Maggie and Suzzy and Terre Roche released a series of albums whose pinprick-sharp depictions of infidelity and tensions in the nuclear family that still sound like challenges. Happy birthday to Suzzy. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2021/10/01/i...
Unafraid of sentimentality because they trust the warmth of their harmonized vocals, Maggie and Suzzy and Terre Roche released a series of albums whose pinprick-sharp depictions of infidelity and t…
Yet another list of killers: farewell to Diana's Supremes, hello to a couple of Aretha's best chart toppers and to the Jackson 5. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2024/09/28/7...
Like yesterday’s list, this one boasts no filler: on another day I may love the amiable “Stoned Love” and the okay-for-now “Love on a Two Way Street. This afternoon on the e…
I wrote about the late Maggie Smith's career: her wit, her expert use of that crisp fluting voice, and about her late-career turn as an avatar for haughty, cucumber sandwich chic. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2024/09/27/m...
Those used to watching the late Maggie Smith in mordant dowager roles might get a shock from Clash of the Titans. As Thetis, “goddess of the sea,” Smith is sultry — Zeus (Laurence…
Of course it appeals to me too -- that's the fun of many Ferry covers. But the moment when Ferry yelps "Are you ready for bad blood?" I jump out the forty-story building.
My boy Bryan Ferry wrote bangers and he wrote banalities. Here are some of his worst songs and performances. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2021/11/08/c...
As confidently as Bryan Ferry bestrode the world for a decade as Roxy Music, the same confidence lead to moments when he tripped over his cummerbund.
Happy birthday to Bryan Ferry, the Love God, forever chasing wraiths of women who fail to concretize into real women. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/10/03/r...
Do you think I can write an introduction? 1. These Foolish Things (1973) The proto-Brett Kavanaugh hair coif on the sleeve sets the tone: thirteen approaches to popular music, alternately garish and b...
Peak Roy Orbison hysteria, the Stones' first US top ten, Del Shannon continuing his trebly ways. These are excellent mid '60s #9 singles. Also: "Little Honda," subject of an ace Yo La Tengo cover. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2024/09/26/r...
“Your baby doesn’t love you any more,” Roy Orbison sings at the opening of "It's Over." When Orbison uses the second person it's a smokescreen to hide the mirror. As the drums borrowed from Ravel's "B...
They did.
The most genial of American post-punk bands, the Meat Puppets murmured cheerfully while keeping apocalypse at bay. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/w...
These unwashed burnouts produced a methamphetamined acoustic punk in the eighties for which I can only think of The Feelies circa The Good Earth as an analogue (these days I hear the influence on The ...
When I bought Tunnel of Love on a whim in early ’95, a month before the release of Greatest Hits, its “adultness” impressed me. Twelve stately and rather beautiful tracks, meticulously programmed by Springsteen himself in most case. My reappraisal. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/1...
Remembering a time when Springsteen wasn't hip is like imagining a time when it was illegal to serve alcohol. The period from 1992 to the release of the '95 greatest hits compilation found The Boss ex...