Tag: music

Nina Simone

Mississippi Goddamn

Together

The Youngbloods:  Get Together

There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit

And it’s filled with people who are filled with shit

And the vermin of the world inhabit it.

But not for long.

This past week I had the great luck to attend an advance screening of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, now the third (and a half) major incarnation of Sondheim’s 1979 musical, based on a 19th century pulp slasher.  Sweeney is the greatest of all musicals, combining sophisticated music and well-written characters in an almost impenetrably dark moral fog.  

What’s most interesting from our perspective is the way Sweeney Todd grapples with the problem of capitalism, an issue foregrounded in the classic Broadway staging and to some extent in the new film version.  Let’s take a closer look at a few moments that emphasize this critique.

Note: This essay contains spoilers, and plenty of them.  If you don’t want to know what happens in the musical/film, stop reading now.  

The Beatles:  Nightfall

Let it Be

The Beatles:  Remembering

Something

The Beatles:  Requiem for John

A Day in the Life

It is that time of year when people start making their “Best of XXXX” lists, and to continue acting as if this was a personal blog, I felt I ought to be no exception.

Those of you who  know me at all know I am extremely passionate about music.  One of my greatest joys is “discovering” a great new band or song.  I spend a lamentable amount of my time indulging this passion – combing mp3 blogs, going to live shows, and so on.  So I thought I might compile a list of the ten songs that I felt most needed to be heard by a lot more people from 2007.  I’m happy to email any of these to anyone, or if anyone would be willing to host them, to upload them and provide the links.

And by all means, please share in my indulgence, and post your best of 2007 lists in the comments.

The Supremes:  Side 1

Where Did our Love Go?

Martha and the Vandellas

Nowhere to Run

Dionne Warwick

Walk on By

Do you know the music of Peter Gabriel?

(I never saw any of these videos before today…I usually listen to music…not watch it 😉

Most of you know…Sledgehammer:

Gifts

Kansas: Wayward Son