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Playlist #141

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Happy Monday, folks! It’s bright and clear here in Northern Virginia today, though tomorrow promises rainstorms. In January. Because we don’t get to have snow days anymore. Anyway, have some music.

  1. Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band, “All That’s Left Is Fare-Thee-Well”: Contemporary country that doesn’t suck? It’s more likely than you’d think! At least, it is when you’re talking about Terry Allen, who’s been at it since the mid-70s. And can you dig the name of that backing band?
  2. Neil Diamond, “Holly Holy”: Neil Diamond singin’ his heart out on this one, God bless ‘im.
  3. Bob Dylan, “Born In Time”: Sometimes, latter-day Dylan gets on even my nerves. He’s gotten to a point on many of his songs (you could easily make the argument that he was there from the very beginning) of getting too repetitive with the chord structures; it’s the same phrase, repeated over and over and over for six or seven minutes. But sometimes, he throws out a gem like this one, which didn’t even merit a regular release (it’s from The Bootleg Series, Volume 8. Though, come to think of it, there were several bangers on that particular set). So most folks will never hear this one, but thank God we got the three-disc Sinatra karaoke of Triplicate.
  4. Fleetwood Mac, “Seven Wonders”: Peak 1980s Mac. Which means my wife would hate it.
  5. Moby, “New Dawn Fades”: “Moby is so edgy,” said some vegan teen in 1998.
  6. Jenny Lewis, “Carpetbagger (Featuring Elvis Costello)”: Always sing a song with Elvis Costello if you get the chance. It just sounds good.
  7. Old 97s, “Jagged”: Is this from one of their best albums? No. It’s far too poppy for my tastes, generally speaking. Is this still a damn good song that just tears a hole straight through you? Yes.
  8. Josh Ritter, “Monster Ballads”: This is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in the past twenty years. Just guts me every time I listen to it.
  9. Miles Davis, “It Never Entered My Mind”: One of my favorite jazz songs. I don’t talk much about jazz, because (1) It’s hard to talk about jazz in general and (2) most jazz is too up its own ass for my tastes. But this song is gorgeous and mournful and melancholy in all the best ways.
  10. Rhiannon Giddens, “The Angels Laid Him Away”: This woman knows her way around an old folk tune, as this particular ode reveals to great effect.

Playlist #75

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

It’s a dreary, rainy Monday, but that does not stop the rock! Here’s this week’s playlist, hot off the presses.

  1. John Fullbright, “Paranoid Heart”: Okie singer/songwriter who just released a new album last Friday. It’s pretty damn good. The man knows how to write a song, and his backing band is strong.
  2. Wilco, “Remember To Remember Me”: Speaking of new albums, Wilco released a 20th anniversary edition of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that contains loads of previously-unreleased stuff, including this early version of what later became “Hummingbird.”
  3. Jonathan Coulton, “Je Suis Rick Springfield”: Aren’t we all, just a little bit, Rick Springfield?
  4. David Gray, “Nemesis”: One of the more subdued songs from Draw the Line, but still a good one.
  5. Bon Iver, “Blood Bank”: Years ago, one of my coworkers asked me to help him record a little demo EP. We did it in my classroom at school. This was one of the songs we recorded (along with a Wilco tune and one by Trampled by Turtles. It was . . . eclectic).
  6. Modest Mouse, “Fire It Up”: Gotta get the blood pumping somehow.
  7. Moby, “Extreme Ways”: “Then it fell apart like it always does.”
  8. The Gaslight Anthem, “Placeholder”: This song is very evocative of the Anthem’s sound and style circa The ’59 Sound, and I am here for it.
  9. The Rolling Stones, “Play With Fire”: Maybe crotch fire. God only knows what venereal diseases Mick Jagger and the boys had back then.
  10. Peter Gabriel, “Intruder”: Hey, we hear you like gated reverb. Have a lot of it.