Author Archives

by

Song of the Day #67: ‘Littlest Things’ – Lily Allen

Alex brought this up the other day and I told her I’d put it on my blog, so here I am being true to my word.

It’s funny how some British artists completely mask their accents in song while others sing it like they speak it. Is this a deliberate choice in either direction? Or is it the luck of the draw? And if it is a deliberate choice, in which direction?

In other words, do the non-accented singers (like, say, Bono) go out of their way to sound “American,” perhaps in the interest of U.S. sales? Or do the accented singers (like today’s choice, Lily Allen) play up their natural accents in song for effect?

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #66: ‘Is That Love’ – Squeeze

Squeeze, like Mark Knopfler, (and isn’t it a good bet that this is the first time those four words have appeared in that order?) is a group I should know better than I do.

I’ve owned three of their albums (East Side Story, Play and a greatest hits collection). I have a strong bias against hits albums, so I sold that one back (even though I liked all the songs). But I’ve never rushed out to pick up their other albums.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #65: ‘Wish You Were Here’ – Pink Floyd

I believe every high school boy goes through a Pink Floyd phase. Maybe that’s not the case anymore, but when I was in high school (late 80s) they were all the rage.

I listened to The Wall on headphones over and over again, marveling at the way the groupie moved from one side of my head to the other as she walked through Pink’s hotel room (“Wanna take a baaath?”). I listened to monotonous 17-minute epics like ‘Echoes’ and ‘Dogs’ with a straight face. I set my CD player to wake me up with the cacophony of alarm clocks at the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon‘s ‘Time.’

Continue reading →

by

Mad about Mad Men

I started renting the Mad Men DVDs several weeks ago after reading so much “Best show on TV!” praise that I finally couldn’t ignore it any longer. Often that kind of praise winds up being a turn-off… it’s easier to dismiss the hype and pride yourself on standing apart from the “cool kids.” I’m reminded of a B.J. Novak blog entry titled “I will watch The Wire when I watch The Wire!” that was aimed at all his friends who kept goading him about that show.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #64: ‘Jesusland’ – Ben Folds

Ben Folds is one of my very favorite artists. He’s another one I could feature in the Song of the Day spot every day for weeks without hitting a bad song.

His second album, Songs for Silverman, is his most mature and nuanced work yet, something that didn’t go over well with a lot of his fans. Now, I’m not sure what sort of Ben Folds fan you are if you don’t like that album, but I suppose you’re the sort who is drawn to jokey stuff like ‘Song for the Dumped’ and ‘Rockin’ the Suburbs’ and oblivious to such sublime work as ‘Alice Childress,’ ‘Missing the War’ and ‘The Luckiest.’

Continue reading →