As I hope you've noticed, I try to avoid getting negative on this blog. One of my guiding principles in writing it has been Auden's comment on how criticism should concern itself with opening up an audience to things of which they are unaware, and thus, there shouldn't really be time left over for deriding anything, considering how much good stuff is almost entirely neglected. That being said, there is one era and/or style of music upon the terribleness of which I can't remain silent: the eighties. I'm sorry, but the scars of that horrible time are still in my psyche. On the bright side, I am forever in the debt of the relatively few great bands that kept rock alive during those dark days. The best of that small bunch, for me, were the Replacements, whose career was perhaps best summarized in a blurb written by Nick Hornby, which can be found on the cover of Jim Walsh's highly recommended 2007 book, The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting: "The Replacements were superheroes: They rescued a whole planet from '80s music." Well said.

Another group from that time deserving of recognition is the Style Council, the r&b influenced group fronted by the former leader of the Jam, Paul Weller, that were in operation from 1983-1989. I think of them as a singles band (like most of their ancestors, I suppose), and their releases had a sort of street art quality to them, tied in with particular moments and social scenes. I think my favourite among them is this one, "How She Threw It All Away" from 1988:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG80bEinXNk. By the way, Weller has remained active, and terrific, in the years since. He released his tenth solo album, Wake Up the Nation, in 2010.

I'd be remiss if I were to write about Gene Bertoncini, as I did yesterday, without doing the same about Charlie Byrd, who, as the popularizer of finger-style jazz guitar, was an influence on Bertoncini, and virtually every other jazz guitarist. He was an influence on all of jazz, in fact, because of his work in bringing Brazilian music and the Bossa Nova style into its current mainstream status. Byrd's 1962 collaboration with the saxophone giant, Stan Getz, Jazz Samba, remains a cornerstone in the field, and a must-hear for every jazz fan. Here's a link to the opening track, "Desafinado", which features tremendous solo work, by both Byrd and Getz, that proved that Bossa Nova could provide a framework for a jazz musician's abilities that would be every bit as solid and challenging as those found in standards: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGfiAzPiYG4). This cut was a pop hit at the time, by the way, reaching #15 on the Billboard charts. Those were the days.

One of the great things about going to music school is the number of events, such as concerts and workshops, that one has the opportunity to attend. One such occasion for me was a very memorable workshop with the great American jazz/classical guitarist, Gene Bertoncini. On that day, he captivated the audience with his virtuosity, his humour, and his generosity in sharing his approach and musical concept (I remember several of the top guitarists at school carefully taking notes). And I should clarify the term (jazz/classical) used above: What I mean is that, essentially, Bertoncini is a jazz player, but one who plays it on a classical guitar using classical technique. But a picture's worth a thousand words, and a video some exponent of that, so here's a link to a performance of "The Shadow of Your Smile" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCss_FtMWDQ), and here's another to his website (http://www.genebertoncini.com/). He's got nineteen other videos on his YouTube channel, many of which contain insights on his work that would be helpful to listeners, and other guitarists, of course.

In case there are, among the readers of this blog, people that have not heard Sly Stone's version of "Que Sera", le voila: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQZNkzP4kYw&feature=related. There's a lot to be enjoyed with this one, and a lot to be learned too. The first thing that strikes me is the phrasing, both by Sly and his sister Rose. For example, it's interesting how the held notes of a multi-syllabic word are always on the last syllable ("When I was just a little..."), and never is the meaning of the words contradicted for a musical effect (Stephen Sondheim would approve). Rose's tone, in both the musical and linguistic senses of the word, is impeccable, and Sly's free-form harmonizing on the choruses is another highlight worth many listens. It's everything a cover tune should be. There may be some as good, but there aren't any better.

By the way, Sly is apparently at work in the studio, which is brilliant news. More info and links to hear some recent work can be found here: http://www.slystonebook.com/.

I've been listening to a fair bit of Stravinsky recently, ever since my post on Monday regarding the Bad Plus and their Rite of Spring project, and in particular the three great early ballets (The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring - which were all, amazingly, composed between 1910 and 1913). The theory has been put forward several times that often a composer's most compelling music is written for the ballet. Obviously, dance itself (and the rhythms it requires) become the inspirational agent, and that certainly seems the case with this music, which is, to some listeners (including this one), the high point of Stravinsky's career. These scores, beautiful, strange and powerful throughout, are as important culturally as they are musically. They are among the defining accomplishments of modernism, as important as Picasso, and, inspired and inspiring, they retain all of their expressive power to this day. Here's a clip of the opening of Petrushka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbWDG3LU4bc.

