Joni Joni Joni. Great poetess of the north! A wonderful merging of folk & jazz here. Some of the most beautiful poetry by this already prolific artist. Also a standout on this record is the bass playing of Mr. Jaco Pastorius. From the poet who said "we are stardust,we are golden,we are billion year old carbon,and we've come to find our way back to the garden. Joni Mitchell "Woodstock"

Hey - don't knock Sade. This is from the Love Deluxe album, which is a great record by any measure. All the songs are original and heartfelt, not formulaic, and with an awareness of third-world misery that's striking coming from a pop princess like her. But she is from Nigeria and knows what she's singing about. Bulletproof Soul is my favorite on the album, a song very dry and quiet and sparse. The backing vocal works in a very sad, soulful harmony line in the chorus that really makes the song.

A powerful, solemn acoustic song by Radiohead. Certainly one of their more somber songs.

The lady may have left the stage, but her spirit lives on in her recordings, and this is among her finest!! Sadly unreleased in the US for 28 years, this gloriously somber song was included in the 1995 anthology box set. Dusty sings with a sadness in her voice as she vocally paints a picture of a dreary day. While the overcast sky fails to crush her spirit, it does provide an opportunity for introspection and reflection. She is accompanied only by piano and orchestral strings which give this song a beautifully sad sound that make it perfect for playing on a rainy day.

This song has the depth of vocals like the poetry by Rilke, meeting the somber and exhilirating movement of sound in a languid symphony. Its blood and romance, hurt and sweet love. Its the bird calling its mate. This is what I aspire to compose.

Beautiful composition and production with a darkly uplifting, somber mood and feel. Definitely will make you stop and focus on it as you are filled with melancholy feelings, though once the song ends, you feel better than when it began. Hard to find album, but you can listen to the song on myspace.com/acautionarytale.

I love how simple,flawless,and heart-felt it is.

This 1968 LP out on CTI/A&M records was a big leap fpr the group formerly known as Tamba Trio. It spawned big bossa hits like the title track Samba Blim, my absolute favorite for hip acid jazz(nu-jazz/ Rare Groove)dancefloors from London to Tokyo to even Phoenix,AZ. It's fusion of traditional Bossa Nova, Samba, and 60's Jazz melodies are delectibale to the ears. Nice songs that will get you groovin' are "Samba Blim", Reza", "Tristeza de no dois", and "Baiano". A big LP in my DJ box. A pretty heavy cost for a mint copy, but mine is only VG condition full of pops and crackles. I STILL LOVE IT!!!

The song is performed by Dallas Green (City and Colour, Alexisonfire). its an acoustic song with short moments of quiet drums. This song is amazing and great to just kick back and listen to when something has you pissed off or down in the dumps. Definitely a must to listen to.

This song is one of the post-punk classics, performed by Boston legends Mission of Burma. As their kind-of hit, it is a standard of their live repertoire adored by fans. It features a standard three-piece rock band with guitar, bass and drums, but features jumpy and jagged rhythms, a very pronounced and melodic bass solo and intro, and great vocals and lyrics that, while somber, simply beg to be shouted along.

A bit like in that James Bond film, �Live and Let Die', when all those somber funeral marchers suddenly go ape and break out into that frightening carnival procession. That but ten hundred fold. Or like a farmers market massacre on a beautiful summers day in June. One of the two. The Pharoah admitted as much in a recent interview. He said it had nothing to do with the creator having a master plan at all. "yeah I'd just finished reading that James Bond book, you know, with the skulls and shit and on the box comes this quiz show with all these animals being ritually slaughtered on it. And I thought, hey up, I've got a crackin' idea!"

Regardless of the themes and inspiration, it's an unbelievable track. Even if the descriptions "free jazz" and "34 minutes" set off all your alarm bells, I urge you let it go this one time, I urge you to seek it out.

It's better than the five most recent recommendations COMBINED! Can I get away with saying something as stupid as that?