"NARC" INTERPOL (2004)

Everything great about the early Interpol years came together nearly flawlessly on “NARC”. Kessler’s pointed and grating guitar strums. Paul Banks’ haunting baritone belting and echoing in space. And Carlos D and Sam Fogarino laying down a multi-rhythmic tapestry. It’s one of the underrated glue tracks on Antics. It’s powerful and magnetic in concert. And it’s still one of my all-time favorite Interpol anthems after all these years.

“You can see that the gazing eye won't lie.”

"DISAPPOINTED" PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. (1989)

Through the years, Johny Lydon has evolved like a musical chameleon. From the Johnny Rotten days with the Sex Pistols to the evolution of PiL. They were experimental. They were danceable. They were raw. They were polished. By the time “Disappointed” and the entire 9 album came out, PiL had aligned with the modern rock masters of the time. But they still had Lydon’s unique edge and frantic vocal delivery.

“Disappointed a few people. When friendship reared its ugly head. Disappointed a few people. Well, isn't that what friends are for?”

"HIGHER GROUND" STEVIE WONDER (1973)

This was Stevie’s funk statement. The clavinet, wah-wah pedals, Moog synthesizers, overdubs and drums were all saturated in the sounds and attitude of funk. And it was all orchestrated and recorded by the one-man band known as Stevie Wonder. He took the song about as far as anyone possibly could, and then the Red Hot Chili Peppers found a way to bring it rest of the way with a potent and explosive cover.

“Powers keep on lyin' while your people keep on dyin'. World keep on turnin' 'cause it won't be too long.”

"THE SOUND OF SILENCE" DISTURBED (2015)

Epic. Cinematic. I first heard this amazing cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic on an episode of The Blacklist. It was the perfect soundtrack for the gripping and spiraling episode. So many cover songs are just glorified karaoke-fests. But Disturbed unleashed a newfound power in the song, a new meaning without changing a single word. They took “The Sound of Silence” and made it entirely their own.

“Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping left its seeds while I was sleeping.”

"NOTHING ELSE MATTERS" METALLICA (1991)

“Nothing Else Matters” proves you don’t need thrash and speed to deliver a metal performance. It hailed from the album that finally launched Metallica to the masses. Up until then, they were the band that you only touched if you liked metal. But “Nothing Else Matters” wasn’t a small delicate thing either. It contained a slow-driving power, sung with conviction and structured with classic orchestral roots and metal-inspired arpeggios.

“So close, no matter how far, couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters.”

"DAY IS DONE" NICK DRAKE (1969)

I’ve zeroed in on several string arrangement masterpieces lately on Mental Jukebox. Today I’m writing about one more. “Day is Done” is the kind of musical genius that you may overlook at first. Even when people started to finally appreciate Nick Drake well after his death, “Day is Done” was often overshadowed by other well-known songs. But it’s a favorite of mine because it packed so much punch in just two minutes with one of the best string arrangements to be featured on a Nick Drake album.

“When the day is done, down to earth then sinks the sun. Along with everything that was lost and won.”

"STEPPIN' OUT" JOE JACKSON (1982)

Growing up on MTV, I witnessed the heavy and ubiquitous airplay of Joe Jackson’s musical transformation. Almost overnight, this artist went from new wave to something with hints of jazz. “Steppin’ Out” was one of the more overt expressions of the shift. It stuck out like a sore thumb on MTV. The most impressive thing about “Steppin’ Out” was that it represented Joe Jackson’s own stepping out of a budding new wave career and into a musical unknown.

“Now the mist across the window hides the lines. But nothing hides the color of the lights that shine. Electricity so fine, look and dry your eyes.”

"POSTCARDS FROM ITALY" BEIRUT (2006)

This song has always made me envious over the place, the moment and the experience that Zach Condon recounted for us. Every Beirut song is like an entry inside a travel journal. The kind that pulls you right back in the moment. “Postcards from Italy” did it by way of trumpet, ukulele and Zach Condon’s vagabond vocal delivery. It went somewhere far beyond the tourist traps and allowed our imaginations to discover places we never knew existed.

“The times we had, oh, when the wind would blow with rain and snow were not all bad. We put our feet just where they had, had to go, never to go.”

"PERFECT DAY" LOU REED (1972)

Not a single guitar chord to be heard. There’s just something very unrock and roll about “Perfect Day”. But there is MIchael Ronson’s piano interlude. A stunning string arrangement. A tuba. And a song that was nothing like the Velvet Underground. It was Lou Reed’s poem about his girl. It wasn’t about heroin. It was about a perfect day with a girl and sangria in the park. What Reed wrote and sang is exactly what he meant.

“Just a perfect day. You made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else, someone good.”

"A LETTER TO ELISE" THE CURE (1992)

For decades, The Cure have oscillated between euphoria and despair. Between the accessible and the experimental. They have been a band of extremes. But somewhere in the middle sits “A Letter to Elise”. It meandered its way into no man’s land and it became a fan favorite especially in the live setting. It’s easy to forget about “A Letter to Elise” because it sat somewhere between the big hits and the deep cuts. But it remains one of my favorites.

