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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names dropped with reckless abandon: A, ABBA, Ann Wilson, Bruno Mars, Bryan Adams, Carrie Underwood, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Don Henley, Gladys Knight, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Gloria Estefan, Goo Goo Dolls, Janet Jackson, Johnny Rzeznik, Katy Perry, KISS, La Roux, Lady GaGa, Nancy Wilson, Neil Diamond, Nirvana, Patti LaBelle, Ryan Bingham, Simon and Garfunkel, The Cranberries, The Weepies, Travie McCoy, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, Weird Al Yankovic
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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.
names dropped with reckless abandon: "Beverly Hills 90210", Chris Isaak, Sherry Ann
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Tanya Tucker — “Down to My Last Teardrop”
(from 20 Greatest Hits) —
Hilarious and highly improbable though it may seem, that notorious country-phobe A has become quite taken with one Tanya Tucker this summer (kid you not, if I hear “Delta Dawn” wafting from his general direction one more time, I’m literally gonna choke him), but while he is quite familiar with the iconic material she produced in her teenage years, he is almost completely unacquainted with the blistering tunes which marked the dynamic second act of her storied career. Darling, consider this sassy, catchy kiss-off a terrific introduction to the rest of the story.
names dropped with reckless abandon: A, Tanya Tucker
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(or: september 1’s honey from the hive)
names dropped with reckless abandon: "The Young and the Restless", Brandon's Buzz Radio, Sean Kanan
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brandon’s buzz radio! 8/31/10, 10pm edt / 7pm pdt!
Pat Benatar — “All Fired Up” (from Best Shots) —
Not by a long shot was this her biggest hit (it barely squeaked into the top twenty in the summer of 1988, far beyond her commercial zenith), but — and think me weird if you must — this no-frills straight-ahead stunner has always been my favorite of Benatar’s boombox-shattering blockbusters, and when it popped up in an iPod shuffle while I was running errands earlier this afternoon, I cranked up the stereo, squealed with utter delight, and sped down the highway singing along with all my might.
names dropped with reckless abandon: Pat Benatar
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(or: august 31’s honey from the hive)
Dave Matthews — “Gravedigger” (from Some Devil) —
Taking a brief breather from his beloved Band in the fall of 2003, the masterful Matthews struck gold with an agonizing anthem which celebrated the delicate fragility of life and the brazen defiance of death.
names dropped with reckless abandon: Dave Matthews, Dave Matthews Band
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(or: august 30’s honey from the hive)
If you missed any of last week’s tunes, here is a quick recap:
MONDAY: The Band Perry — “If I Die Young”
(from The Band Perry) —
TUESDAY: Finley Quaye & William Orbit (featuring Beth Orton) — “Dice”
(from Much More Than Much Love) —
WEDNESDAY: Celine Dion — “Taking Chances”
(from Taking Chances) —
THURSDAY: Court Yard Hounds (featuring Jakob Dylan) —
“See You in the Spring” (from Court Yard Hounds) —
FRIDAY: John Lennon — “Nobody Told Me”
(from Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon) —
SATURDAY: Carly Simon — “Coming Around Again”
(from Coming Around Again) —
SUNDAY: Joe Purdy — “City” (from Only Four Seasons) —
names dropped with reckless abandon: Beth Orton, Carly Simon, Celine Dion, Court Yard Hounds, Finley Quaye, Jakob Dylan, Joe Purdy, John Lennon, The Band Perry, William Orbit
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(or: a week’s worth of honey from the hive)
Joe Purdy — “City” (from Only Four Seasons) —
An all-time fave amongst the Grey’s Anatomy set, Purdy has long past perfected the art of painful, prodding earnestness. But sometimes — as on this aching elegy to a city and a woman who are inextricably linked inside his mind — he can still strike a chord. The more things change, indeed.
names dropped with reckless abandon: "Grey's Anatomy", Joe Purdy
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(or: august 29’s honey from the hive)
Carly Simon — “Coming Around Again”
(from Coming Around Again) —
With a magnificent, refreshingly adult mid-’80s marvel, the majestic Simon reignited her flagging fortunes and saved one of pop’s most glorious careers from fading entirely into oblivion. Couldn’t have happened to a smarter, cooler gal.
