I did a Brandi Carlile Deep Dive in 2021 and already knew she was a new favorite. She released the wonderful In These Silent Days later that year, which I gave a track-by-track assessment.
I’m not sure why I wasn’t quick to jump on 2025’s Returning to Myself, Carlile’s eighth studio album and one of her best. I listened to it at the time and immediately loved it, but I didn’t return to it very often and neglected to cover it on the site.
The #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 20, 1966, belonged to California pop band The Association, whose ‘Cherish’ topped the chart for three weeks that year.
This was one of five top ten hits, and two #1s, for The Association, all in the same three year span between 1966-1968. The sextet delivered dreamy Beach Boys-style harmonies on syrupy love songs such as ‘Windy,’ ‘Never My Love,’ and today’s SOTD.
The 50s were such an interesting decade for popular music. Throwing back to the week of September 19, 1956, we find Elvis Presley topping Billboard’s singles chart with ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ and his ‘Hound Dog‘ at #3. In between is R&B vocal group The Platters with ‘My Prayer.’
Then at #4 we shift gears completely, with an instrumental version of the song ‘Canadian Sunset’ performed by Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra with Eddie Heywood on piano. And closing out the top five is Doris Day’s ‘Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).’ It’s wild to imagine those two tracks battling two of Elvis’ biggest hits for airplay.
When I started my Rolling Stones deep dive in 2023, I figured I’d never have to revisit it. What were the odds that 80-year-olds Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would put out another album seven years after the career-capping Blue & Lonesome, on which they covered a selection of blues and R&B classics, just like they had on their debut 52 years earlier?
Before I’d even finished, the band announced a new album of original material, their first in nearly two decades. Hackney Diamonds didn’t come out in time for me to fit it in, but I’m remedying that now.
Madonna waited seven years after 2019’s Madame X to release her next studio album, her 15th. That album, titled Confessions II, is a sequel to her celebrated 2005 dance album Confessions on a Dance Floor.
I ranked the first Confessions as my fourth favorite Madonna album, agreeing with the critics and fans alike who deemed it her last truly relevant release.
So, did going back to that well pay off? In my opinion, yes. This is Madonna’s best album since its namesake two decades ago.
Meet Me In Montauk 