Playlist #119

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Hey, folks! Sorry this is late, but time and house hunting make fools of us all.

  1. case/lang/viers, “Atomic Number”: Still a heartbreakingly beautiful song. These three women sing with so much soul and urgency that it’s hard not to fall in love with the song.
  2. Cat Stevens, “Father and Son”: What always cracks me up about this song is when Cat Stevens sings, “Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy,” and I’m just like, dude, you’re all of 22 when you recorded this song. I have t-shirts older than that.
  3. The Chicks, “Gaslighter”: I’m a sucker for a female empowerment song, especially one as rowdy and fun as this one.
  4. The Clash, “Rebel Waltz”: It’s an actual waltz from The Clash. It has a harpsichord in it.
  5. Courtney Barnett, “Pedestrian At Best”: “I think you’re a joke, but I don’t find you very funny” is one of the best put-downs since Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street.”
  6. Daniel Lanois, “Where Will I Be”: I like the murky atmosphere this guy develops in all his songs.
  7. Elliott Smith, “Oh Well, Okay”: If I can one day be half the singer, songwriter, or guitar player that Elliott Smith was, I will be able to die a happy man.
  8. Foo Fighters, “Cold Day In The Sun”: An acoustic Foo Fighters song? In this economy?
  9. Hem, “Great Houses of New York”: Every song by this band has a sweeping, panoramic, cinematic feel to it, and I love them.
  10. Huey Lewis & the News, “You Crack Me Up”: You know that band your dad always talked about making with his buddies, but it was really just an excuse to get together in the garage and drink some beer and jam on the weekends? That’s Huey Lewis & the News. And they remain glorious.

Playlist #118

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Happy Monday, folks! Hard to believe we’re already at the end of July. School will be starting again soon, as I’m sure your desperate and terrified children can attest to. Anyway, here’s a playlist to get you through those hot summer days.

  1. Andrew Bird, “Mancey”: “M, as in Mancy.”
  2. Jimmy Eat World, “A Praise Chorus (feat. Davey Vonbohlen)”: A song that references everything from “Crimson and Clover” to They Might Be Giants’ “Don’t Let’s Start.” All in just over four minutes.
  3. Elastica, “Stutter”: Punky song about Damon Albarn’s erectile dysfunction (it’s true!).
  4. Paul McCartney, “Every Night”: For every clunker or half-finished song idea that’s barely more than a demo on his self-titled, DIY album, there’s a gem like this one.
  5. Drive-By Truckers, “Danko/Manuel”: Who doesn’t love songs about the Band?
  6. Stevie Wonder, “Pastime Paradise”: Ever wonder where Coolio got the sample for “Gangsta’s Paradise?” It’s from this song.
  7. Simon & Garfunkel, “A Hazy Shade Of Winter”: I, for one, am done with this ridiculous heat and ready for winter to return.
  8. Rob Thomas, “Streetcorner Symphony”: I have a completely unironic love for this guy’s music. I can’t explain why.
  9. The Gaslight Anthem, “Say I Won’t (Recognize)”: From an early EP by the band, where they’re still trying to find their footing and figure out who they are as a band (they’re a punk band with delusions of Springsteen. That is as awesome as it sounds).
  10. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”: Is it the obvious pick from this artist? Yes, yes it is. Is it still just an absolute stone-cold classic of a song that everyone should listen to and enjoy at every available opportunity? Yes, yes it is.

Playlist #117 – More Three-Song Runs

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Yeah, it’s Tuesday, but I forgot to post yesterday. Here are four more three-song runs that are all killer, no filler.

Run 1: The Beatles, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Any Time At All,” and “I’ll Cry Instead” (from A Hard Day’s Night): The Beatles are obviously one of those bands where you could throw a dart at a board with all their albums listed on it and pick a random three song run and it’d be full of bangers. This is still one of my favorite Beatles albums, and these songs really hold up.

Run 2: Bob Dylan, “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “She Belongs To Me,” and “Maggie’s Farm” (from Bringing It All Back Home): Again, much like the Beatles, many of Dylan’s albums are front-to-back amazing (we’ll ignore those born again albums in the late 70s/early 80s and most of what he did in the late 80s). These songs were a sonic manifesto in 1964, with Dylan going electric and tearing the roof off the place.

