Number Ones That Never Were: Best of 2005 Edition

Part One:

01) Intro/WABC Promo: from the archives, a truly profound (Marvin Gaye) and perverse (The Osmonds!) promo for The Top 100 Songs of 1971. You can find almost anything on the internets

02) 16 Military Wives/The Decemberists: unbearably catchy and political to boot (hey, just like my blog). Plus, the "anchor person on TV" part reminds me of this spot I made for FLIX (click here)

03) Will You Smile Again?/...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: this band really refined and expanded their sound on their latest album, Worlds Apart...kindy of proggy and really loud and dynamic. Is it as good as their Source Tags & Codes disc? Probably not, but it stands as one of the more exciting releases of 2005

04) First Day/The Futureheads: everything old is new again with this band from the U.K. Produced by Gang of Four's Andy Gill, the entire album makes me want to put on a skinny tie and jump up and down

05) Entertain/Sleater-Kinney: A lot of the songs in this "Best of '05" collection rock but none of them rocks harder than this mini-epic from Portland, Oregon's all-grrrl trio. Angry, really really loud and a helluva lot of fun

06) Better Bring Your Friends/Secret Machines: the one new, non-cover song from their stop-gap EP, The Road Leads Where It¹s Led. These guys from New York have a mesmerizing effect on me. Can¹t wait for the next full-length...

07) Rapture Riders/Go Home Productions: The genius of mash-ups, Mark Vidler (a.k.a. GoHomeProductions) topped himself with this seamlessly perfect mix of The Doors' "Riders on the Storm" and Blondies' "Rapture." This was originally released in early ¹04 but it is now officially available as a downloadable EP through iTunes UK and Napster (complete with an expanded, 10 minute disco mix)

08) Feel Good Inc./Gorillaz: the second unbearably catchy tune in this "Best of '05" collection, "Feel Good" has been known to make me actually dance while driving, much to my wife¹s chagrin. The song also features the best work from De La Soul since, sadly, 1991¹s "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays"

09) Just Can¹t Get Enough/Nouvelle Vague: Well, they missed the lounge music craze by a at least a decade, yet somehow some of the songs from their album of lounged-up '80s classics still work ­ especially this cover of the Depeche Mode "standard."

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