Saturday, October 30, 2021
Spin's 2021 list of the 50 best rock bands right now is out, and I wrote about Brothers Osborne, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Royal Blood, and Wye Oak.
My Top 100 Singles of 1986
Friday, October 29, 2021
Here's the Spotify playlist:
1. Nu Shooz - "I Can't Wait"
2. Paul Simon - "You Can Call Me Al"
3. Janet Jackson - "When I Think Of You"
4. Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes"
5. Prince and the Revolution - "Kiss"
6. LL Cool J - "Rock The Bells"
7. Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls"
8. Cameo - "Word Up!"
9. Pretenders - "Don't Get Me Wrong"
10. Boogie Down Productions - "South Bronx"
11. Oingo Boingo - "Dead Man's Party"
12. Bruce Hornsby and the Range - "The Way It Is"
13. The Outfield - "Your Love"
14. Genesis - "Land Of Confusion"
15. Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer"
16. Eric B. & Rakim - "Eric B. Is President"
17. The Psychedelic Furs - "Pretty In Pink"
18. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - "If You Leave"
19. Huey Lewis and the News - "Stuck With You"
20. Run-DMC - "My Adidas"
21. Anita Baker - "Sweet Love"
22. Robert Palmer - "Addicted To Love"
23. Heart - "These Dreams"
24. The Moody Blues - "Your Wildest Dreams"
25. Cameo - "Candy"
26. Phil Collins - "Take Me Home"
27. Eddie Money f/ Ronnie Spector - "Take Me Home Tonight"
28. Jackson Browne - "In The Shape Of A Heart"
29. Talking Heads - "Wild Wild Life"
30. Mike + The Mechanics - "All I Need Is A Miracle"
31. Van Halen - "Why Can't This Be Love"
32. Janet Jackson - "Nasty"
33. Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name"
34. Whitney Houston - "How Will I Know"
35. Dire Straits - "Walk Of Life"
36. Fabulous Thunderbirds - "Tuff Enuff"
37. Duran Duran - "Notorious"
38. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - "Don't Give Up"
39. New Order - "Bizarre Love Triangle"
40. Sheila E. - "A Love Bizarre"
41. Huey Lewis and the News - "Hip To Be Square"
42. Oran "Juice" Jones - "The Rain"
43. Genesis - "Invisible Touch"
44. Miami Sound Machine - "Conga"
45. Cyndi Lauper - "True Colors"
46. Jermaine Stewart - "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off"
47. Beastie Boys - "Paul Revere"
48. R.E.M. - "Fall On Me"
49. Janet Jackson - "What Have You Done For Me Lately"
50. Robbie Nevil - "C'est La Vie"
51. Van Halen - "Best Of Both Worlds"
52. Dwight Yoakam - "Guitars, Cadillacs"
53. Glass Tiger - "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)"
54. Junk Yard Band - "Sardines"
55. Prince and the Revolution - "Mountains"
56. Simply Red - "Holding Back The Years"
57. Simple Minds - "Alive And Kicking"
58. Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"
59. Lionel Richie - "Dancing On The Ceiling"
60. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Dare To Be Stupid"
61. Daryl Hall - "Dreamtime"
62. Van Halen - "Dreams"
63. Genesis - "In Too Deep"
64. Wang Chung - "Everybody Have Fun Tonight"
65. Dwight Yoakam - "It Won't Hurt"
66. The Ramones - "Somebody Put Something In My Drink"
67. George Jones - "Wine Colored Roses"
68. Baltimora - "Tarzan Boy"
68. Prince and the Revolution - "Anotherloverholenyohead"
69. Run-DMC and Aerosmith - "Walk This Way"
70. John Mellencamp - "Rumbleseat"
71. Tears For Fears - "Mothers Talk"
72. David Lee Roth - "Yankee Rose"
73. Mr. Mister - "Kyrie"
74. Steve Winwood - "Higher Love"
75. Pet Shop Boys - "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)"
76. R.E.M. - "Superman"
77. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Living With A Hernia"
78. James Brown - "Living In America"
79. Billy Joel - "A Matter Of Trust"
80. Fabulous Thunderbirds - "Wrap It Up"
81. Cherrelle with Alexander O'Neal - "Saturday Love"
82. Ozzy Osbourne - "Shot In The Dark"
83. The Bangles - "Manic Monday"
84. The Rolling Stones - "One Hit (To The Body)"
85. Samantha Fox - "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)"
86. The Police - "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86"
87. Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald - "On My Own"
88. Sade - "Is It A Crime?"
89. Timbuk 3 - "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades"
90. Stevie Wonder - "Overjoyed"
91. Sly Fox - "Let's Go All The Way"
92. Bob Seger - "Like A Rock"
93. Miami Sound Machine - "Bad Boy"
94. Bananarama - "Venus"
95. Eddie Murphy - "Party All The Time"
96. Belinda Carlisle - "Mad About You"
97. Robert Palmer - "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On"
98. Kenny Loggins - "The Danger Zone"
99. Queen - "Who Wants To Live Forever"
100. ZZ Top - "Sleeping Bag"
I was 4 in 1986, so people have been singing "You Can Call Me Al" to me for almost my whole life (although I went primarily by Alex until the late '90s), and people usually assume that I hate the song or am sick of hearing it. And really, I like it, man, it holds up. The songs I have the most memories of from 1986 or around then, though, are "Sledgehammer" and "Land of Confusion" and the Mike + The Mechanics singles, my dad was big into Genesis's big pop crossover moment and those Gabriel and Genesis videos were some of the most memorable stuff I saw in his tapes of I guess Friday Night Videos.
Previously:
TV Diary
Thursday, October 28, 2021
a) "Ghosts"
I didn't think that CBS of all networks might possibly have my favorite new fall show in 2021, but "Ghosts" is different enough to stand out in a slate that's light on comedies to begin with. It's based on a British show, and even with an American setting and American characters, it has a certain britcom wackiness to it: a couple moves into an old country house, and after the wife has a near-death experience she can see and talk to all the ghosts living in the house. The 8 ghosts are mostly broad characters from different eras of history with silly backstories of how they died, and a lot of the comedy is drawn from the predictable conflicts of a whole group of characters who can only be seen and heard by one other person. But it works thanks to the cast, I'm happy to see Rose McIver do a full-on comedy after being pretty consistently funny in "iZombie."
b) "Dopesick"
"Dopesick" is based on a book about the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma, and how it marketed OxyContin, and it attempts to boil that big, complex story into a prestige TV miniseries that puts a human face on the opioid crisis as well as dramatize the inner workings of the Sacklers and the pharmaceutical industry. It's pretty well made and I'll never turn down a chance to watch Michael Keaton do good work, but so far I'm not entirely sure if it can live up to its own weighty ambitions.
