Okay, I know we have the 'Best Rock Song EVER!' thread already, but I decided to start this one. Let's see if we can get as many posts as that one did (okay, I doubt it, but oh well). List what you think the best non-rock/pop songs are (soft rock is okay I guess). My favourites are:
Jazz:
Glenn Miller- In The Mood. Classic jazz piece by one of the greatest, yet underrated musicians ever. I especially love the opening horn riff.
Anything by Thelonious Monk. Another highly underrated musician. One of the greatest pianists ever, IMO.
Herbie Hancock- Chameleon. This song starts out with a simple bass riff but takes it to a whole other level.
The entire album Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.
Reggae:
Bob Marley- Pimper's Paradise. A good song with powerful lyrics.
Bob Marley- Is This Love. One of Bob's best songs. Very Jamaican sounding.
Bob Marley- Jammin'. Another Marley classic. The jazzy vibes are schweet!
Bob Marley- Could You Be Loved. Need I say more?
Steel Pulse- Rollerskates. A very cool song by a highly unknown British reggae band.
Steel Pulse- Bodyguard. This song is pure KEWL. Check it out if you have a P2P network.
Hip Hop
Not a big fan, but I listen to a bit. Mostly just K-Os.
K-Os- Heaven Only Knows Remix
K-Os- Superstarr Part Zero
K-Os- Superstarr Part 1
Alternative (ish)
Okay, I know Tears For Fears aren't technically considered rock, I personally don't find them hard enough to be considered 'true rock'. They are very experimental and dabble into all styles.
Tears For Fears- The Working Hour.
Tears For Fears- Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
Tears For Fears- Sowing The Seeds Of Love.
Arr, other than rock all i have is synth.
In that category, i classify Depeche Mode's 'Precious'
as the best song.
Synth isn't a genre, it's an instrument. Depeche Mode are New Wave. But yes they are great. I love the Mode. Favourites of theirs at the moment are Pain That I'm Used To and Suffer Well (which also has a great clip)
I love Puccini's Turandot. Lovelovelove.
...what? It isn't rock.
BTW, I'm not sure that Tears For Fears aren't "pop rock"...
EDIT - Oh, and Nightwish is great, too.
Minor Swing by Django Reinhardt.
It was in the soundtrack of Chocolat, played by Johnny Depp. Was also a score in Mafia, the game. That song makes you happier than drugs (or chocolate) can do.
Quote from: Steel Drummer on Sat 27/01/2007 06:35:48
Jazz:Ã,Â
Glenn Miller- In The Mood. Classic jazz piece by one of the greatest, yet underrated musicians ever. I especially love the opening horn riff.
Anything by Thelonious Monk. Another highly underrated musician. One of the greatest pianists ever, IMO.
Herbie Hancock- Chameleon. This song starts out with a simple bass riff but takes it to a whole other level.
The entire album Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.
Great stuff. I've got In The Mood on LP, Monk Also, I used to play them quite a lot when we had a band and played their stuff. I recommend Dave brubeck Quartet, and if you don't know where to begin, Time Out is a classic.
ok, Funk
Tower of Power - East Bay Grease, great stuff
oh, and Hungarian Dances 1-5 by Johannes Brahms
Speaking of Hungarian thingies - Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody. It r0xx0rz.
Glenn Miller is for pussies and/or OAPs, along with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. ;)
Plus they're more Big Band/Swing than Jazz.
Bix Biederbecke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bix_Beiderbecke) was early jazz's bad boy. Drank himself to death aged 28. Seek out his stuff from '25 onwards.
Then immediately proceed to Charlie Parker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Parker) and Chet Baker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Baker).
Now you're talking Jazz.
For Classical music:
Anything by The Five (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five), especially Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Borodin. Or Rachmaninoff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff), especially his Piano Concertos. Or, indeed, Chopin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopin).
Just for starters. ;)
New wave? Haha such an old term! Lets call it electronic music, shall we?
I love electronic music more than anything else. and synths pop up in all kinds of music, too.
But anyway:
Hip-hop:
Mr Lif - washitup!
Folk:
Kathryn Williams - No one takes you home
Electronic:
And One - Body company
Quote from: Steel Drummer on Sat 27/01/2007 06:35:48
Steel Pulse- Rollerskates. A very cool song by a highly unknown British reggae band.
Great band, great tune. Maybe it's a regional thing, because I would definitely not consider them unknown. They're right up there in the reggae section in music stores, and I know a lot of people who listen to them.
