“Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” – Van Halen
Been listening to a lot of VH this week. Like a pretty high percentage of white dudes (and some dudettes) who were born between 1965 and 1980.

“When You’re Gone” – Lydia Loveless
I’ve been waiting for Loveless’ new album for nearly four years. In the period since her last album, she got sober, got divorced, fought with her record company/the music industry, and pulled back from the public eye. This is one of only a couple songs on the new disk that stood out to me. While I like it, it doesn’t match how much I liked the songs from the more tumultuous period of her life. I’m glad she’s clean and in a better place, though.

“SuperNatural Possession” – Laura Jane Grace
LJG used the pandemic lockdown to put together a solo album of mostly stark, acoustic tracks. This is an outlier, a little fuller and brighter and certainly louder than the others.

“The Shining But Tropical” – Wild Pink
I got very excited when I saw music writer Steven Hyden Tweet that the upcoming Wild Pink album was his favorite of the year. Then I noticed he said his favorite album of 2021, not 2020. Yep, the whole thing doesn’t come out until February. But given how albums trickle out these days, I guarantee we will have heard about half of it before it drops. This is a nice introduction.

“There She Goes” – The La’s
An all-time classic. A perfect pop song. I always knew The La’s lead singer was a little kooky, and that was why the band only released one album. But I didn’t know just how kooky he was until I read this piece, which came out in celebration of the 30th anniversary of The La’s release.

“I Can See Clearly Now” – Johnny Nash
Eddie Van Halen wasn’t the only music legend to die this seek. Nash passed at the age of 80 the same day that we lost EVH. Eddie sold a lot more albums but they both accounted for one Billboard #1 song. (Well, depending on how much credit you give Eddie for rearranging Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” he may deserve credit for 1.5.) I’m sure I wrote about this song after Tom Breihan wrote about it in The Number Ones. It was a song that was always around when I was a child, but which had turned into a sappy cliché as I became a teenager. To rediscover it as an adult and appreciate its beauty was a gift. Just a wonderful video for a wonderful song. RIP Johnny.