slightly haunting, not just the intro but the lyrics as well. the singer's voice is just right for this track and the music is fitting.

One of the last Carpenters singles from their final studio album. I find this sweet 'n perky song strangely compelling, since it shows Richard and Karen Carpenter awkwardly trying to adjust their wholesome image to an early '80s synth pop template. Karen's voice is so processed and overdubbed that she blends in seamlessly with the synth-heavy backup -- still, the effect isn't cheezy but full and lucious. Knowing that Karen was slowly dying during this time makes this tune odder still.

'The Events Leading up to the Collapse of Detective Dullight' is not a song but a narrative story, and it’s funny as hell. The off-kilter character voices of the already brilliant stream-of-consciousness plot are cartoonish enough for their own Saturday morning series. When the detectives start their investigation nothing makes sense. There’s Jell-O, serenading butterflies, file cabinets, murder, catacombs, and all the seasonings for a hilarious dream. I am usually brought to tears when Detective Slots reads from his revered exercise in free verse titled ‘The Cause of Gauze’. I will supply you with a sample:
"Oh, the cause of gauze. The Manuels have fondled many memories from my lap though each memory has its own lap and swimmers swim laps. Even swimmers have laps however and while in that condition many require a delicate gauze."
If you hear this without purchasing the actual album, 'Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimisical Verse,' then you are being cheated. The dreams of this band are as colorful as the illustrations they provide us in their album sleeves. The 'Where's Waldo' pictorial representations enrich the listening experience by engaging us in a journey deep into the frying-pan brains of these madmen. In fact, this is a perfect introduction into a very strange world of psychedelicado. Think the Beach Boy's 'Smile.' The reaction of my friends after hearing this have been harmoniously the same, 'they have to be on drugs.' The truth is Of Montreal are not on drugs, they are drugs.

Thought I might see if I can type in some Christmas favorites...

This is the Pogues song, sung by Christy Moore, the great Irish balladeer, folk singer and all round good bloke.

There's a studio version on his 'Smoke and Strong Whiskey LP'. The LPs great, but the version of 'A Fairy Tale' is not half as good as the live version from (I think) Live at the Point.

Christy's shows at the time were just him and an acoustic guitar. It was still a cracking show. He's now accompanied by another acoustic guitar (hey - lets rock!! :) ).

Anyhow he seems to get a big sound out of just guitar and voice.

Coming to the point...

This version is just Christy and his guitar. It preceded by a long story about how he 'stumbled into a fairy ring and bejasus I couldnt get out'. He's eventually helped out by a stranger who takes him by the hand and takes him to a pub. They sing each other songs and tell each poems. Then the stranger starts to sing 'It was Christmas Eve, babe...' .... and you know the rest. It finshes with Christy kissing the stanger on the lips and declaring Shane MacGowan 'I love you baby too'

Other Christmas songs:
Cajun Christmas
Il est Ne le Devine Enfant - Siouxsie and the Banshees
All I really want for Christmas - Ini Kamoze (maybe?)
Christmas Lullaby - Shane MacGowan
White Christmas - The Drifters

Cool in the Xxtreme !
Sixties dance jazz funk instumental from harpist Dorothy. Complete with organs, flutes and bongos it is driving classy joyful music .

The album also contains the awesome "Action Line " which is weirdly atmospheric and deeply strange

One of the greatest rock songs ever recorded. Loud, distorted, strangely tuneful and tuneless at the same time. An exhilerating rush of pure energy without being remotely fast.


The superior single version also has the mighty Nick Knox on drums. And I don't think is on the cd. But it is on the LP.

Great song with really strange lyrics on par with Love's "The Red Telephone": "Her belly button was her mouth/and she tasted what she'd speak/but the funny thing is what happened to her nose/it grew until it reached all of her toes/now when people say her feet smell they mean her nose." Another version was recorded by Lou Reed on his "Transformer" LP a few years later.

Barbara Lewis was famous earlier in the sixties for 'Hello Stranger.' This is simple, soulful pop music with a very cool production: crisp drums and nicely orchestrated woodwind on top of rhythmic guitars. Somehow the charm of the recording overrides any feeling that the chord sequence is slightly obvious. Barbara's voice is beautiful here: emotional, yet understated. A small female choir comes in to accompany her at various points. The song is remarkably tight and catchy, with a prominent bass part driving it on. The producer at Stax for this record was Ollie McLaughlin, and I'm now looking out for more stuff that he worked on.

A song about personal body space. I know that this doesn't exactly sound electrifying, but the song itself does. In fact the whole album this is from is filled with fantastic lyrically unorthodox songs, most of which are extremely good.

During this very skilfully constructed song, we hear some of the most lyrical, expressive sounds ever to be played on synths. We hear that slightly strange vocal performance style that makes a virtue out of sounding uncool - but it's always very musical.

Tony Mansfield is an absolute musical genius and innovator. After the three new Musik albums, he went on to produce A-ha's first album and a few records for other artists, but never seems to have had the recognition Trevor Horn recieved. I wonder what he's doing now...

This song is an interesting case study into the question of 'why do I like this version of the song more than any other'. I have a half-baked theory that for me, I mostly just like the first version of any great song I hear, regardless of whether or not it is the original or 'best' version. But this track is so different to the Rolling Stones's version that I think it would probably divide people pretty clearly. Produced by Lee Hazlewood/Billy Strange, 'as tears go by' is here recast as a crisp pop bossa nova. They even change the chords slightly (adding a new chord as she sings 'by'). To me, this makes the song vastly superior to the original (or any other I've heard). But I'm not sure anyone has ever agreed with me yet on that one...

For someone like me, the strangest thing about getting really into Roxy Music is the overt rockiness of a lot of their material. Even on this track, which is one more of their slower, more mournful numbers, there are a lot of very heavy rocky moments. They work pretty well though, and I'm certainly not complaining.

The atmospheric opening is breathtaking, and Bryan Ferry's vocal as he sings 'I've opened up my heart' is incredibly beautiful. The words and music seem to meld together in a very pretty way, but then before long the track mutates into a stomping, carnival like passage that clearly influenced Nick Cave to a considerable extent. Throughout the song there's this interchange between delicate, melodic verses and the rowdy, discordant section. Like another favorite Roxy track, 'Just like you', this song finishes with a clever chord change.

I'm sure many people would find 'Bitter-Sweet' much too dramatic and serious - perhaps some days I would too - but it does have an incredible elegance and style that makes me keep on listening.

This sounds like it should be a generic bossa nova cash-in film song, but instead, it's strangely haunting and gripping to my ears. While it's a sweetly orchestrated piece (a bossa nova guitar and beat, a flute melody, and a Stan Getz-esque tenor sax, backed by a subdued orchestra) I feel as if there's something menacing just beneath the surface. However, it's so subtle, this could be in my head. It's taken from the 'The Glass Bottom Boat'; maybe I have to see the movie and decide.

