Monthly Archives: May 2010

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Song of the Day #667: ‘Wishing Well’ – Terence Trent D’Arby

There was a time in 1987 when I thought Terence Trent D’Arby was just about the most exciting thing in music.

And, you know, I’m not sure I was that far off.

Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby is a fabulous debut album that sounds good to this day. I don’t actually own it anymore and I haven’t listened to it in more than 20 years, but skipping through the tracks on YouTube in preparation for this blog entry, I found myself enjoying them just as much as I did back when he seemed like the second coming of Prince and Michael Jackson.

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Song of the Day #666: ‘Steppin’ Out’ – Joe Jackson

I recently had a request for a Joe Jackson song on the blog, so here it is.

I’m actually surprised this is the first time I’ve featured Jackson. I like his music a lot, own several of his albums and consider him a uniquely talented artist. In fact, he’s not just worthy of a SOTD, he’s worthy of his own theme week.

I’m guessing the reason I’ve avoided Jackson is that for all his talent he tends to leave me a little bit cold. There’s a studied quality to his music that I don’t find all that inviting.

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Iron Man 2

You don’t go into a movie like Iron Man 2 expecting greatness. It’s graded on a curve.

Does it make you laugh? Excite you? Show you things you haven’t seen before? Does it make for a diverting two hours away from the summer sun?

Iron Man 2 does most of those things but it doesn’t do much else. It’s a hodge-podge of ideas and characters that never coalesce into anything meaningful.

This isn’t always the case with sequels, particularly comic book sequels. Superman II raised the stakes of the first film, introduced three formidable villains and stripped Superman of his powers as it developed his relationship with Lois Lane. Spider-Man 2 was a major improvement on the first film, with Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus as the perfect foil for a maturing Peter Parker. And The Dark Knight built on the solid reboot of Batman Begins and, thanks in large part to Heath Ledger’s iconic performance as The Joker, emerged as a visionary masterpiece of a gothic crime movie.

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Song of the Day #665: ‘Sara’ – Bob Dylan

Desire is packed with great songs, including epic true stories of boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter and gangster Joey Gallo (in the songs ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Joey,’ respectively).

I will always associate ‘Hurricane’ with the fabulous scene from Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused in which Wooderson and company enter The Emporium in slow-mo as Dylan’s song plays. If you haven’t seen Dazed and Confused, shut down your computer and make it happen right away. One of my favorite movies of all-time; a true American classic.

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Song of the Day #664: ‘One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)’ – Bob Dylan

I’ve referenced my Dylan Six — the six albums I consider his unqualified masterpieces — many times over the past few months. And I’ve named five of them already: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Bringing it all Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and Blood On the Tracks.

1976’s Desire is not the sixth. But I adore this album and I’m tempted to expand that list to a Dylan Seven just to sneak it in there. It’s one of the most musically adventurous and lyrically compelling releases of Dylan’s career and contains a few songs I count among my very favorites.

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