It’s going to be a beautiful weekend here in Indianapolis. I hope wherever you are the weather will allow you to get outside and enjoy a nice day or three as well. Here is a soundtrack for your weekend activities.
“Sun Baby” – The High Violets
I loved this band in the mid–00s and thought they had disappeared. I was just reading up on them and saw they released a highly regarded album just four years ago. I think digging into that will be my weekend project.
“Backstabbers” – Jesse Malin
Another reliably solid song from Mr. Malin.
“(You Don’t Get To) Do It Again” – Cowboy Junkies
Totally unexpected to find myself loving several tracks on the new Cowboy Junkies album. Pretty much all of their albums have a song or two that I enjoy, some that I love. But I did not expect a band that is known for making slow burn songs to suddenly start rocking. A totally surprising and welcome development!
“Alexandra” – RVG
I just learned of this Aussie band last week, and their new album blew me away. It harkens back to some of the great Australian bands ever. I hear a lot of Hoodoo Gurus in their sound.
“Gentle Soul” – Country Westerns
Not the sound I expected when I saw this band’s name. Automatic for the People-era R.E.M. guitars with a touch of twang, and growly, southern fried vocals. I don’t usually go for that modern, southern rock sound. But in this case I’m digging it a lot.
“March of the Swivel Heads” – The English Beat
We sat the girls down and forced them to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off last weekend. More about that later. I felt an obligation to throw this into the playlist. It served as background to the extended scene when Ferris is racing his sister and parents home at the end of the day.
“It’s Only Love” – Bryan Adams with Tina Turner
I’m always fascinated by duets like this. It’s easy to get two established artists together. My people talk to your people and it gets done.
But how do you time a collaboration like this just right? Adams’ 1984 album Reckless made him one of the biggest acts in music, with six monster singles. All six hit the top 15, three hit the top ten, “Heaven” went to #1. Tina Turner, at the same time, was becoming one of the biggest comeback stories in music history, going from forgotten act who was playing small clubs to one of the biggest acts in the biggest year for pop music.
But how did these two get together in 1983, when Adams had experienced some chart success but was nowhere near the star he would become, and no one other than Turner likely had any expectations for where her career was headed? Perhaps because of their experience recording this song, Adams supported Turner on her Private Dancer tour, which allowed them to perform this track together nightly. And made it easy to film this video.
I can’t find any details of how all this came together, but I’m glad it did. This is a freaking jam.
By the way, I’m itching to do a Bryan Adams Reaching for the Stars entry. That guy has had an utterly amazing and under appreciated career. I’ll get to it at some point.