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Thread: Pop melodies so beautiful they almost hurt to listen to.

  1. #26
    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by walt View Post
    John Martyn-Small Hours.

    Yes, great one, but the studio-version has some wonderful Moog-melodies played by Steve Winwood.

  2. #27
    Member No Pride's Avatar
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    Well, beauty never hurts me or makes me ache, though I certainly appreciate it. That said, there have been some good calls here: "Edith and the Kingpin," "Alfie," "God Only Knows," "Wichita Line Man," "Think of Me with Kindness," "Aspirations," and probably more that I'm just not familiar with (and I haven't checked out the YT videos yet).

    I played this (for the first time) at a wedding the other night; I think it qualifies:


  3. #28
    sorry this is such a long list
    this is 60's and 70' s and I deliberately avoided The Beatles
    Cat Stevens Morning Has Broken
    Cat Stevens Mathew & Sons
    The Mamas And Papas -Dream A Little Dream Of Me
    Etta James -At Last
    The Monkees - Daydream-Believer
    Frank & Nancy Sinatra - Somethin' Stupid
    The Turtles - Happy Together
    Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
    Simon & Garfunkel -America
    The Doors - People Are Strange
    The Rolling Stones -Paint It Black
    The Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
    Herman's Hermits - No Milk Today
    Simon Dupree And The Big Sound - Kites
    The Animals - It's My Life
    The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
    Bob Dylan - Lay Lady Lay
    David Bowie - Life on Mars? [mp3clan.com]
    Bob Marley - Is this love
    Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky
    Elton Jhon - Daniel
    Elton Jhon - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
    George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
    Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street
    Gilbert O'Sullivan - Get Down
    Lou Reed - Perfect Day
    Lou Reed - Take a walk on the wild side
    John Lennon - Imagine
    Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
    Madness - It Must Be Love
    Paul McCartney - Live And Let Die
    Paul McCartney - My Love
    Paul Simon - Kodachrome
    Paul Simon - Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
    Supertramp - Goodbye Stranger
    The Carpenters - Sing
    The Carpenters - There's a Kind of Hush
    The Carpenters Yesterday Once More
    Sparks This Town Aint Big Enough For The Both Of Us
    10cc I'm not in Love
    10cc Brand new day

  4. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by bigbassdrum View Post
    I like David Bowie's version of 'God Only Knows'
    That's as may be but the melody is still courtesy of Mr. Wilson

  5. #30
    Although I'm generally a very forward looking person, every now and then I hear a song that really moves me in a strange way and brings waves of nostalgia and awakens a real sense of loss of youth and brings out the old "you can never go back" like a kick in the stomach. One day a few years ago Joni Mitchell's song "Court and Spark" did this to me on the radio out of the blue. It reminded me of when I was a kid in the early 70s. Hit me like a speeding truck emotionally. More recently I heard the Outfield's "All The Love In The World" and made me lament the lost days of summer of the mid 80s. The Dream Academy's "Indian Summer" sometimes gives me a similar feeling.
    Music is a very mysterious creature...

  6. #31
    I'm not much of a POP fan, but a few that stand out for me are:

    Beach Boys - Feel Flows
    Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
    Marillion - Easter
    Small Faces - Itchycoo Park
    Moody Blues - Story in Your Eyes
    Moody Blues - Never Comes the Day
    Beatles - Norwegian Wood
    And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell

  7. #32
    Well, I learned something new which isn't a bad thing. Alone Again Or was originally by Love and now I've heard it. Cool. So thanks for that.

    But I still don't get the song. I don't hate it but I don't think it's all that great. Not enough to want to cover it as has been done. Oh well, each to his own and all that. Maybe it's the context of Lights Out that it doesn't work for me. It drags that album down IMO and that's where I know it from.

    I wonder if I had heard it first, the original, then later heard UFO do it but first hearing on that killer album, well, my opinion might be different but it doesn't seem to fit on Lights Out.
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  8. #33
    I could probably list 100 songs if I sat and thought about it. These were some of the first that came to mind ...

    Cardigans: Lovefool
    Sarah McLachlan: Possession, Angel, I Will Remember You
    Sara Bareilles: Between the Lines
    Norah Jones: Don’t Know Why
    Bob Marley: No Woman No Cry
    Fleetwood Mac: Silver Spring
    Bread: If
    Billy Joel: And So It Goes
    Ben Folds Five: Brick
    Gary Jules: Mad World
    Neil Young: Harvest Moon
    Five for Fighting: 100 Years
    Coldplay: The Scientist, Fix You, Politik, Life in Technicolor, Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, 42
    Jeff Lynne: Every Little Thing
    Tori Amos: Silent All These Years
    Gordon Lightfoot: I'm Not Supposed to Care, Beautiful, Early Morning Rain
    Last edited by Adrian; 06-16-2015 at 05:28 PM.

  9. #34
    Brian Wilson had many, the more I think about it, especially on SMiLE... Like Surf's Up, Cabin Essence...

