ESCAPE VELOCITY

1 - Manual Trackback - { Link }

2 - Tough to choose. Here are five, but the "Top 5"? I decided to stick to just one year, 1979, to keep this down to a dull roar, but then I happened on the Elvis Costello and couldn't resist...

London Calling -- The Clash's London Calling, 1979
Abdul and Cleopatra -- Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers' Back in Your Life, 1979
Planet Claire -- The B-52's The B-52's, 1979
Accidents Will Happen -- Elvis Costello and the Attractions' Armed Forces, 1978
One Step Beyond --- Madness' One Step Beyond, 1979

3 - Ben's a fan of punk/ska/new wave? Who'da thunk it? Like Ben, here are 5 (in chronological order), but I would have a tough time coming up with a top 5.

Hell's Bells - AC/DC's Back in Black
Anarchy-X - Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana's Nevermind
One More Time - Daft Punk's Discovery
Remember The Name - Fort Minor's The Rising Tied

4 - So Matt and I collaborated on this one. Of course his first suggestion was "Crystal Method, Vegas CD" to which I replied you already suggested that one.

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes, 90125
Round Here - Counting Crows, August and Everything After
Walk on the Ocean - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Shake My Tree - Coverdale Page, untitled album
6:00 - Dream Theater, Awake

5 - Indeed, more difficult than it seems. But here's my pick:

Under the Table - The Godz, The Godz
Runnin' with the Devil - Van Halen, Van Halen
Iron Man - Black Sabbath, Paranoid
St. Anger, Metallica, St. Anger
Speak to me/Breathe - Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon

I wanted to include 'One Step Beyond' from Madness too, but Ben beat me to it.

6 - i have been a silent reader of this blog for many months (thanks for all of the great tips) but here is something I can rattle off about for hours

my five:

see no evil - Television - Marquee Moon, 1977
teenage riot - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation, 1988 (was a single after Daydream Nation was released)
debaser - Pixies - Doolittle, 1989
reuters - Wire - Pink Flag, 1977
summer babe - Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted, 1991

again, thanks for all of the great tips.

7 - The other top 5...

We Will Rock You -- Queen, News of the World, 1977
Where the Streets Have No Name -- U2, The Joshua Tree, 1987
Enter Sandman -- Metallica, The Black Album, 1991
Roundabout -- Yes, Fragile, 1972 (Owner is a great choice, Jess, but c'mon... you just don't get better than Squire's Rickenbacker back in '72)
In the Air Tonight -- Phil Collins, Face Value, 1981

8 - LOL, it was actually quite a dilemma. "Roundabout" was the other choice, but an executive decision had to be made. I had the same problem that John did with DT... do I go with "6:00" or "Pull Me Under"? In the end, "6:00" just blew me away and I had to choose that one. I went with "Owner" because I owe that album to my love of Yes. I heard them first in the Trevor Rabin era, and then backtracked to the older stuff. Fun topic!

9 - Blinded by the Light - Springsteen, Greetings from Asbury Park
Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones,Beggar's Banquet
Tangled up in Blue - Dylan, Blood on the tracks
Uncle John's Band - Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead
Shhh/Peaceful - Miles Davis, In a Silent Way

I'm showing my age
Barry

10 - Ok Nathan I realize I'm breaking an unwritten rule here in not complying with the spirit of the sublime High Fidelity. There are definitely bonus points for subtlety, nuance, and straying off the beaten path to fine the buried song that no one remembers but that when you point it out, all go....oh yeah, that's a great one.

No, subtlety is not for me. I tend to bring out the big stick and in this case, a whopper. How can you argue with the best acts in history, the best songs of all time, and for special consideration, presented in sequential years?

I give you:

1. Rolling Stones
Got Live If You Want It!, 1966
Under My Thumb

2. Jimi Hendrix
Are You Experienced?, 1967
Foxy Lady (note: e deliberately NOT included)

2a (tie). The Doors
Doors, 1967
Break on through to the Other Side

3. Otis Redding
Dock of the Bay, 1968
(Sittin' on) The Dock of The Bay

4. Beatles
Abbey Road, 1969
Come Together

5. Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin III, 1970
Immigrant Song

In the case of The Doors and Jimi, in addition to being track 1 of the albums, those are also their first albums.

Alas, in Otis case...the last great single he recorded, 3 days before his death.

11 - @3 - Not trying to be too picky, but track 1 of Operation Mindcrime is just the whole hospital dialog: "I remember now..." Though the first song does rock hardcore.

Some of my choices are already taken (Dream Theater, the Doors, Jimi) - though Rush's Tom Sawyer would have to be at my top. Joe Satriani is master of Side 1, Track 1s, though not heavily mainstream:

- "Up in the Sky", Crystal Planet, 1998

- "Flying in a Blue Dream", Flying in a Blue Dream, 1989

- "Devil's Slide", Engines of Creation, 2000

12 - Man there is some good stuff here...where to start. First off High Fidelity is a great flick. I really love his talk of making a mix tape, brings back some good memories.

Ok so here goes, in no particular order:

Tom Sawyer by Rush, Moving Pictures, 1981 (huge fan, will be in Vegas next weekend to see them live again)
Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2, WAR, 1983
Black Dog by Led Zeppelin, IV, 1971
Best I Can by Queensryche, Emprire, 1990
Mama by Genesis, self titled, 1983

13 - I'll bite!

{ Link }

14 - Where'd the heck did you pull Rob Base from. I thought I was the only person who knew that song any more.

15 - @14 - LOL

That main "whooo! Yeah!" groove is one of the single most recognized beats of the last 20 years!

The thing that sucks about getting everyone else's lists is that it's getting very expensive on iTunes!

16 - @14, @15 - You guys have apparently never been to Kimono's at Lotusphere when my darling hubbie, aka "White Chocolate" does it! It was actually a request by someone random in the crowd last year, she came up to Matt and asked if he'd do it!

17 - @13 Black Dog was a tough one for me for the best Zep song. If my daughter (age 7) had been voting, no question she would have picked that one. Last summer, unprompted, she went up to the stage of a Led Zeppelin cover band during the break and requested, "When you guys come back, can you please play Black Dog?"

Disgusted by my subpar selection, she informed me of her other choices, which are:

2. Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana 2006, Best of Both Worlds
3. Black Eyed Peas, Monkey Business 2005, Pump it
4. NLT, Jump In Soundtrack 2006, It's On
5. Sara Hickman, Big Kid 2003, Iolana

Kid's hip.

18 - Great movie!
I read the book and I'm currently half way through another one of the author's book(Nick Hornby) "How To Be Good". These two books are witty, thought provoking and a speed read. I plan on picking up a couple more of his books.

19 - I offer an Australian top 5 side 1 track 1's, not that it is likely to mean much to the "foreigners" out there...

Scratch My Back -- This Is The Sharp by The Sharp

You Got Nothing I Want -- Circus Animals by Cold Chisel

Eagle Rock -- Daddy's Coolest by Daddy Cool

Pash -- Pash by Kate Ceberano

Bittersweet -- Mars Needs Guitars by the Hoodoo Gurus

Dumb Things -- Under the Sun by Paul Kelly.

Helen.