Music I Like Part 534

Remember Chuck Klosterman's Music I Like Manifesto? I've been keeping my ears de-waxed, listening intently for snippets to add to my own narrowcast, my musical blueprint, and have found two so far (rather, these two found me by streaming through my speakers recently. I haven't participated in the hunt yet - by playing songs I know I love - because I've been distracted by year-end financial shite).

"Heartbreaker" (Ryan Adams)

1. Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up's chorus, which always grabs my attention with its mix of longing and regret:

I wish you would
Come pick me up
Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends
They're all full of shit
With a smile on your face
And then do it again

I love this chorus, this whole record is pretty good actually. If I get around to writing up a best-of 2007 (about a 60/40 chance), which would include as fair game anything added to my library in 2007, there is a strong likelihood that Heartbreaker (released in 2000) will be named. How did I miss this album for so many years?

"Berlin" (Lou Reed)

2. The opening minute and a half of Lou Reed's Berlin (the title track), especially the piano chords. Starts out what sounds like studio tape-manipulation of some recording of a birthday party. I imagine Reed (or Eno, or Iggy Pop, or whoever his compatriots in the studio was at the time) actually putting their hand on the tape to make it sound like it warbles. Of course, this betrays my ignorance of actual recording studio practice, I don't even know if this is possible. I only remember having a portable reel-to-reel tape as a kid and doing similar experiments with music recorded off a record player. Reed's singing is not what I love about the song, or album, Berlin, though it certainly adds to the general mood of urban angst. No, I really like Allan Macmillan's piano melody swelling out of the tape collage.

YouTubery below, with John Cale playing the piano, and two versions of Come Pick Me Up