Deep Album Cuts Vol. 298: Carly Rae Jepsen

Wednesday, November 30, 2022









Carly Rae Jepsen recently released a very good album, The Loneliest Time, and it's been 10 years this year since her blockbuster hit "Call Me Maybe" topped the charts, so it seemed like a good time to survey her catalog. 

Carly Rae Jepsen deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Emotion
2. Your Heart Is A Muscle
3. The Sound
4. Bad Thing Twice
5. Let's Get Lost
6. Higher
7. Guitar String / Wedding Ring
8. Summer Love
9. Everything He Needs
10. Surrender My Heart
11. Tell Me
12. Making The Most Of The Night
13. Feels Right (f/ Electric Guest)
14. More Than A Memory
15. Fever
16. Bends
17. Window
18. Tiny Little Bows
19. Comeback (f/ Bleachers)
20. Worldly Matters
21. Gimmie Love
22. Happy Not Knowing
23. Go Find Yourself Or Whatever

Tracks 11 and 20 from Tug Of War (2008)
Tracks 2, 7, 14 and 18 from Kiss (2012)
Tracks 1, 5, 12 and 21 from Emotion (2015)
Tracks 6 and 15 from the Emotion: Side B EP (2016)
Tracks 3, 9, 13 and 22 from Dedicated (2019)
Tracks 8, 17 and 19 from Dedicated Side B (2020)
Tracks 4, 10, 16 and 23 from The Loneliest Time (2022)

Carly Rae Jepsen placed third in season 5 of "Canadian Idol" (making her, I suppose, the Canadian equivalent of Elliott Yamin). Her first album Tug Of War was a modest hit in Canada, more acoustic than her later work but with her singing style and ear for hooks already pretty well developed. And it's possible that even "Call Me Maybe" never would've broke through to America if Justin Bieber hadn't championed the song and helped get her signed to Scooter Braun's Interscope imprint, Schoolboy Records. 

Kiss didn't go gold and only spun off one more top 10 hit, and for a moment it felt like Jepsen would become one of those artists who'd desperately spin their wheels trying to make another smash (I really really hate "I Really Really Like You," which made me less receptive at the time to how good Emotion is). But a decade later, Jepsen is still releasing acclaimed albums on Schoolboy and plays to theaters full of fans that know every word to every song, the only non-Bieber artist on the label with a viable career amongst a revolving door of also-rans (remember Cody Simpson or Madison Beer? Or, more likely, never heard of them?). She's kind of like Cyndi Lauper, accruing goodwill long after her brief reign on the Hot 100. 

Jepsen has worked with a number of hitmakers on her albums, including Dallas Austin ("Tiny Little Bows"), Redfoo ("More Than A Memory"), Toby Gad ("Your Heart Is A Muscle"), Mattman & Robin ("Gimmie Love"), Sia ("Making The Most Of The Night"), Greg Kurstin ("Higher"), John Hill ("Summer Love"), Jack Antonoff ("Comeback"), and Rostam ("Go Find Yourself Or Whatever"). But it feels like she's zeroed in on her own sound, her persona, her brand, and is extremely consistent in finding it within the different styles of her various collaborators. Her nostalgic, vaguely '80s style of synth pop has its own flavor, distinct from Taylor Swift's or Katy Perry's. 

Jepsen wrote "Call Me Maybe" with Marianas Trench frontman Josh Ramsay (who also guested on the Tug Of War single "Sour Candy") and Tavish Crowe. And that trio only wrote one other song together, "Guitar String / Wedding Ring." Jepsen reportedly worked with Ramsay for Emotion but nothing he did wound up on the final album. Crowe, however co-written a number of Jepsen's songs over the years, including "Happy Not Knowing" and "Bends." 

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. 290: Young Dolph
Vol. 291: Our Lady Peace
Vol. 292: Lil Baby
Vol. 293: Gunna
Vol. 294: Panic! At The Disco
Vol. 295: Bill Withers
Vol. 296: Public Image Ltd
Vol. 297: Metallica

11:40 AM

Tuesday, November 29, 2022







I reviewed the latest King Los mixtape, Goat Tape II, for The Baltimore Banner. 

