Music Diary, Vol. -15

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 Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2023

Lyric: Funkadelic, "Can You Get to That"

Song: Strong Elliott Smith vibes in this exquisite breath of a tune by Bowerbirds.

Album: The Buckingham/Nicks sound was fully formed on this iconic 1973 debut, which still sounds fresh yet remarkably never had an official digital release (not even on CD). I used to own it on vinyl; it’s on a YouTube playlist in the comments below.

Lyric: Judy Garland (Noël Coward), "If Love Were All"

Song: It’s not just Cosima’s lush voice—an expressive contralto warble that evokes Jeff Buckley doing Sade—that bowls me over; it’s also the songcraft. From her great 2021 EP THE FUN IS HERE?, this is the yearny track I keep circling back to.

Album: It's not exactly BUCKINGHAM NICKS, but this early duet record by Jim & Ingrid Croce does map a bittersweet road not taken, an Ian-and-Sylvia-type career that might have blossomed (though it gives only a faint inkling of the songwriting to come).

Lyric: Wet Leg, "Chaise Longue"

Song: There are legit reasons to dislike U2, but I've never understood the canard that they're two-chord musical rubes. This deep cut, for instance, is harmonically wild (check what's going on around 2:56); I hear this everywhere in their stuff.

Album: Name a better debut LP. I'll wait.

Lyric: Art Lund (Loesser), "Joey, Joey, Joey"

Song: The title line of this Ruth Brown R&B classic (pulled from a blues standard, "Last Dime Blues," as I learned on the A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs podcast) always stops me in my tracks: She could just sing "me," but saying "your daughter" somehow raises the stakes.

Album: Can pop and prog play well together? How often does math rock add up to pure joy? The Norwegian band Pom Poko makes the case with this ebullient 2021 collection. Imagine Deerhoof trying on power pop and you’re close.

Lyric: Meat Puppets, "Oh, Me"

Song: The apocalypse is personal in this epic, simmering deep cut by Paul Pena. Imagine “Compared to What” as a breakup song and you’ll be close.

Album: I first heard about this extraordinary record on the A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs episode about The Band: Coulson Dean McGuinness Flint, a British blues rock supergroup, had the first official release of these Dylan Basement Tapes tunes, and they slap.

Lyric: Steely Dan, "Josie"

Song: Call me crazy but as much as I love Everything But The Girl's post-"Missing" output, I still stan their early stuff, all the way back to literally the first track on their first record. How could anyone not love this sound?

Album: If there weren't a tune from THREEPENNY thrown in, this gorgeous record (Stefanie Wüst on soprano, Michael Iber on piano) could pass for a collection of Wolf or Mahler. No surprise, Kurt Weill's juvenilia stands up alongside his mature work.

Lyric: Florence + The Machine, "Big God"

Song: I was among those Violent Femmes fans shocked by the religious focus of much of their second album. Some of it seemed like delicious kitsch, but the title track, with its Hosea quote and minor-key dudgeon, really sounded like they meant it.

Album: Dylan and The Hawks weren't the only folks to play directly to tape in the basement of a pink house in Woodstock in 1967. This beautifully sustained performance of Bengali tunes by the Das Bauls, recorded by Garth Hudson, is a mood unto itself.