The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time

Our pals at Rolling Stone are at it again with a list that is sure to provoke much discussion among music fans. This time they've polled a bunch of artists, producers, critics, and other music industry insiders and come up with their list of "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time".

This list is, of course, skewed towards singers who came to prominence during the rock and roll era (which I guess qualifies as "all-time" now) and it leaves off a lot of really GREAT singers (at first blush I can think of Billie Holiday, Emmylou Harris, Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, k.d. lang, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Cassandra Wilson, Chrissie Hynde, Seal, and Margo Timmins.)

The Top 10 Singers of All-Time (according to Rolling Stone) are:

1) Aretha Franklin
2) Ray Charles
3) Elvis Presley
4) Sam Cooke
5) John Lennon
6) Marvin Gaye
7) Bob Dylan
8) Otis Redding
9) Stevie Wonder
10) James Brown

Apparently all of the 10 greatest singers of "all time" got their start in the late fifties or the early sixties and only 1 of the 10 best is a woman...imagine that :-)

The rest of the list is here.

Discuss.

Below is the classic "A Change is Gonna Come" written by the wondrous Sam Cooke (#4) and sung by the incomparable Aretha Franklin (#1)

The 2007 Twenty

Neverending Rainbow's 3rd annual rundown of our 20 favorite reasons to have owned a CD player. These are the best CDs of 2007...or more to the point, given the daunting number of recordings released each year...the best CDs that we heard over the course of the year. Your mileage may (and doubtlessly will) vary. In any case, the picks (in alphabetical order by album title):

Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
(At once retro and utterly modern, as fine a soul record as you could ever hope for)

Children Running Through – Patti Griffin
(Passionate, evocative, utterly compelling, an amazing collection of songs and performances)

Finding Forever – Common
(Sly and sassy, romantic and randy, acerbic and hopeful, a seamless album featuring stellar guest turns by Lily Allen and Kanye West and held together by Common’s smooth, peerless flow)

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – Spoon
(Urbane pop-rock…delightfully melodic with tight playing and solid vocals…that soars and shimmers from beginning to end)

High Steppin’ – The Pimps of Joytime
(A really fine…really funky, really soulful, really rockin’, really jammin’, enormously entertaining…CD.

In Rainbows – Radiohead
(Challenging and accessible in the same moment, an utterly remarkable rock and roll record)

Live in Dublin – Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band
(A grand, accomplished, enormously entertaining 2-disc live set combining traditional songs with reworked Springsteen tunes)

Magic – Bruce Springsteen
(The Boss and the E Street Band on a set of rock solid, earnest, cranky, and soaring rock and roll ruminations)

Neon Bible – Arcade Fire
(Ominously haunting and undeniably rousing at the same time, the full bodied baroque rock and roll of this CD effortlessly gets under your skin and into your head and stays in both places and man is that a cool thing)

100 Days, 100 Nights – Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
(As gritty and old school funky as it wants to be, this CD grooves, growls, and bites with soulful fury as the righteous, gutbucket beauty of Ms. Jones’ voice is ably supported by the sterling musicianship of the Kings)

Raising Sand – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

(What seemed a strange match on paper became a magical, compelling, and heartfelt collaboration when they came together in song trading stunning leads and sharing remarkable harmonies)

River: The Joni Letters – Herbie Hancock
(A graceful and tasty tribute to Joni Mitchell featuring an excellent band and some nice guest vocal turns)

Teknochek Collision – Slavic Soul Party!
(This 9-member ensemble claims to be the “#1 brass band for Balkan-soul-gypsy-funk” and the music…joyous, worldly, full-bodied and, yes, brassy, soulful, and funky…proves the point with potent, irresistible charm)

The Hottest State – Movie Soundtrack
(Judging by critical response, the movie wasn’t so hot but the soundtrack…with songs by Jesse Harris and sublime performances by, among others, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Cat Power, Feist, and Norah Jones…is a cool, evocative gem)

The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster – Ruthie Foster
(An evocative, rocking, soulful CD that more than lives up to its grandiose title)

The Reminder – Feist
(A smart, sparkling collection of slightly offbeat pop tunes)

The Spiritual Kind – Terri Hendrix
(Witty, whimsical, insightful, heartfelt, delightful…a grand country record with all of the soul and twang and none of the glossy pop that too often passes for country music these days)

Under the Blacklight – Rilo Kiley
(Jenny Lewis and the guys embrace their funky edge to very fine effect)

Version – Mark Ronson
(The celebrated DJ and producer serves up a groovy party record filled with covers of British hits sung with gusto by, among others, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Robbie Williams)

We’ll Never Turn Back – Mavis Staples

(Righteously soulful and soulfully righteous, a collection of compelling standards delivered by one of the most incomparable voices in pop, soul, and spiritual music)

AFI's Top 10 American Movies

In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked the best (American) movies of all time with its "100 Years...100 Movies" list. They've reshuffled the list with the 10th anniversary edition (as voted on by 1,500 directors, writers, actors, critics, and other Hollywood types) revealed in a TV special this week.

The new Top 10 movies are:

1) Citizen Kane (which also ranked at #1 on the 1998 list)
2) The Godfather (up from #3)
3) Casablanca (down from #2)
4) Raging Bull (up from #24)
5) Singin' in the Rain (up from #10)
6) Gone with the Wind (down from #4)
7) Lawrence of Arabia (down from #5)
8) Schindler's List (up from #9)
9) Vertigo (up from #61)
10) The Wizard of Oz (down from #6)

The two films that made the top 10 in 1998 but not this year were: The Graduate (which was #7 in 1998 but is #17 on the new list) and On the Waterfront (#8 then, #19 now.)

