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21. Cousin Ice - Catch Your Glow I actually much prefer the LP version on this, but it's not on youtube. It has enhanced female choral vocals and the instrumentation is more complex too. One of the better "city" narratives out there.

20. Funk Fusion Band - Can You Feel It (Progressive Version)

19. Gene Clark - No Other The first time I heard this song, the guy playing it said Clark was in a very "coked-out" portion of his life when he made this. I've never felt this good on cocaine. "Power is perfection". Always looking for more like this, let me know.

18. Black Rascals - Keeping My Mind Another very specific vocal house record. Great breakup tune but the simple looped melody puts it in another class. I played this for a friend who's not into dance music and it sounded very "poppy" to him. Damn right! The way the vocal was recorded definitely...

17. Fingers Inc - Mystery of Love (Instrumental) I puzzled over this record in the box in the basement for several days, maybe even a week. Where had I heard that title discussed in such vaunted tones? Was it the right song? Heard's finest moment from his early career, in my opinion. Limitless...

16. 51 Days - Paper Moon This record crackles with electricity towards the middle, and the mumbled vocal sample has subliminal powers. I heard this one time and it sounded like I'd connected one electrode to one ear, the other to the other, and somebody was trying to revive me with hundreds of...

15. Scott Grooves - Basic Part (Finished) Triumphant house tune by Mr Grooves. The guy has been honing his craft for 20+ years at the time of this recording, once delighting in major label budgets and splurging on conga players, now likely based in his home studio on the outskirts of Detroit...

14. Norman Connors - Once I've Been There Almost aggressive with the horns and all! Must have been at least 12 musicians involved here. The guitar taking its rightful place as just another rhythm instrument in the playbook. Philip Mitchell on vocals. The lyrics have a wonderful double meaning...

13. Bobbi Humphrey - Harlem River Drive Utterly serene soul jazz. Revolving around the theme of Harlem River Drive, a major thoroughfare in Manhattan, which can be used to get from Brooklyn to the beautiful Catskills for example, this recording exults in the mind-reading capabilities of each...

12. Noni - Be My Friend Another quality I like to consider in music is, how specific is the emotion being communicated? The greater variety and range you can understand in music, the better you'll be able to tell a story. There's a crossover here between the romantic ideal and the platonic...

11. Wagner - Das Rheingold (Prelude) conducted by Georg Solti Famously used in Malick's The New World, this piece has a building, explosive quality very much in demand, by me. Again, the crossover drones that we heard in Chalk's "Blue Field", with a little more pace to them, and ultimately more...

10. Leonin - Messe du Jour de Noel (performed by Ensemble Organum) The supreme vocal recording, if you've ever considered converting to Christianity, give this one a spin. The voices float in a sort of crystal sphere, and some of the harmonies are sweet enough to crack through any emotional...

9. Alfredo de la Fe - My Favorite Things Extreme Latin psychedelia, and we all love a standard. Pretty novel execution here, the violinist as bandleader thing is hard to pull off. I'd say he does it even better than Michael White, whose records are good when White holds back, contributing only...

My main objectives for this list include: How fun is it to dance to? I find the loopy stuff is too predictable, and just keeping time (counting) with my body is less interesting, and doesn't occupy enough of my attention. When breaks in the grid occur, it's a delight to follow them - the same...

8. Francois K - Hypnodelic Easily Freddie Turner's best moment, where the hell did that performance come from? Another perfect mixdown from Kevorkian, thank god he had almost 20 years to practice in the studio before people started making house proper. Totally authoritative melody on the keys...

7. Andrew Chalk - Blue Field I heard this one for the first time sitting in a friend's hot tub at night. I thought it was about 14 minutes long, turns out it's actually 4 and a bit. Something about how the drones overlap renders the passage of time meaningless, especially if you're in hot water...

6. 280 West feat. Diamond Temple - Love's Masquerade Whew, long one. Wearing the mask - this one goes down well at costume parties. You can sort of disappear into the illusion, both that the beloved one is everything, and that this song is going to go on forever. Temple singing directly to you...

5. Melba Moore - Standing Right Here Cooling out for a second - Melba of "You Stepped Into My Life" fame (The Bee Gees' version is better) sends in one of the calmer disco anthems - utter relief, it's like a full body massage after several years of neck tension. The chorus is singing to win...

4. Ron Hall & The Muthafunkaz ft. Marc Evans 'The Way You Love Me' (Tom Moulton Philly Re-Grooved Mix) Tom Moulton back from disco Olympus to deliver his magnum opus 30 years after he laid the groundwork for the extended disco mix. Reflecting on everything he learned over the years, he set...

3. Gas - Pop 2 Rainforest noises, rainforests exist in North America too. Foggy valley bottoms on the Olympic Peninsula, tops of redwoods disappear into the mist. An album for special occasions. Utterly synthetic though, the traces of German classical and pop utterly erased. A friend of mine...