The Random iTunes Fairy serves up a lot of interesting songs. But I didn’t realize until today’s selection popped up just how rarely she delivers something I really love.
Usually, my reaction to the first notes of the random song is something akin to “huh.” As in, there’s an artist I haven’t thought about much lately. Or, I wonder how this album wound up in my iTunes library?
Elvis Costello released a new album a few weeks ago, and I still haven’t listened to it all the way through.
There’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever write.
Once upon a time, a new Elvis Costello album was a major event in my life, like a Christmas day that happened every three or four years. But somewhere along the line, I stopped getting excited about Costello’s new music.
This week’s posts could be filed under an ‘OK Boomer’ label, because I’ll be featuring new work by five white guys in their 60s or 70s.
I have to hand it to this group of artists. Well past traditional retirement age, they’re cranking out interesting and relevant new music. Well, four of them are… one is dead, but his family is releasing new material.
Even so, it’s hard to get too excited about these new albums. These guys are building on towering resumés — how can anything they do have a chance of measuring up?
Elvis Costello’s 2010 album National Ransom was a return to the country rock/Americana sound he employed so winningly on King of America 24 years earlier.
I can’t say I’ve revisited this album much since it first came out, but every time I hear one of its songs I’m reminded how much I like it.
The streaming revolution has no doubt changed music listening for the better.
For a small monthly price, I now have practically every song or album I’ll ever want to hear at my fingertips. I can listen to new releases by artists I might have otherwise never heard, and I can dive deep into the catalogs of great artists, unburdened by the costs that used to come with being a completist.
Meet Me In Montauk 