Run 3: Sting, “La Belle Dame Sans Regrets,” “Valparaiso,” and “Lithium Sunset” (from Mercury Falling): I’ll admit, I have a soft spot for the work of Sting, both solo and with the Police. Mercury Falling may be one of my favorite albums he’s released, and these three songs – the French “La Belle Dame Sans Regrets,” the sailor’s voyage of “Valparaiso,” and the country twang and pedal steel guitar of “Lithium Sunset” – are the closing three tracks on the album, and they serve as an excellent summation of what he was doing here.

Run 4: Wilco, “Muzzle Of Bees,” “Hummingbird,” and “Handshake Drugs” (from A Ghost Is Born): Possibly my favorite Wilco album, possibly tied with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. These songs are mellow and odd and a perfect summation of where Wilco was at this point in their career.

Playlist #116 – Three Song Runs

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My brother Clif challenged me to come up with a playlist made of three-song runs by artists/bands, runs of songs that are all killer, no filler. There are limits: no compilations/best of collections, no soundtracks, just three songs in a row from a single album. So here’s four such runs.

Run 1: Carole King, “You’ve Got A Friend,” “Where You Lead,” and “Will you Love Me Tomorrow” (from Tapestry): I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tapestry is solid from beginning to end. There is not a bad song on that album. I could have pulled any three songs from this album at random and it would’ve been just as good.

Run 2: Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” “Run Through the Jungle,” and “Up Around the Bend” (from Cosmo’s Factory): Honestly, I could’ve pulled any three song run from any of CCR’s first five albums (well, maybe not their self-titled) and it would’ve been just a series of bangers. These guys cranked out just amazing songs every time out (we’ll ignore Pendulum and Mardi Gras).

Run 3: The Gaslight Anthem, “The ’59 Sound,” “Old White Lincoln,” and “High Lonesome” (from The ’59 Sound): Again, you could pull any three songs from this album and they’d all rock. These three songs in particular feel like Bruce Springsteen fronting a punk band, a thing I never knew I wanted until just now.

Run 4: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” and “Even the Losers” (from Damn the Torpedoes): Damn the Torpedoes plays like a greatest hits album. Seriously. Even the deep cuts from this album are amazing. These three songs open the album, and it only stays this awesome from there.

Playlist #115

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Happy Monday to all the folks who celebrate it out there. And if you do celebrate Mondays, what is wrong with you? Do you just really like new playlist day?

  1. Murder By Death, “No Oath, No Spell”: There’s is something oddly compelling about this guy’s voice. He sounds about two centuries old on their best songs.
  2. Rufus Wainwright, “Harvest (feat. Andrew Bird and Chris Stills)”: Who doesn’t love a Neil Young cover? Who doesn’t love a Neil Young cover that features Andrew Bird prominently? Communists, that’s who.
  3. Van Morrison, “Sweet Jannie”: As weird as the dude’s gotten in recent years (and he’s gotten pretty freakin’ weird), I still love his old stuff. This song is a bop.
  4. Electric Light Orchestra, “Eldorado”: I’ve been thinking about it for a while now (especially since I listened to most of their discography a few weeks ago on a whim), and I think Eldorado might be my favorite ELO album. Sure, as a concept album it falls a little short of the mark Jeff Lynne was aiming for, but the song cycle is still one of the best he ever wrote, and this – the penultimate song on the album – is a good summation of what ELO could do at the height of their powers.
  5. Elk Eyes, “It Goes Dark”: Why am I listening to guys with whiskey-dark voices sing doom and gloom this week? I dunno, I just am.
  6. Family Familiar, “I Don’t Need You”: Did you know I helped write this song, back over 20 years ago? This is my brother’s band performing it. Did you know I get a small cut of the streaming revenue for this specific song? It’s true.
  7. George Harrison, “P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)”: I know that what I need a lot of on a Monday morning is some George Harrison slide guitar. I’m sure you’ll agree it almost makes it worth waking up for.
  8. Paul McCartney, “Teddy Boy”: This version of this song is just as ramshackle as its appearance on McCartney would lead you to believe it would be. I kinda love it.
  9. John Prine, “Jesus, the Missing Years”: Was chatting with a friend on Facebook about “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” this weekend, which got me in a John Prine mood. That’s not a bad mood to be in.
  10. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “St. Paul’s Autograph”: I swear to God, this album is just designed to make you wanna curl up on a rainy Sunday afternoon and block out the rest of the world.