Anyway, some of my favorites:
Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, Nguyen Le, Dixie Dregs, Jamiroquai, Weather Report, Cannonball, Yellowjackets, Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Alain Caron, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Uzeb, Jackson Browne, Michael Brecker, King Crimson, Michael Manring, Tower of Power, Yaya3, Wu Bai, F4, Gackt, Herbie Hancock, Vic Zhou, Maggie Fu, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, The Meters, Tom Scott & The LA Express, Joshua Redman, The Heavies, Jean-Luc Ponty, Denny Zeitlin, Enrico Pieranunzi, Camel, Level 42, Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Rush, Stanley Clarke, Larry Graham, Steve Bailey, Tribal Tech
Windjammer or Sookie, Sookie - Grant Green (Live at The Lighthouse)
Excellent album.
Chameleon and Watermelon Man - Herbie Hancock (The Headhunters) Head Hunters
Bt
Quote from: Geoffkhan on Sat 27/01/2007 22:44:32
Quote from: Steel Drummer on Sat 27/01/2007 06:35:48
Steel Pulse- Rollerskates. A very cool song by a highly unknown British reggae band.
Great band, great tune. Maybe it's a regional thing, because I would definitely not consider them unknown. They're right up there in the reggae section in music stores, and I know a lot of people who listen to them.
It's nice to see a few people that aren't just metal-heads. :P
Yeah, Steel Pulse used to be good, until they sold out to the pop crowd. Once
Babylon The Bandit came out, their music went downhill at a rapid pace.
African Holocaust was a good album though. I do think it's a regional thing with music because most people I know don't have a clue about any type of music other than bubble gum pop or emo stuff. One guy thinks that jazz is so 'soft-core' because they use banjos in the songs. Go figure.
Well... the Flecktones are sorta Jazz among other things. ;)
I think there's a little too much focus on genre in this thread. Maybe it's just me, but I always have trouble labeling artists like that anyway :-\
Also, Grim Fandango Soundtrack!
Quote from: Geoffkhan on Sun 28/01/2007 01:12:14
Well... the Flecktones are sorta Jazz among other things. ;)
What I'm trying to say is that the particular guy thinks jazz isn't "hardcore" so it sucks.
ManicMatt: It's still called New Wave bro. Even if its an old term, thats still what its called. Rock is an old term. So is jazz. Doesn't need to change with each decade.
Quote from: Steel Drummer on Sun 28/01/2007 02:58:15
Quote from: Geoffkhan on Sun 28/01/2007 01:12:14
Well... the Flecktones are sorta Jazz among other things. ;)
What I'm trying to say is that the particular guy thinks jazz isn't "hardcore" so it sucks.
Heh, he needs a trip back to the hard bop days. :)
Ha, that's true. Super Jazz Man would show him a thing or two. ;)
sonic youth - diamond sea
(hey, if we can have tears for fears, we can have this!)
suppose you're not a rock fan then, mr. drummer?
Actually I'd say Depeche Mode seem more like electro than new wave. Devo were new wave or Blondie or whatnot. I don't see much of the connection.
What about Krautrock, is that acceptable?
This thread confuses me.
As long as it not rock in the strictest sense- bands like Green Day or Black Sabbath don't count. But if they aren't strictly rock- like Tears For Fears, then it's okay.
well, new green day isn't rock.
but krautrock is a form of experimental rock (which i suppose is allowed?), with bands like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Can, all of whom influenced the more commercialised electronic music of the 1980's (depeche mode and the like).
i like my experimental.Ã, :)
the whole of radiohead's amnesiac album is good alt.rock incorporating elements of ambient and jazz
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ezkxlfke0cqp
If it's experimental, then yes. Electronic sort of stuff, yes.
Film music: Elfman (but his earlier stuff, like Batman Returns etc...), NOT zimmer, Williams, Bruce Smeaton, etc...
Game music: Sean Beeson, Jeremy Soule (a little bit, because he's usually very slopy and fast, but... he has a lot of things in his hands. I would gladly take the weight off his shoulders ;D), Nobuo Uematsu, Akira Yamaoka
"Classical": Prokofiev, Schnittke, Feldman, NOT shostachovich, but a little Rachmaninov, Yes Beethoven, Mozart and Bach, Brahms, Arvo Part, Birthwistle and many more... (Especially of the russian school, or the "Eastern Europe" school...)
Everything else I like to listen to seems to be falling into the "Rock" category more or less, liks NIN, or Korn, or dEUS, so I can't really name them here ;D
speaking of experimental and the like, is the new Beck album any good?
Video game music:
Akira Yamaoka, Rika Muranaka, Sotaro Tojima - Masanori Adachi's soundtrack to Super Castlevania 4, Jean Baudlot - Raphaël Gesqua - Fabrice Visserot's soundtrack for Flashback, Norihiko Hibino, Micheal Land, Yuzo Koshiro...many more who I can't recall at the moment. :P
I like "thousand kisses deep" by lenard cohen, "10,000 Miles" when sung by Mary Chapin Carptenter "Fire and Rain" "Windmills of your Mind" and dripping slow piano jazz with some woman with a whisky voice crooning sadly.