Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 40)

 Okay, so it's been a while but it's freakin' Part 40 for crying out loud! 

As usual, I've posted these in the form of a Spotify playlist which you can find here with the usual caveat that once in a while, a song I reference isn't available on the service. 

"Here Comes Your Man" by The Pixies (1989)

It's the most mainstream song from this band by a long shot but still has a tiny bit of an edge to it with a catchy guitar lick.

"Reva's House" by Los Lobos (1992)

Another good track from a really solid album. The opening really hits with a "wall of sax" and a great Country Swing (?) feel. Sure, it's no Elmo and the Lavender Moon but what is?

"Not Now John" by Pink Floyd (1983)

I may have let this track play through due to a certain name being in the title but damn, this was the *single* from this album? Fun stuff.

"Monkey's Paw" by Laurie Anderson (1989)

This song seems to have been influenced by the musical feel of Paul Simon's "Graceland" album and even features the same South African bassist who played on that 1980s staple. 

"Green Flower Street" by Donald Fagen and the New York Rock and Soul Revue (1991)

A live version of a song from Fagen's first solo album that manages to mostly outshine the studio version with one exception. Fagen really likes to play this odd instrument called the Melodica. I've seen him play this thing at Steely Dan shows and he pulls it out for this tune. Needless to say I am not a fan but you may feel differently.  The "Revue" was a short-lived group of hot shots that made one live album. The NYRSR wasn't really a group as they mostly performed their own songs but it did include Fagen, Phoebe Snow, Michael McDonald, Boz Skaggs, and others. The album is very good and should be, given the talent involved. 

"Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long" by The Magnetic Fields (1999)

An amusing alternative song packed to the rafters with fun retro, super analog-y synths. 

"Stop Loving You" by Toto (1988)

This is one of the stronger tracks from this LP. It's kind of hard to believe that this was released only 11 years before the previous Magnetic Fields song which sounds like it's from a different musical planet (at least within pop music, let's not get too pedantic).

"Jenny Wren" by Paul McCartney (2005)

A very good late-period McCartney song from one of his better albums, period. Better than I remember.

"Your Dictionary" by XTC (1999)

Pretty good but it leans a bit too much into Beatles territory. 

"Racing in the Street" by Bruce Springsteen (1978)

Another Springsteenian Epic.

"What's in the Middle" by The Bird and the Bee (2009)

One reviewer called this, music "for the NPR crowd". Guilty as charged.

"Not About Love" by Fiona Apple (2004)

I think I talked about the album this song is from, the one that had its earlier version leaked on the Internet before but this is another example where the earlier attempt with a different producer and the arrangement is better, in my opinion. There's a good, sort of long article here about the whole saga around this album that's worth a read. Needless to say, this track is not on the streaming services but seems to be on YouTube.

"Broken" by Tears for Fears (1985)

This almost sounds like an extended introduction to the song that comes up next on this album, the big hit, "Head Over Heels". 

"God Put a Smile upon Your Face" by Coldplay (2002)

Is this the best song by this band? I have no idea but it is catchy as hell. 

"Working My Way Back to You" by The Spinners (1980)

Another example of the later cover version surpassing the (still good) original. 

"Well..All Right" by Buddy Holly and The Crickets (1958)

This is one of my favorite Holly tunes. It's a perfect, stripped to its bare essentials, pop song. I also love the way that the drummer plays the whole track on one cymbal which gives the song an unusual sound.

"Means to an End" by Traffic (1968)

This feels a bit like a throw-away song from this LP but it's short!

"Po' Boy" by Bob Dylan (2001)

A great later-period Dylan song with lyrics that seem random but somehow come together. It may not be profound but it has...an easy-going depth...whatever that means.

"Right Now" by Van Halen (1991)

That Hagar fellow is starting to grow on me.

"Lady" by Styx (1973)

With all due respect to "Mr. Roboto", this is one of the band's earliest and best hit songs. I have yet to plumb the depths of all Styx LPs so I may have to remain ignorant of the band's deeper cuts. The song has a great interplay between the instruments in the early part of the song with a massive buildup with what I assume is some kind of organ to get us to the Power part of the Power Ballad. 

Silly details:  My copy of this song is from an old CD box set of 1970s hits called, "Have a Nice Decade". The CD box had a strip of green carpeting that reminds me of the carpet that was in my high school which was built in 1978 and also featured a lot of orange painted railings. Neat. At the end of some of the tracks, you hear clips of audio from events that happened the year the song was released.  At the end of "Lady", there is audio of Gerald Ford announcing the pardon for Richard Nixon. Ah, good times! 

Styx re-recorded this song in 1995 for a greatest hits compilation when the original record label, I assume, wanted too much dough to license the original. The re-do is a pretty faithful facsimile of the '73 version but the analog synth or whatever it was doesn't sound quite right and of course Dennis is, well, old. Hold on to your master recordings, kids (just ask Taylor)!