I heard this song long before I heard it performed by Elvis Costello. In college, a friend’s band covered it in a very different arrangement (a little punk, a little Prince if I remember it correctly).
At the time I wondered where the guy had dug up this obscure Elvis Costello song. I had all of Costello’s albums by then and considered myself a serious fan, so it was weird to hear “new” material.
Music about music is pretty hit or miss. While many artists have had success writing about their experiences as professional musicians, just as many have come across as whiny and annoying.
Wilco made the bold move of writing an entire album — a double album, no less — about music with 1996’s Being There.
Frontman Jeff Tweedy wanted to write songs about his experiences both playing and listening to music and, despite the obvious dangers inherent in taking such a path, wound up crafting a superior album.
I’m the farthest thing from a Deadhead you can imagine. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a jam band. One of the reasons I don’t seek out more live music is the inevitable tendency for artists to stretch their songs to epic length while the crowd sways as if in a trance.
Screw that. I like songs. Get in, get out, don’t make it a second longer than it needs to be. Jam bands are public masturbators, and who needs to watch that?
That said, the Dead’s American Beauty is a damn fine album, one I revisited recently after not hearing it since college.
Garbage’s second album, Version 2.0, just missed my recent series on flawless albums. The album sags just the tiniest bit toward the end, mostly because today’s SOTD is such a tough act to follow.
But before that come eight truly excellent tracks, varying stylistically and thematically, that taken as a song cycle match up with just about anything. The band would go on to release two more solid albums before taking a hiatus they’re still on, but nothing they’re produced compares to the opening barrage of this record.
It’s been awhile since I’ve offered up a Beyoncé song. Two months, in fact, which is way too long.
‘Flaws and All’ is a track from her 2007 album B’day. Most of the songs I’ve heard from that album are beat-heavy dance tracks but this is a nice ballad tucked in between the thumpier stuff.
The idea of Beyoncé having flaws is kind of silly from my pathetic vantage point, but the truth is you know Jay-Z every once in awhile rolls his eyes and thinks “I am so tired of her shit.” She might be the most perfect human yet conceived, but she is still human.
