An extra-large playlist this week. I had some time to kill before a World Series game started and did a little more work than I normally do on the curation side.
“Around Your Room” – Kississippi
This doesn’t sound much like the music Kississippi has made in the past. It sounds more like a CHVRCHES song. It is utterly fabulous.
“CRY” – Julia Jacklin
Last week Julia released two new songs inspired by the state of the world. I think this one sums up how most of us feel the best.
“Get It Back” – Pearl Jam
From the sessions for this year’s Gigaton, PJ offered it up for a collection of songs that raised money and awareness for voting rights. It won’t go down as one of the band’s greatest cut tracks – they have two full disks of those – and it feels a little incomplete, so it makes sense that it did not make the final Gigaton track list. But it does sound pretty good, has a nice edge to it, and Mike McCready gets to go to work at the end.
“One Tree Hill” – U2
I’ve been out on U2 for a long time now. Their albums began to feel bloated and lazy to me around 2003. Which, to be fair, happens to most bands their age. But I also checked out on their earlier music which I had loved for decades. I guess newer sounds just fit my tastes better. (I listened to less Pearl Jam over the same span, too.) Following his top 100 Springsteen and Tom Petty lists, Steven Hyden dropped his top 100 U2 songs list this week. It made me go back and listen to those songs I used to love. Some of the magic came back. One chunk of their catalog I never fell out of love with was the songs that fill side two of The Joshua Tree. Side one is a legendary side, one of the greatest 20 or so minutes of music ever put on wax/tape. But side two is no joke, either. In time, as I got tired of the big singles on side one, I came to love side two even more. I could have put any of the first four songs on here. This is the lucky pick.
“Human Touch” – Bruce Springsteen
New Bruce album out today! I’ve read two positive reviews and one that is a little more lukewarm. When I was working through Steven Hyden’s top 100 Boss songs list, I rediscovered this song, which I had totally forgotten about. I recall liking it when it came out, but it arrived right when Nirvana and Pearl Jam were capturing my attention, and just as Bruce was slipping into his ’90s period of malaise. So it didn’t really stick with me. Maybe not an all time classic, but it still sounds pretty good. It has that great Bruce guitar sound that I just love.
“Say It Isn’t So” – The Outfield
Lead singer Tony Lewis died this week. Listen, “Your Love” is a fine song, one of those ’80s songs that will get played as long as humans are playing music. But I got sick of it back when it was played roughly every 32 minutes on pop radio in 1986. I may be the only one who thought this way, but I always liked this song more. Fight me!
“Blood on Donald Trump’s Tiny, Tiny Hands” – Grateful Dad
Fuck his racist, narcissistic ass.
“What the Water Gave Me” – Florence + The Machine
Stereogum recently ran a fundraiser to help support their independence after escaping from their previous owners. One of the benefits was that anyone who contributed over $1000 could select an extra song for Tom Breihan to review beyond his normal selection of Billboard number ones. (No, I did not contribute a grand to the cause.) This week’s entry was for this fabulous song. This is such a great performance. And it made me go back and listen to some of the F+M songs that I haven’t listened to for awhile.