Tops Lists

Thanks for the nod Mr. D. Let me be the first to agree on the momentous year, and to extend my best wishes to everyone’s family over the holiday break.

I decided not to do the usual Top 10 (25, 50, 100) list of the year. The last thing we need is yet another person saying how awesome records by the Fleet Foxes and the Walkmen are (which both are incredible no doubt). Instead, I looked back on what I heard this year regardless of release date. And what really stuck.

TOP 15 Most Played Songs at the Office (according to iTunes play counts)
* BOLDED text are tunes that I hadn’t heard until this year.

1. Lento-e largo-Tranquillisimo (51) :: Henryk Gorecki, Symphony #3
2. Tom Thumb (50) :: Wayne Shorter, Schizophrenia
3. Behind That Locked Door (48) :: George Harrison, All Things Must Pass
4. Where Is The Puzzle? (48) :: Bonnie Prince Billy, Lie Down In The Light
5. Sin City (47) :: Flying Burrito Brothers, Gilded Palace of Sin
6. Summit Music (47) :: Dave Douglas, Mountain Passages
7. Very Slowly (46) :: Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring
8. Sugar Cube 1967 (46) :: Patto, Monkey’s Bum
9. Four Provinces (46) :: The Walkmen, You & Me

10. Theme for Lester Young (45) :: Mingus, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
11. Recommended Tools (44) :: Donny McCaslin Trio, Recommended Tools
12. Stolen Moments (44) :: Oliver Nelson, Blues and the Abstract Truth
13. To Kingdom Come (44) :: The Band, Musical History [Disc 2]
14. Paint a Rainbow (44) :: My Bloody Valentine, Sunny Sundae Smile [EP]
15. Homeless Wanderer (44) :: Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, Ethiopiques Vol. 21

And I need to mention Magnus Broo’s last record which hasnt had time to achieve top play count status:
Africa (12) :: Magnus Broo Quartet, Painbody

Some of these newbies to my catalog may come as a shock (Blues and the Abstract Truth?!? Schizophrenia?!? How did I miss those?). But others you may need to check out. Like Bonnie Prince Billy’s Where Is The Puzzle? from his latest Lie Down In The Light. And I can’t talk up the Ethiopiques Series enough. Volume 21 is solo piano works from Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou.

And for those rockers out there reading, Patto is an under-exposed rock band from the 70’s. Ollie Halsall is the guitar player who burns on almost every track they released and has since been reissued. Sugar Cube 1967 is from a record called Monkey’s Bum. Pretty hard to find, but if you can, pick it up — along with their self-titled debut.

Other notables I hadn’t heard this year include El Corazon by Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell, Moontrane by Woody Shaw, and Everything That Happens Will Happen Today by David Byrne and Brian Eno — all phenomenal records.

Alright, back to work. Lots on the schedule for this upcoming year — another FONT Music schedule, another DD recording, this one with Brass Ecstasy, and more great music from us to you. Anyone wanting to share their Tops List(s), feel free to pass them along in the comments section.

Seasons Greetings.