I always sigh when a Morrissey or Smiths song pops up on Random iTunes Weekends, bracing myself for the bashing to come from my regular readers.
I need to find a pocket of Smiths fans to whom I can market the blog on these occasions, so the lovers can drown out the haters.
‘Glamorous Glue’ is a track from Morrissey’s best solo album, 1992’s Your Arsenal. This one of several albums that will always remind me of the year I met my wife.
Here’s the second track from XTC’s excellent 1986 album Skylarking. It’s probably been more than a decade since I listened to any part of this album, and longer than that since I listened to it in full.
Actually, that’s not true. About seven or eight years ago I embarked on a mission to listen to every single one of my CDs in their entirety. The goal was to decide which ones I would keep and which I could sell back. It took me several months and my listening spanned several states (a northeastern road trip helped the cause, though I could only listen to some albums while my wife and kids were sleeping).
This track, from Annie Lennox’s 1995 hit covers album Medusa, is the odd song out on that record.
The lineup features renditions of cuts by Paul Simon, Procol Harum, Bob Marley, Al Green, Neil Young, The Clash and The Temptations. And ‘Downtown Lights’ by Blue Nile.
What the hell is Blue Nile, you ask? Good question. They are a Scottish band that has moderate success with this song in 1989. And by “moderate success” I mean it reached #67 on the UK charts.
Here’s a lovely track from one of Lyle Lovett’s best albums, 1989’s Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.
This album picked up where Lovett’s Pontiac left off, splitting its focus between traditional country, jazz and blues. ‘Nobody Knows Me’ falls in the album’s second half with the rest of the country songs.
Every year or two, the Random iTunes Fairy serves up a cut from Jackson Browne’s 1993 album, I’m Alive.
And every year or two I’m reminded what a beautiful and lasting piece of work it is.
Today’s song is particularly lovely, and further proof (like the whole album) that break-ups make for the some of the most emotionally resonant music.
Meet Me In Montauk 