“Snowflakes” – Dropkick
Some beautiful, hazy, power pop to start this week’s list. Is it asking too much that our days of snowflakes on the ground be done for this year?

“Hardly” – Free Range
This week’s Alternative Number One was Juliana Hatfield’s “My Sister.” Thus I listened to a lot of other ’90s alt rock by women and women-fronted groups. This song is new, but it would fit right in with those acts.

“Nostalgia’ Lie” – Sam Fender
Good golly this is a gorgeous song! I hear both Boston and Tom Petty in those opening guitars. That would be Adam Granduciel playing the acoustic guitar. He had to be in there somewhere given the sound.

“Messy” – Lola Young
The Bridge has been playing this a lot lately, and it sounds very familiar, but I can’t find that I either shared it last year or even added it to my Spotify catalog. I guess it was a pretty big single, though, going to #1 in Britain and six other countries. It peaked at #14 here in the States, getting to #2 on both the Alternative and Rock Airplay charts.

“Heroes’ Blood” – Pastel
I was sure I shared this last week, although I think I just heard it for the first time right after I posted that week’s PL. You can’t miss the Oasis influence from the beginning. As the song progresses, you get more and more Urban Hymns era Verve. So, yes, a little derivative, but still totally awesome.

“Saint Teresa” – Doves
When the Doves returned with their first album in 11 years in 2020, it seemed like a miracle. Lead singer Jimi Goodwin faced mental health issues which had kept the band apart, but had recovered enough to record again. And the album itself was remarkable, fitting right into their earlier, classic albums.

That they stuck together to make another album, out today and which a couple reviews I skimmed call a masterpiece, is another miracle. Goodwin is unable to tour, which puts a downer on things, but at least he’s given us some more terrific music and there is hope he may recover enough to eventually perform live again.

“Teen Age Riot” – Sonic Youth
I stumbled across a discussion of Pearl Jam’s 1995 “pirate radio” event Self Pollution Radio on YouTube this week. That was the first time the band rented out satellite time, brought a bunch of Seattle friends together – Soundgarden, Mad Season, and the first public performance of Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters – and played live music, spun some of their favorite records, and had long discussions. Any radio station in the country could grab the feed and broadcast it. I remember sitting there with a stack of cassette tapes and recording the entire thing. This was the first record Eddie Vedder played after signing on. Can never go wrong when you start a set with this one.

“Shout” – Tears for Fears
The 40th anniversary of the release of the legendary Songs From The Big Chair was Tuesday. Tears for Fears had success before and after that album, but there is zero doubt it was their commercial peak, and a lot of people know nothing other than the stretch of “Shout,” “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” and “Head Over Heels.” If you’re only going to be known for three songs, it’s hard to do better than those three.