As I expected it would be, Jeff Tweedy's solo show at the Olympia Theatre (in Montreal) was brilliant, full to the brim of music, poetry, humour and (an under-appreciated aspect of Tweedy's art) innovative guitar-playing. Some personal highlights: "Theologians" during the first encore; "One Wing", which might be my favourite Wilco song; "Kamera", a standout on an album filled with them, their 2002 masterpiece, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I can't remember if it was said before or after his playing "Country Disappeared", but he mentioned that a video of the song had been shot in the same theatre during Wilco's last Montreal visit, in February of 2010, so I looked it up and enjoyed it very much - so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkK4fjUlmVs. Go see this group, or Tweedy solo, if you possibly can, and listen to their records, too. They are a band that can hold the field with any other that could be named. Don't miss out.

Off to see Jeff Tweedy tonight, which should be highly entertaining. I've seen Wilco a few times now and they always surpass expectations. They're a bit like Don Mattingly, the great Yankee first baseman, in that regard (When Yogi Berra was asked if Mattingly had surpassed expectations with a particularly great season, he said, "I'd say he's done more than that"). Baseball and humour are themes that both Wilco and Tweedy have frequently explored. Wilco's summer tours have often used minor league ball parks for venues, for example - I saw them in August of 2009 at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, New York - and Jeff Tweedy is a very funny person. He could have been a stand-up comic, probably, but I'm glad he devoted himself to music. Here's a clip that I hadn't seen before, which shows his sense of humour and his musicianship, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate": (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRuU_IkGUyo&feature=related). And go see Tweedy (and/or Wilco) in person if you can.

Harry Nilsson was one of the greatest singers in rock history, a favourite of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and David Bowie. His 1971 album Nilsson Schmilsson is the place to start for someone not familiar with his work (which would apparently include the people who voted on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers list, from which Nilsson, ridiculously, was left off). Both the album title and its famous cover photo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilsson_Schmilsson) demonstrate his self-deprecating quality, but don't be fooled, the album contains some of the most wide-ranging, adventurous and virtuosic rock singing ever done. The big hits, "Coconut" and "Without You", both demonstrate the vocal variety of which Nilsson was capable, but to really get a sense of his artistry, I'd recommend listening to the entire album (and then some others after that). Here's the first track, "Gotta Get Up", to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy_gTrdXaU.

The Ballad of Mott the Hoople, a documentary about the band, is a movie that I'm looking forward to seeing. It's playing at various festivals and things at the moment, as far as I can tell, so I'm hopeful it'll have some form of general release soon. We'll see.

Mostly because of the presence of Ian Hunter, who wrote Diary of a Rock and Roll Star (1974) and many songs about the band's adventures, Mott obtained the reputation of a band that was self-aware, clever, literary. And many have noticed the apparent contradictions that they embodied - the rock star attitude combined with self-deprecating irony - they gave people a lot to think about. Here's a link to a great video of the band (but without Mick Ralphs, unfortunately) doing their wonderful hit, "Roll Away the Stone", on Top of the Pops (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFUuN__7tE) in late '73. The expression on Hunter's face right before the vocal says it all: Rock and roll is both serious and fun. Then he sings right over his lip-sync. (I have no idea what the intro before the song is about, though).

In the posts regarding my top ten Queen songs a few days ago, you may have noticed that I didn't include "Bohemian Rhapsody". There were a couple of reasons for this, most of which have to do with its fame, but I do think the song is a remarkable achievement. However, I don't think it's unique - in fact, I think the song was inspired by, and perhaps even based on, a Mott the Hoople song called "Marionette" (from their 1974 album, The Hoople). Queen had toured with them in 1973, and alluded to the experience in "Now I'm Here" ("Down in the city just Hoople and me...") on Sheer Heart Attack, which was released the following year. On the Mott the Hoople website, in honour of their too-brief reunion of 2009, Brian May was quoted thus: "On tour as support to Mott The Hoople (the only time Queen ever supported anyone), I was always conscious that we were in the presence of something great, something highly evolved, close to the centre of the Spirit of Rock 'n' Roll, something to breathe in and learn from."

