I could wax poetic about the greatness of Carly Simon’s No Secrets, one of the best albums of my birth year, 1972.
But I just had the great idea to do a top five or top ten of the best albums from that year (that I know) followed by a list of albums from that year that I don’t know but should. I can sing Simon’s praises then.
I’ve written quite a bit about my love of the melancholy Frank Sinatra — Only the Lonely, In the Wee Small Hours and all that good stuff.
But it’s hard to deny the appeal of Sinatra’s flip side, the uptempo, jazzy style epitomized on 1956’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers. This album was the unlikely successor to In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, making for one of the best one-two punches in music history.
Print may be dying, but I still love a good magazine. While I read the newspaper on my tablet, I haven’t been able to make that transition when it comes to Entertainment Weekly or Rolling Stone. There’s just something essential about the portability and disposability of a magazine.
Magazines are also one of my best means of discovering new music. Yesterday’s band, The Mountain Goats, appeared in Rolling Stone. Today’s artist, Wynter Gordon, comes courtesy of Entertainment Weekly‘s ‘Must List.’
Indie band The Mountain Goats are from California by way of North Carolina, which sounds like a nifty combination. I learned about them from a Rolling Stone article that listed Stephen Colbert and author John Green as huge fans.
I figured they were newcomers but was surprised to learn they’ve been around for 21 years and just released their 15th studio album, titled Beat the Champ.
Ryan Adams went 12 years without playing a Bryan Adams song in concert, but I can’t say I’ve done any better. I’m coming up on seven years of Song of the Day posts and I’ve yet to feature a Bryan Adams song.
So today I’ll remedy that by posting the same song Ryan Adams played at his recent concert, and certainly Bryan’s best track, ‘Summer of ’69.’
