19901. I've Got You Under My Skin - Neneh Cherry
2. In The Still Of The Night - Neville Brothers
3. You Do Something To Me - Sinead O Connor
4. Begin The Beguine - Salif Keita
5. Love For Sale - Fine Young Cannibals
6. Well, Did you Evah! - Debbie Harry/Iggy Pop
7. Miss Otis Regrets/Just One Of Those Things - Kirsty Maccoll/The Pogues
8. Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne
9. It's All Right With Me - Tom Waits
10. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Annie Lennox
11. Night And Day - U2
12. I Love Paris - Les Negresses Vertes
13. So In Love - K.D. Lang
14. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - The Thompson Twins
15. Too Darn Hot - Erasure
16. I Get A Kick Out Of You - The Jungle Brothers
17. Down In The Depths - Lisa Stansfield
18. From This Momment On - Jimmy Somerville
19. After You - Jody Watley
20. Do I Love You? - Aztec Camera
2. In The Still Of The Night - Neville Brothers
3. You Do Something To Me - Sinead O Connor
4. Begin The Beguine - Salif Keita
5. Love For Sale - Fine Young Cannibals
6. Well, Did you Evah! - Debbie Harry/Iggy Pop
7. Miss Otis Regrets/Just One Of Those Things - Kirsty Maccoll/The Pogues
8. Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne
9. It's All Right With Me - Tom Waits
10. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Annie Lennox
11. Night And Day - U2
12. I Love Paris - Les Negresses Vertes
13. So In Love - K.D. Lang
14. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - The Thompson Twins
15. Too Darn Hot - Erasure
16. I Get A Kick Out Of You - The Jungle Brothers
17. Down In The Depths - Lisa Stansfield
18. From This Momment On - Jimmy Somerville
19. After You - Jody Watley
20. Do I Love You? - Aztec Camera
19901. Drums Of War - The Old Bethpage Brass Band
2. Oliver Wendell Holmes (Quote) - Paul Roebling
3. Ashokan Farewell - Jay Ungar
4. The Battle Cry Of Freedom - Jacqueline Schwab
5. We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder - Bernice Johnson Reagon
6. Dixie/Bonnie Blue Flag - The New American Brass Band
7. Cheer Boys Cheer - The New American Brass Band
8. Angel Band - Russ Barenberg, Molly Mason
9. Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier - Jacqueline Schwab, Jesse Carr
10. Lorena - Matt Glaser, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason
11. Parade - The New American Brass Band
12. Hail Columbia - The New American Brass Band
13. Dixie - Bobby Horton
14. Kingdom Coming - Matt Glaser, Jay Ungar, Art Baron
15. Battle Hymn Of The Republic - Matt Glaser, Jacqueline Schwab
16. All Quiet On The Potomac - Jacqueline Schwab
17. Flag Of Columbia - Jacqueline Schwab
18. Weeping Sad And Lonely - Peggy James, Jacqueline Schwab, Jesse Carr
19. Yankee Doodle - The Old Bethpage Brass Band
20. Palmyra Schottische - The New American Brass Band
21. When Johnny Comes Marching Home - The Old Bethpage Brass Band
22. Shenandoah - John Levy, John Colby
23. When Johnny Comes Marching Home - Matt Glaser, Yonatin Malin, Jacqueline Schwab, Molly Mason, Peter Amidon, Jay Ungar
24. Marching Through Georgia - Matt Glaser, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Peter Amidon
25. Marching Through Georgia (Lament) - Jacqueline Schwab
26. Battle Cry Of Freedom - Jacqueline Schwab
27. Battle Hymn Of The Republic - The Abyssinian Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir
28. Ashokan Farewell/Sullivan Ballou Letter - Paul Roebling, David McCullough
2. Oliver Wendell Holmes (Quote) - Paul Roebling
3. Ashokan Farewell - Jay Ungar
4. The Battle Cry Of Freedom - Jacqueline Schwab
5. We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder - Bernice Johnson Reagon
6. Dixie/Bonnie Blue Flag - The New American Brass Band
7. Cheer Boys Cheer - The New American Brass Band
8. Angel Band - Russ Barenberg, Molly Mason
9. Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier - Jacqueline Schwab, Jesse Carr
10. Lorena - Matt Glaser, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason
11. Parade - The New American Brass Band
12. Hail Columbia - The New American Brass Band
13. Dixie - Bobby Horton
14. Kingdom Coming - Matt Glaser, Jay Ungar, Art Baron
15. Battle Hymn Of The Republic - Matt Glaser, Jacqueline Schwab
16. All Quiet On The Potomac - Jacqueline Schwab
17. Flag Of Columbia - Jacqueline Schwab
18. Weeping Sad And Lonely - Peggy James, Jacqueline Schwab, Jesse Carr
19. Yankee Doodle - The Old Bethpage Brass Band
20. Palmyra Schottische - The New American Brass Band
21. When Johnny Comes Marching Home - The Old Bethpage Brass Band
22. Shenandoah - John Levy, John Colby
23. When Johnny Comes Marching Home - Matt Glaser, Yonatin Malin, Jacqueline Schwab, Molly Mason, Peter Amidon, Jay Ungar
24. Marching Through Georgia - Matt Glaser, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Peter Amidon
25. Marching Through Georgia (Lament) - Jacqueline Schwab
26. Battle Cry Of Freedom - Jacqueline Schwab
27. Battle Hymn Of The Republic - The Abyssinian Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir
28. Ashokan Farewell/Sullivan Ballou Letter - Paul Roebling, David McCullough
Two albums, one post, one entry on my Top 20 list. My blog, my rules!
