Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 7/31: Lindsey Buckingham, “I Don’t Mind”
You can throw him out of the band he made successful, you can put him through emergency open-heart surgery, you can cancel his tour because COVID, but you can’t stop Lindsey Buckingham from writing, playing and recording hook-laden soft-rock tunes. “I Don’t Mind” is the lead single from his upcoming eponymous solo LP, and like […]
Song of the Day 7/30: Kansas, “Dust in the Wind”
Robby Steinhardt, second vocalist and violinist for the band Kansas, died last week of pancreatitis, aged 71. He wasn’t the group’s leader, but his violin was the most distinctive element of their prog-rock sound, and his wild mane was its most arresting visual feature. He also served as front man during their concerts, making the […]
Song of the Day 7/29: ZZ Top, “Tush”
Texas blues-rockers ZZ Top are undergoing their first personnel change in 51 years today because bassist and second lead vocalist Dusty Hill died in his sleep Tuesday. The band became famous in the early years of MTV, which debuted about the same time ZZ Top began to augment their power-trio boogie with new wave trappings. […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, July 29, 2021
I heard this story on WDEL the other day and almost drove off the road — a puff piece about yet another state fund to funnel money to corporations. The story actually praises Middletown’s Ken Branner for tossing zoning and planning out the window to attract business, and its whole tone proves is that the […]
Song of the Day 7/28: Allman Brothers Band, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More”
It’s a good time to eat a peach — it’s the height of a better-than-average peach season. It’s also a good time to play “Eat a Peach,” the soundtrack of many a lazy Rehoboth Beach day back in the ’70s. The band, still basking in the success of “Live at Fillmore East,” was in the […]
Song of the Day 7/27: The Coasters, “Young Blood”
Aged-out frat boy Matt Gaetz thinks he’s somehow going to survive his scandalous behavior with underage females, even in the face of stories like this one, in which the sister of his fiancee calls Gaetz a “literal pedophile” (she later corrected that to “ephebophile,” the term for someone attracted to post-pubescent teens). Where could Gaetz […]
Song of the Day 7/26: Iggy Pop, “China Girl”
For Gerald Brady. Yeah, you know the hit version (No. 10 US, No. 2 UK) that Nile Rodgers produced for David Bowie, but it was first recorded six years earlier by Bowie’s co-writer, Iggy Pop, for his debut solo LP, 1977’s “The Idiot,” which Bowie produced. According to a Bowie biography, the song was inspired […]
Song of the Day 7/25: The Weakerthans, “Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call”
When people complained about Bob Dylan being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature because “lyrics aren’t literature,” they betrayed their ignorance about literature. Some of the earliest writings in the Western canon, including the Bible’s Book of Psalms, originated as song lyrics. The word “psalm” itself is derived from the Greek word meaning music and, […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, July 25, 2021
Is anyone under the impression that the Democratic Party has moved to the left? If so, please take a look at the vote to increase Pentagon spending by $25 billion, to $740 billion, passed the Senate Armed Services Committee on a 25-1 vote. Elizabeth Warren was the only one to vote against it. Democrats who […]
Song of the Day 7/23: John Mayer, “Last Train Home”
The last thing I expected this summer was brand-new yacht rock, yet here it is. Someone played this for me and dared me to guess who it was, and all I could come up with was “Stevie Winwood or maybe Mark Knopfler but somebody else singing.” The last person I would have guessed was John […]
Song of the Day 7/22: Bruce Springsteen, “Wings for Wheels”
An odd story about a Bruce Springsteen composition popped up recently — an argument about the lyrics to his iconic song “Thunder Road.” Since the release of his “Born to Run” album in August 1975, everyone has sung the first line of the song as “The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves,” with good reason: […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, July 22, 2021: Return of the Masks
I hope you haven’t stowed your face coverings too deep in the closet, because the smart money says we’re building toward a third-wave pandemic peak, probably in September. You can tell it’s gonna be bad because as of yesterday, both Fox News and some of America’s dumbest, most recalcitrant GOP pols — people like Mitch […]
Song of the Day 7/21: Big Star, “Watch the Sunrise”
As Jason noted, raging wildfires are turning the West into a hellscape, but it is giving us colorful sunrises and sunsets. The rest of the day needs some work — the sun is obscured today by the remains of millions of dead trees. Big Star formed in 1971 when Alex Chilton, who left the Box […]
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