tracks that GENUINELY send shivers down your spine without fail

Off the top of my head:

Many Cure tracks, but especially "Prayers For Rain", "The Same Deep Water As You", "Lament", "New Day", "This Twilight Garden", "Like Cockatoos", "Another Day", "Wailing Wall", "Shake Dog Shake", "Fear Of Ghosts", "All Cats Are Grey" and "Siamese Twins"

Many Prince tracks, but especially "Adore", "Mountains", "Sometimes It Snows In April", "Tambourine", "Housequake", "Annie Christian", "Another Lonely Christmas", "Shy", "The Human Body", "Kiss", "Sexy MF", "Alphabet Street" and "All The Critics Love U In New York".

The entire second half of _Ritual de lo Habitual_.

Every Orbital album except for the green album.

Every Prodigy track I've heard EXCEPT for "Serial Thrilla", "Funky Shit" and "Ruff In The Jungle Bizniz"

Every Lamb track I've heard.

"David" and "Believe" by Gus Gus.

"Get Busy" and "Like Glue" by Sean Paul.

"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" by Busta Rhymes.

"Scenario", "Butter" and "Excursions" by A Tribe Called Quest.

The second movement of the Brahms Requiem.

The mezzo solos in the Verdi Requiem.

The Lacrymosa from the Mozart Requiem.

Frank Martin's "Mass for Double Chorus".

Radiohead - "Like Spinning Plates"
Lycia - "Pray"
Jandek - "Only Lover"

Joy Division-Atmosphere
Bruce Springsteen-Thunder Road
Baba O'Riley-The Who
Jeff Buckley-Hallelujah
Leonard Cohen-Avalanche
Husker Du-Celebrated Summer
Bob DYlan-Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Velvet Underground-All TOmorrow's Parties
Rainy Day-Flying on the Ground is Wrong

radiohead-fake plastic trees, we suck young blood, true love waits (live version w/ keyboard), big ideas (w/organ)
smashing pumpkins-to forgive (really all of MCIS+siamese dream), medellia of the grey skies
MBV-to here knows when
coil-cardinal points, hellraiser theme, Musick...(vol.1+2), the time machines
cranberries-dreams
NIN-my favourite dreams are nightmares
spiritualized-LAGWAFIS, broken heart
jeff buckley-hallelujah
anything by atari teenage riot(the adrenaline causes the shivers)
the cure-letter to elise (my eyes are watering up just thinking about it right now)

Ralph Stanley's a capella version of "Oh Death"

I second sean paul 'like glue'. You should also check out the TOK and the Spragga Benz versions of the 'buy out' riddim for spine-shiver inducing duttiness

MBV -- Come in Alone
Slowdive -- Machine Gun
Husker Du -- Diane, First of the Last Call
Joy Division -- Love Will Tear Us Apart
New Order -- Regret, Ceremony, Your Silent Face, Age of Consent
Mercury Rev -- Blue & Black->Sweet Oddysee
AC/DC -- Let There Be Rock
James Brown -- Mother Popcorn
Rufus Thomas -- Walkin' the Dog
Eddie Folkes -- Knock on Wood
Yo La Tengo -- Deeper Into Movies
Replacemets -- Answering Machine
Ride -- Dreams Burn Down
Sugar -- Tilted
Descendents -- Bikage

what? what about me?

second "starla" by the pumpkins

the remix that cLOUDDEAD did of boom bip's "closed shoulders" (it's on the left to right EP) sends shivers down my spine right at the part near the beginning where the layers of drawn out vocals come in, it's so warm i feel like i can wrap myself up in that one little spot and be quite ok for a some time, completely enveloped in it.

sigur ros- salka
radiohead- let down
neko case- furnace room lullaby
magnetic fields- no one will ever love you
nina nastasia- ocean
shannon wright- capsule of you
ABBA- cassandra
bjork- gloomy sunday
kate bush- hello earth
leonard cohen- joan of arc

"In the air tonight" isn't about murder!

soooo many.... The feeling that your skin is about to ripple right off your shoulder-blades is exactly why I listen to music....