My contention today is that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was another result of that influence. Here are links to the track in question (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aWhdmFr61Q) and its lyrics (http://www.elyrics.net/read/m/mott-the-hoople-lyrics/marionette-lyrics.html).

Found a most interesting piece of news yesterday on the NPR music site which informs us that the Bad Plus, the American jazz trio with the repertoire of astonishing variety, has taken on a commission to rework Stravinsky's watershed, modernist masterpiece, The Rite of Spring, for their instrumentation and style. You can read more about the project and hear both a sample and an interview here: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/20/134666157/the-bad-plus-tackle-stravinskys-spring. Judging from the clip, it's going to be a tremendous recording when it's completed, and I hope they tour it, too - that would be amazing. During the interview, they call the Rite "the Monster", which is a fair description, both in terms of its technical content and cultural importance. The 2009 film, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, got mixed reviews, and I would concur, but the opening scenes which portray the events surrounding the ballet's Paris premiere are terrific. Imagine a time when an orchestral work (along with Nijinsky's choreography) could bring in the riot police; those were the days. The music, though, still sounds both challenging and awesomely beautiful. Here's a link to the Joffrey Ballet's recreation of the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjX3oAwv_Fs.

Top ten favourite Queen songs, continued:

5. "Play the Game" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr2iDWQSwsI): Yesterday I mentioned that I consider John Deacon a pop music genius, well, I think the same of Freddie Mercury. The bridge in this one ("My game of love has just begun...") is one of the most exciting I've heard.

4. "Long Away" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e06qoOTrkE): My favourite of the several wonderful Brian May space-folk songs, with a beautiful lead vocal and all-galaxy guitar playing (of course).

3. "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke/Nevermore/The March of the Black Queen" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N73NdiH0cBk/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckRX0k9owAY) I'm not really cheating here, I don't think, because these ones pretty much function as a suite. (By the way, one of the many highlights of A Night at the Opera is the instrumental segue from May's "The Prophet's Song" to Mercury's "Love of My Life".) These songs sound best on the recently (2011) remastered versions, or on LP (if you're lucky enough to have one).

2. "Brighton Rock" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUKi3_QntE): May is just awesome on this one, as is well known, but so's Mercury. Listen to the way he comes out of the falsetto halfway through the word "magic". How did he do that? And you've gotta love the fairground sound effects at the opening. Drama, fun, virtuosity: pure Queen.

1. "Killer Queen" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ti2P_z5IPw): Upon hearing this one for the first time, I listened to it another twenty or so times in a row. I simply couldn't believe that a song could be so perfectly crafted, and my opinion hasn't changed. The signature tune of one of the all-time rock and roll acts.

Since I like to think of myself as a serious Queen fan (which is something that I've never apologized for, I'm happy to say) I thought that one way of whittling down the many contenders for entry into my top ten list of favourite songs would be to avoid the obvious choices. Also, one of the goals of this blog is to introduce people to things they might not hear otherwise, so there's a bit of that in there, too. Thus, with a couple of exceptions, most of the following are not from a list of their most known:

8. "My Fairy King" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EYUqsfl7gE): Talk about an ambitious song for a debut album, this one features a double lead vocal from Mercury and Roger Taylor, astonishing changes of pace and a great many beautiful melodies. 7. "Drowse" (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=queen+drowse&aq=f): Speaking of Roger Taylor, this is one of his great songs. Actually, I like all of his songs; I wish the albums contained more of them, in fact. But it seems like he and John Deacon usually only contributed one per album, sort of dual George Harrison roles or something - and like Harrison, they wrote some of the band's best numbers. This one allows him to display his astonishing vocal range (he's the really high voice on nearly all of their recordings) as well as his highly original, melodic approach to the drums. Lyrically, he was the only one in the group to deal with teenage topics, and he did so really well. 6. "Need Your Lovin' Tonight" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRa8mqWIX-0): I think that John Deacon is an unacknowledged pop genius, and this one proves it (if "You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "You and I" hadn't already done so). It's amazing how often Mercury's best singing is found on tunes he didn't write, a fact that underlines both his musicianship and his generosity. Taylor, also, is awesome on this one. Tune in tomorrow for the top five.

