Brandon's Buzz

All kinds of musical blasts from the past are on tap this week as August draws to a close. Nothing much earth-shattering here, but there is quite a bit to have fun with here. Take a look:

 

They may not hold sway on the charts and at pop radio the way they once did in their respective heydays — the late ’80s for the ladies, with unforgettable smashes like their 1987 classic “Alone” and their turn-of-the-decade touchstone “All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You,” and the late ’90s for the guys, with their twin triumphs from 1998, “Iris” and “Slide” — but they are responsible for some of the most-loved music of all time, and this week, the Wilson sisters — you know ’em better as Heart — and Johnny Rzeznik and his Goo Goo Dolls each return this week from extended hiatuses with hot new recordings. Heart is back with Red Velvet Car, their first album since 2004’s Jupiter’s Darling, and the tender lead single “Hey You” is already getting a surprisingly warm reception at adult contemporary radio. Meanwhile, aside from a terrific pair of hits collections, we’ve heard nary a peep from Rzeznik and his band since their 2006 effort Let Love In, but the Dolls are back on the playground with their ninth album, Something for the Rest of Us, and early word has it that the record is a tight, typically polished collection of tunes designed to keep their fans — a group in which I proudly include myself — happy and hungry for more.

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Chris Isaak — “Wicked Game” (from Heart Shaped World) —

Sherry Ann resides foremost in my thoughts on this morning of this day, September 2, 2010. 9-02-10. See, when we were but young, hormone-propelled high school churren, Beverly Hills, 90210 was not so much a mere television show as it was an obsession — for the world’s youth at large, to be sure, but specifically for us. (True story: at the beginning of sophomore year, with all the latitude that her allowance would permit, Sherry Ann schlepped from store to store buying up all the teen magazines — anybody out there remember Teen Beat? Or Bop!? — that she could find, as the periodicals were literally littered from cover to cover with photographs, posters, stickers, and images of the show’s sickeningly photogenic cast. She then delivered unto me this ridiculous pile of magazines, and I swear to Jesus, I sat on her living room floor for an entire weekend with a pair of scissors clipping out pictures and text for the sole purpose of cobbling together a 90210 scrapbook for my best friend in the world, a scrapbook that she’ll swear to this day still exists, even though she hasn’t allowed me or anyone else to touch or even lay naked eyes on it since its completion.) And on this day, I can think of no more appropriate song to emanate from the hive’s speakers than this one, a haunting and nearly ethereal tune that became an all-time smash in large part because of its use underscoring a pivotal Dylan/Brenda reconciliation scene that Sherry Ann made me watch, rewind, watch, rewind, and watch again roughly 17,000 times. Much love to you on all days, my dear, but most especially on this one.