808. Shoes, Present Tense (1979) Shoes were always interested in making records, first and foremost. Hailing from Zion, Illinois, the band largely skipped the common step of playing lots of rock club dates to hone their craft. “There’s no way … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #808 to #805
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, the Go-Betweens released the album 16 Lovers Lane. It’s probably overstating it to proclaim the record the Go-Betweens’ version of Rumours, but there are some distinct similarities. There was a lot of … Continue reading One for Friday — The Go-Betweens, “Was There Anything I Could Do?”
“I break bricks with my heart/ Only a fool would call it art,” Jeff Tweedy sings on “Some Birds,” a track from his new album, Warm. In the most accurate determination, the album is Tweedy’s proper solo debut, though it’s … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Warm
812. China Crisis, Working with Fire and Steel (1983) It is probably a fair measure of the rather arch sensibility of the band China Crisis that the subtitle of their sophomore album is Possible Pop Songs Volume Two. In any … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #812 to #809
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, Irish band A House released their debut album, On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round. Formed in Dublin, largely by old school chums, A House had enough success in their local environs — including … Continue reading One for Friday — A House, “Call Me Blue”
I will admit upfront that I don’t quite know what to make of the 1975. Now three full-length albums into their career (with another promised within the next six months or so), not much music from the Manchester band has … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
816. The Slickee Boys, Cybernetic Dreams of Pi (1983) Formed in Washington, D.C., in the mid-nineteen-seventies, the Slickee Boys took their name from slang used by U.S. soldiers to describe the local young black market peddlers in Korea that dressed … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #816 to #813
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, the Waterboys released the album Fisherman’s Blues. It was officially the fourth full-length studio release from the motley and ever-shifting crew of musicians Scotsman Mike Scott assembled around him, and it was … Continue reading One for Friday — The Waterboys, “And a Bang on the Ear”
At around the time several of her songs took off in unexpected ways that forecast the crazy land of viral popularity, it seemed Robyn was poised to become as big of a pop star as she wanted to be. Certainly, … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Honey
820. Bob Dylan, Slow Train Coming (1979) During his nineteen-sixties heyday, the most notorious moment of Bob Dylan’s career came at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, when he flouted tradition and took the stage with a full band plugged into … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #820 to #817
Coffee for Two 