I have my prejudices when it comes to music. For one thing, I’ve long resisted any reunions of bands, even those who I once loved. I still stand by my aversion in many cases, especially in those instances when the reunion is basically in name only. I’m not quite sure why anyone musters up overt excitement about what is essentially a new Frank Black solo album just because he’s worked it out to stamp the name “Pixies” on the front. There are plenty of instances where bands have gotten back together for drab efforts after solo projects and spinoff bands … Continue reading One for Friday: The Go-Betweens, “Surfing Magazines”

It’s been a long time since it’s happened, but I’ve seen my fair share of Wilco shows. I have a beloved cadre of friends that has a hearty representation of Uncle Tupelo devotees, and I spent a few evening hours during the mid-nineties watching the bands built from the splinters of that seminal alt country group. At least initially, Son Volt was the group that garnered the most acclaim, and I think they were the band my friends favored too. For me, the choice was always Wilco. To be thorough in this reportage, I wasn’t especially fond of Uncle Tupelo, … Continue reading One for Friday: Jeff Tweedy with Jay Bennett, “Listen to Her Heart”

When I was in college, North Carolina seemed as distant as a foreign land. Hell, we were in central Wisconsin so at least one foreign land was significantly closer. But there was something else about the state that made it seem even further away somehow. Maybe it was simply that it was one of those areas that I’d never had much cause to think about before. When waves of records showed up from Georgia or Seattle, it didn’t strike me an exotic (and all the albums from nearby Minneapolis were like letters from home). A sudden influx of material from … Continue reading One for Friday: Satellite Boyfriend, “Bam Bam Bah”

“Cinematic” by the A-Sides is the first song listed in my iTunes. When I start it up at the beginning or the day or slip over to the “Music” list on my iPod, that’s the first song I see. It is the only song I have from the band, a group of indie rockers from Philadelphia. It’s off of Silver Storms, their sophomore effort and sole release for Vagrant. One year later, they announced the dissolution of the band (on their MySpace page, to put the moment in music business history in proper perspective). I like the song, but I’m … Continue reading One for Friday: The A-Sides, “Cinematic”

I’ve featured a selection from Firewater’s Psychopharmacology one before in this space. As I noted at the time, the album was one of the first I bought from the finest local, independently-owned record store in my new hometown at the time. Even though I owned it and it was circulated through my CD player with some regularity, I was still reminded of the way that being involved in a college radio station had the blessing of prolonged, collaborative discovery. The Firewater album did all right for us, with most deejays (myself included) gravitating to the snaky, catchy title cut. Then … Continue reading One for Friday: Firewater, “She’s the Mistake”

Every Joan Jett song should feature her barking out “Fuck you!” within the first fifteen seconds. Jett was all over the radio when I first really started paying attention to it as something other than background the adults had on. With backing band the Blackhearts, her cover of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” was the number one song in the country for seven weeks in the spring of 1982 (originally recorded by the British band Arrows, Jett had taken an earlier pass at it in 1979, with no less than the Sex Pistols in tow). It was absolutely everywhere, heralding … Continue reading One for Friday: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Spinster”

I’m going to break a rule. It’s one of my own rules, so I guess it’s okay if I decide to break it. The song shared today is in print and presumably available at your favorite local, independently-owned record store. In fact, there’s a whole mess of Dave Alvin albums that can be purchased, including the recently-released collaboration with his brother that’s drawn laudatory reviews. So I’ll begin by urging you to contact the proprietor of that favorite store and discuss making a purchase. Not necessarily today, though. It’s a holiday. Let them have a break. “4th of July” is … Continue reading One for Friday: Dave Alvin, “4th of July”

I knew practically nothing about the Swimming Pool Q’s back when I used to play them on 90FM, but I know a few more things now. The group formed in Atlanta in the late nineteen-seventies, in part thanks to connections made through Glenn Phillips, cult hero singer-songwriter and former member of the Hampton Grease Band. They released their first album in 1981, followed by a pair of releases on A&M Records, recently pulled together in a deluxe reissue using funds from a successful Kickstarter campaign. By the time I found my way to them, they’d parted ways with the label … Continue reading One for Friday: The Swimming Pool Q’s, “More Often Than Never”

Every band deserves one perfect song, a pop gem so glistening and lovable that all other transgressions against creative good taste can be forever forgiven. Flesh for Lulu had exactly that with “Postcards from Paradise,” a single off of their 1987 album, Long Live the New Flesh. The song is so good that any greatest hits album that includes that track and a random assemblage of eleven other of the band’s efforts is guaranteed to be a pretty damn good record. Of course, there’s a downside to that, too. Every other song, almost without exception, is going to sound fairly … Continue reading One for Friday: Flesh for Lulu, “Time and Space”