Queen have recently released remastered versions of their first five albums, and the occasion has led to the publication of a couple of top ten lists, so I think I'll add one of my own. I'll start today with only spots 10. and 9. because I've been wanting to write about these two songs for another reason: their influence on Radiohead.

10. "White Queen (As it Began)" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHobnwUhhIM): This one's a Brian May song from 1974's Queen II. May's ultra-brainy concept of the guitar as orchestral instrument has been a clear influence on Radiohead's approach to the instrument and to the studio itself. And besides that, the strings at the beginning of this are very evocative of the way they're used on "How to Disappear Completely" and "Faust Arp", for a couple of examples.

9. "The Prophet's Song" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xmsXqgHHEI): A through-composed masterpiece, also by May, from A Night at the Opera (1975) which features the echo (a.k.a. delay) effect which he had applied to his guitar work on "Brighton Rock" (which became a showpiece of their live performances for years). Its influence on Radiohead can be heard in the two closing tracks from The King of Limbs, "Give Up the Ghost" and "Separator".

I'll have the last eight spots for you over the next couple of posts.

I wasn't surprised to learn that Gigi Gryce (short for George General Gryce), the saxophonist and bandleader who wrote the pocket-sized jazz standard masterpiece called "Minority", studied classical composition (at the Boston Conservatory during the forties), because it is a perfect example of the small compositional form known as "sentence structure". In it, a melodic idea is played, then repeated in a contrasting key and then "liquidated", which according to Arnold Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition, consists of "gradually eliminating characteristic features, until only uncharacteristic ones remain, which have little in common with the basic motive". Here's a version, performed by an all-star lineup, in which the form is clearly audible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDR2c6k9ixk&feature=related. The theme is played twice at the beginning, the first starting at 0:14, and the second at 0:29. (By the way, you'll hear sentence structure in a great many of Mozart's works, as well, if you listen for it.)

Thom Yorke is a very hard-working musician. Very soon after the latest Radiohead album, we've already got more new music from him. This one is what used to be called a two-sided single, with tracks called "Ego" and "Mirror", and it was made in collaboration with two electronic musicians - both of whom go by monikers, Burial (William Bevan) and Four Tet (Kieran Hebden). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a YouTube version that comes without DJ chattering, so that link will come as soon as I do. In the meantime, I thought I'd provide links for two remixes of tracks from Yorke's 2006 solo album, The Eraser, one each from the two artists named above. Just as arranging became an art form in its own rite with the development of jazz, so has remixing in the digital age. The results can be quite compelling. Here's the original version of "Atoms for Peace": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoOlrf3x2gI&feature=related, and here's Four Tet's remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7iWEim4sWo. And here's Yorke's original of "And It Rained All Night": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A604BZ1YZU&feature=related, and here's Burial's remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnrsXNBSwGA.

The New York Dolls are still an adventurous, deeply-schooled, challenging, fun-loving rock band. I've been listening to their new album, Dancing Backward in High Heels, non-stop for a couple of days now with much delight. I don't know how recording it in Newcastle brought them back to the fifties/early-sixties girl-group sound, one of the musical veins that they tapped in the early seventies (thus starting the camp approach that was an integral part of punk), but it did. It's an updated version of the sound, too, and man, does it ever sound hip in 2011. By the way, there was a lot of turnover in the group's personnel from the last album to this one - only the drummer, Brian Delaney and the two original members, David Johansen and Syl Sylvain, are back from the squad that produced One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006) and Cause I Sez So (2009), and having seen the band in that configuration, I was sorry to hear that the bassist, Sami Yaffa and the guitarist, Steve Conte had gone, because they both made terrific contributions. But that's rock and roll, I guess. In any event, this new release is a very interesting development of the band's sound, and maybe the personnel changes allowed that to happen to some degree. Here's the brilliant second track, "Streetcake" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPz_baKEe3U&playnext=1&list=PLAD8182C5ECFA20AE).

