"RESISTANCE" MUSE (2009)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Muse is a band that was a bit of an acquired taste for me. While I’m relatively open-minded to different styles and genres, I do lean toward a “less is more” mentality, preferring minimal to maximal. But I started to appreciate Muse’s “more is more” approach when my son took an interest in the band. I started to appreciate the level of musicianship and complexity of arrangements despite being a three-piece band. I started to appreciate the diverse musical phases of Muse – metal bangers, prog epics, vast synthscapes, pop melodies. And somewhere in the middle is the title track from the 2009 record The Resistance.

The title track is the glue that connects the guitar-driven opener “Uprising” and the synth poppy “Undisclosed Desires”.”Resistance” is an aural tour de force that combines accessible synth hooks, melodic bass lines, and deafening guitar riffs. It leans in on just about every Muse impulse (except the metal banger side). “Resistance” is also quite the live anthem, a song concert attendees can’t help but belt along to as if they were part of the resistance themselves.

“You'll wake the thought police. We can't hide the truth inside.”

"1999" PRINCE (1982)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Prince is one of those artists that’s more impressive to me in retrospect. Looking back, it’s simply mindblowing how much ground he covered musically. He ruled in so many different genres, from synth pop to funk to rock to R&B. And, in many cases, he was a pioneer, being the genius behind many music firsts. “1999” is one such song, pushing the lyrical boundaries of pop and paving the way for the Minneapolis sound.

This was a song that I heard and viewed constantly on MTV. The video simply didn’t give it justice because it only reinforced the fact the musicians indeed wanted to “party like it’s 1999”. But the impressive thing about this early hit was that it was a protest against nuclear proliferation. It was a politically charged piece, but people saw it as a party song. On the entire 1999 album, Prince played almost all of the instrumental tracks — and his synth work on the title track was especially impressive on two fronts. First, it sounded like nothing else out there. Second, it helped create a divergent synth pop path away from new wave and into a new genre that bared Prince’s hometown name: the Minneapolis sound.

“War is all around us. My mind says prepare to fight. So if I gotta die I'm gonna listen to my body tonight.”

"PET GRIEF" THE RADIO DEPT. (2006)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

If you don’t know The Radio Dept., think Pet Shop Boys meets Cocteau Twins. Icy synth riffs go hand in hand with the dream pop world created on Pet Grief. Is it too polished? Possibly. But it’s that sense of gliding with the music that gives the record its edge. It’s an ambient record where one song bleeds seamlessly into the next. I had to table it at first when I was first introduced to them. The Radio Dept. didn’t rock hard enough for me. But eventually my openness to dream pop emerged, starting with the title track.

“Pet Grief” doesn’t rock to be sure, it rolls. This is the pace and stance of the entire album where the title track serves as a microcosm of the greater world that The Radio Dept. creates inside our heads. The Pet Shop Boys’ influence on the band is uncanny with the various synth parts all reminiscent of Chris Lowe’s canon. Johan Duncanson’s vocals seem almost despondent, which works well on this track whether he meant it or not.

“I'll shut my mouth for you. Anything you want me to.”

"THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE" U2 (1984)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

As a child of the eighties, my music collection consisted mainly of cassettes. I missed the golden years of vinyl – and spent many years buying or duplicating cassettes before CDs were ever a thing. And the Unforgettable Fire, with its maroon and gold cover, was one of my most played cassettes. While “Pride” and “Bad” were the highlights, the album didn’t have a single filler track. For the next several years, the title track, in particular, was a staple on my local alt rock station.

The Unforgettable Fire album ran at three different paces. The slow tempo side was represented by “Promenade”, “4th of July”, “Elvis Presley and America” and “MLK”. The fast tempo side was occupied by the likes of “Wire” and “Pride”. In between, the mid-tempo songs included “A Sort of Homecoming”, “Bad”, “Indian Summer Sky” and “The Unforgettable Fire”. The title track shimmers and shines with The Edge’s understated guitar work and flourishes on keys, while Bono sings one of his most memorable melodies in the chorus.

“Walk on by, walk on through, So sad to besiege your love, So, hang on.”

