Day 5

Song 21: Yes - "Mood For A Day"
I can actually remember the first time I heard this song. I was either 12 or 13 and I was going to Six Flags Great America with my friend Dan and his two friends Jaron and Jon, and while I was listening to who knows what, Dan was really into classic rock. So the car trip, chauffeured by Dan's dad, was heavy on Zeppelin, Yes, Floyd, and a host of others. The genesis of that car trip later turned into a 4 disc mix Dan made that opened me up to a lot of older music I wouldn't have otherwise known where to begin with. It was also, I believe, the beginning of a list I made of "CDs to own." Pretty important song for me here guys! Also it is cool for the same reasons I wasn't a huge fan of the Nick Drake Song, with a cool Robin Hood feel to it. I need to learn some storytelling tips (Re: brevity) from Luke.

Song 22: Destroyer - "Your Blood"
I know Dan Bejar's voice is really hate it or love it, and this song sort of exemplifies why for me. I love the vocals in this song, but I understand how a nasally, overly verbose approach could make someone turn it off immediately. The line "They were all right / they were on fire" so quickly ups the ante for the subject in question. Sometimes feels like that sort of hyperbole happens a bit too often.

Song 23: Everclear - "Heroin Girl"
"I used to know a girl / she had two pierced nipples and a black tattoo." This, when you're 12-years-old, is the edgiest thing you've ever heard, and you are not prepared to meet a girl like that. It's debatable whether most guys at 22 would be prepared to know a girl like that. I'll admit to still thinking this is a fun song though. Everclear played some pretty boring rock on their last few albums but this song has a little edge going for it, even if the bluntness of the song dims the intensity of the repeated refrain "Just another overdose."

(Skipping: Califone "One". Nothing much to say there.)

Song 24: T. Rex - "Jeepster"
I've always felt like T. Rex was mostly a less interesting Bowie and "Jeepster" proves my point, I think. There's nothing really wrong with the song, but it never builds to anything more than a foot-tapping refrain and a few hand claps. It has the glam flourishes but lacks the intimacy of great Bowie.

Song 25: Amy Millan - "Baby I"
I never thought, based on her BSS output, that Amy Milan would be "the country one," but this works for me completely now. Other than Feist's The Reminder , maybe my favorite solo disc by the collective. "Sometimes I feel my only friend is a whiskey glass / you know it don't stop the time, but it helps it pass." True enough.