Music Diary, Vol. 73

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 May 26-June 1, 2025

LYRICS: Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet, "This Sad Burlesque"

SONG: One way I’ve enjoyed hip-hop samples is as gateways to the original funk classics they’re lifted from. This is among my favorites: the Sly Stone banger that later formed the basis of the Beastie Boys’ “Shadrach.”

ALBUM: Much as The Yes Album showcased Steve Howe’s introduction to the group, this 1971 follow-up highlights the addition of Rick Wakeman on keys—though to my ears the instrument that really powers this classic disc is Chris Squire’s restless, brontosauran bass.

LYRICS: Nicole Atkins, "I Love Living Here (Even When I Don't)"

SONG: A great cover both makes you hear a song fresh and unlocks something that was in it all along, and this sharp-angled yet luxurious take by Cécile McLorin Salvant on one of my favorite standards definitely qualifies. Apropos the lyrics, it even seems to lightly scramble time.

ALBUM: Cibo Matto's delightfully disorienting 1996 debut answers the question: What if trip-hop but funny and mostly about food? "Birthday Cake" still cracks me up but the jam that hits the spot is the aggressive shuffle of "Le Pain Perdu."

LYRICS: Meat Puppets, "Sam"

SONG: By slowing this classic Bee Gees ballad down even further, PJ Morton and Alex Isley's cover leans into its yearny chords, particularly the ii-iv on "let us be/We belong..." Also delicious: the chromatic/blue note they add to the repeat of the title line (the second "love").

ALBUM: For some reason this 2001 Marc Ribot record is not streaming, so I spent most of yesterday happily replaying this full album video. It's just him and his guitar, but the range he coaxes from it—from Harry Partch microtones to sweet ragtime—is breathtaking.

LYRICS: Margaret Glaspy, "Female Brain"

SONG: Not sure how to explain why I find this Seu Jorge cover of one of Bowie's greatest songs is so unutterably moving. Somehow the unhurried tempo, gentle finger-touched guitar, and deep vocal timbre unlock the delicate human heart of the song's big feelings.

ALBUM: It won't unseat Boulez's rendition in my book, but Gianna Fratti's intent, dynamically rangy take on "The Rite of Spring" made me hear new things in it, and her Britten and Scriabin are no less finely handled on this excellent 2022 disc.

LYRICS: Irving Berlin, "There's No Business Like Show Business"

SONG: Can't get enough of this aching, limpid Michael Nesmith country weeper from 1970. It's one of those sneaky tunes which, though tightly constructed, has a flowing, almost digressive quality. And the blue note in the chorus slays me every time (first one lands on the word "man" at :51).

ALBUM: I bow to no one in my love for Nicole Atkins in full-on Americana mode, but I'm also quite partial to the New Wave-adjacent sounds she dabbles with on this compulsively listenable 2020 disc. It's a big swing and she hits a home run with it.

LYRICS: Lucy Dacus, "Best Guess"

SONG: June Tabor has a hearty cover of this sad, lovely Elvis Costello waltz, but I’m also quite into this finely shaded Sara Lov version, which does some subtle but effective reharmonization on the chorus.

ALBUM: Yes, Harry Styles’s solo debut has an unmistakable throwback feel, but for all the obvious traces of glam, folk, and Britpop, the flinty sound of the more upbeat tunes put me in mind of no band so much as Spoon.

LYRICS: Van Morrison, "When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God"

SONG: The Carter Family recorded this song nearly a century ago but could have written it yesterday. That its tune was later mostly borrowed by Woody Guthrie for “This Land Is Your Land” only binds its prophetic cry more tightly to our unfolding national tragedy.

ALBUM: This agreeably no-frills collection of old-time gospel sung by Willie Nelson with his sister, Bobbie Nelson, on piano has the intimacy and immediacy of a living-room recital, with his intermittent guitar, as usual, singing as expressively as his voice.