These two albums may seem pretty dissimilar, but they are closely related in significant ways with regards to the impact they had on me. I remember buying them within months of each other -- maybe 3 months at the most -- as a senior in high school.
With Red Hot + Blue, I just heard about a new album with Annie Lennox, U2, kd lang, Debbie Harry, Sinead O'Connor and others. You'd be all over it, right? I certainly was. That's all I knew at the time; turns out, it was a benefit album for AIDS research, as well as a tribute to Cole Porter, and I loved it. There were so many great songs sung by so many great people. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye became one of my favorite Annie Lennox songs. Well, Did Ya Evah! and Don't Fence Me In were delightfully fun. Miss Otis Regrets by Kirsty Maccoll was a great discovery, both song and artist.
The Civil War came into our house via the groundbreaking Ken Burns documentary of course. The whole family watched it on PBS, my mother being a major Civil War buff and me being a minor one. All of the music in the series was great, but one particular melody that kept being played over and over was especially compelling. That turned out to be Ashokan Farewell, which remains today one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard.
I closely identify both albums with my parents. After failing a couple of times to win over friends to my musical passions, I moved on to my parents with Red Hot + Blue. I remember sitting on the floor in the den one evening, having forced both of them to come sit down & relax, and playing song after song. It was fully active on my part, giving whatever spiel I wanted about each song as I furiously fast-forwarded and rewound the tape to get to the proper song. It actually worked this time, and my parents responded positively to many of the songs I played. To this day, my dad still asks me sometimes to play "that good Annie Lennox song."
The Civil War was actually a "family album." I initiated the purchase, but decided that we must have it on CD to get the full impact of the beautiful music. I didn't have a CD player yet, so my parents bought a copy for their stereo system. We all listened to it incessantly for months (years, really). My dad particularly loved to listen to music on Saturday morning, so many mornings I would be upstairs laying in bed and hear the the first soft strains of the violin playing Ashokan Farewell, which is a really wonderful memory.
Red Hot + Blue also gave me the opportunity to do something I love to do -- collect. That album was simply the first in the Red Hot series that would eventually include around a dozen albums benefiting AIDS research. I bought them all over the next decade or so, ending up with about 7 or 8 before the themes went so far out of my outside my tastes that I had to quit. There are some great albums in the Red Hot series though, including Red Hot + Rio, Red Hot + Rhapsody, and Red Hot + Country.
In its own way, The Civil War also led to a collection of sorts. It really opened the doors for not just movie soundtracks, but movie scores. In the past, I thought a song without lyrics wasn't really a song; it was just elevator music. Ashokan Farewell changed all that. I started trying to chase down different scores & instrumental pieces, which culminated in my purchasing of one of those incredibly cheesy made-for-TV double CD sets called Instrumental Magic. You know, one of those things put out by K-Tel or something.
