you've seen it on Letterman, you've heard it on triple j. well now it's our turn!

The JB Mailing List's...

TOP FIVE

The one you've all been waiting for!

And the winners are.......

Summertime ~ Janis Joplin from Cheap Thrills
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay~ ONLY by Otis Redding
Desolation Row ~ Bob Dylan from Highway 61 Revisited
Sweet Surrender ~ Tim Buckley from Greetings from LA
Hallelujah ~ Jeff Buckley from Grace album
(why? I was listening to JJJ (save the J) one day late 1994 and I heard this song and I had chills.... It was so beautiful and I just knew Tim was there - I had not even heard that Tim had had a son). I craned to hear the back announce and of course I was not in the bit surprised (gleeful .. yes) to hear the man's name was Buckley. I still shiver!

Astronomy Domine ~ Pink Floyd live 1973
(no.. I am not a Pink Fraud fan nowadays).
Heroin ~ Lou Reed in Rock'n'Roll Animal
(still love Intro too)
Cortez the Killer ~ Neil Young
(what bitter/sweet lyrics)
Khe Sanh ~ Cold Chisel
(an Australian anthem of the effects of war upon the psyche)
Mannish Boy ~ Muddy Waters
(my first real intro to the blues)

Lawrence T Dargan
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To all-

That said, I'd like to reply to that 5 songs that changed my life subject:

Bury Me Deep ~ Poi Dog Pondering
Anybody who dismisses this band as "happy music" better give this song a listen.
Wish You Were Here ~ Pink Floyd
One of my best friends and I used to sit in the front yard of another friends house in lawn chairs and sing this song while he tried to have sex with his girlfriend inside. We were jealous and stupid I guess.
A Love Supreme ~ John Coltrane
The whole album. Sublime. 'Nuff said.
The Last Spike ~ Cowboy Junkies
Probably the saddest song I've ever heard and I'm a sucker for a tear jerker.
Beeswing ~ Richard Thompson
Another sad song that is just glorious.
Country Fair ~ Van Morrison
Maybe the most achingly beautiful song I know.
Albuquerque ~ Neil Young
I'm convinced that sombody told him that nobody could write a song with that word as the chorus, so he did it. Great song though.

Whoaa. That's way over 5. Thanks all for your consideration.

Andrew B.

Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 06:32:20 +1000
From: AliP

Sunday Morning ~ Velvet Underground
Isis ~.Bob Dylan
( I know, it's a strange choice as Dylan goes, but it is wonderful)
Try a little tenderness ~ Otis Redding
Effigy ~ Uncle Tupelo
(but, only live, which is hard since they broke up)
Lost highway ~ Jeff Buckley
(I'd have to say, that when I heard it, I was blown away)

Message to My Girl ~ Split Enz
Black ~ Pearl Jam
Into Temptation ~ Crowded House
Grace ~ Jeff Buckley
Berlin Chair ~ You Am I

Fiona :)

Fiona Rose ( "I can count to ten in four different languages!" )

Ok, this is just spur of the moment, off the top of my head list, but I really want to have my say here. Hmm..... 5 songs that have changed my life...

Tunnel of Love ~ Dire Straits(Live) from Alchemy
You're probably all sick by now of me mentioning this album, but I have to slip another one in. This is the sort of song that (cliche-alert) sends shivers down your spine EVERY time you listen to it. The sound of the crowd cheering as the song reaches its beautiful climax, the perfection of every note make this song an absolute masterpiece. Just go out and get it!
Shine On You Crazy Diamond ~ Pink Floyd from Wish You Were Here
Another rock masterpiece, don't let the fact that its almost entirely an instrumental put you off... this is the sort of song that you turn all the lights out, lie down and let the music infiltrate your brain. I once had a conversation with this guy where we decided that Pink Floyd was a drug, and that this song was their most hallucinogenic commodity.
The Way Young Lovers Do ~ Jeff Buckley from Live at Sin-é
I had to include Jeff, I couldn't leave my favourite artist out. Ever since I got Sin-é, this has been my favourite JB number. I think that out of everything he's done, this is the best exponent of his talents. All my friends think this song even more so makes him sound like a screaming cat, but I love what he does with his voice. I haven't had a chance to hear the original yet, but I know I'll get around to it someday...
Edge Of Darkness ~ Eric Clapton(Live) from 24 Nights
It seems I have a penchant for instrumentals... This version was recorded live in London with the London Symphony Orchestra, and is probably not the greatest example of Clapton's skill with the guitar, but the combination of a full string section and guitar is magical.
Symphony No.40, 1st Movement ~ Mozart
I first heard this on an old K-Tel double cassette tape of my parents called Classics 100, and I've loved it ever since. Being a classical pianist, you really HAVE to like classical music, or I guess it would be hell. This song is probably the greatest cure for insomnia and there are many people with sleeping disorders who now sleep well beacuse I have recommended it to them. Even if you don't like classical music, I recommend you give this a go.

