Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

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Adrian (me):
The Four Tops - Bernadette (Promo Version) (mp3) (buy)

I finally picked up the Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 7: 1967 box set. These box sets are just amazing. 1967 was a good year for Motown with many hits being churned out and even some great lesser known tunes coming out. I’ve always loved “Bernadette” which appears this set. There’s so much pain in his voice and the bass line is great (as was always the case with James Jamerson), but what makes the song is how everything just hangs for a few seconds right before the last chorus. It’s an amazing pregnant pause.

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Keith:
Thin Lizzy - Freedom Song (mp3) (buy)

While most critics cite Springsteen in the footnotes of their Hold Steady praise pieces, I find the surer linkage is with the hard luck stories spun by mid-70’s contemporaries Thin Lizzy. The difference is in gorgeous dual-guitar interplay and Phil Lynott’s visceral songwriting. This particular selection has much more of the former than the latter; I guess that’s where my allegiances lie!

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Oz:
Josh Ritter - To the Dogs or Whoever (mp3) (buy)

I’m a huge fan of Josh Ritter and his new album is amazing. It’s more of his same brand of tried and tested, fairly straightforward folk-rock but, man, Josh puts together some great tunes.

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Scott:
Animal Collective - Will to Joy (live) (mp3, live in Austin) (unreleased, buy other Animal Collective records)

i’ve been listening to this song either titled ‘will to joy’ or ‘brother sport’ by animal collective. it has not been released yet, but they’ve been playing it in concert lately (their practice is to
play unrecorded stuff on tour). since i will be missing them at the fillmore by a mere few days (I’m going abroad for a few months), i’ve been watching lots of clips of their shows on youtube to hear the new (post-’Strawberry Jam’) stuff.

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Dave:
Lou Barlow - Mary (mp3) (buy)

Ok, I’m an idiot, so I’m obsessed with this song, but I’m not sure of the title and I don’t know who the artist is. It’s on my I-Pod and the track is called “mary”, it’s written from the perspective of mary’s secret lover. One of the line’s is something like “Crazy mary you saved me too, they’d stone us both if they ever knew.” Any idea?

[Adrian's note: it's Lou Barlow - Mary from his Emoh album.]

Blurb:

The whole concept of this song just makes me smile, and the melody’s catchy too.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 24th, 2007 at 9:12 am Posted by adrian in blogs, live review, mp3s, song obsessions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.