It’s funny. Each time I sit down to write an entry for the next five Happy Rhodes songs on my list, I end up rearranging them a bit. It just goes to show how difficult it is to rank her songs, and it gets harder and harder the higher up we go, especially in the Top 20. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I did get to see Happy perform lived as a solo artist once, and then a few more times in a Peter Gabriel tribute band Security Project. I very much hope to see her perform more of her own material again someday, and hopefully she will record another album of her own soon. Actually, I want the album more than the show. The studio is where Happy really excels!
#30.) The Flight – Equipoise (1993) – Happy’s sixth studio album is notable for me, as it was the first of her work that I was purchased. Because of that, it has possibly impacted me the most of all her work. Eight songs from this album made my Top 40, with The Flight being the first at #30. Interestingly enough, the second and third tracks from Equipoise, The Flight being track three, are about the same characters, a vampire, and his vampire hunter lover., Gabrielle. In The Flight, Happy pairs somber verses with her skittish keyboards and Kevin Bartlett’s bass and percussion to tell a story of an ancient vampire who grows weary of existence and is ready to submit himself to his killer, Gabrielle. I search around to some references to a vampire hunter named Gabrielle, and there is one notable character from a Role-playing game based novel, House of Hell where Gabrielle is a niece of one of the notable Van Helsing family, who were famous vampire hunters in pursuit of Count Dracula. Another Gabrielle of note came from Ann Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, but she is a vampire, not a hunter. For me, it’s the intricate music juxtaposed with the dreamy lyrics that make this song so interesting.
#29.) Murder – Warpaint (1991) – Happy often tackles some of her toughest subjects lyrically while wrapping them in upbeat, poppy melodies. Murder is one of these songs while the singer grapples with the darker side of human nature. She states that she believes in the goodness in humanity but struggles with the impulses that cause people to do harm to others, and in particular, animals. The percussive beat does have a sinister tone, but the verse comes in with a positive major melody. it’s a song about questioning, about trying to grapple with darkness. Those darker sounds come in at the chorus, in her search for the root of this darkness so she can understand it. She sings with passion, especially the lines, “You cannot defy their will, but I would rather die than kill.” It’s not until the last verse when she mentions the apathy of a woman who stands by and watches a cat die that there might be a hint of the song being about mans violence toward lesser creatures, a theme that comes up in some of her other songs. The emphasize her point, the song ends with a distorted lead guitar line that takes us out of the song.
#28.) Glory – Building the Colossus (1994) – The third of nine songs from Building the Colossus to appear in my Top 40, Glory is the closing track, and is another song that tells of her love of animals. It’s a lovely, gentle song, with an odd opening that features conversations in the background and a slow fade in with some lovely bass work, and light percussion. Then a nice acoustic guitar propelling the verses forward. It’s a very simple track the was one of my early favorite songs. It’s got a great outro too, again highlighting the bass playing by Kevin Bartlett, and some great drumming by Jerry Marotta. It’s funny, Happy has said that Building the Colossus is an album that she can’t listen to because she doesn’t like the production. She says she likes some of the songs on it, but she feels that looking back it doesn’t hold up. Ironically, it’s the album that seems to be my favorite, as it has the most songs on this list, and the most songs (4!) in my Top 10! Just goes to show, there’s an audience for all of your work, Happy!
#27.) If I Ever See the Girl Again – Building the Colossus (1994) – I can actually see why Happy might be a little disappointed with the production on this song… it’s a little bit on the nose, sounding like the opening of The Addam’s Family. But the lyrical message is so great and spins out so cleverly, you can forgive any clumsiness in the song structure. When all is said and done, it’s actually damn catchy and fun, and ultimately triumphant. It starts off with Happy criticizing a girl she sees who she thinks is pathetic, and how if she ever sees her again, she will befriend her. It turns out, it’s adult Happy looking back on her younger self, and essentially accepting herself and loving herself. It’s actually pretty close to a pop song, and one that often catches the attention of people who hear it that don’t know Happy.
#26.) Ra is a Busy God – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – Textures. Happy does wonders with textures, and nowhere more so than in this song. From the opening wind chimes and the sound of the crashing surf, and a morse code-type signal moving from left to right to the first keyboard washes and Happy’s plea for Ra to take her with him. Keyboards pop, bass riffs swoop, all while Happy celebrates the Egyptian god Ra, who rules over the sun, the sky, the earth, even the underworld. It’s playful, even while it’s atmospheric. The singer is longing for Ra’s attention, and she is envious of his friends, the moon, the rain, the wind. She could be an ancient worshipper in Egypt, or perhaps she is a modern-day human just glorying in a beautiful day. The fun sing-songy bridge adds a playful touch before some gentle electric guitar picking underscores some call and response between the different voices of Ms. Rhodes. I’ve included a live, acoustic, live version of the song because it shows how beautifully Happy’s songs are constructed so that they are beautiful in so many forms. And what a great percussionist!
