Decided to make a playlist featuring some of my favorite songs with strings that feature heavily. Only made it quickly on an on the go list so I know I've missed loads of obvious ones. If you've got any that you think would fit please write them up so we can make the best strings playlist! No real criteria as to what type of song or whether it has to be real stings or synth strings so any suggestions welcome. Trying to keep it quite eclectic. Anything allowed except the long and winding road!

Here it is so far

1) November Rain - GNR
2) Low Five - Sneaker Pimps
3) Man's World - James Brown
4) Pastime Paradise - Stevie Wonder
5) Animal Army - Babylon Zoo
6) All Mine - Portishead
7) Life on Mars - David Bowie
8) Tonight Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins
9) Walking Zero - Sneaker Pimps
10) Play Dead - Bjork
11) Sign Your Name - Terence Trent Darby
12) Black Heart - Calexico
13) The Universal - Blur
14) Back to Life - Soul to Soul
15) Christopher Tracy's Parade - Prince
16) Lonesome Tears - Beck
17) It Ain't Over til It's Over - Lenny Kravitz
18) Home - Depeche Mode
19) Sista Sista - Beverley Knight
20) Day in the Life - Beatles
21) Purple Rain - Prince
22) Some Kind of Fool - David Sylvian/Japan
23) The Masterplan - Oasis

marksinclair said:

oh, good choice

That's a nice mix you've got there.

One suggestion I might add is The Cure's "A Few Hours After This".

also, Eurythmics' "Here Comes the Rain Again" has some brilliant
string arrangements.

i first noticed this when i listened to an hour long broadcast
somewhere online where Dave Steward talks you through their new
greatest hits album.

he tells the story of how the strings were recorded and plays
them seperate from the track. very good work there!

The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Tricky - I Be The Prophet

GangstaFam said:

GangstaFam said:

Cool don't know this one actually, or the Cure B-side, i'll try and track them down though... Keep them coming!

I Am The Walrus
Strawberry Fields
A Day In The Life (oops you already have it)--The Beatles. 3 of my favorite songs ever.

Crystal Ball--Prince

Cinny's Waltz--Tom Waits

Something in the Way
Dumb--Nirvana

marksinclair said:

I think you'll be very pleased.

Good choices NDRU especially Something In The Way, I'm adding a few more classics also:

Elenor Rigby - Beatles
Sara - Bob Dylan
Kiss From a Rose - Seal

surely a T Rex song, didn't all their hits have strings on?

My picks:

Mia Bocca, by Jill Jones:
probably the song with my favorite musical arrangement ever recorded, the mixture of the electronic beats and sounds and the orchestra is nothing short of genious in my opinion

Prince - Crystal Ball:
I am talking about the version that appeared on the bootlegs in the late eighties. Just a splendid use of orchestra, eerie, spooky, dreamlike or nightmarish even.

Massive Attack - Unfinished sympathy
A moody track with great use of strings, especially near the end (great video also, by the way)

This mortal coil - You and my sister
Cover of the Big Star song. The string arrangement is sober (a few violins and cello, as far as i can remember), but very effective, melancholic, giving me goosebumps

The Family - Screams of passion
Another example of electronic beats combined with strings, sometimes sounding brilliant. One flaw: Prince should have sung this himselve, not Paul Peterson, who has a very mediocre voice in my opinion.

Van Morrison - Have i told you lately
Some might consider this song 'schmaltzy', and the strings sure sound polished at first, but the more i listen to it, i think it lends the song a springlike feeling, a certain tenderness that really fit with the lyrics

5th of Beethoven, from the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack

to end my list

Bjork - Vespertine
The whole cd in my opinion. I know that a lot of people consider her music experimental, avantgardistic, but in my opinion this is one of the most organic records ever released. When you listen to this record without prejudice (that weird Bjork...) you realize that this is just very personal, organically sounding music... especially some slow tracks on the second halve of the album are breathtaking in their use of strings and sheer beauty in general.

