…I often think about this particular song by The Clockworks, which remains one of my top favorite songs of the last five years.
Why does this song remind me of the pandemic? Actually it’s the video.
There’s a day-end drone shot of the Bay Bridge here in San Francisco at around the 2:20 mark (and again at 3:05) that brings up the memory of my thirty-mile commute to and from Concord in the East Bay, and whenever I see it in this video, I wonder if my car is somewhere in that shot, heading westward into the city at the end of yet another hellish day. Even though the band released this track in late 2021, at least a year after I’d quit that particular job, the song perfectly encapsulates what that job had been doing to me over the last decade.
This was also around the time I’d been listening to KEXP almost religiously at this point, already an Amplifier (I still donate to them on a monthly basis!), and this track had gotten some major airplay, and I don’t blame them for putting it on heavy rotation as it’s still a hell of a banger. That station got me through a hell of a lot over the last five or so years.
It’s been over four years since I left that job in March 2020 (and I’m still glad I did), and a few years since the peak of that particular pandemic wave (and I’m still wearing a mask to work and still Covid-free) (knock on wood), so this song definitely emulates a feeling of weariness and uneasiness for me, reminding me that none of us really know what the hell was going on at the time, or how long it would last.
Oof. Sorry I don’t have much to say here today, as my day job schedule is kind of heavy on the back end. In the meantime, I’ve been revisiting my U2 collection lately and remembering how much I still enjoy them. I’ve always liked them from the beginning (I actually remember seeing the “I Will Follow” and “Gloria” videos on early MTV), but I didn’t really get into them until the 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire, specifically the title song, which remains one of my favorite early tracks of theirs.
I decided it was time to semi-retire the Listen/Walk in Silence/Untitled triad for a bit once more as I felt I was starting to pigeonhole myself with the mix moods. I’ve instead revived another mixtape series I’d started ages ago, the Re:Defined mixes, which have a much looser feel to them. Hope you enjoy it!
Ooh, this is lovely! This was a teaser single dropped a few months previously by the band Orcas before they released their new album How to Color a Thousand Mistakes this past week. [This is also their first album in over ten years!] They’ve got that dreamlike echo-heavy electro sound similar to Washed Out and Beach House, but lean a little more towards post-rock instead, so doing this Church cover in that style is quite unexpected yet intriguing. I’ve been listening to their new album on Bandcamp lately (and it’s in the cart to be purchased soon), so now I really want to check out what their other albums sound like!
When every choice that I make is yours Keep telling me what’s right and what’s wrong Don’t you ever stop to think about me? I’m not that blind to see that you’ve been cheating on me
Every now and again I think about this song, especially during tense political climates. Sure, it’s a song about a failing relationship, but sometimes you can read lyrics different ways. Sometimes this particular lyric pops into my head whenever I hear conservatives go on about how much they know what I need. Despite never asking ahead of time for my input.
Which is why I’ve stopped listening to that party quite some time ago.
[And as an aside, I absolutely love the piano work on this track. One of my all-time favorites.]
No, not the John Lennon solo track (though I do quite like it, and definitely the cover of it that Sponge did back in ’95). I’m talking about isolated tracks. It’s something that pops up on my YouTube searches of Beatles-related things, and it’s always fun to listen to them. I’m not entirely sure what these posters use to separate the tracks, but I love that even a seasoned fan like myself will hear something new and amazing every time I play one.
For instance, this video of “Oh! Darling” features a vocals-only track that really pushes up Paul’s throat-shredded singing, as well as the slight slap-back echo they’d used for it to give it that 50s feel.
This video of “Helter Skelter” is interesting as well, including a section where you can distinctly hear the guitar going waaaay out of tune as the song progresses from all the hammering it’s getting.
…or this one of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” that reveals just how truly bluesy this song is.
…or just how goldang funky “Hey Bulldog” is.
There’s even video out there of songs from the rooftop concert, like “Dig a Pony”!
But this one is by far my favorite: the isolated strings and horns for “I Am the Walrus”. If anything, you should give this one a listen just to show how amazingly creative George Martin was as an arranger. The swoops and intricate phrases that you might not notice in the original are front ant center.
They’d gotten a bit of publicity a short time ago when they’d gotten inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame — and they definitely earned that spot and then some — and the band has been mentioned on social media off and on since then.
And it occurred to me that I haven’t sat down and properly listened to this band in ages! I’ve always been a fan of their years on IRS Records, having owned Document and Eponymous on cassette and dubbed the rest from my high school friends, and I think it’s fair to say that The Flying Bohemians (my ‘band’ of the time, heh) owes a huge debt to them as well.
Actually, I’ve been thinking lately that I haven’t done a deep dive on a lot of my favorite bands from the 80s in a long time — REM, The Church, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, Wire, and so on — and it’s always tempting to do a blogging-along of the relistens, similar to what I’d done with the Beatles some years ago.