To name but a few...

Jeff Buckley - 'Last Goodbye': "Kiss me out of desire baby/ Not consolation"

Kate Bush - 'Hounds of Love', 'Cloudbusting'..."I still dream...."

Abba - 'Dancing Queen' Obvious choice but then you're not really human if you don't include this.

Slint - 'Good Morning Captain' Towards the end when the blank sheets of noise mutate into something more muscular

Spiderbait - 'Horschack Army'... More thrilling noise. See also...

Swans - 'Love Will Save You', 'Power and Sacrifice'

Lamb - 'Gorecki' When the beats come in....

*It's sort of cheating to name dance music, cos they've been lab-produced precisely to induce these effects. But still, while we're about it, here are some tracks that are all about bringing the beat back...

Chemical Brothers - 'Sunshine Underground'
Underworld - 'Cowgirl'
Leftfield - 'Song Of Life' Christ.....

and sundry others that aren't leaping to mind right now*

Coldplay - 'Daylight' (The chorus crashing in), 'Amsterdam'

Radiohead - er, almost everything. For know, 'A Reminder ("The night that we kissed and I really meant it")

Beethoven - 9th Symphony. Crashingly obvious. Sue me

Lauryn Hill - 'Ex-Factor' "Why won't you live for me?"

Bjork - 'Unison'

Doves - 'Pounding' Towards the end, the Marr guitar.

Smiths. Too many. How about 'Well I Wonder'? "Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive"

Air - 'La Femme D'Argent'. The floating synth melodies towards the end.

Aimee Mann - 'Wise up' Played by friend on return from club, high as. Damn near thought my head would come off.

er... N-Sync - 'Girlfriend' The Neps are frikkin brilliant at bridges. cf Justin Timberlake - 'Rock Your Body'

The first time I heart the beats on 'Smack Your Bitch Up'

And that's more than enough for now....

<<"The Killing Moon" by ye olde Bunnymen used to conjure this same effect >>

Donnie Darko is the best movie I've seen in years. And that song rules!

Tori Amos "Baker baker," Luna "City Kitty," Pet Shop Boys "Rent," Nick Cave "Jack's Shadow" (is the title right? not sure), Bowie "Ashes to Ashes," Low "Lazy," Throwing Muses "Bright Yellow Gun.."

Depeche Mode "Lie to Me," Cat Power "Cross bones style," Helium "Ghost Car," PJ Harvey "Sweeter than anything," Palace "tonight's decision (and hereafter)", Mary J Blige "No more drama," Radiohead "Black Star" and "Idiotheque."

John Coltrane - "Alabama"
Billy Idol - "Dancing with Myself"

Well the end of A Northern Chorus - "Louder than Love" is devastatingly gorgeous and just gave me the chills.

"johnny too bad" from the harder they come soundtrack (heard it in a manhattan starbucks the other day, hadn't heard it in years and it sent shivers down my spine)

the way Ray Davies sings "you can't go ANYWHERE" in "Shangri-La," and the way the perfect drifting serenity of the verse suddenly stumbles into near-drunken glee: "And all the houses in the street have got a name..."

REM: The live "Maps and Legends" at the end of Fables, when Stipey's voice cracks as he sings "Is he to be reached?" That kills me every time.

The Man with the Child in His Eyes - those descending piano chords before the chorus. Actually, the whole song is one long shiver.

Coolio's I'll See You When You Get There makes me teary-eyed for reasons which I don't understand.

John Coltrane's live version of Naima for poignancy, and My Favourite Things for the other kind of spine-tingle.

The very last track on Mr. Lif's I Phantom where the characters are reflecting back on their lives as the world ends has been grabbin me by the boo-boo lately; it's possibly El-P's baddest beat evah (if my memory is correct and it is indeed an El-P beat).

let me just say I got suckered. Somewhere in the back history of my mind I was told about "in the air tonight" being about a friend who was murdered and seeing the accused in a courtroom. I almost feel as though VH1 might have been attached to that, but I don't know.