names dropped with reckless abandon: Carly Simon
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(or: august 28’s honey from the hive)
John Lennon — “Nobody Told Me”
(from Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon) —
From the watershed year that became 1984, in which the baton was officially passed and a new generation of torchbearers — Michael, Madge, George, Cyndi, Prince — was anointed at once, a pivotal, posthumous smash — and a fitting final farewell — from a still-young man who had nonetheless rightfully become one of rock’s elders.
names dropped with reckless abandon: Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, John Lennon, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince
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(or: august 27’s honey from the hive)
The wind cries Katy this week, and urrybody figured out a while ago that whomever tried to stand in Miss Perry’s way was gonna get steamrolled. Hence, it’s hardly a pulse-pounder on the new release wall this week. A quick look at the highlights:
- Proving definitively that there’s no such thing as bad press, former American Idol winner Fantasia — fresh off a half-hearted suicide attempt in the wake of adultery allegations — steps up with her third album, Back to Me, which includes the Ryan Tedder-penned
“Even Angels,” a one-off single from earlier this year.
- Christian superstar Natalie Grant is aiming to touch off a
Love Revolution with her latest disc.
- Usher bookends his latest release Raymond vs. Raymond with
a collection of remixes and b-sides, Versus, which includes guest appearances from Pitbull, Justin Bieber, and Jay-Z.
- David Guetta adds four bonus tracks — including new collaborations with Fergie, Madonna, and Kelis — to his smash 2009 album and renames it One Love 2010.
- Warner Brothers inaugurates a new series of budget-priced
best-of sets entitled Top Ten with hits collections from Clay Walker
and Sixpence None the Richer. (Look for upcoming titles in the series from the likes of Travis Tritt, Dwight Yoakam, and Randy Travis.)
- Genre-busting country band Little Big Town return with their
fourth studio album, The Reason Why.
- The motion picture soundtrack for Drew Barrymore’s upcoming romantic comedy Going the Distance features classic tracks from The Cure and The Pretenders, as well as new tunes from Boxer Rebellion and
The Airborne Toxic Event.
- And finally, the one and only Katy Perry follows up her massive 2008 breakthrough with what promises to be an even bigger retail behemoth, Teenage Dream. The lead single “California Gurls” was juvenile, ridiculous, and catchy as all hell — translation: the perfect summer smash — and the title track is rocketing up the charts right behind it, so buckle in and be prepared for Perry to be inescapable once again.
names dropped with reckless abandon: Boxer Rebellion, Clay Walker, David Guetta, Drew Barrymore, Dwight Yoakam, Fantasia, Fergie, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Kelis, Little Big Town, Madonna, Pitbull, Randy Travis, Ryan Tedder, Sixpence None the Richer, The Airborne Toxic Event, The Cure, The Pretenders, Travis Tritt, Usher
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(or: august 24 — a thumbnail sketch)
“Hi! You are the manly man! I hope you will like my cake with strawberries. I want to communicate via email. With hope, Ekaterina.”
— a fun (and certainly flattering, if not entirely accurate) comment which got caught in the Buzz’s spam filter earlier today. (For the record, Ekaterina, I do love strawberry shortcake — all the way down to my toenails, indeed — but alas, I’m taken, and it’s for keeps.)
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Court Yard Hounds (featuring Jakob Dylan) — “See You in the Spring”
(from Court Yard Hounds) —
When these goofy, petulant heifers speak, they never fail to make me want to scale the interior walls of my skull trying in vain to quell the resulting brain itch. But when they sing — with or without that woefully ignorant babbling brook Natalie Maines — they never fail to create unfettered magic. (Incidentally, I am the loving boyfriend of a human being who positively detests cold weather of any stripe, and I predict this one’s gonna touch him deeply somewhere beneath the palm fronds and beach sand of his soul.)
names dropped with reckless abandon: A, Court Yard Hounds, Jakob Dylan, Natalie Maines
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(or: august 26’s honey from the hive)