c) "Queens"
"Queens" is about four women who were in a popular girl group in the late '90s and reunite in the present day to try to make a comeback after a current star samples one of their hits and asks them to perform with them. In other words, it's almost the exact same premise as "Girls5eva," the very funny sitcom that debuted earlier this year, except "Queens" does it as a music industry soap opera in the "Empire" mold. It's fun to see Eve and Brandy, two people who actually were all over MTV in the '90s, sort of play with their own images, it's an entertaining light little show. But it's really funny that the group is called 'The Nasty Bitches' and they have to say that phrase with a straight face in almost every scene. And it did distract me that the series opens with Eve rapping over a Swizz Beatz track in the late '90s, but they used the beat from a 2005 Young Gunz single so it doesn't really fit the era.
d) "Inside Job"
"Gravity Falls" is one of the best kids' shows of the last decade or so, so I was interested to see "Inside Job," an 'adult animation' Netflix series created by a "Gravity Falls" writer and produced by the creator of "Gravity Falls." And it has a fun premise, basically that every popular conspiracy about the U.S. government is real, and Lizzy Caplan voices the head of the shadow government that's covering up lizard people and aliens and sasquatches and so on. I feel like it falls short of the "Rick and Morty" vibe it's going for, but it's still pretty good, certainly better than the last dozen or so adult cartoon sitcoms I've seen on Netflix.
e) "Acapulco"
Apparently Eugenio Derbez is playing the same character in this Apple TV+ series that he played in 2017's How To Be A Latin Lover, but I really couldn't tell after a couple episodes even though I've seen the movie, it just doesn't really seem like the same guy. In any event, most of the show is a flashback to when the character worked in a Mexican resort in the mid-'80s, it's a cute little show, reminds me a lot of the Amazon show "Red Oaks," which took place at a mid-'80s country club.
This is based on a YA novel but its basically a murder mystery where a kid dies of an allergic reaction in detention and the other kids in detention are suspects. I haven't watched too may episodes yet but it's intriguing enough, good cast.
I wouldn't say I had high hopes for SyFy's new series adaptation of one of George Romero's classic zombie flicks, but it really managed to disappoint me very quickly. Just terrible acting, terrible visual effects, and I don't really know if it's possible now to do a zombie series, even a Romero adaptation, without it feeling like lesser "The Walking Dead."
ABC's current Wednesday night lineup is weird: a reboot of "The Wonder Years," the long-running "Wonder Years" knockoff "The Goldbergs," and "The Conners," which is a continuation of "Roseanne," which debuted on ABC in 1988 alongside "The Wonder Years." There have been so many "Wonder Years"-style shows over the years that it's kind of its own subgenre of sitcom now, the best of which was "Everybody Loves Chris," and if anything this reboot with a Black cast has to live up to comparisons both that and the original "The Wonder Years." It's pretty good, though, Don Cheadle is an excellent choice for narrator.
I never saw any of the I Know What You Did Last Summer movies, but I was alive in the late '90s so I at least got the gist, this Amazon series seems alright I guess, don't know how much they can keep the suspense going for a whole series though.
One of FOX's new prime time dramas, one of those shows about an affluent family and their complicated lives, seems okay but not really my thing.
A really cheesy Netflix show that feels like a throwback to an early 2000s sitcom on The WB, where a Smart person who went to Harvard moves in with her sister and her fit shallow influencer friends, with all the usual stereotypes played for laughs.
This was just a one-off special on Peacock, but I really wish it was a whole series. Basically Jo Firestone is a comedian who started doing a Zoom standup comedy workshop for a seniors center during the pandemic, and the special documents them all meeting in person for the first time and preparing to put on a standup show. It's really charming and so much fun to see people try their hand at performing late in life and figure out how to turn being funny in daily life into a stage persona and material.
I didn't have Apple TV+ during the first season of "The Morning Show" so I've been going through both seasons in the last few weeks, really enjoying it. I remember a lot of people rolling their eyes at a prestige TV series about the #MeToo movement that's very obviously loosely based on what went down with "The Today Show" and Matt Lauer, but I think they made it work very well. In a way the casting is very meta, having Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell, two people who became household names with NBC sitcoms, play the faux-NBC morning show stars, and it serves the show because you get the effect of seeing people who kind of have been America's sweethearts have private meltdowns and do terrible things. The whole thing also feels very influenced by Aaron Sorkin's behind-the-scenes shows about live television, but it's about 10 times better than his shaky later shows like "The Newsroom" and "Studio 60," so I don't mind it feeling derivative. And Billy Crudup is really doing the best work of his career, the network executives are usually never interesting characters in these kinds of shows but Cory Ellison is this kind of improbable but believable figure, smart and calculating but also impish and animated and at times kind.
Been watching the third season and it's still a fun show but my interest has definitely waned, just too much zaniness.
o) "You"
When the first season of "You" ended, I would've been fine with it being a single season show, I couldn't really see the premise sustaining itself way beyond that. But now, in the third season, I would say they've managed to keep upping the ante pretty well, although it's a little ridiculous that he moved from New York to L.A. and built another glass murder cube in his basement. Giving Joe an equally deranged partner was an inspired choice, Victoria Pedretti is so great in this show.
Pretty interesting Netflix show about German coders who sued Google about Google Earth ripping off their creation, one of their better foreign language shows in recent memory.
q) "My Name"
A Korean show on Netflix about a woman avenging her father's death, some badass action stuff in this.
Each episode of this cute little show on E! features two tribute acts competing, a U2 cover band versus a Coldplay cover band, a Cher impersonator versus a Tina Turner impersonator, and so on, until the champion of the season gets to perform on "The Tonight Show." I have a love/hate thing with tribute bands, I appreciate their dedication to getting the details right but I still just listen to every note nitpicking how it's not quite the same, but I like that everyone is just having fun in this and coaching them to be better.
s) "Bad Sport"
Really excellent Netflix true crime docuseries about various different sports scandals, some of these stories I knew about and some of them I didn't but it's pretty entertaining either way.
t) "Buried"
A really dark Showtime docuseries about solving a cold case where a woman basically remembers details of a murder her father committed when she was a kid, just absolutely chilling stuff.
Another Netflix true crime show, about a colony of German Christians in Chile in the '60s, interesting weird story.
A Netflix docuseries about 11 members of an Indian family who died in 2018, another really dark tale, I need to take a break from checking out these true crime shows because it's a lot to take in.
A NASA docueries on Disney+, enjoyed this a lot more than Netflix's show about stupid SpaceX.
All of these Netflix competition reality shows seem to be made on the same set with the same lighting, it's kind of annoying how interchangeable they are. But it's fun to see bakers paired up with engineers to create these ridiculous complex dishes, even if they rarely look appetizing or even edible.
A cute little show on the Disney Channel, I wish my 6-year-old liked this instead of just watching more Minecraft crap.