Playlist #114

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Happy Monday, and happy birthday to my lovely mother, who is [redacted] years old today!

  1. No Clue, “The Old Die Young”: A former student of mine’s band. They do straight-ahead, old school, hardcore punk. If that’s your jam, you’ll probably dig this song.
  2. M. Ward, “i can’t give everything away (feat. Jim James & Kelly Pratt)”: I dig the smokey, 3 AM at the dinner feel of this song, especially with that saxophone part.
  3. Shocking Blue, “Venus”: I prefer this original version to the Bananarama version from the 1980s. Big surprise, right?
  4. Shawn Colvin, “Sunny Came Home”: A surprisingly sprightly, countryish song that I find I enjoy more with each passing year.
  5. Wilco, “Unlikely Japan”: Companion to the Wilco song “Impossible Germany,” in that the lyrics to both songs reference both countries (“Impossible Germany, unlikely Japan”). Why is Japan unlikely? I dunno. Have you ever seen the sort of things they’ll sell you out of a vending machine? Place is nuts.
  6. The Beatles, “Things We Said Today”: I’m a sucker for mid-period Beatles songs. Anything from ’64 to about ’66 is just the sweet spot for me.
  7. Brian Fallon, “Among Other Foolish Things”: The guy writes some damn catchy songs, I have to give him that.
  8. Eklipse, “Cry Me A River”: This song sounds like some other song that I know, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it reminds me of.
  9. Echo In The Canyon, “Never My Love (feat. Jakob Dylan & Norah Jones)”: Echo in the Canyon is still a loving mash note of a documentary to an entire style of pop-rock, and songs like this so faithfully maintain the style while deviating just enough to keep things interesting.
  10. Dolly Parton, “Seven Bridges Road”: Just load this right into my veins, I am in need of those harmonies.

Playlist #113

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By the time you see this, I’ll be in Oklahoma for my grandmother’s funeral. It’s going to be rough, but I’m glad I get to be back home for it.

  1. John Mellencamp, “Circling Around The Moon”: I have a soft spot in my heart for the Mellencamp album Mr. Happy Go Lucky. It’s very much of its time, with the drum machines and nods to rap and hip-hop in the music.
  2. M. Ward, “Hi-Fi”: M. Ward always delights and always puts out something clever and ephemeral.
  3. Matchbox 20, “Damn”: I don’t know why I like Matchbox 20 so much. I can’t explain it.
  4. MILCK, “Quiet (Stripped)”: A more subtle, acoustic version of this song that I liked very much when I heard the original version.
  5. Molly Lewis, “Our American Cousin”: Who doesn’t love a song about Abraham Lincoln’s trip to Ford’s Theater?
  6. The Mountain Goats, “Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome”: When doesn’t a Mountain Goats song make you want to eat the rich?
  7. The Mystiqueros, “Good”: I learned this song years ago at the Mansion on O Street from the band I used to play with on Sundays. It’s a pretty decent little number.
  8. The Yardbirds, “Smokestack Lightning (Live)”: Who doesn’t love the Yardbirds?
  9. Rhett Miller, “Terrible Vision”: This song is sad and beautiful and I love it.
  10. Pixies, “Debaser”: Why. not round things out with some screaming?

Playlist #112

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Happy Wednesday, folks. I was at the beach on Monday with family, and spent yesterday recovering from the beach, so you get a playlist today and you’ll like it.

  1. Spoon, “Sugar Babies”: These guys manage to stay creative and innovative even a couple of decades into their careers. It’s inspiring and awesome.
  2. X Ambassadors, “Renegade”: I think I’ve been writing songs like this lately. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
  3. Tom Waits, “Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again”: You an’ me both, Tom.
  4. Kris Orlowski, “Go (featuring Glen Phillips)”: I am just a sucker for any song that features Glen Phillips.
  5. Them, “Gloria”: G. L. O. R. I. A.
  6. Jack Johnson, “If I Had Eyes”: What if a regular ol’ Jack Johnson song, but with an electric guitar instead of an acoustic?
  7. Jake Blount, “Didn’t It Rain”: A modern take on a classic number from ol’ Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The electric guitar in this one makes the song feel much more eerie than the original ever did.
  8. Counting Crows, “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby”: It’s epic in length and bittersweet in scope. It’s like the song was written just for me.
  9. Norah Jones, “Don’t Know Why”: How does Norah Jones crank out these beautiful little nuggets of pop brilliance?
  10. Drive-By Truckers, “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”: Cadillacs are made out of fiberglass now, so maybe it’s time to give it up.

