Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 12/8: John Lennon and Cheap Trick, “I’m Losing You”
Whatever else it represented, the assassination of John Lennon 40 years ago tonight closed the door on an encouraging comeback from his self-imposed exile. Not everyone saw “Double Fantasy” that way at first — negative reviews from many prominent critics were withheld from publication when Lennon was killed three weeks after its release — and […]
Song of the Day 12/7: Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”
The No. 1 song in the nation the day of the Pearl Harbor attack was also the first one ever awarded a gold record. Glenn Miller’s swing rendition of the song, which debuted in that year’s movie “Sun Valley Serenade,” hit No. 1 on Dec. 7, 1941, and stayed there (with a one-week break) until […]
Song of the Day 12/6: Mountain, “Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)”
Long Island guitarist Leslie West was so impressed by Cream that he formed a band with Felix Pappalardi, who had produced the “Disraeli Gears” and “Wheels of Fire” LPs, on bass, to play the same kind of blues-soaked hard rock. Though they’re not much remembered today, Mountain was one of the bands that helped transform […]
Song of the Day 12/4: Amy Winehouse and Paul Weller, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
It’s been nearly a decade since Amy Winehouse died and she still hasn’t been replaced. In 2006, when she was on top of the world after the release of her second album, “Back to Black,” she teamed up with British blue-eyed soul icon Paul Weller on Jools Holland’s annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny for this […]
Song of the Day 12/2: Climax Blues Band, “Couldn’t Get It Right”
It’s actually about the band on tour not being able to find the Holiday Inn — that’s the sign they were looking for in the middle of the night — but the title makes it a good theme song for the Trump coup plotters. Like the Top of the Pops host, I thought this lot […]
Song of the Day 12/1: Earl-Jean, “I’m Into Something Good”
If you’re old enough, you probably know this as the first record by British invaders Herman’s Hermits, one that reached No. 1 in the UK (and No. 13 in the U.S.). But the first to record this Gerry Goffin-Carole King tune was Earl-Jean Reavis, lead singer of the second incarnation of the Cookies (the original […]
Song of the Day 11/30: Derek Trucks Band, “Down in the Flood (Crash on the Levee)”
Bob Dylan wrote this during the Basement Tapes sessions in 1967 and has recorded it three times (none are available on YouTube, which Dylan’s people police pretty closely). None of his renditions packed the punch Derek Trucks gave the song on his 2009 album “Already Free.” Trucks said he chose the tune because “I figured […]
Song of the Day 11/29: Raspberries, “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)”
Though they’re now acknowledged as founding fathers of power pop, Raspberries weren’t fully appreciated in their time. Their Mod-based sound was considered lightweight, their teen-angst lyrics banal, their matching-suits look either eight years too early or eight years too late. In 1972 their bubblegummy “Go All the Way” hit No. 5, and several lesser hits […]
Song of the Day 11/27: L.T.D., “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again”
For reasons that don’t matter anymore, disco mostly sucked. But it was closely related to funk, which meant some truly funky music got dance-floor exposure, too. L.T.D. (it stood for Love, Togetherness and Devotion) was founded in 1968 by four horn players from Sam & Dave’s backing orchestra; by the time they landed a recording […]
Song of the Day 11/26: Poi Dog Pondering, “Thanksgiving”
This song has nothing to do with the holiday, but I don’t care, I just like the tune. For me it’s the standout song on “Wishing Like a Maountain and Thinking Like the Sea,” the 1990 breakthrough album for what was then a world-music collective based in Austin, before leader Frank Orrall moved to Chicago […]
Song of the Day 11/25: Bruce Springsteen, “Last Man Standing”
Bruce Springsteen’s “Letter to You” album, released a month ago, got reviews I would characterize more as respectful than enthusiastic. Many of the songs replicate the arena-rock template Springsteen laid down 40 years ago, but most are neither written nor delivered with the passion he had in the ’80s — Springsteen said he wrote nine […]
Song of the Day 11/24: Dave Clark Five, “Glad All Over”
When the Beatles led the first wave of the British Invasion, the band that challenged them in popularity wasn’t the Rolling Stones, who were still playing blues covers — it was the Dave Clark 5. Unlike the skiffle-influenced Merseybeat sound of the Beatles and other Liverpool bands, the north London-based DC5 were straight-up rock-and-rollers. They […]
Song of the Day 11/23: Cream, “Badge”
Eric Clapton and George Harrison’s lives and careers were intertwined to a remarkable degree — they played on each other’s albums, they gave each other guitars, they even stayed friends as they vied for the same woman, Harrison’s first wife, Pattie Boyd. But they only wrote one song together. As Harrison explained years later, “Each […]
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