Music Diary, Vol. 36

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 Sept. 9-15, 2024

LYRICS: Bruce Springsteen, "Nebraska"

SONG: Musical chicken-or-egg question: Is the Ebmaj7 chord Charles Strouse hits on the fifth note of this great ANNIE ballad intrinsically moving, or did this orphan’s lament, heard at a formative age, imprint that sound on me as a heart tugger?

ALBUM: Has time dulled the edge of this seminal metal classic from Black Sabbath? It is hard to hear some of it with fresh ears, admittedly, but it’s still a stark, satisfying ride, with Tommy Iommi’s slashing guitar an enduring highlight.

LYRICS: Stubby Kaye (Frank Loesser), "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"

SONG: Finally got around to transcribing my fave Elvis Costello deep cut, decades after I was first mesmerized by its vertiginous, almost gothic harmonies—an early harbinger of adventures he would later embark on with the Brodskys and Bacharach.

ALBUM: The Cure would reach greater heights later but for my money their third album, from 1981, is the first one that fully sounds like The Cure. Among other things, it’s a brilliant showcase of Simon Gallup’s stringent, singing bass.

LYRICS: Leonard Cohen, "Who by Fire"

SONG: I know Cole Porter didn’t write this sweetly lilting waltz with Patsy Cline in mind, but her beautiful slow-burn reading could easily convince me otherwise.

ALBUM: Balkan brass music isn't for everyone, just for anyone who loves life and has ever danced at a wedding. Go ahead, try to sit still while spinning this 1998 classic from the 12-piece Moldavian band Fanfare Ciocărlia.

LYRICS: Tom Lehrer, "The Masochism Tango"

SONG: Not sure if this rousing orchestral dance by Arturo Márquez feels cinematic because it sounds a lot like a 20th-century film score or because of its inherent range or sweep, which is breathtaking. Either way I’m all in.

ALBUM: It starts out like Springsteen and ends like Screamin' Jay Hawkins doing Betty Boop, with a lot of essential New Wave pop and standard-worthy ballads in between. In short, Cyndi Lauper's 1983 debut album is still a stunner.

LYRICS: Liz Phair, "Soap Star Joe"

SONG: This Police classic never sounded as beautifully desolate as in Sting’s live solo rendition at an Amnesty International benefit in 1981. Listening back now, I have to imagine that a young Jeff Buckley heard it and took it to heart.

ALBUM: Recently revisited this tuneful, ornery 2016 record by Margaret Glaspy and couldn’t just play it once. I had to listen again and again to decide which song I love best. My vote for now (it will surely change): the bouncy, prickly “You and I.”

LYRICS: Teresa Stratas (Weill/Hammerstein), "Buddy on the Night Shift"

SONG: I love the studio single version of this acoustic blues by KT Tunstall, but if you’ve never seen her barn-burning performance of it on Later with Jools Holland, you’re in for a treat.

ALBUM: The traces of Beach House and Stereolab in Kristine Leschper’s debut record are obvious, but there are other enticements as well: a bracing compositional ambition and a vocal transparency that puts me in mind of The Roches.

LYRICS: Daniel Johnston, "God"

SONG: With the benefit of hindsight, the sprawling opener of Dylan’s underrated STREET-LEGAL sounds like a sneak preview of his Christian period: the backup singers, the apocalyptic imagery. It’s also quite clear he’d heard the E Street Band.

ALBUM: The commanding electric guitar flourishes, restless beats, and impassioned vocals are among the highlights of this rousing collection of mizik rasin (a kind of Vodou folk-rock) by the Haitian band Boukan Ginen. Play it loud.