Top Songs of 2012 – #10
Tift Merritt’s fifth studio album, Traveling Alone, is a lower key affair than her previous releases. It is made up primarily of acoustic ballads with melodies that take a little while to seep in.
But in a few spots, Merritt and her band open up and settle into a blues-rock groove. Those songs quickly became favorites of mine, probably because they are more immediately accessible.
My family and I always play the “what song will be first?” game when we attend concerts.
I remember seeing Lyle Lovett perform with his Large Band once in Pompano Beach and throwing out a bunch of great guesses only to have him take the stage and launch into ‘Penguins,’ a minor track nestled in the middle of I Love Everybody, itself a collection of odds and ends.
This is the second track from the Davd Byrne and Brian Eno collaboration, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, to show up on a Random Weekend.
And as much as I enjoy David Byrne’s work, both as a solo artist and as leader of Talking Heads, I just can’t make it through his work with Eno. This track runs six and a half minutes and I have yet to make it through three of them without turning it off.
Top Songs of 2012 – #11
I haven’t gotten around to reviewing or ranking Pink’s latest album, The Truth About Love, but when I do it will rank right up there with the best records I heard this year.
I’m relatively new to Pink — 2008’s Funhouse was the first of her albums I heard, and the only one before picking up The Truth About Love. Both of these records reveal a confident, talented, brazen woman with a powerhouse voice and great songwriting chops.
Top Songs of 2012 – #12
Here I am, completely contradicting my comment two days ago that I don’t approve of rap breaks in pop or rock songs. Bruce Springsteen hands a verse over to Michelle Moore in the middle of today’s SOTD, and it’s downright sublime.
In my defense, ‘Rocky Ground’ is not your typical pop/rock song. It’s something more akin to folk rock gospel… a deeply spiritual track that earns its detour into spoken word territory.
Meet Me In Montauk 