Category Archives: random weekends

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Song of the Day #1,654: ‘Elastic Love’ – Christina Aguilera

christina_aguilera_bionicChristina Aguilera has had a strange career. She started out hot, riding the same Mickey Mouse Club teen starlet wave that gave us Britney Spears, but then cooled off quickly. Her sexed-up sophomore album, Stripped, came across as dirty rather than provocative.

She rebounded well with Back to Basics, an excellent double album that showcased her amazing voice and earned both critical raves and strong sales. But then she disappeared for a few years before appearing in the 2010 bomb Burlesque and releasing Bionic, a weak collection that sounded like an attempt to become Lady Gaga.

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Song of the Day #1,653: ‘(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know’ – Frank Sinatra

sinatraI knew this was a Frank Sinatra song about three seconds in, though I didn’t know which one. I don’t have many albums from this era in my collection, so the sound of a big band orchestra generally means just one thing: Ol’ Blue Eyes is back.

I’m not at all familiar with this particular song, though it’s instantly great in the way all of these old songs are great.

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Song of the Day #1,647: ‘Catch All the Fish’ – Brad Paisley

americansaturdaynightBrad Paisley tends to put at least one rip-roaring ass-kicker of a song on every album — the sort of instrumental throwdown that ensures all of the players will have blisters on their fingers.

On his best album, 2009’s American Saturday Night, that song is ‘Catch All the Fish,’ an anthem for every beer-drinking fisherman in the world (which is probably all of them).

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Song of the Day #1,646: ‘Candela’ – Buena Vista Social Club

buena_vista_social_clubI’ve never entirely understood the controversies that surrounded the Buena Vista Social Club, made popular by both a Wim Wenders documentary and an album produced by Ry Cooder.

Something about using nostalgia for Cuba’s golden era to line the pockets of the Castro regime. Or an American taking credit for “discovering” Cuban musicians who had been famous internationally for decades. I’ve even read some criticism that Cooder’s guitar style didn’t mesh well with the rest of the band on some recordings.

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Song of the Day #1,640: ‘Hand to Mouth’ – George Michael

faithGeorge Michael’s Faith is one of those great 80s albums that contains so many hits it’s hard to believe they all originated on the same record. And it holds up very well 25 years later.

‘Faith,’ ‘Father Figure,’ ‘One More Try,’ ‘I Want Your Sex,’ ‘Monkey,’ ‘Look at Your Hands’ and ‘Kissing a Fool.’ If you were listening to music with any regularity in the late 80s, I bet you can sing a few bars from every one of those songs off the top of your head. I know I can.

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