Perfect Pop Songs

You could list so many Carole King songs, starting with everything on "Tapestry". I chose this one because she and James both had great success with it, and also because the backing band is the core of The Section. Leland Sklar on bass with the Santa beard, Kootch Kortchmar on guitar and Russ Kunkel on drums. They've played with both James and Carole for literally decades. So good.

 

Linda Rondstadt was an all-timer but I prefer Karen Carpenter. She'd rip your heart out.

 

Classic songwriting and delivery.

 

Dave Edmunds' fingerprints on that one too.

 

If we're talking Dave Edmund's this song has to be included. I played the snot out of this album. Also included "Queen of Hearts" which beats Juice Newton hands down.

 

Another Ronstadt treasure that you may have missed is her version of "The Pirates of Penzance". She did the show on Broadway with Kevin Kline, and a film version of that production was released. She (and Kline as the Pirate King) was amazing. If you care for Gilbert and Sullivan at all, you should track it down.

I'm briefly going to step outside the thread parameters and drop a bit in, simply because it's so damn much fun. No Ronstadt here, just Kline chewing the scenery into shreds.

Linda.

 

Dave wrote "Queen of Hearts", and not only did Juice Newton cover it, she absolutely duplicated Edmund's version slavishly. The only difference was the vocal. Hope he made a ton of money off of it.

He's got a number of songs that could be touched on here.

 

I have played Ruth in "Pirates of Penzance" more than any other role in my career and even directed the show once. Every single director steals from the Papp production. Still my favourite and the way I discovered G&S.

 

The real kick in the pants is that Edmonds wanted to release it as a single but they told him it wouldn't sell. <sigh>

 

Bowie's finest moment as a "pop star". Great work by Mick Ronson and Rick Wakeman and some of Bowie's best vocals.

 

There are so many Depeche Mode songs that'll be in this thread.

 

Carlene Carter. This sounds like Dave Edmunds, but the guitar player was the equally excellent (or maybe even a touch better) Albert Lee. Howie Epstein and Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers share in the songwriting and played on this as well. Good stuff.