Inara George — "Fool's Work"

The Club Blue pick from 12/28/2006.

Death Cab for Cutie — "I Will Follow You into the Dark"

Here's the official video, but it messes with the song itself, so I prefer this fan vid of animation reminiscent of The Velveteen Rabbit. Regardless, it's one of Ben Gibbard's best.

Imogen Heap — "Hide and Seek"

The Club Blue pick from 12/21/2006.

Annie Lennox — "Dark Road"

This is a new one I just heard yesterday, from her forthcoming album, Songs of Mass Destruction.

Even though this video is posted by her studio, annoyingly, they've disabled embedding, so here's the direct link.

Jeff Buckley — "Hallelujah"

The Club Blue pick from 12/14/2006. The video I had has since been yanked, so this is just a fan vid, with very few graphics.

Jesca Hoop — "Big Fish"

She’s got other tunes I like better, but doesn’t have many videos yet...

Damien Rice — "The Blower's Daughter"

The Club Blue pick from 12/07/2006.

The Shins — "New Slang"

Bob Dylan — "All Along the Watchtower"

The Club Blue pick from 11/30/2006. The live version I had has been yanked, so here's a fan vid to stand in.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings — "100 Days, 100 Nights"

Here's a nice retro video from this contemporary "old-school funk and soul band." Here's their Wiki entry and their Fresh Air interview. (The Dap Kings have also backed Amy Winehouse.)

Dido — "Thank You" (live)

The Club Blue pick from 11/23/06.

U2 — "Beautiful Day"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Neko Case — "Hold On, Hold On"

The backup vocals are more subdued in this mix than in the released track, where they work to greater effect (sorry, the sound designer in me). But this is still a good take, and a good intro to Neko. Here's her Wiki entry and official site.

Jimi Hendrix — "The Star-Spangled Banner/Purple Haze"

The Club Blue pick from 11/9/06.

Koop — "Koop Island Blues"

Camera Obscura — "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken"

The Club Blue pick from 11/2/2006. I have an earlier post on this song here.

John Lee Hooker — "Boogie Chillen'"

With Clapton and the Stones. Perfect for All Saints' Day, since if this doesn't get ya movin', you're already dead.

Gnarls Barkley — "Crazy"

The Club Blue pick from 10/26/2006.

A Fine Frenzy — "Almost Lover"

More of the new guard, this time with 22-year-old singer-songwriter Alison Sudol, under her stage name. (The synch seems off, sadly, but the original version I found was yanked.)

John Lennon — "Across the Universe"

It would have been John Lennon's 67th birthday today. Here's a fan vid for one of his prettiest tunes, that also features some of his most evocative lyrics. Here's some footage of John and the lads in India.

Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn

The ladies do a medley. The video ain't pristine, and the band's too loud for the voices, but there ain't nothin' that can hide that these ladies rock!

Dave Brubeck Quartet — "Take Five"

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Monterey Jazz Festival. Dave Brubeck played at the first, and he's back for his 14th festival appearance for the 50th. Congratulations to all involved! You can hear complete sets from many of the musicians (including Brubeck) at NPR here.

Meanwhile, here's Brubeck, with Paul Desmond on sax, performing one of their classics (in 5/4 time).

MC Solaar — "Nouveau Western"

The Le Club Bleu pick from 9/22/06.

MC Solaar was born in Senegal and raps in French. The video's pretty cool.

John Lennon — "Watching the Wheels"

The Clue Blue pick for 9/18/06. Guess I was on a Beatles kick.

The Pink Martinis — "Hey Eugene"

The first of the new picks. I'm not going to bother to link the cross-posts for the new set.

A fun, varied and very talented group.

The Beatles — "Hey Bulldog"

This Club Blue pick for 9/14/07 was to commerate the one-year anniversary, hence the Beatles again.

The Beatles — "Don't Let Me Down"

The first Club Blue pick, 9/14/06. The original video was taken down, but here's a replacement.

Luciano Pavarotti — "Nessun Dorma"

This is from Puccini's last opera, Turandot. More on this piece and Pavarotti here.

About This Blog

For the past year, I've done the music picks for Thursday for the nightly "Club Blue" feature at The Blue Herald. I thought it'd be nice (or at least useful to me) to collect them here. Now that Club Blue is one year old, it felt like a good time to start. I'll be cross-posting all my picks here for the future, and for this first year will also recap last year's picks — although it's a bit surprising how many videos are no longer available!