On a movie e-mail group I belong to, we were recently discussing "magic moments" in movies, short bits we love. On PowerPop this weekend, a similar thing was going on with music. So I think I'll do the same thing here over the next few days.
In music:
Marvin Gaye's soulful howl of despair near the end of "Inner City Blues"
The opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night"
Ella Fitzgerald disappearing at the end of "Angel Eyes"
The cacophonous middle section of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (and Robert Plant's climax at the end)
The galloping string section and Elton John's pounding piano in the middle and end of "Burn Down the Mission"
The dramatic "real death waltz" verse of Bruce Springsteen's "Jungleland"
Joni Mitchell doing a comical waitress voice ("Drink up now, it's gettin' on time to close") in the live version of "The Last Time I Saw Richard" on Shadows and Light
Michelle and Cass's soaring backing vocals on the chorus to the Mamas and Papas' "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)"
The jazzy instrumental sections of Steely Dan's "Aja"
Van Morrison's utter joy in performing near the end of "Caravan" in the Band's concert film The Last Waltz
What I hear in my head as a jumble of voices at the beginning of the Hollies' "Carrie Anne"
The way that "We Can Be Together" and "Volunteers" segue together on The Worst of Jefferson Airplane collection (and they don't on the original Volunteers album)
The angelic but spooky ending of Simon & Garfunkel's "Save the Life of My Child"
More to come...
1 comment:
How about the moment during Dire Straits's "Sultans of Swing," when he sings "just as the time bell rings" and plays a quick little chord on the guitar that always makes me think of "Johnnie B. Goode": "and he could play the guitar just like ringin' a bell."
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