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Song of the Day #1,221: ‘Change the Locks’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

This week marks the third and final installment of my intermittent Tom Petty series, taking us through his five most recent albums.

First up is his 1996 follow-up to Wildflowers, the soundtrack album for Ed Burns’ film She’s the One. This record was touted as not simply songs to accompany the film but a proper Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album (sort of the way the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever was an official Stevie Wonder album).

And yes, that is probably the first time Tom Petty has been compared to Stevie Wonder.

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Song of the Day #1,220: ‘My Little Town’ – Paul Simon

For one of the 70s’ touchstone albums, Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years is a rather low-key affair. It runs for just ten songs and under 40 minutes and every song has a similar laid-back vibe.

Even the album’s #1 hit, ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,’ drifts by on a silky, mellow groove. This is an album made for a lazy Sunday morning.

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Song of the Day #1,219: ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ – Paul Simon

In 1975, Paul Simon released his fourth solo album, the sublime Still Crazy After All These Years.

The record won him his second of three Album of the Year Grammys (the first went to Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water). Accepting the award, Simon thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year, as Wonder had won the award the previous two years (and would go on to win it again the following year).

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Song of the Day #1,218: ‘You Are All My Invention’ – Witness

Whenever I think about record store experiences, I always go back to my discovery of an obscure band called Witness (or Witness UK, as they were forced to identify themselves on early albums due to the existence of an American band also called Witness).

Their 2001 album Under a Sun was playing once while I browsed the racks at a used CD shop and I was so taken by the music that I went to the register and bought it on the spot. It’s the only time I’ve ever done that.

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Song of the Day #1,217: ‘Dixie Flyer’ – Randy Newman

Usually when I browse CDs in a used music shop, I marvel at all the great deals I could have had if I didn’t have so damn many CDs already.

I’ll see a great Elvis Costello album for $2 or a little-known indie gem for a buck-fifty and envy the people who might stumble upon it after me and enjoy the thrill of discovery bundled with the satisfaction of a real bargain.

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