"STRANGE DAYS" THE DOORS (1967)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Even if it’s not your cup of tea, The Doors demand your respect. Few bands carved out a more compelling crossroads of blues, rock and psychedelia. The music – at times – seemed almost possessed. The instrumentation was truly distinct – as they were one of the first bands to prominently feature keyboards and organs. And their frontman – Jim Morrison – is one of the greatest of all time, inspiring everyone from INXS’ Michael Hutchence to Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCullough. My favorite Doors album is their second release Strange Days, which opens with the title track.

The famed key part on “Strange Days” actually isn’t Ray Manzarek. It’s Morrison himself, playing the moog synthesizer. “Strange Days” was one of the first recordings to feature this mainstay instrument, a case in point to the innovative side of The Doors. The moog synthesizer would become as integral to rock and pop as the electric guitar. Despite being overshadowed by the classic singles “People Are Strange” and “Love Me Two Times”, “Strange Days” is arguably more quintessential Doors in its ability to create a world for you to get lost in.

“Strange days have found us.”

"BLACK CELEBRATION" DEPECHE MODE (1986)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

The start of Depeche Mode’s imperial phase began w/this title track opener. DM has a treasure trove of phenomenal opening tracks – and many fans still cite Black Celebration as the band’s greatest album from beginning to end. It is one of my favorites for many reasons. First, it’s an album with no weak tracks. Every song is strong on its own, and collectively they’re that much stronger. Second, this is the album where DM solidified and defined their darker brand of electro pop. No other band sounded like them – and perhaps there’s no better example of this than the aforementioned album’s title track.

“Black Celebration” is a rite of passage into an illustrious album of pop songs (“But Not Tonight”, “Fly On The Windscreen - Final”, socio-political commentary (“New Dress”), enveloping intimacy (“Here Is The House”, “Sometimes”, “A Question of Lust”) and epic rock (“Stripped”, “A Question Of Time”). It may seem like a collection of disparate parts, but the menacing synth lines from Alan Wilder and Dave’s ominous vocals on “Black Celebration” are the glue that brings all these great songs together.

“Your optimistic eyes seem like paradise to someone like me.”

"HOW TO SAVE A LIFE" THE FRAY (2005)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

This title track brings me back to a moment my wife and I had while lounging on Psarou Beach in Mykonos. We felt like we were on top of the world. We were on our honeymoon. And we had just discovered the Greek Isles, our new favorite place in the world. A few college kids were nearby, laughing, drinking, not a care in the world. They had one song playing out loud on repeat. That song was “How to Save a Life”, a song that many of us played endlessly back in 2006-07. I remember that day on Psarou Beach like it was yesterday.

The song itself feels like a window into a bygone era. In those early 2000s, a resurgence of piano-based rock was happening with bands like The Fray and Keane. Having grown up playing piano, these bands appealed to me. How they were able to make songs that rocked as well as ballads like “How To Save A Life” with the instrument. This track, in particular, was beautiful in its simplicity – leaning on the piano’s single note arpeggios to dot the landscape of the song, while Slade laments on and on about wasted efforts to save a troubled teen. It brings me back to Psarou Beach every single time.

“I would have stayed up with you all night had I known how to save a life.”

"SOLITUDE STANDING" SUZANNE VEGA (1987)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

One Saturday afternoon in high school, I went to the old Tower Records in the Village and waited among the throngs to meet Suzanne Vega. She was quiet, but assuredly in command. That same eccentric stature and personality are on full display on “Solitude Standing” where Vega’s eerie confidence comes through even in a whisper. “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner” were the bigger hits. But the title track is the one that showed Vega at her best, unapologetic self.

“Solitude Standing” stands firmly in the album’s midway point. It seems as if we’ve walked into a labrynth of synth shards, guitar meanderings, snare hits and Vega’s pensive vocal output. It’s easy to lose yourself in the music, which is why I love it so much. But that’s only part of what works best. “Solitude Standing” is also a portal into the second half of the album. While the first half had a darker, seedier side, the second half envelopes the listener in a more ethereal fantasy world.

“I've come to set a twisted thing straight.”

"QUEENS OF THE BREAKERS" THE BARR BROTHERS (2017)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Finding The Barr Brothers was one of the most glorious moments for me as a music fan. They had elements of familiarity – ones I couldn’t always quite put my finger on. But at the same time, they seemed to occupy a space all their own. Never contrived or boring. The guitars were often competing head to head with the harp, making sounds that seemed to to dig deep into my bones. When they promoted Queens Of The Breakers, I was fortunate to catch them as they passed through New York. They played a phenomenal set list that included the album’s title track.

“Queens Of The Breakers” possesses a carefree spirit, light in its musicality and sounds great in the live setting. It reminds me of Fleetwood Mac’s “Hold Me” with its high-soaring guitar riffs. The unpretentiousness and authenticity of the lyrics is something to behold. Lyrically, “Queens Of The Breakers” sounds more like a letter to an old lover than a rock song.

“On a red-eye flight from New York, I was looking for you down on the ground.”

"RIO" DURAN DURAN (1982)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

MTV was my introduction to a lifelong passion of music. I didn’t realize it at the time, but all those videos from the early to mid eighties were a cumulative spark. No other band had the presence that Duran Duran did during that era. Each music video oozed cool. “Girls On Film”, “Planet Earth”, “Rio”, “Hungry Like The Wolf”, “Union Of The Snake”, the list goes on. Some of those videos were like mini movies.

Who can forget the yacht scene in “Rio”? But it’s the song itself – not the images – that earns the highest accolades. John Taylor has a treasure trove of killer bass lines, and “Rio” is often cited as one of his best. The bass line, in fact, could’ve been a song all on its own. Dig a cool sax solo? “Rio” has that too, played by longtime Duran Duran collaborator, Andy Hamilton. Among dozens and dozens of catchy pop singles from the band, “Rio” remains one of their best.

“And when she shines, she really shows you all she can.”

"THE BENDS" RADIOHEAD (1995)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Radiohead has made its name mostly by innovating the way we think of rock music. Over several decades, their ingenuity has expressed itself in unorthodox chord progressions, unexpected song structures, electronic experimentations, and more. Even still, it’s the straight ahead rock of The Bends that I love best. It is my favorite Radiohead album. And mostly because of Jonny’s guitar-driven bangers, including the title track.

Interestingly, “The Bends” seems to nod to various influences. The melodic structure is undoubtedly Beatlesque. The loud-quiet-loud dynamics is a page right out of the Pixies manual. And Thom Yorke has described the song as a Bowie pastiche. There is a lot to like on “The Bends”, but the best element is Jonny’s guitar playing. It screeches, jangles and soars like a melange of human emotions, as if the guitar itself is screaming and kicking.

“We don't have any real friends.”

"2112" RUSH (1976)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Borrowing Rush cassettes from the town library as a kid was a sort of rite of passage for me as a music fan. Friends from school who had older brothers would tell me how great the band was. At the library, I would flip through the album offerings and those album covers – 2112, Signals, Permanent Waves, A Farewell To Kings – caught my attention. Expressive album art with strange beige plastic backs, these albums stood out like sore thumbs. Then I would play the music in my basement and get lost in the music of Rush, including the epic title track “2112”, featuring seven movements.

“2112” takes up the entire Side A. A concept that was mind blowing to me as a kid who thought songs were supposed to max out at four minutes. The first two parts – “Overture” and “The Temples of Syrinx” have always been my favorite. This magnum opus kicks off with a celestial soundscape. Then Alex’s guitar asserts itself like Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon – only here it’s the Canadian flag that gets flaunted. Then Neil’s thunderous drum rolls unleash and it’s on like Donkey Kong. There’s still a sense of wonder in me every time I hear it.

“All the gifts of life are held within our walls.”

"IS THIS IT" THE STROKES (2001)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

The first time I heard the debut album from The Strokes, I was riding up from S.F. to Lake Tahoe with an old high school buddy. We had nonstop tracks blasting in the car and fresh tracks waiting for us on the mountain. The music was cranked up to the point where you almost felt a little nauseous. And this was the album I’ll always associate with that trip. I’ve heard The Strokes described as the band that saved rock & roll. I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration either. When I heard that album, I had a feeling inside that all was good with rock music. That there was direction, an identity. And, of course, it all started with the title track.

“Is This It” is the thesis statement to the whole masterpiece that is one of the strongest debut albums of the decade. It wasn’t the biggest hit by any stretch. But it was the introduction to the raw, minimally produced garage sound that is The Strokes. This sound helped steer the New York concert scene in the early 2000s, and now there’s even a movie about it that documents the era when The Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others took command of the music scene. “Is This It” sounded vaguely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time.

“Oh dear, can't you see? It's them it's not me. We're not enemies. We just disagree.”

"AVALON" ROXY MUSIC (1982)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

You can’t copy Bryan Ferry’s vocals and you wouldn’t even try. And you can’t mimic the intricate instrumentation because the soul of the song is Roxy Music, not just the melody. Roxy Music gave the music world an unusual, progressive rock tilt in the 70s, then elevated pop music in the 80s. Of course, there are more than two phases to the band’s musical journey. But these were the two broader eras. The title track to the renowned Avalon album is a perfect example of the latter.

I’ve been binging on Roxy Music lately, spurred on mostly by their big reunion tour. I’ve come to the hard, sober conclusion that I like the idea of Roxy Music more than I like the actual band. Scattered across several innovative and influential albums, there really are only one or two songs from each album that I really like. It’s a bit ironic that it’s the most mainstream of their albums – Avalon – that’s the one that I love from beginning to end. The production qualities on the title track are phenomenal with its rich, vast soundscape, and Ferry’s lyrics, equally sublime.

“Much communication in a motion. Without conversation or a notion. Avalon.”

"JOLENE" DOLLY PARTON (1974)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

You couldn’t grow up in the 80s without hearing the Dolly Parton jokes outside at recess and in the backs of school buses. What a shame though, because it colored the way I saw her musically. I wrote off the music even before I heard a single note. It’s why it took me so damn long to see that she made a masterpiece back in 1974. There are many great songs on this album. Songs that others have made their own. But “Jolene” will always be hers.

There’s an attitude here that we don’t often associate with country music. The desperate plea to Jolene is held together tightly by a killer guitar riff, a gorgeous string arrangement and an emotionally charged performance from Dolly. The vocals are absolutely superb. I recently saw a live performance Dolly gave at Glastonbury in 2013 where she sounds just as sharp and brilliant as her original studio recording. The youngish crowd is singing along. The security guards are dancing along. The band is having the time of their lives. And absolutely everyone at the venue is wrapped up in the moment. That’s a power most songs just don’t possess.

“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, please don't take him just because you can.”

"ZIGGY STARDUST" DAVID BOWIE (1972)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

I don’t think I could ever summarize the impact that “Ziggy Stardust” has had on rock & roll in just a couple of paragraphs. But I’ll say this. When I was in high school, a half-decent set of musicians played it at Battle of the Bands and the thing was powerful. They weren’t exceptional. They weren’t in sync. But they unlocked Bowie’s emotion, ingenuity and attitude. That’s the power of Ziggy. In many ways, the song, like the main character, helped save rock & roll.

To really understand Ziggy’s power, you just have to look at two elements: the guitar and the vocals. The opening line in the first verse sets the tone: “As Ziggy played guitar…”. The song is a force to be reckoned with because of the riffs. Mick Ronson shreds his way through one of the most guitar-driven songs from the Bowie canon – and it is an ode to the electric guitar in many ways. Then there’s Bowie himself who croons and cries his way through the verses and chorus, a lyrical masterpiece that reminds us why we got into rock ‘n roll in the first place.

“Making love with his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind.”

"THE QUEEN IS DEAD" THE SMITHS (1986)

A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.

Any time is a good time for The Queen Is Dead. But with Andy Rourke’s recent passing, I think it’s important to remember and celebrate how integral both he and Mike Joyce were to the sound of The Smiths. They were the engine room. Johnny Marr has commented on how significant a music moment it was when he first heard Rourke play the bass line for this title track from my favorite Smiths album. I felt the same way the first time I heard it.

