On the heels of my recent post about Lyle Lovett’s first new album of original material in 15 years comes a Random Weekend selection from Lovett’s 2012 collection Release Me.
This album was recorded to fulfill a contractual obligation (hence the cheeky title and the cover art of Lovett tied up with a lariat) and featured only two originals among its 14 tracks.
My final Stranger Things soundtrack suggestion is one of the four #1 singles produced by George Michael’s blockbuster solo debut, Faith.
Not ‘Faith’ or ‘Father Figure,’ which are both a bit too adult for a show focused on teenagers, and not ‘Monkey,’ which is a great dance track but a bit too silly for a show about monsters threatening all life on Earth.
For a show set in the 80s, it’s hard to go wrong with the pop-leaning hard rock and heavy metal bands of the era. Something about a guitar-driven power ballad just feels right.
Stranger Things got a lot of mileage out of songs by Metallica and Journey in the most recent season, and I think it’s time for them to throw a little love to Def Leppard in the next one.
Of all the songs I’m featuring this week and last, Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Mandinka’ is the one I most hope shows up in the next season of Stranger Things.
Like Kate Bush, O’Connor is a unique talent who broke ground for women in rock and recorded music unlike anything else being released at the time. She has had a troubled life and career since her success in the late 80s/early 90s and deserves another moment in the spotlight.
Of all the artists I’m featuring over these two weeks, the one I’d most like to see revived is Terence Trent D’Arby (who now records under his given name, Sananda Maitreya).
D’Arby’s debut album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby, is a soul/pop classic that seemed poised to usher in a new superstar. But the singer-songwriter’s follow-up efforts failed to reach a wide audience, and he’s been recording in relative obscurity in the three decades since.
Meet Me In Montauk 