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Song of the Day #3,757: ‘Medora and the Moonlight’ – Hold the Dark Soundtrack

This will go down as the year NetFlix jumped fully into the major motion picture game, releasing films by top-tier directors Alfonso Cuaron and the Coen Brothers. A Martin Scorsese film is due in early 2019.

A lesser-known but very promising talent, Jeremy Saulnier, has also released his latest film on the streaming network. Saulnier, whose Blue Ruin and Green Room were exhilarating, harrowing revenge thrillers, is back with Hold the Dark, a film that is dark and chilling both metaphorically and literally.

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Song of the Day #3,756: ‘Maybe It’s Time’ – Bradley Cooper

In all of my blathering about A Star is Born in yesterday’s post, I neglected to mention my favorite song from the film’s soundtrack.

‘Maybe It’s Time’ was written by Jason Isbell, a singer-songwriter I discovered earlier this year who has quickly become a favorite of mine. Do yourself a favor and listen to his albums Here We Rest, Southeastern and The Nashville Sound. If you like today’s SOTD at all, you’ll find a lot more just as good and even better on those records.

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Song of the Day #3,755: ‘Shallow’ – Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Writer/director/star Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born is one of the most buzzed-about movies of this year’s award season, and now it has a hefty box office take to match. The only thing keeping it from Oscar glory at this point is the risk of peaking too soon.

I liked the film quite a bit, though I didn’t share the rapturous reception of many critics and fans. I loved the languid first half, which depicts Cooper’s Jackson and Lady Gaga’s Ally falling in love. It’s all warm, syrupy hues and hushed conversations.

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Song of the Day #3,754: ‘Fill Her Up’ – Sting

Brand New Day, released in 1999, was Sting’s sixth solo album. It’s the last of his albums I chose to own, despite him releasing six more since.

I can’t argue that this album soured me on Sting because, looking at the tracklist, it’s damn good. ‘Desert Rose,’ ‘After the Rain Has Fallen,’ ‘Ghost Story’ and ‘Brand New Day’ are all top-notch. And ‘Fill Her Up,’ today’s random SOTD, is one of Sting’s most successfully ambitious efforts ever.

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Song of the Day #3,753: ‘Bartering Lines’ – Ryan Adams

‘Bartering Lines’ is probably my least favorite song on Ryan Adams’ solo debut album, 2000’s Heartbreaker.

I don’t mean that as a slight to this song, which is fine, but as praise for the rest of Heartbreaker. This is one of the greatest alt-country albums, indie rock albums and break-up albums of all time. Adams followed this record the following year with Gold, an equally good album, and never topped either of those achievements again.

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