Follow you like Jesus, worn out, no control
Forty-seventh in a series… (Source) Continue reading Follow you like Jesus, worn out, no control
Author: Dan Seeger
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 46 and 45
46. Aimee Mann, I’m with Stupid Aimee Man is perhaps the quintessential example of the perils of the sort of pop stardom MTV delivered in the mid-eighties. Her band ‘Til Tuesday had a true smash with their first proper single, “Voices Carry,” (following a big, local hit in their hometown of Boston with a a song that proved to later be something of a dud when released nationwide) but it so completely defined them that it obscured Mann’s skill as a songwriter, something should have been evident to anyone paying attention. After ‘Til Tuesday’s final album, released in 1988, it … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 46 and 45
Spectrum Check
I was irritated that I had a day this past week when I plainly gave up on writing a post for this space. Here’s part of the reason why: I wrote an awful lot for Spectrum Culture this week. First, I wrote about the new album from Washed Out, which I think is a significant improvement on the full-length debut from a couple years back. I asked for the release because it’s a little different material for me, and I thought it would be a good stretch for me. When I sat down to write the review last weekend, I … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Emmylou Harris, “Amarillo”
I like shopping for records. And I specifically mean records, large vinyl discs in cardboard sleeves. Of course, it’s the music (or the comedy, or the…uh…miscellaneous) pressed onto them that I’m really after, but there’s something very different about the tactile quality of going through record albums that entirely exceeds the same experience done with CDs or some other format. I’m prepared to attribute that somewhat to nostalgia. There’s no getting around that. I think there is more to it, though, especially when it comes to used albums. There’s the larger presentation to the art, the added sense of anticipation … Continue reading One for Friday: Emmylou Harris, “Amarillo”
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Nineteen
#19 — Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965) Repulsion is the first film in what is loosely termed as director Roman Polanski’s “apartment trilogy,” a series that continued with 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby and culminated with The Tenant, release in 1976. Connecting the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Nineteen
Seconded!
I’m calling, “Uncle!” on today. Words tomorrow. Continue reading Seconded!
My Writers: Terrence McNally
I checked out quite a few plays from the campus library where I went to college. This wasn’t a result of budding theater fandom or idle curiosity, but stemmed directly from the movie review radio program I co-produced and co-hosted. As much as I reasonably could, I tried to consume the source material of films adapted from other mediums before sitting before the newer works as they flickered on the movie screen. Given the limited time I had–I did have assigned text that I was supposed to be reading, after all–I often decided to trying to read plays was a … Continue reading My Writers: Terrence McNally
Top 40 Smash Taps: “A Love So Fine”
These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. The Chiffons came into being when Ronald Mack heard three girls singing together in a Bronx high school lunchroom. A fourth member was recruited and Mack wrote them a batch of songs, including “He’s So Fine,” which the group recorded with the Tokens as their backing band. The Chiffons kept experimenting–including the release of two charting singles as the Four Pennies–but it quickly … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “A Love So Fine”
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 48 and 47
48. Cowboy Junkies, Lay It Down During my years as a student in college radio, I offered some fairly unkind assessments of albums by Cowboy Junkies. When I arrived in 1988, the Canadian band was just starting to experience some … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 48 and 47
Spectrum Check
This was a typical week at Spectrum Culture for me: one movie, one album. On the film side of things, I reviewed the Kid-Thing, which has inspired other critics to all sorts of quasi-surreal interpretations but which I found to be a middling drama with a virulently indie sensibility. As I alluded on Twitter, I was inordinately pleased that I worked in the term “dirtbag kitsch” in writing about the film. I wrote about the debut album from Rose Windows for the music section. I’m not certain what inspired me to raise my hand for this one in the first … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Coffee for Two 