best of Achilles: Best of 2017 | Albums 21-30 (1/1)

[Admiral Bobbery]

I'm loving so many of  these throwback songs it would be redundant to name them all

 

[Achilles.]

 

[madonnas]

Hot Stuff is the kinda song you get into early with Donna and then you realize she has SO MUCH MORE

[Wicked]

I like the vocal arrangement of Dusty's version more but I listen to Aretha's 'Son of a Preacher Man' more.

[JGibson]

6/10

 

Freedom '90 + Let's Go Crazy + Man In The Mirror + Purple Rain 

[TheWayWeWere]

MYM, LGC, Purple Rain, Freedom whew, all that gems here

Tina missed top 10

 

[lhdang2000]

Feeling Good + Man In The Mirror + Purple Rain.  

 

[Lazuli]

Sufjan yas  

[Achilles.]

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, A TOP TEN.

 

 

 

 

I’ll be doing Country Singles next, and then Albums and Singles after Christmas!

[TheWayWeWere]

wheeeeeeew that top 10

Fast Car hits me few years ago, whole album is so great

Fastlove I love Adele's reendition tho

[JGibson]

6/10

 

What's Love Got To Do With It? + Fast Car + Dancing Queen + Rhythm Nation 

[madonnas]

Interesting George pick

Do you like Monkey?!

 

[lhdang2000]

Dancing Queen + It's All Coming Back To Me Now.  

 

Rhythm Nation tho. 

[Lazuli]

George killing it  

It's All Coming Back to Me Now  

[Achilles.]

On 12/21/2017 at 1:38 PM, madonnas said:

Interesting George pick

Do you like Monkey?!

 

Monkey is cool, but not really a favorite.

[Achilles.]

 

 

A filler single that I liked more than any of the other candidates that could round this list out to 5. What a bad year for country music.

 

 

 

After a long 15 years, a messy divorce from her husband and career-long collaborator, and multiple medical issues that affected her voice, Shania Twain finally returned with "Life's About to Get Good." It's sense of optimism is captured in lyrics that should put to rest any speculation that she leaned too heavily on Mutt Lange in the past; the songwriting her is classic Shania. Sure, the chorus could punch harder, and some of the technical work (mixing, producing, etc) could have been better done, but it's still a cute little bop that Shania has certainly earned.

 

 

 

It's been done before, but it's probably never been done better. Only the second-best single from The Weight of These Wings, "Tin Man" is emotional, compelling, and powerful.

 

 

 

I'm not going to lie, I laughed hysterically when the news broke that this song would be pushed to country radio. You may recall that Taylor refused to promote 1989 to the country market--refused, even, to consider putting a "country" song onto the album. Well, "New Year's Day" is just as not-country as anything else she's done in the past three years. The difference is that the landscape of country music has changed so much in her absence that even a pure pop ballad comfortably fits within the genre. And oh! What a ballad!

　

Arguably the most adult song Taylor's ever written, "New Year's Day" is about, well, a lot of things. It's about remembering the little details, like "candlewax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor," as you mentally construct the narrative of your life. It's about having someone at your side who will have fun with you at the party and stay to help clean up after everyone else returns to their seperate lives. It's about knowing that love only works when you put effort into it, and mutually reassuring one another that you're willing to put in that effort.

　

We've spent Taylor Swift's entire adult life watching her grow, both as an artist and as a person. She's narratized her every relationship, publicly aired her every thought and emotion, captured her life in real-time and broadcast it to the world. It's been messy at times, but that only humanizes her even more. We've seen her course-correct and we've seen her double-down. On "New Year's Day," we see her finally learning the lesson that her catalog has been gradually building towards: "But I stay."

　

 

 

44 years ago, more than a decade before rising country star Cam was born, a different blonde was topping the country charts with one of the most legendary songs of all time. Jolene! Jolene! Jolene! JOLENE! The Dolly Parton classic has been covered and referenced countless times in the near half-century since its release, but none have ever done quite what Cam does with "Diane."

　

A response song, "Diane" flips the script on "Jolene" in a major way. Instead of begging another woman not to take her man, Cam positions herself as the other woman. Here, too, Cam deviates from the norm. Cam sings about learning that the man she has been seeing has a wife at home, and rather than lashing out at him or beating up his truck with a baseball bat, Cam gets on the phone with his wife to talk woman-to-woman. Dolly Parton begged Jolene not to steal her man, and now Cam begs Diane for forgiveness. "I'd rather you hate me then not understand / Diane!"

[Delta]

A lot of iconic classics! 

[JGibson]

4/5

 

New Year's Day + Tin Man + Life's About To Get Good + When Someone Stops Loving You 

[TheWayWeWere]

LATGG was cute, but I like Swingin better

Tin Man

NYD praise one of my album favorites since Fallon perf

[Lazuli]

New Year's Day on a country list  But yas stan for the song  So underrated

LATGG is a cute bop  

[Achilles.]

7 hours ago, Lazuli said:

New Year's Day on a country list  But yas stan for the song  So underrated 

It’s an official country radio single. Take it up with Big Machine Records.  

[Sunderland 4ever]

A very "fast" top 3, hehehe.

[gagacasanova]

Shania, Miranda and Taylor

[ColdKeane]

Nothing Compares 2 U   

[Achilles.]

Thanks for the comments! Albums list will start Saturday.