Favorite or Great NW Ballads

[Frau_Blucher]

Not to be a stickler, but in looking over some of the selections again, I wonder if everyone knows what a ballad is? A lot of these choices are kinda romantic or sentimental ones, which ballads often are, but they're not just that. I think the more important element is that they're defined as being narratives, often with some arcane repeting chorus, the exact nature of which I'm not really sure of. A lot of these songs instead are more exclamatory than narrative.

Just my picky 2 cents. [:I]


(And while I'm being picky, could I ask Popreactor to get rid of that long line in his signature? It's causing the posts to scroll off the page.)

[Synthpopfan]

Erasure - Always
Erasure - Oh LAmour
The Acoustic versions are fantastic. [;)]

[darwinsky]

This is a great topic. I think this was the intention of the "sappy songs" thread but it got lost when people started putting in non-NW songs. I think I'm going to compile most of the songs mentioned here for listening when I'm in my easy-listening, laid-back mood.

My contributions -
Mission UK - Butterfly on a Wheel
Prefab Sprout - Goodbye Lucille No. 1
Adventures - Desert Rose
Everything But the Girl - Angel, Night I Heard Caruso Sing
Blue Zoo - Love Moves in Strange Ways
Scarlet & Black - Dream Out Loud
Climie Fischer - Rise to the Occasion
Depeche Mode - Waiting for the Night
Erasure - Stay With Me, When I Needed You, Rock me Gently


dar

[skinnytie]

Elvis Costello - "Shipbuilding"
Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark - "Talking Loud and Clear"
Blancmange - "Waves"

[waukena]

Graham Parker and the Rumour - 'You Can't be too Strong'
Pretenders - 'Thin Line Between Love and Hate'
Tom Robinson Band - 'I Shall be Released' & 'Hold Out'
The Jam - 'That's Entertainment'
Concrete Blonde - 'Tomorrow Wendy'

[schwenko]

Just in case it hasn't been mentioned before- Souvenir-OMD

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>Not to be a stickler, but in looking over some of the selections again, I wonder if everyone knows what a ballad is? A lot of these choices are kinda romantic or sentimental ones, which ballads often are, but they're not just that. I think the more important element is that they're defined as being narratives, often with some arcane repeting chorus, the exact nature of which I'm not really sure of. A lot of these songs instead are more exclamatory than narrative.
[/quote]
[}:)][}:)][}:)]

[waukena]

ok, so how about you critique the choices you don't agree with? I know you hate insulting anyone[:D], so how about you just do mine?

[djcraig]

Lonely Summer Nights- The Stray Cats

Halo- The Cure

The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get- Morrisey

Every Day Is Like Sunday- The Smiths

Alison- Elvis Costello

Wrapped Around Your Finger- The Police

Eyes Without A Face- Billy Idol

Somebody- Depeche Mode

Kudos to those that listed "The Bitterest PIll", "I Go To Sleep" and "The Message Is You". Those are some of my faves!

However, I could have done without seeing "The Captain Of Her Heart" By Double. Doesn't that belong on the Guitly Pleasures Thread or 10 Worst Songs Thread?...

right next to "The Pina Colada Song"![xx(]

[avcool4u]

To each his own,
but I agree with Blir. Some of these don't fit the
"typical" ballad formula. They're also a little too upbeat.
What is a "power ballad"? - something like a regular, uptempo song that has a relationship message or other in it?

Either way, I'm not an expert. A lot of good choices in there.
If you had to pick one to be your first (SLOW) dance at your wedding what would it be?

-Tobes
Check out my new wave cover band in Western New York:
www.roar84.com

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by waukena[/i]
<br>ok, so how about you critique the choices you don't agree with? I know you hate insulting anyone[:D], so how about you just do mine?
[/quote]
I don't think you're getting me Wayne. I'm opening a discussion to the possibility that not all these tracks are what are typically known as ballads, a narrative form of song that often takes a sentimental tone and probably has sort of old folk-based structures. I'm certainly not critiquing the songs themselves.

Might there be someone else who actually knows what entirely defines a ballad? Not all of these seemed like ballads to me.

[JohnPaulGeorgeRingo]

Thinking Of You - The Colourfield


_______________________________________________________________________
Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

[MARV]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad

The Cure, Catch.
Billy Bragg, Moving the Goalposts.

<a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/cetaceans/index.cfm">I dig whales.</a>

[guyinsf]

"Ballad" can't be fully defined and when I thought of this topic, I had to be careful and stated that I wasn't sure if my choices represented true ballad but since my definition of ballad had 2 main factors in it, slow tempo and love theme, I felt pretty confident that most would agree with my choices. I think overall, the choices are great but there are some that are way to upbeat to be thought of as ballands, as criticized by some already. I have never thought of the following as ballads:

Depeche Mode - see you
Erasure - oh Lamour
OMD - talking loud and clear
Berlin - rumor of love

Great examples of ballad:
Berlin - take my breath away
Sinead - nothing compares to you (not NW though)

[Sean]

Too many awesome ones but these are a few of my favorites from my top 10 bands:

Hubert Kah/Sandra - Suzanne
The Pet Shop Boys - Violence
Boytronic - Forever
Alphaville - Lassie Come Home
A-ha - Hunting High & Low
OMD - All That Glitters
Clan Of Xymox - Equal Ways
Talk Talk - Tomorrow's Started
Depeche Mode - A Question Of Lust
B-Movie - Just An Echo

and although they are not on my top 10, I totally love this ballad:

Minor Detail - I'll Always Love You