Music Diary, Vol. -84

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 May 23-29, 2022

LYRICS: Velvet Underground, "I'll Be Your Mirror"

SONG: Not enough people are tuned into the oddball power-pop confections of Delaware’s own The Spinto Band. If you’re among the uninitiated, this bittersweet exercise in tension and release is a great intro.

LYRICS: The Roches, "Mr. Sellack"

SONG: Krzysztof Komeda’s lullaby from Rosemary’s Baby sounds skin-crawling only because of how it’s scored: Mia Farrow’s “la la la,” a spidery harpsichord, etc. This rendition by the great Texas polka band Brave Combo makes it sound like a lost Eastern European classic.

LYRICS: Bob Dylan, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"

SONG: Rufus Wainwright wrote this in protest of George W. Bush and his wars of choice. I played it at my church the Sunday after George Floyd was murdered. No one song is adequate to this moment, but I think I’ll be singing it again soon.

LYRICS: Mary Martin (Weill/Nash), "That's Him"

SONG: I slept on the alt-rock guitar renaissance of 20 years ago (Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Interpol, et al) but found something I liked better: the jolting pop-punk of Japanese bands like Triceratops, The Radwimps, The Pillows. This is my fave cut from that era.

LYRICS: The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"

SONG: Why aren’t there more love songs for dear friends? I don’t mean “he’s my pal” odes but songs with all the fervor and yearning of romance, minus the desire and/or angst of partnering? Anyway this Cibo Matto tune is my fave in this scarce genre.

LYRICS: Liz Phair, "Soap Star Joe"

SONG: The build from the languorous, watery verses to the oceanic yearning of the choruses is just one of the reasons this has always been my fave Nelly Furtado song. It’s the sound of a world of possibility, edged by FOMO, and I believe it every time.

LYRICS: Lou Rawls (Lee Magid/Max Rich), "Blues for the Weepers"

SONG: Not my favorite early R.E.M. deep cut, but by my reckoning one of their slyest, most understated efforts, sneakily well constructed, the sonic equivalent of a sidelong smile.