Really suprised to see this one in a thrift store recently. I was taken back by the bad cover photo of some blue cheese in tin foil with saltines and a bottle of wine.(?) Anyway, the music is fantastic, much in the vein of Jobim's CTI work from the same period. This piece grooves almost more in a Deodato way, with a nice funky nocturnal jazz bite. Nice to see the gap close on the years between his Bossa Rio stint and the records he did for Discovery.

Strangely enough it was recorded in Minneapolis MN while he was living there. On the RCA subsidary Daybreak.

Mind-blowing late-60s girl-group sound with very odd lyrics...words really can't describe it. Suffice to say, it's a strange song. This group started out as a very typical girl group of the early 60s mold, but kept plugging away long after those groups had gone out of style. This cut from '68 is very psych-y and "groovy", as was the fashion at the time. They eventually transformed into Barry Manilow's backup singers, but please don't hold that against them.

Off the brillaint soundtrack for 'Timecode' by Mike Figgis and Anthony Marinelli, not sure who actually wrote this song but the whole album is really good. The film's pretty good as well. Skin has a great voice and this is a really moody, atmospheric song that makes me feel both warm and lonely at the same time. The Main Title track is great as well.

I fell in love with this song this evening. At this point it's hard to find many words to describe it; I'm just dazzled by how wonderful it is. It's a mournful and spooky-sounding soul song, opening with some percussion, and then some harmonized background vocals, drums, brass and piano. I guess the kicker for me are the shimmering strings in the arrangement, which come in with the main vocal. The vocals are fraught with emotion, and there is a very interesting use of vocal sounds as the song fades out.

Being a Five Stairsteps novice, I'd like to know if they recorded many other tracks like this. I gather that the record was produced by Curtis Mayfield, but I've never heard anything by him with quite such a delectable arrangement. Any advice would be appreciated!

The album that this track is taken from was one of those strange albums that acquired mythical status in my mind. Based on a mixture of rumor and personal imagination (I could never actually find a copy), I convinced myself that this must be the coolest album ever made, a perfect fusion of moog, latin and mod sounds. A few years later I picked up the album very cheaply on ebay. Beautiful and interesting as it is, many of the tracks go slightly over the line for me.

'Dansero' is the only track on the LP that captures the blend that I was looking for. It's nice and short at under 3 minutes, and features a delightfully kooky introduction that sounds like the Jean-Jacques Perrey moog flourishes that the group Stereolab sampled on their 'Transient Random Noise Bursts...' album. The drums and moog then join up for a nice pop instrumental, catchy and bouncy. Different moog effects are piled on, but always quite effectively, making this one of the most enduringly successful moog-pop tracks in my collection.

This is a strange song and it hits me in a strange place. The melody is very pretty, yet complex and unexpected and there are odd washes of moog at times. It's a Christmas song and has a Christmas feeling but not the familiar fireside one. Instead it's the cold alien blank expanse of snow and that pulse of stars. Kate Bush is a genius at creating this precise, complicated emotional terrain. Also, being a genius requires you to risk making a fool of yourself and Kate Bush certainly isn't afraid to do that. She's like that eccentric high school drama teacher I never had. In this song she turns herself into the snow that falls over the white city. "Jumpin' down with my paraCHUTE! Oh see how I fall."

Ever felt there was a hole in your life that only a religious ventriloquist's dummy could fill? Then look no further. One of pop's bona-fide eccentrics, Marcy Tigner, voices Little Marcy in a thoroughly winsome way. The song, nay the whole album, encourages all young children to renounce the devil. However, if the devil were to see the scarily-bad drawing of Little Marcy on the cover, he would correctly deduce that no child is likely to listen to the ravings of a freaky end-of-the-pier doll voiced by an even stranger adult woman.

"Marcy wants you all to know how happy she is singing songs about Jesus" relate the sleevenotes. And, gee Marcy, we sure are glad to hear them!

Please don't think I recommended this song simply to mock it. I genuinely think it's a priceless piece of recorded gold and am more than pleased this site, and the world, is big enough to accommodate special talents like that of Marcy Tigner.

Out of Waco, Texas.

From Ottawa, the Staccatos were Canada's best pop band of the 1960s and, with the possible exception of Strange Advance, still their best ever. This song is a bit of a clone of their biggest hit, 1967's "Half Past Midnight", right down to the lyrical preoccupation with time, but it's still worth a listen if you like that late-'60s "summer pop" sound, because its production is pretty tight and it has several neat little tricks like the best pop songs do. The flip side is called "We Go Together Well" and it's pretty good too, with its fuzzy guitars (or is it the bass?) ...

All of these tracks mentioned here were found on a 1969 LP called "Five Man Electrical Band", which is what the Staccatos had changed their name to. The LP contains both sides of the "It Never Rains On Maple Lane" / "Private Train" release which was the first under that name, but subsequent material followed a musical change of direction to what I would call "swamp rock" after that ghastly "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night (ugh!), although "Signs" and "I'm A Stranger Here" at least had some lyrical smarts ... a CD of this stuff has been released but unfortunately the Staccatos material has not, apart from "Half Past Midnight" which showed up on a best-of-Canadian compilation.

A short and sweet orchestral piece featuring harpsichord and some sort of mallet instrument (is that just a vibraphone???). It has sort of a subdued Burt Bacharach sound especially in the harpsichord. I'm noticing that many of my recommendations feature harpsichord... Strange.

Featuring a strange assortment of melodic percussion instruments, brass and punctuated with animal calls which are only equaled by those of Roger Waters on Pink Floyd's Umma Gumma, this is BY FAR the strangest (and coolest) version of this song ever recorded. The Residents must have developed their whole series of Mark of the Mole albums after hearing this recording. "Diga Diga Doo" was originally a show tune for a Broadway review called The Blackbirds of 1928.

The opening track to 1999's Strange Times CD. Justin Hayward lyrically explores what it means to be British.

Taken from his exquisite Latin American Suite, this is an unusual sounding track to me. Mid-tempo, with an unrelenting bossa nova style beat, the action is shared between the piano and various horns and saxophones. I guess it's the strange discordant tones that take this track higher for me. They remind me of some chords I've heard in the more adventurous Brazilian pop music of the late 1960s - basically taking what is fundamentally a sweet sounding, warm chord, and overlaying notes that provide a darker, more forboding feel.

Adding to this, the punctuating horns and reeds give the whole thing a gently groovy feel that's reminiscent of quirky 60s soundtrack music. Really cool stuff, and I recommend the whole album.

A strange instrumental which borrows the melody from the first line or two of "Strangers In The Night" and repeats it obsessively without really getting past the "wond'ring in the night" part. The intense, driving arrangement along with the incomplete melody give this track a creepy, tragic feeling which I find really enthralling.


This is from an odd bootleg-ish compilation with no real track information given. The first volume of this series was okay but sounded like it was mastered directly from the audio track of old adult films. The sound quality and selection on this volume is much better. My best guess is that these are sound library recordings that may or may not have actually appeared in adult films. Anyone know the real artist or source of this track?

