. Admittedly, it wasn't the best or even my favorite song from this record but if you're only including one it's probably best to go with the anthem.

"1234" Feist

Yes, it was in a commercial and yes, the video features the lamest dance since the Macerana but this was one I just couldn't get out of my head this year.

"Light in an Empty Room"
"Night Windows" the Weakerthans

The new Weakerthans record was supposed to be a concept album entirely devoted to songs about the painter Edward Hopper. When all was said and done just these 2 were left, my favorites. I think "in the stick count for the song/of knowing you're gone" is a great line.

"Click Click Click Click" Bishop Allen

As I have written before, Bishop Allen's singer, Justin, is a nephew of one of my staff so I get to hear all about his artistic efforts. The latest is that he had a deal with his parents that if this, the second record, didn't make some money he would give up the band and use his Harvard education to try something else more practical. As a fan I hope he had other moneymaking opportunities included in the fine print on the deal since this song is being used in a (wait for it) camera commercial. Charming and whimsical but not too cutesy, this one is Bishop Allen at their best. The secualr humanist in me loves the theme of being forever a part of someone's life through technology.

"Missed the Boat" Modest Mouse

I usually only go for Modest Mouse modestly but this was one that would play overhead and each time I'd have to go check out the artist which, when you're on your feet all day, is one of the true tests of how much you really think of a song. The album title "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" was also one of my favorites this year.

"The Way I Am" Ingrid Michaelson

A sweet, simple song well sung. I love her line delivery of "the way you say good morning".

"I Don't Ever Give Up" Patty Griffin

For the new record Griffin said she was trying for songs that were fun for her to sing which, since I'm such a word oriented 'verse-chorus-verse' girl, is why I'll probably always consider it a lesser Patty effort. I was going for another song until right before the collection was burned but couldn't ignore the theme and build of this one. "Love isn't here but it's somewhere" indeed.

"Falling Slowly" Glen Hansard & Marketa Inglova

This song is the heart of the "Once" soundtrack and is so beautiful I can't listen without the tears welling up. (It's especially effective to listen to in the dark, particularly when Glen's voice cracks on the 'go back' part.) But as upliftingly sad as it is if you are in the boat with time left, when the time is over this one will really kill you.

"If I Am a Stranger" Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

An achingly slowed down version this is from the EP, "Follow the Lights". I love this song in every version I have ever heard.

"Northline Reprise" Willy Vlautin & Paul Brainard

See above.



Happy Listening All!