Tori made me do it

Just finished watching Mad Max 2 (Xmas film repeats and it seemed like a good idea at the time I set it to record) before turning on iTunes ahead of getting down to some gaming ...

And then "I Can't See New York" by Tori Amos starts up.

And I start singing along (you have to with that song).

And I'm thinking 03.45am No Sleep isn't actually the best song in my library is it ? Truth.

Anyway - gaming session is going to be put one side for a while. I feel a music post coming on :-) What are the best songs in that there iTunes library of mine ? (One rule here - one track only by each artist)

I've already linked up a couple of songs. What else is lurking in that library that transcends beauty ? Here goes :

Martha's Harbour by All About Eve. This was perhaps the very first pop group that I fell for in a big way. And their songs are still great songs today. Apple Tree Man is possibly the better track but it's tougher to find on Youtube. Something I find highly amusing there is that I was always getting told to Turn That Music Down when I played this album as a kid, yet it's now my dad's favourite album.

Wait - before you start thinking it's all softness and light, there's beauty in metal too. Here's Evanescence showing us how with My Immortal.

It's not just metal though. Beauty can be lurking at the heart of even unsuspecting dance music tracks. Days Go By (Dirty Vegas) is far better in acoustic. Raise Your Weapon by deadmau5 caught my ears too.

2012 saw a lot of loved and respected people leave us, I've not said much about them here but they should be remembered : Prayer For The Dying, one of the best Seal tracks. All those legends will be missed.

Not going to link it but one of the albums that's recently joined the collection is the Princess Bride soundtrack. Great film, backed up by an excellent Mark Knopfler soundtrack and the legendary line : "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die."

Another couple of groups I followed avidly were Voice of the Beehive and the Bangles. May I sometime be someone's Man In The Moon looking for that Return Post.

Question - where's all the great new music ? Most of the beauty seems to be getting hidden under XFactor wannabeism, which squeezes out the Hannah Peels and Lisa Hannigans coming through singing Songs For The Sea and for Little Birds. There's only been 3 albums so far between those two, which is far too few.

One of my early internet pseudonyms, adopted when the spammers started to show, was Alisha's Addict. I was besotted with the music of Alisha's Attic for a long time (still am) and would struggle to pick their most beautiful, they're all special. Here's one I don't think I've linked before : Air We Breathe.

Think my laptop's starting to struggle now with all this Youtube playing (at the same time as the Baldur's Gate II soundtrack is streaming from iTunes!) so let's close off with one final track before it burns up : Snow Patrol Set Fire To The Third Bar.

PS Wot no Kate Bush or Bat For Lashes ? Think I feel another one of these coming when this laptop cools down :-)