The Bridge
- We May Never Pass This Way Again-Seals & Crofts (One of the best soft rock tunes about appreciating the best parts of life when they happen. Its lyrical sentimentality is appropriate in any era.)
- Owner Of A Lonely Heart-Yes (It still leaps out of the speakers as much as it did in 1983. It's no wonder this was Yes's biggest hit.)
- Tragedy-Norah Jones (One of several smoky piano-and-smooth-vocal highlights from the new release, "Day Breaks." Also recommended: "Flipside" and "It's A Wonderful Time For Love.")
- Stagnation-Genesis (One of the band's early Peter Gabriel-era standouts. "Stagnation" and "The Knife" are two of the highlights from the album, "Trespass." The band isn't as instrumentally concise as it would become, but the tune builds to its chorus effectively.)
- Hurting Each Other-The Carpenters (The Carpenters were adept at crafting hits that hold up. Karen Carpenter's vocal intro on this tune is one of her most effective, and she sings each lyric and the chorus with equally effective gravity.)
- Early Morning Rain-Eva Cassidy (Cassidy sings this Gordon Lightfoot tune powerfully and authoritatively.)
- Pannonica-Thelonious Monk (I've recommended covers of this tune on this blog, so it's time I recommended Monk's original version. The tune has a great, musty (in the best sense) melody with a strangely appealing dissonance. Whenever I listen to it, I imagine monsters dancing at a costume ball.)
- Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight-George Benson (A smoothly sung cover of one of James Taylor's best hits.)