Great news for Steely Dan fans: another big tour is happening this summer (info: http://www.steelydan.com/). By my count, it'll be their eighth of the twenty-first century. Who would have guessed that the studio-centric duo of the seventies would turn into millennial road warriors? Not me, but I'm certainly glad that it's happened. I've seen them a few times over this time, and it's always a treat. I think that the aspect that I enjoy the most is the fact that they haven't compromised their commitment to musicianship and all-around technical excellence in any way just for the sake of getting a show on the road. Their concerts are always on the vanguard of what can be accomplished in popular music. Their records too, come to think of it. In fact, I don't think that they've been given enough credit in this area, by which I mean their contributions in terms of expanding the possibilities of what popular music in recording - and more recently, in performance - can sound like. For that alone, they should be appreciated. On top of that, of course, is the greatness of their song-craft, both lyrically and musically. If you get half a chance, go see them this summer, to say thanks. Here's "Pearl of the Quarter" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC8_KGHbrOI) one of my favourites from the early days.

I've been having another read of England's Dreaming, Jon Savage's great tome on punk and the Sex Pistols from 1991, and the thing that I'm finding really striking is the depth of his examination into the philosophical movements that were responsible for it. The book is a must-read for anyone who remains unconvinced about the importance of punk. And it brings back to mind the fact that rock music, which, in comparison with other types of music, is relatively easy to play on a technical level, requires much more than other styles in terms of thought. It therefore can't be judged on the same terms as other forms of music, and rock music which has nothing more to say than "I want to be a star!" or "I wish I was rich!" or "Let's party!" is worthless. And anyone who doesn't think that young people need to be given a chance to participate in philosophical discussion, and that art directed toward them doesn't need to contain it, should watch a couple of episodes of Jersey Shore and get back to me. (Here's a link to Jon Savage's website: http://www.jonsavage.com/.)

I've been thinking about Beethoven a lot lately, and of a particular description that I heard of him some years back by one of my college professors, who called him "almost a Promethean figure", which seems entirely right to me. Basically, the more one learns about his life and work, the more awestruck one becomes, and perhaps most importantly, the more deeply one can enter into the music - which is on a level with the greatest human accomplishments in any field. His works always contain structural clarity, and yet they are daring and ground-breaking as they push against the boundaries of form. They contain therefore "the unexpected and the obvious", the elements of great art from Ezra Pound's dictum. Here's the picturesque first movement from the Sixth Symphony - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJPZ-mu-Ts - as case in point.

It's really hard to write a post on a day that's brought such horrific news. I guess the only thing to say is that we've all got to try to help in any way available to us. A thought that keeps coming to mind is the fact that the people of Japan have always had great interest and taste in music, and particularly rock music. My hope is that the many artists who've benefited from that interest over the years will do their best to make contributions towards the healing and rebuilding process, and not only with their money, but with their music, too. Here's Bruce Cockburn's "Tokyo", a song that may be of use today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDJJrAP_eCI.

What a great month March 2011 has been for rock and roll fans. Not only did we get a new (and tremendous) Radiohead album, not only do we have a new one by the Strokes to look forward to (it's to be called Angles, apparently, and its release date is March 22), but the New York Dolls have just released their fifth album (the third of their 21st century comeback), Dancing Backward in High Heels, and after a listen to all the tracks I could find on YouTube (I'll be picking up the CD tomorrow, I hope), my first impression is that it's another great one. The first thing you'll notice is its sound. It's unlike anything the band have done before, and yet it's rooted in the band's past and logical for their future, as well. I'll be writing more about the record in a week or so, assuming I can get the album, but it certainly looks like they've done it again. That's a five for five ratio in the great albums versus number of albums released category, by the way. Here's the opening track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmzFpt9_xck&feature=related.

Today, I finally got the chance to hear Jonny Greenwood's new soundtrack for the recently released film entitled, Norwegian Wood, and also to hear a very interesting interview with him courtesy of this website: http://www.greenplastic.com/. During the chat, he discussed how the plot of the story, which involves a music teacher who has a breakdown and has to re-learn how to play, influenced the composition of the music. And having given it a couple of listens, I can clearly hear what he's talking about (and the music's wonderful, by the way). But it also got me thinking about a central aspect of Radiohead's music: they try very hard to never rely on assumptions, to think as if the song they're working on is the first of its kind, maybe even the first they've ever played. It's the right way to proceed, because if assumptions are allowed into the composing process (and even a unit as small as a chord or scale fragment can be an assumption), creativity and originality get compromised, and it can seem like there's not much that hasn't been done in music. In fact, very little has been done in music, but as has always been the case, only fresh thinking and effort can get to the ground-breaking stuff. Here's a piece from the above soundtrack that exemplifies all of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xYbK53vs2s.