In any event, I'm wrong and nickdastoor made me question and
snopes told me for sure. So I learn.

In any event it's still a swell songs that sends shivers down my spine... murder or not.

mary margaret o'hara - help me lift you up

Chuck Berry "Back in the USA"
Urge Overkill "Digital Black Epilogue"

there's that moment in Kimya Dawson's "Chemistry" where she says "my family and my friends and all the little kids that love me make me strong," which just gets the hell out of me, though you gotta have some of her bio in mind before it can work I think (i.e., she works with little kids, she has this tattoo that says "I love my friends" etc)

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights ("oooh it gets dark...")
Robert Wyatt - Sea Song (when the mellotron-choir sets in)
Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn part 1 (return of the opening theme by a small choir)
Candlemass - Solitude (when the distortion kicks in)
Univers Zero - La Faulx (the chanted part)
John Coltrane - Countdown (when he plays the theme at the end)
Devil Doll - Dies Irae (towards the end when he sings "smile and simply ivory")
Mr Bungle - Pink Cigarette (when he starts the countdown)
Suffocation - Pierced From Within (the part where he sings "Returned to a land you've never been", basically the big stop and start right before it)
Caravan - For Richard (when the big organ-riff pops in and they start jamming)
Gentle Giant - Schooldays (when the piano chords come fading in)
Thelonious Monk - Bemsha Swing (on Brilliant Corners, basically when the melody is first played on the sax)
Voivod - Sub-Effect (the part that starts right after "Too late for S.O.S.")

The thing 'bout the countdown in Bungle's "Pink Cigarette" that really gets my skin tingly is the background harmony lines that come in one at a time for each "hour-til-you-find-me-dead" Patton counts off. And the verses. And the intro. And...who am I kidding that whole friggin album affects me more physically than leaping into frigid arctic cold water.

sally go round the roses, you're gonna miss me, great white buffalo, jailbreak, i will always love you

John Coltrane - "Alabama"
Bob Dylan - "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"
Stone Roses - "Ten Story Love Song" (while taking into account Burnweed's analysis)

Nina Simone - Sinnerman
Smiths - I know it's Over (from "Rank")
Wedding Present - Heather
Poetic - One Life
Wu Tang - Impossible
Slint - Good Morning Captain

Todd Rundgren - The Last Ride
Judy Collins - Who Knows Where The Time Goes
Doors - Summer's Almost Gone
Badfinger - No Matter What
CCR - Lodi

Bob Marley - "I'm Still Waiting"
Rolling Stones - "Let it Loose"
Them - "Friday's Child"
Fleetwood Mac's cover of "I Need Your Love So Bad"
Emotions - "Don't Ask My Neighbors"

Aphex Twin - "Xtal"

Pete Heller - "Big Love"

The Sugarcubes - "Birthday"

Ben Harper - "Sexual Healing (live)"

Supercar - "Recreation"

New Order - "Bizarre Love Triangle"/ "Here to Stay"/ "Temptation"

Depeche Mode - "Somebody" (especially live version from "101")/"Enjoy the Silence"

Jackson 5 - "I'll be There"

Inner City - "Good Life"

The Cure - "High"/"A forest"/"Lullaby"

The Stone Roses - "I wanna be adored"

Pavement - "Grounded"/"Here"/"In the mouth a desert"

Smashing Pumpkins - "Set the Ray to Jerry"

Sonic Youth - "Mote"/"JC"

The Smiths - "There is a light that never goes out"/Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before"

Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On?"

Quicksand - "Fazer"

Tom Tauberts blues - Tom Waits
A Rainy night in Soho - The Pogues
Hellhound on my Trail - Robert Johnson

Also, 'I'll Overcome Someday' - Mississippi Bracey

Ice Cube - A Bird in the Hand and Colorblind

YES

count bass d - blues for percy carey
mf grimm - bloody love letter

Bro. Ray Charles--"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying."