“I just can't stay here every yesterday.”

"JAI HO" A.R. RAHMAN (2008)

When Slumdog Millionaire was in theaters, there were few songs as big as “Jai Ho”. In my mind, the union of actors, dancers and music doesn’t get much better than the end credit scene. A.R. Rahman’s “Jai Ho” bursted in lock step with Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and the entire cast. It had the choreographic precision of an exceptional music video, but it was so much more than that. “Jai Ho” melded perfectly with the characters’ stories. It was simultaneously their final chapter and a new beginning.

"OYE COMO VA" TITO PUENTE (1962)

Music can connect with us in one of four ways: rhythm, form, instrumentation, and lyrics. Tito Puente reached much of the world with all four in “Oye Como Va”. It beame a thru-way for other Latin Jazz and cha-cha-cha artists to be noticed by larger audiences. But most of all, “Oye Como Va” made our hearts elevate. The organs, percussion, woodwinds, horns and vocal harmonies celebrate music and life in unison.

“Oye como va, mi ritmo.”

"PULLING MUSSELS (FROM THE SHELL)" SQUEEZE (1980)

Growing up, I thought this song was about seafood - and I still loved it. Later, I learned it was about seaside holiday life, not to mention a certain British innuendo phrase - and then I liked it even more. I’ve always found it surprising how Squeeze flew under the radar in the States all those years. For a new wave band, Squeeze played it very straight for much of their catalog, but “Pulling Mussels” had just enough melodic ingenuity and edge.

“But behind the chalet, my holiday's complete. And I feel like William Tell. Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet.”

"ROSE QUARTZ" TORO Y MOI (2013)

Toro y Moi has always surprised me with what he’s able to accomplish with a synthesizer, extracting sounds and arrangements I’ve never heard before. “Rose Quartz” is maybe one of the best examples of his experimental side. It explores. It grooves. The synth orchestration washes over you in one instance and delicately brushes past you in another. It’s one of those tracks that defies genre labeling because there’s simply nothing like it.

“And if I fall into the sea, don't let me go.”

"KASHMIR" LED ZEPPELIN (1975)

A band like Zeppelin only comes around once a decade if that. A band loaded with musical chops, sonic power, endless creativity and the confidence to pull off something as epic and unusual as “Kashmir”. This 8-minute song took a different approach for the band, sidestepping hard rock and blues, and exploring sounds they discovered on a trip to Mumbai. Plant, Page, Bonzo and Jones didn’t just write a great song, they took us on a journey.

“Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face. And stars fill my dream. I'm a traveler of both time and space to be where I have been.”

"THERE'S NO OTHER WAY" BLUR (1991)

For a brief moment in time, the Madchester scene was all the rage. While Blur hailed from London, not Manchester, they rode the momentum of the scene and went further than most of the bands associated with that era. The britpop harmonies, 60’s vibes and the rip-roaring guitar riffs of “There’s No Other Way” made it my all-time favorite Blur record.

“You're taking the fun out of everything.”

"MIAMI VICE THEME" JAN HAMMER (1985)

The 80’s soundtrack era wouldn’t be the same without guys like Jan Hammer and Harold Faltermeyer. Their whiz at orchestrating unforgettable sounds on a synthesizer or a guitar are big reasons why the nostalgiac pull of 80’s shows and movies is so strong. On the Miami Vice soundtrack, Jan Hammer captured the essence of three things: the show, the city of Miami and the era in time.

"THE LAUGH OF RECOGNITION" OVER THE RHINE (2011)

I’ve had a special affinity for Over the Rhine” for several years now. A humble, talented couple that’s content playing concerts inside their barn in Ohio. Around the time of The Long Surrender, they started delving into a more bluesy sound. It made their songs richer and wiser. To me “The Laugh of Recognition” is about grinning and bearing it, because we simply must go on. This pandemic we’re living in is a powerful reminder of exactly that.

“It's called the laugh of recognition. When you laugh but you feel like dyin'.”

"MOOD INDIGO" NINA SIMONE (1966)

The summer before I headed off to college, I had a short fling with a girl who had amazing taste in music. She knew about Deelite before the rest of the world. And only listened to the deep cuts from bands like Siouxsie & the Banshees and Depeche Mode. But she also raved about Nina Simone and introduced me to this amazing talent. My girlfriend and I went off to separate colleges in the fall. We drifted apart, lived our own worlds, but Nina never left mine.

“That feelin' goes stealin' down to my shoes.”

"ONLY YOU" YAZ (1982)

Before Vince Clarke went on to Erasure and Alison Moyet launched a highly successful solo career, there was this gem of an album from their short-lived collaboration on Yaz. Upstairs at Eric’s remains one of new wave’s must-listens from beginning to end. And “Only You” was the ballad that broke into new melodic territory for a synth-pop band. It emphasized Moyet’s soulful vocals above all else.

“Looking from a window above, it's like a story of love.”