I like that in October all the networks roll out their spooky kids shows, I'm not familiar with the A Tale Dark & Grimm book but the Netflix animated series is pretty good, I like the animation style.
Deep Album Cuts Vol. 249: Daryl Hall & John Oates
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Back in August, I got to interview John Oates for GQ, and it was a really cool opportunity that I was happy to get. I've been getting more and more into the Daryl Hall & John Oates catalog the last few years, and have been wanting to finish this playlist for a long time, so working on that interview really spurred me to dive back in.
Daryl Hall & John Oates deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Fall In Philadelphia
2. Abandoned Luncheonette
3. Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)
4. Is It A Star
5. I'm Watching You (A Mutant Romance)
6. Out Of Me, Out Of You
7. Ennui On The Mountain
8. You'll Never Learn
9. Room To Breathe
10. The Girl Who Used To Be
11. Serious Music
12. No Brain No Pain
13. Everytime You Go Away
14. United State
15. Head Above Water
16. Friday Let Me Down
17. Open All Night
18. Delayed Reaction
19. Bank On Your Love
20. Talking All Night
Track 1 from Whole Oats (1972)
Tracks 2 and 3 from Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)
Tracks 4 and 5 from War Babies (1974)
Tracks 6 and 7 from Daryl Hall & John Oates (1975)
Tracks 8 and 9 from Bigger Than Both Of Us (1976)
Track 10 from Beauty On A Backstreet (1977)
Track 11 from Along The Red Ledge (1978)
Track 12 from X-Static (1979)
Tracks 13 and 14 from Voices (1980)
Tracks 15 and 16 from Private Eyes (1981)
Tracks 17 and 18 from H2O (1982)
Track 19 from Big Bam Boom (1984)
Track 20 from Ooh Yeah! (1988)
Artists like Aretha Franklin and Willie Nelson famously kicked off their classic periods by signing to Atlantic Records after years of plugging away less successfully on other labels. But it was the other way around for Daryl Hall and John Oates, who released three Atlantic albums to little success before becoming major stars on RCA. Even the most famous song from their Atlantic period, "She's Gone," didn't become a top 10 hit until it was re-released to capitalize on their RCA breakthrough with "Sara Smile."
Another thing that happens when a band changes labels and becomes successful is their early stuff gets repackaged a lot. There was one official Atlantic compilation, 1977's No Goodbyes, which featured 3 new songs. But a quickie Rhino compilation called She's Gone & Other Hits that my dad owned ended up being my gateway to really appreciating them. At first I was disappointed by the deceptive title ("She's Gone" is the only one of the duo's many recognizable pop hits on the album), but then I fell for all the other songs on there, particularly the ones from Abandoned Luncheonette. And one of my favorite things about talking to John Oates was getting some stories out of him about Bernard Purdie, who does fantastic work on that album. It turns out Oates is a big fan of that period too, and talked about how "Is It A Star" from the Todd Rundgren-produced War Babies was the deep cut of choice for setlists on their tour this year.
John Oates wrote and sang lead more on the '70s albums, and I think it's kind of a shame that a lot of people think of him as more a sidekick than an equal partner after Hall became the singer of most of their biggest hits. I included some songs Oates sings lead on like the live staple "Last Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)," "You'll Never Learn," "The Girl Who Used To Be," "Serious Music," and "Friday Let Me Down," as well as some songs where they share vocal duties. Daryl Hall also demonstrated a pretty interesting range as a singer and songwriter before he found that pop star sweet spot -- "No Brain No Pain" is basically a Devo song, and he references The Stooges' "TV Eye" on "I'm Watching You (A Mutant Romance)" -- at least I assume so -- according to Kathy Asheton, "TV eye" was her personal slang term that Iggy Pop made into a song, so there's no other context for the phrase that I know of. I decided not to make room for solo albums, but there are some good ones, particularly Hall's Robert Fripp-produced solo debut Sacred Songs.
Their 9th album Voices was sort of the moment where Daryl Hall & John Oates finally arrived as consistent hitmakers, after almost a decade of sort of sporadic patches of success. But one of the most popular songs debuted on that album wasn't a hit right away. The original "Everytime You Go Away" on Voices wasn't a single, but it became a #1 hit for Paul Young in 1985, and I primarily associate the song with the Blue Room cover that played over the credits of Planes, Trains & Automobiles. And really their '80s albums are loaded with more songs that could've been hits, "Head Above Water" sounds like a smash.
Previous playlists in the Deep Album Cuts series:
Vol. 1: Brandy
Vol. 2: Whitney Houston
Vol. 3: Madonna
Vol. 4: My Chemical Romance
Vol. 5: Brad Paisley
Vol. 6: George Jones
Vol. 7: The Doors
Vol. 8: Jay-Z
Vol. 9: Robin Thicke
Vol. 10: R. Kelly
Vol. 11: Fall Out Boy
Vol. 12: TLC
Vol. 13: Pink
Vol. 14: Queen
Vol. 15: Steely Dan
Vol. 16: Trick Daddy
Vol. 17: Paramore
Vol. 18: Elton John
Vol. 19: Missy Elliott
Vol. 20: Mariah Carey
Vol. 21: The Pretenders
Vol. 22: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Vol. 23: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Vol. 24: Foo Fighters
Vol. 25: Counting Crows
Vol. 26: T.I.
Vol. 27: Jackson Browne
Vol. 28: Usher
Vol. 29: Mary J. Blige
Vol. 30: The Black Crowes
Vol. 31: Ne-Yo
Vol. 32: Blink-182
Vol. 33: One Direction
Vol. 34: Kelly Clarkson
Vol. 35: The B-52's
Vol. 36: Ludacris
Vol. 37: They Might Be Giants
Vol. 38: T-Pain
Vol. 39: Snoop Dogg
Vol. 40: Ciara
Vol. 41: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Vol. 42: Dwight Yoakam
Vol. 43: Demi Lovato
Vol. 44: Prince
Vol. 45: Duran Duran
Vol. 46: Rihanna
Vol. 47: Janet Jackson
Vol. 48: Sara Bareilles
Vol. 49: Motley Crue
Vol. 50: The Who
Vol. 51: Coldplay
Vol. 52: Alicia Keys
Vol. 53: Stone Temple Pilots
Vol. 54: David Bowie
Vol. 55: The Eagles
Vol. 56: The Beatles
Vol. 57: Beyonce
Vol. 58: Beanie Sigel
Vol. 59: A Tribe Called Quest
Vol. 60: Cheap Trick
Vol. 61: Guns N' Roses
Vol. 62: The Posies
Vol. 63: The Time
Vol. 64: Gucci Mane
Vol. 65: Violent Femmes
Vol. 66: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Vol. 67: Maxwell
Vol. 68: Parliament-Funkadelic
Vol. 69: Chevelle
Vol. 70: Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
Vol. 71: Fantasia
Vol. 72: Heart
Vol. 73: Pitbull
Vol. 74: Nas
Vol. 75: Monica
Vol. 76: The Cars
Vol. 77: 112
Vol. 78: 2Pac
Vol. 79: Nelly
Vol. 80: Meat Loaf
Vol. 81: AC/DC
Vol. 82: Bruce Springsteen
Vol. 83: Pearl Jam
Vol. 84: Green Day
Vol. 85: George Michael and Wham!
