The first thing that grabs you is the rhythm – jittery, squiggly, purely wiggy and totally glitchy rhythm. Rhythms that don’t make you dance, but do make you move. The ghost of Talking Heads’ Remain In Light lives here. Their fingerprints are all over songs that have been built up from rhythm. They inhabit the […]
Song Of The Day – “Dancin’ Wild” by Tom & Jerry
Before “The Boy In The Bubble” and “Graceland”…before “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” and “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”…and before “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Sound Of Silence,” there was “Hey Schoolgirl” and a multitude of early recordings by the likes of Tom & Jerry, Jerry Landis, […]
Song Of The Day – “While I’m Alive” by STRFKR & “Young Turks” by Sexton Blake
Sure, you’d be hard-pressed to forgive them for a band name as over the top as STRFKR (which is short for Starfucker). But props are firmly in order because over the past few years they’ve released three solid albums; chock full of deliciously danceable and tuneful electro pop confections. STRFKR’s roots are in solo projects […]
Song Of The Day – “I’m Telling You Now” by Freddie & The Dreamers
I’m writing this on the 49th anniversary of The Beatles historic first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and while I have a vague memory of The Beatles playing on Sullivan, I don’t think it was their very first performance. Well, heck, I must have only been four or five years old. But even then, […]
Song Of The Day – “From The Sun” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Out of the murky haze of gauze- encased melodies and tranquilized, processed vocals arrives the second album from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, cleverly titled II. UMO is the brain child of Ruban Nielson, formally of the band Mint Chicks, who counts artists as diverse as Captain Beefheart and Sly Stone as major influences. Their muffled sound […]
Song Of The Day – “Harlem Hendoo” by Al Hirt
Time was running out. By 1968, the gravy train that artists like Al Hirt and Herb Alpert had ridden to fame on, was about to make a stop. Sure, Alpert would score his last huge hit, the #1 Bacharach and David gem “This Guy’s In Love With You” in 1968, but shortly after that, even […]
Song Of The Day – “That Look You Gave That Guy” by Eels
Eels are capable of bone-chilling, howlin’-at-the-moon, terrifyin’ rock and roll, and when they are in that mode, they are at their very best. But Eels also have a tender side too, as exemplified by this superb ballad from the 2009 album “Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs Of Desire.” For those that don’t already know, Eels are […]
Song Of The Day – “Make It With You” by Bread
To some, Bread’s brand of soft rock was nothing more than insipid drivel. To others they were purveyors of well-crafted, easy listening staples that provided some of the greatest guilty pleasures to be heard on AM radio during the early ‘70s. To me, their songs were minor annoyances that didn’t make me rush to change […]
Song Of The Day – “Come On Get Happy” and “When We’re Singing”– by The Partridge Family
The Friday nights of my wonder years would have never been complete without The Partridge Family. “The Partridge Family” TV show was based on the real-life family group, The Cowsills, who had hits in the 1960s with “The Rain, The Park and Other Things” (1967) and “Hair” (from the musical of the same name) in […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Summer’s Almost Over” by Loudon Wainwright III
I remember we had a going away party for my daughter who was at the time embarking on her first year of college. What I’ve been told is that the child who leaves for college never really comes back home. What comes back in their place is a more self-assured facsimile of what left, with […]
