Music Diary, Vol. 21
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 (minus the Weill Kiddush, for some reason, which is on Spotify but not YouTube Music).
Week of May 27-June 1, 2024
LYRIC: Angela Lansbury (Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman), "The Age of Not Believing"
SONG: You couldn’t call Susheela Raman’s sinuous cover of this chromatic-heavy “Jungle Book” classic a reclamation, exactly—it was never in any way Indian, of course—but it does make the song’s proposition a lot sexier and less creepy.
SONG: You couldn’t call Susheela Raman’s sinuous cover of this chromatic-heavy “Jungle Book” classic a reclamation, exactly—it was never in any way Indian, of course—but it does make the song’s proposition a lot sexier and less creepy.
ALBUM: For my money, this, not the one in the Alps, is the definitive Julie Andrews musical of the 1960s. It’s also one of the great musicals period, and in very large part thanks to those clever, crafty, heartful Sherman Brothers.
LYRIC: The Police, "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around"
SONG: Lately I’ve been hunting and pecking my way through this deceptively simple-sounding, lightly thorny (i.e., accidental-choked) Ravel dance. If I didn’t know it from recordings, like this limpid Rubinstein rendition, I would be utterly lost.
SONG: Lately I’ve been hunting and pecking my way through this deceptively simple-sounding, lightly thorny (i.e., accidental-choked) Ravel dance. If I didn’t know it from recordings, like this limpid Rubinstein rendition, I would be utterly lost.
ALBUM: Bright, jangly guitar pop with tight vocal harmonies, odd angles, and droll, arresting lyrics—Finom’s new record shows this inimitable Chicago duo in top form.
LYRIC: The Pogues (Philip Gaston), "Navigator"
SONG: I must credit the soundtrack of the romcom NEXT STOP WONDERLAND with introducing me to this peerless Marcos Valle classic, in which bossa and Big Band sounds dance off to a draw.
SONG: I must credit the soundtrack of the romcom NEXT STOP WONDERLAND with introducing me to this peerless Marcos Valle classic, in which bossa and Big Band sounds dance off to a draw.
ALBUM: I could listen to Czech string music all day (and often have), and few composers turned it out more consistently or tunefully than Josef Suk, whose namesake quartet continues to keep his flame alive, as on this essential collection.
LYRIC: Ethel Merman (Styne/Sondheim), "Rose's Turn"
SONG: I wish I could say this was revelatory rather than simply a drunken novelty, but what a novelty: The Replacements slurring their way through the Act I closer of GYPSY needs to be heard to be believed.
SONG: I wish I could say this was revelatory rather than simply a drunken novelty, but what a novelty: The Replacements slurring their way through the Act I closer of GYPSY needs to be heard to be believed.
ALBUM: I've had this ebullient, hard-rocking Mdou Moctar record on constant rotation for the past few days. Electric guitar overdrive has seldom been marshalled to more joyfully angry (or angrily joyful?) effect.
LYRIC: Jimmie Rodgers, "In the Jailhouse Now #2"
SONG: It starts out like a kind of ragtime “Ave Maria,” but by the second verse of this Randy Newman mea culpa, a dissonant string arrangement moves it closer to “Is That All There Is?” territory. I’ve seen guilt from both sides now.
SONG: It starts out like a kind of ragtime “Ave Maria,” but by the second verse of this Randy Newman mea culpa, a dissonant string arrangement moves it closer to “Is That All There Is?” territory. I’ve seen guilt from both sides now.
ALBUM: Song for song, the Big Pink record is stronger; I also have a soft spot for CAHOOTS. But sometimes what I crave from The Band is the knockabout sound of their sophomore effort, which is somehow both casual and ornery; more saloon, less salon.
LYRIC: The Incredible String Band, "All Writ Down"
SONG: A folkier Lorde is one way to describe the mesmerizing Kiwi contralto Aldous Harding—not least because, as on this quietly eccentric whirlpool of a tune, she layers in a few judicious surprises that rupture the dream state.
SONG: A folkier Lorde is one way to describe the mesmerizing Kiwi contralto Aldous Harding—not least because, as on this quietly eccentric whirlpool of a tune, she layers in a few judicious surprises that rupture the dream state.
ALBUM: I’ve said it before: One of my favorite composers for the piano is Joni Mitchell, who plays it a bit like an open-tuned guitar, pedal tones and all. Unconvinced? Try this playlist of some of my fave Joni keyboard tracks.
LYRIC: Rosie Tucker, "Eternal Life"
SONG: Weill’s only liturgical piece, commissioned by and performed at Park Avenue Synagogue in 1946, is a lovely, persuasive meld of blues harmonies and cantorial music, and it sounds especially idiomatic in this setting for viola and orchestra.
SONG: Weill’s only liturgical piece, commissioned by and performed at Park Avenue Synagogue in 1946, is a lovely, persuasive meld of blues harmonies and cantorial music, and it sounds especially idiomatic in this setting for viola and orchestra.
ALBUM: This arresting collection of choral works by Ukrainian composer Alexander Shchetynsky manages the Arvo Pärt trick of sounding both ancient and contemporary, severe yet exultant, apropos its religious themes.
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