Category Archives: random weekends

by

Song of the Day #4,937: ‘Lady Madonna’ – The Beatles

Is there a band in music history with a better batting average than The Beatles? The Fab Four recorded under 200 songs (excluding covers) during their eight year career and you’d be hard-pressed to find 20 worth skipping on an extended playlist.

1968 B-side ‘The Inner Light,’ penned by George Harrison, might be among the throwaways, but its A-side, ‘Lady Madonna,’ certainly isn’t. This straightforward rocker was a return to the band’s roots after the Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour detours into psychedelia.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,936: ‘Without Me’ – Eminem

When I first started today’s post, I was going to write that Eminem had ceased to be commercially relevant for the past decade or so. But when I checked the numbers, I was surprised to see that his last five albums have combined to sell more than 15 million units. Every one of them went either Gold or Platinum.

If that seems like a letdown, it’s because the five albums preceding those sold 66 million, all multi-Platinum, two Diamond. That’s a string of success unmatched by most recording artists through history.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,930: ‘New Monkey’ – Elliott Smith

Here’s a track from 2004’s New Moon, the second posthumous Elliott Smith release following his death in 2003.

While the album released prior to this one (2004’s From a Basement on the Hill) was in the works but unfinished when Smith died, this one is a collection of unreleased tracks mostly recorded a decade earlier in his career. A lot of newer fans name this as their favorite Smith album, which bugs me because it’s the one Smith release with which he had zero involvement.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,923: ‘The Child is Gone’ – Fiona Apple

Today’s Random Weekend selection is a late track on Fiona Apple’s 1996 debut album TIdal.

Ironically, Tidal is both the biggest success and the most forgotten record in Apple’s 25-year career. She has released only five albums during that span, and it was the second, 1999’s When the Pawn…, that made her a critical darling and indie icon. The three releases since have met with lavish critical praise as her music has become less commercially accessible.

Continue reading →