The Dispatch, #810

Wow, it’s been a minute. Between the new job and new meds, it’s hard to keep things prioritized these days. Anyway, onto the drivel!

Artist: Bo Bice
Album: ‘The Real Thing‘
Year: 2005

Right before I aged out of American Idol, I distinctly remember rooting for this guy to win over eventual champion Carrie Underwood. I thought his brand of rock might be part of rock music’s redemption story, snatching it away from the claws of pizza slicer bands (read: all edge, no point) before it was too late. Alas, Bice was a pretender, not necessarily to a throne, but to an ideal that rock didn’t have to have 50 layers of sarcastic irony and shitty lyrics. It’s going to take more than albums filled with one decent song and then 10 tracks of eardrum-puncturing mess.

Track of Distinction: “The Real Thing” is so ironic that I cannot go into it without having a major nosebleed.

Artist: Elastica
Album: ‘Elastica‘
Year: 1995

A few weeks ago, I heard “Connection” on the radio and it threw me back in time so hard I think I chipped a vertebrae. Once again, coming to an album over 25 years after it was released, and realizing it was released in my musical formative years, makes this welcomed treat but also kind of a bummer. This is an album that might not have yielded tons of hits but it is a solid album that has aged incredibly well. Can anyone say that about much from the mid-1990s?

Track of Distinction: “Waking Up” could have been a big hit for them … if it was released in 2015. Get this band on a nostalgia throwback tour, stat!

Artist: Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
Album: ‘Night Moves‘ and ‘Greatest Hits‘
Years: 1976 and 1994 (respectively)

Never let it be said that I’m not a genuine sucker when it comes to Dad Rock. Seger might be a one-trick musical pony, but what a fucking trick it is. ‘Night Moves’ is so good nearly every track was up for ToD consideration. And his compilation album reminds us all that sometimes music’s only job is to make us feel good, if only for 3-and-a-half minutes.

Track of Distinction: “Sunspot Baby” is the song of a faithless woman that could have only been written in the 1970s.

Artist: Bobby Darin
Album: ‘The Ultimate Bobby Darin‘
Year: 2004

I’m doing my best to appreciate the legends that came before my preferred wheelhouse of music and Bobby Darin–with his cool, dry manner and almost almost-too-slick personae–scratches a lot of itches. As was the style of his time, as long as it sounded good, you could sing a song just about anything and you could get away with it. That stands to reason as his biggest hit was about a serial killer.

Track of Distinction: “Irresistible You” is a fun song about falling in new love. Kinda makes me rememeber that feeling.

Artist: Bon Iver
Albums: ‘For Emma, Forever Ago,’ ‘Blood Bank [EP],’ and ‘22, A Million‘
Years: 2008, 2009, and 2016 (respectively)

I get the casual and almost trendy hatred of Bon Iver. Most of his music isn’t really radio-ready and not very accessible. An acquaintance once said he makes music for people who want you to think they’re smart. While I’m not going to stand here and argue that Bon Iver is the best thing I’ve ever heard, his music is worth a listen. You may not come out the other side fully converted, but you might understand what others are talking about.

Track of Distinction: “8 (circle)” is about as accessible as he gets on one of his later albums but I included to the lyric video to show how he tends to layer everything on top of itself to make his sound.