194. Low Light - Peter Gabriel (2000)

 

 

Peter Gabriel was asked to compose some music for the Millennium Dome Show which was performed 999 times over the year 2000 by a cast of 160 acrobats. This is one of the songs from the show,the soundtrack of which was released as the OVO album. It's a stunning ambient piece of music with vocals in Gaelic sung by Iarla O Lionaird.

 

 

193. Moments In Love - The Art Of Noise (1983)

 

 

And talking about ambient music,here is one of the best known examples,a beautiful ten minute chillout anthem. Madonna chose it to walk down the aisle to at her wedding to Sean Penn and you can hear its influence in Katy Perry's 'Dark Horse'.

 

 

192. Pounding - Doves (2002)

 

 

Let's leave at sunrise

Let's live by the ocean

I don't mind if we never come home at all

 

The second single from Doves' number 1 album 'The Last Broadcast'. Pounding is a good word to describe the drum beat which carries the song. It's a real toe tapper.

 

191. Shoot High Aim Low - Yes (1987)

 

 

We were all alone

We didn't need much more

 

From the 'Big Generator' album,lead vocals are shared on this one by Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin who also delivers a great guitar solo. The reverb was captured naturally by the acoustics of the Italian castle that the song was recorded in.

 

190. Running To The Sea - Royksopp (2014)

 

 

And the river flows beneath your skin

The savage horses kept within

And all is wasted in the sand

Like breaking diamonds with your hand

 

The highest placed of the eight Royksopp songs on my chart. This features Susanne Sundfor,who has appeared on here as well,on vocals. It's always great when two acts you already like do a collaboration. This was featured on Dandy's quiz just yesterday so I'm going to steal his description. "It begins with the simple piano before Susanne's perfect vocal comes in and then it simply builds and builds and continues to build where you think it can't possibly go any further".

 

 

189. Your Wildlife - Propaganda (1990)

 

 

Your wildlife beats deep inside

 

The highlight of Propaganda's second album '1234' with Betsi Miller as the singer so this photo of the departed Claudia Brucken is misleading. The group co-wrote the song with Howard Jones. I like the outro from 4.15 in particular.

 

188. Joan Of Arc - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1981)

 

 

A little catholic girl is fallin' in love

A face on a page,a gift from above

 

The first of the two OMD singles about Joan Of Arc,this one got to number 5. The wailing backing vocals give this an ethereal sound and Andy McCluskey puts in one of his best lead vocals.

 

187. Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band (1976)

 

 

And go cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe to go outside

And little early pearly came by in her curly wurly and asked me if I needed a ride

 

There are 28 cover versions in my countdown and this is the last one,making it my favourite cover version of all time. It was written by Bruce Springsteen whose original version was included on his debut album 'Greetings From Asbury Park,N.J.' in 1973. This is the full seven minute album track. The shorter single edit reached number 6 here and number 1 in the US. It's still the only US number 1 written by Springsteen. Manfred Mann had three UK number 1s of their own in the 60s before their name change.

 

 

186. Duke's Travel's/Duke's End - Genesis (1980)

 

 

There was a choice but now it's gone

I said you wouldn't understand

Take what's yours and be damned

 

The final two tracks on the 'Duke' album but this is really one piece of music. There are just a few lines of lyrics,it's mainly an instrumental. Tony Banks' keyboards and Phil Collins' drums are both outstanding and combine so well together to make up the huge wall of sound.

 

185. Standin' In The Rain - Electric Light Orchestra (1977)

 

 

The good intentions and the pain

Lay drowned now in the pouring rain

 

The first of the four tracks that make up the 'Concerto For A Rainy Day' from the 'Out Of The Blue' album. The two minute intro takes up half the song but it's wonderful and one of the best intros to any song on this countdown. The sounds of rain falling were all recorded by Jeff Lynne outside the studio in Switzerland he was using and at 1.09 the letters ELO are played in morse code by the string section.

 

184. Titanium - David Guetta featuring Sia (2011)

 

 

I'm bulletproof,nothing to lose

Fire away,fire away

 

The most recent UK number 1 single on my chart. Sia recorded a demo and the song was offered to Mary J Blige and Katy Perry while Sia intended it for Alicia Keys but David Guetta soon realised that no one can sing this as well as Sia herself and her demo vocal was used. All the swirly electronic bits combine so well with Sia's vocal with neither getting in the way of the other.

