As my penance, I’m now sending her a weekly song to make sure that her musical foundation is sound. These won’t necessarily be the best, most popular, or my favourite songs (though sometimes they will be all three). Rather, they will be influential to my musical tastes and worth her consideration.
Given how this started, the first song is Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. There are plenty of his songs to choose from. I think this one is a great place to start.
🎶 A mention in a Pitchfork review reminded me that Spiritchaser by Dead Can Dance is great. I hadn’t listened to it in at least twenty years.
🎵 Although Secret World Live is my reference album for live Peter Gabriel, In The Big Room is quite good with interesting changes to some classic songs
🎵 I got distracted by the upcoming Rival Consoles album and missed that they already released an album this year: MindsEye. MindsEye Is more dramatic and foreboding. Both are good!
🎶 Fantastic Mumford and Sons concert! They really know how to put on a show.
🎵 Songs of a Lost World by The Cure was a favourite album of 2024. The new Mixes Of A Lost World is a musical exploration of that album through multiple remixes.
1990’s Mixed Up was also a great remix album from The Cure. Robert Smith has a knack for these collaborations.
🎶 Emerging from a delightful revisiting of The Tragically Hip. It started with this episode of the Strombo show, moved through the No Dress Rehearsal series, and ended with the Long Time Running documentary, all accompanied by their many albums. Gord Downie’s courage really is inspiring.
There’s a fair bit of overlap between No Dress Rehearsal and Long Time Running. NDR covers their entire history, while LTR focuses on their last tour. LTR also has much more content from Gord Downie. If you pick just one, I’d suggest LTR.
🎵 Inspired by Camiel Schoonens, I’m posting 20 album covers (one per day) that have shaped my music preferences. No explanations or commentary, just the cover image.