'Fault Lines' is a beautiful, slow melodic number from Radiogram's debut album 'Unbetween'.

After listening to 'Fault Lines' and 'Unbetween' it came as no great surprise to discover that this band has enjoyed great success in roots music circles in Canada and the UK.

Strangely, the 'ethereal' sound achieved by the producer [Chon] reminds me of Jane Siberry's 'When I Was a Boy'.

This early single starts off in quite an unpromising way, the sound is quite dry and sparse. Bass and drums, David Thomas muttering teen angst semi audibly in a style that hadn't quite developed into the strange sing song delivery that became his trademark.

"The girls won't touch me cos I got a ". What was that, what?

As it progresses the volume picks up until the final chorus where Thomas is screaming and the guitars start thrashing, then it finishes on a guitar solo that I swear J. Mascis based his entire career on, wah wah squealing on the edge of feedback, while the rest of the band just seem to be lifted into a noisy stratosphere.

I heard for the first time in 10 years last week, and it was breathtaking.

apparently the delta rythm boys were quite big in sweden in the late fifties, something wich eventually led to them recording this quirky little song. it's a jazzy take on an old swedish folk song, including the swedish lyrics. however, the vocalists didn't speak the language at the time of the recording, so the result turned out to be remarkably strange. still, it�s a fantastic song, and even if you don't understand swedish (well, most people don't) i think you'll appreciate this. it's pretty tough to come by unless you happen live next to a swedish thrift store, but it�s well worth hunting down. i first heard it on the in-film soundtrack to the film "kitchen stories"(salmer fra kj�kkenet) by bent hamer.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0323872/
i don�t think there's a soundtrack cd out, but the complete song plays during the end credits, and can easily be ripped. (the film is well worth seeing too, if you can stand subtitles, i recommend ordering it)

A solo single from a member of Japanese space rock collective Acid Mothers Temple. For them she plays Synthesiser (a nice old Roland) Cigarettes and Beer. On this she also sings.
Its a strange sounding thing, theres no bass or even much lower mid range. Echo'd synthesiser, a very old sounding drum box, and vocals all occupying the same accoustic space to very psychedelic effect. But yet, very poppy, the vocals stay with you for ages.
Lovely stuff.

'We won't do anything that shouldn't be done, only the groovy things like having fun'...& there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, in my book.

This is the title track to Chris Montez's third album with A&M, produced by Herb Alpert & it's very, very sweet, but, for some reason not sickly so. That's the magic of mid-'sixties Chris Montez.

This song was almost a hit in Britain. It was released just as the pirate radio stations were about to be banned. It was 'Record Of The Week' on Radio London the week it was shut down and sadly never grabbed it's deserved foothold after that.

A lot of people are taken aback by how high Chris's voice was when he sang, but once you get over that, his music from the A&M era (1966-8) is strangely addictive. Very warm and melodic.

He did mostly cover songs, mostly 'hits of the day', but also generous helpings of classics from the 1940's & '50's. Always giving them a brand new very mid-'sixties treatment.

My god I like me some Fad Gadget. This song is claustrophobic, frightening, medieval, electronic and strangely exciting all at once.

The epitome of deep Memphis soul. The hurt evident in Carr's voice is absolutely unimaginable. Carr's story is a strange one. He is best known for recording the original version of the Penn-Moman composition "At the Dark End of the Street", a song which comes as close as possible to being considered a soul "standard", and of course, his version is the one by which all others are measured. His vocal range and intensity is comparable only to Otis Redding and Percy Sledge, and in my opinion, completely surpasses both of them. He suffered from a mental illness that on one hand allowed him to channel pain like few others have ever been able to. On the other, it led to serious instability and crippling stage fright which buried his career before it ever really started. He was also functionally illiterate, but you'd never know it based on the raw emotion he put forth in his recordings. On this song, he pleads with a lover to stay with him so that he won't have to try and forget her. Absolutely heartwrenching stuff. "I've done you wrong/now you are gone/but what can I do?/Don't make me live/the rest of my life/forgetting you."

At first appearance, its not the most appealing of combinations, that deep flat voice accompanied by the unforgiving Harmonium alone. And it is quite stark, but at the same time strangely warm and hypnotic.
The song itself has a strong chorus and there are well played hooks. Slow, dark, magnificent. And it strangely is a pop song where the rest of the EP isn't.

No Religion

rick white is a prolific songwriter, whether with eric's trip, or his more recent project elevator. 'girlfriend' in particular characterises the sound with acoustic guitar up front, fuzz guitar in the background and floating away vocal. eric's trip came out of the so-called halifax pop explosion of the early 90s, and their name comes from the sonic youth song. but their sound is a lot more lo-fi and home recorded, guitars and sounds popping out of strange places in the mix.

This is a simple but rather bitter pop song, although on the surface it sounds quite sweet. If I recall correctly, it was written about the singer that Twinkle was seeing at the time. The gentle arrangement features acoustic guitar and some brass. It's not hard to hear why Morrissey liked this song enough to cover it with The Smiths.

Twinkle has a lovely clear voice, and much as I respect Moz, this version towers above the one done by The Smiths, which suffers from a strange mix of production styles. That said, I have a strange mix of emotions on hearing the song, since I heard the Smiths version at 14, but only got into this one in the last few years.

With the exception of the silly dropping "daaaaaayyy" at the very end of this track, it's probably my favorite reworking of a Bowie song. The epic, quickly fading strings and strange raising/falling echoing voices pushing thru Bowie's unchanged vocals, wonderful. The strings add more power to Bowies lyrics.

One of the stranger tracks on R.E.M.'s strangest album -- it borrows the melody from Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and sets it in a slowly building landscape of buzzing guitars and electronic beeps (it's a lot prettier than it sounds, believe me). "You want to go out Friday and you want to go forever" -- does he mean go out for a good time, or go out permanently? Stipe ain't saying...

Y'know...I really like the latest Dandy Warhols album, in spite of myself. I've never been able to stand them, as they are as about as close a thing to actual rock stars as we have here in Portland. As a result, there's just an awful lot of bitterness in the air. I think that I finally came to the realization that their particular brand of coke-sniffing antics are precisely what I want out of a rock & roll group. I want there to be rock stars on the grand 70s scale again. Somebody has got to inherit Mick Jagger's rightful place as the man to be. I'm not saying that Courtney Taylor should be that man, but at least he's on the right track. This song in particular...as strange as it sounds...it reminds me of the Offspring, but in a good way. And that's the way with a lot of this album. There are songs here that remind me a lot of Beck, ones that remind me a lot of Frank Black and of course the obvious Stones pastiches. In short, there's nothing earth-shatteringly original...but hasn't rock & roll always been about copying what's come before and trying to make it your own? I mean, where would the Beatles have been without Chuck Berry?

