Author Archives

by

Song of the Day #2,872: ‘Young Americans’ – David Bowie

david_bowie_young_americans1975’s Young Americans is the eighth David Bowie album I’m featuring in this retrospective, with all eight (plus a few I’ve left out) released over just nine years. And all of this happened 40 years before his death. What a remarkable run.

Young Americans kicked off Bowie’s brief soul period. Bowie got an assist from a young Luther Vandross, who performed on the album and co-wrote one track. Bowie described the album this way: “The squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak rock, written and sung by a white limey.”

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #2,871: ‘Rebel Rebel’ – David Bowie

david_bowie_diamond_dogsDavid Bowie followed Aladdin Sane with the disappointing Pin Ups, a covers album released the same year (1973). But six months later he returned with a proper album, Diamond Dogs.

This is a quick record with several throwaway connective tracks. The second half features songs from a proposed musical based on George Orwell’s 1984 that Bowie never got to write. The first side features two hits (the title track and today’s SOTD) along with a three-song suite bookended by a song called ‘Sweet Thing.’

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #2,870: ‘The Jean Genie’ – David Bowie

aladdin_sane_david_bowieIn 1973, less than a year after the release of Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie put out another classic album. Aladdin Sane introduced a new Bowie alter ego, which Bowie described as “Ziggy Goes to America.”

The songs were largely written while Bowie toured the U.S., but while the lyrics reflect his take on the states, the music remains rather British. Opening track ‘Watch That Man,’ in particular, is straight-up Rolling Stones. Bowie even underscores that influence by covering ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together‘ later on the album.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #2,869: ‘Let’s Be Friends (Skin to Skin)’ – Bruce Springsteen

springsteen_the_risingToday’s random selection comes from Bruce Springsteen’s 2002 album, The Rising. This album was written and recorded following the 9/11 attacks and many of its tracks are directly or indirectly about that tragic day.

This one, however, is a pretty straight-forward relationship song. If it has a connection to 9/11, it’s in these lines from the chorus: “Don’t know when this chance might come again, good times got a way of coming to an end.”

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #2,868: ‘Tender Branch’ – Tift Merritt

tift_another_countryAh, Tift Merritt. I find this woman’s voice, and her songwriting, as emotionally satisfying as pretty much any music I own. She exudes thoughtfulness and sensitivity, but with an underlying grittiness. Just sublime.

Today’s Random Weekend selection is the closing track of Merritt’s 2008 album, Another Country. She has been so consistently good that I can make an argument for that album being her best, her “worst” or anything in between.

Continue reading →