St. Vincent part 2 & The Rolling Stones Top 75 Countdown (#72-70)

Anne Clark (St. Vincent) spent much of her time in Seattle writing her third album, Strange Mercy. She described that time in these words: "I would just get up in the morning and caffeinate, and run, and go to the studio for 12 hours, come back, eat dinner alone with a book, have a glass of wine, and go to bed. And do it all over again."

Strange Mercy (2011) received widespread acclaim from music critics. The album was St. Vincent's highest-charting album yet, peaking at #19 on the US Billboard 200.

Chloe In The Afternoon, the album's opener, explores Clark's misgivings about monogamy, particularly the societal pressures on and assumptions about human relationships.

The second track in the album is Cruel, an ambitious song that gets its inspiration from various different genres. It describes the disconnect of fulfilling one’s duty whilst inhabiting the dreamlike reality of a life on Prozac.

Cruel is followed by Cheerleader, a song that reminds us more than a little of Kate Bush. In its lyrics she claims to have “seen America with no clothes on”, and doesn’t “want to be a cheerleader no more”.

Two soundtracks for The Twilight Saga have featured songs from her. The first, Roslyn, was in collaboration with Bon Iver and appeared on the 2009 soundtrack for New Moon; her second, The Antidote, was written for and appeared on 2012's Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

Here's Roslyn:

... And here's The Antidote:

In June 2012, Who, the first single from her collaboration with David Byrne, formerly of Talking Heads, was released. The single came from their album Love This Giant, an intriguing experiment with a very interesting use of horns, which was released in September 2012. Who is a dogged funk track with both parties imprinting their distinctive personalities without it turning into a push-me-pull-you power struggle.

From the same album, here's Weekend in the Dust:

On May 28, 2013, David Byrne and St. Vincent released Brass Tactics EP, which included their version of the Talking Heads' classic Road To Nowhere.

On November 19, 2013, Clark received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Performing Arts. A few weeks later, her fourth album, St. Vincent were released, alongside the first single, Birth in Reverse, a song released with the desire to make people dance and “blur the boundaries between a rock show and the theatre”.

The album has received universal critical acclaim, with a 89% Metacritic score. NME, The Guardian, musicOMH, Entertainment Weekly and Slant Magazine named it the best album of 2014.

The second single off this album was Digital Witness. Its lyrics deal with people's increasing dependence on social media. “If I can’t show it, if you can’t see me,” she sings, “What’s the point of doing anything?”

The album is St. Vincent most successful to date. It peaked at #12 in the US Album chart, #15 in Canada, #18 in Denmark, and #21 in the UK.

Another track off this album, Prince Johnny, deals with gender identity and defying traditional gender roles. What it means to be a 'real boy' or a 'real girl'. It’s an ambient and luxurious ballad, affectionate and gorgeously melodious.

On April 10, 2014, Clark fronted Nirvana performing lead vocals on Lithium at the 29th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

A few months ago, St. Vincent covered the Rolling Stones' Emotional Rescue for the soundtrack of the Tilda Swinton / Ralph Fiennes film A Bigger Splash.

For the last year and a half, Annie has been dating mega-model turned actress Cara Delevingne.

A few words from Annie about her relationship: "Cara is an experientialist—more feet in the fire. I'm less so. If there's a dark room of the subconscious, I want to find it and walk around in it. Sometimes I feel very much in my head and slightly removed from the physical world. For example, I dance onstage, but I don't dance for pleasure offstage. I'll be privy to a dance club or something and just be essentially sober and watch things happen. More as a social observer, like an anthropologist. I'm not in the middle of the dance floor, you know?" She pauses. "That probably doesn't sound like a lot of fun. But I'm having a great time."

Since we've already mentioned the Rolling Stones today, here are three more entries in our countdown of their best songs.

At #72, we have Till the Next Goodbye. A traditional ballad from the Stones' middle period, with slight country music influences, it's found in the 1974 album It's Only Rock 'n Roll. The song has never been performed live by the Stones and is not included on any compilation albums. Yet, it's a great song:

At #71, we find Beast of Burden, from another strong album by the Stones, 1978's Some Girls. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #435 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Here's a live version:

... And here's Bette Midler's version:

Finally for today, at #70, here's the song for which Paul & John of the Beatles provide background vocals and percussion. We Love You was recorded during the sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1967. The song is a droning Moroccan influenced anthem of defiance. Outwardly, it was a message from the band to its fans, expressing appreciation for support in the wake of their recent drug busts. It was also an ironic, tongue in cheek slap in the faces of the police harassing them and the Stones' true feelings about it, putting on a cooperative and friendly face while inside they were seething with anger and indignation.

It was released as a single in the UK with Dandelion as the B-side. It peaked at #8, but only made it to #50 in the US, where Dandelion (which reached #14) was promoted as the A-side.