The Tab’s Top Ten Tracks

Alas, it all ends here for me. I’ve had a hell of a time as Senior Music Critic, from Newton Faulkner baiting to Jaguar Skills appeasing, but all good things must come to an end and now seems a lovely time to sign off. This isn’t the end of my reviewing days, I’m sure I’ll pop up from time, but the music section will now resume under the headship of a new strapping incumbent who will hopefully continue the commitment to honest and write the critically accurate reviews that I’ve come to expect.

But anyway, as Rob signed off in soppy style in Culture Vulture, I felt that my last Top Ten Tracks should be used as a shameless act of self gratification. Here are ten of my favourite tracks for your ears to enjoy (picked solely because I really quite like them) to serenade you while I slowly walk off into the sunset to find and bloodily murder Newton Faulkner with a spade. Wish me luck….

Show your Hand – Super Furry Animals One of the best pop songwriters to have ever lived, ranked in my book ahead of the Beatles, Gruff Rhys remains criminally underrated in the pop history books. Show Your Hand is acoustic loveliness perfectly vocalised in under three minutes and a shot of happiness into a heart of darkness.

Celebrity Sanctum – Dogs Die in Hot Cars Probably the worst named band in the world, but their ode to female Celebrities remains a wonderfully constructed acoustic number building gradually towards a totally glorious chorus based around the phenomenal lead vocals.

Born Under a Bad Sign – Richard Hawley When Alex Turner opened a victory speech following the Arctic Monkeys victory in the 2005 Mercury Music Prize that Richard Hawley had been robbed, he accurately summed up my love for the man. Like a lost treasure from a golden age, this ballad has timeless appeal.

That Summer at home I had become the invisible boy – The Twilight Sad Celebrated originally by the great reviewer John Earls, this track remains one of the greatest brooding songs ever written. Triumphantly exploding outwards from the modest build up, it is track which combines lyrical fantasy to bloody and delightful musical reality.

NYC – Interpol Understated, calm and serene, NYC remains my favourite song off the album I named as the best of the noughties. It’s beautifully constructed, layering upwards over a simple guitar to incorporate an imposing drum beat and forlornly hopeful vocals to great effect.

Sweet Song – Blur When Graham Coxon left, it was thought that Blur wouldn’t be able to carry on. They were right and Think Tank still doesn’t feel like a Blur album but it represented the beginning of Damon Albarn’s growth as a writer and Sweet Song was one of the finest moments. An absolutely beautiful heartbreaker, it’s a track of devastating maturity.

Re:Stacks – Bon Iver The closing number from one of my most played LPs, the devastating simplicity closes an album of loneliness and desolation on a traumatically sad note. It brings a tear to my eye every time I listen but I still come back to hear it again and again, a testament to it’s quality.

Racing Like a Pro – The National It was such a difficult choice to pick from a back catalogue with such high quality within but Racing like a Pro edged out numerous other classic tracks to reside in the list. Matt Berninger’s vocals are as deeply emotive as ever, but the plucked acoustic riff and Sufjan Steven’s piano playing elevate it to a work of melancholic beauty.

Fugitive Motel – Elbow One of the first songs to ever really pluck the heart strings, the quite contemplative verse blows away into a chorus of unheralded sadness as Guy Garvey’s poetic lyrics and rich vocals elevate a melodic wonder into a song of genuinely distressing glory.

How I made my Millions – Radiohead A quiet B-side to the No Surprises single, it remains one of my favourite Radiohead songs. There isn’t anything grand on show here just one vocalist and one piano, distorted just enough to create a hauntingly understated effect. It’s powerful, thought provoking and polished to perfection.

The Tab's Top Ten Tracks – Osborn's Favourites