elvis costello

Playlist #284

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Happy Monday, folks! It’s a dreary one here in Northern Virginia, but that won’t stop the rock!

  1. The Beatles, “Little Girl”: A song cut from Rubber Soul, and if I’m being honest, there was good reason. There’s just not much to the song, lyrically or musically. I mean, even John Lennon can stumble once in a while.
  2. Elvis Costello, “Miracle Man”: Aside from listening to the super deluxe version of Rubber Soul (which features three different versions of the album. Three!), I’ve also started listening to the 49th Anniversary edition of Costello’s My Aim Is True, and it’s still a great record. The acerbic wit just does not let up with this man.
  3. Gin Blossoms, “Idiot Summer”: Classic Gin Blossoms. Only downloaded the album because I assumed it was rerecorded versions of old songs, but this did not turn out to be the case. It’s the original versions, all of which I already have on other albums and did not need a second time. This is still a good song, though.
  4. Arlo Guthrie, “East Texas Red”: Who doesn’t love a song about a murderer who rides the rails in East Texas getting what’s coming to him?
  5. Elton John, “I Want Love”: Does anyone else remember the video for this song that featured Robert Downey, Jr.? The song itself reminds me of the Beatles Anthology new songs.
  6. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Too Much Ain’t Enough”: Early Petty has a loose energy that later, more-refined songs simply lacked. I enjoy such loose energy.
  7. Huey Lewis & the News, “If This Is It”: To this day, I am constantly amused by the fact that these guys named an album Sports, a pun that my team teacher only just got today when I explained it to her.
  8. The Band, “The Weight”: Is this the best song about taking your Martin to Nazareth, PA, to get it fixed that exists? Is that too narrow a genre? It might be because they nailed it in one.
  9. Ben Folds, “Rockin’ The Suburbs”: It’s a Ben Folds song that features guitar! But he famously plays piano! How wacky.
  10. The New Pornographers, “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”: If AC Newman and Neko Case could work together forever cranking out amazing pop rock songs like this, I’d be okay with that.

Playlist #190

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Happy Monday, folks. It’s the last week of school for the calendar year before we’re off until after the start of the new year. I, for one, am ready for that break. In the meantime, these are the songs that are keeping me going.

  1. Rilo Kiley, “More Adventurous”: Was just thinking about this song last night, and suddenly I’m in a Rilo Kiley mood and want to go back and re-listen to their entire catalog. There are worse problems to have.
  2. Lucinda Williams, “Rebels”: Lucinda Williams released a Tom Petty covers album a few years ago, and it sounds…well, exactly like what you think a Lucinda Williams covering Tom Petty album would sound like. Which is not a bad thing.
  3. Elvis Costello, “Less Than Zero”: Why is this man so spiky all the time? What is he trying to prove? That he feels stuff just as much as the punk rockers, even though he looks more like Buddy Holly? Man, I dunno, but he writes damn good songs.
  4. Van Morrison, “Steal My Heart Away”: Down the Road continues to be a banger of an album, even 22 years later.
  5. 10,000 Maniacs, “Trouble Me”: Can Natalie Merchant do anything wrong, musically? I’m not sure she can.
  6. Cake, “Never There”: I still admire their effort to bring back the donkey call in every song. I may do that on my next album.
  7. Doc Watson, “Beaumont Rag”: Just some pickin’ an’ grinnin’.
  8. Peter Gabriel, “I Have the Touch”: Just the nervous energy of this song has me thinking he smoked two packs of cigarettes and drank about a gallon of coffee before he sat down to write and record it.
  9. Pearl Jam, “Given to Fly”: I dunno why, but I kinda appreciate Pearl Jam’s chiller, more subdued moments now that I’m older. Is this what it means to age gracefully? Do you stop wanting to kick out the jams?
  10. MC5, “Kick Out the Jams”: No, I can still kick them out. It’s all good. Haven’t aged too much yet.

Playlist #134

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Happy Thanksgiving Week, everyone! Well, to everyone except those of you who don’t have to go to work this week. You guys suck.

  1. Iron & Wine, “About A Bruise”: Started listening to the live album Who Can See Forever this morning, and it’s pretty damn solid. The version of “About A Bruise” from that one is excellent, but so is the the original studio recording from Beast Epic, which I’ve included here.
  2. Elvis Costello, “Blame It On Cain”: We seem to forget, because he just seems like an amiable old fart nowadays, but Costello was a firebrand and a troublemaker back in the day, and this song is a good reminder of that.
  3. Dolly Parton, “Long As I Can See The Light (Featuring John Fogerty)”: Dolly finally released her long-threatened rock’n’roll album, Rockstar. It’s alright. There are some great tracks on there (like this one and her rendition of “Purple Rain”), though most of it feels too slick and over-produced for my tastes.
  4. Them, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”: Who doesn’t love a Bob Dylan cover first thing in the morning? Nazis, that’s who.
  5. Thom Yorke, “And It Rained All Night”: Thom Yorke’s first solo album, The Eraser, is weird. It’s all electronic squiggles and squelches and super-processed drum loops and for some reason I can’t stop listening to this particular track from it.
  6. Townes Van Zandt, “Racing In The Streets”: I always like hearing Townes interpret someone else’s song. This Bruce Springsteen cover is a good example of why.
  7. XTC, “Senses Working Overtime”: I just love the transitions between verse and chorus on this song.
  8. Leo Sayer, “More Than I Can Say”: 70s soft rock called, and it said, “Whoa, whoa, yay, yay.”
  9. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, “Everything Is Broken”: Two Dylan covers on one playlist? Is he mad? Doesn’t he know what horrors that might unleash?
  10. Kendrick Lamar, “DNA.”: This one is just on here to throw you off at the end of the playlist and get you ready for your racist uncle at Thanksgiving Dinner telling you everything was better before they came to the US.

Playlist #105

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Happy first day of May! Here’s this week’s playlist.

  1. The Gaslight Anthem, “The Diamond Church Street Choir”: Re-listened to a lot of the Gaslight Anthem last week, and damn does this song (and the album it’s from, American Slang) slap. They released a new single last week, by the by.
  2. Placebo, “Without You I’m Nothing”: From the album of the same name, which remains my favorite release from this band. It’s just so damn good and so 1998.
  3. Fugazi, “Waiting Room”: Also been watching a Youtube channel that goes in-depth into various music genres and bands, and their video on Fugazi (a DC-area post-hardcore punk band) was really good. I’d never listened to them before, but now I have and now I love them.
  4. Bloc Party, “Banquet”: Another band picked up from that Youtube channel (it’s called Trash Theory, and while it’s definitely more Anglo-centric in its musical taste and focus, it’s still quite good).
  5. The Cranberries, “Zombie”: I defy anyone to not sing along when that chorus hits.
  6. Squeeze, “Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)”: Squeeze is a strange little band. I quite like them for more than just that one song, “Tempted.” This one is also pretty good.
  7. The Specials, “Pressure Drop”: Yeah, I only heard about these guys from the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack, but I’ve played this song live before and it’s just too much fun.
  8. The Who, “Eminence Front”: Possibly the worst Who song in existence.
  9. The White Stripes, “Jolene”: Do they do it justice? Not really. Is Jolene a good enough song that it doesn’t really matter? Pretty much.
  10. Elvis Costello, “Waiting On The End Of The World”: At this point in the school year, it feels like that’s all we’re doing.