Best Music of 2015 (Update)

I’ve updated my Best Music of 2015 lists to include where the songs and albums wound up in the WXPN, WTMD, and mvyradio countdowns.

Not as much overlap with the crowd this year, especially on the albums. (However, I predict that “Uptown Funk” will win the Grammy for Record of the Year.)

UPDATE: A friend of mine (thanks Linda!) called my attention to Public Radio's #1 Songs Of 2015. Honestly, most of them I’m not familiar with. I was glad (and somewhat surprised) to see that “Lean On” made the list. There were also some good songs I heard on WXPN and WTMD, notably “Satisfy Me” (Anderson East), “24 Frames” (Jason Isbell), and “Getting Ready To Get Down” (Josh Ritter).

Shuffle #78 (January 1, 2016)

Shuffle #78 (January 1, 2016)

 

What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye

Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – Michael Jackson

Cooksferry Queen – Richard Thompson

There Goes My Baby – The Drifters

You’ll Never Get To Heaven – Dionne Warwick

Stuck With You – Huey Lewis & The News

Fresh Air – Quicksilver Messenger Service

Let Her Dance – The Bobby Fuller Four

LP #1 Daryl Hall & John Oates – Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)

There have been quite a few performers with long and successful careers who nevertheless never topped their debut albums – Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker, John Prine, and Sade come to mind. Hall & Oates, however, hit a home run with their second LP rather than their first. (Whole Oates, their debut, has a clever name and includes the brilliant “Fall In Philadelphia” but is otherwise pretty unremarkable.) Every song except for the final track is a pop classic, the production by the legendary Arif Mardin is impeccable, and the album cover is wonderful. I like a lot of their later stuff, but this is by far their best. (And you can still find the CD in some store bargain bins or at Amazon for $5.00!)

 

Favorite tracks:

She’s Gone

Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)

Had I Known You Better Then

When The Morning Comes

I’m Just A Kid (Don’t Make Me Feel Like A Man)

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Rams Head On Stage, 12/27/2015

Table 102, Row A, Seats 2 & 4

 

Rams Head has a row of 4-person tables right in front of the stage and perpendicular to it. Table 102 is dead center; we had the rear two seats, which was still as close as I’ve ever gotten to the stage at a show by a well-known performer.

 

Started by promising not to do any Christmas songs, but did begin with a great tune by the underrated 60s-70s soul singer William Bell, “Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday”

 

Personal favorites – best version of “Walk Away Renee” I’ve ever heard, plus a remarkable cover version of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers To Cross” by keyboardist Jeff Kazee

 

Usual crowd-pleasers such as “Love On The Wrong Side Of Town”, “Broke Down Piece Of Man”, “Talk To Me”, and “This Time It’s For Real”. Also did some tunes from his new Soultime album – I particularly liked the disco-flavored (!) “Looking For A Good Time”.

 

Led up to “The Fever” with a nice sing-along on “Up On The Roof” (preceded by a few bars of “I Feel The Earth Move”), then concluded the main set by turning “I Don’t Want To Go Home” into a hilarious tale of an ill-fated trip to Vegas. Second encore (after over two hours of music) was “Without Love”, during which they put the main mic stand up on our table for an interlude by the three horn players and Southside’s final vocals. Amazing show!

 

Setlist

LP #2 Donald Fagen – The Nightfly (1982)

Steely Dan, the long-running collaboration between Fagen and Walter Becker, put out some great albums in their time, but Fagen’s first solo effort actually outshines the best of them. Fagen completely nails the loose concept that he puts forward in the liner notes: “The songs on this album represent certain fantasies that might have been entertained by a young man growing up in the remote suburbs of a northeastern city during the late fifties and early sixties, i.e., one of my general height, weight and build.” “Walk Between Raindrops” would have been a great song for Sinatra – it was actually recorded by Mel Tormé – while “The Goodbye Look” spins a wonderful tale of Caribbean political intrigue. Fagen also does what for me is the definitive version of the Leiber-Stoller classic “Ruby Baby”, eclipsing the fine earlier recordings by the Drifters and Dion.

 

Favorite tracks:

Walk Between Raindrops

The Goodbye Look

Ruby Baby

New Frontier

I.G.Y.

