Music for "Tough Times"

Hmmm... Dvorzak's New World Symphony, Handel's Water Music, Beethoven's 9th and 1812 overture do the job for me if I am trying to feel better...

And sometimes, I'm just so down and gloomy that Urban Hymns by the Verve, The Man Who by Travis (Specially the second half) and the track Sarajevo from Yo Yo Ma's Solo keep me in that down mood.

But, now that I finally quit my job, I bet I will not have too many more of these depressed days ahead of me...

jadem6: wow, talk about a heavy heart. how can anybody else but you possibly understand? tell ya what: i'm gonna' go listen to sheryl's "tues. night" right now in the hope it'll get you, and maybe even me, through the next 4X10 years. keep on truckin'. -kelly

Joy Division, particularly Unknown Pleasures. When I'm in a pissy mood, I don't want to listen to happy feel-good music -- it's like nails on a chalk board. Definitely not for everyone though, nor for the better days.

I decided to chime in because I saw a few of my favorites listed here (namely Daniel Lanois Acadie, and various by the Cowboy Junkies). Jadem6, your 3 picks from Sheryl Crow are my moody favorites as well.

I think it would be fair to add U2's the Unforgettable Fire, especially side B (the album was produced by Lanois) and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (which I consider an American masterpiece). I can honestly say that I've listened to Acadie more times than any CD in my collection.

Another "tough times" album of more recent creation might be The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin. If you really want to put a cherry on top of a bad day, read an early novel by Charles Bukowski. You'll end up laughing and will feel better in the end.

Some very moving posts up there, for me, a newcomer, many of the names slowly get a human face. I'll give you something classical: Schubert's Quintet in C minor, he wrote it in the month of his early and untimely death and to me its all about despair, anguish and then a serenity slowly building up and a letting go. It helped me enormously after my wife died five years ago, I listened to it practically every night and afterwards I could sleep.
The second movement always brings up tears, but in a good way and then "Ella Fitzgerald sings the Blues", she brings all those classical oldies to a new and passionate life, the blues are close to your own pain, but the driving force is vital and envigourating. Highly recommended, if you can find it.