Is this another oh god he’s sliding back into the 80s again thing? Maybe not this time. Those were focused on years rather than bands…this time it would be focusing on discographies. And lord knows how much of a completist I am, heh.
July is usually a slow-ish month for new releases, so I’ve been catching up with some of the albums that have dropped in the last couple of months, and News of the Universe from La Luz has been getting considerable play here in Spare Oom, specifically the very spacey “Strange World”. It kind of reminds me of Ladytron and Stereolab in a way, with its retro synth sound and psychedelic melodies. And it’s been stuck in my head for at least a couple of weeks!
Last month, Seal’s second album was rereleased as a remastered deluxe edition, and thirty years later it remains not only his best and most popular album, but it’s also one of my all-time favorite records of the nineties.
This was an album I bought in the final years of being a Columbia House member, and I’d picked it up more out of curiosity than anything. I still consider his single “Crazy” one of my top favorite songs of all time, and I felt this album was more to his style than the funkier r&b of his first record. It was released during an odd time in my life, right at the end of my stay in Boston and the start of my extended stay back in my old hometown, so I connect this with two things: my job at the movie theater in Somerville, and the long process of restarting my writing career. This was one of the many albums I listened to constantly while attempting to figure my life out.
Sure, everyone remembers the ubiquitous single “Kiss from a Rose”, but it also features the popular ballad “Don’t Cry” and the stunning “Prayer for the Dying”, all songs that got major airplay on pop radio and on MTV and VH1.
“Prayer for the Dying” was the track that initially sold me on this record, even though I hadn’t heard it until after “Kiss from a Rose”, which is interesting considering this was the album’s first single. Like “Crazy” it’s full of emotional turmoil and loss. Unlike that track, however, there is much less hope here. That’s not to say it’s a downer track, however; it’s a song about survival, and that makes all the difference.
The album cut “Dreaming in Metaphors” is a track that gets stuck in my head every now and again with its lopsided beats and swirling melody. Like “Prayer” it too is about turmoil, this time focusing on the frustrations of making life needlessly complicated.
“Don’t Cry” was the last single to drop from this album and it got a fair amount of play on VH1 during the winter of 1995. It’s a counterpoint to the above tracks, an uplifting song of hope during the darkest of times. [Side note: I haven’t seen this video in years, so imagine my surprise when watching it and realizing it was shot at the Palace of Fine Arts here in the city!]
Then of course there’s his most popular single, “Kiss from a Rose”, which didn’t just get played on pop radio, I believe Boston’s WFNX and WBCN gave it a few spins as well! It’s also from possibly my favorite Batman movie — yes, I know, but it’s the only one that doesn’t take itself too seriously and yet isn’t a complete dumpster fire either, and it’s got a banger soundtrack.
A and I went to see him live with the SF Symphony back in 2017 for the tour of his Standards album — singing songs like “My Funny Valentine” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is a surprisingly perfect choice for him. While he did mostly songs from that record, he did pull up several hits from his past, including “Kiss from a Rose”, “Don’t Cry” and “Crazy”. He’s still got the pipes after all these years.
I highly recommend picking this one up. While it’s not as funky and unrestrained as his 1990 debut, it shows a singer already fully in charge of his voice and his style. It’s an amazing record, and the remaster sounds great.
I’ve decided I no longer want to be a doomsayer on socials. I want to be an island of calm for others instead. Someone needs to be the rock, yeah? I’ve been told I’m kinda good at that. — Me, on Threads, 2 July
I’ve said it so many times before, I rarely speak about political things on social media these days because I’m only just another voice getting lost in all the other white noise out there. I still get upset about all the current hateful and spiteful and deadly bullshit just like everyone else, but I’ve also already come to the conclusion that my strength is not in speaking up and speaking out, ironically enough. I might be good at telling a story, but I’m terrible at shouting from the rooftops. It’s something I’m trying to work through, though.
Maybe it’s that I’m a jaded Gen-Xer who’s lived through the 70s, 80s and 90s and Seen Shit? Or maybe it’s that I now know that reacting emotionally to every goddamn terrible event over the years has only given me high blood pressure and anxiety? That’s not to say I’m giving up or choosing a life of ignorant bliss, far from it.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that I need to play a different game with my own rules. If I can’t be a Voice, I can certainly be a Rock. Recently at the Day Job a coworker told me that I was the most Got Their Shit Together person they’d ever met, and that kind of threw me for a loop, considering the drama and anxiety and depression and stress I’d felt in the past. And I’ve come to realize that maybe I should use that as an advantage.
I’m definitely no white knight, that’s for sure. I’m just someone to connect with when you need to detox and a reminder that there is still goodness out there underneath everything else. That’s all I know how to offer, and I hope it can help if you need it.
Walk In Silence 