Song of the Week 1/27/12

Nada Surf - "When I Was Young"

I first heard this song back in late October when I was one of the fortunate people (thanks Ken!) to get an early advance of The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. I was riding on the F train back to Brooklyn and -- I shit you not -- I felt woozy when I got up off of the seat right after this song finished. It just bowled me over. Months later, I'm still processing the gut reaction I had to this tale about looking back on one's life. I'm sure I'll dedicate an entire page of the RT 20 analyzing this epic track and how much Doug Gillard's :50 second solo slays me and touches me at a molecular level. (Gillard is the secret weapon of this entire album. My goodness, what an amazing, tasteful guitarist.)

For now I just want you, dear reader, to listen to it. First, here's the moving (literally and figuratively) video:



Second, here's the band's release show on Tuesday. After they played "When I Was Young," I yelled "Fuck yeah!" And yes, you can hear that on the webcast. (The songs starts at 31:10. You can hear my yell at 36:32)



Third, go buy this album. It's fantastic.

Song of the Week 1/20/12

Buffalo Springfield - "I Am A Child"

I need to vary my Starbucks trips -- or they need to freshen up their selections -- as I heard this song three days in a row in three different Starbucks. Bizarre.

I really wish that Buffalo Springfield reunion tour of 2011 had gone on longer.

Song of the Week 1/13/12

Heart - "What About Love?"

I joined my old college friends Bruce and Hank on Saturday for our own Record Store Day, trolling through three of New Jersey's finest stores -- Tunes, Princeton Record Exchange and Vintage Vinyl. I love getting those $1 pieces of vinyl on trips like this one. And one of the goodies I brought back to Brooklyn was Heart's 1985 self-titled album. This album straddled the radio worlds I listened to religiously in 1985 -- the Top 40 sounds of FLY 92 and the rock tunes of PYX 106. "What About Love" was the first single, and both stations played it quite a bit. 27 years later the production might be dated, but Heart is still a fine collection.

Especially for a buck.

Song of the Week 1/6/12

David Soul - "Don't Give Up on Us"

I went on a record store road trip through Jersey with my good friends from college, Bruce and Hank, on Saturday. As we approached our last stop, we got stuck in a typical Jersey happening -- a vicious traffic jam. Fortunately we had my iPod plugged into the system in Bruce's car and we were deep into a playlist from 1977, so the traffic jam didn't seem so bad. David Soul's number-one hit "Don't Give Up On Us" came on, inspiring a round of laughs as this plea from TV's "Hutch" echoed throughout the vehicle. With about thirty seconds left Hank, in all seriousness, uttered the line, "Can you hit repeat on this?"

Oh, I laughed.