Seven Songs

Roger has (mildly) tagged me with this round-making meme, in which I am to list seven songs I have been listening to this week. So:

1) "Overture" - Merrily We Roll Along (Original Broadway Cast)- Stephen Sondheim
This has just been remastered and released and I took the opportunity to get it, seeing as how it was one of those albums I had on tape and listened to hundreds of times and yet still never managed to get on CD. The overture here is one of my favorites, a bright and brassy slap pf energy featuring some wonderfully loud and exuberant drumming. A wake-you-up-in-the-morning kind of piece.

2) "Hurley's Handouts" - Lost (Season Two Soundtrack) - Michael Giacchino
Finally got the second release of Lost music and I have been enjoying it more than I even expected. This track, a slow, piano- and guitar-based piece, is a real standout. Something about the music is sweet and casual, and offers a definable different sound than most of Giacchino's work for the show.

3) "The Gathering" - Lost (Season Two Soundtrack) - Michael Giacchino
Another favorite from the soundtrack, a longer, more momentous piece. Giacchino's work for this show, as I've said before, is simply wonderful; I really do think he's working well above any other TV composer.

4) "All's Forgiven . .. Except Charlie" - Lost (Season Two Soundtrack) - Michael Giacchino
A simple-sounding piece, but one that works as its own piece of music better than a lot of the material on this album. A slow introduction leads to some lovely, understated ukelele stuff. Slow and sad.

5) "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
The praise and hype wore me down and I finally got this much-acclaimed album. Have listened to this first song more than any other and like it (and the album) well enough, if not so much as to really understand the undying praise I've read.

6) "Nightswimming" - In Time: The Best of REM - REM
Just got this (REM is a perfect best-of band for me; Automatic for the People aside, I've never really been turned on by any of their whole albums, and yet I like some of their songs very much) and have been reminded by it of what a gorgeous piece of songwriting this is.

7) "City of Blinding Lights (Live)" - Vertigo: Live in Chicago - U2
As the weather had started to get nice late last week (it's since regressed) I would drive home with the window down, enjoying the spring air, and blasting this live version of one of my favorite U2 songs as loud as I could stand it. Epic arena rock at its best.

Until Whenever