It’s too bad Ryan Adams turned out to be such a shitty person because that really got in the way of one of the most interesting and diverse careers in the music business.
Who else would record a song-by-song cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989, giving each pop song on the record his own melancholy folk-rock twist? His 1989, released in 2015 a year after the original, is the sort of project I’d love to see attempted again.
I thought the Random iTunes Fairy might serve up a little holiday spirit on Christmas Eve, but she went with this charming little number by Josh Rouse instead.
It’s the tale of a young man who plays bass in New York, France, and eventually Los Angeles. More of a sketch than a tale, really.
At any rate, I hope it’s festive enough to put those of you who celebrate Christmas in a nice mood heading into the big day.
‘Hidden Shame,’ heard here in demo form as included on Elvis Costello’s reissue of the 1996 album All This Useless Beauty, was originally written by Costello for Johnny Cash. Costello wrote a few songs for Cash, including ‘Complicated Shadows,’ one of Beauty‘s main tracks.
Cash never recorded ‘Complicated Shadows’ but he did record this one, on a 1990 album titled Boom Chicka Boom. That album — his 76th! — also included a cover of Harry Chapin’s ‘Cat’s in the Cradle.’
Thank you, Random iTunes Fairy, for a trip back in time to early 1993, when Sting dropped his fourth solo album, Ten Summoner’s Tales. For my money, this record remains the greatest thing he ever did as a solo artist.
Buoyed by two hit singles, ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith in You’ (today’s SOTD), the album reached #2 on both the British and U.S. charts and achieved multi-platinum status in multiple countries.
I recently wrote about the importance of track five on Taylor Swift’s albums, and the Random iTunes Fairy has responded by serving up one of those tracks today.
‘All You Had To Do Was Stay,’ from the 2014 album 1989, is one of Swift’s more upbeat track fives, in keeping with the overall style of that album. But lyrically it delivers a healthy dose of emotional turmoil. If you read the song before playing it, you might expect a tortured ballad rather than a slick bop.
Meet Me In Montauk 