Al Green, "I Think It's for the Feeling."

Big Star, "You Can't Have Me."

Elis Regina, "Zazueira" (her greatest recording)

João Gilberto, "Sampa"

Bobby Womack, "Daylight"

Byrds, "Dolphin's Smile"

U2, "Even Better than the Real Thing"

Scritti, "Wood Beez"

Prefab Sprout, "I Remember That"

Everly Bros., "So Lonely"

Gram Parsons, "$1000 Wedding"

Gary Stewart, "Single Again"

South Shore Commission, "Free Man"

Sly and the Family Stone, "If You Want Me to Stay"

Spring Heel Jack, "Midwest"

Sinatra, "One for My Baby" (live version with Bill Miller, piano)

Soul Man Burke, "Someone Is Watching" (from "King Solomon")

Beta Band "Gone"
Modest Mouse "Lives"
Company Flow "Last Good Sleep"
Joy Division "Isolation"
Velvet Underground "Venus In Furs"
Squarepusher "I Wish You Could Talk"
Bjork "Enjoy"
Raekwon and friends "Ice Cream"
Cat Power "He War"
Count Bass D "Antemeridian"

recently:
El-P "Oxycontin"
The Silures "21 Ghosts" (thanks to Matt Perpetua)

Gil Scott Heron - "Did you hear what they said"
Goosebumps EVERY time.

Peter Hammill, "Shingle Song"
Cat Power, "Satisfaction"
Cat Power, "Names"
Superpitcher, "Tomorrow (Kaito remix)"
Fairport Convention, "Who knows where the time goes"
Husker Du, "Sorry somehow"
Nina Nastasia, "Ocean"
Matching Mole, "O Caroline"
Low, "Two Step"
Foo Fighters, "Exhausted"
Mazzy Star, "Five string serenade"

Flying Burrito Brothers, "Hot Burrito #2"

"But you'd better love (LOVE), find some love, you'd better love me, Jesus Christ"

whenever that impossibly gentle guitar comes in my right ear 3:15 into jay-z's "hey papi", i get the shivers, doesnt matter if i try and prepare for it or nothing

the theme from "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" - Michel Legrand
"How Ghosts Affect Relationships" by His Name Is Alive

Richard Thompson - Calvary Cross
Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
MBV - To Here Knows When
Otis Rush - Double Trouble
Jimmy Dawkins - All For Business
Luther Allison - My Luck Don't Ever Change
Lowell Fulson - Reconsider Baby
Otis Redding - That's What My Heart Needs
Big Star - What's Going Ahn
Gillian Welch - Everything Is Free

Richard Thompson - '52 Black Lightning - excellent call. The Ghost Of You Walks and I Misunderstood do it for me as well. Same for the person who mentioned Bowie's Rock n' Roll Suicide lo these many years ago. Hoo boy, that and Heroes get me every time. A good chunk of the big 'uns for me have already been mentioned, but here are a few more:

Rufus Wainwright's Oh What a World and In My Arms.
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Fugazi - Do You Like Me?, or Full Disclosure
Mission of Burma - Mica
Underworld - Dirty Epic
Neutral Milk Hotel - Oh Comely
Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel the Illinoise, or Casimir Pulaski Day
Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools
Four Tet - Unspoken
DJ Shadow - Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
Tori Amos - Professional Widow (ugh, this song came on the iPod yesterday and I got incredibly fucking distracted while I was driving. This is probably her greatest moment. Fie to those who doubt Boys for Pele's brilliance! Nothing else she ever did or has done since matches it, but what a definitive statement from a weird artist).

Seconding "A Forest". First, just the introductory bass line, second for "again and again and again and again...gets me everytime.

I mentioned it in another thread just the other day, but Built to Spill's "Velvet Waltz", particularly the "and you better not be angry, and you better not be sad!" part.

Kraftwerk's "Neon Lights", especially the 1/3 of it.

Microphones - "Map"

Last 1/3 of Neon Lights, I should say.