Today I have mainly been playing selections from the Matthew Sweet / Susannah Hoffs Under the Covers project. The song that really snagged on my mind and demanded to be played several times on repeat was You’re So Vain, and the reason for that comes at 2:50 in this video (which, I should point out,seems to have scant acquaintance with the recording. It looks like it was bashed together by a fan).
It’s that husky ‘Well I hea-ea-ear you went to Saratoga …’ that slays me. It often happens, doesn’t it? A performance which you enjoy is made unforgettable by a single little phrase of vocals or instrumentation. Let’s have yours.
I may have mentioned mine before, but it’s the saxophone solo in I’m Comin’ Down by Primal Scream on the Screamadelica LP. The song ambles and burbles along happily for the first 3.5 minutes, gradually picking up speed until it reaches 3.32, when the sax suddenly comes into focus and starts a minute of build up, with a steady drum beat until the glorious release at 4.32 for 8 seconds of pure joy – every single time.
Lovely end quote from Nastassja Kinski (Paris, Texas) too
Just after the two minute mark, I’ve always really liked the way the band falls apart and then comes together again in Talent Show by The Replacements.
I have just got in from work & cant be arsed looking on You tube, but for me its.
Pulp – Common people – “Are you sure?”
And from Babies – “Alright…”
He gives good Alright, does the Cock.
As I’m on Roxy Music thing (see Better Live thread), I love the bit about five minutes into “If There Is Something” after the oboe (?) instrumental part, where Ferry sings “Shake your hair girl with your ponytail, Takes me right back when you were young”, when – having almost ground to a halt – the song has another short lease of life to the end.
Speaking of Roxy, that bit in Mother Of Pearl, just after the manic opening racket fades into the piano break and Ferry sighs that languorous ‘Oh…’
I have definitely mentioned these before : a bunch a codas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B2N5wv8wP4 Hall & Oates – Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid/Big Bam Boom, 3 minutes in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7no9Ak2uSrQ Dire Straits – Why Worry/Brothers In Arms, 4.25 in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLwTihQzHMI Julian Lennon – Well I Don’t Know/Valotte, 3.35 in
“Tomorrow will be Christmas”
Also, please stop posting Susanna Hoffs videos. It is a major drain on my concentration.
You know, if you play this one you’ll hear her sing ‘You had me several years ago’.
Good luck with whatever you’re meant to be concentrating on today.
it’s the ‘Baybee’ at 1:53
Love those Sid ‘n’ Susie albums, but they didn’t beat THIS version.
Which ain’t a patch on the original, either.
According to Twitter, that’s Kirsty (from the original multitrack) doing the “Bay-By”, as Tracey couldn’t hit the high notes.
Yep tis
Still prefer the Ullman version, if for no reason other than it sounds like it had more than 50p spent on it.
Sadly, I must concur.
I’ve listened to a few of those Hoffs/Sweet covers songs and whilst they’re nicely played and sung, they don’t exactly take them and make them their own, do they?
I gave up after about 3 or 4.
One of which was Willin’, after which I couldn’t take the Hoffs seriously. Like she’s she’s driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made…
It’s a fair point. I love them for Susannah’s voice and the song choice, but I find Sweet’s guitar a bit too polite, and the solo in You’re So Vain is a good example of what I mean.
Buckingham’s little 3-second guitar lick (240-243):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNPQx_Bb2Fo
I’ve posted this before – Tony Banks keyboards starting at 9.33 in Cinema Show and then building to a climax from 9.43. Still makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up after many many times hearing……
I’ll also add REM / World Leader Pretend – the part at 2.47 where it drops just to piano. Gorgeous….
Also from Green, the “It’s okayyyy” at the end of The Wrong Child.
Hairs on back of neck, tennnn-SHUN!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mywPX56FEDU
2.21 when an average song suddenly goes quietly and simply ballistic.
The Chairmen of the Board – ‘Give Me Just a Little More Time.’ It’s that bit when General Johnson goes “brrrrrp!” at 2:16 (is that how you spell it?)
After 2:27 of quietly smouldering building intro – Ced Sharpe’s drums rattle in and then the line “we open doors by thinking”.
https://youtu.be/4rzKMPxHZrs
Beastie Boys known to let the beat
Mmm, drop!
(Heard this on radio this morning and performed mic drop while driving – which is not in the Highway Code)
There are loads of “moments” on the BBs records. Ringo kicking in on Sounds of Science is arguably greater than when he does on the original record.
And from So Whatcha Want:
Adrock: “You think you can front when revelation comes?”
Biz Markie: “Yeahhh! You can’t front on that!”
I do the patty duke and in case you don’t remember
Well I freak a funky beat like the shit was in a blender
That’s another one.
Best thing about any Beastie Boys record is the end.
You heard my style
I think you missed the point
*drums*
IT’S THE JOINT
TUNE!!!!
Where? Just 3 blokes shouting. As always.
Baby We Don’t Love You Baby We Don’t Love You, Baby, Yeah!
Free -All Right Now – the “Ow”! just before the first chorus, 45 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siMFORx8uO8
ABBA – I Have A Dream – “I belieeeeeeeve in Angels” Gets me every time. 1.45 in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP4N0irJ-gM
ABBA do it to me all the time. There’s hardly 3 seconds of SOS that aren’t “that bit that goes…”. It’s a hook festival.
Some others that make me melt…
Crowded House – Fall At Your Feet (from “Woodface”), 2 minutes in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW_5YdPL9Go
Toad The Wet Sprocket – I Will Not Take These Things For Granted (from “Fear”), 3.50 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNEt60MoK_I
Lloyd Cole – Mercy//Killing (from “Lloyd Cole”), 3.15 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsA5GN1Q5qw
Odds – It Falls Apart (from “Bedbugs”), 2.50 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNtjksCUMIA
Herb Alpert’s This Guy’s In Love , in the chorus when he sings “Say you’re in love…” his vocals, the backing vocals and the instrumentation combine to achieve a perfect unity that renders those two seconds utterly sublime.