Author: jeremyfingertips

Summer may be over, but tell me if there isn’t a dark-ish, summer’s-over feeling coursing through the Santo & Johnny version of the Gershwin classic “Summertime.” The famed sibling instrumental duo, from Brooklyn, turned a song that typically evokes languid sunshine into something introspective, spooky, intermittently discordant, and, somehow, maybe, autumnal. In any case, I didn’t manage to get a playlist up in August so here it is one way or another.

There are two other evocative covers in among the mix this month, and one fake cover: the Concretes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” is not the Motown nugget but its own incisive thing. The real covers are discussed below, along with many other things, so I’ll keep the intro short this time. For those who don’t like surprises, here’s what’s on tap in 11.07:

1. “Becoming All Alone” – Regina Spektor (Home, Before and After, 2022)
2. “Revolutionary Kind” – Gomez (Liquid Skin, 1999)
3. “The Riddle” – Nik Kershaw (The Riddle, 1984)
4. “Cathedrals” – Cry Cry Cry (single, 2018)
5. “La Bambola” – Patty Pravo (Patty Pravo, 1968)
6. “Big Tears” – Elvis Costello & the Attractions (b-side, 1978)
7. “You Can’t Hurry Love” – The Concretes (The Concretes, 2003)
8. “Coast” – Kim Deal (single, 2024; Nobody Loves You More coming 11/24)
9. “Every Shining Time You Arrive” – Sunny Day Real Estate (How It Feels To Be Something On, 1998)
10. “Everybody Plays the Fool” – The Main Ingredient (Bitter Sweet, 1972)
11. “Any Way You Want It” – Clem Snide (Clem Snide’s Journey EP, 2011)
12. “Annie” – Kirsty MacColl (Real, 1983; released 2023)
13. “Get Yourself Together” – Small Faces (Small Faces, 1967)
14. “Not a Job” – Elbow (Cast of Thousands, 2003)
15. “What Now” – Brittany Howard (What Now, 2024)
16. “Life is Sweet” – Natalie Merchant (Ophelia, 1998)
17. “Amor Fati” – Washed Out (Within and Without, 2011)
18. “You Never Come Closer” – Doris (Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby, 1970)
19. “Summertime” – Santo & Johnny (Santo & Johnny, 1960)
20. “Middle Cyclone” – Neko Case (Middle Cyclone, 2009)

Random notes:

* Clem Snide front man Eef Barzeley has proven over the years to be a master of rock’n’roll covers. Nowhere was the skill in more evidence than in his specially-released 2011 EP, Clem Snide’s Journey. A tour de force of transformational interpretation, the all-Journey EP was inspired by his version of the song “Faithfully,” covered as part of the intermittently wonderful AV Club Undercover series. I featured this song at the time, and stand by my characterization of the man as some sort of mad genius. These days the EP is available to his Bandcamp subscribers only, with no playback options. However, three of the six songs are available to listen to on Spotify, including “Any Way You Want It.”

* The Swedish pop singer Doris Svensson was a curious case. Billed by her first name only, she released one solo album in 1970 and pretty much retreated from performing after that. The album initially was a commercial flop, but a re-release in 1996 captured the attention of hipsters, and hip-hop artists, and brought the album back into the cultural flow. The album is an idiosyncratic mix of pop, soul, funk, psychedelia, and jazz, with a Dusty Springfield-esque vibe–well worth a listen if you’re into that kind of thing. It’s not only available on the streaming services, the whole thing can be downloaded for free via the Internet Archive. Svensson died last year at the age of 75. Thanks to the blog James Writes Stuff for the head’s up on this one, which I otherwise hadn’t heard of. And yes it’s very ’00s of me, offering a hat tip to another blog, but James like me has a very ’00s thing going over there, with his observant, personal, well-written album reviews; his blog is a relatively rare example of an algorithm- and commercial-free web site just doing its thing here in the corrupted, over-stimulated world of internet 2024.

