Here's what comes to mind in no particular order:

1. "Iceblink Luck"/The Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas (actually every song on this record is great).

2. "Levon"/Elton John, Madman Across the Water.

3. "What Will The Loved Ones Say" /Elvis Costello, Imperial Bedroom.

4. "The Maker"/Daniel Lanois, Acadie

5. "Allison"/Elvis Costello

6. "Darklands"/The Jesus and Mary Chain, title track from Darklands. Moody, dark, beautiful stuff.

7. "Haitian Divorce"/Steely Dan, from The Royal Scam.

8. "Mama & Papa"/Supergrass, from their latest self-titled release on Parlophone.

9."Jesus Came From Outta Space"/Supergrass. You've got to love a band that could write these lyrics: "Jesus came from outta space and he travelled from beyond the stars. He came down for peace on earth and he left in a secondhand car."

9. "Honey"/Moby, Play.

10."Natural Blues"/Moby, Play.

11. "Don't Take Me Alive"/Steely Dan, The Royal Scam.

12. "American Woman"/The Guess Who.

13. "Sign of Judgement"/ Marianne Faithful, Strange Weather. Her voice against a spare acoustic guitar is full of ache and grace.

14. "Karma Police"/Radiohead, OK Computer.

15. "That's Just What You Are"/Aimee Mann, I'm With Stupid.

16. "Wild World"/Maxi Priest, a great reggae cover of Cat Stevens' tune from 1988's Maxi.

17. "Tom's Diner"/Suzanne Vega.

18. "Oranges And Lemons/XTC

19. "The Meeting Place"/XTC, from Skylarking.

20. "Slow Ride"/Foghat.

21. "Tomorrow's Started"/Talk, Talk.

22. "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town"/Talking Heads, Talking Heads:77.

23. "Love Plus One" and/or "Lemon Firebrigade"/Haircut One Hundred, Pelican West. Six preppy British lads play some of the giddiest pop ever. I adooored this record when it came out in '82 and it's still great when even a couple of chocolate eclairs just won't do the trick.

24. "Into Temptation"/Crowded House, Temple of Low Men.

25."Don't Dream It's Over/Crowded House.

26. "C'est Comme Ca"/Les Rita Mitsouko, The No Comprendo (Virgin Records). I found this record in Paris when I was 25, having my psuedo-bohemian (running up my Visa) adventure backpacking through Europe. It's thinly produced, Euro-trash, pouty, three-chord pop/rock with a female lead singer who sounds like a drag queen when she hits the low notes. But it's a lot of fun. You can taste the thick red lipstick and too-many-cigarettes when the singer barks the lyrics in French that is so over-enunciated that it makes it easy for the non-French speaker to sing along. Who can argue with a chorus that goes "C'est comme ca (pronounced 'saaaaaaw'), oooh, la, la, la, la, la". Good sing-along fun in any language.

27. "Annabelle"/Gillian Welch, Revival. I love her beautifully painted, spare portraits of a hopeless, yet hope-filled life.

28. "Bittersweet Symphony"/The Verve, Urban Hymns.

29. "L.A. Woman"/The Doors.

30. "Jive Talkin"/The Bee-Gees.

31. "Are You Gonna Go My Way"/Lenny Kravitz. For its super huge rock energy and sexy Hendrixish guitar.

32. "Another Day"/Paul McCartney.

33."Lust For Life"/Iggy Pop.

34. "Sweet Emotion"/Aerosmith, Toys In The Attic.

35. "Blackbird"/The Beatles.

36. "Here Comes The Sune"/The Beatles.

37. "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank"/The Waterboys, Fisherman's Blues.

38. "Surrender"/Cheap Trick, Heaven Tonight (I think).

39."Won’t Get Fooled Again" The Who

40."What's Goin On" Marvin Gaye

Julie Hall

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