11:39 AM

TV Diary

Monday, November 28, 2022







The 6-episode Western epic miniseries "The English" is both a romantic melodrama and a gorey, violent story featuring a massacre, people ravaged by syphilis, and a woman whose eyelids have been cut off. Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer are great leads but the rambling story features a lot of great supporting turns. And Rafe Spall, who I'd previously mostly seen in lightweight romcom roles, is surprisingly fantastic as one of the best, most entertainingly loathsome scenery-chewing villains in recent memory. 

Following thousands of other writers on Twitter is fun because you get to occasionally passively witness someone's career take off, like Taffy Brodesser-Akner publishing her first novel and adapting it into this FX miniseries. I haven't read Fleishman Is In Trouble, but the series definitely has the feel of being adopted from a novel, but it works because there's a strong cast of people like Jesse Eisenberg and Lizzy Caplan who can handle some fairly wordy dialogue (and, in the latter's case, narration as well). I like it a lot, I think it may be Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris's best directorial work outside of music videos, but it's a bit stressful watching a very detailed and excruciating depiction of a bad marriage falling apart and an ugly divorce.

I guess it's kind of weird that an iconic Italian tough guy actor like Sylvester Stallone was never in any mafia movies, and apparently he mentioned to "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan that he'd always wanted to play a gangster, and Sheridan immediately wrote a pilot for him. "Tulsa King" is sort of a double fish-out-of-water premise, because Stallone plays a mob guy who finished a long prison bid and is then banished by his family to work in Oklahoma, so he's an old guy adjusting to the modern world and a New Yorker out in the midwest. And it's a lot of fun to watch Stallone throw his weight around and kick some ass, has some of the same appeal as "The Old Man" with Jeff Bridges from earlier this year. The choice to have him end up in a one night stand in the first episode with a woman who turns out to be a federal agent investigating him is a little corny, but having a comedic actress like Andrea Savage play the character was a good idea, that and her awkward but genuine chemistry with Stallone really gives that storyline potential. 

This miniseries is based on a book called Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders, and I had no idea that the history of the male striptease franchise was so sordid and violent. It's an interesting story and a strong cast, but I feel like the writing is really clumsy and dumbed-down, it has that biopic disease of turning real life events into a series of implausibly simple or coincidental moments. 

"Blockbuster" was created by "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" writer Vanessa Ramos and stars lots of people I like from other sitcoms (Melissa Fumero, Randall Park, and J.B. Smoove, who all implausibly are supposed to have gone to high school together). So even though it wound up on Netflix, it feels very much like a network sitcom, not quite as good as I hoped it would be, but nice unchallenging, comfortable TV. Don't know why they set the show in Michigan when the real last Blockbuster is in Oregon, though, seems arbitrary. 

James Corden has done lots and lots of acting while hosting "The Late Late Show," but "Mammals" is his first starring vehicle to come out since he announced that he's stepping down next year. And it has the unfortunate timing to come out just after stories circulated of Corden treating restaurant employees horribly (his character in "Mammals" actually works at a restaurant!). So maybe it works against the show that I'm less inclined to have sympathy for Corden's character when he learns of his wife's multiple affairs, but I don't think the character is very sympathetic to begin with. There are some laughs here and there but I don't know, there's a lot at the core of the show that doesn't work like it's supposed to. 

Putting Wednesday Addams in high school in this series is just kind of a bad idea -- the comedy of a 10 or 13-year-old Christina Ricci delivering dry, macabre one-liners is totally lost when the character is just another sarcastic teenager. And now she has some kind of psychic powers, and goes to a special school full of werewolves and vampires? Total misfire, and it's so depressing to see how Tim Burton has absolutely no juice anymore, anybody could've directed this stuff. Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Luis Gusman are all well cast and give great performances, I just wish everything else about the show was better. 

"Echo 3" is about an American scientist who gets abducted while doing research in Colombia, and her husband and brother, who are both black ops government agents, go find her. The show works at making you care about and relate to the characters before they get plunged into this action movie plot. But the cast consists of the kind of bland good-looking actors with no real screen presence who've been in a bunch of other shows before without becoming stars, so it falls kind of flat. The always great Valerie Mahaffey is in it, but she has a bigger role in "Dead To Me" so it's not even as much of a selling point. 

The Peacock police procedural "The Calling" is another show that feels like it'd be ten times better if the leads had just a little bit of charisma. Noel Fisher is really great in a recurring role as a suspect, but I get the impression he just has an arc for a few episodes. I was also amused that the first episode opens with a guy in a hot dog costume being interrogated, felt like an accidental tip of the hat to "I Think You Should Leave." 