Celebrating Sinatra

Since yesterday was the 100^th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth, I figured I’d mark the occasion by listing my five favorite songs by the man who’s probably this country’s greatest singer ever, if not necessarily its most exemplary role model.

 

The Summer Wind (#11 on my list of all-time favorite songs)

All My Tomorrows

Softly As I Leave You

High Hopes

The World We Knew

 

“High Hopes” and “All My Tomorrows” were both featured in Sinatra’s 1959 movie A Hole In The Head, which I vaguely remember seeing as a kid. “High Hopes” was the anthem of legendary Phillies radio announcer Harry Kalas, so after Kalas’ untimely death on April 13, 2009 (as he was getting ready to broadcast the Nationals’ home opener with the Phillies, a game which we attended) I decided to watch the movie again. That is when I fell in love with “All My Tomorrows”, which plays over the opening credits and fits the movie perfectly. It’s one of the greatest songs to ever languish in near-total obscurity, and I admit to blubbering like John Boehner for some reason whenever I listen to it.

Best Music of 2015

Here’s my annual list of favorite songs and albums. I’ll update this post once the results are in from the three radio station polls in which I voted. [DONE]

 

Overall, not the strongest of years, with a few exceptions …

Songs (list I entered on WXPN) 

1. Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson f/ Bruno Mars (#11 WXPN Top 100)
2. All Your Favorite Bands – Dawes (#17 WXPN, #19 WTMD Top 89)
3. Stay Gold – First Aid Kit
4. Believe – Mumford & Sons (#44 WXPN, #85 WTMD)
5. Ship To Wreck – Florence + The Machine (#2 WXPN, #8 WTMD)
6. Kansas City – New Basement Tapes
7. Restless – New Order (#74 WTMD)
8. Make You Better – Decemberists (#84 WXPN)
9. Satisfy Me – Anderson East
10. Simple Machine – Guster 

Other Favorite Songs (not played on WXPN) 

1. Lips Are Movin’ – Meghan Trainor
2. Lean On – Major Lazer
3. I Don’t Like It, I Love It – Flo Rida
4. Cheyenne – Jason Derulo
5. Marvin Gaye – Charlie Puth f/ Meghan Trainor 

Favorite Albums 

1. All Your Favorite Bands – Dawes (#3 mvyradio Top 25)
2. Title – Meghan Trainor
3. Delilah – Anderson East
4. One Lost Day – Indigo Girls
5. Still – Richard Thompson
6. 25 – Adele

 

LP #3 David + David – Boomtown (1986)

David Baerwald and David Ricketts came seemingly out of nowhere to record this masterpiece, and seemingly disappeared almost as quickly. Baerwald subsequently released several solo albums, none of which met with much commercial success; Ricketts never released an album under his name. Both stayed in the music biz, however, writing and producing material for other artists. Baerwald is credited with co-founding the “Tuesday Music Club” that launched Sheryl Crow’s career and provided the title for her Tuesday Night Music Club album, for which both Baerwald and Ricketts co-wrote several songs.

 

Boomtown is the album that Daryl Hall & John Oates might have made had they grown up in L.A. and been heavily influenced by Tom Waits and the Police. Most of the tracks depict the seamy side of life in L.A. (or any big city), with characters who are “Being Alone Together” as they are “Swallowed By The Cracks”; the most upbeat track musically (“Ain’t So Easy”) is written from the perspective of a domestic abuser. (No, this is not the CD to put on during your next party.) “River’s Gonna Rise” has broader socio-political implications; it’s apocalyptically brutal, but redemption comes in the chorus (especially for those at all familiar with Greek mythology.)

 

Favorite tracks:

River’s Gonna Rise

A Rock For The Forgotten

Welcome To The Boomtown

Swallowed By The Cracks

Serendipity #53

Used To Rule The World – Bonnie Raitt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjdMEwYO2rg

Heard 12/7/2015 around 11:50, at Zoe’s Kitchen (Kentlands)

Serendipity #52

Money’s Too Tight (To Mention) – Simply Red

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrUB0g8Vjgg

Heard 11/28/2015 around 2:00, in the cafeteria at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History