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Song of the Day #4,982: ‘The Book of Numbers’ – Sting

I wrote about Elvis Costello yesterday, and now here’s another old-timer with a new album out. Sting released The Bridge in November, a month after his 70th birthday.

I have not kept up with Sting’s discography over the past 23 years. The last album of his I listened to was 1999’s Brand New Day, a triple Platinum hit in the U.S. that capped off a run of six excellent solo albums.

I never found time for the follow-up, 2003’s Sacred Love, which managed to go Platinum despite not producing a hit. After that came a grab bag of novelty releases, including two collections of alternate releases of his own material, a Christmas album, and an album heavily featuring a lute.

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Song of the Day #4,981: ‘The Difference’ – Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello released a new album a few weeks ago, and I still haven’t listened to it all the way through.

There’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever write.

Once upon a time, a new Elvis Costello album was a major event in my life, like a Christmas day that happened every three or four years. But somewhere along the line, I stopped getting excited about Costello’s new music.

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Song of the Day #4,980: ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ – Meat Loaf

When singer/actor Meat Loaf died last month at age 74, reportedly from COVID-19 complications, I was intrigued by the references to his 1977 album Bat Out of Hell as one of the top-selling records of all time.

Indeed, the prog rock opera is the fourth best-selling album worldwide, behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller, AC/DC’s Back in Black, and Whitney Houston’s soundtrack to The Bodyguard.

And here I am, purportedly a music fan, having never heard it.

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Song of the Day #4,979: ‘Burn This Disco Out’ – Michael Jackson

To help appreciate the astounding popularity of Michael Jackson, consider that 1979’s Off the Wall sold more than 20 million copies worldwide… and it’s his fifth best-selling album.

What’s nuts is that the four albums Jackson released before this one, all between 1972 and 1975 on Motown Records, barely made a dent. Those records, recorded by a teenaged Jackson in a style very much like his work with the Jackson 5, showed few hints of the R&B/disco juggernaut to come.

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Song of the Day #4,978: ‘Learning How to Live’ – Lucinda Williams

I split Lucinda Williams’ discography into four periods.

You have the early years, from 1979-1992, featuring straightforward folk pop/rock and her most radio-friendly tunes and vocals.

Then there’s the span from 1998-2003, which saw her stretch into more challenging song styles and favor raw emotion over more polished performances. 1998’s Car Wheels On a Gravel Road, still her masterpiece, bridges the first two phases.

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