I don't know what it is about this song. "Strangers Almanac" is a brilliant - probably my all time favourite 'alt.country' record - but this song transcends even that superlative, to be one of my favourite songs of all time. It has mved me to tears twice now, and no doubt will again. Ryan Adam's bruise of a voice, the beautiful lyrics, the sad subject matter. Just perfect.

The other night I could not listen to this song - it scared the hell out of me. Maybe it was the wine. Still, it is a very strange song.

I didn't know it then, but when I purchased the album 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' my world changed. When I put the album into my CD player, I did it with a naivete of someone who thought they'd 'heard it all.' I did it clumsily, with haste, handled like a Beatles or Beach Boys album, the way I had done for years. When I listened to the album I did it with reckless abandon while driving 38 miles per hour on my lunch break, and later in the drive-through at McDonald�s. These mistakes were inherited, and I refuse blame. They were passed through the genetic make-up of our peers and born out of the music we've been given; I didn't expect this! Well, our music has changed, and it did so without our knowing and our approval. This album proved and disproved an entire treatise of critical analysis on a generation of music that I thought I had known, and it did so with a fucking velvet sledgehammer.

The lyrics: "And one day we will die and our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea, but for now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see." More lyrics: "What a beautiful face I have found in this place that is circling all around the sun, what a beautiful dream that would flash in the screen in a blink of an eye and be gone from me." The melody: A timeless, haunting thing that was metaphysically resurrected from a wiser place. The voice: Wrenched out of the jaws of a holocaust from 50 years ago, we hear a possessed Jeff Mangum invest his soul. The sound: An apocalypse that can reinvent the turntable by it�s simplistic form; with a saw, guitar, drum, bass, horns, and lord knows what else all handled with deceptive elegance of a garage mechanic constructing a supermodel. And, lastly, the spirit: A tragedy and rape of virginity known only to the persecuted and executed; the ghost of Anne Frank materializes long enough to show us her world, and in her hands we are strangely at peace.

This song is a gift very few will experience. It is endless in its reach and should be accepted like a sibling into your collection. It will one day prove itself beyond category, but for now it is a masterful novel from the hands of a mysterious songwriter who should know how sincerely I cherish his songs.

This songs flower power origins always seemed at odds with its retro future predictions for mankind,so when it was re recorded amidst the static buzz of late seventies synths it suddenly made more sense ,a mildly treated vocal from Steve Strange still retains the melody but the backing track transports its sentiments to a more appropriate time line a gives a great song a bigger and better home .

One of the more unusual mashups you'll hear. Combines the music of "Novacane" by Beck with Doris Day's vocals from the song "I've Never Been In Love Before," which is from Guys and Dolls. Pretty groovy. It works!

never liked musicals, especially not the ones done by andrew lloyd webber. this one though is a whole different story! strange moog sounds mixed with big band jazz.

This song is stone-cold, ultra-serious, odd, and mesmerizing. It's James Brown recounting a strange, anecdotal poem about a dream, in which he experiences the personification of heroin delivering a sermon. He rhymes accompanied by a subdued and melancholy backing band, playing lingering horn drags, and slow, lazy bass and drums. This is not your typical James Brown material, but it has an powerfully surreal and painful effect.

Is it just me or are the original compositions on Command LPs almost always the best and most adventurous? Here is one my all-time favorite Command recordings. A far-out, moogy masterpiece by Hyman. It's about 8 minutes long, not nearly as pop as the rest of the record, and totally brilliant. According to the liner notes, Kolumbo was improvised on the Moog and the Maestro Rhythmaster, "a mechanical drum device," fed through a Echoplex-tape reverberation unit. Improvised Moog? Is that possible? This is very strange stuff. From the liner notes: "[...] there is an effect of a battery of African drummers following an improvised soloist. The listener can provide his own scenario of what seems to be a musical battle, as a second soloist abruptly materializes, challenging the first man. At the end, the original soloist states a brief epilogue, packs up his horn, and splits."

A brilliant little track, often overlooked in the great man's catalogue. Starts off oddly like the James Bond theme (for the time and location!) but gradually changes into a strange chanson-meets-Latin kind of thing... great song though, from a film of the same name. Has anyone here ever seen it?

A great, very represantive Easy Listening/Bossa Nova song. The lyrics is acctually Websters dictionary's description of love. I know this song has been recorded on some other Dorough album but this is the definitive version. It has a great female choire and a nice bossa groove. Really a must! The record containes a bunch of other grat songs like I'm hip, The stranger and oblai de oblai da.

The Joke have not released anything not worth owning (minus the strange "Outside The Gate") but this song in particular grabbed me when I first heard it and did not let go. It put into words scenarios I have long envisioned. Why more people do not support and name-check this band, I do not know
"And if it all fell through tomorrow
Put a pack on my back,
and it's home where the lunatics roam...
Faith, faithj moved the mountain...
Where the rivers are so clean
and the conciousness is so green
and the luminous folk shine like
lanterns of hope... all shine on..."

I got this CD from a mate a while back and I didn't take the time to sit down and listen to it until about a week ago, that was a mistake! This is a great tune with quite haunting vocals, which remind me of Scarborough fair in a strange way, uplifting chorus mixed with great double base sound.

Prior to hearing her "Something" LP, I always referred to Dame Shirley as "The Godzilla of Song". By this I meant I always felt she treated a tune the way Rodan treated Tokyo, like something to be smashed underfoot. While I lived/died by her Bond themes, and such like, I never thought she was capable of nuance, restraint, and/or sexiness. Then I heard this god-like album, brilliantly produced and arranged by Johnny Harris. This cover of The Doors' song perfectly sums up the record's strengths. It's jazzy, sexy, incredibly funky, yet still totally Dame Shirley in all her over-the-top-glory. Probably the best Doors cover ever (though Nico's toxic reading of "The End", and Siouxsie and The Banshees' strangely Motown-esque version of "You're Lost Little Girl" come awfully close.)

Good spoken word just DOES it for me.

This song explains why Slim loves to drink. "I love the great ascension of an evening spent drinking. Every other drug you go up and down like an arc, but with booze you just get drunker and drunker..." When people say he's a drunk, he says "why should I worry about something that makes me feel better?", which is one of the most touching lines I've ever heard.

The instrumental behind him is "People Are Strange". I'd like to think Slim picked it because it was in The Lost Boys.

I adore Francoise Hardy. Her music may be a bit too sweet for some, but this song is a favourite of mine. It's nostalgic and melancholy, and strangely comforting. My French isn't perfect, but I believe the song is about the loss of innocence and youth.

What a strange and beautiful song! Cool-toned organ melodies played against a thick, warm, bass vein running through the entire song, complex drum backing, and the oddly distant, yet personally reflective lyrics of Karin Krog, combine to create a dream-like sound.