A couple weeks ago I raved about the movie Significant Other and lamented that it's on Paramount+, where nobody will see it. And now I have another bone to pick with Paramount+, because I've been subscribing since the spring and had no clue that they released a new mockumentary series from the creator of "American Vandal" back in June. "Players" starts off a little slower with dryer comedy than "American Vandal," but it's really good, shame to see it get so little traction. 

A Steven Moffat miniseries on Netflix with a great cast including David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, and Dylan Baker. I found the first episode to be an intriguing start but I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet. 

l) "Mood"
"Mood" is based on star Nicole Lecky's one-woman play, and is about a woman who dreams of being a pop star, with frequent fantasy segments where she and the people around her burst into song. The musical parts are sometimes pretty inspired and Lecky is a really promising talent, but sometimes I find shows about aspiring entertainers to be a little predictable and bland. 

My wife loves the Pitch Perfect movies and watches them often, and I've developed a soft spot for them myself. And while Adam DeVine is technically one of the bigger names from those movies, it feels kind of weird to build a spinoff around his character -- those movies were full of cute girls but let's do a show about the obnoxious comic relief dude character! And making the DeVine character the protagonist just feels like a big ask. Still, it's silly in a knowing way and there are some good laughs here and there. 

Guillermo del Toro hosting an anthology series and featuring the work of likeminded directors and writers is a great idea, and there's a high bar of quality for these (and I was amused that the first installment starred Tim Blake Nelson, just like the Coen Bros' Netflix anthology). That said, the first three installments felt almost too similar to each other, and the first one that felt like a change of pace, the fourth, was also the only one I disliked. 

Charlie Hunnam needed a lot of great acting talent around him in "Sons of Anarchy" for the show to work, but "Shantaram" rests a bit more squarely on his shoulders. And a show about an Australian bank robber who lives on the lam in India just feels like it'd be pretty compelling with a better actor in the lead role, but it's just so-so. 

I feel like I should watch the movie or I guess read the novel at some point, but this newest version on Starz is pretty good. 

The second season of "The White Lotus" takes place at another hotel with mostly different characters, but it has the same structure -- the appearance of a dead body, and then a cut back to the events of the previous week so that you're wondering the entire time who dies. I thought it was a decent hook to help make the show a hit the first time around, but I rolled my eyes at Mike White going for the same structure here -- is this gonna be a "Murder She Wrote" thing where people keep dying when Jennifer Coolidge goes on vacation, but she never solves the crime? Still, I think this show is pretty consistently entertaining, works better as an absurd and cynical sex comedy than as a 'social satire,' and the season 2 cast is possibly even better than season 1. Also, I appreciate that they went to Italy and found one of the hottest women I've ever seen and her name is Simona Tabasco, what a name. 

Between "Cabinet of Curiosities," "The White Lotus," and the return of "Mythic Quest," I've been watching a lot of F. Murray Abraham lately. Excellent show, I like that they seem to change the dynamic between the characters a bit with every new season, kind of keeps the conflicts that drive the comedy from getting repetitive and stale. 

I adored this show's first season, happy to have it back. The first season took the characters up to Thanksgiving break in their first semester, and the new season picks right up there, which I think was a good choice, you can kind of go slowly through their college career instead of rushing through year after year like some shows would. 

t) "Warrior Nun"
This Netflix show is pretty entertaining, I was happy to get a second season even though it felt like nobody watched the first season. But it recently came out that the adorable star Alba Baptista is dating Chris Evans, so maybe the show's profile will rise a little bit now. 

u) "The Mosquito Coast"
"The Mosquito Coast" has a very good cast but I have mixed feelings about the show. The flashback episode at the beginning of the second season seemed to kind of strengthen the "Breaking Bad" vibes of the whole thing, and I think it's a better show when it's not leaning into that boilerplate antihero patriarch stuff. 

v) "Dead To Me"
When "Dead To Me" premiered a few years ago, it felt like a perfect vehicle for Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, a culmination of the careers they'd been building for decades. Now, there's a sad twist in that story, because Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while working on the third and final season of "Dead To Me." But she made a heroic effort to finish shooting the show, and even though they do as much as they can to hide Applegate's health, it's a poignant subtext for this great, darkly funny and often touching show to end on, I'm glad she was able to bring the show to the finish line, although I'm only about halfway through watching the season right now. 