hmmm the top five soings that mean something to you or whatever the topic was.. well here is mine off the top of my head:

Grace ~ Jeff Buckley
It always has been my favorite jb song. Jeff once said during a concert "this is a song about my usual obsession with death". It's got great lyrics. A very meaningful song to me.
Never Had No one Ever ~ Smiths
It's a sad day when you can relate to this song but for those smiths fans who do, you know what I'm talking about.
I know It's Over ~ Smiths
There is one line that sums up the song quite well "Mother I can feel the soil falling over my head"
Winter ~ Tori Amos
Well you've all heard the song. I think its self explanatory. The great line "when you gonna make up your mind? when you gonna love you as much as I do?"
Don't Walk Away ~ Ke' Ke' is great. His music is not just bass drums and guitars. Its got everything and this particular song has lots of meaning. Kind of an anti apathy song. lines like "These are the days that we have created don't walk away thinking that nothing is changing, its never too late.. never."

honorable mentions:

more jb like woke up in a strange place and what will you say My other honorable mentions are every godamn smiths and morrisey songs and ke' songs ever written. those are the most relatable writers ever morrisey and ke

Andrew Y

that changed my life (or my perspective): please excuse me as some of these are actually artists and not songs:
(in no particular order, except for one)

abraxas ~ santana
(ok, so some of these are even albums)
fucking with the altimiter ~ brainiac
so real ~ jeff buckley
sunday afternoon in the park ~.chicago
revolver ~ the beatles' album
sin ~ nine inch nails

(and i know this is more than 5 and i didn't just keep with songs...)

regret ~ new order
*** which would be the only song i would bring with me on a desert island if i could only bring one song. i know it's one of their "hits" and it was overplayed, cheesy to some, etc., but it conveys the widest range of my emotions in one 3-minute piece that i can repetitively listen to....regardless of its criticism, it's pure genius to me...and it allows for thorough contemplation as well as unbridled joy at the same time...

*disclaimer* (hahaha): these aren't my favorite bands, and i don't even still listen to some of these songs and/or albums. a small part of me is scared to go back....(i've had some unsatisfying experiences when doing that)

gayle

In the vein of Hi-5's and so on I have been spurred out of lethargy to contribute.
This is going to be long. If nudity, profanity or self-indulgence offends you, please leave by

*clicking here*

Sorry, forgot, it's not hypertext. Oh well, hit the delete key instead.

OK

***Part A: The Hi-5

For a Hi-5, I have taken the brief literally. Almost. I don't know whether these songs *changed* my life, but they marked important parts of it. I have stuck more or less to contemporaneous songs, i.e. ones that were more or less current when they affected me. Which stops me from having to delve back into the past -- believe me, if I went to the 60s and back I'd never escape. But I should start by noting that my musical education initially came from working my way through my parents' Beatles collection, from "Please Please Me" and "Hard Day's Night" to the "White Album" and "Abbey Road". A better education is hard to find. They also had a few Stones and Dylan records to round things out. (They were not groovy, but they had the essentials.) Then -- my older brother got into David Bowie, for which I will always owe him. So, first cab off le rank is:

Rock'n'Roll Suicide ~ David Bowie from David Live in the mid-70s.
(The original studio version is great, but this is the one I heard first.) I could've picked Moonage Daydream or Width of a Circle off the same LP, but I think this one has to win. I haven't listened to this version for years now, so I'm jez gonna have to buy it again. ("It's wonderful, wonderful...")
When I Dream ~ Teardrop Explodes (this is the late-70s)
I heard this emerge from fledgling Canberra community radio 2XX, when my head was being turned by British new-wavey stuff. What a song. The band came out of the same Northern UK scene as Echo and the Bunnymen (who had more hits); but singer Julian Cope has been a consistent talent since then. Listen to his solo double LP Peggy Suicide, or the CD compilation of his work, Floored Genius, which is only marred by this song's absence. (Cope, btw, is a completely loony British eccentric in the tradition of Syd Barrett, Viv Stanshall and Screaming Lord Sutch. Just warning you.)
Uncertain Smile ~ The The
I raved about this recently, so enough said. (If I was to choose a song from Infected it would probably be Sweet Bird of Truth.) This is from the early-to-mid 80s, a period when music was (for me) enough reason to be alive and happy. Even when the music was depressing, like this and....
How Soon Is Now? ~ Smiths
I share this one with Jeff, who mentioned it in UK's Q magazine. I presume it was in his JJJ Hi-5 (can anyone confirm?). Mr I-Wear-Black-On-The-Outside-Because-Black-Is-How-I-Feel-On-The-Inside's finest moment, out of many. The arrangement on this song is like an orchestration of despair. Runner-up here might have been That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore.
Birthday ~ Sugarcubesfrom the late 80s.
Mainly because then I was very depressed about music (looooong story); this song, and their whole album, just *lifted* me. This, unlike the rest, was rejuvenation music just when I needed it. I can take or leave everything else they and Bjork did after, but this album was just what the doctor ordered.

Other artists from earlier days who rate honourable mentions here might include (deep breath): more Bowie Brian Eno from the four classic '70s albums; Husker Du Magazine This Mortal Coil U2 (I was repeatedly turning a cassette with Boy and _October on each side, over and over and over....); the early Cure Psychedelic Furs blah blah blah.......and then if I went back to the '60s, um...........

But let me broaden the terms of reference a bit, with:

***Part B: Gigs That Changed My Life

Jeff Buckley, San Franciso's Great American Music Hall, May '95.
OK, I had the album and liked it a lot, but it didn't change my life. Seeing him live did. I think I've told this story before, but 20 seconds into "Dream Brother" and my jaw *dropped*. I was hooked, and here I am today. A poor pathetic junkie. (Special mention for support Soul Coughing, who were great and got a really good reception.)
Pretenders (original line-up), Canberra Theatre, early '80s.
That debut album of theirs still floors me. The memory of that performance still floors me. The tragedy of the deaths of the guitar and bass players haunts me. I saw the replacement line-up a few years later and it was not the same.
(I saw a number of concerts in this sedate little venue. Separated by some years, I saw Lou Reed and John McLaughlin. The bass player I saw with McLaughlin went on to work with Lou some time later. I mean, *go figure*, right?)
Midnight Oil, the Australian National University Refectory, repeatedly, very early '80s.
This was when they were two to three albums into their career, and a kick-arse band par excellence. I would go to every single gig they played there, and situate myself stage right (and *right* in front), with Martin Rotsey's Marshall cabinets facing my head. I couldn't hear anything else, and I didn't care. I couldn't hear much afterwards either.
Hunters and Collectors, various, mid '80s.
An Australian band, during the middle 80s they were at the height of their powers and one of the *the best* live bands anywhere. Hard to describe; but the live LP The Way To Go Out remains one of those rare live LPs that was really worth making. Their gig at the Canberra Worker's Club, when the fledgling Big Pig (don't ask -- just a band with 3 drummers and 4 singers!) supported them, is probably the most memorable. (Second place goes to the time they played at the ANU with the Stranglers. They walked on stage and Mark Seymour announced drily, "Hi. We're the support band," to cheering and applause, and they proceeded to upstage the headline act.)
Elvis Costello, ANU Refectory, mid '80s.
I was wary of going to this. EC had toured early in his career when he was a professional "angry young man" a.k.a. a pain in the arse who did 40 minute sets with no encore. This night, my first time seeing him, he went for ages, played more great songs than one man deserves to write, and seemed to be having a great time. I sure did.
Talking Heads/Eurythmics, Narara outdoor festival, '84. Big 3-day paddock and pond adventure. Pretenders the night before (or was it the night after?) were disappointing, Simple Minds bombastic, but OK for that. This night, the Eurythmics were simply captivating. Then we sit down for what seemed like ages, while people stood around us. One of us gets up, says "There's nothing on stage", we laugh and scoff, how silly, then I stand up, and there's *nothing* at all on stage. Totally empty. If you see the live video Stop Making Sense, all will be revealed, including why it was such a great show.
Plant & Page, this year, Melbourne Park.
Sentimental reasons, I guess. There is always an element of, I dunno, morbid theatre maybe, about revivalism and all that, but this show just rocked anyway. Even heeding Lawrence's comment some time ago about the price and stuff, they had big expenses carting all these exotic musicians around the world which maybe justifies it (although I suspect the coke bill is way down these days). They reinvented the music enough to keep it fresh. Iggy Pop, The Palace, Melbourne, late '80s.
Words fail me a little here. I have never heard music sound *quite* like this before. Including when I heard Iggy again a few years later, at the Big Day Out (see Nick Cave below). If I could choose to revisit and re-experience a show or two, this and JB would be fighting for top of the list.
Nick Cave, Big Day Out, Melbourne, early '80s.
Just the vision of Nick, at the end of a long festival day, in a cool wet blustery summer evening, sleet whipping across the stage, with Blixa Bargeld coolly emitting puffs of smoke from the ciggy that dangled from his lips, and the smoke just being *whipped* away into the night; and the music for that moment could not have been more right.
Pop Will Eat Itself, the Old Greek Theatre, Melbourne, early '90s, twice.
If you don't know this UK band, and I imagine many of you don't, it's a little hard to explain. But their seminal and criminally unrecognised 1989 album This Is the Day, This is the Hour, This is *This* was best described by a British journalist as "Postmodern music made by people who don't know what postmodern means". Amen to that. The most astonishing, intelligent, and *fun* blending of elements from hip hop, metal, punk and pop imaginable. They sample, borrow and rip-off everything from just about everywhere -- it's a case of "spot the pop-culture reference": e.g. where do the samples in Can U Dig It? come from? (Mostly the film The Warriors, I *finally* found out this week!) Can you spot all the cultural refernces in that same song? Where do they borrow lyrics from Syd Barrett (the original "Pink Fraud"[?], Lawrence)? And so on and so on. And live, they just *thumped*!!! (Oh, and did I mention, that at each of these gigs, I was in the support band? Brush with fame......)

Um, I think that's enough. There was going to be a Part C, but some other day.

for now

bye
mh

Okay I'll delurk for this topic. I'm trying to avoid working today.
My five songs/pieces of music that changed my life perspective whatever, in no particular order would be

Black eyed dog ~ Nick Drake
This is so haunting, a man with a guitar on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Tubular bells ~.Mike Oldfield
This is so haunting, a man with a recording studio on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Mannish boy ~ Muddy Waters
I know someone else picked this, but it saved me from heavy metal when I was 18, and started me playing guitar. I don't play blues, or even anything remotely like it now, but that is what it all sits on.
Smells like teen spirt ~ Nirvana
Okay I admit it I was a grunge kid, I was 21 and this came out and I had my 15 minutes of hipness. But this stopped me trying to emulate blues players and started me doing my own thing.
Solo Cello suites ~ J.S. Bach
Just to throw you off track these are some of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written for a single melody instrument. The implied harmony, the mathematical chord progressions. Perfection.

Okay thats five but I'm going to cheat and keep going cos I'm enjoying this.

Fight the power ~ Public Enemy
I heard this first in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. It is the angriest thing I have ever heard, so much jarring sampling, biting lyrics. Focused aggression. Hip Hop just doesn't get any better than this.
Richard Thompson
Pretty much anything he has ever done : Stunningly morbid songwriting topped with truly the most original guitar playing I have ever heard.
The way young lovers do ~ Van Morrison
Better than Jeff, I'm sorry. The groovyest waltz ever with some utterly mad bass playing

That should do. Jeff doesn't appear cos I didn't get moved by his stuff till I saw him live. Which was an eye opener. In terms of great concerts he is a very close second to The Scottish National Opera doing the marriage of figaro by Mozart. Which is not bad going really for a wee bloke with an electric guitar.

Cheers

John P

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