* The brilliant Kirsty MacColl was taken from us, tragically, some 24 years ago. But it was only last year that we saw the long-awaited release of an album she had recorded in 1983 that was shelved by Polydor, her then record company; they felt it wasn’t commercial enough. It would have been her second album. She and Polydor parted ways after that. She had a UK hit single in 1985, with a dazzling version of Billy Bragg’s “A New England,” recorded for Stiff Records, but soon it got complicated: Stiff went bankrupt, there were contractual complications and personal complications, leading to a lot of session work–including her indelible star turn on 1987’s “Fairytale of New York”–but no record deal. The song “Annie,” from Real, was one of three songs from the ill-fated LP that Polydor saw fit, in 1985, to tack onto a re-released version of her debut album. A handful of other songs from Real surfaced years later on a posthumous 2005 compilation album. I’m not sure what took quite so long for Real to emerge as its own thing, but I’m glad we finally have it–it’s not a classic but a treasure for Kirsty fans nonetheless. The album is available on its own digitally; for the devoted fan, all the album’s tracks are on CD as part of the lavish, eight-disc, 161-song box set called See That Girl 1979-2000, released by Universal Music in a limited edition last year. But good luck finding it: I don’t see any for sale in any of the usual places at this point.

* “Cathedrals” was something of a radio hit for the North Carolina band Jump, Little Children back in 1998. The dormant singer/songwriter trio Cry Cry Cry ended a long hiatus in 2018 with a cover of the song, and they did three helpful things in the process. First, they removed the strings, which had added a bit too much saccharin to a song teetering already on the edge of schmaltz (if I may mix my food metaphors). Second, Dar Williams sings lead, transforming the somewhat overwrought original into something more pensive and substantial. Lastly, the stellar harmonies provided by band mates Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell lend warmth and depth that the original’s vocal performance lacked. Oh and as a bonus, the Cry Cry Cry version is 20 seconds shorter, almost always a good thing.

* I’ve put Elvis Costello songs on a playlist more or less once a year here, but I’ve been leaning in the direction of his 21st-century output. I’ve done that consciously, because I feel his later-career stuff is relatively overlooked–wide-ranging musically, his 21st-century albums are maybe harder to pin down than the “angry young man” material of the late ’70s and early ’80s, and so over the years they’ve kind of piled up into a corner that his loyal fans have pretty much to themselves. So I like to give the newer songs some sunlight here. That said, I haven’t meant to entirely ignore his seminal work from back in the day. But as ever I tend to avoid the obvious. You don’t need me to give you the likes of “Pump It Up” or “Watching Detectives,” but maybe slipping a muscular B-side like “Big Tears” into the mix is a fine idea every so often. The man is surely one of the great songwriters of our time; I wish this were more universally recognized, but it remains one of those “if you know, you know” things.

* “Coast” is such an effortlessly confident song: quirky, inscrutable, and mysteriously catchy, with smile-inducing horn charts and the lackadaisical charm of a one-off jam session. Kim Deal, as you likely know, was an original member of the Pixies and the front woman for the Breeders. While she has released a few solo singles, “Coast” is a song that will be on her debut solo album, called Nobody Loves You More, which is due out in November.

* Patty Pravo is the stage name adopted long ago by the Italian singer Nicoletta Strambelli. Pravo, now 76, was in her heyday in the late ’60s through the late ’70s. One of her signature songs, “La Bambola” was number one on the charts in Italy for nine straight weeks. To my ears, it retains its energetic appeal these many decades later. Pravo has had a long and idiosyncratic career, not to mention personal life, including a stretch where she lived in the United States and recorded a new wave adjacent LP in the early ’80s. Her most recent album, Red, came out in 2019.

* The mighty Neko Case closes us out. I guess I like quirky and inscrutable songs; this one’s power comes from its restraint, its poignant turns of phrase, and Ms. Case’s ever potent voice. Her most recent album of new material remains 2018’s vibrant Hell-On. She’s got a memoir coming out in January, entitled The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, and, apparently, a new album on the way shortly thereafter.

What a difference a month makes. The mood is (cautiously) lighter. I remain stupefied that a convicted criminal who orchestrated an attempted coup can be considered a viable candidate for president of this country. Can be popular despite his track record of various despicabilities. Is continuing to be treated by mainstream media as pretty much normal. This is not just frightening but also goddamned puzzling. How did we get here? But wait a minute: I said the mood is lighter, and it certainly is. The dreaded rematch has been short-circuited. I’m with her.