w) "The Mysterious Benedict Society"
I'm glad this Disney+ show is back for a second season, feels very rare to see a family-friendly show with kid protagonists that has such a well developed cinematic aesthetic and dry sense of humor, I really appreciate how well it fills that unique niche. 

x) "Avenue 5" 
The first season of "Avenue 5" aired in the first three months and felt like an accidentally perfect show to watch as COVID-19 started to disrupt our lives and the intractable stupidity of the public made the situation worse. Maybe that's why the second season hasn't grabbed me quite as viscerally, but it's still a sometimes hilarious show with a killer cast. 

y) "Inside Amy Schumer"
Comedy Central never canceled "Inside Amy Schumer" but Schumer just sort of stopped making the show in 2016 as she focused on movies and then started a family. And I kind of assumed it would never come back, and was pleasantly surprised that she revived it with five 'specials' on Paramount+ (which wound up just being 5 half hour episodes in pretty much the exact same format as the old series). 

z) "Documentary Now!"
Every time I think "Documentary Now!" has done its own goofy spin on every famous documentary, they do something that makes me realize there's always more material -- they didn't even do a Werner Herzog satire until the 4th season, but it was totally worth the wait. 

11:38 AM

Deep Album Cuts Vol. 297: Metallica

Friday, November 25, 2022


 





















My brother suggested to me recently that I should do a Metallica playlist, and they're definitely one of the big names that I've always had on the backburner for this series, and it sounded like a good idea to finally put it together. 

Metallica deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Motorbreath
2. (Anesthesia)--Pulling Teeth
3. Trapped Under Ice
4. Escape
5. Leper Messiah
6. Damage, Inc.
7. Blackened
8. Dyers Eve
9. Of Wolf And Man
10. Through The Never
11. Wasting My Hate
12. Devil's Dance
13. Sweet Amber
14. That Was Just Your Life
15. Brandenburg Gate (with Lou Reed)
16. Murder One

Tracks 1 and 2 from Kill 'Em All (1983)
Tracks 3 and 4 from Ride The Lightning (1984)
Tracks 5 and 6 from Master Of Puppets (1986)
Tracks 7 and 8 from ...And Justice For All (1988)
Tracks 9 and 10 from Metallica aka The Black Album (1991)
Track 11 from Load (1996)
Track 12 from Reload (1997)
Track 13 from St. Anger (2003)
Track 14 from Death Magnetic (2008)
Track 15 from Lulu with Lou Reed (2011)
Track 16 from Hardwired... To Self-Destruct (2016)

With most deep cuts playlists, I feel that anything that wasn't a single or chart hit is fair game. But for some artists like The Beatles or Jay-Z where so many album cuts are famous or foundational to an entire genre, I tend to avoid the more well non-singles and go a little deeper. And in Metallica's case, they were barely on the radio or the singles charts for most of the '80s when they made their most revered and influential work. And it wouldn't have made sense to call "Master of Puppets" a deep cut even before "Stranger Things" made it into a Hot 100 hit for the first time earlier this year. So I tried to avoid the really big songs, although this is Metallica, so they're kind of all big. 

I've always thought Kirk Hammett is a genius, one of metal's best lead guitarists, I particularly love his "Leper Messiah," "Dyers Eve," and "Devil's Dance" solos. And the bass solo on "(Anesthesia)--Pulling Teeth" is amazing, Cliff Burton's loss will always hang over this band as a sad 'what if.' I was amused to find that "Escape" is widely reviled as the worst song of the band's '80s output, a non-single that was created out of label pressure to make something radio-friendly. It was played only once in the band's entire history, at a 2012 when they played the entire Ride The Lightning album. I've never noticed the song as being substandard or aesthetically out of step when I've played the album, it's certainly not their fastest or heaviest song but I think it still kicks ass, would've made an excellent Judas Priest song. 

I've gone through periods of being kind of a crank about heavy metal or saying things like I love hard rock right up to the point where it becomes metal (Thin Lizzy or Led Zeppelin, for instance), and then I start to lose interest. And I came of age in the '90s when The Black Album was ubiquitous, so that was always Metallica to me and I never became a snob about only liking '80s Metallica. And I admire their two most divisive late period albums -- I think the drum sound on St. Anger is cool (the biggest problem with that album in my opinon, is the lack of solos, imagine Kirk letting loose on some of those songs). And I think Lulu with Lou Reed is a masterpiece. It felt perverse putting "Brandenburg Gate" on here but I had to, I love that song. I'm not gonna troll and say those records are as good as Lightning or Puppets, but I think they're cool and add interesting dimensions to the band's legacy.

