1. “The Night Descending,” Iron & Wine, 2003. From the “one guy in a basement recording lo-fi” era of the group, when it was awesome (it’s still awesome, but too polished – there’s something wonderful about the mix of Southern folk and buzzes and pops). 8/10
2. “Jigsaw Puzzle,” The Rolling Stones, 1968. Totally forgettable filler from Beggar’s Banquet, which a lot of people consider filler-free. Good for them. 5/10
3. “Father and Son,” Cat Stevens, 1970. He’s still embarassing, right? I like this one, anyway. There’s something a little wanky about “I shall sing both parts of a duet!” And some of the lyrics are ponderous. 6/10
4. “Dark as the Dungeon (live),” Johnny Cash, 1968. From At Folsom Prison, the finest live album ever. This one sounds pretty generic as a song, but it has some really fun interplay between Cash and the inmates. Don’t laugh during the song, please. 8/10
5. “Train in the Distance,” Paul Simon, 1983. When he goes bad, it’s really bad – witness the 1983 album Hearts and Bones. Thankfully, this one is just boring; some of the songs on this album are massively bad. 4/10
6. “Pretty Girl Why,” Buffalo Springfield, 1968. The band was being held together with spite and bile at this point, and it shows: perfunctory, “I don’t want to be here” instrumentation. How the mighty have fallen. 4/10
7. “My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue),” Neil Young, 1979. Eleven years after drama-queening his way out of Buffalo Springfield, along comes Young with the single finest song about being a musician ever composed (and yes, I prefer this one to its sequel). If that weren’t enough, Cobain quoted it in his suicide letter – “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” How much cooler can it get? 10/10
8. “Grimsby,” Elton John, 1974. Utterly useless album track with a truly annoying synth guitar thing going on. Still, he’s done worse. 3/10
9. “Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!” Ella Fitzgerald, 1959. From The George & Ira Gershwin Songbook. Very sexy recording of a minor Gershwin tune, with some absolutely great horns. So why just 8/10? That – fucking – title.
10. “Turning Backs,” Vashti Bunyan, 2005. The story of how Bunyan came to record Lookaftering – after 30+ years of silence, is much more interesting than any of the sleepy folk on the album. Like Enya for those with taste. 6/10
Average: 6.2/10. Something’s wrong. Or was I just that lucky?
Bonus Track: “Marrakesh Express,” Crosby, Stills & Nash, 1969. Lot of fucking folk this round.