Tag Archives: Decades

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Song of the Day #6,295: ‘This Old Porch’ – Lyle Lovett

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…

#9 – Lyle Lovett – Lyle Lovett

I was 14 in 1986 and not quite a “music guy” yet. It was a year or two later that I caught the bug and started digging into Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and other oldies, and then turning my attention to new artists. So my list of favorite 1986 albums is almost entirely made up of records I heard years later.

That’s certainly the case for Lyle Lovett’s self-titled debut. I wasn’t turned on to Lovett until college, when …And His Large Band had come out recently and Joshua Judges Ruth was on the horizon. Those two albums cemented my fandom and sent me back into his catalog.

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Song of the Day #6,294: ‘True Blue’ – Madonna

My last installment of the Decades series came back in April, when I wrote about the albums of 1976. I had a hard time coming up with a list of my personal favorites from that year.

Today I’m jumping ahead a decade, diving into the releases of 1986, and I have the opposite problem. I had a hard time narrowing my list of personal faves down to ten, and my top five are all-time classics.

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Song of the Day #6,131: ‘I Want You’ – Marvin Gaye

Concluding my look at the albums of 1976…

The final 1976 album I listened to was Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, the singer-songwriter’s 13th studio album. This record followed 1971’s What’s Going On and 1973’s Let’s Get It On, two of Gaye’s most successful albums, and was viewed at the time as a letdown.

I Want You, co-written and co-produced by Gaye with Leon Ware, shifted his sound a little more toward disco. It also doubled down on the sexual themes of Let’s Get It On — this is an excessively horny album.

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Song of the Day #6,130: ‘It Keeps You Runnin” – The Doobie Brothers

Continuing my look at the albums of 1976…

Tom Johnston, founding member and lead singer of The Doobie Brothers, had a rough time in the early 70s. An arrest for marijuana possession was followed by a debilitating case of stomach ulcers that landed him in the hospital.

The band had to turn elsewhere in order to keep up their touring schedule, and enlisted singer/songwriter Michael McDonald to sit in on keyboards and lead vocals. McDonald expected the gig to end with the tour, but to his surprise the band asked him to stay on as they entered the studio to record a new album.

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Song of the Day #6,129: ‘Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)’ – Diana Ross

Continuing my look at the albums of 1976…

When I saw that Diana Ross released an album in 1976, I decided it had to make the cut this week. Through more than 6,000 Songs of the Day, I’ve never featured a solo song by Ross (though I’ve written about quite a few by The Supremes).

Ross’ seventh album, titled Diana Ross, came out in ’76. It was her second self-titled album (the first was her debut). She later released albums titled Diana and Ross, so she more than covered her bases.

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