List

Music journalist Tom Moon has written what looks to be a great new book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die. Tom has appeared on NPR's All Songs Considered to discuss the book several times and these episodes are well worth listening to. This book will be in my next Amazon.ca order.

NPR - All Songs Considered - 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die

NPR - All Songs Considered - More Recordings To Hear Before You Die

see also
Stereophile's annual Records to Die for for more recommendations.

Here is my list of the Top 3 music videos of all time

3. Hurra Torpedo, Total Eclipse of the Heart

Probably not what Jim Steinman had in mind when he wrote this song. But, for my money, Hurra Torpedo (wikipedia) gives us the best musical performance and video of a Jim Steinman song ever.

Great Song + Pretty Girl = Perfect Video

Johnny Cash (wikipedia) has done some great covers over the years, perhaps most notable is the work he did towards the end of his life with Rick Rubin. Cash's fantastic cover of Trent Reznor's (wikipedia) Hurt along with Mark Romanek's (wikipedia) brilliant imagery make this the greatest music video of all time.

Read about the making of the video - Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' Delves Into Life Of Former Hell-Raiser: VMA Lens Recap

Hurt video with commentary by Trent Reznor.

Maxime is my 3 year old nephew and he likes to watch music videos on my laptop. Here are his top 5 favorite videos. I've included links to each video in case the powers that be decide to disable embedded video.

5. Arturo Márquez, Danzón No. 2 - Gustavo Dudamel, Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra

In this video Gustavo Dudamel leads the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra (Venezuela's national high-school-age youth orchestra) in a performance for the February 2009 TED Conference. Dudamel and the Orchestra are a product of El Sistema.

I've included the whole video here as it's worth watching. However, for Maxime I only play the Orchestra's performance of Arturo Márquez' Danzón No. 2. Maxime seems to have a bit of a connection with Gustavo, perhaps it's the hair.

Gustavo Dudamel, Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra

I love this song and for some reason my nephew does too. I wouldn't have expected him to like this song. Maybe it's the uniforms or maybe he just likes good music.

Gnarls Barkley, Crazy

Maxime's brother and sister like this one too. I've embedded a live version of the song as the record company has disabled embedding the promotional video, which is the video I play for my nephew. You'll find a link to that video below.

Colbie Caillat, Bubbly

Not sure if it's the whole backward thing or the scene of kids playing basketball that does it for him.

Coldplay, The Scientist

Great song, pretty girl, falling walls... what more could a 3 year old kid want?

Natalie Imbruglia, Torn