An acoustic verse,which in any lesser band would have been a great chorus bleeds in to a glammed up sneering chorus,this process is repeated for the rest of the track ,rendering this epic song strangely upbeat/downbeat with no clear winner

A fabulous acid-pop masterpiece featuring one of the most intriguing intros in pop history. Everything I love about psychedelic pop made in the US in the late 6t's comes together in Mrs. Bluebird: the softly mythical, escapist feeling that the harmony and orchestration bring into this music. I frequently use it as a getaway. I think indulging in this music is not sad but it shows you've got the means to make you happy. This song is a Curt Boettcher (The Millennium, Sagittarius) production that cannot have been made while under the influence of drugs!!

it's strange how people change. this group was led by steve howe, yes, the man from yes (a horrible group!). the song 'my white bicycle' �s a cover version. psychedelic trip!

A grandiose harpsichord entrance gives way to almost choirboy melody regerding our lack of concern over this planet of ours , add to this a vaudeville waltz time middle eight sung through a megaphone and we are firmly in the land of strange though not just for the sake of it . Weirdly wonderful and a Top 10 hit as well

This summer marks the 20th year of the release of 'Strangeways Here We Come' and the disintegration of the Smiths. *sigh* I was compelled to grab a stack of Morrissey CD singles as the soundtrack to my work day today and ended up playing this track several times over while stuck in the cube farm.

No one's recommended this? This song is unreal in so many ways. First, it sounds like relaxing lounge jazz, then all of a sudden it changes into music for a Scooby-Doo episode, then the strange wailing comes in and you're floating through the deep void of space in an alternate reality without worrying about oxygen or the laws of physics. That is all within the first minute of the song. And then, and then, let's not forget the way the Brother kills on the organ, my friends. Then there's the sample appeal, most obviously this was slowed down for A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario", and recently reworked by Jay Dee, in that trademark handclap hitting, hypnotic head-nodding Dilla fashion.

An instrumental arrangement using only strings, this piece starts out slow and builds. Its overall tone is sweet and full of emotion. Very seldom does one encounter a song of pure aesthetic beauty, with no ulterior motives or elements, but this is one of those songs.

Max Richter has been influenced by minimalistic modern composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich, but his work has its own distinctive feel. This song, among others by Richter, was featured in the 2006 film Stranger Than Fiction.

This is such a pretty song. With just an acoustic guitar and voice, it could've easily sounded like any other folk song, yet I find something incredibly endearing about it.
Lyrically, it's a love story interrupted with baseball imagery (very strange for a Scotsman to display an understanding of the sport).

It's strange hearing a sweet, soothing kiddie tune sung in German, with all its hard syllables. "Pinocchio"'s sugary, synth-based production can best be described as "ABBA lite". Mary Roos is a singer I know little about, except she once entered the Eurovision song contest with "Arizona Man", an early Giorgio Moroder composition. She's so appealing here, though, that I would like to look into her other stuff.

To me, this one of the most perfect songs released in recent years. It's hard to pin down what makes this track so affecting - the instrumentation is mostly synth; there is also an understated, slightly Bowie-style vocal. Overall I think it is the music itself - the fragile chord sequence and instrumentation evoke a strange sense of lost summer memories.

Just when I had almost lost all hope of ever hearing a new Dylan song which, as a combination of an engaging vocal performance and fascinating lyrics, just fill you with a strange sense of happiness - he comes up with this one. While not being like a typical Dylan classic, this one has a very, very warm feel to it + vocals which I thought he couldn't produce in 2001 anymore. After the rather cold and almost posturingly melancholy "Time Out of Mind" album, "Love & Theft" was pleasantly wise and human.

What can you say about this, it was recorded live and was originally recorded by Jo Stafford. This is just fabulous.

I knew nothing about OutKast, and know little more now. What I do know is that this song was from a concept album in which both members of Outkast ("Andre 3000" and "Big Boi") produced a side each. Also from what I understand, this track may not be typical of their usual stuff. I also found out that this was played to death on the radio when it was released, so this may not be a new song to many. Not being a commercial radio listener, I missed it when it was released!

I'm not sure what attracted me to the song first off. Perhaps it was how sparse and basic it seems, perhaps the humour in it ("stank you smelly much" - real lyrics in this love song), or perhaps the "behind the scenes" audio, like Andre's dicussion with the engineer. Why would he leave that in, I wonder. Is it a theme that runs through his side of the album? Anyway, a soulful and beautiful, if not strange song which I heard on a compilaton called "Strange Soul" put out by Albion Records.

A week ago I was in India, the holiday of a lifetime. As well as all the tourist stuff, like temples and museums, I always make sure that I get a slice of pop culture when I'm in a foreign country. So the night tended to conclude in the hotel with a bit of Indian TV.

Watched a fair bit of MTV India which, if anything, is even heavier on ads and blatent self-promotion that its British and American equivalents. I was cheered to see that most of the music they played was in Hindi and there was a limit on the American and European bands that got airplay (seemingly, strangely, limited to The Rasmus and Britney Spears).

But MTV is only watchable for a limited amount of time. Jet lag and excitement dictates that one spends more time awake than asleep and so I got to see a few late 70's Bollywood classics, among them 'Shaan' (translation: 'Pride'). This Asha Bhosle gem is from this movie. The film itself struk me as a fairly banal James Bond rip off although, not speaking Hindi, I grant that I'll have missed the more subtle aspects of plot construction.

This song stopped me in my tracks. I knew that Bollywood was an area that I enjoyed but was in a grand state of ignorance of, and I was looking forward to rectifying this. Pyar Karne Wale takes the prize for best Donna Summer rip off EVER. Stealing its barely-adjusted backing from 'I Feel Love', Bhosle wails and moans over the top, transforming Moroder's disco classic into something that simultanously establishes common ground between Indian and European disco while evoking its more subtle differences.

Myself and boyfriend came back with what seems like every Bollywood soundtrack produced between 1972 and 1980 including, of course, Shaan. I look forward to educating myself in this genre and finding more similar gems.

All the lavishness of Bil Withers "Lovely Day" but with the sentiments turned upside down,the sun is still there but clouded wiith tears .This beautiful soul/funk ballad is for some strange reason,almost unheard but rates along side their biggest hit "You to me Are Everything".This is what you find if you keep digging and delving.

"Revenge" is a catchy, electro punk song on Mindless Self Indulgence's new CD "If." Besides Jimmy Urine's (the lead singer) hallmark falsetto reeling in the chorus, this song has a certain feel that takes me back to the days of "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy." Listen to the bridge the second time around ( a little after the two minute marker) and you will notice the detail of some perfect timed techno. The tune behind "This...is...my...re..venge..." is just hypnotic and I wish I could just isolate that part into a song of its own. The introduction is a little annoying but with the help of the "seek" button I have perfected fast forwarding it to the actual song and enjoying two minutes of pure bliss any industrial, jungle, or techno fan will simularily enjoy.