Bjork - Yoda
One of the best ballads ever recorded in my opinion, mixing electronic beats with strings in a way that reminds me of Jill Jones debut record, but more subtle, poetic.

The Beatles - I am the walrush
One of the most claustrophobic, nightmarish listening experiences, even today.
The combination of strings, the detached sounding Lennon, the sound effects and the weird lyrics giving this song a mysterious, creepy feeling. Its just amazing how the Beatles evolved so quickly musicwise.

REM - Nightswimming
When you would hear this string arrangement played by a classical orchestra alone, it might sound a bit stalled, clumsily, but it just fits perfectly with the other elements of the song (Michael Stipe on vocals, Mike Mills on Piano). There is an oboe-solo in this song too, making this song sound more like chamber music then like pop. Adding up to the general effect of the song is the fact that the song carries some of the most gentle, thoughtful, poetic lyrics i ever heard in a 'pop song': a sheer work of art in my opinion.

Eleanor Rigby. Blew me away the first time I heard it--I was a violin student all of about 9 or 10 years old and I had never heard strings used that way. Still one of my favs.

Screams of Passion

The stings on Burt Bacharach's new album.

The strings on the album 100 Degrees and Rising by Incognito.

A few quickies off the top...

Taurus - Spirit
Diamond Dust - Jeff Beck
Don't Mess With Mr.T - Marvin Gaye
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
At Last - Etta James

...More later.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

(Great choice! I was gonna grab that one, too!- Great George Martin string arrangement!!!)




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[Edited 4/21/06 15:42pm]

...
There's probably too many, but these are some of my favorites:




Night Bird - Michel Colombier (Colombier, string arrangements)

Three Views Of A Secret - Jaco Pastorius (Jaco, string arrangement)

Seraphim - Caldera (George Del Barrio, string arrangements)

Awakening - Narada Michael Walden/ Carlos Santana (George Del Barrio, string arrangements)

I Want You (album) - Marvin Gaye - (Coleridge Taylor Perkinson - String arrangements)

Your Love - A Taste of Honey (Larry and Fonce Mizell, Wade Marcus, string arrangements)

Shades Of Scarlet Conquering - Joni Mitchell (Dale Ohler, string arrangements)

Night Wind - Tom Browne (Dave Gruisin, string arrangement)

Forever For Always For Love - Luther Vandross (Paul Riser, string arrangement)

Ghetto Lament- Sylvia St James (Dave Gruisin, string arrangement)

Will You Ever Know - Narada Michael Walden (George Del Barrio, string arrangement)

Tell Me a Bedtime Story - Quincy Jones (strings based on Quincy's adaption of Herbie Hancock's original piano solo)

Waterfront - David Sylvian (Ryuichi Sakamoto, string arrangements)

Irena - Tony Bennett (Robert Farnon, string arrangement)


An Honest Man(instrumental) - Prince (Clare Fischer, string arrangement)

Egyptian Song - Rufus w/Chaka Khan (Clare Fischer, string arrangement)

Rainbow-Sky - Narada Michael Walden (Michael Gibbs, string arrangement)

Screams Of Passion - The Family (Clare Fischer, string arrangements)

Can't You See - Love Unlimited Orchestra - (Gene Page, Barry White, string arrangement)

White Feather Wings - Merry Clayton- (Brewster McCloud Soundtrack) - (Gene Page, string arrangement)

Blanket On The Beach - Stanley Turrentine -(Gene Page, string arrangement)








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[Edited 4/21/06 19:59pm]

paligap said:

That one had to be on the list.


Lemme go ahead and add another that's not on your cool list...

Waves - Lewis Taylor

...

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

...

Damn!!....



...

Cool choices guys, loads of stuff I haven't got and will have to check out as well as some classics that I left off my list... will be heading to itunes as soon as I get a new laptop!

Michael Jackson - Little Susie

Madonna - Papa Don't Preach

Peter Gabriel - Signal to Noise