College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #804 to #801
804. Propaganda, A Secret Wish (1985) In the early nineteen-eighties, the West German electronic pop outfit Propaganda was signed to a fledgling label based out of the U.K. And there they quickly got a strange lesson in the twisty economics … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #804 to #801
From the Archive — Milk
Don’t forget to leave Milk and cookies out for Santa, because after a long night of delivering presents, he could surely use both a snack and an Oscar-winning biopic of a pioneering politician. I wrote this review upon the release … Continue reading From the Archive — Milk
One for Friday — The Saints, “Grain of Sand”
Thirty years ago, in the latter half of 1988, the Saints released Prodigal Son in the U.S. In the official count, Prodigal Son was the eighth full-length studio album by the Australian band, but it was already fully understood that … Continue reading One for Friday — The Saints, “Grain of Sand”
Now Playing — Roma
Alfonso Cuarón is almost peerless in his visual craftsmanship. The accuracy of that observation is only enhanced by his prolonged absences from the screen. (He has delivered only two films in the past ten years.) Watching a Cuarón film invited … Continue reading Now Playing — Roma
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “The Story of Us”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. At the 2010 CMT Music Awards, held … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “The Story of Us”
Now Playing — The Favourite
It’s been twenty years since Deborah Davis’s screenplay for the film that would become The Favourite first made the rounds. Of course, that was well before director Yorgos Lanthimos got his sharpened, toxin-tipped talons into it. The particulars of the … Continue reading Now Playing — The Favourite
Playing Catch-Up — The Landlord; Annihilation; The Death of Stalin
The Landlord (Hal Ashby, 1970). The feature directorial debut from Hal Ashby stars Beau Bridges as Elgar Enders, a young man from a wealth family who buys an apartment building in a poverty-stricken Brooklyn neighborhood. His initial plans involves kicking … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Landlord; Annihilation; The Death of Stalin
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #808 to #805
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
From the Archive — Spider-Man 3
I thought about dusting this review off a couple months back, during a weekend when a certain feature starring Tom Hardy became an unlikely smash hit. But then I realized the word “Venom” doesn’t appear anywhere in the few hundred … Continue reading From the Archive — Spider-Man 3
One for Friday — The Go-Betweens, “Was There Anything I Could Do?”
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?”
