http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/musi ... ory=532512
The Ten Best Pastoral Pop Songs
By British Sea Power
18 June 2004
1 HAZEY JANE II
Nick Drake
The late Drake is, of course, the king of pastoral pop in the post-rock'n'roll era. Most of us long to sit in the woods, with only the creaking of the trees and the whistling of the billy. It's a profound mood but difficult to convey without biscuit-tin sentimentality. Here, Nick hits the spot as he wonders: "What will happen in the evening in the forest with the weasel?"
2 GREEN GRASS OF TUNNEL
Múm
Toweringly gorgeous electro-pastoral from Iceland. Not for Múm the crashing glaciers and grinding tectonic plates of their countrymen in Sigur Ros. This is a great big sensual ode to alluring, haunting greenery. Quick! Abrade yourself with birch twigs and into the icy water!
3 THIS CHARMING MAN
The Smiths
Good old Morrissey normally only gets out of the city to look at graves up on the moors. But here he is loitering beside his broken bike on a "hillside desolate". A nice reminder that fields can be furtive places.
4 BABES IN THE WOOD
The Copper Family
Traditional unaccompanied harmony singing from Sussex, music that has been passed down by the Coppers for more than 200 years. The patriarch, Bob Copper, recently died at 89. British Sea Power are just proud to have played on the same stage as them.
5 SYCAMORE
Saint Etienne
Kraftwerk showed even the least attentive observer that electronic music could be beautifully pastoral. Here, Saint Etienne renew the idea with a heartbreaking mix of dales and diodes. Fantastically bittersweet stuff from their underrated Sound of Water album.
6 THE LICORICE FIELDS AT PONTEFRACT
Sir John Betjeman
This comes from the Late Flowering Love album, which is Betjy-boy reading his poetry over music. Here, he intones lines about a rascally tryst with his "red-haired robber chief" over a mix of Velvet Underground and brass band.
7 FRESHER THAN THE SWEETNESS IN WATER
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
The Welsh wonders are masters of an odd bucolic vibe. It seems their vision is misted by various things, including the mist itself. From their Blue Trees EP, this is a cover of a song by the Sixties gang Honeybus.
8 SQUARE TWO
Buck 65
Rare rustic hip hop from this upright Canadian. We met him last year at the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire. The night got so pastoral that our keyboard man, Eamon, ended up enjoying a French kiss with a Friesian heifer.
9 COMBINE HARVESTER
The Wurzels
A novelty hit, but a great and lusty one that bears testimony to the lunacy of The Wurzels.
10 THE SMALLEST CHURCH IN SUSSEX
British Sea Power
Our bass man, Hamilton, did superbly here, sneaking into the lovely church at Lullington to thrown down a mournful row on the pump organ. Full of valley-deep melancholy and a mention for the beautiful rock formation the Seven Sisters.
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The Ten Best Pastoral Pop Songs
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