Music Diary, Vol. -62

The rationale behind this mad project is here. The full playlist is above, also here.

Week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6, 2022

LYRICS: Propellerheads & Shirley Bassey, "History Repeating"

SONG: If you’re looking for more accordion in your rap-pop (and who isn’t?), it’s hard to top this 2006 classic by Ukrainian duo Potap & Nastya. The breakdown at 2:10 always catches me by surprise.

LYRICS: Jack Payne and His Orchestra, "Let the People Sing"

SONG: It’s not the only reason I love Emitt Rhodes, but the Beatles influence is definitely the first thing that attracted me. On a track as great as this, though, influence is somehow too weak a word; this is like a total Rubber Soul infusion.

LYRICS: Woody Guthrie, "Dust Can't Kill Me"

SONG: I must credit Andrew Hickey's indispensable "History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" for yet another find: James Jamerson's undulating bass part on this early Stevie Wonder classic.

LYRICS: Lou Reed, "Wild Child"

SONG: My introduction to the late, great Sharon Jones (courtesy of a Jimb Fisher mix CD) was this double-take-inspiring retro-soul take on a Janet Jackson/Jam/Lewis classic. Seemed letter-perfect to me at the time, still slaps today.

LYRICS: Antonio Carlos Jobim, "Águas De Março"

SONG: I love a lot of Karen Dalton's idiosyncratic folk, but the track I keep coming back to is this mesmerizing cover of a classic by The Band. It's partly her Billie Holiday-ish phrasing; it's also the way the arrangement hits the polychord at :25.

LYRICS: John Hiatt, "Tennessee Plates"

SONG: Thanks to a choice needle drop on Billions, last year I took a decades-late dive into Echo & the Bunnymen and realized what I'd been missing: a great New Wave band, a sort of louche cousin of early U2, with jangling guitars and great hooks.

LYRICS: Lone Justice, "The Gift"

SONG: I don't have a strong belief in literal angels, but when I imagine what a choir of them might sound like, it's not far from this boys-choir-sung Welsh lullaby, which memorably opened Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.