Last week, Fleetwood Mac’s most prolific member, Christine McVie, passed away at age 79 following a long bout of poor health.
McVie wrote or co-wrote the lion’s share of the band’s songs, including some of their most enduring classics — ‘Say You Love Me,’ ‘Over My Head,’ ‘You Make Loving Fun,’ ‘Everywhere,’ and ‘Don’t Stop,’ to name just a few.
Since his 1999 debut, Brad Paisley has been reliably releasing albums every year or two. Today’s SOTD comes from his third studio album, 2003’s Mud on the Tires, one of my favorites.
I haven’t thought about Paisley in awhile, and it just occurred to me that it’s been five years since his last release. 2017’s Love and War was decent but unspectacular, and just the sort of record I’d like to see topped with a return-to-form collection of bangers.
‘The Invisible Man’ is a track from Elvis Costello’s 1983 release Punch the Clock, his eighth studio album. Costello teamed up with pop producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley to deliver his most commercial album, hoping for chart success that had largely eluded him to that point.
It worked, to a degree. Punch the Clock was his best-selling album in several years and produced a modest international hit in ‘Everyday I Write the Book.’ That song became his first Top 40 single in the U.S., and one of only two in his entire career (bonus points to commenters who can name the second).
Concluding my ranking of the songs on Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights…
#2. ‘Sweet Nothing‘
I was such a big fan of the direction Swift took on folklore and evermore that it’s no surprise I’m drawn to the Midnights song that could have appeared on either of those albums. Co-written with beau Joe Alwyn, this is a delicate and comforting ballad that finds Swift at her most content. Faced with the pressures of the industry, she retreats to the safety and warmth of her love. A beautiful song.
Continuing my ranking of the songs on Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights…
#4. ‘Mastermind‘
I love the momentum of this track in both the music and the melody. I also love the bridge, which dives into the insecurities Swift explores in several songs on this album. Lyrically, this is a novel approach to a love song, pushing fate and luck aside and centering Swift as the author of her own romantic destiny. An excellent closing track.
Meet Me In Montauk 