everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance, and Aaron Neville

Joe writes: Aaron Neville has a really extraordinary voice. His first US pop hit was the wonderful Tell It Like It Is, which reached no. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1966.



He also recorded my favourite version of the song Pledging My Love, originally a hit for Johnny Ace, whose version was the first single Paul Simon ever bought according to Wikipedia (if so then it stood Simon in good stead as a primer in songwriting).



Paul Simon's song The Late Great Johnny Ace appeared on his underrated album Hearts & Bones, and here's my favourite track from that album, Train In The Distance:

Memory of the future - Pet Shop Boys

Phil writes: If you listen to Radio 2, you'll have heard this a lot.  To me, it's got instant classic stamped all over it.

Birds by Poor Moon

Joe writes: I've been enjoying this track without knowing anything about Poor Moon. Now I've researched it and two of the members are also in Fleet Foxes which makes perfect sense.

Passenger

Joe writes: It can take a long time to break an artist. ie music, who manage Robbie Williams, have been managing Passenger for 11 years and finally things seem to be coming together for him. I tried to see him play at Great Escape earlier in the year, got the stage time wrong so arrived just after he had come off stage, and was amazed to see hundreds of people filing out. And now his excellent song Let Her Go has gone to no. 1 in both Belgium and The Netherlands.



His music has very pleasant echoes of Cat Stevens so here's The Wind:

Christmas In Prison with John Prine

Joe writes: A recent discovery for me that is already one of my favourite Christmas songs, not least thanks to the couplet "I dream of her always/Even when I don't dream/Her name's on my tongue/And her blood's in my stream." The original version isn't on YouTube so I've experimented with embedding from Spotify:



There is a later, possibly better, studio take on YouTube.

Talking of Christmas songs, here's a wonderful article by Dorian Lynskey about Fairytale Of New York. I always wondered how that extraordinary song came about.

Infinity Ink - Infinity

Joe writes: Love this tune from Infinity Ink, one of whom is Ali Love

from Chris Malinchak - So Good To Me to Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt

Joe writes: Great soulful track on French Express. Does anyone know what the sample is?



(update in Jan 2012: I now know what the sample is - If This World Were Mine by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, and interestingly the a cappella is also on YouTube which may be a big factor in how it came to be sampled)

So Good To Me reminds me of All I Need by Ill Beat Hustlers which went nowhere but should have been huge:

Ill Beat Hustlers sampled Don't Know Much by Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt:

Thanksgiving by Mary Gauthier

Joe writes: As a one-time regular prison visitor and Mary Gauthier fan, I was bound to like this. Be warned though - it will not get your Thanksgiving party started.

Forever Autumn - Justin Hayward

Phil writes: The Gary Barlow version has reminded me of a lovely song that I had almost forgotten.  Not sure what GB adds to it though:

"the sky isn't always blue, the sun doesn't always shine, it's alright to fall apart sometimes"

Joe writes: There's an identikit cover version of Robert Miles featuring Maria Nayler's One & One floating around which reminded me what a great song it is.

It was written by Billy Steinberg, Rick Nowels and Marie Claire D'Ubaldo. Billy Steinberg is "just" a lyricist - he doesn't write melody - but he's one of the most successful lyricists of the modern era having written Like A Virgin, True Colors, Eternal Flame, and Alone by Heart, all with Tom Kelly. I heard a story, probably apocryphal, that some time after Like A Virgin had been the pivotal smash for Madonna, Billy and Tom went to a party because they'd heard Madonna was going to be there and they'd never met her. They went up to her and said "Hi, we're Billy and Tom, we wrote Like A Virgin and we've always wanted to meet you". Madonna said "Well now you have". End of conversation.

There's more about Like A Virgin here, including the one lyric they didn't use in the end: "Ask my friends and they'll tell you it's true/Nobody's had what I'm giving to you", which I think is a shame.

Rick Nowels' CV is almost as impressive as Billy's, and more current - he co-wrote one of the biggest European hits of recent times, I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li, as well as Heaven Is A Place On Earth, You Get What You Give, and a number of Dido songs including White Flag.

Marie Claire D'Ubaldo is an Argentine musician whose song Falling Into You (also written with Billy and Rick) was a hit for Celine Dion.

Robert Miles was released on Arista in North America and I have a feeling Clive Davis was involved in finding this song for Robert. Children was of course Robert Miles' breakthrough smash in both the UK and the US. Then came Fable, which sounded a lot like Children. Then came One & One, which was a big hit in the UK but doesn't seem to have charted in the US.




If you'd like to hear it dubbed from the 7" vinyl head to So Many Records, So Little Time.

Barbra Streisand - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Phil writes: Just caught this on the 'Judy Garland Show' (Sky Arts). A great song, sensationally sung by the 21 year-old Streisand:

Taro - the track that converted me from grudging respect for Alt-J to genuine excitement

Joe writes: I heard an amazing track on Yadi's mixtape, which I guessed from the tracklisting was Mahd Assalhin by Cheb I Sabbah Ft. Hadderetes, but when I bought that track on iTunes, it sounded very different. Then I listened more and thought "the singer sounds like the guy out of Alt-J", checked the tracklisting again, and realised it was Alt-J. What an amazing track - lyrically intelligent (read the YouTube comments to find out what it's about), and musically so far from a parochial British indie band. Unfortunately it can't be embedded on YouTube so click here.

M83 - My Tears Are Becoming A Sea as featured in the trailer to Rust and Bone

Joe writes: Had to Shazam this when the trailer to Rust and Bone came on in the cinema. Didn't think I was an M83 fan until the Shazam result came up. Radio 1's head of music George Ergatoudis has written about this on Twitter.

The trailer:




The full song:

Eliza Doolittle and Solange Knowles

Joe writes: Eliza and Solange have both just released really good pop tracks with cool producers that feel like great steps forward for both artists.

Eliza's Don't Call It Love is produced by Kwes:



Solange's Losing You is produced by Blood Orange/Dev Hynes:

Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush

Phil writes: Another great duet to go along with Another Day:

Hal David (and John Barry, and Louis)

Phil writes: Meant to post this in tribute to Hal David when he died, a great example of his writing. It's a beautiful song memorably and poignantly recorded by Armstrong (in one take). It was his last recording and he was unable to play trumpet due to his health. It didn't matter, even though he was possibly the greatest trumpet player of all time.

Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues live on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977

Joe writes: Or as the person who posted it on YouTube has called it, Waltzing Matlida.

Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli - Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò) as heard on the last ever Chris Moyles Radio 1 Breakfast Show

Joe writes: Chris Moyles played parts of this several times during his emotional last ever Radio 1 breakfast show. It's my favourite ever classical crossover song and recording, written by Francesco Sartori (music) and Lucio Quarantotto (lyrics). It's so good it's hard to believe it was written during the modern era. It reached no. 2 in the UK charts in 1997.

The Rose - Bette Midler

Phil writes: There was one of those mini SuBo moments on X-Factor. It reminded me what a great song 'The Rose' is.

I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden

Joe writes: Joe South who wrote the amazing song Rose Garden has died.

Here's Lynn Anderson's hit version:




and here's a fun cover by The Suicide Machines:




The original version was by Joe South himself, and the song has been recorded by many other artists including The Three Degrees which gives me an excuse to post one of my all-time favourite hits, When Will I See You Again: