I’ve been dropping a bunch of old school tunes into my working playlist. So this week’s edition is going to be both extra meaty and heavy on the old.
“Room” – TV Star
Seems like a good song for a week when we just broke the record for warmest day on March 1 by five degrees. It is dreamy and spring-like.
“Give it Back” – Cass McCombs and Weak Signal
Heavier than anything I’ve ever heard from Mr. McCombs. I dig it.
“Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” – Stevie Wonder
I gave blood yesterday. Someday I need to write about the awesome lady who runs the donation center I frequent. Yesterday she was taking care of me and this song came on. She asked, “You probably don’t know who sings this, do you?” I looked her in the eye and said, “It’s Stevie Wonder!” I think I made a friend for life. Then we heard it again last night when the whole family was grabbing dinner at Panera. The Music Gods wanted me to play it for you!
“Whatever You Want” – Crowded House
I’ve heard this song twice in the past couple weeks on SiriusXM’s First Wave station. Each time I’ve had to look it up because I couldn’t immediately place it. Turns out it was released just a couple years ago. I checked the archives and it doesn’t look like I ever shared it back then, which is weird because while it isn’t classic CH, it’s still pretty good.
“Music Makes Me High” – The Avalanches
This is the good shit. I hear some influence from a song that is a couple down in this PL.
“Cool” – Pylon
“Cool” – Deerhunter
I enjoyed the segments in The Bridge’s Z to A countdown when they played a cover and an original back-to-back. I think I’ll start throwing a few of those into these playlists. First we have Pylon’s incredible 1980 track. It doesn’t sound like what should have been coming out of Athens, GA when Jimmy Carter was still president. I’ve loved it for a long time but couldn’t find it on Spotify until recently. We’ll follow it up with Deerhunter’s faithful cover from 2011, which is pretty awesome on its own.
“Open Letter (To a Landlord)” – Living Colour
Vernon Reid’s amazing commentary on the early days of gentrification in New York City.
“A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays'” – De La Soul
HAPPY DE LA SOUL DAY, PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!!!
“Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” – Def Leppard
I heard this one morning last week and was taken back to the spring of 1984, a year after the immense success of Pyromania. Def Leppard re-released their 1981 High ‘n’ Dry album, with this as a remixed single. I remember it getting played a ton on the rock stations in KC. Somehow it didn’t hit the Top 40, which is weird since those of us who were hungry for new DL material were all over it. Little did we know it would be three more years before we finally got the next Def Leppard album. See VH1’s Behind the Music for details.