4 am - 5 am

4 A.M. Eyes are closing despite your struggle. Morton Feldman's almost seamless fabric of music for piano and string quartet is both hypnotic and transporting. I use the word "fabric" with good reason. The composer is said to have written in admiration of tapestries with just the occasional fascinating imperfection. The recording Piano And String Quartet is by The Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi (Nonesuch).
As you drift between the conscious and unconscious worlds, you may glance at a mute television to find that Oliver Postgate's Clangers is being aired. If you can't find a channel showing these stop-frame animated parables of the wonderful armadillo-like creatures and their planet, you can always use Vernon Elliot's lovely score (Trunk) to dream your own version.

1. Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (Kronos Quartet) pt 1
    Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (Kronos Quartet) pt 2
2. *The Clangers - Dialogue From Episode 1 (3:33)
3. The Clangers - The Start Of Music (4:30)
4. The Clangers - Musical Sequences (2:30)
5. The Clangers - From "The Seed" (3:18)
6. *The Clangers - From "Music Of The Spheres" (3:19)
7. The Clangers - A Clangers Opera - Act One (Compiled By Oliver Postgate) (11:34)

3 am - 4 am

3 A.M. Quarter to three has come and gone, but that won't stop Only The Lonely (Capitol) from being the ultimate Frank Sinatra album for this time of night - weary, confidential, and completely self-obsessed. You could ask for no more than "Angel Eyes", "Good-Bye", or "One For My Baby". The only record that I know of that is more drained of expectation is Chet Baker's early vocal masterpiece "The Thrill Is Gone". Indeed. You can find it on Chet Baker Sings (Pacific Jazz), and he does. There is a James van Heusen song that both men share. Sinatra's version can be found on In The Wee Small Hours (Capitol). It is both noble and knowing. Chet's narcotic rendition could once be found on Chet Baker With Fifty Italian Strings and has now been reissued as the title track of Deep In A Dream: The Ultimate Chet Baker Collection (Pacific Jazz). It is altogether more troubling.

My cigarette burns me

I wake with a start

My hand isn't hurt

But there's pain in my heart

But we'll love anew

Just as we used to do

When I'm deep in a dream of you.

Now as you edge closer to the darkest hour, play "Ghost Of Yesterday" or "Laughing At Life" (with Lester Young) from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944).

1. Frank Sinatra - Only The Lonely (4:09)
2. Frank Sinatra - Angel Eyes (3:43)
3. Frank Sinatra - Willow Weep For Me (4:48)
4. Frank Sinatra - Good-Bye (5:47)
5. Frank Sinatra - Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry (4:00)
6. Frank Sinatra - Spring Is Here (4:45)
7. Frank Sinatra - One For My Baby (4:27)
8. Chet Baker - The Thrill Is Gone (2:48)
9. Chet Baker - Spring Is Here (1:11)
10. Chet Baker - Let's Get Lost (2:58)
11. Chet Baker - You Don't Know What Love Is (4:52)
12. Chet Baker - My Funny Valentine (vocal) (2:18)
13. Chet Baker - Deep In A Dream (4:33)
14. Frank Sinatra - Deep In A Dream (2:48)
15. Billie Holiday - Ghost of Yesterday (2:39)
16. Billie Holiday - Laughing at Life (2:56)

2 am - 3 am

2 A.M. Jimmy Reed will put a little motor in the mood with the woozy groove of "Take Out Some Insurance" and "My Bitter Seed" from Rockin' With Reed (Vee-Jay). The lights are low - there would be cigarette smoke, but you know that is a filthy habit ... and your heart can't stand another drink. This record does all the hurting for you. The world is winding down. Hounddog (Columbia/Legacy) is the perfect accompaniment. Mike Halby and David Hidalgo's impossibly slow blue pulse never sound better than on "I'll Change My Style".

1. Jimmy Reed - Going To New York [1958] (2:23)
2. Jimmy Reed - A String To Your Heart [1957] (2:53)
3. Jimmy Reed - Ends And Odds [1957] (2:24)
4. Jimmy Reed - Caress Me Baby [1958] (2:54)
5. Jimmy Reed - Take Out Some Insurance [1959] (2:25)
6. Jimmy Reed - The Moon Is Rising [1958] (2:24)
7. Jimmy Reed - I Wanna Be Loved [1958] (2:17)
8. Jimmy Reed - Baby, What's On Your Mind [1957] (3:09)
9. Jimmy Reed - My Bitter Seed [1957] (2:20)
10. Jimmy Reed - Rockin' With Reed [1953] (2:31)
11. Hounddog - No Chance (4:22)
12. Hounddog - I Brought the Rain (3:32)
13. Hounddog - I'll Change My Style (3:51)
14. Hounddog - Down time (3:35)
15. Hounddog - Lonely Dying Love (3:47)
16. Hounddog - Eddie's Gone (4:11)
17. Hounddog - All Fired Up, All Shook Down (5:32)
18. Hounddog - Somebody (Stop the Bleedin') (5:14)

Midnight - 1 am

MIDNIGHT.

Can I cry a little bit?

There's nobody to notice it

Can't I cry if I want to

No one cares...

Randy Newman's magnificent "Just One Smile" comes from Dusty Springfield's Dusty In Memphis (Rhino). It's the record you selected just ahead of that pile of Peggy Lee albums you keep for this very occasion.
The blue mood is irresistible now. The hi-fi plays "You Don't Know Me" from Ray Charles's Modern Sounds In Country And Western (Rhino):

You give your hand to me

And then you say hello

And I can hardly speak

My heart is beating so...

