It's been a while

Let's get a bit of a random top ten from the iTunes, shall we?

• "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion - so sappy, so painfully sappy...from my oldies playlists...folk music prettied up until it's almost unlistenable...
• "Don't Leave Me" by Harry Nilsson - Nilsson's an almost forgotten gem of 70's music, a mix of the Beatles (who called him their favorite singer) and Elton John, a clear influence of Billy Joel and a number of other piano-based singers of the 90's and 00's...wonderful writer...this one isn't his best, but it's not bad...I'd choose "Coconut", "Ten Little Indians", or "Spaceman" for that, but he's an artist that more people should know of
• "Peaches & Cream" by Beck - ah, white boy not faking the funk...this is from one of Beck's more cohesive albums: Midnite Bultures...great album from start to finish...awesome...and a great, great song...
• "Yen on a Carousel" by David Holmes - from the Oceans 12 soundtrack...much better music than a movie...nice little groove shaking things down and one that a lot of you would probably recognize from intro and outro music on talk radio...
• "Jack-A**" by Beck - Odelay is probably Beck's best album yet (I've only given his new one a single listen so far, so it's not in consideration yet)..."Jack-A**" keeps the organ groove going through the entire song sort of meandering back and forth while Beck croons slowly over it with a melodic, monotonous monotone...somehow it works
• "Sleep Walk" by Santo & Johnny - I honestly have almost no clue how this got on my iTunes...don't remember it at all...Hawaiian guitar that just screams fade-out scene for some romantic beach movie to me...
• "The Boat That I Row" by Neil Diamond - cheese at its finest...who doesn't love Neil?...up there with "Cherry, Cherry" for me
• "Up the Wolves" by the Mountain Goats - I got hooked into the Mountain Goats low-fi genius a few months ago and have been enjoying them a lot lately...great songwriting with some odd musicality...rather intriguing
• "Bicicleta" by Cafe Tacuba - this one's a six-second snippet from their amazing Yo Soy/Reves album...all in Spanish...I haven't a clue what's being said but I listen to it again and again...amazing sounds...
• "Danny's Song" by Me First & the Gimme Gimmes - punk irony...gotta love it...