Some Music I Heard In The Car Tonight, Mostly By Old People…
Reloaded the iPod with a bunch of new crap a few days ago, and was shuffling along tonight. Here’s what caught my ear:
The Pretenders-The Last Ride (from “Break Up The Concrete”): What I’ve noticed about what I’ve heard from this record so far is that Chrissie Hynde’s voice can still make what’s average music otherwise seem pretty memorable. She’s still got it, even if I’m not so sure about her band or her producer(s).
Tom Jones-I’m Alive (from “24 Hours”): Just. Fucking. Awesome. I hope the whole record’s this good, and I love this fuckin’ guy.
Jobriath-Gone Tomorrow and Inside (from “Jobriath” and “Creatures Of The Street”): I don’t know what this says about my finely tuned audiophile ears (or lack of therein), but these CD reissues, which finally came out Stateside a few months ago, sound gorgeous to me. It’s just a shame that the people who’d like Jobriath (and I’m one of them) are really just getting their first exposure to him now, 35 years-ish after the records first saw release and 25 years after he died more or less penniless, one of music’s first AIDS casualties. In his waning years, he took work as a cabaret singer and pianist, who, legend has it, would play just about any song you’d throw at him except for one of his own.
Grace Jones-Corporate Cannibal (from “Hurricane”): Man, I’m glad to have Grace back, being creepy. This one’s got kind of a Massive Attack/Recoil vibe to it, really big production to it. Me likey.
Foxboro Hot Tubs-She’s A Saint, Not A Celebrity (from “Stop Drop And Roll!!!”): I take a lot of shit for voicing this opinion whenever I do, but hot damn, those guys from Green Day (this is them under an assumed name, if you’re one of the three people on Earth who doesn’t know yet) write one hell of a pop song. Fun little number.
The Fireman-Sing The Changes (from “Electric Arguments”): It’s always weird when Paul McCartney puts out good music. This is one of those instances. The Fireman, as I’ve just come to find out, is a project he’s been doing for about 15 years on and off with Youth of Killing Joke and a lot of production/remixes fame, but this is the first of their 3 records to feature McCartney on any vocals. I’ve listened to a little of the record so far, and it ain’t bad, even if I’m still more of a Lennon guy.
As an aside, if I created an mp3 blog under an assumed name, threw AdSense on it and started posting things like this, I’d make my first million.