I've spent the last hour or two listening to the "best of AW", i.e weekly winners for the first 52 weeks. I, not uncharacteristically, have formed an opinion on my favorites. Anybody else care to share their list? Might as well place lips on cheeks and get this out in the open!
Here are six i would pay to download: There are some others that were not weekly winners: 6. Dressed in Green- Cuzin D 5. Swing Into the Fall- Jack 4. On the Road Again- Barb Sharples 3. Cup of Tea- Meandering Pandas 2. You Don't Have To- Bluefield 1. Up Until Now- Barb Sharples
In case any of you thought that I had to remain objective...
This is not a complete list of all the songs on AW that I really love, and there are a lot of them. The stand-out songs for me are:
Brad Roll - Last Hello, Goodbye This is a song I wish I could write, sing, or play. It's one of those tunes that reminds you there are people far more talented than you. Gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.
Ben Araiza - Only if we're dancin' The feel-good hit of the summer. This tune is pop at its best.
I could also mention Daniel Casavant for "Real Cowboy," "Quiero" by Juan Rosero, and "A brisa" by Steve Hanlon. These songs are profesh and ready for the radio.
There are several artists that can do no wrong in my book:
Barb Sharples She is silly talented. I can't pick any one song, but "Surprise" might be my fav. Or maybe "Sweet Thing." Or maybe...Oh forget it.
Appendix Satan's House Band! They are from Slovakia. I kid you not. These guys are so incredibly original, raw, talented, powerful, and demented. I listen over and over and over and never figure it out.
Adam Middleton Ok, so his tunes are painfully unpolished. I'll admit it took me a while to warm up to him and it took some prodding from a few of the judges for me to really listen, and now I'm on the bandwagon. Once this kid gets a band and a producer he will be dangerous. He has a twisted sense of rhythm and melody that injects an original feel into his Buddy-Holly-ish musical sensibility.
Folks like Reel, Pandas, Aaron Lee Doyle (*and brother John), Brad Benton, John Thibodeaux, Bluefield, Doug DeJoe, Cuzin D, show great consistency in turning out good, solid, mainstream music (most) every time.
Talented artists like, Sharon, Coffee, Jack, Sugarnuts, Doug Mallory, Dark Martini, hit me with songs that surprise me with originality, talent, occasional quirkyness, and passion.
Ok, I guess I ended up naming a lot of people. I truly like just about every song on this site for one reason or another.
Thats a chicken answer BC. Diplomatic skills i see. I think your right though, there are alot of great songs but i will take the consistentcy card everytime. D
Chicken? Nah. I know it seems like I named just about everyone, but there have been about 1500 songs uploaded in the past year, so i'd say I'm being pretty darn selective. And I agree -- I'll take consistency any day. You're one of a small handfull of people on this site who can throw down a descent tune every time. That's what working songwriters strive for. The "one-hit-wonder" thing is great, but it don't pay the bills.
If you want to know what I really love about this site, do a search for 1 Flame songs. We get our own brand of 1st-week-american idol-crazies around here -- the songs are sometimes scary, sometimes hilarious, and the comments make me cry laughing. But then, I'm a sick and cruel bastard.
Yep, all good choices and each one a bad muva in thier own right.
A few other great pieces that I listen to and have considered asking for permission to record, me to record them, the song....sing the song and record, yeah, thats what I meant. For a minute there I thought I was talking about asking for permission to just record the song.
Moving along....
Brian Beemer-When I return Carley Baer-Your Lost Cause Cecil Macdougal-Prove it or move it Chris Smith-Open Up A Window Coutney Leigh Heins-10 Miles From Normal Drowning Bliss-Monochrome Drear Grainne Ryan-Cotton Candy Steinar Krogstad-Wheeler Peak
I do not know why the first name letter "C" is so dominant in this group of songs, it just is. And as they say, it is what it is. Or like Ray Charles would have remarked "it gonna do what it gonna do baby." There's that letter again.
Oh yeah -- 10 Miles from Normal -- I LOVE that song. I remember that I campaigned hard for that one. I'm sure there are another 20 songs I could name if I really thought about it.
