As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Serendipity #36


When The Morning Comes – Hall & Oates


Heard 5/22/2015 around 11:45, at Potbelly (Rockville)

Thursday, May 21, 2015

LP #12 The Kane Gang – Miracle (1987)


While the Kane Gang wasn’t the best 1980s blue-eyed British soul outfit (think Style Council), and certainly not the most successful (think Simply Red), their second and final album stands out for both its music and lyrics, despite production that’s a bit on the slick side. Their Thatcher-era social consciousness is most obvious on “A Finer Place” (which could have made a great anthem for a variety of marches/demonstrations), but it comes out one way or another in the lyrics to most of the tracks here, from the boy and girl in “Closest Thing To Heaven” (“Lonely with no money to spend”) through the motifs in “King Street Rain” (“Good luck is just passing through on the way to somewhere else”) and “Looking For Gold” (“The place I was born in is fading from the map”). My personal favorite, though, is from “Motortown”, which is the closest they had to a hit in the U.S. (reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100):
 
The cash may have gone
But there’s hope on loan.
 
Favorite tracks:
Closest Thing To Heaven
Looking For Gold
A Finer Place
King Street Rain

Monday, May 18, 2015

LP #13 Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind (1976)


From an excellent 2012 New York Times column by Bruce Headlam:
 
“Before Elvis Costello, the Sex Pistols or the Clash there was Graham Parker and the Rumour, who anticipated the energy of punk and set the bar for smart, literate lyrics married to a danceable beat. Critics in the United States compared the band impact to Bruce Springsteen’s, but American record buyers didn’t follow suit, possibly because they couldn’t surrender Mr. Springsteen’s thrill of the open road for Mr. Parker’s desperation in an English cul-de-sac.”
 
Parker’s wonderful debut album shows his mastery of a variety of styles, from the ominous power of the title track and the all-time classic “Don’t Ask Me Questions” to the lighter approach of “Soul Shoes”. The acoustic “Between You And Me” (which I think is the first of his songs I ever heard) sounds almost mellow until you listen a little more closely to the lyrics. And with all due respect to Pink Floyd, I’ll take “Back To Schooldays” over “Another Brick In The Wall” any day of the week.
 
Favorite tracks:
Between You And Me
Howlin’ Wind
Back To Schooldays
Soul Shoes

Serendipity #35


Hold On – KT Tunstall


Heard 5/18/2015 around 12:15, at the Montgomery Mall food court

May 15, 2015 – Nationals 10, Padres 0 – Petco Park (San Diego)


 
Umpires: HP: Pat Hoberg. 1B: Gerry Davis. 2B: Phil Cuzzi. 3B: Tony Randazzo.
Weather: 64 degrees, clear.
Wind: 17 mph, L to R.
T: 2:43.
Att: 26,166.
Section FI108, Row 32, Seat 1 – not nearly as close as last night (Friday nights are more expensive), but certainly not bad (lower level, about halfway between home and third base)
Seventh-inning stretch song: Twist & Shout – The Beatles
 
Highlights – rain finally stopped mid-afternoon, so had a much more pleasant (although somewhat chilly) evening … first inning started with 4 consecutive singles and a bases-loaded walk to Zimmerman … added two more first-inning runs on a double-play grounder and then a Desmond single … widened lead to 7-0 before anyone was retired in the top of the third on 3 singles and a 2-run Espinosa double … added single runs in the 4th (Harper homer), 6th, and 7th … 10 different Nats had hits, including all 9 starters … JZimm blanked the Padres for the first 6 innings, and rookie A. J. Cole allowed only one hit over the final 3 frames to “save” the 10-run lead

Other – Jayson Werth had to leave the game in the second inning after being hit by a pitch on his left wrist