15 December 2017 - The Smithereens - Blood and Roses

On Tuesday of this week, the lead vocalist of the band the Smithereens, Pat DiNizio, died.  It was tragic, and he was gone far too soon. 

In tribute, I wanted to share one of my favorite songs by the Smithereens. If you've seen the movie Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, you've heard this song, which was their first single from their first full-length album (Especially for You, from 1986, which I cannot recommend enough!).

I was hooked on the band from the opening bassline in this song. Lyrically, it's subtle but still heart-felt and poignant.  Overall, it's just a well-written and compelling song.



Perhaps one of the most striking things about this song is, although it was clearly written by DiNizio to be heavily bassline-focused, it translates well to an acoustic performance, such as this solo performance by him from 2009. 


It's songwriting like this that will be missed.  Farewell to a great songwriter, who left behind some great material.

9 August 2017 - Glen Campbell - Galveston

As many of you know, I am a very big fan of Glen Campbell.  So I am sad about his passing.  He was a fine musician, a fine songwriter.

I know the man had his demons, especially his well-publicized drug-fueled romance with Tanya Tucker.  Since the mid-80s, when he married his wife, Kim, these (as well as the substance abuse) seem to have been behind him, thankfully.  By all accounts, he was a wonderful husband and father to his three children with Kim.

So why did I choose "Galveston", a song he didn't write, or even originally perform (Don Ho!) as the song to pay tribute?  It speaks to his strong, emotive voice,  and his creative storytelling.  Glen Campbell did make a lyrical change in the 2nd verse to make it his own.  It's a truly beautiful song, and a fitting tribute.

19 June 2017 - Booker T. & the M.G.’s - Green Onions

I'm willing to bet you didn't know what this song was called.   I admit that I didn't.  I had to look it up.

Booker T. and the M.G.'s are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  That's largely due to this song.  You might be surprised to learn that they were largely a backup band for just about every musical artist that came through Stax Records in Memphis.  MG, in fact, stands for Memphis Group.

I want you to soak in this Memphis soul sound.  It's a little jazzy, but also groovy.  

22 May 2017 - Julee Cruise - Falling

You know the tune.

The theme from Twin Peaks.

You know Twin Peaks is now back, on Showtime.

You might know the song, and most of the rest of the haunting soundtrack, was written and performed by Angelo Badalamenti.

You might not know that the theme song has lyrics, and that Julee Cruise, Badalamenti's muse at the time, did the singing.  You might recognize her as the roadhouse singer on Twin Peaks (she will be reprising the role in the revival).

The song itself, with lyrics, is haunting and somewhat sad.  And Cruise delivers it flawlessly, with a tremendous vocal range.



Of course, when you sing such an iconic song, you have to sing it again....



....and again....



...and again.  Oops.  Sorry.  This is an appearance she made with the B-52s when she stood in for Cindy Wilson.


I know you didn't really recognize the song with vocals, so here is the instrumental version that serves as the theme from Twin Peaks.

5 May 2017 - The Darling Buds - Evergreen

Darling Buds Day is on Saturday this year. So I'm observing it a day early, but it is taking a lot of restraint to wait THAT long.  With one pause, we've been doing Darling Buds Day on this blog every year.  It started accidentally. And, famously, I begged Andrea Lewis, their lead vocalist, to stay together last year after they did a few reunion shows.

My begging worked.

THIS IS NEW MATERIAL.

And, just like I said, they haven't lost their edge.  They're still excellent.

25 April 2017 - Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

If you know me even a little bit, chances are I've tried to get you to watch the television show The Americans.  For those unaware of this show (currently in its fifth season, Tuesdays at 10pm on FX), it stars the long-underrated Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as a couple living in Northern Virginia who happen to be Soviet spies in the early 1980's.

Seriously, the best show on television.

19 April 2017 - Kiesza - Hideaway

Visually, I am a fan of one-take videos, and this is one of them.  It's more impressive that Kiesza is doing all this dancing and moving and the manhandling she gets at 3:40... with a very recently broken rib. When she's hailing that cab at the end of the video, she is GENUINELY exhausted.

But this isn't strictly a video blog.  It's a blog about musical pleasure, and this song delivers.  It's a bright, emotional throwback to a sound not heard in 20 years - something not entirely out of place in a dance club in 1993.  A tribute to a simpler time, it doesn't have a letdown throughout.  Enjoy this treasure, because music like this isn't common anymore.

 

14 April 2017 - Lone Justice - Ways To Be Wicked

This song popped up on a Spotify playlist of mine, and it had been a long, long time since I had heard it.

16 March 2017 - Lush - De-Luxe

I wasn't sure how to handle this song.  It's damn near one of my favorite songs of all time.

So I thought I'd handle it in chronological order.

Lush released an EP called Mad Love in early 1990.  It was never released in the US, although this song was released to US radio, and its UK video was released and shown on MTV.  Note that it is a very low-fi affair, and that's just charming.



Fast forward to late 1990, which is the difference between high school Tony and college Tony.  4AD Records got smart, compiled all those British EPs by Lush into a full album, and released them to the US and Japan.  Called Gala, it wasn't a huge hit, but was well-received.

And with it came a re-release of De-Luxe and a much higher fidelity video.  Because, let's face it, you get a much better look at Miki Berenyi in this video, and US labels sell the pretty girl a lot more.  Still, it's a visually interesting video.

3 March 2017 - Lorde - Green Light

Finally!



Lorde releases a new song!



Sorry.  I get a little excited about things like this.  I've literally been waiting for four years! But with such a thoughtful artist, who has also been hanging out with Taylor Swift (which, to be honest, shows in this video), doing music for the Hunger Games movies, and collaborating with many artists, it stands to reason that we'd be waiting.



And it's a thoughtful, emotional song - perhaps the most complex one of hers to date - co-written by her and Jack Antonoff (of fun.).  I'm not going to put any more glowing words around this.  Just listen and enjoy it.