  10. #35
    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post
    Brian Wilson had many, the more I think about it, especially on SMiLE... Like Surf's Up, Cabin Essence...
    You bet! The list could be almost every ballad he ever wrote from "In My Room" on.
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  11. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    With 3 votes now, "Alone Again Or" by Love is the winner!

    .
    I have only heard the UFO version and I honestly did not know it was a cover. Learn something new every day....

  12. #37
    Member emperorken's Avatar
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    First one that comes to mind:

    Moodies- Nights In White Satin

  13. #38
    First things that came to mind:







    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    If there is a "hauntingly beautiful" category, Id throw in The Blue Nile's "Lets Go Out Tonight" and "The Downtown Lights" from Hats into the ring......
    Throw in “Headlights on the Parade” and we have a trilogy of great beauty. 1989 was a dire year for music in general, but Hats is an undeniable classic.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  14. #39
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    "Everybody's Talkin' ". Whether it be Nilsson's version or the Fred Neil original.

    --------------------------------

    I'm another one who does not get all the "love" for Alone Again Or. It's OK, but fairly ordinary, and has a very dated sound. I can think of many songs of that era that i like more.

    Someone mentioned the Mamas and the Papas - I'd like to nominate "Look through My Window.".

    Last edited by bob_32_116; 06-17-2015 at 01:21 AM.

  15. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by Udi Koomran View Post
    sorry this is such a long list
    We always knew you were such a sentimental dude, Udi.

    "Surf's Up" stands as a true contender next to the Love stuff, in my ears.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
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  16. #41
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  17. #42
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Very few songs are perfect. This is one:

  18. #43
    Member Oreb's Avatar
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    Not too many more 'dart-to-the-heart' than these:

    Jefferson Airplane's 'Coming Back to Me'

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hziG-cLZW1Y

    Matt Finish, Short Note

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITLk-LtDoAM

    Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?

  19. #44
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    Udi, because you made such an incredible effort, I'm going to highlight those on your list that are also favs of mine with regard to painfully evocative melodies, these:


    Quote Originally Posted by Udi Koomran View Post
    Cat Stevens Mathew & Sons
    Etta James -At Last
    Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
    The Rolling Stones -Paint It Black
    Simon Dupree And The Big Sound - Kites
    Elton Jhon - Daniel
    Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street
    Lou Reed - Perfect Day
    Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

  20. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by the winter tree View Post
    Although I'm generally a very forward looking person, every now and then I hear a song that really moves me in a strange way and brings waves of nostalgia and awakens a real sense of loss of youth and brings out the old "you can never go back" like a kick in the stomach. One day a few years ago Joni Mitchell's song "Court and Spark" did this to me on the radio out of the blue. It reminded me of when I was a kid in the early 70s. Hit me like a speeding truck emotionally.


    Wow! I could have written that about myself, we are very much on the same wavelength. I heard some of Court & Spark the other day & it took me back to the early 80s and my first "proper" girlfriend (for proper read sex ) and like you said it felt like both a happy and a sad kick in the guts.

  21. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adrian View Post

    Bread: If
    I find Bread an underrated group- David Gates had a real melodic gift. But James Griffin had a real gem relevant here, 'Just Like Yesterday'. He also co-wrote 'For All We Know'.

    Quote Originally Posted by Udi Koomran View Post
    Gilbert O'Sullivan - Get Down
    I'd say 'We Will' (though this does have a children's choir, not something I usually like but it fits lyrically I suppose) and 'Alone Again (Naturally)' are very much in keeping with this thread. 'Get Down' is a terrific little tune with a clever melody but I don't know if I find it 'beautiful'. In the ear of the beholder I suppose.

  22. #47
    An oddball choice but I always thought it was a lovely verse and chorus

    Just Like a Woman - Bob Dylan (listen to Richie Havens singing it)

    Hurting Each Other - The almighty Karen (& Richard)
    Hoping Love Will Last - Steve Hackett

  23. #48
    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    I guess a lot of tracks from this thread will fit in here too: http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...g-Ever-Written

  24. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    If there is a "hauntingly beautiful" category, Id throw in The Blue Nile's "Lets Go Out Tonight" and "The Downtown Lights" from Hats into the ring......and R.E.M.s "Letter Never Sent" studio version
    Your suggestions may be even better.
    The older I get, the better I was.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    I find Bread an underrated group- David Gates had a real melodic gift.
    Strangely, I heard "If" today playing over the speakers in a restaurant, having not heard the song for years. It was certainly one of their best, along with "Guitar Man".

    I have to say that I probably liked Bread more at the time than I do now - my tastes have evolved and I now find that some of their songs sound a bit simple to my ears - not all of them.
    I used to have the first David Gates album (appropriately entitled "First"), which is much like Bread I suppose, but a little bit more "edgy", with one multi-part suite that is almost pushing at the door of "prog". His second album wasn't bad either, but then after that he went very schmaltzy with that awful song "Goodbye Girl".

    One of the band, Larry Knechtel, was a member of The Wrecking Crew, and was very much in demand at the time as a session musician; he played the piano on "Bridge Over Troubled Water".

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