My lord, has it really been 27 years since R.E.M. released Monster? I remember being taken aback by the volume and aggression of this album coming on the heels of 1992’s Automatic For the People, but mostly loving the results.
R.E.M. said they wanted to make a loud album after the mostly acoustic Out of Time and Automatic For the People, and Monster certainly fit the bill. Soaked in reverb, this mashup of glam rock and grunge sounds like nothing else in the band’s catalog, for better and worse.
Wilco’s 2007 Sky Blue Sky, the band’s sixth album, is a mellow affair. As such, I should really give it another try. I’m a big fan of Wilco’s first four albums but never got into 2004’s A Ghost is Born for some reason. I bought this one out of habit but didn’t pay much attention to it at the time.
Hearing today’s random SOTD has me regretting that. This is a lovely acoustic song, very reminiscent of Elliott Smith, and exactly the kind of thing I enjoy from Jeff Tweedy and Wilco.
Happy Valentine’s Day, readers, but more important, Happy Birthday to my daughter Fiona, who turns 15 today.
This is a Random Weekend, so I get to spin the wheel and see if the Random iTunes Fairy can serve up something appropriate for the occasion.
Let’s give it a whirl…
It’s been five years since Ben Folds’ last album release, and that one (2015’s So There) was a collaboration with a chamber orchestra, with half of its running time dedicated to an instrumental suite.
That makes it a full decade since his last full-length release, 2010’s Lonely Avenue, and on that album he handed the lyrical reins to novelist Nic Hornby. Which makes it 12 years since Folds released an album of his own material. That was 2008’s Way to Normal, a decent collection but one that too often found Folds relying on sophomoric humor.
When today’s song popped up as my Random Weekend selection, my first thought was to write about Sara Bareilles’ Little Voice as a great debut album. I’ve been meaning to do a series of posts on my favorite debuts, and this one would certainly make the cut.
But when I called up Bareilles’ discography, I learned that while 2007’s Little Voice was the singer-songwriter’s major label debut, it is actually her second album.
Meet Me In Montauk 