Playlist #111

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Happy Monday, folks. It’s the last week of school finally, and all the kids (and teachers) are antsy to get the heck outta Dodge. Here’s a new playlist for ya.

  1. Jenny Lewis, “Joy’All”: Nothing Jenny Lewis has done since Rabbit Fur Coat has really grabbed me like that one album did. This song, off the album of the same title (pronounced “Joy y’all”) is good, but it feels too…by the numbers? It’s a retread of stuff she’s done better in the past.
  2. Foo Fighters, “Hearing Voices”: There was so much new music I was interested in released last week that I still haven’t listened to it all (I’m partway through this Foo Fighters album, for instance, and haven’t even started on Janelle Monae’s new one yet!). That said, this song – and, to some extent, the entire album – are all about the Foos dealing with the loss of longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins.
  3. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “King Of Oklahoma”: I was probably predisposed to liking this song just given its title (and the fact that it’s a Jason Isbell song), but the fact that it rings true probably also helps.
  4. Hawksley Workman, “Ilfracombe”: Heard this in a store? Or on a TV show I was watching? I don’t recall, exactly, but it grabbed my attention at the time, and I kinda dig it. No, wait, it was on NPR. That’s it.
  5. Bob Dylan, “What Was It You Wanted”: Dylan recently released Shadow Kingdom, a sort of live-in-the-studio-reimagining of some of his classic songs featuring a backing band of several guitars, a bass, and an accordion. As an interpreter of other people’s songs and, of course, of his own, Dylan remains a fascinating study. These tracks are all stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up, using different melodies and rhythms that make them feel familiar and completely unfamiliar all at once. And they’re all mercifully short: no 40-verse versions of anything here.
  6. Rufus Wainwright, “Harvest (featuring Andrew Bird and Chris Stills)”: A beautiful rendition of a Neil Young classic. Wainwright lets his collaborators take the lead and offers some beautiful vocals of his own.
  7. 40 Watt Sun, “Behind My Eyes”: A song for when you want to slow everything way down and maybe take a nap.
  8. Wilco, “Whole Love”: I’ve started developing a taste for latter-day Wilco, which apparently includes this album that came out 12 years ago now somehow.
  9. Fun., “We Are Young (featuring Janelle Monae)”: See, I haven’t listened to her new album yet, but I still found a way to slip her onto the playlist this week anyway.
  10. Hank Williams, “You Win Again”: Hank knew how to write a tear-jerker, woe-is-me song.

Playlist #110: Graduation

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Good morning, everyone. My grandmother’s condition has stabilized, enough so that I felt comfortable returning home this past weekend and back to work today. This week, my school will do graduation, as will many of the other high schools across Fairfax County. With that in mind, here’s a graduation-themed playlist for your entertainment.

  1. Simon & Garfunkel, “Mrs. Robinson”: From the movie soundtrack for The Graduate. Seemed appropriate.
  2. Third Eye Blind, “Graduate”: Who doesn’t want to get out from underneath all the bastards who’ve kept you down for years and years?
  3. Heroes Garden, “Graduation Day”: A friend’s sister plays cello with this band. They’re pretty good, in a Ra Ra Riot sort of way.
  4. The Verve Pipe, “The Freshmen”: Oh, Verve Pipe, Freshmen don’t graduate! C’mon, guys.
  5. Baz Luhrmann, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”: This was tremendously popular around the time I graduated from high school back in the late ’90s. And the advice the “song” offers (I hesitate to really call it a song; more like a spoken-word essay set to music) remains relevant even today: wear some damn sunscreen, folks.
  6. Billy Joel, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”: A big part of graduating is the chance to move on to bigger, (hopefully) better things out there in the world.
  7. John Fullbright, “Moving”: I mean, I already covered this in the previous song. Moving on is a big part of graduation.
  8. Queen, “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy”: Queen gets that it’s not always an easy transition, though. Home is hard to give up.
  9. Pearl Jam, “Leavin’ Here”: Pearl Jam, on the other hand, are all about getting the hell out while the getting is good.
  10. Madonna, “This Used To Be My Playground”: This was the song played at my 8th grade graduation, which we thought at the time was super deep and really meaningful and now I realize is so corny it should’ve come on the cob.