One of the more famous song-poems, this is sung by the man with a thousand names, Rodd Keith. Being English, I had never really heard of the song-poem concept until an article in (I think) Cool & Strange Music magazine. Then this compilation CD came out and, wow, pinch my cheeks and call me a convert.



Anything that encourages the bizarre side of human nature gets my approval and song-poems certainly do that. Especially the right wing freaks, who seem to be over-represented in the genre. This is one of those very over-zealous numbers, stating (pre-Watergate) that Nixon is "a man of priceless worth".



What I love about Rodd Keith is that, no matter how banal or weird the lyrics kicked out by some Arkansas dweller are, he gives a sterling performance. This is no different. The spirit in which the song is written is strictly adhered to by Keith, adding of course to its overall charm.

Okay, I'm going to summarize the story as best as I can.

Van Morrison's first recording contract as a solo artist was with a small label called Bang, owned by a man named Bert Berns. Among Bang's hits were "I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves, "Hang On Sloopy" by the McCoys, "Cherry Cherry" by Neil Diamond, and of course "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison.

Bang released Morrison's first album, "Blowin' Your Mind," in 1967. The thing is, Morrison had nothing to do with it. He wanted out of his contract. Berns died in December of that year, but Bang (now run by Berns's wife Ilene) still wanted ten songs from Van. He gave 'em 31.

The Bang Contractuals, as these sessions have come to be known, can be split into three categories: throwaways ("Twist and Shake," "Stomp and Scream"), cynical commentary ("The Big Royalty Check," "Blow in Your Nose" [a play on "Blowin' Your Mind]), and the just plain bizarre.

"Ring Worm" is a member of the third group. First of all, Morrison doesn't sing the lyrics, he speaks them. Second, the lyrics are:

I can see by the look on your face... that you've got ring worm.
I'm very sorry, but... I have to tell you that... you've got... ring worm...
It's a very common disease...
Actually, you're very lucky to have... ring worm, because you may have... had something else.

Finally, after the lyrics comes the most bizarre "singing" I've ever heard. I can't even describe it. You'll have to hear it for yourself. I will say this: if you're familiar with Van's more commercial works, you will be dumbfounded.

Of course, we all know the rest of the story: later in 1968, Morrison signed to Warner Bros., recorded "Astral Weeks," and became a legend. I have friends, however, that believe the Bang Contractuals to be his best album.

The material shouldn't be too hard to find: since its first release (apparently, by a small Portuguese label in 1992), the Bang Contractuals have been released over and over, always as a two-disc set with the more "legitimate" Bang material ("Brown Eyed Girl," etc.) Look for titles such as "The Complete Bang Sessions," "Payin' Dues," and (ugh) "Brown Eyed Beginnings."

Powerful vocals... the verses have a strange and different tune- they sound almost like Celine's making it up as she goes along, but in a good way. Even if this isn't her most heartfelt song, it is very good and fun to listen to.

Kenny Rogers provides quite the haunting lead vocal on this track. The jaunty drums and choir vocals only enhance the creepiness.

Wonderful lyrically, aswell as a very atmosphere-setting mood in the music.
Here are the lyrics:

Running Away

I've come from a more than human kind
Fugitive child of the human mind
I could run for a thousand miles
It would'nt keep me safe
I search for my soul, you destroy me with fear
Don't want to hurt you
Can we can we ever be together as one
Man what have you done

Chorus

Nowhere to go I've nowhere to stay
I'm running away
I'll hide in the world I can't leave a trace
I'm running away

Danger in every street and every town
A.I screens and hunters abound
I could deceive you live the lie
Plexi-birds and mongrel spies
I could hurt you in the night
Who can I turn to
You tampered with the scheme
And made 'The men who are not'
Man what have you wrought

Bizarre Cut. What's This "Country Funk"? Strange little record. Beautiful Production. Both have very nice voices. And love the 12 string Guitar. Flows Nicely.

Beneath the avant-garde lyrics and futuristic synth textures, there was always a pulsing dance music quality that drove the classic Duran Duran sound. As they progressed into the late '80s, they allowed that dance element to move up front and dominate their style. A good example of this tactic is "Skin Trade," a hit whose silky and funky style led to it being mistaken for a Prince song. The lyrics have a surprisingly direct, soul-searching feel to them as they lay out scenarios of people shortchanging their dreams to make money. These moments are followed with the dramatic proclamation that makes up the chorus: "Will someone please explain/The reasons for this strange behavior?/In exploitation's name/We must be working for the skin trade." The music lends contrast to the angry tone of the lyrics by creating a sultry, mellow melody that juxtaposes verses with a soft, hypnotic ebb and flow with an ever-ascending chorus that revs up the song's inherent drama. Duran Duran's recording is fuelled by funky but gently layered guitar textures and subtle drum work that push its groove along, plus some atmospheric synth textures on the chorus. Interestingly, Simon LeBon uses his normal tenor voice for the choruses but sings much of the verses in a lush, soulful falsetto that led many pop fans to initially mistake "Skin Trade" for a Prince ballad. The result was a perfect blend of slow-dance textures and adult social critique. It didn't do as well as "Notorious," just barely making the Top 40 in the U.S., but it got plenty of radio airplay and is fondly remembered by the group's fans as one of Duran Duran's most mature achievements of the late '80s.
(AMG)

strange and kind of funky version of a song that was very popular when i was just a little boy. i don't know any other songs by the group. i heard it on a acid jazz label comp and i bought the single. i don't think i've ever listened to the a-side...

This instrumental version of sophisticated lady is unlike any other I have ever heard. The harp is used alongside some strange instrumentation and recording techniques to create a unique other worldly sound. There is also a Richard Maxwell trademark - an incongruous, rasping 50s style sax solo in the middle. He was a pretty interesting guy, all in all; his Decca albums pretty much all seem to be interesting.

Although Buck's "ragged old man" routine can be charming, it usually comes off feeling more like a Tom Waits rip-off than a Tom Waits homage. "Sore" is my favorite track on "Talkin' Honky Blues" because it does away with the overly-cute oddball beat poetry that Buck often indugles in and offers a more sincere and unaffected portrayal of the wayfaring nomad / poor white trucker.

Buck's in a one horse town with a broken down pick-up, left to set up shop in a shoddy motel and reflect on his life. The lyrics are country gold all rapped up pretty: "I'm drawn to familiar environments and dangers / I look in my photo albums and all I see is strangers / What is my problem?"

I'm a sucker for good desolation-hop (unfortunately for me, there isn't much out there), and "Sore" fits the bill perfectly.

An accusatory narrative on his marriage to Motown owner Berry Gordys daughter.Sweet but bitter not the same as bittersweet.Strangely compelling with no distinct melody ,bridge or chorus and the title only mentioned in the last few bars .However you feel after one listen an intimacy with the songs creator and this confessional opus .In places you can hear four or five Marvins pleading and apologising and blaming.I think in this instance it would appropriate to use the word genius .The moral being never marry the boss,s daughter.

