Dar Williams, over the four or five albums of hers I own, is frequently mediocre. But she is also frequently magnificent. She has written three or four songs I would stack up against anything anybody’s written, ever. This is one of them.
I’m not going to write a whole lot about why this song is so great, because I think it pretty much says everything all by itself. It’s bittersweet and charming and more than a little sad, especially for a father of two little boy-girls.
Lucinda Williams has a new album in stores today (Little Honey), so I’m celebrating the occasion by highlighting one of my all-time favorite songs — ‘Side of the Road’ from Williams’ classic self-titled album.
I discovered Williams 10 years ago, when Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was released to unanimous critical acclaim. I saw that album on every single year-end top ten list along with the tale of how it had taken her six years to record and release it because she was never quite happy enough to let it go.
I enjoyed it well enough after my first listen but something else must have come up because I set it aside and didn’t really think about it again for more than a year.
Shortly after this movie ended, Alex said to me “That’s the first movie I’ve seen since I was a teenager that made me want to be a teenager again.”
I know exactly what she means. The film is smart without being pretentious, funny without being absurd and touching without being overly sentimental. Mostly it’s a good time spent with two of the most endearing young actors I’ve seen in years, and ultimately that’s what makes it a real success.
Set on a wild night in New York City, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist follows Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, two high school seniors with a shared love of indie music and, eventually, each other.
I’ve never been much of a Who fan. In high school, many of my friends were very much into them but in the battle of the 70s bands, I gravitated much more toward Pink Floyd.
I do enjoy the Who’s Next album (it’s the only one I own) but I can’t say I reach for it very often. I’ve never gotten into Quadrophenia or Tommy. In short, they are pretty much a non-entity to me.
It’s funny how there are some songs that sort of take over your listening life for a time and mean a whole lot to you, but then a few years later they drop completely off the map.
I think this happens to me somewhat often because I’m an album guy. I don’t really listen to individual songs, even in the age of the iPod. I play full albums, start to finish, almost without exception.
So take an album like Robbie Robertson’s self-titled solo debut… it’s ok, maybe a little better than ok, but it wasn’t something I found myself playing very often. Or at all, really. So when I did a massive review of my CD collection a few years ago, I sold that album back.
