Music Diary, Vol. 40

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 Oct. 7-13, 2024

LYRICS: Soul Coughing, "Screenwriter's Blues"

SONG: I don’t just love this prickly, groovy Margo Guryan tune for its adventurous meters and snaky melody—it’s that those elements are in ideal service of the lyric’s unsettling lament for a friend’s sellout to conformity.

ALBUM: There’s no question that if a car crash hadn’t cut his life short at 27, Jesse Belvin would have had a career like Nat King Cole or Johnny Hartman. Exhibit A: This warm bath of a record with Art Pepper and the Marty Paich Orchestra.

LYRICS: Joe Jackson, "Hit Single"

SONG: This breathtaking Café Tacvba track starts out grooving like Spoon, lays on some 1980s synths, then winds through sections both slow and fast à la prog rock—a fitting musical program for a lyric about looking for the best way to start over.

ALBUM: My fave proof that major keys can be melancholy is surely Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, though it's as much a matter of the plaintive sounds he coaxes from the reed as the harmony; the Brahms on this record, though in a minor key, is no sadder.

LYRICS: Glen Campbell (Jimmy Webb), "Wichita Lineman"

SONG: One of my fave singer/songwriters on the L.A. circuit back in the late '90s was the crafty Janet Robin. None of the CDs I bought from her then seem to be streaming, but she can still shred on acoustic like nobody's business, as on this 2012 cut.

ALBUM: I first heard the bright guitar-and-bass amble and choral vocals of Dr. Thomas Chauke and the Shinyori Sisters on the now-out-of-print compilation THE HEARTBEAT OF SOWETO. Thankfully a lot of their stuff is streaming; here's a fine entry point.

LYRICS: Rachel Chinouriri, "What a Devastating Turn of Events"

SONG: Among the many wonders of ALL THINGS MUST PASS is George Harrison’s harmonic ambition. The chords on this bonkers stomper are wild, not only in the verse but in the vertiginous downward whirlpool of the chorus. Down indeed.

ALBUM: Fazil Say’s cello concerto, written in response to terror attacks in Paris and in his native Turkey, is the anguished, bracing heart of this exquisite Camille Thomas record, which comprises mostly gorgeous cello transcriptions of vocal pieces.

LYRICS: Jackson C. Frank, "Blues Run the Game"

SONG: Though its breezy cousin “Every Morning” is the slightly better Sugar Ray ska/skiffle hit of 1999, the loping acoustic guitar hook on this sweet track is one I always return to with pleasure—it’s like a latter-day “Ventura Highway.”

ALBUM: Can a whole album be a deep cut? This overlooked live record, a document of Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve’s 2004 appearance with the Metropole Orkest in Rotterdam, is a stirring mix of arcana and reimagined classics—a Big Band blast.

LYRICS: Willie Nelson (Carl Stutz/Edith Lindeman), “Red Headed Stranger”

SONG: Though I’ve mostly figured out what’s going on in this hypnotic Michael Nesmith/First National Band song, its trippy mystique and capacity to surprise still seems boundless. Country psychedelia never sounded so sweet.

ALBUM: Poulenc’s piano concerto-like Aubade, the centerpiece of this record, is a favorite of mine for the multitudes it contains but wears so lightly: neo-classical sunshine, modernist severity, heart-on-sleeve emotion, impish exuberance. Essential.

LYRICS: Low, "Holy Ghost"

SONG: God help me, I’ve led this gospel classic with my little Brooklyn church band—to the extent that it works I think it’s because the song is strong enough to land without vocal pyrotechnics. But we can’t touch the hem of Aretha’s garment.

ALBUM: I used to call this my favorite U2 album. I’m not sure that’s true anymore—with a few notable exceptions, it’s the sound more than the songs that I love, particularly the Edge’s spiky guitar. That and the wrestling with God and faith.