Steve Winwood owned the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of August 30, 1986, with ‘Higher Love,’ the lead single of his fourth solo album, Back in the High Life.
Surprisingly, this is the first Steve Winwood song featured on the blog (though I did use a Traffic song in a post about Avengers: Endgame in 2019). Winwood has had a very successful career, as a member of three popular bands as well as a solo artist. I just haven’t found the right time to write about him.
Throwing back to the week of August 29, 1976, we find the Bee Gees’ ‘You Should Be Dancing‘ claiming the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 in its sole week atop the chart.
At #2 was soul singer Lou Rawls with ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,’ his top-charting single on the Hot 100. The track reached #1 on the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts but peaked at #2 on this one.
Concluding my look at the albums of 2006…
I usually come away from these Decades series with at least one artist I plan to revisit, and for 2006 it’s The Decemberists, whose fourth album — The Crane Wife — dropped that year.
I remember hearing about this album at the time, but for whatever reason I never bought it (back when we had to buy music). So this is my first real exposure to the Portland-based indie band.
Continuing my look at the albums of 2006…
Memory is a funny thing.
When I saw that the Brooklyn-based Hold Steady released a well-received album in 2006 — their third record, Boys and Girls in America — I thought it would be a great opportunity to listen to a band I’ve heard a lot about.
So listen I did, and I really enjoyed the clever, narrative songwriting, lead singer Craig Finn’s brusquely emotive vocals, and the band’s muscular performances. It’s a gritty, cinematic treat. Bruce Springsteen on a bender.
Continuing my look at the albums of 2006…
It turns out the perfect antidote to yesterday’s Joanna Newsom experience was Corinne Bailey Rae’s self-titled debut. This collection of soulful pop is the opposite of critic bait — it’s music to water your plants to on a lazy Sunday morning.
English singer-songwriter Bailey Rae started as an indie rock performer before shifting to R&B and neo-soul. This album, buoyed by lead single ‘Like a Star,’ debuted at #1 in the UK, making her just the fourth British woman to achieve that feat with a first album.
Meet Me In Montauk 