Music Diary, Vol. -8

For the rationale behind this mad effort, explanations here. The full series of Music Diary posts are here. The full playlist is above, also here.

Week of Nov. 13-19, 2023

Lyric: John Lennon, "I Know (I Know)"

Song: I’m not especially invested in the behind-the-scenes saga of Fleetwood Mac 2.0, but the intense drama of this live Buckingham/Nicks duet—or rather, his parting mea culpa to her, with her stoic acceptance and accompaniment—gets me every time.

Album: A total pleasure to revisit this 2003 classic by Nelly Furtado, which includes guest spots by Kronos Quartet and Caetano Veloso and doesn’t have a bum track on it (though “Picture Perfect” remains my fave cut).

Lyric: The Secret Sisters, "Little Again"

Song: STEREOTYPE A is my favorite Cibo Matto record (and one of my fave records by anybody). Even the non-album bonus tracks are amazing, like this woozy, Beatles-esque cut, which has a delightful palate-cleansing bossa break.

Album: His impeccable taste and delicate tone make Kenny Burrell all too easy to underrate. But far from sounding like background jazz, his studied mellowness always makes me lean in and get lost in the almost abstract spaciousness of his sound.

Lyric: The Tallest Man on Earth, "The Running Styles of New York"

Song: In 2006 David Byrne contributed this infectious cut to a compilation CD devised by Wired magazine to tout the file-sharing/sampling freedom of Creative Commons protocols. I’m more curious about what folk-music sample Byrne built his track on.

Album: Unexpectedly, Joni Mitchell is back on Spotify—at least in live form, with this great BBC concert from 1970, which includes an alternate early version of “All I Want,” with lyrics about “phony camaraderie.” It’s all pure gold trapped in amber.

Lyric: Zero Mostel (Sondheim), "Pretty Little Picture"

Song: Their headlined leader obviously and understandably stole focus, but I’ll be damned if The Attractions weren’t one of the great rock bands of their or any time. Listen to how wild yet tight they rolled on this word-drunk quasi-Latin number.

Album: Seeing HELL’S KITCHEN at the Public tonight, prepping by swimming in this neosoul classic from—can it be?—a full 20 years ago.

Lyric: Alicia Keys, "Perfect Way to Die"

Song: I love every track on GRACE but among the many sounds I would have loved to hear more of from Jeff Buckley was the full-on rock assault he saved for just this one.

Album: I have to credit playwright Benjamin Benne with turning me onto the intimate yet epic sound of Deerhunter. Their 2010 breakthrough record, HALCYON DIGEST, has a few standout tracks I immediately loved, but the whole thing has really grown on me.

Lyric: Ella Fitzgerald (Ellington/Bob Russell), "I Didn't Know About You"

Song: I love the way the contrast between the nervy major-key verse and the questioning minor-Lydian chorus of this great Louise Goffin track perfectly supports the lyric’s haunting “wait, should I be worried?” ambivalence. It’s a squirmy earworm.

Album: The film has long been unavailable and I’ve certainly never seen it, but the soundtrack record of the 1959 PORGY AND BESS was my gateway into the score’s manifold glories, as well as deep cuts like “I Ain’t Got No Shame” and “Clara, Clara.”

Lyric: Buddy Miller/Julie Miller, "Orphans of God"

Song: Strong “Hair Goes Latin” energy in this rousing, constantly modulating 1971 track by Erlon Chaves E Sua Banda Veneno (which I discovered on a volume of the great FAVELA CHIC compilations). Brazilian Big Band funk gospel—a genre unto itself.

Album: This close-harmony-packed Emmylou Harris gospel record is every bit the balm for the soul you would expect. Less expected: the occasional rasps and breaks in her angelic voice, which to my ears only humanize this heavenly music further.