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Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Forty-One

Dan Seeger

#41 — Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) I typically put John Huston in the category of classic Hollywood directors whose excellence is best measured by their absolutely command of craft. As the vocabulary of classic narrative was still being shaped, Huston was one of those in the cinematic blacksmith shop, swinging his mallet at the glowing red steel. Unlike some of his immediate predecessors (and rough contemporaries) on this timeline — John Ford and Howard Hawks are the two who immediately come to mind — Huston embedded a slightly shiftier personality into his art. He had a flair for the torrid that … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Forty-One

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 62-60

Dan Seeger

62. Moonpools & Caterpillars, Lucky Dumpling Lucky Dumpling was the one and only major label effort by California band Moonpools & Caterpillars, bookended by a couple of self-released albums. The Fillipino-American band, led by singer Kimmi Ward Encarnacion and guitarist Jay Jay Encarnacion, was supposedly signed to their Elektra Records contract when a label rep saw them opening for a different act that he’d actually shown up to scout. They had some modest success on the college charts, primarily with the single “Hear,” though it wasn’t enough to satisfy their new corporate bosses. Given a taste of the big time (and with bank … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 62-60

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One for Friday: Joe Jackson, “Stranger Than Fiction”

Dan Seeger

One of the things I appreciated about my particular era of college radio was the sense that we were still allowed to reclaim artists. I get a sense — perhaps incorrectly — that the denizens on the left end of the dial, few as their number may be these days, no longer view that as part of the mission. Once an artist crosses over to more commercial terrain or otherwise falls out of favor with college radio programmers, they seem to be gone forever. The notion of college radio acts still had just a little lingering wisp of that new … Continue reading One for Friday: Joe Jackson, “Stranger Than Fiction”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Two Hearts”

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. Get ready for some sugary, blipping R&B as only the early-nineteen-eighties could provide. Stephanie Mills first made her name in 1975, when she played Dorothy in the original Broadway production of The Wiz. She was only seventeen years old when the production opened. It got her a Drama Desk nomination, a signature song, and a recording career, although the latter was only fitfully … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Two Hearts”

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 64 and 63

Dan Seeger

64. Catherine Wheel, Happy Days Happy Days is the third album by the U.K. band Catherine Wheel and by most measures their most success effort. Riding the surge of interest in any alternative band that built some buzz into their sound, Catherine Wheel broke onto the Billboard albums chart for the first time (though its peak of #163 hardly reaches sensation status) and had a couple modest modern rock radio hits. One of those tracks, “Judy Staring at the Sun,” featured guest vocals from Tanya Donelly during the very thin sliver of time when the Belly frontwoman had enough prominence to nab … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 64 and 63

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One for Friday: Golden Palominos, “Omaha”

Dan Seeger

Anton Fier was a weirdly mythic figure to me when I was in college, plying my trade at the student-run radio station. He existed within the nation of independent music that was beyond my personal level of coolness, like distant figures on the vista. He was a founding member of the Feelies, a band I loved immediately, but he left after the band’s acclaimed, obscure debut, Crazy Rhythms, an album I’d never heard because its status as a low press run, long out of print artifact of greatness put it well out of reach. He was a member of John Lurie’s Lounge … Continue reading One for Friday: Golden Palominos, “Omaha”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “The Last Word in Lonesome is Me”

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. By my count, Eddy Arnold has fifteen Top 40 singles, include several that were officially charting B-sides. That’s on the pop charts. It’s a very different number when consulting a different section of Billboard. Arnold landed 147 different singles on the country charts, spanning from “Each Minute Seems a Million Years,” released in 1945, to 2008’s “To Life.” Only George Jones could claim more. Happily, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “The Last Word in Lonesome is Me”

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 66 and 65

Dan Seeger

66. Alice in Chains, Alice in Chains In the early to middle part of the nineteen-nineties, a band was almost guaranteed some national attention as long as they were from Seattle and knew how to turn their amps up. Alice in Chains officially formed in 1987, when roommates Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell joined one another’s new bands. The funk band Staley drew Cantrell into fading quickly, leaving the other group, defined by hard rock leanings, as the going concern. For the band’s name, they opted for a modified version of the group Staley was in previously, a glam metal … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 66 and 65

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One for Friday: Gear Daddies, “Color of Her Eyes”

Dan Seeger

I plied my college radio, at least initially, in the Upper Midwest, spinning records at a happy output smack dab in the middle of Wisconsin. Existing in the midst of that frozen landscape stirs a certain kinship with those musical artists toiling at roughly the same latitude. There were simply some bands that sounded right, like they were coming at the world from a vantage point that was recognizably a product of frosty nights and taverns with interiors cloaked in wood panelling. They were of a world we knew. It’s not only the existence of a song all about aspirational … Continue reading One for Friday: Gear Daddies, “Color of Her Eyes”