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The New Releases Shelf: Holly Miranda

Dan Seeger

These Holly Miranda albums take time. After the 2004 debut release that she hawked at shows, the by-then former Jealous Girlfriend released a proper solo bow in 2010. That didn’t even have a quick turnaround time from studio to record store, with it sitting idly on the shelf until Miranda signed with XL Recordings in 2010. That pairing of artist and label wasn’t meant to last, though, and Miranda started working on her next album on her own, eventually connecting with Dangerbird Records. The result is technically her third album, and yet it bears her own name. Like all self-titled releases … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: Holly Miranda

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Spinout” and “Until It’s Time For You To Go”

Dan Seeger

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. Elvis Aaron Presley had a few hits during his career. According to Joel Whitburn, who is as definitive of an expert as the field of counting chart hits gets, say he made the Top 10 thirty-eight times and claimed the coveted #1 position on eighteen occasions. For our purposes, what’s important is that two singles out of over one hundred peaked at #40. … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Spinout” and “Until It’s Time For You To Go”

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 38-36

Dan Seeger

38. The Gufs, Collide Evidently, Milwaukee’s the Gufs took their name from a Demi Moore, and I don’t there are many bands that can claim that. The band formed in 1988, the same year as the Moore-starring horror thriller The Seventh Sign, which puts forward the term as the place babies’ souls are stored before they’re born. As source material goes, this is certainly not as cool as, say, nicking a band name from a Don Delillo novel. Still, the Gufs were one of the bigger Wisconsin bands at the time, earning the 1992 Album of the Year WAMI award (the Wisconsin Area … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 38-36

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One for Friday: John Wesley Harding, “Like a Prayer”

Dan Seeger

Let us momentarily sing the praises of indie performers targeting college radio with quasi-ironic covers of big hit pop song. Back in 1989, a copy of Madonna’s Like a Prayer, on vinyl, sat in the top drawer of the filing cabinet in the office I occupied as the Program Director of WWSP-FM. I’m not even sure why Warner Bros. even bothered to send it our way, except that the label was big enough that it probably wasn’t worth their time to discriminate about shipments of promotional copies to radio stations. Everything went everywhere. While my station was a little more … Continue reading One for Friday: John Wesley Harding, “Like a Prayer”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Love Will Find a Way”

Dan Seeger

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. Jackie DeShannon had three Top 40 hits. Two of them made it all the way into the vaunted Top 10 and have basically became standards. Her first, “What the World Needs Now,” was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and first recorded by DeShannon for the 1965 album This is Jackie DeShannon. The next hit, released about four years later, was the … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Love Will Find a Way”

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 41-39

Dan Seeger

41. The Pooh Sticks, Optimistic Fool The Pooh Sticks were one of those bands that received lavish praise from certain quarters, but rarely made much more than marginal headway with anyone other than music critics. That’s probably chiefly attributable to the annoying little detail that the band were little more than an elaborate put-on, the brainchild of Fierce Recordings co-founder Steve Gregory. The music indulges in tried and true rock posturing, tugging the the tropes through a filter of Pavement-style self-satisfied arch mockery. I suppose that’s great for some (there are an awful lot of Pavement devotees, after all), but i … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 41-39

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From the Archive: Rooney

Dan Seeger

This is another music review I wrote for The Independent Journal. I think it appeared in the same issue in which I trashed a Liz Phair record.  As the garage rock pile-on continues unabated, it’s good to be reminded that buffing muscular guitar riffs into something glossy and bright isn’t such a bad idea every now and again. The latest evidence is the self-titled debut from Rooney, fronted by Robert Carmine, younger brother of Phantom Planet drummer (and Max Fischer portrayer) Jason Schwartzman. This is the sort of album that starts with a lone guitar, ends with a lush, achy … Continue reading From the Archive: Rooney

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One for Friday: Elvis Costello, “45”

Dan Seeger

Elvis Costello wrote the song “45” on the day he could officially and honestly claim that number as his age. After debuting it in a 1999 appearance on The Tonight Show, he recorded it and released it as a track on his 2002 album When I Was Cruel. That album arrived towards the end of my first year back in college radio, now serving as an advisor rather than a student programmer. I was just into my early thirties at the time, and that age — 45 — still seemed so distant, almost unthinkably far into the future. Not any more, … Continue reading One for Friday: Elvis Costello, “45”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Angel”

Dan Seeger

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. There are at least three waves to Rod Stewart’s solo career: the early years, when he was still an amazing belter with spotty but acceptable taste in material; the middle years, when he was desperately singing any schlocky song he (or his people) thought might become a hit; and the later years, when he lazily crooned standards, knowing that a cushy, lucrative spot … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Angel”

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 44-42

Dan Seeger

44. Elastica, Elastica I owe the 1995 on-air lineup of 90FM an apology. Down around #67 on our chart, I groused that the self-titled debut of Elastica didn’t show up anywhere on this list. Turns out my research methods were highly faulty, because the post-punk sensation out of London is right here, very respectably taking up territory right around the midpoint of the year-end tally. If the attention heaped on Elastica almost makes this placement seem modest, they were also one of those bands that endured one of those rapid-fire turn-arounds from hyped adoration to snippy backlash. Part of what … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 44-42