Author Archives

by

Song of the Day #4,805: ‘Late for the Sky’ – Jackson Browne

This week I’m kicking off the latest installment of my ‘Decades’ series, wherein I feature songs from renowned albums from a single year across four decades. So far I have covered the first four years of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. That brings me back around to 1974.

Normally, I count down my own favorite albums from the given year before moving on to albums with which I’m not familiar. This year, though, proves to be a bit of a blindspot for me. While I have passing familiarity with the first five or six albums I’ll feature, I don’t know them well enough to rank them.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,804: ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’ – Fleet Foxes

This is the third Fleet Foxes song featured on the blog, all from their self-titled 2008 debut. The first song showed up during a theme week on critically acclaimed artists whose appeal I just don’t get.

The second song, like this one, was a Random Weekend selection. I allowed that it was better than I’d remembered and wondered if maybe I owed the band another chance.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,803: ‘Adelaide’ – Ben Folds

Today’s random track appeared on Ben Folds’ 2004 EP Super D, one of a trio of EPs Folds released between his first two solo albums.

The song is a tribute to Adelaide, South Australia, where Folds lived from 1999 to 2006 after marrying native Aussie Frally Hynes. Hynes was Folds’ third wife and is the mother of his twin son and daughter. Since their split, he has married twice more.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,802: ‘Cherish’ – Madonna

Three weeks, 14 studio albums, one icon… today concludes my Madonna deep dive!

As with my first two artist deep dives (Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne), this one limped to a close as Madonna’s last few albums didn’t approach the quality or impact of her early work.

I guess that’s the nature of the music industry, almost without exception. How many decades can you expect your muse to last?

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,801: ‘Crave’ – Madonna & Swae Lee

After nearly three weeks of diving into Madonna’s catalog, we’ve arrived at her most recent album, 2019’s Madame X. Released at the ripe old age (by music industry standards) of 61, this is one of the most stylistically interesting records of her career.

Madonna had been living in Lisbon, Portugal, for a couple of years when she was inspired to craft an album that featured not only the sounds of that country, but of the many cultures with which she had come into contact while there.

Continue reading →