Music Diary, Vol. -50

For the rationale behind this mad effort, explanations here. The full series of Music Diary posts are here. The full playlist (minus the Bowie memorial tribute, which is a Facebook video) is above, also here.

Week of Jan. 23-29, 2023

LYRICS: SZA, "Kill Bill"

SONG: Though based on a simple rising-falling three-chord pattern, this exquisitely shaped Aldous Harding track really goes on a journey—a bittersweet one. The strong Aimee Mann vibes in the bridge certainly don’t hurt.

ALBUM: André Previn and J.J. Johnson's great collection of jams based around songs from Weill's Threepenny, Happy End, and Mahagonny is one of the great jazz albums in my book, but it's not on streaming except via this playlist.

LYRICS: Judy Garland (Arlen/Gershwin), "The Man That Got Away"

SONG: The Small Faces may have made more substantive records, but this 1966 confection will always be my favorite of theirs, with its fuzztone bass, weird chipmunk doo-wop, and breezy vibe giving way to a dose of blues rock. It’s a ride.

ALBUM: Not every artist who breaks away from a happening band can hack it alone. But Josephine Odhil, former lead singer of the great Dutch band The Mysterons, defies the odds with her solo debut, a jangly dream pop record that doesn’t miss a beat.

LYRICS: Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge"

SONG: Before the Andrewses came the Boswell Sisters, a New Orleans trio who never made a bad record (as far as I’ve heard). This sweet Fats Waller cover was my happy intro to their oeuvre. Make sure to stick around for the double-time breakdown.

ALBUM: I can think of few records that journey as far, from companionable blues rock jams, through novelty and protest songs, and finally deep into the heart of American darkness, as this CCR collection, their third (!) 1969 full-length release.

LYRICS: Rufus Wainwright, "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk"

SONG: In the hoary genre of "we've got to stop cheating" songs, this gem by Arthur Alexander has to rank among the more courtly and sincerely torn; it could even be heard as the flip side of his more famous track "Anna (Go to Him)."

ALBUM: It's hard for me to imagine a world without the Kurt Weill songs Teresa Stratas rescued from obscurity on this crucial 1981 collection; few composers' outtakes and trunk songs are this shatteringly good.

LYRICS: Leonard Cohen, "Sisters of Mercy"

SONG: Heard this beautiful, hooky, structurally slippery Tristen song twice yesterday and can’t get it out of my head—the wrenching tritone progression from verse to chorus, the smudgy F#m9 at 1:00, the dejected coda. It’s like pop cubism. 

ALBUM: The Pogues’ inimitably feral/festive jig-punk sound and sneakily profound songwriting craft were all fully in place on their first record, which despite the later heights they reached is still my favorite of theirs.

LYRICS: Sarah Vaughan (Sonny Burke/Paul Francis Webster), "Black Coffee"

SONG: This prickly, haunting Yoav track is, amazingly, even better performed live with just an acoustic guitar (and a loop station).

ALBUM: Breaks my heart that my favorite Percy Grainger collection, this chamber music CD from 1990, is all but out of print. (Some copies available here.) To get a characteristic taste, this tune is the high point.

LYRICS: Jake Thackray, "Country Boy"

SONG: The Clark Sisters’ original 1980 recording of this gospel standard makes me feel like I can do anything, though one thing I couldn’t do is figure out the sneakily complicated chords without help from the internet.

ALBUM: The key to the sunny, beatific quality of this great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan praise record is literally in the keys of the music, which are almost invariably major. The miraculous vocal pyrotechnics are of course a big part of it as well.