While we continue to get bludgeoned under a tidal wave of disappointing news — the usual political nonsense in addition to the cascade of reports of sexual harassment by seemingly decent people: actors Kevin Spacey and Jeffrey Tambor, comedian Louis CK, chef John Besh — I thought I’d offer some refuge in the form of musical distraction before the long weekend got started. This week turned up a couple good lists and a trio of good tracks to enjoy, starting with the former from the lads and lasses at Stereogum who must’ve been prepping for New Year’s Eve as they were counting down everything around them this week. The two worth peeping are these guys — one running down the nine best REM songs since drummer Bill Berry left and one tallying the ten best Echo and the Bunnymen songs. It was an appropriate week for both — the 25th anniversary edition of REM’s Automatic for the People dropped this week (reason #7657 why I am officially OAF), and nothing serves as a better soundtrack to a cold and rainy week like the Bunnymen.
The lists tackle the bands from slightly different angles — for REM they mine the underappreciated late era releases, which admittedly don’t shine quite as bright as the band’s classic early albums, but as you can see from the list still have plenty of bright spots worth admiring. Their #9 ranks closer to my top vote from this era, a lush and beautiful ode that almost makes me like the titular location (ALMOST…), but they do a pretty good job with their selections and make you want to revisit the later albums. For the Bunnymen they attack the inverse, mapping out the band’s classic early albums and absolutely nail it. Author Andrew Holter does a great job, not only picking excellent songs and ordering them well (he’s right, his top call is a no-brainer — a magisterial masterpiece that never gets old), but his explanations and enthusiasm make for a really enjoyable read. If you’ve ever been curious about these guys (and you should, because they’re amazing), this is a great place to start. A woefully underappreciated favorite.
As for the tunes, there were three that are worth passing on from additional favorites — an unreleased track from hometown heroes Wilco, a new single from the ever-elusive Parquet Courts, and one from the steady, smoldering BRMC. We’ll start with the former and a track off the deluxe reissue of their sophomore album, Being There, which dropped this week with a bunch of extras including this one. It’s a simple, straight-forward number, just frontman Jeff Tweedy and his acoustic, which as we’ve seen so many times over the years is really all you need most days. Even just getting started 20+ years ago you can hear the weariness in his voice, one that’s only deepened since then. It’s a good addition to the catalog — give it a listen here:
Next comes the best single off yet another side project/reincarnation for the Courts, who continue their trend of saving their most consistent, flawless material for their main releases. This one would fit in well, though, the lead track off what sounds great on paper — a collaboration with Italian composer Daniele Luppi and Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O — but similar to Luppi’s previous outing (another city-focused album (Rome) with cool kid catnip on it (Jack White and Danger Mouse)) it’s less than the sum of its parts. This one still shines, though — check out “Soul and Cigarette” here:
We’ll close with the lead single from BRMC’s upcoming album and seven albums in it shows the band, which does dark and stormy better than almost anyone, hasn’t slowed a beat. It’s a noisy little ripper in line with the rest of their stuff and has me excited to see what the rest of the album has in store. Follow on singles “Haunt” and “Question of Faith” showcase the band’s other patented mood, that of slow-burning blues, but this one’s from their raucous side, all divebombing guitars and thundering drums. It’s a blast — check it out here: