Every year, I put together a CD collection of the best songs I've acquired over the past year.
This isn't so much a list of the best
songs of a given year, but of my best discoveries (the songs, themselves, can have come from
different years). Because they are my
discoveries, I refer to them as "mine" hence the "Best of Paul." As a rule, I'm suspicious of
acquiring a lot of commercially successful
music, so the selections tend to be obscure. And if the artists is well known, usually the song is
not. So, here we go....
Best of Paul 2007
|
|
| Jeremy Fisher | "Scar That Never Heals " |
| The Old Ceremony | "Get To Love" |
| Gregory Douglass | "Light Don't Shine" |
| Carbon Leaf | "Learn To Fly" |
| The Outside Track | "Poor Lonesome Hen" |
| The Decemberists | "The Crane Wife 3" |
| A. J. Roach | "Devil May Dance" |
| Piers Faccini | "If I" |
| Marcia Ramirez | "Ticket To Tulsa" |
| Rosie Thomas | "Kite Song" |
| William Fitzsimmons | "It's Not True" |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | "Closer and Closer Apart" |
| Kate Havnevik | "Nowhere Warm" |
| Damien Dempsey | "Maasai" |
| Gran Bel Fisher | "Edible" |
| Matthew Ryan | "And Never Look Back" |
| Lifehouse | "Simon" |
| Vega 4 | "Life Is Beautiful" |
Best of Paul 2006 |
|
| The Charlatans UK | "Muddy Ground" |
| Placebo | "Running Up That Hill" |
| Richard Butler | "Good Days, Bad Days" |
| Belarus | "Here, There, and Everywhere" |
| David Ford | "I Don't Care What You Call Me" |
| Rosie Thomas | "Pretty Dress" |
| Peter Bradley Adams | "Unreconciled" |
| Josh Rouse | "Winter In the Hamptons" |
| Vertical Horizon | "Better When You're Not There" |
| Speech | "Braided Hair" |
| Gomez | "See the World" |
| Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | "Shuffle Your Feet" |
| The Gothic Archies | "Crows" |
| Woven Hand | "Swedish Purse" |
| Vienna Teng | "What You Want" |
| Rhett Miller | "Help Me, Suzanne" |
| Yonder Mountain String Band | "How 'Bout You" |
| Ellery | "Anna" |
| Charlotte Martin | "Stromata (Edit)" |
| Snow Patrol | "Chasing Cars" |
Best of Paul 2005 |
|
| Dar Williams | "Echoes" |
| Anna Nalick | "Breathe (2 AM)" |
| Eastmountainsouth | "You Dance" |
| Mike Doughty | "27 Jennifers" |
| The Finn Brothers | "Won't Give In" |
| Snow Patrol | "How To Be Dead" |
| Nickel Creek | "When In Rome" |
| The Duhks | "Mists of Down Below" |
| Hem | "Redwing" |
| Linda Sharar | "Participate" |
| Tracy Chapman | "Change" |
| Mindy Smith | "One Moment More" |
| Kasey Chambers | "Hollywood" |
| Tori Amos | "Sleeps With Butterflies" |
| Death Cab For Cutie | "Soul Meets Body" |
| Lowen & Navarro | "Devil's In the Details" |
| Jay Farrar | "Feed Kill Chain" |
| Christopher Williams | "Did Not Draw" |
| Acceptance | "Different" |
| Goo Goo Dolls | "Better Days" |
Best of Paul 2004 |
|
| Shane Nicholson | "Nice To Be Here" |
| The Corrs | "Baby Be Brave" |
| Vertical Horizon | "I'm Still Here" |
| John Mayer | "Homelife" |
| Five for Fighting | "100 Years" |
| Bob Schneider | "Come With Me Tonight" |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | "Goodnight America" |