It is an album opener that makes other album openers seem so inadequate. “The Queen Is Dead” kicks off with the sample from “Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty”. It was magnificent. Before long, Mike Joyce launches a barrage on the drum set and Andy Rourke creates a slinging, cutting bass line, both of which make you hate yourself for ever thinking The Smiths were all about Morrissey and Marr. They’re all firing on all cylinders here. And this title track sounds like nothing else that we’ve heard before. It’s luring us in. And our lives are never the same again because this is The Queen Is Dead.

“Life is very long when you're lonely.”

"C'EST SI BON" EARTHA KITT (1953)

The moment a song is born, the world is different. It’s now a part of our lives. We sing it in the shower. We dance to it at our wedding. We get pumped with it. We break up to it. We memorize it. We try to forget it. We rediscover it. This month, I’m joining Arron Wright’s Twitter music challenge: ##Popiversary2. Because why the hell not. Songs deserve their own anniversaries, too.

Year: 1953

1953. The Korean armistice is signed. Color t.v. is invented. Roman Holiday hits the big screen. The “buy now, pay later” approach starts to spread. And the Yankees win the World Series. Life seems pretty darn good. Perhaps Eartha Kitt’s version of “C’est Si Bon” couldn’t have come at a better time than this. A sign of the carefree spirit and optimism of the times.

There are few voices as seductive and sultry as Eartha Kitt’s, which gave “C’est Si Bon” a flirtatious edge that wasn’t there before. In this version, she pairs with Henri René and his Orchestra. They seem almost catatonic compared to Eartha. She even seems more French than they do, because Eartha wasn’t just singing it, she embodied it. It’s why this recording takes on so much meaning and importance – even if you don’t know a lick of French.

“C'est si bon. De partir n'importe où. Bras dessus, bras dessous. En chantant des chansons.”

"I WALK THE LINE" JOHNNY CASH (1957)

The moment a song is born, the world is different. It’s now a part of our lives. We sing it in the shower. We dance to it at our wedding. We get pumped with it. We break up to it. We memorize it. We try to forget it. We rediscover it. This month, I’m joining Arron Wright’s Twitter music challenge: ##Popiversary2. Because why the hell not. Songs deserve their own anniversaries, too.

Year: 1957

Let’s get this part straight. I certainly don’t like Johnny Cash for the instrumentation. It seems like there’s one single bass line used on the majority of his songs. For me, the appeal has always been that deep voice like no other and the ability to spin masterful lyrics that feel so, Johnny Cash. There’s no other adjective to describe it. 1957 was a banner year for the legend. On With His Hot and Blue Guitar (extra points for the quirky album title), he released some of his biggest songs, including “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Cry! Cry! Cry!” and “I Walk The Line”.

I think the first verse says it all: “I keep a close watch on this heart of mine / I keep my eyes wide open all the time / I keep the ends out for the tie that binds / Because you're mine, I walk the line.” This is Johnny Cash to a T. There’s a resoluteness in what' he’s saying, but at the same time you know that his stance can change on a dime. There’s no balance. Which makes everything about the song – while simple as usual – feel so intense and true.

“I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds. Because you're mine, I walk the line.”

"BLUE SKIES" ELLA FITZGERALD (1958)

The moment a song is born, the world is different. It’s now a part of our lives. We sing it in the shower. We dance to it at our wedding. We get pumped with it. We break up to it. We memorize it. We try to forget it. We rediscover it. This month, I’m joining Arron Wright’s Twitter music challenge: ##Popiversary2. Because why the hell not. Songs deserve their own anniversaries, too.

Year: 1958

In 1958, Ella recorded her famous Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irvin Berlin Song Book. The album pays homage to a legend whose songs make up a large part of the Great American Songbook. The album is also a mindblowing review of a voice like no other. Ella simply did things with her voice that nobody else could do – or even thought to do. Her vocals lived at a complex crossroads web of jazz, scat and experimentation.

Released as a bonus track on reissues of the album, “Blue Skies” showcases multiple facets of Ella’s vocals. There’s the silky, velvety smooth side. And then there’s the playful, scat-infused side that’s the antithesis of its counterpart. There are times, in fact, where Ella’s voice resembles an instrument, transcending the boundaries of traditional singing. It’s clear as the blue sky: Berlin may have written the song, but Ella owns it through and through.

“Blue days, All of them gone. Nothing but blue skies From now on.”