Vol. 86: New Edition
Vol. 87: Chuck Berry
Vol. 88: Electric Light Orchestra
Vol. 89: Chic
Vol. 90: Journey
Vol. 91: Yes
Vol. 92: Soundgarden
Vol. 93: The Allman Brothers Band
Vol. 94: Mobb Deep
Vol. 95: Linkin Park
Vol. 96: Shania Twain
Vol. 97: Squeeze
Vol. 98: Taylor Swift
Vol. 99: INXS
Vol. 100: Stevie Wonder
Vol. 101: The Cranberries
Vol. 102: Def Leppard
Vol. 103: Bon Jovi
Vol. 104: Dire Straits
Vol. 105: The Police
Vol. 106: Sloan
Vol. 107: Peter Gabriel
Vol. 108: Led Zeppelin
Vol. 109: Dave Matthews Band
Vol. 110: Nine Inch Nails
Vol. 111: Talking Heads
Vol. 112: Smashing Pumpkins
Vol. 113: System Of A Down
Vol. 114: Aretha Franklin
Vol. 115: Michael Jackson
Vol. 116: Alice In Chains
Vol. 117: Paul Simon
Vol. 118: Lil Wayne
Vol. 119: Nirvana
Vol. 120: Kix
Vol. 121: Phil Collins
Vol. 122: Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Vol. 123: Sonic Youth
Vol. 124: Bob Seger
Vol. 125: Radiohead
Vol. 126: Eric Church
Vol. 127: Neil Young
Vol. 128: Future
Vol. 129: Say Anything
Vol. 130: Maroon 5
Vol. 131: Kiss
Vol. 132: Dinosaur Jr.
Vol. 133: Stevie Nicks
Vol. 134: Talk Talk
Vol. 135: Ariana Grande
Vol. 136: Roxy Music
Vol. 137: The Cure
Vol. 138: 2 Chainz
Vol. 139: Kelis
Vol. 140: Ben Folds Five
Vol. 141: DJ Khaled
Vol. 142: Little Feat
Vol. 143: Brendan Benson
Vol. 144: Chance The Rapper
Vol. 145: Miguel
Vol. 146: The Geto Boys
Vol. 147: Meek Mill
Vol. 148: Tool
Vol. 149: Jeezy
Vol. 150: Lady Gaga
Vol. 151: Eddie Money
Vol. 152: LL Cool J
Vol. 153: Cream
Vol. 154: Pavement
Vol. 155: Miranda Lambert
Vol. 156: Gang Starr
Vol. 157: Little Big Town
Vol. 158: Thin Lizzy
Vol. 159: Pat Benatar
Vol. 160: Depeche Mode
Vol. 161: Rush
Vol. 162: Three 6 Mafia
Vol. 163: Jennifer Lopez
Vol. 164: Rage Against The Machine
Vol. 165: Huey Lewis and the News
Vol. 166: Dru Hill
Vol. 167: The Strokes
Vol. 168: The Notorious B.I.G.
Vol. 169: Sparklehorse
Vol. 170: Kendrick Lamar
Vol. 171: Mazzy Star
Vol. 172: Erykah Badu
Vol. 173: The Smiths
Vol. 174: Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
Vol. 175: Fountains Of Wayne
Vol. 176: Joe Diffie
Vol. 177: Morphine
Vol. 178: Dr. Dre
Vol. 179: The Rolling Stones
Vol. 180: Superchunk
Vol. 181: The Replacements
Vol. 1: Brandy
Vol. 2: Whitney Houston
Vol. 3: Madonna
Vol. 4: My Chemical Romance
Vol. 5: Brad Paisley
Vol. 6: George Jones
Vol. 7: The Doors
Vol. 8: Jay-Z
Vol. 9: Robin Thicke
Vol. 10: R. Kelly
Vol. 11: Fall Out Boy
Vol. 12: TLC
Vol. 13: Pink
Vol. 14: Queen
Vol. 15: Steely Dan
Vol. 16: Trick Daddy
Vol. 17: Paramore
Vol. 18: Elton John
Vol. 19: Missy Elliott
Vol. 20: Mariah Carey
Vol. 21: The Pretenders
Vol. 22: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Vol. 23: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Vol. 24: Foo Fighters
Vol. 25: Counting Crows
Vol. 26: T.I.
Vol. 27: Jackson Browne
Vol. 28: Usher
Vol. 29: Mary J. Blige
Vol. 30: The Black Crowes
Vol. 31: Ne-Yo
Vol. 32: Blink-182
Vol. 33: One Direction
Vol. 34: Kelly Clarkson
Vol. 35: The B-52's
Vol. 36: Ludacris
Vol. 37: They Might Be Giants
Vol. 38: T-Pain
Vol. 39: Snoop Dogg
Vol. 40: Ciara
Vol. 41: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Vol. 42: Dwight Yoakam
Vol. 43: Demi Lovato
Vol. 44: Prince
Vol. 45: Duran Duran
Vol. 46: Rihanna
Vol. 47: Janet Jackson
Vol. 48: Sara Bareilles
Vol. 49: Motley Crue
Vol. 50: The Who
Vol. 51: Coldplay
Vol. 52: Alicia Keys
Vol. 53: Stone Temple Pilots
Vol. 54: David Bowie
Vol. 55: The Eagles
Vol. 56: The Beatles
Vol. 57: Beyonce
Vol. 58: Beanie Sigel
Vol. 59: A Tribe Called Quest
Vol. 60: Cheap Trick
Vol. 61: Guns N' Roses
Vol. 62: The Posies
Vol. 63: The Time
Vol. 64: Gucci Mane
Vol. 65: Violent Femmes
Vol. 66: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Vol. 67: Maxwell
Vol. 68: Parliament-Funkadelic
Vol. 69: Chevelle
Vol. 70: Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
Vol. 71: Fantasia
Vol. 72: Heart
Vol. 73: Pitbull
Vol. 74: Nas
Vol. 75: Monica
Vol. 76: The Cars
Vol. 77: 112
Vol. 78: 2Pac
Vol. 79: Nelly
Vol. 80: Meat Loaf
Vol. 81: AC/DC
Vol. 82: Bruce Springsteen
Vol. 83: Pearl Jam
Vol. 84: Green Day
Vol. 85: George Michael and Wham!
