John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

I guess a measure that a song is a classic is its ability to be adapted to different genres. I love what King Curtis did with his sax in covering Frank Loesser's What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?, a pop standard that singers obviously love to sing. (Check out Ella Fitzgerald or Rufus Wainwright, for instance, taking a run at those notes.) 

 

Ooh La La, it's toast

For some reason, I've long associated this - one of my favourite songs - with toast. And then I figured it out: it's the first song on a favourite playlist, one I often play on weekend mornings ... when I'm apt to be making breakfast.

They Never Got You

A Spoon-ful for today. 

It Never Entered My Mind

A moment with the Miles Davis Quintet. 

 

Wine and Chocolates

Because sometimes everyone needs something nice. A track by Brooklyn's Theophilus London. 

 

Stand on the Horizon

A Franz Ferdinand tune for handling Sunday's chores. 

 

Big Yellow Taxi

This is from an October 1970 TV appearance in which Joni Mitchell performs one of her biggest hits. One thing I like about the clip is watching Mitchell approach the guitar, adjust the tuning (tuning is no small thing for her sound) and modestly downplay her voice before she starts in on the song. (Watch for a change in lyrics that replace the title!) 

 

In Your Eyes

Two years ago this month, Martha and I had the good fortune to see Peter Gabriel in concert. The tour was built recreating his 1986 album So, but included other material as well ... and came with a visually stunning (no surprise there) presentation, with massive lighting structures that had a puppet-like quality of their own. 

This presentation of In Your Eyes came from that tour. 

 

Melt With You

 To my surprise, Modern English is still a going concern, and has been touring this summer. Not a one-hit wonder, given the albums they produced, but I Melt With You will always be their calling card. 

 

 

Paradise Circus

Massive Attack recruited Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval to sing on this single from 2010's Heligoland album. 

Tongue Tied

I heard this in an Apple commercial a while back, but didn't know the tune .. or the band, or anything. It's Grouplove, which put itself together in New York several years ago. Tongue Tied is from their debut album from 2011. 

 

A Grand Love Theme

Kid Loco is not a kid; he turned 50 earlier this year. As to whether Jean-Yves Prieur is loco ... well, maybe that depends on whether you like what he does with electronics, music, etc. 

 

There goes the summer

Before August goes, an Undertones tune. 

 

Jesus Etc.

A standout track from Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album from 2002. 

 

The Flat Earth

Some of Thomas Dolby's songs didn't do too much for me, but I've always liked The Flat Earth, the title song of his album from early 1984. (Hyperactive was the hit single from it, should that jog a memory.) 

 

Fools

From the U.S. indie duo The Dodos, a peppy tune that I've added to my playlist. 

Take Me To Church

You never know what to expect with Sinead O'Connor, and that includes a song that's as introspective as it is unsparing. Her latest album, I'm Not Bossy I'm The Boss. 

 

DLZ

TV on the Radio is the music on my laptop this morning, or at least part of it. 

 

Just What I Needed

 The Cars, from a 1978 edition of Midnight Special. What amuses me the most from the clip is the contrast between Larry Gatlin, in super-Seventies lapels, and the new wave-y Cars.  

Cath

Earlier today, I found myself silently singing "Whoa-ah, whoah" ... and not sure where that came from. The subconscious served it up: it's Cath, a single by the Bluebells, from no less than (coughs) 30 years ago. 

Yeesh. 

This is an obviously lip-synced performance from UK television. (Whoa-ah, whoah.) 

 

FM, with a Gorillaz twist

Damon Albarn released this cover of Steely Dan's FM a few years ago in the persona of 2D, his character in Gorillaz. It's a collaboration with the saxophonist Nathan Haines. 

 

Four on Six

Some proof, if you ever needed it, of the genius of Wes Montgomery. 

 

Shed A Little Light

James Taylor's tribute to Martin Luther King. Lovely song.  

It's Thunder and It's Lightning

From a KEXP session with We Were Promised Jetpacks, owners of one of the better band names. 

 

Wild Is The Wind

David Bowie's performance of Wild Is the Wind was the first I had been aware of, but once I learned that he modelled his version on Nina Simone and thus tracked down her recording of it, I now think of the song as hers. It was actually brought to the public eye, or ear, by Johnny Mathis, but five decades on, it's still Simone's song. 

 

Right As Rain

We get plenty of rain at this time of year ... which may be why this Adele song comes to mind a lot.