239. Shriekback, Big Night Music (1986) After three full-length albums, Shriekback had cause to reinvent themselves. During the recording of their third album, Oil & Gold, guitarist and vocalist Carl Marsh left the group. Frontman duties fell to keyboardist Barry … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #239 to #237
Promoting her new single on Instagram, Arlo Parks told her fans to “get ready to throw yourselves around your bedrooms with aching! glowing! hearts!” And ain’t that the truth. Bobbing on a cool neo-soul groove, “Softly” is an emotional accounting … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Arlo Parks, “Softly”
242. Gary Numan, The Pleasure Principle (1979) Anyone looking to provide a sonic example to accompany an explanation of new wave music could do far worse than to select Gary Numan’s “Cars.” Taken from The Pleasure Principle — technically Numan’s … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #242 to #240
It’s that burbling riff at the beginning of the song that really gets to me. A little bit Uncle Tupelo, a little bit Meat Puppets, the guitar makes the song sound like its flopping into wakefulness, still addled over the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — MJ Lenderman, “Hangover Game”
245. The Boomtown Rats, The Fine Art of Surfacing (1979) The Fine Art of Surfacing was the third overall album from the Boomtown rats and their second released in the U.S. It was while touring radio stations in support of … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #245 to #243
Built on a groove that is at once loosely easygoing and tick-tock steady, “Keep That Same Energy,” the new track by Homebody Sandman, radiates cool. Sure, it’s a pleasure to hear someone rhyme “less tension” with “George Benson,” but the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Homeboy Sandman, “Keep That Same Energy”
These posts are about the songs that fell just short of crossing the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. In the music biz — like anywhere, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “New Freezer”
248. Culture Club, Colour By Numbers (1983) Culture Club made a hit record with their 1982 debut, Kissing to Be Clever. Early beneficiaries of MTV attention, there was no guarantee they’d be able to repeat the achievement with their follow … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #248 to #246
Alynda Segarra, the creative wonder behind Hurray for the Riff Raff, knows how to pack feelings into a song. So when she explains that her new single “Pierced Arrows” is about felling discombobulated when knocked asunder by heartbreak, there’s little … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Pierced Arrows”
251. The Fixx, Phantoms (1984) “Looking back, I think Phantoms was a dark, reflective album for us,” Cy Currin, lead singer of the Fixx, said of the group’s third studio album. The British band was buoyed by success when they … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #251 to #249
Coffee for Two 