I’ve done a lot of theme weeks this year (dedicating six weeks at a time to my decade lists) but I haven’t done a good old-fashioned single-artist chronological theme week in a long time.
Well, who better to get me back in the swing of things than my favorite country artist — and one of my favorites all around — Miranda Lambert?
My routine for picking these Random Weekend selections is to fire up iTunes, close my eyes and click the ‘next’ button. I like to hear the lucky song before I see what it is, and to see how many seconds I’ll need to identify it.
When I heard the first guitar notes of today’s SOTD, I couldn’t help but smile. I knew instantly that I was listening to the opening track of Tift Merritt’s first album, Bramble Rose — the only CD in my collection that is signed by the artist who recorded it.
Elvis Costello’s many reissues have gotten a lot of play on these Random Weekends, with both good and mediocre results.
Today’s song, a sped-up — practically disco — version of ‘Town Cryer,’ the stately closing track of Imperial Bedroom, is definitely worth a listen. The contrast between this song and its official counterpart is hilariously extreme. This is so bad it’s good… or maybe it’s just good.
It’s been seven years since Fiona Apple’s last album, the much-delayed Extraordinary Machine. That record was initially leaked in one form before being officially released in another, and speculation was rampant that studio pressure had forced Apple to give the songs a more mainstream sound.
She denied that, and it doesn’t really seem like her. I’d expect her to never release another album in her life rather than something she wasn’t 100% behind.
Until I heard the album that sits on top of this list (only a few weeks ago), I didn’t think anything would unseat The Shin’s Port of Morrow as my favorite album of the year.
This is the band’s fourth album and far and away their best, though if you listen to many of their fans you’ll hear just the opposite. For some people, the presence of monster hooks and indelible choruses is somehow a bad thing.
Meet Me In Montauk 