Today’s Random Weekend selection is a neat little song from the last proper Barenaked Ladies album, Barenaked Ladies Are Men.
After this record was released, co-songwriter and co-lead singer Steven Page left the band to pursue a solo career (resulting in one excellent album, Page One, so far). The band put out another album but the reviews were so tepid I didn’t even bother listening to it.
The most buzzed-about contribution to The Great Gatsby soundtrack is a cover of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ by Beyoncé and Outkast’s Andre 3000. I guess you can’t have Jay-Z produce your movie’s soundtrack and not hear from his lovely wife.
The cover generated some controversy when Winehouse’s father (who might be drinking as much as his daughter) took to Twitter to complain that Beyoncé recorded the song without his permission and should donate money to the Amy Winehouse Foundation to make up for it. He later retracted the comment and praised Beyoncé but stated that Andre 3000 should have cut his part.
Bear with me on this one, but I think Florence + The Machine and Adele are having the same career.
Consider: Both acts released debut albums that were decent but unremarkable, notable for one hit single that towered above everything else on the record. Then both dropped sophomore records that surpassed even the highest expectations, reaching unexpected heights both critically and commercially.
I’m not familiar with Sia, but Wikipedia informs me that is the stage name of Sia Furler, an Australian pop/jazz singer.
Today’s track is similar to the Lana Del Rey track that started off the week — more about mood than melody. I’m not a big fan of songs that I can’t hum along to after a couple of listens.
Well, we didn’t wind up seeing The Great Gatsby as planned, so this week of songs from the film’s soundtrack will have to survive without commentary about how each was used in the film (by me, anyway… several commenters have seen the film and can chime in on that front).
Today’s selection is a cover by Jack White of the U2 track ‘Love is Blindness.’ This is one of U2’s most portentous (and pretentious?) songs, closing the album Achtung Baby on an unsettling and somber note.
Meet Me In Montauk 