11:30 AM

Deep Album Cuts Vol. 296: Public Image Ltd

Wednesday, November 23, 2022























Keith Levene, Public Image Ltd's guitarist on their groundbreaking first three albums, as well as an early founding member of The Clash, died on November 11th. And as it happens, today is the 43rd anniversary of the band's most revered album, 1979's Metal Box (also known as Second Edition). 

Public Image Ltd. deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Attack
2. Low Life
3. Annalise
4. Poptones
5. Albatross
6. Socialist
7. Banging The Door
8. Track 8
9. The Order Of Death
10. Solitaire
11. FFF
12. Fishing
13. Hard Times
14. Sand Castles In The Snow
15. Love Hope
16. This Is PiL
17. Know Now

Tracks 1, 2 and 3 from Public Image: First Issue (1978)
Tracks 4, 5 and 6 from Metal Box aka Second Edition (1979)
Tracks 7 and 8 from The Flowers of Romance (1981)
Tracks 9 and 10 from This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (1984)
Tracks 11 and 12 from Album aka Cassette aka Compact Disc aka mp3 aka Public Image Ltd (1986)
Track 13 from Happy? (1987)
Track 14 from 9 (1989)
Track 15 from That What Is Not (1992)
Track 16 from This Is PiL (2012)
Track 17 from What The World Needs Now... (2015)

Keith Levene was only in The Clash for a few months, leaving before they recorded anything. But at The Clash's first gig, opening for the Sex Pistols in the summer of 1976, Levene already felt his days were numbered in The Clash, and fortuitously suggested to John Lydon that if the Pistols ever break up they should start a group together. The Sex Pistols' final show was in January '78, and Public Image Ltd began rehearsing in May (in the months in between, apparently Richard Branson tried to make Lydon the frontman of Devo, which is a fascinating parallel universe scenario to think about).

To many, particularly in America, Public Image Ltd are a somewhat obscure footnote to the infamous Sex Pistols saga. But to some post-punk connoisseurs, PiL are John Lydon's true musical accomplishment and the Pistols were a lousy half-assed band that don't deserve their legendary status (I wouldn't go that far personally, Never Mind The Bollocks is a hell of a record). PiL shed founding members pretty quickly -- original drummer Jim Walker only lasted one album, bassist Jah Wobble lasted for two, and Levene lasted for three. 

Lydon and Levene's initial attempt at making a fourth album was abandoned, and Levene took the tapes and released an unauthorized album in America, Commercial Zone, that's out of print today (you can hear it on YouTube). Lydon, meanwhile, started over with a new set of musicians and some of the same material, and made This Is What You Want (several of the songs have Levene co-writing credits, including both tracks on here). And Lydon continued to lead PiL on and off for the next few decades, and the later albums are kind of a mixed bag with some great moments. And of course Lydon became kind of an embarrassment as a person in recent years. .

"Track 8" is actually the second song on The Flowers Of Romance, so it's actually track 8 for the first time here! "The Order of Death" took its name from the working title of a film John Lydon starred in alongside Harvey Keitel that was ultimately released as Copkiller. "The Order of Death" appeared in an episode of "Miami Vice" when it was new, and over a decade later, it was also featured on the official Blair Witch Project soundtrack album (though it wasn't in the movie, which had no music in it, obviously). More recently, it's been in "Mr. Robot" and "The Umbrella Academy," and has become one of the band's top streaming songs. 

10:58 AM

My Top 100 Singles of 1980

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

 

























Here's the Spotify playlist:

