When R.E.M.’s 1998 album Up, their first without drummer Bill Berry, was met with mixed reviews, Michael Stipe said this in an interview: “If this record dropped out of the sky by a three-piece band that nobody had heard of, people would be in the street shouting at the top of their lungs, naked, about it.”
He was being overly defensive, but I could see his point. Established bands — especially great ones — are always measured against their own legacy, their finest moments.
Halfway through February, I’m finally ready to put 2014 to bed. I’ll spend the rest of this week writing about a trio of new releases.
When I heard that Bob Dylan’s next album would be a collection of obscure songs once performed by Frank Sinatra, I can’t say I was surprised, exactly. This is the man who put out an old-fashioned Christmas album five years ago. Nothing he does is unexpected, because he does whatever the hell he wants.
Like most of the world, I assumed Kanye West was joking when he started to take the stage following Beck’s Grammy win for Album of the Year.
After he became a national punchline and punching bag for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards, I figured Kanye had developed a sense of humor.
Meghan Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass’ didn’t make my list of 2014’s best songs, to the dismay of some of my readers.
Recently I bought Trainor’s album, Title, after my younger daughter asked me to download several of her songs. I figured I might as well spend the extra few bucks to get the whole record.
And while ‘Bass’ still doesn’t tickle my fancy the way it does for some, I am sufficiently impressed by the rest of the album to say one of its tracks might have made my best-of cut had I bought it sooner.
One of the pleasures of the Traveling Wilburys was hearing the different combinations of lead and supporting singers on each of the tracks.
On ‘Last Night,’ it’s Tom Petty taking the lead vocals and Roy Orbison dropping in elegantly on selected verses. A great match. I also love the lyrics, which describe a one night stand that turns into a mugging at knifepoint.