| Mindy Smith | "Come To Jesus" |
| Tift Merritt | "Laid A Highway" |
| Lyle Lovett | "God Will" |
| Kasey Chambers | "Not Pretty Enough" |
| Jewel | "I Won't Walk Away" |
| Chris Isaak | "Somebody To Love" |
| Bo Deans | "If It Makes You" |
| The Stills | "Love and Death" |
| Goo Goo Dolls | "Sympathy" |
| Ari Hest | "They're On To Me" |
| Glenn Aitken | "The Way" |
| Maura O'Connell | "Walls" |
| Carrie Newcomer | "My True Name" |
| Lucy Kaplansky | "This Is Home" |
Best of Paul 2003 |
|
| Dar Williams | "Mercy of the Fallen" |
| Marcia Ramirez | "Compromise" |
| Goo Goo Dolls | "Acoustic #3" |
| Fleetwood Mac | "Landslide" |
| Ellis Paul | "New Orleans" |
| Annie Lennox | "Pavement Cracks" |
| Toby Lightman | "Devils & Angels" |
| Natalie Merchant | "Tell Yourself" |
| Denison Witmer | "24 Turned 25" |
| Gemma Hayes | "Back of My Mind" |
| Guster | "Either Way" |
| Memento | "Blister" |
| Leaves | "Crazy" |
| Sister Hazel | "Best I'll Ever Be" |
| Joe Jackson Band | "Still Alive" |
| Maktub | "You Can't Hide" |
| Liz Phair | "Extraordinary" |
| Switchfoot | "Meant To Live" |
| Folk Implosion | "Brand of Skin" |
| Matchbox Twenty | "The Difference" |
Best of Paul 2002 |
|
| Tracy Chapman | "You're the One" |
| David Wilcox | "Waffle House" |
| Raul Malo | "Every Little Thing About You" |
| The Gufs | "Give Back Yourself" |
| Beth Orton | "Concrete Sky" |
| Derrick Harris | "G.M.O.L." |
| Kasey Chambers | "A Million Tears" |
| Ether | "The Link" |
| Suzanne Vega | "Penitant" |
| Lucy Kaplansky | "Broken Things" |
| Tracy Spuehler | "Sunflower" |
| Kelly Willis | "What Did You Think" |
| Bo Deans | "Good Things" |
| Five for Fighting | "Superman (It's Not Easy)" |
| Gin Blossoms | "Not Only Numb" |
| Any Trouble | "Girls Are Always Right" |
| July for Kings | "Normal Life" |
| Zeromancer | "Send Me An Angel" |
| Dirty Vegas | "Days Go By" |
| Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor | "Come What May" |
Best of Paul 2001 |
|
| The Call | "Let the Day Begin" |
| Incubus | "Drive" |
| Red House Painters | "Byrd Joel" |
| Bob Schneider | "Metal and Steel" |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | "Dreamland" |
| Shawn Colvin | "I'd Say I'm Sorry Now" |
| Dar Williams | "February" |
| Delirium with Matthew Sweet | "Daylight" |
| Matchbox Twenty | "If You're Gone" |
| The Corrs | "Give Me A Reason" |
| Dave Matthews Band | "The Space Between" |
| Richard Thompson | "Keep Your Distance" |
| Travis | "Side" |
| Josh Joplin Group | "I've Changed" |
| Jude | "King of Yesterday" |
| Semisonic | "Chemistry" |
| Fuel | "Slow" |
| Snot with Lajon | "Angel's Son" |
| Stabbing Westward | "Wasted" |
Best of Paul 2000 |
|
| Tracy Chapman | "Telling Stories" |
| Bare Naked Ladies | "The Flag" |
| Bill Bragg & Natalie Merchant | "Birds & Ships" |
| Pat Humphries | "Swimming to the Other Side" |
| Kelly Flint | "Drive All Night" |
| Travis | "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" |
| Teddy Thompson | Wake Up (Edit #2)" |
| Collective Soul | "Needs" |
| Nina Gordon | "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" |
| Wood | "Stay You" |