Vol. 86: New Edition
Vol. 87: Chuck Berry
Vol. 88: Electric Light Orchestra
Vol. 89: Chic
Vol. 90: Journey
Vol. 91: Yes
Vol. 92: Soundgarden
Vol. 93: The Allman Brothers Band
Vol. 94: Mobb Deep
Vol. 95: Linkin Park
Vol. 96: Shania Twain
Vol. 97: Squeeze
Vol. 98: Taylor Swift
Vol. 99: INXS
Vol. 100: Stevie Wonder
Vol. 101: The Cranberries
Vol. 102: Def Leppard
Vol. 103: Bon Jovi
Vol. 104: Dire Straits
Vol. 105: The Police
Vol. 106: Sloan
Vol. 107: Peter Gabriel
Vol. 108: Led Zeppelin
Vol. 109: Dave Matthews Band
Vol. 110: Nine Inch Nails
Vol. 111: Talking Heads
Vol. 112: Smashing Pumpkins
Vol. 113: System Of A Down
Vol. 114: Aretha Franklin
Vol. 115: Michael Jackson
Vol. 116: Alice In Chains
Vol. 117: Paul Simon
Vol. 118: Lil Wayne
Vol. 119: Nirvana
Vol. 120: Kix
Vol. 121: Phil Collins
Vol. 122: Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Vol. 123: Sonic Youth
Vol. 124: Bob Seger
Vol. 125: Radiohead
Vol. 126: Eric Church
Vol. 127: Neil Young
Vol. 128: Future
Vol. 129: Say Anything
Vol. 130: Maroon 5
Vol. 131: Kiss
Vol. 132: Dinosaur Jr.
Vol. 133: Stevie Nicks
Vol. 134: Talk Talk
Vol. 135: Ariana Grande
Vol. 136: Roxy Music
Vol. 137: The Cure
Vol. 138: 2 Chainz
Vol. 139: Kelis
Vol. 140: Ben Folds Five
Vol. 141: DJ Khaled
Vol. 142: Little Feat
Vol. 143: Brendan Benson
Vol. 144: Chance The Rapper
Vol. 145: Miguel
Vol. 146: The Geto Boys
Vol. 147: Meek Mill
Vol. 148: Tool
Vol. 149: Jeezy
Vol. 150: Lady Gaga
Vol. 151: Eddie Money
Vol. 152: LL Cool J
Vol. 153: Cream
Vol. 154: Pavement
Vol. 155: Miranda Lambert
Vol. 156: Gang Starr
Vol. 157: Little Big Town
Vol. 158: Thin Lizzy
Vol. 159: Pat Benatar
Vol. 160: Depeche Mode
Vol. 161: Rush
Vol. 162: Three 6 Mafia
Vol. 163: Jennifer Lopez
Vol. 164: Rage Against The Machine
Vol. 165: Huey Lewis and the News
Vol. 166: Dru Hill
Vol. 167: The Strokes
Vol. 168: The Notorious B.I.G.
Vol. 169: Sparklehorse
Vol. 170: Kendrick Lamar
Vol. 171: Mazzy Star
Vol. 172: Erykah Badu
Vol. 173: The Smiths
Vol. 174: Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
Vol. 175: Fountains Of Wayne
Vol. 176: Joe Diffie
Vol. 177: Morphine
Vol. 178: Dr. Dre
Vol. 179: The Rolling Stones
Vol. 180: Superchunk
Vol. 181: The Replacements
My Top 50 Albums of 1986
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Here's the Spotify playlist with a track from each album:
1. Peter Gabriel - So
2. Paul Simon - Graceland
3. Elvis Costello - Blood & Chocolate
2. Paul Simon - Graceland
3. Elvis Costello - Blood & Chocolate
4. Janet Jackson - Control
5. They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants
6. Sonic Youth - EVOL
7. Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.
6. Sonic Youth - EVOL
7. Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.
8. The Golden Palominos - Blast Of Silence (Axed My Baby For A Nickel)
9. Metallica - Master Of Puppets
10. Run-DMC - Raising Hell
11. Crowded House - Crowded House
12. Anita Baker - Rapture
13. Prince - Parade
14. Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
15. XTC - Skylarking
16. R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
17. Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
18. Elvis Costello - King Of America
19. Slayer - Reign In Blood
20. fIREHOSE - Ragin', Full On
21. Duran Duran - Notorious
22. Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill
23. John Prine - German Afternoons
24. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
25. Salt-N-Pepa - Hot, Cool & Vicious
26. Robert Palmer - Riptide
27. Steve Earle - Guitar Town
28. The Bangles - Different Light
29. Genesis - Invisible Touch
30. Bad Brains - I Against I
31. Camper Van Beethoven - II & III
32. Madonna - True Blue
33. Fabulous Thunderbirds - Tuff Enuff
34. Pretenders - Get Close
35. Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring
36. Shonen Knife - Pretty Little Baka Guy
37. Van Halen - 5150
38. Talking Heads - True Stories
39. The B-52s - Bouncing Off The Satellites
40. Husker Du - Candy Apple Grey
41. Whodini - Back In Black
42. 2 Live Crew - 2 Live Is What We Are
43. Meat Puppets - Out My Way EP
43. Meat Puppets - Out My Way EP
44. Camper Van Beethoven - Camper Van Beethoven
45. "Weird Al" Yankovic - Polka Party!
46. Huey Lewis And The News - Fore!
47. The Rolling Stones - Dirty Work
48. Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
49. Jackson Browne - Lives In The Balance
50. Tina Turner - Break Every Rule
One of the things that interests me about the mid-'80s is all the instances of '60s and '70s artists staging a big comeback and/or releasing the biggest selling album of their careers with lots of videos on MTV and super modern production. Born In The U.S.A. is the epitome of this phenomenon, but you could also name albums by David Bowie, Tina Turner, ZZ Top, Aretha Franklin, Dire Straits, so on and so on. My 2 favorite albums of 1986 feel like the tail end of this trend but also the best albums from it, Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon both looking around the world for different musical influences and still managing to make very personal, idiosyncratic blockbusters.
Deep Album Cuts Vol. 248: Aaliyah
Monday, October 25, 2021
For pretty much the entire streaming era, two of Aaliyah's three albums were unavailable on Spotify and Apple and other services, mainly because of a hold up with the label that released them Blackground Records. But since August, Blackground's catalog has finally been hitting streaming services, with Aaliyah's albums and compilations becoming available along with albums by Tank, Toni Braxton, and Timbaland & Magoo, who I made a playlist of a few weeks ago. Aaliyah, who died 20 years ago this year, didn't get the chance to make many albums, but I still wanted to look back at her incredibly influential catalog and include some non-album tracks.
