Song of the Day #565: ‘Tiny Town’ – David Byrne
After the unexpected brilliance of Rei Momo, David Byrne’s second solo album was a disappointment. 1992’s Uh-Oh felt far too processed… it lacked the organic feel of his first solo outing.
But, as the saying goes, the worst David Byrne album is still better than most albums, and Uh-Oh does have its share of worthy tracks. The best of them maintain the world music feel of his previous record while leaving room for his signature eccentricities.
And you have to admire the CD cover art, which depicts a Snoopy-like cartoon dog sitting on what appears to be God’s throne in Heaven.
Song of the Day #564: ‘Lie to Me’ – David Byrne
Through 563 songs I’ve managed to highlight only one David Byrne track and one Talking Heads track, which seems akin to a criminal act. I’ll do my best to make up for that oversight by dedicating a theme week (plus a bonus Monday) to David Byrne’s solo career. And a Talking Heads theme is definitely in the cards down the road.
Following the release of 1988’s Naked, the final Talking Heads album, David Byrne kicked off his solo career with Rei Momo in 1989. I remember picking this album up from a bargain bin on a whim, figuring it might contain some worthwhile music given Byrne’s great work with Talking Heads.
Song of the Day #563: ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ – Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan contains several early classics, including ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ ‘Masters of War’ and ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.’ But for my money the best song on the album is today’s SOTD, ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.’
This song is such a fabulous combination of scathing lyrics and melancholy music… it’s hard to know what to feel when you listen to it. I mean, if you just read the song without playing it, you might expect the finished product to sound like some sort of tirade — not unlike Dylan’s future hit ‘Positively 4th Street.’
Song of the Day #562: ‘Girl From the North Country’ – Bob Dylan
There are many potential ways to go about these Dylan weekends. I could present the songs randomly, thematically, chronologically, alphabetically… you name it. In order to lend some organization to the process, I’ve decided to highlight, in pairs, tracks from my favorite Dylan albums according to order of release.
I won’t cover every one of his albums — his work from the mid-70s to the mid-80s is better left forgotten — and I’ll restrict myself to the studio albums, leaving the bootleg records (worthy of a series all their own) aside for the time being. But that still gives me close to 20 albums to work with, encompassing one of the most extraordinary careers in the business.
Song of the Day #561: ‘A Comet Appears’ – The Shins
If I had to pick one band in my CD collection that I’m not obsessed with but probably should be, it would be The Shins. Listening to their three sublime albums, I never cease to be fascinated by the clever songwriting and offbeat, elegant production.
And they’ve gotten better and better, with the hesitant indie pop of their debut Oh, Inverted World giving way to the more confident Chutes Too Narrow and culminating in Wincing the Night Away, the 2007 album that ranks as one of the best pop records of that decade.
