1. Together (We’ll Always Be) – Chuck Berry – If all you know is the great 28, give this classic off Afterschool Sessions from 1957 a go. More like jazz than rock but works both sides.
2. Ritual – Ghost – The other side of metal per Wyatt starts like classic rock and then hammers itself into place.
3. Pity Party – Saint Motel – The one about the chick with a taste for scotch and abusive guys, aka every girl I dated from when I was 17 till when i was 20.
4. Love Is Stronger Than Pride – Sade – The one about the chick with a taste for scotch and abusive guys, only done differently.
5. Deathsweater – Beans – Awesome, modern hip hop. I mean, really, like a sideways step into the future.
6. Lovergirl – Teena Marie
7. Fu-Gee-La – The Fugees – When I heard Hill play this at rock the bells, I could hardly recognize it.
8. One For You, One For Me – Bright Eyes
9. A Machine Spiritual (The People’s Key) – Bright Eyes
10. Shell Game – Bright Eyes
I’ve had all three on heavy rotation and they sound really good if not great. #8 is another song of lists, and can get silly. It is not a million miles away from the superior “Everything Must Belong Somewhere” -an attempt at inclusiveness through opposites. “Shell Games” has a structural flaw, but overcomes: it is a sort of anti-anthem anthem. And until Conor provides the key, “A Machine Spiritual” will remain a cipher.