Now then, I can’t claim that this month’s playlist has anything to do with this. Or does it? “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”; “The Next Time Around”; “Don’t Change On Me”; “Don’t Come Running to Me”; “Then Came You”: a suggestive batch if looked at a certain way. But seriously unplanned. Consider it the zeitgeist at work. In any case, here’s where we’re going together this month:

1. “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” – Sugar (Copper Blue, 1992)
2. “Patterns” – Laura Marling (single, 2024; Patterns in Repeat, coming 10/24)
3. “The Next Time Around” – Little Joy (Little Joy, 2008)
4. “Gag Reflections” – Wild Moccasins (single, 2012)
5. “Don’t Change On Me” – Ray Charles (Love Country Style, 1970)
6. “Don’t I Know” – Sinéad Lohan (No Mermaid, 1998)
7. “Nowhere” – Swaying Wires (I Left a House Burning, 2016)
8. “A Little Respect” – Erasure (The Innocents, 1988)
9. “Don’t Come Running to Me” – Madeline Bell (Bell’s A Poppin’, 1967; bonus track on the 2004 re-issue)
10. “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” – Klaatu (3:47 EST, 1976)
11. “Shenandoah” – Anaïs Mitchell (The Brightness, 2007)
12. “Hot Sun” – Wilco (Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP, 2024)
13. “Zoeira” – Joyce (Hard Bossa, 1999)
14. “You Can’t Take Love For Granted” – Graham Parker (The Real Macaw, 1983)
15. “Then Came You” – Dionne Warwick and the Spinners (single, 1974)
16. “Like I Say (I runaway)” – Nilüfer Yanya (single, 2024)
17. “Red Rubber Ball” – The Cyrkle (Red Rubber Ball, 1966)
18. “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” – Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, 2007)
19. “Afternoon in Kanda” – Jesse Harris (Sub Rosa, 2012)
20. “Find My Love” – Fairground Attraction (The First of a Million Kisses, 1988)

Random notes:

* The Houston indie outfit the Wild Moccasins had a bit of an internet moment earlier this century. Fronted by Zahira Gutierrez, the band started up in 2007, released three albums between 2010 and 2018 on the reasonably high-profile New West label, got some love from NPR among other places, but quietly disappeared after their last release. Gutierrez has recently reemerged as a solo artist, with more of a pop orientation, using only her first name. “Gag Reflections” was a single released in between their well-regarded first and second albums.

* Sinéad Lohan recorded two albums in the mid- to late-’90s, the first of which was released only in Ireland, the second of which got full distribution on a major label and earned her a good amount of attention and airplay back in the day. And that was pretty much that: she got married, had two children, and at one point sooner than later decided that she had zero interest in continuing on as a professional musician. Wikipedia reports that she did work on a third album in the 2004 to 2007 range but it never saw the light of day. Her one widely-released album, 1998’s No Mermaid, remains a quiet classic of sorts, full of songs of depth and quality. “Don’t I Know” is the third song from the album that I’ve featured in an EPS mix over the years.

* Well known by now as the composer, playwright, and brain child behind the hit Broadway show Hadestown, which won eight Tony Awards in 2019, Anaïs Mitchell began her career as a singer/songwriter in the early ’00s. Hadestown started as a concept album in 2010; it was Mitchell’s fourth release at the time. Then came a long and winding road to the Broadway stage, which occupied a lot of Mitchell’s time and creative energy along the way; she’s only released two albums of original material since then, in 2012 and 2022. “Shenandoah” is a song I’ve always loved, from 2007’s The Brightness. I’m a bit of a sucker for songs with asymmetrical melodies–and here I mean the way the first line of the verse stops, melodically, at 0:30 but when the melody repeats in the next line it extends itself (0:40). There’s something timeless in that, with the vibe of an old folk song. Mitchell has a confident, distinctive singing voice, which sounds at once innocent and full of wisdom. A longtime visitor or two might remember seeing the beautiful “Flowers (Eurydice’s Song)” featured here back when it first appeared, on the 2010 Hadestown concept album.

* The new single from Laura Marling is gorgeous. What a songwriter she is. And she can sing, too.

* Madeline Bell was born in New Jersey and began singing gospel as a teenager; her professional career, however, took her in another direction. On tour with a gospel act in Europe in 1962, Bell ended up being introduced to a number of notable British performers, including Dusty Springfield, who not only went on to employ Bell as a backing vocalist but by some accounts began to model her singing style after Bell’s. Bell stayed in the UK, recorded a few more albums, and later became known as vocalist for the pop group Blue Mink, which had a half-dozen hit singles in England in the early to mid-’70s. You’ll definitely hear something Dusty-ish in “Don’t Come Running to Me,” a track included on the 2004 re-issue of Bell’s 1967 solo debut Bell’s A Poppin’. While Bell moved into more of a smooth pop-soul direction later on, this debut album is much more of a Bacharachian pop recording, very much an artifact of a particular (and particularly wonderful) moment. For those with a soft spot for the so-called “Swinging London” era, check out this performance of the song from British TV in 1967“.