Aaliyah deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Heartbroken
2. Loose Rap (featuring Static Major)
3. I'm So Into You
4. Erica Kane
5. Ladies In Da House (featuring Missy Elliott and Timbaland)
6. It's Whatever
7. Are You Feelin' Me?
8. I'm Down
9. All I Need
10. A Girl Like You (featuring Treach)
11. Don't Know What To Tell Ya
12. U Got Nerve
13. Throw Your Hands Up (featuring Tia Hawkins)
14. Everything's Gonna Be Alright
15. Messed Up
16. Extra Smooth
17. Never Givin' Up (featuring Tavarius Polk)
18. The Thing I Like
19. Don't Worry
20. I Can Be
Tracks 3, 8 and 13 from Age Ain't Nothing But A Number (1994)
Track 18 from A Low Down Dirty Shame (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1994)
Track 1, 5, 10, 14 and 17 from One In A Million (1996)
Tracks 7 from Romeo Must Die: The Album (2000)
Tracks 2, 6, 12, 15 and 20 from Aaliyah (2001)
Tracks, 4, 9 and 19 from I Care 4 U (2002)
Tracks 11 and 15 from Ultimate Aaliyah (2005)
Track 18 from A Low Down Dirty Shame (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1994)
Track 1, 5, 10, 14 and 17 from One In A Million (1996)
Tracks 7 from Romeo Must Die: The Album (2000)
Tracks 2, 6, 12, 15 and 20 from Aaliyah (2001)
Tracks, 4, 9 and 19 from I Care 4 U (2002)
Tracks 11 and 15 from Ultimate Aaliyah (2005)
Obviously One In A Million is Aaliyah's masterpiece, and I wrote a whole column a few years ago about why it's one of the best albums not on streaming services. But Aaliyah is almost as great in its own right. And of course with only three albums to her name, I had to include Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, but obviously, R. Kelly wrote and produced all that stuff, so steer clear of the playlist for that reason if you want. Goodwill for Aaliyah has helped Age remain one of the only things Kelly did that's still semi-acceptable to play, but the album is practically a crime scene, it's all pretty uncomfortable to think about.
Even within Aaliyah's short career, I find myself wishing she hadn't gone 5 years between albums, and I really wish she had gotten an entire album of Timbaland beats like Missy and Ginuwine, instead of half of One In A Million and just 3 singles on Aaliyah. But it seems like she was always recording and doing things for soundtracks, and left behind a fair number of B-sides and unreleased tracks that wound up on her two posthumous compilations. "The Thing I Like" and "Don't Know What To Tell Ya" were singles that only charted outside the U.S., so I felt like they were fair game for the deep cuts playlist.
Saturday, October 23, 2021
I wrote a piece for Consequence about Silverchair's career since their rise to fame in the '90s, and in the process of working on the article I found myself really enjoying their later albums.
Movie Diary
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Horror is a genre where successful movies spawn sequel after sequel with no grand story arc planned out, but 2018's Halloween was a wildly successful back-to-basics movie bringing Jamie Lee Curtis back into the franchise. So now we get two more movies for a planned trilogy, with Halloween Kills getting the kind of muted response that middle movies often get in trilogies. But I thought it was pretty good -- it felt more overtly like an homage to the Carpenter movies than the 2018 movie, and a really violent one, with Curtis kind of sidelined for most of the movie. But it totally made sense for me as the middle chapter of a trilogy that made me anticipate the next movie, and there were a few pretty over-the-top moments that made it memorable in its own right.
One of the interesting that happens as bands and other cultural phenomenons get documented over and over in books and films and so on is that the people who live the longest get more chances to tell the story. So one of the really enjoyable things about the new documentary about The Velvet Underground by Todd Haynes is that Mo Tucker and especially John Cale get to have starring roles as the primary interviewees, while there's still plenty of archival audio of Lou Reed interviews to get his two cents in. Of course, Cale was only on 2 of VU's 4 canonical albums, which helps tilt the movie further towards the usual emphasis on the Warhol days and The Velvet Underground & Nico, which is frankly my least favorite of those albums. It's a fine movie with some excellent footage and interviews (the Jonathan Richman segments are, predictably, a highlight). But I'm reading Please Kill Me right now, and the early chapters about VU are much funnier and have much juicier, more revealing anecdotes about the band than anything in this movie.
c) Night Teeth
My wife wanted to watch this Netflix vampire movie, and I thought it was a pretty decent lightweight horror flick, the cast had fun with it and I liked the premise and the moody way the whole thing was lit.
Love And Monsters is one of those movies that was scheduled for a theatrical release in early 2020 and wound up as a VOD release after Covid hit and I think it's a shame that it slipped through the cracks, it's really quite entertaining. Basically, it's a dystopian comedy where radiation has made most animals on earth into giant monsters that have killed most of the human population, and you follow one guy as he goes on a journey to find his girlfriend from before the apocalypse -- if you're like me and watch Zombieland every time it comes on cable, I highly recommend Love And Monsters, it hits that spot nicely. The CGI is pretty impressive, too, it actual got a visual effects nomination at the Oscars.
e) Pixie
Pixie is a British action comedy that feels like kind of a throwback to the late '90s, all those post-Tarantino/post-Trainspotting edgy movies, heists gone wrong and stolen drugs and priests with guns. But it manages to be pretty charming in spite of all that, good cast, good writing, I enjoyed it.
f) The Starling
The Starling is a touching little movie about a married couple coping with the death of their infant daughter, with two leads who usually do comedies, Bridesmaids co-stars Melissa McCarthy and Chris O'Dowd, giving really excellent, sensitive performances. But I especially liked Kevin Kline in The Starling, I wish he popped up in movies more often these days, and Emily Tremaine really stole the one scene she was in, much as she had in her brief appearance in the recently canceled series "Mr. Corman," I really hope to see more of her.
h) Freaky
Christopher Landon kicked off his career writing Paranormal Activity sequels and Disturbia, but I feel like he's really found his voice directing more playful, satirical horror movies like Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2U, and this very entertaining slasher movie reboot of Freaky Friday. Obviously a lot of the comedy is derived from the easy laughs of Vince Vaughn adopting the body language and speaking style of a teenage girl and Kathryn Newton acting like a middle-aged man who's a serial killer, but they're both great, very detailed performances, and the whole thing is put together very cleverly.
i) Stowaway
This movie, improbably written and directed by a Brazilian musician known primarily for his 'MysteryGuitarMan' YouTube channel, is one of those tense dramas where a few astronauts go into space and something goes wrong and they have to make all these difficult choices. But it held my attention, partly because you were never quite sure if the titular stowaway (Shamier Anderson) really did wind up on the spacecraft by accident as he said or if there's something shady going on, and partly because Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick, and Daniel Dae Kim play out the drama really well and make this heightened situation feel like a relatable workplace crisis or something. My wife found the end underwhelming but I like that it didn't quite go where I thought it was going and never went with a big over-the-top climax.
j) We Broke Up
Aya Cash from "You're The Worst" and William Jackson Harper from "The Good Place" star in this rom com about a couple who break up and decide to still go to her sister's wedding the next day as if they're still together. Not a really exceptional movie or anything but a good cast goes a long way in this and they're great, especially Cash.