1. Dusty Springfield - Just a Little Lovin' (2:21)
2. Dusty Springfield - So Much Love (3:33)
3. Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man (2:31)
4. Dusty Springfield - I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore (3:13)
5. Dusty Springfield - Don't Forget About Me (2:55)
6. Dusty Springfield - Breakfast in Bed (3:00)
7. Dusty Springfield - Just One Smile (2:44)
8. Dusty Springfield - The Windmills of Your Mind (3:53)
9. Dusty Springfield - In the Land of Make Believe (2:34)
10. Dusty Springfield - No Easy Way Down (3:13)
11. Dusty Springfield - I Can't Make It Alone (3:59)
12. Peggy Lee - Don't Smoke In Bed (3:10)
13. Ray Charles - Bye Bye Love (2:13)
14. Ray Charles - You Don't Know Me (3:14)
15. Ray Charles - Half as Much (3:26)
16. Ray Charles - I Love You So Much It Hurts (3:35)
17. Ray Charles - You Win Again (3:30)
18. Ray Charles - I Can't Stop Loving You (4:13)
19. Ray Charles - Hey, Good Lookin' (2:13)

1 am - 2 am

1 A.M. Surrendering to melancholy... Lucinda Williams's Essence (Lost Highway) plays as loud as the hour allows. Her tales of "Lonely Girls" and reasons to cry use only the essential words. This is a deeper shade of "Blue", her lovely ballad. She will inquire, "Are you down?"
If this is not the way to go for you, then put on John Prine's Great Days (Rhino), a collection of his finest moments, or his album of duets, In Spite Of Ourselves (Oh Boy). Finally, play Sam Phillips's Fan Dance (Nonesuch). It is in a world (and class) of its own and you can visit it.

1. Lucinda Williams - Lonely Girls (4:03)
2. Lucinda Williams - Steal Your Love (3:17)
3. Lucinda Williams - Blue (3:56)
4. Lucinda Williams - Out of Touch (5:30)
5. Lucinda Williams - Are You Down (5:28)
6. Lucinda Williams - Essence (5:53)
7. Lucinda Williams - Reason to Cry (3:44)
8. John Prine - Unwed Fathers (3:32)
9. John Prine - Linda Goes To Mars (3:10)
10. *John Prine & Patty Loveless - Back Street Affair (2:47)
11. *John Prine & Connie Smith - Loose Talk (2:44)
12. John Prine & Dolores Keane - In A Town This Size (3:31)
13. Sam Phillips - The Fan Dance (3:45)
14. Sam Phillips - Five Colors (3:42)
15. Sam Phillips - Taking Pictures (1:57)
16. Sam Phillips - Soul Eclipse (3:11)
17. Sam Phillips - Say What You Mean (3:37)

11 pm - Midnight

11 P.M. The day is almost done. Now there is a choice between words and another form of eloquence. Joni Mitchell's Blue (Reprise) sounds better than ever at this hour. All of today's confessional writers need to spend a year of pre-midnight hours with this record before sharing their pain with us.
Something still darker and stronger can be found in the tormented imagination of Gesualdo: Madrigals, directed by William Christie (Harmonia Mundi). It is hard to imagine the world from which these compositions came. Carlo Gesualdo was the heir to a prince and was said to have been a murderous cuckold who displayed the slain bodies of his first wife, her lover, and a child of doubtful paternity. It can make you uneasy about even listening to this music.
You probably have enough of your own troubles. Pablo Casals's recordings of the Bach Cello Suites (EMI Classics) will bring the day to a supernatural conclusion.

1. Joni Mitchell - All I Want (3:34)
2. Joni Mitchell - My Old Man (3:34)
3. Joni Mitchell - Little Green (3:27)
4. Joni Mitchell - Carey (3:03)
5. Joni Mitchell - Blue (3:05)
6. Joni Mitchell - California (3:50)
7. Joni Mitchell - This Flight Tonight (2:52)
8. Joni Mitchell - River (4:05)
9. Joni Mitchell - A Case Of You (4:23)
10. Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard (4:16)
11. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 01 - Ahi, disperata vita (1:25)
12. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 02 - Sospirava il mio core (1:36)
13. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 03 - O malnati messaggi (2:06)
14. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 04 - Luci serene e chiare (4:44)
15. Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 1 in G (prelude) (2:31)
16. Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 2 in D minor (preludium) (3:48)
17. *Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 3 in C (preludium) (3:34)
18. *Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 3 in C (Bourées I + II) (3:29)

10 pm - 11 pm

10 P.M. You've run out of explanations and tall tales. Miles Davis's In A Silent Way (Columbia/Legacy) rides on a Tony Williams cymbal all the way to the immaculate puzzle of Radiohead's Amnesiac (Capitol). "Morning Bell" at evening time. Something leads you to Surf's Up (Capitol), the Beach Boys' very own archaeological dig, you dig? The Brian Wilson title song is so beautiful and bold. The lovely track that Cameron Crowe used at the end of Almost Famous can also be found here. It's the work of brother Carl and is called "Feel Flows". Keep that remote control close at hand. Here comes Mike Love's "Student Demonstration Time". Will the madness never end?

1. Miles Davis - Peaceful-Shhh (18:05)
2. Radiohead - Morning Bell (3:15)
3. Beach Boys - Don't Go Near The Water (2:44)
4. Beach Boys - Long Promised Road (3:36)
5. Beach Boys - Take A load of Your Feet (2:33)
6. Beach Boys - Disney Girls (1957) (4:13)
7. Beach Boys - Student Demonstration Time (4:04)
8. Beach Boys - Feel Flows (4:51)
9. Beach Boys - Looking At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song) (1:59)
10. * Beach Boys - A Day In The Life of A Tree (3:12)
11. Beach Boys - Till' I Die (2:46)
12. Beach Boys - Surf's Up (4:11)

* Different version to compilation