Slow and haunting music, accompanied by lyrics that really hit the heart. I like it so much because of what I see when I hear it, I can just see the song in picture format in my head. That sort of thing doesn�t happen often. And who doesn�t connect to unrequited love?

"Strange fruit hanging/from the poplar tree"...one of the most haunting songs ever written. Holiday recorded this song about a lynching several times throughout her career, but this original version features a performance so intense that it is impossible to beat.

Anja , the daughter of the highly respected Jan Garbarek ,one of the big jazz-dudes in Norway , Anja started to do music after she found that acting was too restricted. On this tune\album she uses her freedom to create dream-like atmospheres.

U can hear her that she is inspired by Laurie Anderson on this tune ,in the way she tells the story. Instrument-wise the tune is very multi-layered and intruiging. I highly recommend it if u like the music of for example Bj�rk,Kate Bush etc.

originally written for marianne faithfull, but i prefer tom waits`s own rendition of this song.
a slow tango-esque piece with a sublime lounge band backing(if you can call a something featuring a banjo player a lounge band)and half-whispered, half sung vocals. i really appreciate the sound of the "big time"-album.
the backing music in the chorus of this song never fails to conjure up images of the tango band from "a nightmare before christmas" in my head, due to the similarity of the sound. did danny elfman fall in love with this song during the composition of the soundtrack, or does he and waits share a common, different source of inspiration? if so, i`d love to hear that song..

waits revisited the musical ideas of this song for "it`s over" (an outstanding song in it`s own right)from the "liberty heights" soundtrack, by the way. it`s always interesting to hear him experiment with and explore his own compositions, but then again i`m a sucker for variatons on musical themes..

This is an astonishing song! The band from New Jersey was closely related to Timothy Leary's community for which they performed gigs, like on 4th of July 1967.This song wasn't even published, only one acetate is left of the recording session which was in Apostolic studios in N.Y in 1968. Billy Barth which was the member, recalls that this was the only song recoreded.There is an instrumental "Flesh Kingdom" which was issued by TV Toy Billy's brother's band.
The song has a marvelous organ introduction and it has love relation lyrics which fit very well to melody.Apparently this band did not have appropriate management because he deserved a much better fate.

Try to remove this from all the boring "classic rock" trappings its acquired over the years. Appreciate what a fascinatingly strange combination of overheated pop, symphonic grandeur, and rock-ish muscle this is. So 1977, yet so timeless. Thank you.

Sinister and spacy, slightly discordant, gospel-inflected soul groove, with a murderous, high-powered bassline. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss apparently sing background vocals on this artist self-titled album, and strangely enough it's their backing that makes this sound sort of reminiscent of a gospel session, but in space maybe. Begging lyrics and tripped out reverb enhance the strange, infectious hold of this song. This is a very heavy, mournful, and unique sound experience. Recommended.

German entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2011, 10th place

A peculiar recording from the early 40s in Cuba. This song sounds like a Carl Stalling, Raymond Scott, or Leroy Shield piece from a cartoon. Abrupt tempo changes, a cool bass clarinet. Unlike any other song I can think of, except "Sangre Africana" also by Valdes.

This is an "excelente" version of Billy Joel's version of "Just The Way You Are". This album was recorded in 1977, beginning his era with BMG/ Ariola records. The executives, happy to have a performer like JOSE JOSE, provided him with the best musicians, numbers and producers of the time. Included in this album are 2 numbers by Mexico's greatest: Juan Gabriel ("Ya lo pasado, pasado" & "Ahora No !"). Among others credited are Napoleon ("Lo que no fue, no sera"), Adan Torres("Almohada"). Of the 10 numbers included, 7 were top ten hits in Mexico, Colombia and the U.S. Leaving disco to other performers that needed to launch their productions to the international market, Jose Jose's album is just pure old-fashioned latin love songs, songs still heared today.

The original track off of Strange Times is haunting with a kind of 16 Candles-esque jangle shoegaze chorus. It's beautiful and haunting in a way that will conjure the victories and pratfalls of long term relationship.

That rarest of anomalys, psychedelic Northern soul,a strange land where a late sixties slice of psyche pop can run amok with soul legends and funk obscurities in some dingy cellar club in the middle of Blackpool.Innocent and as catchy as hell ,some de riguer flanging and Who style backing vocals cannot deter this song from its righteous melodic path.

Considering the number of songs P5 recorded, they have made very few ballads. It's a shame, because Maki's voice is so beautiful in slow, dramatic songs. 'The Awakening' is the first song on 'Romantique '96' (after a short opening-collage) and it still amazes me because it's such a strange way to start an album. I think it's the most beautiful melody Konishi has ever written.

First of all I had to ask myself whether the real reason I really like this song is because the title is cribbed from a movie I love. (An ace bit of film noir from 1950, starring Joan Crawford, that I can't recommend strongly enough.) And yeah, it is rather "Fade to Grey"- Part II, (though I think the melody/mood/dynamics are stronger here.) And yeah, lyrically it�s all a bit John Foxx-light - images of European ennui and dissipation minus the inspiration. And yeah, I'm the first to admit Visage is to great post-punk-electro what Baccara is to prime 1970's disco, but I love "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and I love "The Damned Don't Cry" - damn it!

In what is another of Neil Hannon's best songs, we hear his superb bittersweet lyrics emerging from an intricate and intermittently lush backing. As usual, the chords are not particularly complicated or unusual, but are extremely well-chosen.

Brilliant, in spite of the strange choice of sangria near the beginning, with its forced accent on the second syllable.

A murky and twangy instrumental, drenched with reverb and strange sound effects, courtesy of Joe Meek. Ridiculous, but superbly atmospheric.

As a huge Moody Blues fan, I'm always excited to hear a new track by the frontman, Justin Hayward. This track from his 96 solo album is one worth listening to.

Somewhere between 91 and 96, Justin learned to handle his guitar like George Harrison. You'll notice this if you listen to the Moody Blues' 99 offering Strange Times, but that's not the point. On this particular song, you get the Harrison-like guitar-riff along with the haunting vocals that Hayward is famous for. Combined the two are a powerful mix. This song and all the others on the CD are worth taking a listen too.

I was never a Pulp fan, and I'm still not exactly a huge one. I never quite got why songs like 'Do you remember the first time' and 'Common People' were so great. I don't mind those songs now, but they never hit me in the way that 'This is Hardcore' did.

It's hard to explain why the dramatic, slightly ridiculous tone of the song appeals to me so much. The song is built around a sample from 'Bolero on the moon rocks' by Peter Thomas, the German film composer, and I think it's used very well - the sample adds texture and atmosphere, but doesn't dictate the song. I enjoy the way things develop at a slow pace, with new musical sections still being introduced late in the song. I'm very fond of all of these, but the slow, dreamy section that comes in at around 4:15 is particularly appealing, with its lush and strangely 80s sounding backgrounds.

