The Set List

Best Of '08: Playlist For A Slow Sunday

It seems too tedious and repetitive to assemble a mid-year best-of list, carefully delineating between the sixth and the seventh best albums of the first six months. Fleet Foxes would probably be at the top of the list, but I would probably change my mind a week after posting a top 10; it has been that kind of year. Rather than crown something as "the best," here's a playlist of new music that will be listened to in the near future - all of it released in 2008 prior to July 1. It's my post-fireworks playlist of music, 20 fine songs for a mellow Sunday afternoon, specifically July 6. Yes, it's in order.

Al Green "You've Got the Love I Need"
Shelby Lynne "Anyone Who Had a Heart"
Fleet Foxes "Ragged Wood"
Peter Moren "Tell Me in Time"
She & Him "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"
My Morning Jacket "Smokin' From Shootin'"
Adele "Crazy for You"
Van Morrison "No Thing"
Coldplay "Strawberry Swing"
Freddie Stevenson "Nothings Gonna Change"
Melody Gardot "Sweet Memory"
James Hunter "Carina"
Elvis Costello "Drum and Bone"
Bill Frisell "A Change is Gonna Come"
Hayes Carll "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart"
Duffy "Distant Dreamer"
Sigur Ros "Godan daginn"
Dennis Wilson "Holy Man"
Norma Winstone "Here Comes the Flood"
Kate Walsh "Tonight"

'Take me Out to the Ballgame' Gets A Tip Of The Cap From Songwriters

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" will be honored as a Towering Song at the 2008 Songwriters Hall of Fame gala on June 19 at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel.
As a fan of the tune - and what's more fun than inserting the names of teams that are not on the field (Devil Rays, anyone?) - it is vital that everyone sing the song when they visit the ballpark.   
Maybe it's a bit trivial, but few things are more annoying than a seventh-inning stretch turned over to some jingoistic, pro-America tune instead of the 100-year-old classic by Albert von Tilzer and Jack Norworth. Is it not a bit un-American to not sing "root, root-root" at a ballgame on North American soil?
Anyhow, a bit of "Take Me Out" trivia: Norworth was inspired to write the lyrics by a sign that read "Baseball Today -Polo Grounds" in the subway.
Neither Norworth nor Von Tilzer had ever attended a baseball game before writing the song.
It was first sung by Norworth's wife, singer Nora Bayes, and popularized by various vaudeville acts.
The Haydn Quartet singing group, led by tenor Harry Macdonough, recorded the definitive popular hit rendition for Victor Records.
It was one of the most popular hits of 1908.
Perhaps the event will settle one score: The lyrics are "I don't care if I never get back" and not "ever."
One of my favorite versions is below

How Many People Does It Take to Make An R&B Album?

In the first of what should become a regular series, the Set List will dissect the credits that fill page after page in the booklets of R&B albums. One after another, R&B albums are the result of assembly lines -  the Berry Gordy idea pushed to extreme.
And with R&B albums resembling the K Cars of the 1970s - that translates to generic and unreliable - there is little sign that R&B will be reclaimed by artists or anyone with their eye on anything except feeding the radio pipeline.
We start with Jennifer Lopez's "Brave," a collection of tracks in which she and her army attempt to make music that sounds something like the work of Beyonce and Shakira. Her voice consistently quivers - there's little command in evidence here - and her talk-sing style gets old quick. (The key credit on the album, and it appears on all 12 songs, is "additional vocal production" by Cory Rooney).
But even with Mr. Rooney enhancing and getting J.Lo's voice in key it takes a village to conceptualize a record. On "Hold It Don't Drop It," for example, the melody and rhythm are supplied by a sample of the rhythm guitar from Tavares' "It Only Takes a Minute," meaning it took seven people to come up with the lyrics and beats. Ouch.

Colbie Caillat Clicks With Folks Who Don''t Buy Music

Colbie Caillat and soul singer Ledisi are outperforming Kanye West's "Graduation,' 50 Cent's "Curtis"and James Blunt in P2P cyberspace, according to the folks who track "swapping." Though what sort of world are we living in in which just about the same number of people are stealing Bruce Springsteen's week-away-from-release album and Universal's 6-year-old Cat Stevens  boxed set?
Courtesy of idolator.com

Singers Identify Perfection

Q Magazine has polled 50 recording artists, among them Michael Stipe, John Legend and the leader of Travis, to create a list of "Perfect Songs." (Since Leonard Cohen wrote "Hallelujah," they actually mean perfect records).
The winners, in no particular order:

Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve
Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dylan
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Life On Mars - David Bowie
Perfect Day - Lou Reed
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
Strawberry Fields Forever - Beatles
Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones

A few of the indidviduals provide their picks here while Q provides the videos.
Personally, I'll agree with Blowin' In The Wind, Born To Run, God Only Knows and Hallelujah and throw in Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, John Coltrane's Naima, Paul Simon's Graceland, Thelonious Monk's 1947 version of 'Round Midnight, R.E.M.'s Nightswimming, Otis Redding's I've Been Loving You Too Long, NRBQ's Riding in My Car and Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves. Naturally, the list changes depending on the day.