...according to Esquire Magazine, are suprisingly not the usual brand of horrible. Most are actually musical. Two are over 50 years old! Yet still, all but four failed to keep me interested and focused for more than an intro, verse and chorus, and two of those four are over 50 years old.
Bruce Springsteen's live version of "Chimes Of Freedom" from his European tour is on the list, as is "Crying In The Night" from Buckingham/Nicks, the 1973 cult classic that is finally getting an official reissue this summer.
Wet Leg and Nine Inch nails appear. But then it's a whole lotta "been there, done thats."
I enjoy the music of both Alison Russell and Annie Lennox. But the collab "Superlover" made me shout out loud to my coffee cup, "GET ON WITH IT!" And seven time Grammy winner Giveon, a name I first heard six minutes ago, failed to nail it on his Al Green inspired "Rather Be." It sounds like he tried too hard. I'm not buying it.
The best thing I could say about this list is that it feels as if it's geared toward adults...for a change. Nothing here gave me the twitch, the way reading Brooklyn Vegan and Stereogum give me the twitch.
Some of today's headlines on Brooklyn Vegan:
"Avalon Emerson will be playing Nowadays on August 17th."
"Kaytranada dropped a new single."
"Sorry announce a new tour."
"Hall & Oates have settled their legal dispute."
WHAT? REALLY?
Daryl's recent solo flop with Dave Stewart must have moved that along.
But I digress.
Here are the 22 Best Songs on Esquire's list. Please tell me what I am missing.
King Princess- Cry, Cry, Cry
Tyler Childers- Eatin' Big Time
Buckingham Nicks- Crying In The Night
Nine Inch Nails- As Alive As You Need Me To Be
Blake Mills/Pino Palladino- Taka
The Beths- Metal
Giveon- Rather Be
Olivia Dean- Nice To Each Other
Wet Leg- CPR
Bruce Springsteen- Chimes Of Freedom
The Waterboys w/Fiona Apple- Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend
Haim- Relationships
Allison Russell w/Annie Lennox- Superlover
Eric Church- Hands Of Time
I'm With Her- Ancient Light
Matt Berninger- Bonnet Of Pins (what an awful title)
My Morning Jacket- Time Waited
Sault- I Look For You
Jason Isbell- Bury Me
Horsegirl- Switch Over (the worst song on this list)
Bartees Strange- Night Visions II
Sam Fender- Arm's Length
And here are 16 of my favorite songs of the year...so far.
OK Go- A Stone Only Rolls Downhill
Galactic & Irma Thomas- Puppet On Your String
The Tubs- Embarrassing
Paul Weller- Daltry Street
Suzanne Vega-Witch
Lucy Dacus- Ankles
Gyasi- Baby Blue
Bob Mould- When Your Heart Is Broken
Sparks- In Daylight
Wet Leg- Mangetout
Ricky Byrd- Transistor Radio Childhood
The Peppermint Kicks- Out Of The Trash Can & Into Your Heart
Van Morrison- Memories & Visions
Wyldlife- M.I.A.
Brian D'Addario- Only To Ease My Mind
And just released yesterday, this gorgeous piece of pop music from Elvis Eno.
17 comments:
I like the Haim album, and that Waterboys/Fiona Apple is intense and good. But that's a pretty weak list overall, at least the ones I've heard. Why do you torture yourself?
"Why do you torture yourself?"
Because I despise the phrase "Get off my lawn." It's a weak go-to defense of crap music, and so I try. I'll be okay. I've got the Rapsberries on!
Because I despise the phrase "Get off my lawn." Amen.
That Elvis Eno song is fantastic.
Elvis Eno is the best name for a pop star since Elvis Costello.
Easily.
I'm on board with King Princess, NIN, Wet Leg and Hair, which I've heard and enjoyed, The rest of the list was new to me, The only cut that got my attention was the Blake Mills/Pino Palladino track. As a result of being around the block a couple of times, everything sounds like it's all been done before but to newer ears it's fresh and I can see the attraction.
You're list was much better,
"As a result of being around the block a couple of times, everything sounds like it's all been done before but to newer ears it's fresh and I can see the attraction."
That is a very rational take. But let me play devil's advocate here.
A number of us expressed excitement over a Raspberries covers release, where most of the audio clips pretty much sounded like straight, faithful readings. It's not like the Lemon Twigs served up a reggae version of "Let's Pretend." So what's makes this upcoming collection more exciting than say The Beths track? We've heard it all before, yet it's still attractive. Is it not possible to think the new stuff simply isn't very good without getting the ol' "get off my lawn" thrown back at you?
It's gotta be more than just "we're old, we're jaded" in finding more appeal in a cover song than a record of new material by a pop artist.
This has nothing to do with the post (other than thanks for listening to all that stuff and taking one for the team I'll just go with whatever you say). BUT Bobby Whitlock, Jesus Christ this is getting depressing. Soon you'll just have an obit window on the side.
Looks like Wet Leg is good enough to land on both lists.
I tried out the Olivia Dean (my daughter turned me onto her when Dean was more a jazz singer) and I'm With Her (I really liked Jarosz's last album) but they're nothing special melody or chorus-wise. my favorite song of the new year is Bettie Serveert's "Ta."
Thanks for the Elvis Eno tip! As for fave songs/albums....way too early for me to start that list but I do know that songs by MMJ, Cymande, Charles Wesley Goodwin, Neil Francis and Luke Spiller will make the cut
I started listening to that yesterday- I scrolled through first, and it didn't look like a millenial compiled it, so I decided to give all of it a listen. I only had time to get as far as Giveon, all were good, the Tyler Childers song has some WTF?? lyrics. I don't expect to hate anything.
I'll be looking for more Elvis Eno. Great name, too!
OK, I made the effort and "needle dropped" the songs I didn't know already - which was most of them. I gave every one an audition and stuck with them till I had a grasp on each song. Your 16 are better than Esquire's 22. However, nothing floored me. None of the tunes seemed groundbreaking to me. There were no Jesus moments. Established artists delivered what was expected with little change in approach. Newer artists delivered pleasant mushburgers and the surf never came up. At least for me.
I'm surprised that nothing from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's latest release made either list. Phantom Island may not be everyone's bowl of borscht, but I find it quite interesting.
Now if I could only get these kids to stop stepping in my flower beds.
VR
Still bumming about Bpbby Whitlock. The scenery has slowly changed.
Wet Leg? Egad, they're awful.
Oh yeah, I forgot to thank Sal for the exquisite DDBB cover of the Gaye tune. Today's Spoonful SOTD reminded me of my initial disppointment with it as a successor to "Summer In the City." I mean "Summer in the City" was one of the defining songs of summer of 1966 and "Rain on the Roof," meh. It didn't even crack the top 20 in Berdoo. Which isn't saying it sucks. But when you're up against the likes of "Wild Thing," "Dirty Water," "Hungry" "Over Under Sideways Down" and "7 and 7 Is" it seems kinda wimpy. Thanks for joggin' the memory. It gave me the desire to play Joni's "Eastern Rain" from the 2nd Fret. It's less innocent.
VR
re: yesterday's Song of the Day which was "Sweet Dreams" by Yes. Yes is the kind of band I have to be in the mood for. But when I am .... The Banks stuff is formative and I've never been as fond of it as the Steve Howe period. That said, I prefer the "Original Mix" of the tune as opposed to the youtube link in the thumbnail.
"Deadstick" by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
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