On the overall list, the biggest leap from 1998 to now was made by John Ford's western classic The Searchers starring John Wayne (it moved up from #96 to #12.)

Four movies that were made after the first list was made placed on the new list: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (#50), Saving Private Ryan (#71), Titanic (#83), and The Sixth Sense (#89).

The 2006 Twenty (Part Two)

The Twenty are my favorite reasons to have owned a CD player in 2006. They are listed in alphabetical order by artist and the links (where applicable) lead to the original reviews posted on this blog over the course of the year. (The first half of The Twenty is in the post just below this one.)

Madeleine Peyroux – Half the Perfect World

A lovely, jazzy, utterly engaging CD filled with beguiling vocals and arrangements on a mix of carefully chosen covers and grand original songs.

The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes

Bouncy, cheeky, and undeniable groovy, this upbeat party both celebrates and updates the girl group sound (from the Supremes to the Ronettes to Banarama) for the 21^st Century with tight harmonies and sassy, unselfconscious lyrics.

Cat Power – The Greatest

Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) teams up with some crack Memphis session men to craft a sultry, atmospheric, melancholic jewel of a record that lives up to its seemingly-grandiose title.

Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope

Quirky, provocative, and compelling…Ms. Spektor approaches with piano riffs, rhythms, vocals, lyrics, and influences at odd, but never less than intriguing and imaginative, angles and makes it all work. The special edition features 5 bonus songs that are well worth the added cost.

Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (American Land Edition)

An enormously entertaining disc that will set your toes to tappin' and your soul to hummin'…or as Bruce himself says in the liner notes, “turn it up, put on your dancin’ and singin’ shoes, and have fun”. The “American Land” version adds 5 bonus tracks…including the potent title track and the evocative “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live”…to the mix with enriching effect.

Julieta Venegas – Limon y Sal

A delightful collection of energetic, irresistable pop songs…it totally enthralls even listeners who (like me) don’t speak Spanish.

Tom Waits: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards

A 3-disc collection of new songs, covers (including two Ramones songs and a tune from a Disney movie), oddities, and outtakes shouldn’t hang together as an evocative, coherent collection but this offering puts the lie to that. This is as astonishing in its breadth as it is in its soulful, raucous, bittersweet musical glory.

Cassandra Wilson – Thunderbird

A genre-defying gem that is one of those CDs that grabs you on the first listen and then continues to reward the listener with each and every subsequent listen.

Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

Silly title aside, this is, quite simply, a wondrous pop record (one hour and seventeen minutes well spent indeed.)

Neil Young – Living with War

A passionate, heartfelt, angry, hopeful, defiant record and that remains true whether you agree with Young’s politics or not.

The 2006 Twenty (Part One)

The Twenty are my favorite reasons to have owned a CD player in 2006. They are listed in alphabetical order by artist and the links (where applicable) lead to the original reviews posted on this blog over the course of the year.

Anjani – Blue Alert

This is a luminous collaboration with master songwriter (and CD producer) Leonard Cohen. Anjani was given access to some unfinished Cohen poems, journals, and lyrics and she completed them with Cohen’s aid and consent and the results are lovely, ethereal, and moving.

India Arie – Testimony, Volume 1: Love and Relationship

Songs of faith and empowerment…songs of self-awareness and hope for humankind…songs that could be insufferably cloying were it not for the sweetly earnest outlook that colors each of them… a sweet, uplifting, entertaining journey indeed.

The Beatles – Love

An interesting, and often successful, experiment…it doesn’t supplant or blaspheme the original classics (which are still out there to be enjoyed in all of their undeniable original glory)…it’s just a bit of heartfelt fun that is at once wonderfully familiar and, at the same time, a fine new experience with the Fab Four.

Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

An utterly gorgeous collection of 12 melodic, poetic songs that are neither country nor pop but rather an intoxicating blend of the two (with the stellar musicianship defying any facile pop sheen to take hold.)

The Dixie Chicks – Taking the Long Way

An assured, defiant, melodic return to form after the mixed results of their last studio disc (2000’s Home)…as much pop as country and it’s all the better for that.

Bob Dylan – Modern Times

A laidback…but never dull…record that Dylan produced (using the pseudonym of Jack Frost) using only his crack touring band as his support musicians (a grand idea…the players all compliment each other beautifully) and it feels lived-in and familiar (in a very good way) from the very first listen.

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All the Roadrunning

An enchanting collaboration between two amazing artists, the always angelic voice of Emmylou and the distinctive guitar and voice of Knopfler blending to very amazing effect. (The live follow-up CD/DVD set…Real Live Roadrunning…which features some of the songs from here along with selections from their individual albums, is also more than worthwhile.)

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat

Rilo Kiley’s front-woman steps out with a beautifully realized collection of country-flavored tunes aided and abetted by the shimmering harmonies of the Watson sisters.

Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere

Insanely catchy, enormously inventive, and uncompromisingly entertaining…this hip hop/pop/r&b music at its finest.

Sam Moore – Overnight Sensational

A fine, fun album showcasing the still potent pipes of a true soul survivor with able support from a great supporting cast of friends and fans (including Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, and Fantasia.)