* The background story of many a long-ago rock band can be more interesting than anticipated. Take the Cyrkle, a one-hit wonder ensemble from Easton, Pennsylvania. Originally called The Rhondells, they ended up being managed by none other than Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who changed their name to the Cyrkle–exotic spelling suggested by John Lennon himself. They even opened 14 times for the Beatles on their 1966 tour, including the Fab Four’s final-ever concert performance, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. “Red Rubber Ball,” meanwhile, was a song co-written by Paul Simon and Seekers’ guitarist Bruce Woodley, offered to the Cyrkle when the band was opening at one point for Simon and Garfunkel. Cyrkle singer and bassist Tom Dawes had a subsequent career writing commercial jingles, including Alka-Seltzer’s omnipresent “plop plop fizz fizz” refrain. According to an over-long, un-sourced write-up on Wikipedia, the band managed to reunite in 2016 and were still performing live as recently as 2022. Over on Spotify, there are four new singles posted since 2023, including the nostalgia-laced “We Were There,” which was released in May.

* Speaking of bands unexpectedly reuniting, the Scottish group Fairground Attraction, fronted by the wonderful Eddi Reader, has reemerged here in 2024 with their first new material in 34 years. Known best for the soft, swinging single “Perfect,” from their 1988 debut, the group offered up only one follow-up release–a collection of b-sides called Ay Fond Kiss (1990)–before disbanding. Reader went on to an artistically rewarding if off-the-beaten-path solo career, which has slowed down in recent years–there were 10 albums released from 1992 to 2009, and only two since then, most recently Light Is In The Horizon (2022). Meanwhile, Fairground Attraction has put out two singles in 2024, including “Beautiful Happening” in June, the title track to a forthcoming album. “Find My Love” is one of a number of delightful, light-spirited songs from their late-’80s debut.

I see the statistics, from Mixcloud, and they are very clear: not all of you guys listen to these playlists all the way through. In fact, it’s quite the overwhelming majority of listeners who listen to some but not all of the songs, playlist after playlist. And I get it: it’s human nature–or, at least, human-on-the-internet nature; twenty-song playlists may prompt the aural equivalent of TL;DR in this click-happy, distraction-filled environment.

But I intermittently feel compelled to point out that these playlists are not like an album front-loaded with its best songs only to fizzle out on side two. They are, instead, packed with excellent songs from top to bottom. What’s more, I often find myself installing a particular favorite as the last track–I suppose this is me in “always leave them wanting more” mode, aimed towards the intrepid few who take the whole journey with me. But a lot of listeners, alas, don’t hang in there long enough to hear it.

Consider this a long-winded way of urging you not to miss the last song this month, which is an unassuming gem from newcomer Selma Eriksen called “By Now.” I won’t further describe; go listen and discover it for yourself. Even if you just want to skip right down to it.

Repeat reminder from last month: for an overview of (almost) all songs featured to date in an Eclectic Playlist Series mix, check out the master EPS playlist that I update on Spotify every month. As noted in the past, Spotify does not have available every song I place on every list–it’s almost always missing one or two songs every couple of months (this time, for instance, “I Don’t Wanna Lose Him” is unavailable). Another obvious drawback is that you don’t get the contexts of the original mixes with this master list, or the crafted segues. But what you do get is a unique, super-long-lasting listening experience presenting as a quirky, genre-free radio station, minus any interruptions. And at 1,900 songs, it’s a playlist many times larger than most 21st-century radio stations would dream of offering.

As for this month, here’s what you’re in for:

1. “That Great Love Sound” – The Raveonettes (Chain Gang of Love, 2003)
2. “Susannah’s Still Alive” – The Kinks (single, 1967; The Kink Kronikles, 1972)
3. “Lights Light Up” – Fenne Lily (Big Picture, 2023)
4. “Don’t Look” – Nervus Rex (single, 1978)
5. “Possession” – Sarah McLachlan (Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, 1994)
6. “It’s Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World)” – The Ramones (Pleasant Dreams, 1981)
7. “Tomorrow Today” – Kippington Lodge (single, 1968)
8. “Comet” – Lonely Drifter Karen (Poles, 2012)
9. “Red Pepper Blues” – Art Pepper (Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section, 1957)
10. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” – Radiohead (In Rainbows, 2007)
11. “I Don’t Wanna Lose Him” – Gigi and the Charmaines (unreleased single, 1966)
12. “Running Back” – Thin Lizzy (Jailbreak, 1976)
13. “Heartbeat” – King Crimson (Beat, 1982)
14. “Rains Came” – Shelby Lynne (Tears, Lies, and Alibis, 2010)
15. “Violent Times” – St. Vincent (All Born Screaming, 2024)
16. “Burning Down the House” – Tom Jones and the Cardigans (Reload, 1999)
17. “Takatanga” – Antônio Carlos Jobim (Tide, 1970)
18. “Le Salon” – Autour de Lucie (Faux Mouvement, 2001)
19. “As If You Read My Mind” – Stevie Wonder (Hotter Than July, 1980)
20. “By Now” – Selma Eriksen (single, 2024)

