Dan Baird & Homemade Sin “Licka Sense” (2017)
Dan Baird is everything I love about rock and roll. “Three chords and a cloud of dust,” as his website proclaims. Including his stint as a solo artist, he’s occupied the lead spot in four of my favorite bands of the last 4 decades. If you wanted to package up his work in a time...... Read More
The Knickerbockers “Lies” (1965)
I guess the biggest of the “lies” here was that this delightful, melodic and catchy little song was not actually recorded by 4 mop-topped Beatles in Liverpool, England – as one might quite naturally assume – but by a garage band named The Knickerbockers led by a couple of brothers from Bergenfield, New Jersey. Apocryphal...... Read More
Still with Weezer, none the wiser
These are very confusing times to be a Weezer fan... Read More
The Kinks “Better Things” (1981)
It seems to me the turning of the annual calendar means not only the onset of a new year but the inherent wish, whether recent times have been good or bad, for things to get better. And on that theme there are many good songs from which to choose, but some are just, well, better...... Read More
Starbuck “Moonlight Feels Right” (1976)
The making of a good song requires all kinds of choices, with lyrics, with instrumentation, with production, and more. The solo break generally presents fewer options, guitar, of course, filling the vast majority, with piano or saxophone likely being next in line. Some notable exceptions, though, do exist. Midway through ‘Pictures Of Lily,’ one of...... Read More
Hozier “Nina Cried Power” (2018)
“It’s not the waking, it’s the rising” With that softly delivered line, Hozier begins one of the hardest-hitting songs I’ve heard in a very long time. “It’s a song about protest songs,” he says, “It’s a thank you note to the spirit of protest.” Hozier vaulted from obscurity to international acclaim with the roof-raising, anthemic...... Read More
Van Morrison “Wavelength” (1978)
I think most music observers who are fans of Van Morrison – and could there be any who are not – consider this song a bit of a trifle, given the outrageous output that Morrison had already assembled at the point that ‘Wavelength’ was released in the fall of 1978 (just for example, ‘Brown Eyed...... Read More
Elliott Smith “Miss Misery” (1997)
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck brought Elliott Smith to much of the world, but my son Max brought him to me. And I feel extremely fortunate that he did; Smith’s songs regularly reached a level of poignancy I think few artists achieve, or probably even seek. His sweet, breathy vocals, painfully personal lyrics, and stripped-down,...... Read More
Beatles “Run For Your Life” (1965)
For all the cheeriness of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘All You Need Is Love’, ‘Good Day Sunshine’, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, the Beatles also wrote some goddamn dark songs. And I’m not even talking about... Read More
Dave Clark Five “Glad All Over” (1963)
Can you guess how many band members were in The Dave Clark Five?... Read More