BEST OF 2010 (songs) #13 Titus Andronicus - Four Score And Seven

On "Four Score and Seven," Titus Andronicus took the epic-song template and loaded it full of moments of real inspiration. Beginning with strummed guitars, mournful fiddle and harmonica, the song builds to a gorgeous fanfare of horns and percussion before the band explodes at the halfway point with a punk-inspired war cry that would make Joe Strummer proud of his children. The song proved that the band has it in them to write nine-minute epics, even if its shining brilliance somewhat underscored the mediocrity of every other lengthy track on their album "The Monitor."