R.E.M.’s 1987 album Document, their fifth, is an underrated entry in their discography. Underrated by me, at least. I rarely think of this album when I conjure up R.E.M.’s best work, but it is a consistently great collection.
Document started the band’s collaboration with producer Scott Litt, who would go on to produce their most successful albums, and it featured their first top ten hit in ‘The One I Love.’ It was also their first album to go platinum.
‘Takin’ It To the Streets’ is the title song from The Doobie Brothers’ 1976 album, their seventh studio release. This was the first album to feature Michael McDonald on lead vocals, and he also penned this track and a few others.
McDonald’s arrival marked a significant shift in the band’s sound, from straight-forward rock to a fusion of pop and soul. It’s the post-1976 material that pops up on my favorite Yacht Rock radio station.
Apart from a couple of tracks from Face Value and a song from the Tarzan soundtrack, this blog has been mostly a Phil Collins-free zone.
That isn’t by design. I have only positive things to say about Collins, whose soundtrack work alone is worth celebrating, let alone his solo albums and work with Genesis. I jammed out to all of those tunes when I was a teen.
But still, I haven’t gone out of my way to feature him.
I like Random Weekends the best when they unearth a gem that I have long since forgotten, a song that for one reason or another just fell off my radar over time.
We have a great example today with ‘Out On the Town,’ a bonus track from the 2012 album Some Nights by pop rock band fun. This song, like every song on that album, is catchy and smart and anthemic in the most casual way. A real blast.
Today’s Random Weekend selection is a live bonus track from whatever reissue of The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty I have in my iTunes library.
I tried to find the exact one on YouTube and encountered several official releases of live performances of ‘Candyman,’ plus dozens of unofficial clips. The sheer volume of live Grateful Dead content is overwhelming.
Meet Me In Montauk 