| The Jayhawks | "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" |
| UnAmerican | "Mary's Son" |
| Electronic | "Vivid" |
| Vast | "Free" |
| U. P. O. | "Godless" |
| SR-71 | "Right Now (Remix)" |
| On | "Soluble Words" |
| Eurythmics | "17 Again" |
Best of Paul 1998 |
|
| King Cobb Steelie | "Rational" |
| Stabbing Westward | "Save Yourself" |
| Monster Magnet | "Space Lord" |
| Jude | "Rick James" |
| Everlast | "What's It Like" |
| Unbelievable Truth | "Higher Than Reason" |
| Love Spit Love | "Fall On Tears" |
| Fuel | "Shimmer" |
| Embrace | "All You Good Good People" |
| Goo Goo Dolls | "Iris" |
| Sharlene Wallace | "La Guabina" |
| Janis Ian | "Getting Over You" |
| Ellis Paul | "Don't Breathe" |
| Jeff Black | "That's Just About Right" |
| James McMurtry | "Levelland" |
| Ebba Forsberg | "Lost Count" |
Best of Paul 1997 |
|
| Dream Academy | "Life In A Northern Town" |
| Oingo Boingo | "Skin" |
| Depeche Mode | "It's No Good" |
| Televizor | "Zvezdnaia" |
| Svin Khin-Khin | "Tot krai (Techno Mix)" |
| Baba Yaga | "So Ends Another Day" |
| Seal | "Crazy" |
| Shawn Colvin | "Get Out Of This House" |
| Del Amitri | "Not Where It's At" |
| Crowded House | "Weather With You" |
| Paula Cole | "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" |
| Moon Seven Times | "Neither Luminary" |
| Richard Shindell | "Fishing" |
| Robin Hackett & Sarah Tantillo | "Sarah Says" |
| Capercaillie | "God's Alibi" |
| Ellis Paul | "Conversation With A Ghost" |
Best of Paul 1996 |
|
| Garbage | "Stupid Girl" |
| Depeche Mode | "Policy Of Truth" |
| Tori Amos | "Caught A Light Sneeze" |
| Deep Blue Something | "Breakfast At Tiffany's" |
| Ukraintsi | "Batyar" |
| Yalla | "My Uzbekistan" |
| Sting | "I Was Brought To My Senses" |
| The Bongos | "Splinters" |
| Kevin Welch | "Life Down Here On Earth" |
| Maggie Sansone | "Miss Patterson / Johnny's Gone To France" |
| Dougie Maclean | "Rank and Roses" |
| Brooks Williams | "Late Night Train" |
| Jane Kelley Williams | "Breaking In" |
| Natalie Merchant | "River" |
| Lynn Miles | "You Don't Love Me Anymore" |
| Danny Carnahan & Robin Petrie | "Till the Stars Come Down" |
Best of Paul 1995 |
|
| The Corrs | "Erin Shore/Forgiven Not Forgotten" |
| The Pretenders | "Revolution" |
| The Cranberries | "Dreams" |
| Oingo Boingo | "War Again" |
| Annie Lennox | "No More 'I Love You's'" |
| Wet Wet Wet | "Love Is All Around" |
| Carrie Newcomer | "A Safe Place" |
| John Gorka | "Out Of My Mind" |
| Maire Brennan | "The Mighty One" |
| The New St George | "Don't You Go" |
| Tori Amos | "Famous Blue Raincoat" |
| Janis Ian | "Hair of Spun Gold" |
| Eileen McGann | "Thyme" |
| Eileen McGann | "In The Silence" |
| Maura O'Connell | "I Will" |
| Dougie Maclean | "Turning Away" |
Best of Paul 1994 |
|
| Love Spit Love | "Half A Life" |
| The Cranberries | "Zombie" |
| Tori Amos | "Cornflake Girl" |
| Duran Duran | "Come Undone" |
| Sarah McLachlan | "Possession" |
| Mark Williams & Tara Morice | "Time After Time" |
| Akvarium | "Shary iz khrustalia" |
| Forum | "Snova po utro" |
| DDT | V posledniuiu osen'" |
| Beverley Craven | "Love Scenes" |
