The one hundred and ninety-seventh song: (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone - Paul Revere & The Raiders
It's good to get back to rock after the albums I've been covering - the two are starting to converge. This song feels fairly simple rock, with a simple chorus and no complicated music. It's punk - and the book mentions this band as one of the early big ones - but despite the lyrics and snarls, there are a few too many harmonies to work for me.
The one hundred and ninety-eighth song: Mas que nada - Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
This music line suddenly sounded so familiar - used in travel documentaries over the world. It's a basic samba track, but hits all the notes there, keeping your interest and saying swining. The differences in volume - not going all out - help a lot there, making the bursts of sound all the more effective.
The one hundred and ninety-ninth song: El muerto vivo - Peret
Here's the rumba, in a recording that's not the best quality, but the sound here is somewhat specific. The music is swining and decent, including the vocal flourishes, but the singing itself was a bit much and it feels it is unnecessary for the song to work.
The two hundredth song: Tomorrow Is a Long Time - Elvis Presley
Yes, Elvis was still around at this time, and still doing covers. This time covering a Bob Dylan song - not a link you'd necesarily expect - but the sweet, smaller song shows off a side of Elvis that I swear wasn't there a few years before. I remember his struggling with them before, while here his voice adds to the tension and seduction of the song.
The two hundred and first song: Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
After finally having listened to a full album of theirs, jumping ahead a few years in the Beatles' output is weird. Peter immediately shouted that this is baroque pop, and it's certainly a large step beyond their early love song output. It sounds good, even if a bit weird. The fairy tale sound of it is enhanced by the violins on the song. It's a bit bizarre, but works so well to play a story. The evolution you hear here is so special, it's incredibly impressive.
The two hundred and second song: River Deep – Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner
Phil Spector and Tina Turner come together here to create something powerful - a powerful voice with a big orchestration leads to a magnificent, large song. It sounds good, although perhaps some of the emotional impact is lost by the way it is set up. Still good to listen to.
The two hundred and third song: 7 and 7 Is - Love
Here's more of the Stones line of music coming in, with an early punk sound throwing out anger that might not even be there in the song lyrics - although with the speed it's being sung at, I'm not quite sure. Everything is fast and tense in the song, pushing you forward and raising my heartbeat quite a bit. It ends in an explosion (oddly enough) and then mellows and fades out, a weird way to end it, but that fits the build up of emotion, making for a more interesting button.
The two hundred and fourth song: 96 Tears - ? & The Mysterians
That organ is a bit too dominating at this point. It's a decent pop song - apparently a punk pregenitor, although I can't say I quite hear it. As garage pop, it's a decent sound, with some interesting lyrics, and certainly an interesting backstory for the band, trying to be weird, but it keeps on track as expected. The revenge lyrics - "You're gonna cry 96 tears" - aren't as sweet, but are that much more of a challenge.
The two hundred and fifth song: Pushin’ Too Hard - The Seeds
This is more that punk sound. Again, pushing too hard makes that clear, while the shrill, angry vocals at that in as well. The music is simpler, sure, with some guitar work building it up, it still gives the angry reaction you want. It's reactionary, young and going against the world, even if it might have been the closure of a popular club or being annoyed by a girlfriend.
The two hundred and sixth song: Psychotic Reaction - The Count Five
Continuing with the punk that is the theme of the back half of this post, here we get a harmonica to make it sound a bit more country like. The vocals sounds nicer. The live performances sound like they got more insane, but here you already here a masterpiece. You may know where it's going early on, but then it suddenly changes tempo, the guitars soudn different and it turns out there is more to this song than just a standard punk tune. It feels experimental and different enough to set it apart, wondering why I never quite heard this. This felt smart and intelligent.
The two hundred and seventh song: Reach Out (I’ll Be There) - The Four Tops
We get some soul now - quite a change from the punk rock, although at times sounding experimental in its own way, the chorus always stands out for me as the pause before the loud "I'll Be There" always sounds a bit off. I can see why it reached a bigger audience though, making for an interesting variation in possible songs.