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Song of the Day #5,031: ‘Sulky Girl’ – Elvis Costello

Continuing my look at 1994, first by counting down my own top ten albums of that year.

#8 – Brutal Youth – Elvis Costello

A long time ago on this blog, I referred to Brutal Youth as “one of the highlights of the back half of Costello’s career.” I guess that was true when I wrote it, more than a decade ago.

This album was Costello’s 16th of 33 (and counting), putting it just before the midpoint in terms of recorded output. And it was released in the 27th year of his 55-year (and counting) career, again putting it just before the midpoint. So now, rather than representing the “back half” of his career, I guess Brutal Youth falls at almost the exact center.

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Song of the Day #5,030: ‘Life, In a Nutshell’ – Barenaked Ladies

Continuing my look at 1994, first by counting down my own top ten albums of that year.

#9 – Maybe You Should Drive – Barenaked Ladies

This was the second album by one of my favorite 90s alternative rock bands. It’s a bit dismissive to call BNL a 90s act, I suppose, given that they have consistently recorded in the two decades since, but with very few exceptions, everything I like by the band came out on their first five albums.

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Song of the Day #5,029: ‘A Perfect Indian’ – Sinéad O’Connor

It’s time for another installment of my Decades series, wherein I look at acclaimed and popular albums from a specific year across four decades (70s through 00s). I’ve done the 0s, 1s, 2s, and 3s and I’m partway through the 4s. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be diving into the year 1994.

As usual, I will offer up my own top ten albums from that year, then dive into ten albums I don’t know or don’t know well.

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Song of the Day #5,028: ‘Joey’ – Sugarland

For a little while, in the mid-2000s, Sugarland was kind of a big deal. The country pop duo (initially a trio, but third member Kristen Hall left the band after their debut record) released five albums between 2004 and 2010, landing three in Billboard’s top ten and two at #1. Four of those albums went Platinum or multi-Platinum, and the band landed five #1 singles on the country chart and four more at #2.

Then, in 2011, the band played the Indiana State Fair, where high winds caused an outdoor stage to collapse, killing seven people and injuring 45 others. Subsequent lawsuits were settled to the tune of $39 million (paid by the band, concert promoter Live Nation, and 16 other defendants).

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Song of the Day #5,027: ‘Dig It’ – The Beatles

I’ve always ranked The Beatles’ Let It Be in the lower half of their albums. That’s not saying too much, given the excellence of everything they released, but still, it’s never been a favorite.

I found a whole new appreciation for the album, however, after watching Peter Jackson’s Get Back mini-series, which documented the creation of Let It Be in fascinating detail. Now when I listen to it, I can picture the laughs, the fights, the creative chemistry that made The Beatles work.

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