Utter, utter genius!

hammond groover number one, brian auger, teams up with julie driscoll for a song that doesn't sound like anything else. the choir by driscoll is quite strange and repititous (straight from the bengal???), vocals by auger just blows me away.

A lonely solo keyboard carries this strange beautiful slice of eighties psychedelia along,shades of Barratt and Robert Wyatt inform this oddly ,detached nursery rhyme vision of childhood with innocence pouring from every word

Listening again to a compilation I made almost four years ago, I heard this magical track, which really had a big effect on me. It's probably not for everyone. Meandering and rather wistful, it's not at all funky like some of their later work, but I find it utterly compelling.

As you might have heard, Novi Singers were an incredibly talented quartet of vocal singers recording in Poland in the late 60s and 70s. They did several amazing records. This is taken from what I think was their first, Bossa Nova. But rather than renderings of songs like 'One note samba' and 'Desafinado', the album consists of a delightful and varied collection of originals in a related mood. The result is like bossa nova from a parallel, slightly more melancholic universe.

The accompaniment is a slow, gentle bossa played by a small jazz group, with some rich strings dropping in and out, and the vocals (all wordless/scat) take centre stage. The chord sequence is staggeringly beautiful, and at times the vocalists take slightly extravagant scat solos.

It sounds strange to say it, but this is really one of those tracks that seems to tell an enormous, emotional story, in spite of the fact that it doesn't contain one word! It would make a fantastic soundtrack to a silent movie.

I had forgotten quite how brilliant this track is until it strangely popped into my head yesterday. It was originally available on Al's superb 'Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes' album, as well as volume 2 of the 'Music to Read James Bond By' series on United Artists records. It's very obviously James Bond rip-off music, but it's so perfectly executed, with cool percussive brass and Al's reverb-laden guitar nicely complemented by a swinging organ, that you can't help but love it.

Ex-Chameleons leader Mark Burgess released this CD in '94, which was supposed to be demos, but his "demos" are superior to most acts' finished products. This particular song is very gloomy, in two parts, and the second half has ghostly backing vocals (very likely synthesized) which recall those in Terry Stafford's '64 hit "Suspicion". There is a cello snaking around throughout, not to mention a banjo (!), and the acoustic guitar backing sounds muted. The lyrics seem to be critical of religion ("Yes I'm a fool, A fool not a rat, I have no fear of the cat"), which makes it the kind of song one would wish to have played at one's funeral. Mark Burgess has more talent in his little finger than most phoney chart acts have in their entire persons!

And by the way, the Chameleons' "Strange Times" LP is awesome!

Perky, pint-sized bossa chanteuse Claudette Soares scored big in the late 60s by following Wilson Simonal's stylistic lead into an irresistible mix of pop, samba, French ye-ye, boogaloo, soul and bossa. This is a perfect example of the strangely Isaac Hayes-influenced arrangements to be found on her 1969-70 "pop" LP trilogy, and another winner from the then-unstoppable Adolfo-Gaspar writing team.

Another song from the Bang Contractual Sessions (see my previous writeup for "Ring Worm"). In this one, Van actually has a conversation with himself:

"You want a danish?"
"No, I just ate. I've just aten."
"D'you want..."
"Like, I want some bread up front."
"Oh, bread up front? You want a sandwich?"

The remainder of the lyrics is basically the phrases "have a danish," "you want a sandwich? have a sandwich," and "have a seat" repeated ad nauseam. (The song is only a minute long.)

Along with introducing the word "aten" and the phrase "bread up front" into our lexicon, this might rank as Van Morrison's strangest recording... and given the rest of the Bang Contractuals, that's saying something. You've gotta love his delivery, though.

Strange, plodding piece for this film about the '72 Munich Olympics. Very odd tempo (7/4 time?) with a warm cornet right up front that interplays nicely with the organ.

Superlative version of this track with some wild percussion and brass. I assume this was on one of her LPs, but I have it on a strange 45 sampler of her and other artists called 'spinalong'. Utter winner - keeps changing key. Her voice is cool and characterful enough as it is, so the effect is pretty wild!

San Diego's Ryland Bouchard could be one of the most gifted musical persons to have ever lived. Bouchard's creativity is astonishing. With only three albums, Bouchard (The Robot Ate Me) has created a universe that tells stories of various images.
His first release, They Ate Themselves, was released in 2002. It is a story strange sounds ranging from different musicians. Ranging from Radiohead to Neutral Milk Hotel and maybe even The Microphones. Among the 17 tracks there is great variety and creativity; this makes it hard for one to pick a favorite track. After owning the album for a while now I think I've come to a conclusion. Entitled "We Ate Eachother," this song displays peaceful picking while Bouchard sings quietly and very saddened. It describes the basic concept of the whole album. The lyrics are also both descriptive and secretive.

Anyone who likes Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Microphones and anything on K Records, I strongly suggest listening to The Robot Ate Me.

An absolute masterpiece whose deceptive simplicity always moves.

I like this songs imagery and how it leaves so much unsaid, so the listener can relate it to themselves.
Apparently, the writer, (either Daryl Kromm or Drew Arnot, of Strange Advance) wrote this song from a dream he had. He described it as 'One of those wake up sweating dreams.'
The song is from their album 2wo, and is available on both 'Over 60 Minutes With Strange Advance' and 'Worlds Away and Back'.
However, niether of their first two albums, 'Worlds Away'(1982) and '2wo'(1985) are available on CD.

Song lyrics:

We Run

You're on your own and meet a friend
Who doesn't kill but wounds for life
The sun blinds you through the trees
While watching clues fall from the skies
And she smiles

Chorus

At the point of the knife
You never see anyone
How the strong will survive
At the end of their gun
We run...........

Frozen smiles for men returned
They never even left this place
She kissed me softly on the cheek
And a shadow cut across her face

Take heart the fountain of my life
Stone the victim to his knees
I've got scars for my mistakes
And now post atomic dreams
I dream...........

Chorus

At the point of the knife
You never see anyone
How the strong will survive
At the end of their gun
We run...........

I walked for miles and miles to the sea
we burned, the fire from the sun
I know you never tried to deceive
who can touch us when we run

Like a song by Cole Porter infused with the Mael brothers warped Americana and sung over the backing track of Donna Summer,s "Hot Stuff",if that gives you any idea of what to expect then you wont be disappointed when you finally get to hear it .
So just to add to the most bizzare of musical ingredients there is a sci-fi/prog rock keyboard solo somewhere in the middle strange but-------------------------Great .

Lush, languid progressive new wave with synthesizers, from Vancouver, that seemed to arrive out of the blue in '82. They have a number of other good songs, my personal favourites are "Just Like You" and "Alien Time".

An incredible, stomping brazilian pop number, taken from Elis Regina's legendary album 'Elis Regina in London', recorded in England in 1969. Here she takes on the Jorge Ben classic 'zazueira', a seductive, hip, upbeat stomper of a track which just makes you smile every time you hear it. Wonderful stuff.