Stray commentary:

* A few internet music veterans out there may remember “That Great Love Sound” being a bit of a blog-based sensation back when MP3 blogs were a shiny new thing. The Raveonettes–whose name was based on the Buddy Holly song “Rave On”–were and are a Danish duo who clothe their neo-garage rock in layers of noise. And if “That Great Love Sound” has the inexorable vibe of a classic, consider that the song’s co-writer was none other than Richard Gotterher, who wrote or co-wrote some actual classics, including “Hang On Sloopy” and “I Want Candy,” before becoming a trailblazing producer of acts such as Blondie, The Go-Go’s, Marshall Crenshaw, and many others. Gotterher produced this first Raveonettes album, Chain Gang of Love, which is interesting also for the oddity that every song on it was written in the key of B-flat major. The Raveonettes, meanwhile, press on as an active band; a cover album called The Raveonettes Sing… is due out next month.

* Gigi and the Charmaines were another hard-working ’60s R&B group that struggled to make it commercially, recorded a number of songs, including some–such as “I Don’t Wanna Lose Him”–that went unreleased for decades, and ultimately faded away without fanfare. It strikes me that the less well-known the group, the more complex their backstory can be. I can’t summarize quickly; read the notes for a compilation put out by the UK label Ace Records, in 2006, if you’re interested. All I will report is that Gigi was the nickname used by lead singer Marian Jackson, that the group started in Cincinnati in 1960, and landed in Canada at some point. They lasted in one form or another until 1974.

* This Talking Heads cover by the unlikely partnership of Sir Tom Jones and The Cardigans is bizarrely compelling. Jones’ allure is not to be underestimated, ever. The song appeared on his 1999 album Reload, which featured mostly cover versions and mostly had the dynamic Welshman singing with a variety of guest artists, including the Pretenders, Van Morrison, Robbie Williams, and Portishead. Wikipedia reports that Reload is the best-selling album of Jones’ career; at the time it was his 34th studio album. That number is now up to 40.

* Kippington Lodge was the psychedelic/baroque-pop-ish forerunner to the venerable pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz, and was itself an outgrowth of a band Nick Lowe and Brinsley Schwarz had previously formed named Sounds 4+1. When Lowe left the country for a while after that, Schwarz formed a new band, called Three’s A Crowd, which got signed to EMI Records, and subsequently changed their name to Kippington Lodge. When Lowe returned to the UK, he joined the band, which proceeded to release a series of singles, including “Tomorrow Today,” but never a full album. (Much later, in 1998, an album emerged which gathered in one place all pre-Brinsley Schwarz recordings.) For the uninitiated, I should note that Brinsley Schwarz is the name of the lead guitarist but was also used as the name of the band after they jettisoned Kippington Lodge. What’s more, two members of Brinsley Schwarz–Schwarz himself and keyboardist Bob Andrews–went on to form the core of The Rumour, for a number of years Graham Parker’s ace backing band.

* I highly recommend the new St. Vincent album. Lots of good tracks including the James Bond-y one tucked into this mix. All Born Screaming isn’t any sort of concept album, and the music varies from song to song, yet there’s something subtle in the air that creates a consistent feeling by the time you’re through. And it definitely encourages repeat listens.

* A recent article in the New York Times profiling Sarah McLachlan reminded me what a big deal she was back in the day, and rightly so. McLachlan’s star run didn’t necessarily last that long, but the highlights reward the ears all these years later. I especially like her second album, Solace, one album before her songs began to hit the charts. But there’s little wrong with Fumbling Towards Ecstasy as well, and “Possession” remains one of her most fully-realized and absorbing compositions.

* “By Now” appears to be the first release by the aforementioned Selma Eriksen. Eriksen was born in Norway but has lived for some time in the U.S., in Los Angeles and New York City. She is both a singer/songwriter and a model; at this point online information seems more oriented towards her modeling than her music. “By Now” was released in May. Hat tip to the Luna Collective’s weekly Spotify playlist for this one.

* The Vin Scelsa reference in the Ramones song is there for those who know. I will always be musically and creatively indebted to that man.