Music Diary, Vol. 14

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

Week of April 8-14, 2024

LYRICS: Ned Sublette, "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other"

SONG: My favorite singer-songwriter that too few people have heard, Kevin Ray, put out this sleek, assertive piano jam more than 20 years ago. It should have been as big as Fiona’s “Criminal” (to which it bears some passing similarities).

ALBUM: I’m not a fan of the “Elvis Costello returns to rock form” narrative that used to attend seemingly every other record of his, but there’s no question that this rackety/rangy 1994 collection is, song for song, one of his best in any mode.

LYRICS: Lindsay Mendez (Rodgers & Hammerstein), "Mister Snow"

SONG: The all-woman rock band Fanny could throw down with the best of their early-1970s peers, as this scorching blues cover of a Marvin Gaye (Smokey Robinson) classic handily proves.

ALBUM: Spare a thought for The Civil Wars, the Buckingham & Nicks of the 2010s, who burned bright for 2 achingly beautiful records, then abruptly split. Both LPs are essential, but the first has the bloom of new love, if already doomily shadowed.

LYRICS: Curtis Mayfield, "Little Child Runnin' Wild"

SONG: Nearly 20 years ago at an open mic in Williamsburg, can’t remember the place, I exchanged my self-released CD with one made by another singer-songwriter, Pete Searby. It’s all good but this crackerjack ragtime original is my fave cut.

ALBUM: TIL that Ayub Ogada’s nyatiti—the 8-string African lyre he played on the mournful “Kothbiro,” as on this entire must-spin 1993 album—was strung with fishing wire and 1 cello string. No wonder this music sounds both delicate and grounded.

LYRICS: Richard & Linda Thompson, "Has He Got a Friend for Me"

SONG: I never tire of the bracing string ornament Prince added over the “1999”-ish groove of this ode to escape. The main key is A but that 7-note figure (first heard at 1:09) is in B (and intro is in F). No wonder the tune has a feeling of liftoff.

ALBUM: The film “Alexander Nevsky” is not a favorite of mine, but its surging Prokofiev score definitely is. Try to imagine Bernard Herrmann’s or John Williams’s career without this iconic template.

LYRICS: Elvis Presley (Dylan), "Tomorrow Is a Long Time"

SONG: Austin artist Kevin Russell lays the country twang on a bit thick in this cover of Elvis Costello’s “Indoor Fireworks,” but he also brings real ache and conviction to it, so on balance I approve.

ALBUM: Hem’s first record, released in 2002, still enchants with its blend of chamber folk, old-time songcraft, and sad-lullaby mood. “Lazy Eye” remains the bittersweet high point for me, but the whole thing casts quite a spell.

LYRICS: Robert Alda (Loesser), "My Time of Day"

SONG: I mostly think of The Go Team!’s music as festive and upbeat—then I hear something like this minor-key banger about vigilance against mysterious forces (“blood stripe falcons”?) and I remember: The sound of a crowd is not always reassuring.
ALBUM: This choice collection of 1920s-era piano pieces by Zez Confrey, Rube Bloom, and Eastwood Lane maybe doesn’t capture *all* the moods of a New Yorker, as its title might promise, but its alternately capering and contemplative sounds are a balm.

LYRICS: George Harrison, "Awaiting on You All"

SONG: Mavis Staples’s cover of this great spiritual by Low captures the original’s slow-burning itch of discontent—a reminder that religious faith can be disorienting and unsettling as much as it can be heartening.

ALBUM: With nothing but her piercing yet hearty soprano and a handful of instruments (flute, bells, rebec, harp, zither), Anneliina Koskinen conjures a whole spirit world out of ancient tunes from Syria, Spain, Italy, Crete, Germany, and Sweden.