| Whether as metaphors or as intimations of our | | | | 6. Hotel California (song) -- The Eagles. The ghostly |
| mortality, you don't need to necessarily believe in | | | | hotel of the title serves as metaphor for the 1970s |
| ghosts to appreciate them. These ten songs and CDs | | | | L.A. music industry. The choice of 12-string guitar for |
| represent a variety of styles, from somber to | | | | the intro, its strange sound evoking an instrument |
| playful, from traditional to experimental. Free Hotel | | | | from another time, sets the perfect mood. |
| California Guitar TabsBut they all share a sure sense | | | | Best Hotel Finder Click here |
| of artistry that deals with the dead, the dying, or | | | | 7. Hush, Hush, Hush (song) -- Paula Cole, as |
| things departed. | | | | performed by Herbie Hancock and Annie Lennox. In |
| 1. Furry Sings the Blues (song) -- Joni Mitchell. In this | | | | the Hancock/Lennox version of this song about a |
| song about an old blues singer in Memphis, Mitchell is | | | | young man dying of AIDS ("skeleton, your eyes |
| haunted by images of ghosts and a bygone era: | | | | have lost their warmth"), the sombre tune opens up |
| "Bourbon laughter -- ghosts -- and history falls to | | | | into flights of improvisatory jazz, the most beautiful |
| parking lots and shopping malls." | | | | and moving evocation of a soul being released that |
| 2. The Ghost of Tom Joad (song) -- Bruce | | | | you'll ever hear. |
| Springsteen. With the restrained, transparent | | | | 8. The Spectral Ships (CD) -- Richard Bone. Richly |
| arrangement and the whispery singing, Springsteen | | | | introspective, ambient instrumental pieces that create |
| conjures Steinbeck's downtrodden character from | | | | the image of ghostly ships gliding silently across the |
| The Grapes of Wrath. | | | | water. |
| 3. Ghosts I-IV (CD) -- Nine Inch Niles. In Trent | | | | 9. Twilight and Ghost Stories (CD) -- Chris Schlarb. An |
| Reznor's first purely instrumental CD, released earlier | | | | experimental collage of nameless movements and |
| this year, the music is built around ambient drones, | | | | numberless tracks with contributions by 50 artists. |
| simple piano figures and ghostly breathing. | | | | The music weaves together electronic noises, voices, |
| 4. Happy Phantom (song) -- Tori Amos. A lyrical, lilting | | | | field recordings and instruments. One critic describes it |
| tune about coming back as a mischievous ghost: "and | | | | as "an evocation to memory." |
| I'll go chasing the nuns out in the yard." Subtly | | | | 10. Thriller (song) -- Michael Jackson. A campy |
| arranged for piano and a dulcimer that's played in the | | | | voice-over by Vincent Price, a ground-breaking video |
| manner of a de-tuned fiddle. | | | | and a great beat: what's not to love? Given how the |
| 5. Haunted (song) -- Poe. The eerie arrangement | | | | pop idol later used plastic surgery to reshape his face |
| evokes lyrics about being haunted by things from the | | | | into something monstrous, the song was prescient... |
| past: "one more look at the ghost before I make it | | | | an example of life imitating art? |
| leave." | | | | |