“Keel Timing” – Manchester Orchestra
Their new album drops today, and it is getting excellent reviews. I’ve really liked each of the advance singles. Perhaps an early contender for album of the year? I will give it my first listen as soon as I post this.
“The Right Thing is Hard to Do” – Lightning Bug
I was reading a little about this band this morning. They were poised to have a breakthrough year in 2020 and then, well, you know… This is a lovely, majestic song that has me looking forward to what else they have to offer.
“Sea Life Sandwich Boy” – Horsegirl
These three ladies from Chicago have a pretty on-the-nose, mid-90s college radio thing going on here.
“Good Times” – INXS with Jimmy Barnes
File this under Songs I Had Completely Forgotten About. It got a brief play in a movie I watched last week – totally out context, BTW. The movie took place twelve or more years after this song was out and most of the movie included era-appropriate songs – and it floored me for a moment. From The Lost Boys soundtrack, this was big for a minute or two in the summer of 1987, then got forgotten when INXS’ Kick blew up later that year. Barnes was a big deal in his native Australia, but as far as I can tell, this was his only real international success. This song is a cover of an original written and performed by the 1960s Aussie band the Easybeats, who get a lot of credit for kicking off the rock scene Down Under.
“I See Red” – Betchadupa featuring Eddie Vedder & Tim Finn
“Take a Walk” – Neil Finn & Friends featuring Eddie Vedder
“There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” – Neil Finn & Friends
Man, we just passed the 20th anniversary of the concert series I would pick first if I could go back in time and see any show in the history of rock: Neil Finn’s 7 Worlds Collide series. In late March 2001 he invited a bunch of musical friends to join him in his native New Zealand for a week of rehearsals followed by a week of shows. His guests included Eddie Vedder, obviously; Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien from Radiohead, Johnny Marr, most famously of The Smiths; Indiana’s Lisa Germano; Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing; along with several Finn family members.
In these three videos we first have Neil’s son Liam and his then band Betchadupa covering one of Tim’s old Split Enz songs with Eddie and Tim providing vocals. Eddie is nicely glammed up to match the Split’s late ’70s image. Next, Neil and Eddie share vocals on a song from the final Split Enz album. Lastly, Neil takes lead vocals on a classic Smiths tune.
If you like these songs, you won’t be disappointed if you keep watching others from that week of shows.