Most important, though, both Red Hot + Blue and The Civil War helped expand my musical boundaries. Up until that point, my musical experience was pretty limited to whatever came on MTV, VH-1, or CMT, or my parents' favorites (country and 60s pop such as The Beach Boys and The Mamas & the Papas). But after experiencing these two albums, I began to realize there was a lot of good stuff out there. I listened to a lot of Civil War-era music and then moved to other 19th century music. I particularly loved music around the time of the California Gold Rush (The Days of '49, Hangtown Girls), which led to other traditional folk music and Appalachian music (Oh Shenandoah is an absolute favorite). Then WWII-era and Big Band music. Through Cole Porter, I discovered the music of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, sung by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, and Nina Simone.
And the exploration into yesteryear's music has never stopped. There is so much incredible stuff out there. Just this past year, I purchased two compilations of sea-faring music called Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys. If you haven't taken time to check out music from the past hundred, two hundred, three hundred years, you're really missing out.
These two albums may seem pretty dissimilar, but they are closely related in significant ways with regards to the impact they had on me. I remember buying them within months of each other -- maybe 3 months at the most -- as a senior in high school.
With Red Hot + Blue, I just heard about a new album with Annie Lennox, U2, kd lang, Debbie Harry, Sinead O'Connor and others. You'd be all over it, right? I certainly was. That's all I knew at the time; turns out, it was a benefit album for AIDS research, as well as a tribute to Cole Porter, and I loved it. There were so many great songs sung by so many great people. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye became one of my favorite Annie Lennox songs. Well, Did Ya Evah! and Don't Fence Me In were delightfully fun. Miss Otis Regrets by Kirsty Maccoll was a great discovery, both song and artist.
The Civil War came into our house via the groundbreaking Ken Burns documentary of course. The whole family watched it on PBS, my mother being a major Civil War buff and me being a minor one. All of the music in the series was great, but one particular melody that kept being played over and over was especially compelling. That turned out to be Ashokan Farewell, which remains today one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard.
I closely identify both albums with my parents. After failing a couple of times to win over friends to my musical passions, I moved on to my parents with Red Hot + Blue. I remember sitting on the floor in the den one evening, having forced both of them to come sit down & relax, and playing song after song. It was fully active on my part, giving whatever spiel I wanted about each song as I furiously fast-forwarded and rewound the tape to get to the proper song. It actually worked this time, and my parents responded positively to many of the songs I played. To this day, my dad still asks me sometimes to play "that good Annie Lennox song."
The Civil War was actually a "family album." I initiated the purchase, but decided that we must have it on CD to get the full impact of the beautiful music. I didn't have a CD player yet, so my parents bought a copy for their stereo system. We all listened to it incessantly for months (years, really). My dad particularly loved to listen to music on Saturday morning, so many mornings I would be upstairs laying in bed and hear the the first soft strains of the violin playing Ashokan Farewell, which is a really wonderful memory.
Red Hot + Blue also gave me the opportunity to do something I love to do -- collect. That album was simply the first in the Red Hot series that would eventually include around a dozen albums benefiting AIDS research. I bought them all over the next decade or so, ending up with about 7 or 8 before the themes went so far out of my outside my tastes that I had to quit. There are some great albums in the Red Hot series though, including Red Hot + Rio, Red Hot + Rhapsody, and Red Hot + Country.
In its own way, The Civil War also led to a collection of sorts. It really opened the doors for not just movie soundtracks, but movie scores. In the past, I thought a song without lyrics wasn't really a song; it was just elevator music. Ashokan Farewell changed all that. I started trying to chase down different scores & instrumental pieces, which culminated in my purchasing of one of those incredibly cheesy made-for-TV double CD sets called Instrumental Magic. You know, one of those things put out by K-Tel or something.
Most important, though, both Red Hot + Blue and The Civil War helped expand my musical boundaries. Up until that point, my musical experience was pretty limited to whatever came on MTV, VH-1, or CMT, or my parents' favorites (country and 60s pop such as The Beach Boys and The Mamas & the Papas). But after experiencing these two albums, I began to realize there was a lot of good stuff out there. I listened to a lot of Civil War-era music and then moved to other 19th century music. I particularly loved music around the time of the California Gold Rush (The Days of '49, Hangtown Girls), which led to other traditional folk music and Appalachian music (Oh Shenandoah is an absolute favorite). Then WWII-era and Big Band music. Through Cole Porter, I discovered the music of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, sung by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, and Nina Simone.
And the exploration into yesteryear's music has never stopped. There is so much incredible stuff out there. Just this past year, I purchased two compilations of sea-faring music called Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys. If you haven't taken time to check out music from the past hundred, two hundred, three hundred years, you're really missing out.
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