I've been reading quite a bit of commentary on Radiohead's latest release, The King of Limbs, and I've been left, more than a few times, quite puzzled. I'm not entirely sure that some critics are entirely sure what to listen for in the band's music. So today, I'm going to start with what not to listen (or look) for: 1. The length of an album is quite irrelevant when music of this quality is under discussion. Radiohead's music is intricate and detailed to an unparalleled level in the history of rock, and the only way to appreciate the fact is with repeated listenings, and I mean many of them. Music, like poetry, is about compressed power, not length. Examples? Sgt. Pepper's clocks in at 39:42, and A Love Supreme at 33:02. (I think it was Robert Christgau who started all of this, with his "consumer alerts" for albums under a certain duration and so forth. It was a wrongheaded approach, and it wasn't his only one either - the stuff he's written about this band is pretty dumb, too.) 2. The lyrics are incidental to what Radiohead is doing. And while they shouldn't be disregarded, the band's art is located in its extrapolation of the various emotional states that the words hint at. Therefore, "Feral" has as much to say, in its own way, as does "Green Plastic Trees" or "Paranoid Android". 3. I remember Thom Yorke saying something about being "sick of melody" about ten years ago (or so), and while many of his songs belie that statement, it should be remembered that what the band is really after doesn't have a lot to do with a song's tune. T.S. Eliot once said that a poet uses ideas the way a burglar uses a piece of meat: to distract a dog, while he goes about his business. This also applies to the approach Radiohead takes to melody. Try listening to "Lotus Flower" for its texture, its details, its rhythms, which are put together with such care and originality that they sound new and different with every listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8.

Top ten favourite Bowie tunes, continued: 5. "Win" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB9RSG-56wU): A great song from his most underrated album, which includes three others that would be in my top twenty list: "Young Americans", "Right" and "Can You Hear Me" (and maybe "Somebody Up There Likes Me", too, come to think of it). 4. "Moonage Daydream" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE4Mu_cZcIA): Just an amazing song from an album full of them, with lyrics that deserve to be memorized and quoted. There's an allusion to it at the end of Ian Hunter's "The Great Escape" from his 2009 Man Overboard, in fact, and a band that I was in once got its name from it (if you're interested). 3. "Aladdin Sane" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2y9inP4CqE): The mesmerizing title track of the album where Bowie's collagist lyrics were at their most powerful. And apparently Bowie was conceptually responsible for the piece's signature, Mike Garson's expressive Cecil Tayloresque piano performance, by asking for an avant-garde approach, rather than the latin or blues inspired playing that he'd done on earlier takes. Garson has said that a week hasn't gone by since during which someone hasn't asked him about it. 2. "Life On Mars?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0RmRGTePw): A beautifully constructed piece with chord progressions that are surprising and yet completely logical. It's terrifically orchestrated and sung, as well. 1. "Stay" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJVtv9LlK9Y&feature=related): I've always had a particular affection for this one since seeing the concert mentioned yesterday. I got in early to see the soundcheck which Bowie showed up at part way through, and while the band was playing this one, he took over the vocals from Carlos Alomar with a very funny "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" gesture. A magical memory and a brilliant song.

I saw Bowie at the Montreal Forum in July of 1983, the Serious Moonlight Tour, and was struck by the number of huge hits the guy had at his disposal. And they're not just hits either, but really great and lasting songs, rock and roll art. All this to say that the task that I've set for myself (a top ten of favourite Bowie songs) is going to be a tough one. But, here we go:

10. "Lady Grinning Soul" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvieJsPcUbk): Although I think Aladdin Sane is great, I've always felt that the first side is much stronger than the second (I'm referring to the LP version, of course), but this astonishing closing number elevates not only the side but the entire album.

9. "Always Crashing in the Same Car" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vEtfyveeY): "Every chance, every chance that I take/ I take it on the road..." What an opening line. The best song on Low, and that's saying something.

8. "Ashes to Ashes" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-IkC3isMoc): Imagine someone writing a sequel to their most important song, the one that made them famous, revered - and surpassing it.

7. "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBezS7ElQJU&feature=related): A beautiful melody that stands out even on an album full of them, and a lovesong to a cityscape, worthy of comparison with early Eliot.

