the grass roots

Playlist #211

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Happy Monday, folks. The school year is starting to wear thin. I know my niblings are all out soon, though Oklahoma always ends before Memorial Day (we’ve still got a whole month left here in Northern Virginia). Anyway, here’s some music to get us through another week.

  1. Counting Crows, “Virginia Through the Rain”: The latest Counting Crows album is…fine. It’s classic Counting Crows. Good melodies, excellent instrumentation, but I don’t really remember much of the song after it’s done playing. This one’s pretty nice, though.
  2. Fugees, “Ready or Not”: I listened to the Fugee’s album The Score over the weekend for the first time. I was already aware of “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” their breakout hit from this album, but this one is a pretty solid tune, too.
  3. The Grass Roots, “I’d Wait a Million Years”: Such a great song. The chorus is just a study in how to write a killer hook and deliver it with energy.
  4. Jefferson Airplane, “Volunteers”: Speaking of energy, this one’s full of it. And probably drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.
  5. Procol Harem, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”: Never really been sure what this song is about, though I’ve heard it’s about the negotiation of sex between a guy and a girl. I just know it always feels a bit melancholy and sad to me.
  6. Bob Dylan, “Boots of Spanish Leather”: Speaking of songs that make me feel sad, this one just hits in a strange way. Ostensibly a conversation between a couple about a souvenir from a trip to Spain, there’s more to it than that. Young me was obsessed with this one for a while, and older, theoretically wiser me still puts it on repeat sometimes.
  7. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, “Let It Ride”: Probably one of the better songs off Cold Roses, which I still argue is the best Ryan Adams album in his lengthy (possibly unwieldy) catalog.
  8. Electric Light Orchestra, “Long Black Road”: An ELO song I’d never heard? Apparently it was on the soundtrack to American Hustle back in 2001. Comes across as a song recorded especially for the movie. It’s classic Jeff Lynne.
  9. Macy Gray, “I Try”: Did you know she had not only other songs on the album this song came off of, but other albums, too? It’s wild!
  10. Spoon, “I Turn My Camera On”: Can you believe Gimme Fiction came out 20 years ago? It’s true. And now I feel like all my bones are turning to dust.

Playlist #127

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The packing continues unabated. We have electricity and water at the new place. And I have a new playlist for you.

  1. Shemekia Copeland, “Clotilda On Fire”: Sure, I came to this song because Jason Isbell plays lead guitar on it, but I stayed for the absolute baller story of a slave ship burning.
  2. Jason Isbell, “Relatively Easy”: I was realizing over the weekend that Jason Isbell might be my current favorite musician. His songs are just so damn good.
  3. Owen Danoff, “Never Been Kissed”: Haven’t heard much from this guy lately, which is a shame. He’s a solid songwriter.
  4. Ram Jam, “Black Betty”: Bam-a-lam.
  5. Ringo Starr, “Photograph”: It’s easy to crap on Ringo. The dude just seemed happy to be there most of the time. But he’s a fantastic drummer and had a good ear for songs early on in his solo career (the less said about Ringo the 4th, his abysmal foray into disco, the better). It helped that some of the songs, like “Photograph,” were contributed by former Beatle bandmate George Harrison (the same album had songs from John and Paul as well).
  6. Van Morrison, “And The Healing Has Begun”: That spoken word interlude always drives me up the wall. Just sing, Van. Just sing.
  7. The Grass Roots, “I’d Wait A Million Years”: I just love this song. I love the Grass Roots. I wish they’d done even more music than they released.
  8. Glen Phillips, “Men Just Leave”: I still really enjoy the sound and style of Glen Phillips’ first album. I wish he’d pursued this style more instead of the more polished, Toad the Wet Sprocket-esque stuff he did afterwards.
  9. Gillian Welch, “Revelator”: My introduction to this song was the Glen Phillips cover. Her original version is better.
  10. Electric Light Orchestra, “Twilight”: Was still on an ELO kick last week, and ended up listening to Time. It’s still an interesting latter-day ELO album, filled with interesting ideas and quirky musical directions.

Playlist #42: Love Stinks!

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Happy Valentine’s Day, folks! Here’s some songs about love that anyone can enjoy, whether you’re single AF this year or happily married or anything in between.

  1. The Beatles, “I’m A Loser”: Back when I was in college, I put together anti-love playlists every Valentine’s Day. This one was a recurring feature.
  2. Sting, “She’s Too Good For Me”: It was true 15 years ago when I married the Wife, and it’s true today.
  3. Jesse Malin, “She Don’t Love Me Now”: I think it’s the guitars on this one that really do it for me.
  4. The Hold Steady, “You Can Make Him Like You”: “You don’t have to go to the right kind of schools/Let your boyfriend come from the right kind of schools/You can wear his old sweatshirt/You can cover yourself like a bruise.”
  5. The Grass Roots, “Things I Should Have Said”: Is there ever a bad time for a Grass Roots song? No. No, there is not.
  6. Placebo, “You Don’t Care About Us”: I swear, I had at least three friends who listened almost exclusively to this album during high school/college. If you didn’t do that, you probably also have at least one or two of those friends as well.
  7. Beck, “Loser”: When you can’t just say it in English, say it in Spanish as well: “Soy un perdador.”
  8. Barenaked Ladies, “One Week”: When you fight, you should always make up afterwards. Maybe don’t wait a whole week for it, though.
  9. Hank Williams, Sr., “You Win Again”: The resignation in his voice is just…damn, Hank.
  10. The White Stripes, “The Denial Twist”: “If you think that a kiss is all in the lips/C’mon, you got it all wrong, man.”