‘Hello City’ is the first song on Gordon, the first Barenaked Ladies album, and it kicks off their professional career in what would become their trademark smart, funny fashion.
A dig at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the Canadian band played an early unsuccessful gig, this song is one of the most enjoyable on that excellent album.
I have two main points to make in today’s Random Weekend selection.
The first is that Ben Folds is such a great songwriter that even his B-sides can be powerful and moving.
‘Wandering,’ released on Folds’ Speed Graphic EP, and later in demo version on his Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (and I believe on a movie soundtrack originally), is a beautiful, sad portrait of a relationship — it could easily stand alongside the best of his album work.
I’m closing out this week of new music with my second Fitz & the Tantrums purchase, the band’s new album More Than Just a Dream. I haven’t heard much of this one, either.
But I really like what little I have heard, including first single (and today’s SOTD) ‘Out of My League’ and ‘Fool’s Gold,’ the song that first caught my wife’s attention.
John Mayer’s sixth studio album, Paradise Valley picks up where last year’s Born and Raised left off, and that’s a very good thing.
Mayer has settled into a country folk groove that suits him perfectly. His delicate guitar work and pretty melodies are tailor made for this back porch acoustic vibe. And he’s writing some of the best songs of his career.
The latest installment of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series (the tenth) is, at first glance, a bit of a head-scratcher.
Titled Another Self Portrait, it’s a collection of tracks recorded mostly for 1970’s Self Portrait, the album widely considered Dylan’s worst. That was the record that prompted critic Greil Marcus to start his infamous Rolling Stone review with the words “What is this shit?”
Meet Me In Montauk 