1. Lipps Inc. - "Funkytown" 
2. George Jones - "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
3. Devo - "Whip It" 
4. Tom Browne - "Funkin' For Jamaica (N.Y.)"
5. Queen - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 
6. Pretenders - "Brass In Pocket" 
7. Pat Benatar - "Heartbreaker" 
8. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Refugee" 
9. The Clash - "Train In Vain" 
10. AC/DC - "You Shook Me All Night Long"
11. Squeeze - "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)" 
12. Pete Townshend - "Let My Love Open The Door"
13. Kurtis Blow - "The Breaks"
14. Motorhead - "Ace Of Spades"
15. Journey - "Any Way You Want It"
16. Michael Jackson - "Rock With You"
17. Queen - "Another One Bites The Dust" 
18. Peter Gabriel - "Games Without Frontiers" 
19. Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"  
20. Steely Dan - "Hey Nineteen" 
21. Bruce Springsteen - "Hungry Heart" 
22. The Ramones - "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" 
23. Rush - "The Spirit Of Radio" 
24. Prince - "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" 
25. Genesis - "Turn It On Again" 
26. Willie Nelson - "On The Road Again"
27. Bob Marley and the Wailers – “Could You Be Loved”
28. The Eagles - "I Can't Tell You Why"
29. Christopher Cross - "Ride Like The Wind"
30. Teddy Pendergrass - "Love T.K.O."
31. Change f/ Luther Vandross - "The Glow Of Love"
32. Donnie Iris - "Ah! Leah!"
33. Van Halen - "Everybody Wants Some!!"
34. Frankie Beverly & Maze - "Joy And Pain" 
35. Blondie - "Call Me" 
36. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Here Comes My Girl" 
37. Molly Hatchet – “Flirtin’ With Disaster”
38. The Police - "Don't Stand So Close To Me" 
39. Split Enz - "I Got You"
40. Diana Ross - "Upside Down" 
41. Prince - "Uptown" 
42. Devo - "Girl U Want" 
43. Judas Priest - "Breaking The Law" 
44. Dolly Parton - "9 To 5" 
45. Bob Seger - "Her Strut" 
46. Michael Jackson - "Off The Wall"
47. Crack The Sky - "Hot Razors In My Heart"
48. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - "High Fidelity" 
49. Pink Floyd - "Comfortably Numb"
50. Van Halen - "And The Cradle Will Rock..."
51. Dexys Midnight Runners - "Geno"
52. Jim Carroll Band - "People Who Died" 
53. Genesis - "Misunderstanding" 
54. The Eagles - "Seven Bridges Road (live)"
55. Kenny Rogers - "Lady" 
56. The Vapors - "Turning Japanese" 
57. Diana Ross - "I'm Coming Out"  
58. Billy Joel - "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me" 
59. Queen - "Play The Game"  
60. The S.O.S. Band - "Take Your Time (Do It Right)"
61. ZZ Top - "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide"
62. Paul McCartney - "Coming Up"
63. Billy Squier - "The Big Beat"
64. Michael Jackson - "She's Out Of My Life" 
65. Squeeze - "Another Nail In My Heart" 
66. Zapp – “More Bounce To The Ounce”
67. Cameo - "Shake Your Pants"
68. Judas Priest - "Living After Midnight" 
69. David Bowie - "Ashes To Ashes" 
70. Peter Gabriel - "Biko"
71. Chic - "Rebels Are We" 
72. Pretenders - "Talk Of The Town" 
73. Devo - "Freedom Of Choice" 
74. The Rolling Stones - "Emotional Rescue" 
75. Madness - "One Step Beyond" 
76. The Police - "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" 
77. Dire Straits - "Skateaway"
78. Bob Marley and the Wailers – “Redemption Song”
79. George Jones - "I'm Not Ready Yet"
80. Barnes & Barnes - "Fish Heads" 
81. The J. Geils Band - "Love Stinks"
82. Dead Kennedys - "Holiday In Cambodia" 
83. Billy Joel - "You May Be Right" 
84. Queen - "Flash" 
85. Bob Seger - "Against The Wind" 
86. Ozzy Osbourne - "Mr. Crowley"
87. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Even The Losers"
88. Pete Townshend - "Rough Boys"
89. The Eagles - "Those Shoes"
90. Pink Floyd - "Young Lust"
91. Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra - "Xanadu"
92. Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart" 
93. Stevie Wonder - "Master Blaster (Jammin')"
94. Benny Mardones – “Into The Night”
95. Prince - "Dirty Mind" 
96. David Bowie - "Fashion" 
97. Pretenders - "Kid"
98. Christopher Cross - "Sailing"
99. Billy Joel - "Don't Ask Me Why"  
100. Daryl Hall & John Oates - "How Does It Feel To Be Back" 

Now I'm finished with the year-by-year review of this decade, probably next year I'll do some lists of the overall '80s. And I'll start doing each year of the '70s too! I really like this top 10, it's all songs that just put a huge smile on my face every time I hear them. 

Previously:

6:01 AM