#82 John Coltrane – Psalm

(US – 1965)

If you are capable of finishing an album like this, you have found profundity in life. Full of emotion, compassion, love and magic, “Psalm” (click on pic to listen) acquires a religious quality challenged by none. A prayer to a higher being, and is the goddess listening? Will she answer the prayer?

That is the cliffhanger Trane leaves us with. Is religion a spiritual experience regardless of the existence of an object, or does the religious experience automatically create the ‘supreme’ in our lives? That is what I take from this incredible album.

“Psalm” is literally on the edge between here and there, between heaven and earth. Towards the end of the song, the sax approaches this limit without crossing, because the player knows, the line cannot be crossed without risking dear life. So he accepts and kneels down in reverence. Oh ye people, this is not just a song, this is the whole story.

#83 (21/8/5) Mary J. Blige and U2 – One

(US/EIR/UK – 2006)

Did you know the whole story behind this song? Recorded in the middle of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the early 1990s, it has a simple message: just one time you’re not careful and it could be over. That was the danger looming over every sexual relationship. Love had become a hazard. Just like hugging has during the Covid pandemic.

A video clip was made by Anton Corbijn, shot in Berlin, the U2 4 in drag. That spawned outrage from the trans community, because it branded them as the source of the disease. U2 pulled the video and another one was made in New York.

“One” was my favorite track on “Achtung Baby”, but it was not a top 10 track.

When it was re-recorded with Mary J. Blige 15 years later, it caused a sensation. She nailed it so perfectly that “One” (click on pic to watch the clip) got a new dimension. The despair behind the plea of the main character of the song suddenly became apparent. The anger about the irresponsible behavior (“You asked me to enter and then you made me crawl, and I can’t keep holding on to what you got”) is shifted from poetry to theatre. This is the real song.

So it entered the Top100 temple right after its release on #5 and has now matured into a steady Top100 song, for 15 years already.

#84 (68/37/70/-) Chris Squire – Lucky Seven

(UK – 1975)

There are not many prog hit singles, but this could have been one. It was released in the US but didn’t do much. I guess 1975 was also the year in which disco broke through. Who needs a complex song in 7/8 with master Squire on bass and master Bruford on drums? Well I do!

A hit single in disguise then, sung like a ballad but played like a prog orchestra. The sax dominating the segments where the bass doesn’t kick, Pat Moraz doing the dance-like keyboard riff, it’s a box of surprises, with an overwhelming freshness telling us this song could be covered today and be a hit single after all. The finale is just finger-licking amazing.

This song has been around in my Top100 since 2006 and is holding out bravely amidst the storm of other killing tracks. Sadly Chris Squire passed away a few years ago, so I’ll never be able to see him live, making me regret the night I opted for comedy when I could have had Yes in the year 2000, when I made a brief visit to London. I saw my other heroes live, but by the time I’ll finally be at my one and only Yes concert in 2022, I hope the others are still around. The gig was postponed pandemically twice already.

#85 Yes – The Ancient (Giants under the Sun)

(UK – 1973)

Anyone saying that “Tales From Topographic Oceans” is not a good album is nuts. Just because Rick Wakeman said it, doesn’t make it true. The only thing you may say is that it’s weirdly complex, but how many Yes albums of the 1970s aren’t?

“The Ancient” (click on pic to watch the amazing clip) has only one flaw: when they list the names for the sun, they pronounce the Turkish word “güneş” as ‘goon’. That’s a little casual and disrespectful, but it doesn’t make it a bad song.

The intro is like an ancient ritual (…) and slides into a guitar narrative that is so typical for Steve Howe. He explores all the corners of the scales and Alan White joins him with all the time signatures you’ve never experienced. This is as avant-garde as it gets.

Fast forward to the finale where Steve does his beautiful acoustic bit and finishes this musical delight with a cup of ambrosia.

And this is not even the best song on the album.

#86 (-/79/-/-) Focus – Hocus Pocus

(NL – 1970)

Find a long, elaborate theme, add an insane falsetto vocal, taking that insanity into a vocal-instrumental and rock around the block in between. After having been around the block several times, culminate into a grand finale, celebrate the mad laughter and joy of hocus pocus and disappear into the unknown.

“Hocus Pocus” (click on pic to listen) is a cross between a barrel organ tune, an opera and a heavy rock song. That makes it so Dutch it could never be plagiarized anywhere else. Bert Ruiter’s heavy bass gives it a Britrock quality, the Pierre van der Linden’s drumming is more like jazz, Thijs van Leer goes all out on keyboards, wind instruments and voice and Jan Akkerman’s guitar play is non unlike Jimmy Page’s.

An insane combination of talent and creativity.

#87 Yes – Yours Is No Disgrace (live)

(UK – 1973)

A long time ago, when I was still a kid, there was another All Time Top100, based on the votes of the listeners of the “Veronica” radio station. I had to listen to that list every time it was broadcast, and in 1972 that meant the first encounter with Yes’ “Yours Is No Disgrace” (click on pic to listen to the live version).

