Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 9/24: The Clash, “The Guns of Brixton”
Set aside all your anxiety about Trump’s assault on American democracy. If you think we’re headed for civil war and a breakdown of social order, the question becomes as simple as the one Paul Simonon asks here: When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come? Though on one level it’s a song […]
Wake Up, Worriers, You’re Being Played by Trump and the Media
The media bombardment is neverending. Trump is going to steal the election. Be afraid, be very afraid! Rachel Maddow intoned last night, “What will you do for your country when it needs you?” It’s time to defend American democracy, she said. She offered exactly zero ideas for what actual people should actually do. A headline […]
Song of the Day 9/23: Robert Hazard, “Change Reaction”
Forty years ago, Robert Hazard was the biggest thing on Philadelphia’s music scene. Hazard, born Robert Rimato to an operatic tenor who lived in Delaware County, played folk, country and even reggae before turning to electro-pop New Wave music in the late ’70s and assembling a backing band, the Heroes, who adopted the matching-suit-skinny-tie style […]
Song of the Day 9/22: Bruce Springsteen, “If I Was the Priest”
I mentioned the other day that Bruce Springsteen’s upcoming album will feature new recordings of three songs from his earliest back catalog that have never seen official release. This is, to a large extent, a case of scraping the barrel bottom. “If I Was the Priest,” “Song for Orphans” and “Janey Needs a Shooter” all […]
Hey, Chris Coons, the Journos Are Onto Your Game
Sen. Chris Coons said something in a Fox News appearance that caught the attention of William Saletan of Slate. Saletan tweeted: Sen. Coons (D) says he’ll appeal to his close relationships with Republicans: “I’m going to be working this weekend, this week, to reach across the aisle and see if I can’t persuade some friends […]
Song of the Day 9/21: Bob Mould, “Siberian Butterfly”
Bob Mould released this a couple of week ago to preview his new album, “Blue Hearts,” due out Friday. It’s a throwback to his Hüsker Dü days — fast, loud and short. Bob’s look has changed, of course, but he’s the rare aging rocker who hasn’t mellowed.
Song of the Day 9/20: Bruce Springsteen, “Letter to You”
Bruce Springsteen dropped a new single Sept. 10, the title track to an upcoming album with the E Street Band recorded live in Springsteen’s home studio, no overdubs, in just five days last December. When I heard it the day it was released I was underwhelmed. It’s mid-tempo, soft-rocking and musically basic, nothing rousing or […]
Song of the Day 9/19: AI/DC, “Great Balls”
This is a few months old but I just found it the other day, and I still crack up when I listen to it. Back in May some YouTuber who goes by Funk Turkey fed all AC/DC’s lyrics into a computer program that spit out a “new” AC/DC song that, despite having total nonsense for […]
Song of the Day 9/18: Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
Let’s say you have two aging rock stars, one a legendary Irish R&B singer, the other a Long Island hair-metal has-been. If I told you one was a virulent anti-masker, which would you think was more likely to be the selfish asshole? If you picked Dee Snider of Twister Sister, sorry, we don’t even have […]
Song of the Day 9/17: Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, “Those Were the Days”
So I’m in the shower the other day and suddenly the theme song to “All in the Family” pops into my head, and it occurs to me that all the complaints Archie Bunker listed — welfare recipients, gender fluidity, crappy modern music — are pretty much the same complaints conservatives are whinging about today. They’re […]
A Majority of Democratic Votes Were Not Cast at the Polls
Despite its Democratic majority, Delaware’s voting rules are among the most restrictive in the country. Perhaps that Democratic majority ought to rethink that — in yesterday’s Democratic senatorial primary, 52% of the votes were absentee ballots vs. 48% cast in person. Chris Coons was particularly dependent on early voting, with only 43% of his votes […]
Song of the Day 9/16: Three Dog Night, “Celebrate”
The best night for progressives in Delaware primary history is certainly something to celebrate. Sarah McBride, Marie Pinkney, Eric Morrison, Madinah Wilson-Anton, Larry Lambert — all of them are going to the celebrity ball. As Danny Hutton relates to this Soundstage audience in 1975, Three Dog Night used this as their closing number for several […]
Song of the Day 9/15: Brandi Carlile, “Madman Across the Water”
After Elton John released the LP named for this song in 1971, many Americans took to the theory that the title referenced Richard Nixon, a notion that bemused lyricist Bernie Taupin. “Back in the seventies, when people were saying that ‘Madman Across the Water’ was about Richard Nixon, I thought, That is genius. I could […]
Recent Comments