Monthly Report: October 2021 Singles
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
1. Adele - "Easy On Me"
I spent a few days writing my Billboard piece about Adele and listening to a lot of Adele just before "Easy On Me" came out, so maybe I was well primed to like it right away. In the past I've usually preferred Adele's uptempo material -- I have to admit I've never really liked "Someone Like You," I hate that "don't forget me, I beg" part. But "Easy On Me" is a shorter song with a warmer melody that I think suits her voice better, with a really strong bassline that kind of implies where the drums would be if the song had any. Here's the favorite 2021 singles Spotify playlist I update every month.
2. Roddy Ricch - "Late At Night"
Roddy Rich and Mustard are 3 for 3 on their collaborations being big radio hits, but it feels like each one is a mellower variation on the last one, with "Late At Night" being a slower version of "High Fashion," which was sort of a slower version of "Ballin'." I love this song's vaguely melancholy vibe, though, he's just so brilliant with vocal melodies.
3. Baby Keem f/ Kendrick Lamar - "Family Ties"
If you'd told me a few years ago that there'd soon be several rap hits with mid-song beat switches, I think I'd be pretty excited about that. But I'm weary of the shape man of them have taken, with each of the artists on the song rapping on a different beat so it kind of felt like completely different songs were awkwardly stapled together, and it's usually Drake or Kendrick Lamar involved in these songs so it kind of feels like superstars are just being shoehorned into the songs by any means possible ("Sicko Mode," "King's Dead," "Life Is Good," the new Young Thug song "Bubbly" that's probably about to be huge). There is a tiny bit at the end of "Family Ties" where Baby Keem and Kendrick go back and forth on the same beat, but for the most part Baby Keem raps over the first two beats and Kendrick raps on the third beat, and I'm still kind of indifferent to Keem, so for me the song doesn't really come alive until Kendrick storms in all wide-eyed and playfully pissed off, a verse that seemed at first like a stilted mish mash of different voices and flows but at this points sounds better every time I hear it.
4. Halsey - "I Am Not A Woman, I'm A God"
If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power is in the running for my album of the year, and I love that Halsey didn't release any advance singles, but it made me very curious what the singles would be, and I was surprised at first that it was this. But then I realized that it's one of the first things Trent Reznor has done since "Closer" that has kind of a similar groove to "Closer," though in many ways it's pretty different, so it's a cool choice.
5. Foo Fighters - "Making A Fire"
Foo Fighters are one of the last bands left that could get away with saving the catchiest uptempo song on an album for the 3rd single and still having a hit with it, so I'm glad this song has done better than boring old "Waiting On A War," love how it alternates between the 6/8 intro/verses and the 4/4 chorus.
6. Kayla Nicole f/ Taylor Girlz - "Bundles"
I wrote about the great remix with Flo Milli already, but the original song has really grown on me too, there's so many little hooks strewn throughout the song, I think my favorite part is that hyperventilating "ah! ah! ah! ah!" ad lib.
7. Michael Ray - "Whiskey And Rain"
I have this pet peeve about Spotify's 'autoplay' function that just cues up some algorithm-derived selection after whatever album or playlist you're listening to ends -- I turn it off, but somehow my preferences keep getting reset and it comes back on maybe once or twice a week until I turn it off again. But something pretty funny happened when I was listening to Carly Pearce's new album that I wrote about last week. Pearce's album is mostly about her marriage and divorce from fellow country singer Michael Ray and features alcoholism-themed songs like "All The Whiskey In The World" and "Your Drinkin', My Problem." And when the album ended, Spotify autoplay instantly put on Ray's current hit, "Whiskey And Rain," which is a good song but definitely one that I hear in a different light after Pearce's album.
8. Guns N' Roses - "Hard Skool"
I was happy to see Slash and Duff rejoin Guns N' Roses for lots of successful tours and put a happy ending on the decades of GnR chaos and acrimony, but I didn't dare get my hopes up about future studio recordings, especially with secret weapon Izzy Stradlin sitting out the reunion. And the first new song from this lineup, "Absurd," seemed like a worst case scenario: Slash and Duff playing on a terrible Chinese Democracy outtake while Axl sings a string of profanities in this weird Dudley Do-Right voice. But the second new song released soon after, while also dating back to the Chinese Democracy sessions, resembles classic GNR a lot more, not all the way there but enough that I enjoy hearing it on the radio.
9. Evanescence - "Better Without You"
Evanescence have sort of had a Guns N' Roses-style career arc: a big debut, followed immediately by diminishing returns and lots of lineup changes that eventually left the singer as the only original member. But "Better Without You" is their best single in quite a while, gets a bit of that "Going Under" vibe back.
10. Jam & Lewis f/ Mariah Carey - "Somewhat Loved (There You Go Breakin' My Heart)"
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have produced about a dozen songs for Mariah Carey over her career, but few of them were hits or particularly memorable songs. So I underestimated their chemistry together, but this is probably the best song Mariah has made in at least a decade, would love them to do her next album.
The Worst Single of the Month: Latto - "Big Energy"
About 3 years ago, writer Kyrell Grant coined the phrase "big dick energy" on Twitter, and since then it's traveled that familiar path of a ubiquitous catchphrase where you mostly feel embarrassment when it gets referenced in a TV show. It finally becoming a bad rap hit feels like such an inevitability that I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner: a rapper once named 'Mulatto' releasing her first single under her new zero effort rebranding, talking about "big big energy" on the radio edit (Grant weighed in: "somehow this is absolutely the worst song i've ever heard in my life"). It's impossible to not enjoy a "Genius of Love" sample at least a little, but it's pretty glaring when it's the only redeeming thing a song has.
Thursday, October 14, 2021
I wrote a piece for Billboard about the rollout of Adele's upcoming album and how the music industry has changed in the 6 years since her last release.
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
"Scam Likely," the single from Western Blot's forthcoming album Ivy, is out today. Brooks Long sings on the track and Ishai Barnoy plays guitar, and Mat Leffler-Schulman mastered it. The cover art is sculpture by Donald Edwards photographed by Jennifer German, with design by DeadmanJay.
