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  • The bit that you skip #233: Christopher Cross – Ride like the wind

    For a brief period of time, Christopher Cross was as ubiquitous as Phil Collins was in the 80s. Specifically, the period between Sailing and All Right, with a quick shove by Arthur’s theme (best that you can do), feels like he had a Midas Touch. Revisiting those first two albums shows why: Cross has an…

  • The bit that you skip #232: Blue Öyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper

    This is a song that feels eternal. Not because of the running time but because it feels it’s always been there, besides you, just like its subject matter. Inescapable and same for all but through different means. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper is a song of two audiences: the ones whose memory is attached to a…

  • The bit that you skip #231: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Sunburst

    When I started this daily writing challenge I never thought I’d made it this far. I gotta admit I’ve had a few duffers in this collection, and other bits I’ve found both satisfying to write and quite cathartic. In the end, the purpose of writing daily is more an exercise on forcing myself to write…

  • The bit that you skip #230: Kenny Rogers – The Gambler

    I always correlate Kenny Rogers with family gatherings. As the youngest kid in my family, I was used to getting squished in the family car, whether precariously placed between my parents and keeping a yoga like position to avoid getting hit by the shift stick, sandwiched between my brothers on the back, or on the…

  • The bit that you skip #229: Marc Cohn – Walking in Memphis

    You might not believe it, but my first interaction with Cohn’s music wasn’t this bonafide classic, but the heart tugging Silver Thunderbird. That’s a song that hits harder once you reach that stage when you’ve lost your father. Ghost trains was the next track of his I heard. It was on a music channel available…

  • The bit that you skip #228: Starsailor – Four to the floor

    Ask most Britpop fans and they’ll say the scene died in ’97, with Oasis’ charliefest Be Here Now and Blur’s course-correcting selftitled. Some might even say Princess Di’s death marked the end of Cool Britannia and that took Britpop out as collateral damage. Whatever expiration date you assign to the scene, it’s clear that by…

  • The bit that you skip #227: Pulp – This is hardcore

    Not everything from Cool Britannia was charlie, pints of lager, WKDs, and dancing. Sometimes, the tale of the consequences of an all night bender is as important as the partying itself. When you’re Pulp, you focus more on that side, as their kitchen sink sensibilities have always been their major strength. From my perspective, it…

  • The bit that you skip #226: Spacehog – Never Coming Down (Pt. 2)

    A strange side effect of the Cool Britannia wave of late ’95 until 2000 was the re-appraisal by a younger (back then) generation of mod culture and early 70s films. It’s fascinating that Michael Caine ended the 60s with The Italian Job, a “relax, it’s just a flick” affair that is stylish, fun, and entirely…

  • The bit that you skip #225: Oasis – Columbia

    “Is that the edition with the orchestra song?” asked my dad, pointing at the double album edition of Definitely Maybe. We were on holidays in Spain, my nose spent the previous day bleeding all the time (I’m not good in warm weather) and my birthday was nearing. “Yeah, it’s only a single, though” I replied…

  • The bit that you skip #224: Suede – Jumble Sale Mums

    As I get older I get it: Suede is better than both Blur and Oasis. If I could tell something to my younger self it would be “you placed your chips on the wrong horse, kid!” My story with Suede is weird. I wanted Man Dog Star when it came out, but one of my…