1. If- Bread

• "If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you? " Those unfamiliar with Bread may have been unknowingly exposed to their music in an elevator, dental office or supermarket. For me "If" came into my life thanks to middle school jazz band. I played the electric piano and had the solo intro for this song. For anyone who attended a Northley middle school band concert in the late 1980s all I can say is "you're welcome". If you like tremolo effects (the wah-wah sound) then this song is for you. "If" is gentle, soothing and would be classified as back ground music by most critics. I recently rediscovered Bread's "Everything I Own" thanks to a cover version on the latest Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs "Under the Covers" album. Both versions are phenomenal.

2. Don't- Rachael Yamagata

• "I can understand all that you are, I can even take all that you're not, I can sympathize with all you want to be, but don't f**k me in front of me." Rachel Yamagata's second album "Elephants....Teeth Sinking Into Heart" closes with this fantastic number. When "don't f**k me in front of me" is your refrain I have to wonder what inspired this song. I suppose if someone is going to do you wrong it's better that they do it out of sight. Or maybe this song is just and ode to doggystle. "Don't" is slow, plodding and methodical with production that is both earthy and ethereal. The vocals (lyrics and delivery) are superb like most songs from Yamagata.

3. The Blue Print- Boogie Down Productions

• "We didn't do it with the soft commercial sound, try the ghetto cause i refuse to let go, you see you don't understand I knew it, you got a copy i read from the blueprint." Any list of the greatest MCs of all time that doesn't include KRS-One wasn't put together by anyone who understands hip hop. "The Blue Print" functions as the title track for "Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop", the 3rd album from the legendary Boogie Down Productions crew. The album is a classic. On the "40oz. to Freedom" album Sublime would pay tribute with "KRS-One", featuring lyrics from The Blueprint's "Breath Control". Of course Jay-Z would come out with an album called "The Blueprint" 17 years later but originality was never big on his list of things to be, if I may paraphrase alt-rock singer Jason Falkner.