| Phil Collins | "Everyday" |
| Maura O'Connell | "Trouble In the Fields" |
| John Gorka | "Houses In the Field" |
| Shawn Colvin | "Someday" |
| Lucinda Williams | "Sidewalks of the City" |
| Moon Seven Times | "Pavement Shines" |
| Nanci Griffith | "On Grafton Street" |
Best of Paul 1993 |
|
| Simple Gifts | "Down By the Sally Groves" |
| Janis Ian | "Some People's Lives" |
| Sting | "Shape Of My Heart" |
| Nanci Griffith | "From Clare To Here" |
| 10,000 Maniacs | "Eden" |
| Moon Seven Times | "Her House" |
| Annie Lennox | "Why?" |
| Alan Parsons | "Mr. Time" |
| Pur | "Drachen Sollen Fliegen" |
| Tekhnologiia | "Segodnia noch'iu" |
| The Fixx | "Precious Stone" |
| The Smiths | "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" |
| U2 | "The Fly" |
| REM | "Losing My Religion" |
| REM | "Orange Crush" |
| Clannad | "Turning Tide" |
Best of Paul 1992 |
|
| Tekhnologiia | "Odin" |
| Televizor | "Mechta samoubiitsy" |
| Alisa | "Vse v nashikh rukakh" |
| Kino | "Pachka sigaret" |
| Akvarium | "Serebro gospoda moego" |
| Altan | "The Lass of Glenshee" |
| John Gorka | "Full of Life" |
| John Gorka | "I Don't Feel Like A Train" |
| Maura O'Connell | "I Would Be Stronger Than That" |
| Shawn Colvin | "Monopoly" |
| Claudia Schmidt & Sally Rogers | "I Wish You Were Here" |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | "Hometown Girl" |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | "Only A Dream" |
| Lui Collins | "Wildflower Song" |
| Nanci Griffith | "It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go" |
| Indigo Girls | "Ghost" |
| All About Eve | "Tuesday's Child" |
| k. d. Lang | "Constant Craving" |
Best of Paul 1991 |
|
| The Telling | "True Gold" |
| Enya | "On Your Shore" |
| Clannad | "Almost Seems (Too Late To Turn)" |
| Sting | "Mad About You" |
| Phil Collins | "Another Day In Paradise" |
| All About Eve | "In the Meadow" |
| Sandy Denny | "For Shame of Doing Wrong" |
| Judy Small | "Women of Our Time" |
| Meg Davis | "Saemus and Ivy" |
| Seguin | "Mountain Song" |
| Lui Collins | "Second Effort" |
| Priscilla Herdman | "From the Lambing to the Wool" |
| Dan Ar Bras | "A Long Way Leads to You Annie" |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | "It Don't Bring You" |
| INXS | "Devil Inside" |
| Psychedelic Furs | "Book of Days" |
The whole project started when I created five 100-minute cassette tapes in 1990 that chronicled the best music I had heard up to that date. It was an eclectic mix of 60s, 70s, and 80s music, reflecting my upbringing in folk and classic AM rock, and my subsequent love of 80s New Wave. The results were the original "Best of Paul," of which the yearly updates above were intended to be like the yearbooks in an encyclopedia set. Here are the track listings of the original Best of Paul:
Best of Paul - Vol I |
|
| Indigo Girls | "Hey Jesus" |
| Heart | "Dog and Butterfly" |
| Tracy Chapman | "Fast Car" |
| Suzanne Vega | "Gypsy" |
| Joni Mitchell | "The Circle Game" |
| Janis Ian | "Stars" |
| Jim Croce | "Lover's Cross" |
| Sting | "Be Still My Beating Heart" |
