Song of the Day #5,232: ‘Heroes and Villains’ – Brian Wilson

Continuing my look at the albums of 2004…

The list of 2004 albums with which I’m unfamiliar (or only passingly familiar) isn’t very long. Actually, I should say the list of albums from that group I’m actually interested in hearing isn’t very long. This year saw a lot of albums released that don’t pique my interest at all.

But I did manage to pull together a batch of ten.

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Song of the Day #2,160: ‘Brian Wilson (Live)’ – Barenaked Ladies

bnl_rock_spectacleI’m not a fan of live albums as a rule, viewing them as the contractual obligations they usually are. But I do allow for a few exceptions.

Among those are Billy Joel’s Songs in the Attic, Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense and Simon & Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park.

Today’s Random Weekend SOTD comes from another live album I enjoy quite a bit — Barenaked Ladies’ Rock Spectacle.

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Song of the Day #1,847: ‘Brian Wilson’ – Barenaked Ladies

barenaked_ladiesBarenaked Ladies, the final act of last week’s concert was, based on the crowd’s reaction, clearly the headliner. I would have predicted that Ben Folds Five had just as large and fervent a fan following, but I guess that’s me looking through my own filter.

BNL put on a fabulous show filled with unexpected, spontaneous pleasures. Lots of jokes, lots of improvisation. But I couldn’t help but feel sad that longtime lead singer/songwriter Steven Page is no longer with the band.

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