MusicWarship

Whether you’re lying on your back watching clouds drift, or sitting on the edge of a cliff listening to waves explode against the rocks, or watching the big sky over the flat plains of Missouri while burning along in a rusted pick-up truck, these sky songs will help.

The sadly departed Chris Whitley recorded a lot of intimate blues in his time - most evoking skin against skin, old shacks surrounded by dead trees, dry wood crackling in the firepiece - but this is his masterpiece, from his debut album, a tender romance of the big sky:

MP3: Chris Whitley - “Big Sky Country” (from Living With The Law, 1991).

Known nearly exclusively for his haunting Mad World cover, the rest of Gary Jules’ sublime work has gone largely neglected:

MP3: Gary Jules - “There’s A Hole In The Sky” (from Gary Jules, 2006).

Okay, so Moby’s title implies it’s about some spiritual water shit, but can’t you imagine this as the soundtrack for a slow motion, Koyannisqatsi-like film of clouds parting, and the sun shining through over lush green valleys? Because I can:

MP3: Moby - “God Moving Across The Face Of The Waters” (from Songs: 1993-1998, song released in 1995).

If you ever get the opportunity to stare at the sky after losing the love of your life - preferably a beautiful, enigmatic, fiery, black-haired Spanish woman - I wholeheartedly recommend this Chris Isaak track as the backing track:

MP3: Chris Isaak - “Blue Spanish Sky” (from Heart Shaped World, 1989).

Before they got into their epic, tight-jeans-and-long-hair rock thing, the Kings often dealt in Gram-esque blue sky country:

MP3: Kings Of Leon - “Talihina Sky” (from the What I Saw EP, 2003).

A guy I bet really loves the sky. In a loveable, earnest way:

MP3: James Taylor - “Sunny Skies” (from Sweet Baby James, 1970).

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 8:30 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.