This has not been a banner month for blogging, as I was out of town 17 days between August 1 and today. However, I did manage to scrounge up a monthly mix, held together with some great new singles and a number of favorites. I’m influenced this month by seeing Belle and Sebastian live, revisiting one hit wonders from Pilot and Macy Gray, and nurturing a burgeoning interest in songwriter Jimmy Webb. I’ve got one more trip left to go, then I hope return to more regular writing later in September. Until then, enjoy!
Culture Club — “Church of the Poison Mind” (1983)
My husband and I have developed an interesting shorthand for talking about a band’s hit songs. We call their most well-known single their “first song” and work our way down the line. “Church of the Poison Mind” is Culture Club’s “third song,” but based on quality it probably deserves to be their second — definitely ahead of “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” but ambiguous in relation to “Karma Chameleon.” In its favor, “Church of the Poison” mind is really catchy, it’s got a harmonica solo, and back-up vocalist Helen Terry basically steals the show.
Jellyfish — “Joining a Fan Club” (1993)
Jellyfish’s Spilt Milk album never gets old for me. “Joining a Fan Club” is everything that makes the band great: bombast, melody, and a great pop vocal. Lyrically the analogy between pop music and religion is brilliant. The top five lines from this song:
1. If you wanna go to heaven, all you gotta do is pay to pray
2. Filling my bathtub with t-shirts and 8x10s (or holy water and amens)
3. He turns me on when he wears that lampshade crown of thorns
4. I wished I’d loved him/Before fate crashed his car
5. I still get heartburn when I think about all of the stamps I ate.
Alvvays — “Dreams Tonite” (2017)
I was vaguely aware of this Canadian group’s debut a couple years ago, but the singles from their forthcoming second album have really caught my notice. “Dreams Tonite” has a slightly dreamy quality, but not so ethereal that it just drifts away. The middle eight especially is a little more weighty, with its short, punchy lines. Looking forward to this full album.
The Clientele — “Everyone You Meet” (2017)
The Clientele’s new singles have also been excellent. They too tend to play a pretty dreamy brand of pop, so this track is downright upbeat for them, with a great understated horn line.
Pilot — Magic (1974)
A “Mr. Blue Sky”-esque Beatles ripoff, “Magic” is simply a joy. It’s probably the best song that could ever appear on one of those solid gold hits of the ’70s compilations (which I love). I recently learned that Pilot actually has one other good song (“Just a Smile”), but this one really can’t be topped.
Belle and Sebastian — “The Boy With the Arab Strap” (1998)
One of the highlights from the Belle and Sebastian concert I attended last month (also the subject of the only blog post I managed to complete last month). It’s odd to hear a song this gentle named for a sexual device (you can look it up, it’s not gross or anything), but it’s not about that either. It’s got handclaps, a recorder solo, a jaunty piano, and a kind of shuffling beat. It’s also surprisingly good to dance to.
The Who — “The Quiet One” (1981)
I finally got around to listening to the full album of Face Dances. “You Better You Bet” is my favorite Who song (and one of my overall favorite songs), but the album itself it a bit of a mixed bag. “The Quiet One” is the next strongest track. It’s an introvert anthem, written and sung by John Entwistle. The Wikipedia article for the song features a great quote from Entwistle, who was apparently known for being the quiet one of the Who: “I wrote ‘Quiet One’ especially to replace ‘My Wife’ onstage. I had gotten tired of singing that and ‘Boris the Spider.’” I love how he could barely be bothered to write this song.
Josh Ritter — “Showboat” (2017)
This new single from Josh Ritter makes good use of the classic pop trope of hiding your tears in the rain. (See also The Everly Brothers’ “Crying in the Rain” and the Bee Gees’ “Mr. Natural,” which I’m now sort of wishing I had included on this mix.) I’ve gotten into this groove with Josh Ritter where end up liking one song from each of his albums. When he’s in this tight, poppy mode, he’s unstoppable. But his slower, folkier songs just don’t really do it for me. The coda is the best part of this song, and it reminds me a little of the middle eight from “Dreams Tonite.”
Jake Bugg — “How Soon the Dawn” (2017)
I tried to like Jake Bugg’s previous two albums, but they never really took for me. This new single is very promising though. It’s closer to the new Clientele song — or maybe even to Donovan — than the harsher, Dylan-esque vocals of his earlier albums. The guitar playing is lovely too, and guitars are usually about the fifth thing I notice in a song.
The Junior League — “Please (I Need You To)” (2015)
A pure pop ditty with plenty of jangle and falsetto. I don’t know a lot about this group, but both Scott McCaughey (of the Minus 5) and Jay Ferguson (of Sloan) were involved with their album — some pretty good pop bonafides.
Macy Gray — “I Try” (2000)
Every time I hear this song I think to myself, “What a perfect song! What a perfect one hit wonder!” The arrangement is so smooth, especially the transition from the opening strings to the poppier notes of the first verse and that great little pause on the word “stop.” (With all due respect to Elvis Costello’s “Alison”). But despite all this, I then proceed to not hear the song again for the next five years. Why is it not on the hits station every day? Surely it could be played in place of, say, “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Maybe now I will to listen to it more.
The Monkees — “You and I” (1969)
Released after The Monkees tv show was cancelled and Peter Took quit the band, “You and I” manages to be remarkably good. Oh yeah, it also features Neil Young on guitar.
Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge — “The Worst That Could Happen” (1969)
I’ve always loved this song. I have this really fond memory of hearing it and thinking to myself “I love this song.” Then about two seconds later, my dad said, “I love this song.” It somehow made me feel really close to him. I also recently learned that it was written by Jimmy Webb of “MacArthur Park” and “Wichita Lineman” fame. While it’s not as as weird as the former or as exquisite as the latter, it might still be my favorite Webb track. I like the mix of the blue-eyed soul vocals with the adult contemporary arrangement. It’s also lyrically compelling, though the singer comes off as a jerk. Webb is a guy who doesn’t shy away from writing an unlikable narrator, and it works for him.