It's Friday and catching up on some non-1951 listening
Yes my family and I are still slowly progressing through our family series where everyone chooses an album for the year that the family plays. This was my 19 yo selection - not bad as a pop album. Hits are great. Loses steam at the end
Is this the first time a Justin Timberlake album has been posted on the MG?
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006)
My selection for my family for 2006 is clearly more predictable
I actually had two choices before this one but my wife chose my #2 pick (Amy Winehouse) and my 16 yo son chose my favorite album of the year (Arctic Monkeys debut) so they get Bruce.
Van puts out so dancing many albums that it's hard to keep up. I meant to take in his previous album The Prophet Speaks. I listened to it once got distracted for a second, and lo and behold, he put out another album.
Also -- ^ that's one of my favorite Springsteen albums. I have two copies. I think one includes a DVD. I might have to go check. Anyway, good choice.
Apparently this is a bit eclectic. I couldn't find it on Allmusic or RateYourMusic. Kind of punky jazz from Melbourne, Aus. Heavy with breathy, steamy singers and baritone sax.
The Motels were one of my favorite groups during the 80's. Recently I've been revisiting their works courtesy of the Culture Factory's terrific Legends of Rock Vinyl Replica CD collection.
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After 6 albums (including the posthumously released Apocalyso from 1981), I'm more impressed than ever with the excellence of their music. Now I'm up to Martha Davis' first solo record from the year after the band broke up. Policy manages to maintain the same high quality.
AMG nailed it:
Given how popular the Motels were in the '80s, Martha Davis should have been big as a solo artist. But Policy, the singer's first solo album, wasn't the major hit it deserved to be, which is surprising because Policy isn't a radical departure from her work with the Motels. Produced by Richie Zito, Policy picks up where the Motels' final album, Shock, leaves off. Davis wrote or co-wrote most of the material, and true to form, her lyrics tend to be dark and ominous -- or at least melancholy. Arguably, the Motels were a pop/rock version of film noir; their view of the world was as dark and cynical as any Raymond Chandler thriller of the '40s. And Davis' obsession with the dark side didn't end when the Motels broke up and she went solo; the haunting "Lust," the brooding "Rebecca," and other gems that she wrote or co-wrote for Policy are as dark as any of the songs on the Motels' five albums. Especially disturbing is "What Money Might Find," which takes a look at the uglier side of prostitution -- not upscale call girls (whose profession should be legal), but kids who work the streets. Davis was never one to provide an abundance of happy endings, and on Policy, happy endings are few and far between. However, she surprises us on the album's last track, "My Promise," which describes a romantic relationship that is happy and fulfilling -- not dysfunctional. The tune has a sweetly romantic quality, and it is certainly an interesting way for Davis to conclude the album; after so much darkness, melancholia, and disillusionment, she gives us something sweetly romantic. And it works. Anyone who savored the Motels' five albums will also find a lot to admire about Policy.
Unless @Old Uncle Toe can find it, this one isn't on Spotify.