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Song of the Day #2,961: ‘Rescue’ – Echo & the Bunnymen

echo_bunnymen_crocodilesI’m wading into less familiar territory this week as I continue to feature critically-acclaimed albums from 1980. I’ve heard of the next five bands but I can’t say I’ve heard anything by them.

English rock band Echo & the Bunnymen released their debut album, Crocodiles, in 1980, kicking off a career that’s still going 36 years later. A couple of the original band members died and the whole operation went on hiatus for a few years in the early 90s, but founding members Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant released a new album just two years ago and continue to tour.

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Song of the Day #2,960: ‘Why Can’t a Man Stand Alone?’ – Elvis Costello

uselessAh, my favorite kind of Random Weekend — one that falls on the birthday of a loved one. This allows me to dedicate the song to the person — in this case my sister — sight unseen and then see what fate serves up.

So here we go… Happy Birthday, Amy! This mystery song is for you!

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Song of the Day #2,959: ‘Hurt Again’ – Mary J. Blige

mary_blige_growing_painsI have nothing meaningful to say about today’s Random Weekend selection so instead I will present, unedited, a YouTube comment about this song by one Keiosha Alieon:

“There’s a guy in my life that I feel is everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. He’s caring and protective, sensitive but masculine, he’s funny and compassionate & I have so much love to give but he doesn’t want a commitment & I’m almost 100% sure his feelings for me are nowhere near those I have for him. And I want to leave to spare my self some heart ache but at the same time I want to stay on the off chances that he changes. He says he wants to take things slow but I feel that’s just a trap to keep me here but who knows. Only time will tell. ‘But, I been there and I done that & I promised never to get hurt again.'”

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Song of the Day #2,958: ‘A Forest’ – The Cure

the_cure_seventeen_secondsThe Cure is one of those quintessential 80s bands that helped define the New Wave era, particularly in the mid to late part of the decade. They started their career in the late 70s in a gloomy goth mode that persisted — at least in the band’s appearance — even after they were writing far poppier material.

I’m familiar only with a few of The Cure’s hits, and I like those a lot. Whether that appreciation would carry over to a whole album is anybody’s guess.

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Song of the Day #2,957: ‘Police On My Back’ – The Clash

clash_sandinistaThe #1 album on Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll for 1981 was The Clash’s Sandinista!, the triple-album follow-up to their heralded London Calling. The album was released in December of 1980, just missing the cut for that year’s poll.

Interestingly, it was London Calling — released in January 1980 in the States — that topped the 1980 poll. Critics were apparently in a Clash state of mind at the turn of the decade.

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