I suppose by now Lauryn Hill’s status in the exalted realm of pop stardom has been reduced to the almost entirely negligible, at kindest a cautionary tale and at meanest a punchline. Back in the mid- to late-nineteen-nineties, though, she was widely considered to be the next great music artist, the one destined to crank out classic after classic following her beloved solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She was treated as some sort of creative revolutionary, reclaiming the nearly lost sounds of old school soul and delivering a finished product with a powerful replacement engine, assembled from the … Continue reading One for Friday: Aretha Franklin, “A Rose is Still a Rose”

I spent this past weekend being continually reminded of my age, in ways that were both good and knee-weakening. Among many other indicators, there was the presence of songs that were once as contemporary as can be to me (and still maintain that freshness, at least in my head, heart, and soul) that have been transformed by the relentless shedding of calendar pages into bonafide oldies. Then there were the moments when a certain song could stir other thoughts that, when they reached their logical endpoints, were a little devastating. For example, the appearance of a Material Issue song certainly … Continue reading One for Friday: Material Issue, “What If I Killed Your Boyfriend?”