Alt Rock Classics
- Home For A Rest-Spirit Of The West (Ordinarily, I don't recommend songs about consuming too much alcohol, but instrumentally, this is such a spirited reel.)
- Pensativa-Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (An inviting bossa nova-esque stew of trumpet and rhythm instruments.)
- Gone Too Soon-Sarah Jarosz (It's a shame that we can't freeze all the positive emotional moments we want and stay in them for as long as we'd like. Jarosz conveys such wistfulness convincingly.)
- Lay Low-Gretchen Peters (It's also a shame that we drift apart from people over time. Thoughtful lyrics such as these remind us that, if nothing else, we can always try to decompress.)
- Emptiness-Trio Elf (Appropriately bleak piano underpinning with an intermittent techno feel.)
- Ottorino Respighi: Antiche Danze ed Arie per Liuto, Suite No. 3: III. Siciliana (Ensemble Amati) (When I hear Respighi's name, I think of the the last movement of "Pines Of Rome" and expect reflexively to hear a brassy, heroic movement. After hearing the third movement of this suite, I was glad to be reminded that Respighi was also adept at composing tender, downcast music for strings.)
- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face-Roberta Flack (I like Pete Seeger's and Roberta Flack's versions of this for the same reason; both renditions, in their own ways, convey the emotional intensity of a moment in which a person's life changed for the better.)
- Move On Up-Curtis Mayfield (One of Mayfield's best uptempo tracks; the song sustains its vibe for all nine minutes. It's effective motivational music for getting up and starting the day.)
- All Time High-Rita Coolidge (Lyrically, this sounds like any number of soft rock songs, but Coolidge sells it, and it crescendos effectively to its chorus. I always thought this deserved more airplay.)