 

183. Lament - Ultravox (1984)

 

 

In moments of madness

Returns that softly sighing lament

 

The third single from the album of the same name. It has a brooding sort of sound to it. I love the piano,percussion and xylophone on this. It's one of Ultravox's under-rated songs.

 

 

182. Sowing The Seeds Of Love - Tears For Fears (1989)

 

 

Politician granny with your high ideals

Have you no idea how the majority feels?

 

Tears For Fears' protest song written after Margaret Thatcher had won a third consecutive term in office. It was kept off the top of the US chart by Janet Jackson's 'Miss You Much'. I like the psychedelic late 60s sound to the production.

 

 

 

181. Interior Lulu - Marillion (1999)

 

 

Thank God for the internet

We stare at our screens

All our lives

What a waste of eyes

 

Another song from their 11th album 'marillion.com'. This is a fifteen minute epic starting slowly with a trip hop sound and then it changes pace with the guitars,keyboards and drums all contributing. Ian Mosley's drum work towards the end is a particular highlight and all the way through,H's fantastic vocals with some prophetic lyrics about our addiction to the internet.

 

Edited September 21, 20186 yr by King Rollo

'Sowing The Seeds Of Love' is a very good track, had no idea it was a political song though!

 

Titanium I enjoyed at the time, especially the 'drop' and still sounds very good, I think I do prefer 'She Wolf' from Guetta and Sia though!

 

'Joan of Arc' doesn't sound very dated, its a great early downbeat indie track.

 

Lament sounds much different and more understated to most of Ultravox's singles. Good song anyway, I do like the zylophone in it!

 

I am familiar with some songs from the Moody blues and Question is a good song from them. The vocal is excellent and the middle bit is really nice. Its a pity they didn't have many hits on the singles chart after that.

Edited September 21, 20186 yr by TheSnake

180. The Look Of Love (Part One) - ABC (1982)

 

 

If you judge a book by the cover

Then you judge the look by the lover

I hope you'll soon recover

Me I go from one extreme to another

 

ABC's signature song,this is pretty much the perfect pop song with Trevor Horn's impeccable production,Anne Dudley's string arrangement and Martin Fry's lyrics. The woman saying "goodbye" after the line "when your girl has left you out on the pavement" was the actual woman who had just broken up with Martin Fry.

 

'Sowing The Seeds Of Love' is a very good track, had no idea it was a political song though!

 

Titanium I enjoyed at the time, especially the 'drop' and still sounds very good, I think I do prefer 'She Wolf' from Guetta and Sia though!

 

'Joan of Arc' doesn't sound very dated, its a great early downbeat indie track.

 

Lament sounds much different and more understated to most of Ultravox's singles. Good song anyway, I do like the zylophone in it!

 

I am familiar with some songs from the Moody blues and Question is a good song from them. The vocal is excellent and the middle bit is really nice. Its a pity they didn't have many hits on the singles chart after that.

 

 

Top 40 hits by The Moody Blues was part of the jackpot question on Pointless this week. I thought of Blue World from 1983 which was a pointless answer. The two people on there didn't get any pointless answers.

 

To me 'The Look Of Love' seems to represent the height of New Wave/New Romantic music in the early 80s. I can imagine it being a popular party song at the time. It mixes post-disco influences with the bassline with an orchestral backing which ABC seemed to like using a lot. Very good song!

 

I do like the epic ending.

179. Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode (1990)

 

 

All I ever wanted,all I ever needed

Is here in my arms

Words are very unnecessary

They can only do harm

 

This is probably Depeche Mode's most well known song. It won the best single award at the 1991 Brits. Sometimes something as basic as the right three notes put together are enough to turn a song into a classic.

 

 

178. Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - The Korgis (1980)

 

 

I need your loving like the sunshine

 

This is just stunningly beautiful. It's been covered and sampled countless times but nothing comes close to the original. A number 5 hit in the UK,it topped the charts in France and Spain. The song features an 18 string Chinese zither known as a guzheng.