6. "Andy Warhol" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPPiDkXO3Y): One of three great homages on Hunky Dory, his first great album, with the others to Dylan and the Velvets. Bowie's taste was impeccable, obviously, and now he provides that opportunity for others.

Tomorrow: the top five.

David Bowie has very good taste in David Bowie music. I mention this because tomorrow I'm going to undertake the daunting (but fun) task of choosing my top ten Bowie tunes, and my list is going to have a significant amount of overlap with the one he made for his 2008 release, iSelect, which was comprised of his personal favourites, many of which are mine too, as you'll see.

One tune that is certainly among my most frequent Bowie listens, but which won't be on the list (because I'll choose from his originals only), is "Wild Is the Wind", a cover of a film song by Dimitri Tiomkin, with lyrics by Ned Washington (who also penned the words to "Stella by Starlight", "Green Dolphin Street" and "My Foolish Heart") which can be found on his 1976 masterpiece, Station to Station. Bowie's vocal performance, a frequently underrated aspect of his music, evokes the subject matter perfectly, and the band is terrific, as well. Check it out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSAKlu0OlU), and tune in tomorrow.

A couple of days ago, I wrote that I thought that Bill Evans is the instrumentalist who is the best reference point for listeners to hear close-to-definitive versions of standards. I think the task is tougher when it comes to singers though, because there are quite a few contenders. So I'll make it a touch easier by choosing one female, Billie Holiday, and one male, Frank Sinatra, two vocalists with a lot in common, starting with their tremendous rhythmic sophistication and phrasing. And of course, both have been emulated to such a point that when they are listened to now, the originality of their styles can be underestimated, which is unfortunate - both were trailblazers and should be heard that way. (I've said it before, but it's unfair to compare artists to what came after them - they should only be heard vis a vis what came before.) In any case, a listener who is interested in really appreciating a song can go a long way toward it by checking out the versions of one or, if possible, both of these giants. Here's "The Very Thought of You" by Holiday - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJuFxl0bxY and Sinatra - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_V3wxwY6_Q.

After writing about the most representative Beach Boys song yesterday, I thought I'd continue in that vein today with the equivalent from the Roxy Music canon. "A Song for Europe" would have to be the choice. The romance among the ruins epic with its continental setting and theme of doomed beauty, and which includes sections sung in Latin (!) and French, is a pretty fair encapsulation of the Roxy world-view. And the music is halfway between the inspired wildness of their earliest stuff (an influence on the Sex Pistols' sound through Steve Jones, in fact) and the glossed poignancy of their later work. Both sides of the band are equally appreciated by fans, and on this one we get both. Here's the original: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u47h9fDGKxg), and here's a live version from a 2010 performance that features a splendid solo from saxophonist and co-writer Andy Mackay: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HqUW_OahuI&feature=related).

Even more than "Good Vibrations", "Sail On Sailor", or "God Only Knows", the song that best represents everything that's great about the Beach Boys is "Don't Worry Baby". Reasons? 1. It shows the way their music was grounded in the sounds and techniques of the fifties and yet it still sounds fresh today. 2. The singing is awesome. It might be the best vocal performance of Brian Wilson's career. 3. The lyrics can stand shoulder to shoulder with any Chuck Berry tune (and he was one of their primary models, of course) in its depiction of the minefield that teenage life can be. In this case, the narrator has to face a street race brought on this way: "I guess I should have kept my mouth shut when I started to brag about my car/ But I can't back down now because I pushed the other guys too far". 4. Even by Brian Wilson standards, it's got a beautiful melody. Here's a link to the best-sounding version I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9E1by7PocE&feature=related.

To think about definitive versions of jazz standards is tricky, mostly because it's quite subjective. But the fact remains that there are certain artists who are considered touchstones, and their performances are the ones that are most frequently consulted by musicians and serious listeners who want to try to understand the essence of a song. Among instrumentalists, one name that is brought up in this regard more than any other is the pianist Bill Evans, for the simple reason that his musical approach is deeply grounded in fundamentals and therefore contains no wrong turns. As Cannonball Adderley said, on the cover of 1958's Everybody Digs Bill Evans (the quote-filled sleeve was the record company's idea; Evans, who was a modest person, didn't like it): "Bill Evans has rare originality and taste and the even rarer ability to make his conception of a number seem the definitive way to play it."

Here's a version of "What Is This Thing Called Love?" that exemplifies that statement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY82ZNEgNHY.