Blogg → Thijs' The Top Thirteen Tracks That end in a big climax

Thijs' The Top Thirteen Tracks That end in a big climax.

13. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
This song is one you really don’t listen to much, but if you do, it latches on to your mind and takes a long while before letting go. The slow violins and his weird voice... Cool video as well.

12. Afrikaan Beat - Bert Kaempfert
Dutch people will know this as the song the frog band plays on the “Indische Waterlelies” attraction at the Efteling. Other people probably won’t know it at all. It still actually really rocks.

11. Satellite of Love - Lou Reed
From the album Reed made with David Bowie (to my mind the best album ever made), this song gives a clear contrast between Bowie’s voice (he can reach just about every possible note out there) and Reed’s voice (his vocal range is about six notes in total). Listen to the end of the song. You’ll here Reed say “Satellite of love” and in the background Bowie goes ALL THE WAY up crying “Satelliiiiiite”. Great stuff. Best collaboration since Lennon-McCartney.

10. Curbside Prophet - Jason Mraz
Nice upbeat song which starts of “okay” and ends up “totally awesome”. I never got what it is about though... Maybe I just didn’t listen... The song still kicks arse.

9. Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain
I never got this. Is it The Jesus (the messiah) and some woman called Mary Chain. (He knew two mary’s, why not three?) or is it a chain somehow connected or connecting Jesus and Mary? The Chain of Jesus and Mary, The Jesus and Mary Chain. The song is great though. Especially it’s usage at the end of the movie Lost in Translation. And in the realm of TJaMC’s noise rock stuff, this is one of the lighter songs.

8. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
Apparently there are several versions of this song. I wouldn’t know. The one I’ve got, which is about 5 minutes in length, builds up to a beautiful climax, cleverly putting layer of music over layer of music, swelling up, building up and finaly reaching a point where you can hardly make out the many layers, but it remains beautifully done.

7. Just Like You Imagined - Nine Inch Nails
Now I’ve never been a big Nine Inch Nails fan, labelling their music at the very most as “very loud-like”. But they’ve got a couple of hidden treasures in their noisy discography, the biggest masterpiece being this instrumental little track from their The Fragile double-album. It’s still loud, but it’s also one of the best songs ever to have been made. You can deny Trent Reznor good taste, but you can not, I tell ya, deny him talent.

6. Happy Ending - Mika
Mika is quite something, releasing what is probably the best debut album ever, he put the biggest wall in front of him since the chinese built theirs. Will his next album be able to reach this level of brilliance or will the musical bubble burst? I cannot yet say, but as far as this album goes, it all has a Happy Ending.

5. Will You Be There (single version) - Michael Jackson
The album version of what is probably MJ’s best song, Will You Be There, goes on for about seven or eight minutes, with an operatic piece at the beginning and a slow piece at the end (reminicent of the second half of Clapton’s Layla, although the songs are notably different) and is probably the best of the two. The Single Version however, just gives you the highlights, and if over in about four minutes. Brilliantly building up, the choir in the backgrond, Jackson’s voice in front. Great. He was one of the best. He just was.

4. Gotta knock a little harder - Yoko Kanno
Although Yoko Kanno made mainly soundtracks, she gave the Cowboy Bebop series and movie one that hardly qualifies as one. These are full on CD’s. And this song is the best. Song. Ever.

3. The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In) - Hair
This way this song is always missused as some happy song, while it really isn’t. It’s a complaint. A cry for help almost. Please stop the war. Please stop the killing. Please end this darkness. Please let the sun shine. Let the sunshine in.

2. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
This is a REALLY dark song. My god. I only just realized. “War, Children! It’s just a shot away! Rape! Murder! It’s just a shot away!” But it’s the Stones’ best song, there is no doubt about that. For me, anyways.

That takes us to... Number one on the list... The single greatest song which ends in a big climax....
1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide - David Bowie
Love how you can just feel Bowie’s emotions through this little mp3 file. That’s quite a feat. And I love how you never really know if he’s beckoning to join him in death, or trying to hold you from death. This is... The second best song ever. and for the best song ever: see my previous Journal.