Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 1/21: Meat Loaf, “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth”
Michael (nee Marvin) Lee Aday, better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, died yesterday, age 74, just nine months after the death of Jim Steinman, who composed “Bat Out of Hell,” the album that made Meat Loaf a star. That LP, rejected by numerous record companies, is the third-best-selling album in history. An estimated […]
Song of the Day 1/19: Three Dog Night, “Shambala”
Three Dog Night is a band I appreciate a lot more now than back when they were popular, because when they were popular they were also deeply uncool. Listening to them these days it’s hard to understand why. Granted, they didn’t write their own music at a time when singers weren’t considered “artists” unless they […]
Song of the Day 1/17: Peter, Paul and Mary, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”
If John Denver wrote this song today he’d have to include something about getting his Covid test before being allowed to board. Peter, Paul and Mary were an oldies act by the time this song reached No. 1 in December 1969, more than two years after its release on the group’s “Album 1700.” That LP […]
Song of the Day 1/15: Sufjan Stevens, “Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!”
The irony of Republicans trying to restrict the teaching of history when they’re ignorant of it in the first place is lost on Republicans themselves, so they don’t recognize when they should be humiliated. Consider the case of the newly elected Virginia state delegate — Republican, of course — who authored a bill banning “divisive […]
Song of the Day 1/13: The Ronettes, “Be My Baby”
For a brief time, Veronica “Ronnie” Bennett, who died yesterday at age 78, was the hottest girl-group singer in the world. Thanks to producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound treatment, “Be My Baby” hit No. 2 in 1963 and the Ronettes — Ronnie backed by her sister and her cousin — were, after several years […]
Song of the Day 1/12: Hall & Oates, “Did It in a Minute”
Daryl Hall and John Oates reached the height of their Hall of Fame career in 1982, bookending the year with No. 1 singles — “I Can’t Go For That” in January, “Maneater” in December. Though it topped out at No. 9 in the weekly rankings, this song also made Billboard’s list of the year’s Top […]
Song of the Day 1/10: Momma, “Medicine”
I’m trespassing on El Somnambulo’s territory here, but I heard this on WXPN last week and I’ve been listening to it frequently ever since. While it’s derivative — what rock music isn’t at this late date? — its ’90s indie-grrl vibe reminds me of Belly and Liz Phair. Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, friends since […]
Song of the Day 1/7: Jester Hairston, “Amen”
Sidney Poitier, who died Thursday at age 94, was born in Miami but grew up where his parents lived, Arthur’s Town, on Cat Island in the Bahamas, one of that scattered country’s farthest-flung Out Islands. Arthur’s Town is home to about 150 people, about the size of Viola, and Cat Island remains remote and sparsely […]
Song of the Day 1/6: The O’Jays, “Back Stabbers”
This 1972 song put the O’Jays on the charts, and helped Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Sound of Philadelphia depose Motown at the top of the soul/R&B charts. There’s a reason the trio looks so polished in this Soul Train clip. The group, originally a quintet, formed way back in 1958 in Canton, Ohio. They […]
Chris Coons Is a Battered Woman
No, I don’t mean he’s been dipped in buttermilk and deep-fried. I mean he has a form of PTSD from being continually abused — in his case not by a spouse, but by Republicans, the kind who referred to him as a “bearded Marxist.” See if these symptoms (from the Wikipedia entry on battered spouse […]
Song of the Day 1/5: Billy Bragg and Wilco, “All You Fascists”
It’s now been a year since Trumpublicans made their intentions and methods clear. Is our media learning? I’m not betting on it. “All You Fascists” appeared on the 2000 LP “Mermaid Avenue Volume 2,” the second collaboration between Billy Bragg and Wilco (really Jeff Tweedy) to set some of Woody Guthrie’s unrecorded lyrics to modern […]
Song of the Day 1/3: David Bowie, “The Man Who Sold the World”
David Bowie became the latest Boomer rock icon to cash in his life’s work, though in his case it was his estate that sold publishing rights to his catalog for an estimated $250 million. What’s now one of the more valuable songs in that catalog didn’t start out that way. Bowie never released the title […]
Song of the Day 1/1: Little Bob and the Lollipops, “I Got Loaded”
This one’s for all those who overindulged on New Year’s Eve, assuming that’s still a thing. Back when this song was released in 1965, a guy could sing about drinking to excess without worrying about moral scolds harshing his vibe — a remarkably upbeat vibe for someone who polishes off a bottle of hard stuff […]
Recent Comments