ABBA on WIKIPEDIA.
[MP3] "Dancing Queen" [1977]
[MP3] "My Love, My Life" [1977]
[MP3] "Knowing Me, Knowing You" [1977]
[MP3] "Take a Chance on Me" [1978]
[MP3] "Summer Night City" [1979]
[MP3] "Angeleyes" [1979]
[MP3] "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" [1979]
Ugh. What a black mood I've been in of late. Eight months of court-ordered sobriety (with six to go). My brother's death in February. A 40-year-old cousin dying of liver failure (despite never having been a drinker at all). A speeding ticket Thursday night. And goddam religion & pseudo-religion & "spirituality" every goddam place I look. Obama's goddam preacher doing his damndest to Swift Boat him. Goddam pope on the 24-hour news channels 24/7. Goddam Dalai Lama traipsing around my beloved, secular Ann Arbor (with Richard Gere! PHILIP GLASS! BOBBY fuckin' McFERRIN!). Orthodox Jews walking the streets looking like something out of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Creepy Mormons in creepy dresses & creepy hairdos in Texas compounds. Why the hell couldn't we just burn them all down -- like we did with that other cult in that other Texas compound.Okay, so I'm feeling a little angry. A little bitter. (Uh-oh -- there's that word again. Obama called the White Trash of Pennsylvania "bitter." Said that's why they cling to their guns & their gods & their prejudices. He was, of course, correct. Overly simplistic, but correct. So... welcome to the White House, John McCain. Welcome to four more years of old-white-man Republican rule, people of Earth. Welcome to 1989-1993, Part Deux. Son of a bitch.)So.... what is one to do? Turn to pop music, of course. Happy, absurd, immaculate pop music from the beautiful people of Sweden. People who don't believe in gods or guns or Texas. People who believe in the important things. Like hockey. And vodka. And a great hook. And a glorious chorus.So here's Part 1 of three today. Keep coming back. I promise to be less bitter. And, six months from now, I'll be right as rain....ABBA on WIKIPEDIA.
[MP3] "The Winner Takes It All" [1980]
[MP3] "On and On and On" [1980]
[MP3] "Our Last Summer" [1980]
[MP3] "Head Over Heels" [1981]
[MP3] "One of Us" [1981]
[MP3] "Slipping Through My Fingers" [1981]
[MP3] "Under Attack" [1982]
[MP3] "You Owe Me One" [1982]
Looking back from here, I'm surprised to find that I'm feeling more affection for MONSTER than for NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI. The latter is the "deeper" disc, with a decidedly wider sonic range. But the former is, frankly, more fun. N.A.I.H.-F. suffers from some clunky and/or generic rockers ("Undertow," "Binky the Doormat," "Low Desert"), a rather bland folk number ("New Test Leper"), and a highly unexceptional ballad ("Be Mine"). Granted, I'm hard-pressed to find anything positive to say about "King of Comedy"; "Strange Currencies" is essentially "Everybody Hurts, Part 2"; and "I Took Your Name" and "Crush With Eyeliner" sound rather lazily alike. But I'm willing to forgive MONSTER its trespasses. (Hell, I'm even quite fond of the orange packaging and the rather adorably dumb 'n' fuzzy bear-head cover. But that's just me....)R.E.M. on WIKIPEDIA.
From the LP MONSTER, 1994 >>>
[MP3] [VID] "Star 69"
[MP3] "Let Me In"
[MP3] "I Took Your Name"
From the LP NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI, 1996 >>>
[MP3] [VID] "E-Bow the Letter" [w/PATTI SMITH]
[MP3] "Leave"
[MP3] [VID] "Electrolite"
Ugh. What a black mood I've been in of late. Eight months of court-ordered sobriety (with six to go). My brother's death in February. A 40-year-old cousin dying of liver failure (despite never having been a drinker at all). A speeding ticket Thursday night. And goddam religion & pseudo-religion & "spirituality" every goddam place I look. Obama's goddam preacher doing his damndest to Swift Boat him. Goddam pope on the 24-hour news channels 24/7. Goddam Dalai Lama traipsing around my beloved, secular Ann Arbor (with Richard Gere! PHILIP GLASS! BOBBY fuckin' McFERRIN!). Orthodox Jews walking the streets looking like something out of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Creepy Mormons in creepy dresses & creepy hairdos in Texas compounds. Why the hell couldn't we just burn them all down -- like we did with that other cult in that other Texas compound.
Are THE COURTEENERS destined to be the next Next Big Thing outta the UK? Rumor has it that MORRISSEY thinks so. (Of course, I was just writing last week about how he thought JAMES were going to be the Next Big Thing back in the '80s, so one must certainly take his opinion with a grain or two or three of saltpeter).
ARTIST: SANDRINE
BAND: AQUEDUCT
Looking back from here, I'm surprised to find that I'm feeling more affection for MONSTER than for NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI. The latter is the "deeper" disc, with a decidedly wider sonic range. But the former is, frankly, more fun. 
