Monday, July 05, 2004
Feeling Listless?
It's List Day! Oh, boy! Who doesn't love lists?!
A friend forwarded me a fun list of "The greatest intros in Rock and Roll" from the Palm Beach Post, of all places. A very classic, as opposed to contrarian, sensibility is at work here.
Then, there's Magnet Magazine's list of the TOP 60 ALBUMS 1993-2003, which apparently saw print some time ago but is new online. Since this is really my area of strongest interest, I was surprised how many CDs are on here that I hadn't even heard of--Jawbox's For Your Own Special Sweetheart? Grifters' Crappin’ You Negative? But there are some outstanding choices on here: The Shins, Pulp, the Wrens, Stereolab, Air, PJ Harvey, Interpol, Spoon (an album I just recently bought and love), and many others. R.E.M.'s New Adventures In Hi-Fi is a great choice, as it is such an underappreciated album and may be their best. I hate the choice for #1, but, isn't that often the case with these kinds of lists?
Lastly, a list announced some time ago, the American Film Institute's 100 Years 100 Songs list of top movie songs. Lots and lots of obvious choices, that oddly mixes songs from musicals and songs that were soundtrack hits. I'm happy they included "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady, but, as with several other musicals on the list (Grease, Chicago) you could include several more numbers. Of several songs included from West Side Story, I wish they'd included found room for "Officer Krupke," a brilliant song. Having seen more Westerns in recent years, I think there are much better Western theme songs (and Westerns) than the perennially overrated High Noon (#25). "Thanks for the Memory" is only associated with Bob Hope, and though he was a movie giant, I don't think it's a great song. "Put the Blame on Mame" from Gilda (#84) is a superb choice--great song, integral to the movie, an iconic movie, and a movie that is very much underseen. Lists like this should champion lesser-known classics! One of the criteria was to consider "songs that have captured the nation's heart," which is only going to tell us what we already know, amounting to a popularity contest. I was surprised and happy, then, to see a song from Cover Girl, "Long Ago and Far Away" (#92), an uneven film with great musical moments. ("The Show Must Go On" is a brilliant satire of wartime sacrifices made on the homefront.) But I wish they'd made room for "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," a key and great song from the great screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby. And how could they overlook The Music Man? Maybe they should have limited it to 1 song per movie. Then there would have been room for some more provocative choices, like Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a strong rock musical made into an even stronger movie with an oustanding soundtrack. As is, the list reeks of Oscar and all he stands for.
