Music Diary, Vol. 47

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 Nov. 25-Dec. 1, 2024

LYRICS: The Creatures, "Standing There"

SONG: Even if I hadn’t made Mychael Danna’s irresistible marching-band theme song for Monsoon Wedding my ringtone for a while, I would still stand up to attention every time I hear that opening flute trill uncork the deluge of joy that follows.

ALBUM: The great Canadian vocal pop band Chic Gamine make so much harmonic magic with just 4 voices and percussion that you almost don’t notice that on their breakthrough 2013 record, they subtly layered in a few other instruments.

LYRICS: Big Thief, "Not"
SONG: Ravel wrote with meticulous precision but he wasn’t some stuffy neoclassical priss—witness the mercurial passion that hums and flashes throughout the opening movement of his A-minor piano trio, especially in Trio Mondrian’s searing rendition.

ALBUM: 51 minutes of maximalist Celtic folk punk with Big Band flourishes, this 1988 record by The Pogues always sounds faster and fiercer than I recall, yet it’s still also got subtlety and shading to spare—a sui generis band in peak form.

LYRICS: Pavement, "Stereo"
SONG: In a departure from their usual blend of gypsy jazz and Western swing, the great Texas combo Cafe Noir here turn 2 Stravinsky piano pieces into a depressive-manic chamber jam, a bit like Ives’ “Memories” in reverse.

ALBUM: Is there a single false or unfelt note on this iconic live album, which captures the triumphant homecoming of a legendary performer (Horowitz) to a country he had renounced after six decades (the Soviet Union)? No, listener, there is not.

LYRICS: Gaby Moreno, "La vez que no me pude atrever"

SONG: It’s maybe not the most eyebrow-raising lyric in this durable Rihanna earworm, but the chorus’s reference to “sex in the air” always makes me think of an exotic position rather than, you know, pheromones.

ALBUM: This double-LP collection’s title is a misnomer—it should be “The Best of Peggy Lee’s Decca Years”—but it was my introduction to her silky artistry, and even the deep cuts shimmer. (I’ve reassembled it in a playlist as it’s not streaming in toto.)

LYRICS: Harry Chapin, "Cat's in the Cradle"
SONG: Just as I can’t hear the chorus of “Here Lies Love” without thinking of “Sweet Caroline” (and vice versa), I won’t be able to unhear what I just noticed: that the first 3 notes of this iconic Shirley Bassey Bond theme melody are the same as “Moon River.”

ALBUM: Nighthawks at the Diner is still my fave Tom Waits record (Mule Variations may be a close second), but there’s no denying the raggedy clatter and steam of this brilliant 1985 record, which hangs together like few albums by anyone ever.

LYRICS: Billie Eilish, "Happier Than Ever"
SONG: Composer Erik Griswold, who works a lot with prepared piano techniques, has some fun here with Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. He hasn’t changed a note but the preparation makes the familiar harmonies sound strange (or is that vice versa?).

ALBUM: Ravel never wrote a symphony, but I would argue that in its scale, ambition, motivic development, and all-stops-out orchestration, this huge ballet score for Diaghilev stands as a kind of symphony by other means.

LYRICS: Julien Baker, "Rejoice"
SONG: Thanks to the Switched on Pop podcast for reminding me of the low-key brill track Björk and Nellee Hooper wrote for Madonna, which, though Björk has said its lyrics merely comprise things she wanted to hear Madonna say, maps nicely onto Ms. Ciccone’s spiritual journey.

ALBUM: There’s literally not a minor chord to be found on this great Ralph Stanley record from 1977, not even on its full-band rendition of “Oh Death,” but it still manages to convey a full range of emotion, maybe because you can hear a lifetime in every note.