So I have managed to visit all seven decades this time, if the sketchy information available about the LaVern Baker track is to be believed. From what I was able to discern, the song was likely recorded in 1958, although may not have been released until 1960 or 1961. Honestly, when digging down deep for something obscure, sometimes it’s like the internet doesn’t even exist.
Candidate for the Jarring Segue Award this time around is probably Style Council into the Beatles but only because the Style Council song is directly connected to the song that follows it on the original record, burdening the MP3 with a truncated-sounding finish. As for the better end of that spectrum, I especially like the segue between the great, neglected In Tua Nua track “All I Wanted,” dating back to 1988, and the title track from the relatively new Wye Oak album. And how’s “Sylvia Said” for another great lost song? This one was quite lost indeed for a while, an outtake from the sessions that produced Cale’s Fear album in 1974. It surfaced officially in 1996 on a compilation album called The Island Years, featuring the three records he recorded for Island Records in the mid-’70s. It always amazes and delights to find a cast-off song that ends up worthy of classic status.
“Voodoo Voodoo” – LaVern Baker (single, 1958)
“Give Me Back My Man” – The B-52s (Wild Planet, 1980)
“Imitosis” – Andrew Bird (Armchair Apocrypha, 2006)
“Peace Like a River” – Paul Simon (Paul Simon, 1972)
“All I Wanted” – In Tua Nua (The Long Acre, 1988)
“Shriek” – Wye Oak (Shriek, 2014)
“Fat Man and Dancing Girl” – Suzanne Vega (99.9F°, 1992)
“Taking Some Time On” – Barclay James Harvest (Barclay James Harvest, 1970)
“Ageless Beauty” – Stars (Set Yourself On Fire, 2005)
“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” – Neutral Milk Hotel (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, 1998)
“Don’t Leave Me Starvin’ For Your Love” – Holland-Dozier (single, 1972)
“How She Threw It All Away” – The Style Council (Confessions of a Pop Group, 1988)
“It’s All Too Much” – The Beatles (Yellow Submarine, 1969)
“Plath Heart” – The Braids (Native Speaker, 2011)
“T-Birds” – Blondie (Autoamerican, 1980)
“Sylia Said” – John Cale (outtake, 1974)
“The Adjustor” – Octopus Project (One Ten Hundred Thousand Million, 2004)
“Car Song” – Elastica (Elastica, 1995)
“You Told Me” – The Monkees (Headquarters, 1967)
“Youth” – The Lawlands (single, 2013)
Fingertips 