Monthly Archives: January 2009

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Song of the Day #166: ‘House Full of Reasons’ – Jude Cole

judecoleI have a Jude Cole CD in my collection — A View From 3rd Street — that I inherited from my wife. The faded booklet and dated cover art make it look like it’s a couple of decades old, and that’s exactly how I thought of it when we first merged CD collections all those years ago.

But as I’m reading up on Cole, I see that CD was released in 1990, meaning when I met Alex it was essentially a new release. Of course now it really is a couple of decades old so I guess it has finally grown into my perception of it.

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Song of the Day #165: ‘Cemetry Gates’ – The Smiths

smiths2I started the Song of the Day series way back in July with a Smiths song and 164 songs later I’m returning to the band. Look for the next installment around song #329.

This track appears on The Queen is Dead which I consider one of the best albums recorded by anybody, ever. I can’t imagine a more clever, catchy, emotionally satisfying batch of songs. Those who think Morrissey is capable of only woe-is-me sob-fests need to give it a listen and realize how friggin’ hilarious he is.

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Song of the Day #164: ‘Three Little Birds’ – Bob Marley

marleyBy no means am I a big reggae fan, but I do like the occasional Bob Marley tune. My view of reggae follows the old line about certain tourist destinations… “It’s nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” I can’t imagine listening to a whole reggae album, let alone owning more than one.

But, like every white college boy, I owned the Bob Marley Legend compilation and I have to admit every song on it is a gem. I feel kind of bad that I sold it back in the legendary greatest-hits purge of the early 2000s. Perhaps I shouldn’t be such an absolutist.

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Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III

thacarterA few days ago I reviewed TV on the Radio’s new album, Dear Science, following a swarm of year-end critical accolades and came to an unequivocal verdict: Believe the hype.

Today I look at Lil Wayne’s equally praised Tha Carter III and my opinion is equally unequivocal: Don’t believe the hype. The best thing about this album is its cover art… it’s all downhill once you get to the music.

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Song of the Day #163: ‘My One and Only Love’ – Sting

stingI finish off this week’s theme with an obvious selection — our wedding song. Alex and I came across this version of the classic tune on the Leaving Las Vegas soundtrack. Not a very uplifting movie, to be sure, but the song is just wonderful.

We had our first dance to this song, and if we could do one thing differently at our wedding, we would have let other couples join in before the song was over. As it was, we got out there in the center of the dance floor and ambled around for what seemed like an eternity. Honestly, I half expected a significant number of guests would have left by the time we were finished.

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