Friday Playlist

Looking at the calendar, we’ve reached Silly Season for my Friday music posts. This week L and I have to be out of the house at 7:00 AM for an all-day basketball tournament. In the next month or so I will be leaving the house early on a Friday for a weekend in Chicago, spending a long weekend in Colorado for a wedding, and another week I will be in Ireland on music day. Oh, and July 4 hits on a weekend this year. Never fear; for the most part I’ll still be able to post something on Fridays over that stretch. A few of the playlists might be lighter than usual as I complete them earlier in the week and schedule them to drop on Friday.

“Cross My Heart” – Lime Garden
Some fun, sunny, summer pop.

“Freaking Out” – Michigander
One lyric required me to slot this in as song #2.

“Heart Has To Work So Hard” – Blondshell
She’s not really breaking any new ground here, but I continue to be a fan of most of what Sabrina Teitelbaum releases.

“Look For Your Mind” – The Lemon Twigs
Paul McCartney’s new album is certainly a throwback to the early Beatles sound. This sounds straight off an early Fab Four disk. Wait, this isn’t McCartney or the Beatles? Uncanny audio resemblance.

“What We Got” – Mike D
The surviving Beastie Boys have long said they will not make music again. That was limited to proper Beasties music, apparently, as Mike D has dropped a couple solo singles. This is the most Beasties of the two. I’m not complaining.

“Real Here Now” – Nick Hakim
I don’t know a thing about Hakim but must admit I was surprised that it is him actually singing here, not just a track he produced with a guest vocalist. Yes, I thought it was a lady singing. Mesmerizing.

“Simple Creed” – Live
This week’s Alternative Number Ones column covered Live’s ridiculous 1997 track “Lakini’s Juice.” That might be the moment the Alt Rock Revolution of the Nineties died. As usual with a band’s final chart topper, Tom Breihan laid out the rest of Live’s career and I had totally forgotten this track from 2001, which I actually liked quite a bit. Like so much of what I was listening to at that time, as alt rock radio was dying away, I discovered it on the MusicMatch cable TV music channels, then found a copy on Napster and burned it onto CD-R’s that I listened to at work. Holy time machine! I still think this track is solid, although several of Ed K’s lyrics make me laugh out loud. He should never have tried to act tough.

“Junebug” – Kevin Morby
Morby’s new album, Little Wide Open, is amazing. It is a gentle, comforting celebration of life in the Midwest. It is a perfect Sunday morning listen.

“Head On” – Ducks Ltd. featuring illuminati hotties covering the Jesus And Mary Chain
A delightful cover to wrap up this week.

“Summer Breeze” – Seals & Crofts
I promised you last week you wouldn’t have to wait long for S&C’s version of this. You know I appreciate the random bits of trivia shared in the middle of this performance. Also I really wanted to hear what the host was about to say when this cuts off. I bet it was interesting!