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Spanning the ages in 3/4: OMD’s Maid of Orleans
Beethoven to Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin to Funkadelic, Joe Cocker to Cocteau Twins, it’s time to waltz into a set of lists that swing across time and genres, picked expertly by guest playlister DJ Bear from a mass of nominations
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Fancy a stretch on The Stranglers’ longship? All part of this week’s musical journey
Yorkshire moors to oceans wide, endless deserts to mountains high, through genres and geography, mapping from a massive musical landscape of songs from last week’s topic, guest playlister Maki takes us on a splendid journey
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In the open: Houston demonstration, Tiananmen Square, Monument Valley, John Constable’s Stour Valley
City squares to vast wildernesses, parks and stadiums to commons, fields of solitude to peaceful demonstrations, to locations of violence, revolution and change, this week we find space to breathe in songs about places where society expresses itself
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Berceuse ballad: the Pogues can do a beautiful lullaby
Restless? Don’t worry, this is worth staying up for. Enjoy a countdown in the first of several lists perfect picked by guest amylee from hundreds of suggestions over the week, which in all contexts help a perfect night’s sleep
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Robert Smith has already been kept up with songs that whisper
Rockabye? Close your eyes, but open your ears. This week let's expand the idea of the lullaby beyond children to any song that uses the term or encourages, whether loudly or softly, a state of drifting into the unconscious
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A cartoon postcard at home that could be applied to most weeks
As restrictions loosen in some countries, it's time to reflect on these last three months with titles and lyrics from any time that could now be applied to lockdown experience, as well as more recent songs specifically about the situation
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Living maps? Leo Belgicus by Hondius & Gerritsz, 1630
Accurately marked with facts and perfect proportions? Or fuel for fantasy and the imagination? Maps make stories, and stories make maps, and their fascination leads to where X marks the spot. So let’s go there and start digging …
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Few pianists are a patch on New Orleans’ James Booker
And the piano played on … During these testing times, inspired by the deft choices of readers and fast fingers of players, guest ParaMhor picks two note perfect playlists and adds some memorial extras for the dearly departed
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Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers in 1980
What makes a great riff or solo, and how does the keyboard player fit in a band? From purveyors of excess to cool minimalism, rock or prog to soul, electronica, postpunk, pop, jazz or classical, synth to clavinet, let’s follow those fingers
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Take a stroll through this forest of quiet music
Looking to achieve a mind at peace? Take a stroll through a Finnish forest, the accompaniment to a beautiful selection of songs chosen by hundreds of nominations last week, as chosen and described by guest DiscoMonster
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Pocomoke Sound, eastern shores of Maryland and Virginia
Pianissimo, sotto voce to whispering vocals, or acoustic lo-fi to minimalistic electro tones, gentle intimacy to slow menace, this week we move from songs about quietness, turning instead to those performed and recorded at a perceptively low level
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Spring bluebells quietly getting on with it
Tranquillity, calm and serenity, or concentration, slow stirring, unrest, plotting and revolution? There are all kinds of quiet out there, and this week it’s time to explore these as described or captured in song lyrics
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It’s the most famous town in the world. This week our songs are about the place itself – its famous streets, landmarks, studios as well as the fascias, finery, or fakery of its people – their hopes, dreams, triumphs, failures, feuds and fantasies
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Sensational song suction: a huge hoover-up of hope in these week’s big playlists
Spring cleaning takes energy, but the results can also generate even more. The same applies to this week’s serenely and clean playlists chosen by guest DJ Bear, who whizzes around the Bar with a hopeful heart and a spring in his step
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Einstein’s brain and music. Always connected.
Albert Einstein to neuroplasticity, this week’s topic mixes the clever, complex cerebellum with music. Taking in last week’s many nominations, guest Marco den Ouden created a trio of mind-blowing playlists to educate and entertain
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Which way are you thinking?
Let’s celebrate the cerebrum and engage with the encephalon through lyrics and song subject, whether it is the biological makeup of this squidgy Tardis, or mindful thoughts and functions it can control. Worth a thought, anyway …
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David Bowie of course. Star from start to finish.
An astronomically huge topic resulting in a galaxy of nominations. This week’s guest playlister Amylee not only listened to them all, but turned them into a stellar set of songs spanning the musical universe
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Bootsy Collins. The bass line being he ticks more than one star box
From astronomy to celebrity, shapes to symbols, this week we escape earthly concerns and reach into the musical firmament for a rich lyrical topic that will cover all aspects and life as well as death. It’ll be stellar production
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Slaves get stuck in, but it could get messy …
The many paints have been mixed, ladders climbed, and wallpaper glued. Now stand back, and admire the decorous musical result of these perfect playlists, as put up on our extensive walls, as chosen by guest George Boyland
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Turn it up to 11? Some decor is, well, quite loud
It’s time to take some artistic licence through enforced isolation, and pick from your palette of musical paints to harmonise, fix up, adorn, and help create playlists that decorate the Song Bar, as well as the mind
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