Top 250: #31 - #40

Our next group of ten tracks is an interesting bunch. There are all the repeat offenders, but also a total of four first time appearances - three of which originate from the seventies. We begin with one of them. The repeat offenders are more or less the same as before, but in between the same names there will always be surprises. Remember, there will be a new artist even in our Top 3, appearing on the list for the first and only time at such a high position.

40. Gaudete, by Steeleye Span
(Below the Salt, 1972)
This one might just be one of the weirdest entries in the entire Top 250. In Gaudete, British folk rock group Steeleye Span sing about the birth of Christ, in Latin, for a little over two minutes. And that's all - there are no instruments, they are only singing. Slow fade in and fade out use a large portion of the playing time that is already short to begin with. Gaudete originally caught our attention in the early seventies - heard once on the radio but not found again before the age of internet, when lost items became easier to locate. It is an absolutely beautiful song that was played a lot at ProgActive premises for some time. It has managed to hold on to its relatively high position well.

39. Here is the News, by Frost*
(2007 - 2008?)
Finally, we had to give up. It seems impossible to find this track anywhere in the net for embedding here. Originally, Here is the News is the 1982 cult classic song by Electric Light Orchestra. Exactly like in case Music in the Typewriting Room (#69), this cover version by Frost* was possible to download from their web site around 2008 when we happened to find it there and did just that. Unlike Typewriting Room, this one was not a personal experiment by Jem Godfrey; this was the real thing, a hard rocking version of the song by Frost* the whole group. In many ways, it improves on the original. Luckily, we downloaded it around 2008 and added it to our iTunes collection. It has played a lot since.

38. Stop Swimming, by Porcupine Tree
(Stupid Dream, 1999)
Here is another track from Porcupine Tree's 15-year-old album Stupid Dream, besides A Smart Kid (#80). That album's beautiful closing track Stop Swimming has a rather depressing theme and sorrowful melody, yet the lyrics also wield peculiar black humor. Stopping swimming is here a metaphor on giving up on life. Our favorite artist Steven Wilson (also pictured above) sings one of his many incomparably lovely tunes with a style that sounds oddly detached from the subject matter. The lyrics are sad / blackly funny, but the singer sounds indifferent, like he had stopped caring. Which kind of might just be the point.

37. Thrasher, by Engineers
(Engineers, 2005)
Hmm, it looks like we really are repeating the same artists over and over again, like we warned at the beginning. No reason to be ashamed of that, though. We have long since entered masterpiece territory, and these artists have simply achieved that level several times. Here is one more example. Thrasher is an absolutely brilliant pop song by our favorite shoegazers Engineers. Although calling it simply pop is a bit misleading, considering the rock and roll instrumentation. Please take note how the group is able to change key in surprising places. This ability will prove useful also later on...

36. Falling Down, by Frost*
(Experiments in Mass Appeal, 2008)
Next, why don't we listen to some Frost* once again. This time, their song is available in YouTube. Falling Down again exemplifies the harder rocking side of the group - a bit like Dear Dead Days (#54) but not quite that aggressive. Jem Godfrey is also a professional record producer, and hence it was no big surprise that the group's debut album Milliontown was widely praised for its production values. This second album wasn't, but Falling Down is a good example of great, massive sounding song exactly like those on the first album. Perfect music with great sound quality.

35. Pink's Song, by Richard Wright
(Wet Dream, 1978)
Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright wrote some great songs for that group as well, but perhaps his greatest masterwork went to his solo album Wet Dream that was released between Floyd albums Animals and The Wall. By that point, Roger Waters had appointed himself as the artistic director and leader of Pink Floyd and composed nearly everything that group recorded, so it is easy to see why Wright needed an alternative outlet for his creativity. One of the results was this beautiful, sad song that feels like an album closer - which it isn't, there is still one track after it.

34. Pain, by Blackfield
(Blackfield, 2004)
Yet another absolutely beautiful but infinitely sad song on the list, Pain is a fitting companion piece to Pink's Song above. Here, Blackfield is melting in the rain, deep in pain, while she is so far. Will they ever meet again? It appears that it has been Aviv Geffen who specializes in these sorrowful tunes, since they have continued to appear on the more recent Blackfield albums as well, while Steven Wilson has effectively left the group. No matter - in spite of the sad subject matter, Pain is a real delight to anyone who appreciates well composed, lovely pop songs.

33. Auto Rock, by Mogwai
(Mr. Beast, 2006)
This elegiac instrumental track was made famous by Michael Mann's film version of his hit TV series Miami Vice in 2006, where it plays during its final sequence. It has been a major favorite of ours ever since. One reason for it having played so much is that it is the kind of music that doesn't feel out of place in any situation. Auto Rock got us acquainted with Scottish group Mogwai, whose career we have been following closely since then. It is taken from their fifth studio album Mr. Beast; since then, they have released three more. And this is their first appearance on the list, and most likely the only one as well.

32. Are You There? by Anathema
(Hindsight, 2008)
Are You There? is another absolutely stunning song by Anathema. Originally, they released it on their seventh studio album A Natural Disaster in 2003, but the version on our list is the "reimagined" one from the group's compilation album Hindsight, out five years later. On it, Anathema re-recorded their earlier works as acoustic, more mellow versions. Inner Silence (#107) is also from this very same album. To us, Are You There? represents the very best the group from Liverpool has ever achieved. Having said that, it seems unlikely that they would make a third appearance further up on the list, but you never know.

31. Zum Wohl, by Cluster
(Sowiesoso, 1976)
The German experimental duo Cluster rarely set out to deliberately please their listeners. Zum Wohl is the rare exception: a peaceful, beautiful instrumental that you could easily listen to for twice longer than its seven-minute running time. Next, the duo would start working with Brian Eno on a few albums. It seems like the seventies are making a comeback - this is already the third track in this particular group of ten that originates from that golden decade of progressive rock. Next time, we will enter the Top 30 which will really up the stakes.