The whole concept of prog was a mystery to me and I listened to it dazzled to the core. I was 10 years old and my favorite band in those days was Alice Cooper. Yes was still very much beyond the horizon, but I did recognize there was something special about this music. The staccato theme was much to my liking and all the time signature changes were a source of joy, but most of it was overwhelming. It wasn’t until 6 years later, when I got my hands on “Yessongs” that I started to explore the depths and ranges of this epic piece.

The live version is very much a White/Howe thing, so much brilliant drumming and guitar play, it just doesn’t stop and never ceases to amaze me. All these stunning chord progressions blew me away at age 16. At a certain point, about 9 minutes in, it’s totally undecided if we’re into jazz, rock or something completely alien. In my humble opinon, Yes were at their peak in 1973 – especially when “Topographic Oceans” was released just after this massive “Yessongs”.

Death defying mutilated armies gather the earth
Crawling out of dirty holes their morals disappeared
Yesterday morning came a smile upon your face
Caesar’s Palace, morning glory, silly human race
On a sailing ship to nowhere leading any place
If the summer changed to winter, yours is no disgrace.

How’s that for breakfast?

#88 (32/2) Wir Sind Helden – Alles

(D – 2010)

Just imagine that you were feeling lonely, at odds with yourself, and a voice in your ear would tell you not to lament, because you’re free to do anything you like, you have unlimited powers, you have been forgiven, you’re credible, anything is possible, everything may go wrong and that’s totally OK.

That’s the chorus of “Alles” (click on pic to watch the clip) in a nutshell.

The masterpiece on the “Bring mich nach Hause” (Take Me Home) album, which is a gem in itself. An album I totally sucked in during a major hiccup in my life, catapulting “Alles” to #2 in the 2011 Top100. Crises come and go and so does the meaning of this song, which totally hinges on the lyrics and the extraordinary vocals. Also the piano intro is like pure emotion running in the door of the senses.

The clip shows the band trudging through a swamp singing about self-worth and the right to be who you are. Spirits come to save you, will you allow yourself to be saved?

That call was exactly what I needed 10 years ago.

#89 (89/85/39/-) Stiff Little Fingers – Johnny Was

(UK – 1979)

I picked up this record in the second hand section of the Amsterdam record store just outside the city center and on the road to where my first sweetheart lived. These were the punk rock years and most of “Inflammable Material” is straightforward three-chord punk, but I’d already seen that there was an 8 minute-song on this album, which is not a thing a punk band would record (except for The Damned, who recorded the 17-minute “Curtain Call“).

And then it turned out to be a Bob Marley cover, i.e. a punk reggae song. Death from a stray bullet transferred to the streets of Belfast, with some added lyrics and a blasting guitar part. Reggae in black leather. BEAUTIFUL!

This is how I like my reggae (although there are some maginificent ‘originals’, but you know by now I’m hooked for the hybrid stuff). “Johnny Was” became an instant favorite, just a year after its release and it has never let me down.

The first song to at least keep its position on the Top100 list. From here there will be songs who have climbed the ladder. From here there are only absolutely amazing songs, no exceptions, and they will be getting better and better and better until you don’t believe anyone can top them. But some will, until the day I turn 60, which is less than 3 months away from now…

#90 Van Der Graaf Generator – Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End

(UK – 1976)

Kubrick meets Clarke meets Hammill. A Space Oddyssey which ends in Childhood’s End plus added reincarnation issues. So much for the unbelievable lyrics of this song. It could be listed as a poem just as well.

The music serves the purpose of telling the story of how the purpose of life is better served by the idea of (some kind of reincarnation) than by a divine plan.

I have written about this song several times, mostly about those lyrics. The “other side” of “Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End” (click on pic to listen) is the almost church-like music (Hammill/VDGG liked to perform in churches) and the prayer/sermon like delivery, which is very solemn.

The pace of the song is the pace of a mind reflecting. There is no haste, no urgency, although there is some passion too. I believe it is the excitement of getting closer to solving the riddle (which of course is never entirely solved). David Jackson’s flutes and saxes are sooo beautiful on this track. A worthy finale of the absolutely magnificent “Still Life” album. A grand finale.

#91 (27/10/76/-) Queen – It’s Late

(UK – 1977)

All my favorite Queen songs are Brian May compositions, just like this top entry, which peaked at #10 in 2011. It’s not that I don’t like Freddie’s songs altogether, but the Astronomer’s songs are just better. They rock, they roll, they move, they get under the skin.

“It’s Late” (click on pick to listen) is also on a comercially but not artistically successful album. “News of the World” is famous for a few very popular tracks but imho this is all but the only song worth taking the album out of the sleeve for. Classic Queen and one of the finest pieces of classic rock. We’re in 1977 so there’s a even a hint at punk rock (and the B-side actually is the real deal).

“It’s Late” is a momentous theme too: is it ever too late to love? Are we going to cry over spilt milk or is there so much milk left that it makes no difference? The song builds up the tension with magnificent riffs and one cliffhanger after another. The finale still leaves us in the lurch: did they “get” each other or not? That’s how you get people hooked. Thank you Brian, for doing so!