At some point I realized that I was working my way toward the list of my favorite Kate Bush songs, which made me think about Happy Rhodes. Like Emm, Happy was quite prolific and had a major body of work. In addition, I discovered her just as she was releasing her sixth album, so once I fell in love with her music, I went back and bought her first five albums, all while she continued to release new music. Again, because of my poor music listening habits, I knew there were a handful of songs I really loved and could name if someone asked me, the rest of her music kind of blended together for me as music by an artists whose work I really admired. This was the perfect opportunity to really dig into Rhodes’ twelve albums and listen to each song carefully and multiple times to rank all of her music. 
Soon after, Happy met Kevin Bartlett, a musician who had his own recording label, Aural Gratification, and he released all the songs that she had recorded to date on cassette. She had enough songs to release three cassettes at the same time in 1986, Rhodes Vol. I, Rhodes Vol. II, and Rearmament, followed one year later by a fourth cassette release, Ecto. These first four albums all featured Happy on all instruments, with the first two largely just acoustic guitar and voice, and the latter two adding in electronic keyboards. These releases weren’t conceived as albums, but just collections of her previously written songs.
#1 – AND THEN WE DANCED – I’m very hard on my gay, coming-of-age films, but writer/director Levan Akin’s powerful story of Merab, a young man in conservative Georgia, who has been training for years for a spot in the National Georgian Ensemble. When a new male dancer arrives Merab starts to see a whole know way of living. There are so many reasons why AND THEN WE DANCED is an outstanding film, from the sensitive and passionate screenplay, to the artful direction and cinematography, but much of the success lies in the hands of the young lead actor Levan Gelbakhiani, a dancer by training, whose every emotion washes over his open, beautiful face so transparently that your heart is always with him. And while this is a gay coming-of-age story there is so much more going on in this film, from Merab’s challenging home life, the rigors of his dance training, but central to it all, that rush of first love and first heartbreak. This one took me by surprise in so many ways, and has stayed with me strongly. 
#2 – LIGHT FROM LIGHT – While Paul Harrill’s lovely film is sort of marketed as a paranormal investigation story (and it is that) it’s more about a pair of folks who are haunted by their own circumstances and how they are able to help each other. As a child, Shelia had a couple of visions that came true, and from there she went on to investigate paranmoral occurrences. A widower whose wife died under unusual circumstances hires Shelia to see if his wife’s spirit is still lingering in the house they shared. This is a truly slow burn, but once it’s got its hook in you, you’ll be glad you’re dragged along. The power of these quiet scenes took me by surprise, and the acting by Marin Ireland and Jim Gaffigan is just gorgeous. Josh Wiggins does great as well, as Shelia’s son, who is struggling with some big decisions that are colored by his mom’s history. Lovely cinematography in the Appalachians, and through the potentially haunted house cap things off beautifully. A powerfully and unexpectedly moving film. 
#3 – NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS – Eliza Hittman follows-up the impressive BEACH RATS with a somber character study about a young woman from Pennsylvania who travels to New York City with her cousin to get an abortion. Things don’t go quite as planned, and the pair end up having to stay longer than expected, with no money to afford them a place to stay. Hittman found her lead actress in fist-timer Sidney Flanigan and effectively uses tight close-ups where the gifted young woman conveys her doubts and anguish through facial expressions alone. The sequence where the film’s title is explained took my breath away. Eliza Hittman is clearly a director to keep an eye on.
#4 – PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE – It’s so rare in a film to actually watch two people fall in love. It doesn’t happen set to a sweeping score, or in a delightfully sweet montage. It doesn’t happen all at once, with locked eyes, or a catching of breath. It happens slowly, over time, starting perhaps with admiration, then intrigue, perhaps desire, and slowly, that first blush of love. Céline Sciamma, already notable for her films WATER LILLIES and GIRLHOOD, creates an exquisite portrait herself, of a female painter in late eighteenth century Brittany, who is hired to paint the wedding portrait of a very unhappy… and unwilling young woman. As the painter paints, she peers, she gazes, she examines her subject, and in doing so, becomes the object of her subjects gaze as well. Stunningly beautiful, intensely engaging, a technical marvel, Sciamma’s PORTRAIT is a work of art. 
