Music Diary, Vol. -27

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 July 3-9, 2023

LYRICS: Andrew Garfield (Larson), "Why"

SONG: The “Creep” chord progression is a hell of a drug.

ALBUM: If you think Mozart only wrote light music, you haven’t really listened.

LYRICS: Allen Toussaint, "Freedom for the Stallion"

SONG: One of the more unsettling covers I know: Etta James turning Randy Newman’s absurd, pointed slave trader’s pitch into a defiant gospel anthem. So much American history in less than 4 minutes.

ALBUM: Funky Fourth from Sly & The Family Stone.

LYRICS: Caroline Polachek, "Door"

SONG: Getting strong Shirley Bassey vibes from this great Yebba revenge ballad.

ALBUM: When I first heard Pink Martini’s 1997 debut, I felt like they’d hacked a whole quadrant of my musical taste: Here was a percussion-heavy café orchestra led from the piano, covering a wide range of Latin, classical, hot jazz. Magnifique.

LYRICS: Liz Phair, "Divorce Song"

SONG: I’m mostly allergic to THE SOUND OF MUSIC, but I do have a favorite moment from the Broadway cast album: When Mary Martin cuts through the prim yodeling in this bit of Alpine kitsch, at about 1:43, and gives the lines about coupling a lusty, full-throated voice—the only trace of sex in the show imo.

ALBUM: It took me a while to get over my general indifference to electronic pop and hear the vocal and compositional genius (as well as the quasi-parodic diva moves, especially in the opening track) of this perfect Caroline Polachek record.

LYRICS: Dirty Projectors, "Stillness Is the Move"

SONG: I enjoy her work on the piano but my favorite track by Regina Spektor might actually be this lively litany of the highs and lows of loving an addict, in which the dirty guitar sound is as wrenching as the lyrics.

ALBUM: I get the sense that Glenn Gould’s original 1955 mounting of Bach’s formidable Goldberg Variations is the consensus favorite of most fans, but I’d give the slight edge to his more circumspect 1981 revisit. Less sweet, more filling.

LYRICS: Brandy Clarke, "Buried"

SONG: The Swedish pop polymath Salem Al Fakir should be much more widely known in the States. This nervy retro cut from his great 2007 album THIS IS WHO I AM makes an ideal intro to his baroque neo-soul genius.

ALBUM: This 1989 classic from Michael Penn was pretty big at the time but, like Sam Phillips’ similarly Beatlesque guitar pop, deserved to be much bigger. There’s not a bad track on it; you may know “No Myth” but don’t sleep on “This & That” or “Evenfall.”

LYRICS: Meat Puppets, "Creator"

SONG: Mahalia Jackson with the definitive, breath-altering take on one of my favorite spirituals…and then a very special guest shows up.

ALBUM: Another piece I was introduced to by singing it with New York City Master Chorale: Bernstein’s alternately rousing and plaintive take on an eclectic clutch of psalms, to which his towering first 2 symphonies make apt companions.