With our situation constantly in flux, a lot can change in a week. But as it stands this morning, all three of our girls are scheduled to be back in a school classroom this time next week. Which makes this the final playlist of a rather long summer. Nothing specific to celebrate that, but this will be a mega playlist this week as I do some housecleaning.

“Jeannine” – Pete Yorn
A lovely song that sounds like saying goodbye to those summer romances as you head back to the real world.

“Club Zero” – The Go-Go’s
Wow, a week after sharing one of their classics here the Go-Go’s have released their first new recording in over 20 years. Apparently this is an old, unreleased song that the ladies revamped for the new Showtime documentary about their careers. Which I hear is very good. But as I don’t have Showtime I’ll have to wait for it to hit another platform eventually.

“Love Is Not Enough” – Lydia Loveless
Speaking of breaking streaks, after a four-year absence, Lydia Loveless is finally back with new music. This track harkens to her earliest music and has more of a twang to it than her most recent album did. Her new album is supposed to be full of music about the upheaval in her life along with some pointed criticism about the way women are treated in the world. While I prefer her more rocked-up sound, I’m glad she’s back and looking forward to hearing what she has to say.

“Scarlet” – The Rolling Stones with Jimmy Page
The Stones are about to reissue their 1973 album Goat’s Head Soup and will be including this, basically an impromptu jam recorded with Jimmy Page in 1974. It sounds pretty good!

“Zephyr” – Electrafixion
While on vacation we bought a big case of water bottles from the company Zephyrhills. One night I was staring at a bottle and realized there was something about that name that was tickling the musical part of my brain. This was while we had poor connectivity so it took a lot of very slow digging on Spotify and Google to finally remember that Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCullouch had a mid-90s side project with one hit, “Zephyr.” Man, this was a strong track and it had slipped from my mind. Glad it’s back in there again.

“Plowed” – Sponge
And then I thought of this, one of my favorites from that same period.

“Owner of a Lonely Heart” – Yes
Tom Breihan has made it to 1984, the greatest year in pop music history, in his The Number Ones series. The first #1 of ’84 was this unlikely track. It is one I loved back then, have continued to love over the years, and am always a little surprised that it has aged as well. When I read Breihan’s summaries of songs like this, I always do so with some nervousness. Is whatever I found endearing about the song going to turn him off? Will things I found charming and engaging sound cheesy to his ears? Fortunately, he is also very into what Yes was putting down on the biggest hit of their careers.