Artist Top Ten Enya

James from London

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Hmm ...

 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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1. Summer Nights
I don't know if this is a signature song but it's the one you'll usually find on Best Of 60s compilations.
Well it is gorgeous (despite being frustratingly short) and I also think it sounds pre-Paul Mauriat's Love Is Blue.

2. The Sha La La Song
Staying close to the #1, literally and figuratively, is the B-side of Summer Nights.
It sounds incredibly pop accessible by M.F. standards, more like a Petula Clark song, really, although I think it shoulda been covered by Cher.

3. Falling From Grace
4. Crazy Love
5. In The Night Time

6. Yesterday
The strings have been replaced with ethereal "aaaaah" backing vocals and a little bit of flute, and it makes this otherwise straightforward cover version completely different from the original.

7. If I Never Get To Love You
A David/Bacharach gem that I had not heard before.

8. Go Away From My World

9. All I Wanna Do In Life
Squeeze it between Fox's S-S-S-Single Bed and Hamilton Bohannon's Disco Stomp and then it makes perfect sense.
I have a feeling it's not one of her favourite songs.

10. Why'd Ya Do It
It's a far cry from the lovely Summer Nights, but the song in which she out-gracejoneses Grace Jones has to be included.
Normally, the excessive use of crude song lyrics would steer it into novelty territory but it doesn't really sound that way.


Now so long, Marianne and Hello, Marianne because the NEXT UP! reveals that the next artist is, yes indeed, Mr. Leonard Cohen.
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Emelee

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Love me some Leonard

1. Alexanda Leaving
2. Everybody Knows
3. Dance Me To the End Of Love
4. Hallelujah
5. In My Secret Life
6. Closing Time
7. Democracy
8. First We Take Manhattan
9. Chelsea Hotel #2
10. Ain't No Cure For Love
11. Take This Waltz
12. You Want It Darker
13. The Land Of Plenty
14. I'm Your Man
15. Suzanne
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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Time's up, kids, you've all had plenty of time to crank up your credit and show off your understanding of the beaux arts.

1. So Long, Marianne (1967)
For a long time this was the only Leonard Cohen song I knew and I liked, and I wondered if it would be surpassed by something else.
Of course it's tempting to list the "new" great songs first (which I've done very often in these top tens) but every time I wanted to do that I compared it with Marianne and then Marianne won again. And cried and laughed and laughed and cried again.
A coverversion by a popular quizmaster and one of the ex-LUV singers was a top 40 hit in 1984.
All things considered, not as bad as it could have been.

2. Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On (1977)
It just makes me think of Divine's coverversion of the Four Seasons' Walk Like A Man. And indeed, it's not very comfortable to walk that way.
Possibly the poppiest or glamrockiest song he's ever recorded.

3. The Guests (1979)
It's a little bit cliché to describe Leonard Cohen's music as "lovely and intimate" but this is so ethereal it borders on Christmassy.

4. Stories Of The Street (1967)
From his first album, and definitely a sign of what's to come. He has no regard for commercial song structure and he doesn't stop until he's said everything he wanted to say. I think it's gorgeous, the Canadian singer at his most Lee Hazlewoodest.

5. Jazz Police (1988)
It's about folders with a touch of eighties Bond. This could have been a song by Army Of Lovers (actually, I kept hearing "their" version).

6. Democracy (1992)
From his downbeat album THE FUTURE, but some of the songs sound very upbeat. Democracy is the album most nineties-sounding track, or is it a subconscious connection with Right Said Fred's voice?

7. Closing Time (1992)
A pub shanty that never goes amiss, at least not in Europe.

8. Darkness (2012)
I think this is a great soundtrack for a cloak-and-dagger meeting in a sleazy bar scene, featuring a drunken and over the hill dancer who's unsuccessfully trying to wrap her legs around the dance pole.
Special agent Cooper. Could be.

9. Tacoma Trailer (1992)
Apparently he doesn't play the piano himself but it's still an instrumental gem.

10. Avalanche (1971)
It's so beautiful that it makes you wish for some kind of redemption, a glimmer of hope. Alas, even with a 5 minutes duration the song wasn't long enough for that.

I don't think we've done THE STRANGLERS yet, time to find out what they have done.
 

Long Lashes

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1. Always The Sun


If I ever listed all my favourite songs (which I never could do because it would be too stressful) then this would definitely be high on the list. Its my song of hope.



2. Golden Brown
Love the harpsichord music to this and I initial thought the lyrics were about a woman with a suntan ... which they are, but they are also about heroin.

3. Strange Little Girl

4. Peaches
Very smutty and coarse lyrics, but I like the distinctive bassline.

5. No More Heroes

6. Duchess

7. Walk On By
This is a cover of the Dionne Warwick hit and I think its fabulous.

8. Nice 'N' Sleazy

9. Who Wants The World

10. Something Better Change
 

Friend!Food! Oleson

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They're doing glam/punk/rock and new wave/synth pop and that makes it difficult to rank the songs in one and the same top 10.

1. Duchess

2. Skin Deep
From 1984, at that time I was also listening to Nik Kershaw and Alphaville (and Sheryl Lee Ralph's "In The Evening" !)

3. Golden Brown
Their only top 10 hit in the Netherlands. I find it very hypnotising, something that transports me to another time and place.

4. Grip a.k.a. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
This should have charted in the Dutch top 40 because they love titles with brackets.

5. Hanging Around

6. This Song
I think it's a great throwback to their rock music, but still fresh enough for modern radio (or spotify or whatever we should call it these days).

7. Always The Sun
Well, I wouldn't dare to omit one of Long Lashes' ALL-time favourite songs.

8. Shakin' Like A Leaf
Shakin' All Over meets Tainted Love

9. Don't Bring Harry

10. If Something’s Gonna Kill Me (It Might As Well Be Love)
Also from the Dark Matters album, and this time it's a lovely retro-new wave song.

I had thought about including "No Mercy" but somehow it triggered memories of annoyance, not necessarily the song itself...just...something.
Then there's the strange story of a certain Vladimir running in the background, but the eighties was very Russia-heavy so I guess it all makes sense.
Incidentally, the Russian alphabet lettering always looks very cool on artwork and posters.

Incredibly inspired by the very good movie Eighth Grade I'd like to explore the best of ENYA.
Maybe we've already done that but it's impossible to keep track of everything that's going on on this forum, and besides, our opinions my have changed.
 

Emelee

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After a quick look on my Spotify, this list almost created itself.

1. Book of Days
2. Anywhere Is
3. Orinoco Flow
4. Only Time
5. Boadicea
6. The Celts
7. Caribbean Blue
8. China Roses
9. Only If
10. Storms In Africa
 

Emelee

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How smart and useful!
I guess I'll have to do it the difficult and time-consuming way. Doesn't matter, I'm just glad that the music top 10 has become popular again.

I love digging in and explore an artist to come up with a top 10 list. Soooo love it.
 
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