#5 – SOUND OF METAL – I went into this film knowing nothing… in fact, I went into it with misinformation. I assumed, from the photo I saw, that it was a documentary about a heavy metal drummer who develops tinnitus. Instead, this stunning narrative follows the difficult path of a young man, a recovering addict involved in a slightly co-dependent relationship with a woman with whom her performs in a quasi-punk, quasi-art due, who damages his hearing to the point of deafness. Featuring a bravura performance by rising star Riz Ahmend, this drummer is entirely focused on a cure, while the community around him works tirelessly to help him to accept his lack of hearing and to adjust to a new way of living. First time director Darius Marder has created s powerful exploration of a man facing a challenge that shakes him to his core identity, and follows him through the arduous journey he must take to adapt.
#6 – SORRY WE MISSED YOU – Ken Loach tackles serious subject, and often his characters are struggling, working-class folk. In this film, he focuses on a family who’s just barely getting by in London: Ricky (Dad) drives a delivery van (think Amazon), Abbie (Mom) does home health care with horrible hours, Seb is technically in high school, but he’d rather be out spray painting some graffiti, and Liza Jae is the youngest, trying desperately to keep everyone happy. Despite best intentions and potential opportunities, things the Proctor family just can’t catch a break, and things just get worse and worse. Arguments turn into fights, things are done that can’t be taken back, but the incredible power of this film is through it all, Loach shows us by the actions of his characters that there is deep, familial love here, despite everything. It’s a tough film that broke my heart. 
#7 – FIRST COW – Kelly Reichardt returns to an historic era, this time the 1800’s and the Westward Expansion, to tell a tale of friendship and early entrepreneurship during a rough and tumble time. An out of work cook helps a fugitive Chinaman, forging a quiet friendship then dreaming of what they could do to become successful in a frontier settlement. A number of things come together, the chef’s baking skills, the lack of interesting bread and sweets on the frontier, and the introduction of the first cow in the area, owned by a wealthy landowner who needed some cream for his afternoon tea. Reichardt has evolved into one of my favorite filmmakers, and her attention to detail, her skills with portraying friendships, and her comfort with silence create some beautiful cinematic tales. 
#8 – SONG WITHOUT A NAME – Late 80’s Peru, on the precipice of being overwhelmed by terrorism by a group called The Shining Path. First-time feature director and co-writer Melina León paints a portrait of life in both the City, and the outskirts where the indigenous communities live in poverty. She focuses on one young woman, Georgina, who is about to give birth, but is too poor to cover the costs of the clinic. When she hears an ad on the radio of a clinic helping people avoid these costs, she takes the opportunity. Unfortunately, she becomes part of a growing newborn kidnapping movement, and as a poor, migrant woman, she is ignored by both the police and the judicial system. Her only hope is an eager young reporter who is assigned to dig into her story and uncover the truth, even while he is concealing his own truth that could put his life at risk. This grim story is told with powerful visuals the both highlight and counter the harsh life that Georgina faces. 
#9 – CAT IN THE WALL – Illustrating both the strong bonds of family, and the gritty, harsh reality of current day life for some in London, CAT IN THE WALL follows a family of Bulgarian immigrants whose lives are thrown into disarray when a conflict with their neighbors over a cat escalates. This artfully written film that feels like improv, but must surely be carefully scripted, gives us a look into a housing development with a mix of residents, and a decision made to renovate the windows despite none of the tenants asking for it. The cost is borne by those who have long-term leases, and lead character Irina, struggling to find work as an architect but making ends meet working in a pub, tries to rally her fellow tenants in protest. Meanwhile, her conflict with her neighbors around the cat, puts her entire family in jeopardy.
#10 – KAJILLIONAIRE – Miranda July is consistent with her quirky characters that deliver powerfully moving messages from both her debut, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, and its follow-up, THE FUTURE. In KAJILLIONAIRE, she steps out of the performance aspect of the film sticking to the writing and directing, but allows Evan Rachel Wood to bring to life an amazingly strange, yet wonderful character in Old Dolio, daughter of an aging couple who decades ago stepped away from capitalist society to live a life off the grid, making their ways through cons and grifts. It’s amazing how July can weave such odd and off-putting characters into a narrative that not only reveals, but redeems them with heart and soul.