| Fairport Convention | "Close To The Wind" |
| Silly Wizard | "Lover's Heart" |
| Judy Collins | "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" |
| Dan Fogelberg | "Nether Lands" |
| Bette Midler | "Wind Beneath My Wings" |
| Bruce Hornsby & the Range | "Mandolin Rain" |
Best of Paul - Vol II |
|
| Roxy Music | "More Than This" |
| Alan Parsons Project | "Days Are Numbers" |
| Chess | "Anthem" |
| Jefferson Airplane | "Today" |
| Peter Gabriel | "In Your Eyes" |
| Brian Ferry | "Kiss and Tell" |
| The Pretenders | "Back On the Chain Gang" |
| Depeche Mode | "Strangelove" |
| Boris Grebenschikov | "The Postcard" |
| Psychedelic Furs | "All That Money Wants" |
| The Cure | "Let's Go To Bed" |
| Indio | "Hard Sun" |
| Bronski Beat | "Smalltown Boy" |
| Bronski Beat | "Hard Rain" |
| Soft Cell | "Tainted Love" |
| DEVO | "Planet Earth" |
| Simple Minds | "Alive and Kicking" |
Best of Paul - Vol III |
|
| U2 | "Drowning Man" |
| U2 | "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" |
| Frozen Ghost | "Should I See" |
| Tears For Fears | "Head Over Heels / Broken" |
| Berlin | "In My Dreams" |
| The Byrds | "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" |
| Prince | "Raspberry Beret" |
| Genesis | "Follow You Follow Me" |
| Peter Gabriel | "Biko (Live)" |
| The B-52s | "Dirty Back Roads" |
| The Bongos | "Tiger Nights" |
| Harry Chapin | "Cat in the Cradle" |
| Chris DeBurgh | "The Head and the Heart" |
| Emerson, Lake, & Palmer | "C'est La Vie" |
| The Doors | "The Spy" |
| Thomas Dolby | "I Scare Myself" |
| Fleetwood Mac | "Wish You Were Here" |
Best of Paul - Vol IV |
|
| Billy Joel | "Summer, Highland Falls" |
| Elton John | "Candle in the Wind" |
| Howard Jones | "Elegy" |
| Eurythmics | "Here Comes the Rain Again" |
| Modern English | "Heart" |
| Eileen McGann | "Sands" |
| Sally Rogers | "Turn Around" |
| Cat Stevens | "Don't Be Shy" |
| REM | "Perfect Circle" |
| The Police | "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86" |
| Modern English | "I Melt With You" |
| Split Enz | "One Step Ahead" |
| The Fixx | "Camphor" |
| David Crosby & Graham Nash | "To the Last Whale" |
| The Monkees | "Last Train to Clarksville" |
| Squeeze | "Tempted" |
| Jethro Tull | "Slow Marching Band" |
| Sting | "Russians" |
Best of Paul - Vol V |
|
| Phil Collins | "Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning?" |
| Gary Wright | "Dream Weaver" |
| Harry Chapin | "Saturday Morning" |
| Christine Lavin | "Gettin' Used to Leaving" |
| Fame | "Is It Okay If I Call You Mine?" |
| ABBA | "The Way Old Friends Do" |
| West Side Story | "One Hand, One Heart" |
| My Fair Lady | "On the Street Where You Live" |
| Steeleye Span | "When I Was On Horseback" |
| Maddy Prior & Tim Hart | "Bring Us In Good Ale" |
| Sally Rogers | "One I Love" |
| Tannahill Weavers | "Yellow-Haired Laddie / Dream of Angus" |
| Akvarium | "Pokolenie dvornikov" |
| Akvarium | "Deti dekabria" |
| Bravo | "Staryi otel'" |
| Nautilius pompilius | "Vzgliad s ekrana" |
| Kino | "Poslednii geroi" |
| Tsentr | "Privet tebe" |
| Piknik | "Ostrov" |
Page last modified on February 5, 2008.