Monthly Report: September 2021 Albums
Friday, October 08, 2021
1. Carly Pearce - 29: Written In Stone
I'm not a huge fan of the modern trend of rolling out an album in EP installments or expanding an EP into a full-length record, it tends to kind of just make the whole thing feel more like a steady churn of content. However, I think it worked out well for Carly Pearce: last year she got divorced, and followed that news quickly with the single "Next Girl" and the February release of the 29 EP that seemed to really capture her feelings about it while they were still really raw and immediate. And now this album adds 8 songs to the 7 from the EP and shuffles the sequence around into something that feels like a really complete, cohesive, and often devastating record. Pearce has had a great capacity to convey hurt in her voice since her first hit "Every Little Thing," and she wields that voice so well across the album, there's this emotive edge to her delivery even in more playful songs like "Your Drinkin', My Problem" and "Dear Miss Loretta" that really makes those songs pop. And "Show Me Around," dedicated to Michael Busbee, who produced and co-wrote her first two albums and died in 2019, is really moving, and the producers who stepped in here (Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, and others) helped retain the sound of Pearce's previous stuff. This definitely isn't the most popular country album released by a recently divorced woman in September, but I think it's the superior record. Here's the 2021 albums Spotify playlist I put all the new records I'm listening to in.
2. Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed
I always knew Kacey Musgraves was a great country artist who'd naturally draw in lots of people who don't listen to country, but The Golden Hour made her into a bigger crossover star than I ever really expected her to be. And Star-Crossed builds on that album's aesthetic advances away from country without quite having a big eureka moment or, as far as I can tell, sustaining the enthusiasm of her new fanbase. I mean, her voice is too flinty and earnest and her writing too detailed and introspective for her to ever go Shania, but I do still kind of wish this album was more acoustic, less glossy adult alternative. But aside from my least favorite song, the opening title track that she performed at the VMAs, I think Star-Crossed works as both a divorce record and a transitional album, I wanted her Phases And Stages but I'll take her Tunnel Of Love.
3. Low - Hey What
I remember hearing bits of Low's first couple albums when they started out in the mid-'90s, and found the way they were going against the grain kind of intriguing, but assumed it was not really my thing and just never looked into them. But they've managed to gather more and more acclaim over the past 11 albums and it felt silly that I never really gave them a serious listen, and this album is pretty great, was very pleasantly surprised by the big loud glitchy flourishes on the first couple tracks, didn't know they'd strayed that far from their early signature sound.
4. Heartless Bastards - A Beautiful Life
This is the first Heartless Bastards album since 2015's Restless Ones, which I thought was a masterpiece. But it feels a little more like a continuation of Erika Wennerstrom's 2018 solo album Sweet Unknown, and unsurprisingly Wennerstrom has said that A Beautiful Life was nearly a solo album. But it's got a lovely pastoral vibe to it, songs like "Photograph" and "Dust" unfurl at this stately, unhurried pace that just lets you appreciate the beauty of the guitars and Wennerstrom's voice.
5. Mac McCaughan - The Sound Of Yourself
This feels a little more like a throwback to Portastatic than like Mac's previous solo album, 2015's Non-Believers, a very relaxed home studio record with lots of experiments with synths and loops and some instrumentals in between the proper songs. Mac McCaughan is really one of my favorite songwriters and I love hearing him kind of stretch his legs and try different things in between Superchunk albums. I've actually had this album since June and went to about 5 different publications trying to write something about it to no avail, I'm kind of bitter about that!
6. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
I don't follow British rap a lot but the buzz around this album was pretty big and "Woman" has been sounding good in rotation on one of my local rap stations. Some of the production feels a little overblown and over-the-top but I like the more conversational off-the-cuff stuff like "Two Worlds Apart," Little Simz is a really witty writer, "Fear No Man" is great too.
7. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Spanish Model
This Year's Model is one of my favorite records of all time, a real desert island album, and I didn't necessarily know what to think when Elvis Costello announced a new version of the album with various Latin music stars delivering the lyrics in Spanish. But he got the idea after being asked to add female vocals to make "This Year's Girl" into a duet for the theme music to HBO's "The Deuce," and so Spanish Model follow that format of having the guest vocalists sing over the band's original performances. And while I often dislike the 'uncanny valley' quality of remixes of classic albums, the addition of new vocals in a different language, and a different running order that includes non-album songs from 1978 (, helps make it feel like a new thing that just happens to feature those killer Attractions performances. Pete Thomas's drums sound even fuller than before, and the new versions often keep going beyond where the original tracks faded out, so you hear cool stuff like the drum outro of "No Action" fall right into the intro of "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea." And hearing a Latin pop superstar like Luis Fonsi sing a favorite Elvis Costello deep cut like "You Belong To Me" works better than I expected, Steve Nieve's organ lines kind of start to feel a little Latin in this context.
8. Lil Nas X - Montero
Back when Lil Nas X only released an EP, albeit a pretty solid one, when he had all the "Old Town Road" momentum, it kind of puzzled me that he thought there would ever be a better time to drop an album and wondered if he just didn't have enough material. So I will give him a lot of credit for laying low and taking his time on an album, and coming back with this triumphant rollout that really deepened his public persona and musical palette. There's a great balance of bravado and vulnerability on here, I like the uptempo bangers like "Dolla Sign Slime" and "Industry Baby" the most but he really lays out a lot in songs like "Dead Right Now" and "One Of Me" that I wouldn't necessarily expected from him being the most ruthlessly funny celebrity on Twitter. I'm definitely cool with him being pop radio's rapper of choice and taking the mantle previously occupied by Flo Rida or Macklemore.
9. X Ambassadors - The Beautiful Liar
My wife listens to a lot of X Ambassadors around the house and I took her to see them in 2019 when they toured their last album, and Sam Harris is a really impressive vocalist, their stuff has grown on me a lot. It kinda felt like Interscope just abruptly threw this album out there without any promo or prior announcement because none of the many singles they've released in the past couple years have become radio hits. But it's a good album, kind of has this dramatic radio play superhero narrative thing running through it but it doesn't feel like the songs rely on you following or understanding the story aspect to enjoy them, I think "Somebody Who Knows You" is one of their best songs to date.
10. Steely Dan - Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live
Now that Walter Becker is gone, it's interesting how the line between Steely Dan and Donald Fagen has blurred a little -- in September two live albums were released that were recorded on the same tour with the same band, this one credited to Steely Dan, and the other credited to Fagen from the nights when they played his 1982 solo album The Nightfly. But both records are really beautifully performed collections of classic songs, I've seen the Dan a couple times in the last decade or so, once before Becker passed and once after, and they were both fantastic shows, this band is playing the hell out of "Peg" and "Aja."
The Worst Album of the Month: Nessa Barrett - Pretty Poison EP
Nessa Barrett is one of the many TikTok celebrities that has a major label record deal now, I first heard her on her collaboration with another TikTok person, Jxdn, "La Di Die." But the big hit from her debut EP, "I Hope Ur Miserable Until Ur Dead," might be even worse, it's like she decided to be a more Hot Topic edgelord version of Billie Eilish.