26 August 2021 - The Police - Synchronicity II

Let's just put this out there.  If you have heard the whole Synchronicity album, you know that there is a song called "Synchronicity I".  Both that song and this one were written by Sting, and he has refused to reveal the connection between the two.  

This song was a worldwide single for The Police, hitting the Top 20 in both the US and UK.  While the video was somewhat post-apocalyptic, the song itself is rooted in Carl Jung;'s theory of (guess what) synchronicity - which rejects chaos and seeks connection between unrelated events.  It remains my favorite Police song, possibly because it is so unlike anything else they ever did.

25 Aug 2021 - Lionel Richie - All Night Long (All Night)

Lionel Richie left the Commodores to start a solo career.  It turned out to be a great move.  This song, the lead single from his second solo album, was a huge part of making Richie a superstar - even forcing MTV's hand in getting him more airplay, because the Carribean-tinged song was so popular with listeners. 

The song was written by Richie himself.... including the different language piece at about the 2:00 point of the song.  Fun fact: those weren't actually words.  He wanted African lyrics in his song, but didn't have time for a translator, so, well, he made up a bunch of African-sounding words.  

That's right.  He did that.  

The video was produced by Michael Nesmith, who used to be one of the Monkees and ended up being quite the music video pioneer.

24 August 2021 - deadmau5 & Lights - When The Summer Dies

We're in the waning days of summer, so I felt like this was the day.  

This song from this summer, by two Canadian superstars (including the one that will forever be known around here as #1000), is a real banger.  Let's just start there. The song starts with pretty typical deadmau5 house beats - upbeat, danceable.  The addition of the (God help me for what I am about to say) light (sigh) poppy Lights vocal really sells the song.  It is the summer anthem we needed. 

This song is so cool, there was an official remix released two days after this came out, and it was amazing.  I don't usually share remixes here, but this one is that good.  

(Update: 7 Oct 2021) 'bout time we got an official video, folks.

23 August 2021 - Big Grams - Fell In the Sun

This is something of a supergroup - a one-off collaboration between Phantogram and Big Boi from Outkast, with Sarah Barthel and Big Boi providing primary vocals and Josh Carter serving as primary producer. 

Big Boi famously accidentally discovered Phantogram when their song "Mouthful of Diamonds" was used in a popup ad he saw, and he immediately started promoting them.  That led to a friendship and professional relationship that included the Big Grams project.  

Did the entire project work?  No, of course not.  It's a weird mix of the distinctive Phantogram electronic sound and Big Boi's signature hip hop.  Where it DID work, like this song, it was sonic gold.  

21 August 2021 - Kristin Hersh - Sundrops

This is the stepsister I told you about yesterday.  

This performance is from MTV and I remember watching it in 1994 when it first aired.  I was quite excited about the Kristin Hersh debut solo album, Hips and Makers.  You see, her previous band, Throwing Muses, was my favorite (still is), so I was expecting another album like that, maybe with less drums.

Lyrically, that's exactly what it was, but musically, it was far more acoustic-guitar driven.  This song exists in both an original version, which is pretty much Kristin with a guitar, and a "strings" version, which adds a few more, well, strings.  This performance is the former.   

20 August 2021 - Belly - Now They'll Sleep

Look, I know.  I said yesterday that all the pieces were important.   However, today, we're going to dive a little deeper into one of those pieces.  

That piece is Belly lead vocalist, guitarist, principal songwriter, and postpartum doula Tanya Donelly.  This song, the second single off the band's second album, King, it was co-written with fellow band member Tom Gorman.  

Prior to Belly, Tanya was in a band with her stepsister who shall not be named here because we are talking about Tanya (and who I've written about pretty extensively).  Her songs with Throwing Muses were excellent - her songs with Belly better showcase her unique voice and signature guitar style, an instrument for which she is criminally underrated.  

This song was not terribly commercially successful, but history has been kind to it.  It is a classic power-pop song that sounds as fresh today as it did in 1995.  

19 August 2021 - The Breeders - When I Was A Painter

So, I know what you are thinking.  I mean, I know what I'm thinking.

There's nothing at all guilty about this pleasure.  

Or, maybe, this isn't the Breeders song I know.  

This song was from their debut album, Pod.   At this point, the band was essentially the trio of women you see here - Josephine Wiggs (of the Perfect Disaster) on bass, the incomparable Tanya Donelly (of Throwing Muses and later Belly) on lead guitar, and Kim Deal (of the Pixies) on vocal.  If you look closely, you'll see fourth member Britt Walford (of the Slint) on drums in the other room. 

This very fuzzy rock song is lesser if you take any of these pieces away.  Without Deal's desperate vocal, Wiggs's perfect bass, or Donelly's distinctive guitar, it's a lesser song.  Together, it was pure magic.