Playing Catch-Up: Part XXII

Artist: Janelle Monae
Album: ‘Dirty Computer‘
Year: 2018

Why does knowing about Janelle Monae still feel like my own little secret? I know she gets a good amount of press and she made a splash when she revealed the late-great Prince helped her write the beat for “Make Me Feel” but, other than that, this album didn’t get the praise it should have. She toes that line between being edgy and being cool. Her lyrics are (mostly) less flamethrower and more campfire. This album was exquisitely crafted with a lot of care showing her range and devotion to the loving art of creation.

Track of Distinction: The raw and unyielding “Django Jane” beats out “Screwed” just because of its raw power. I would feel bad for doing otherwise.

Artist: Soundtrack
Album: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Awesome Mix, Vol. 2‘
Year: 2017

The thing I find most interesting about these soundtracks is, unlike most other ones, there’s very little subtext to be found here. You can gather most of the emotional plot points of the movie just by listening to this album and be mostly correct. Sure, you’re not going to get the main plot but you will get the feeling of familiarity when you listen to this like you’ve just watched the movie again. It’s pretty cool.

Track of Distinction: “Fox On The Run” by Sweet is pretty badass and definitely something that sets itself apart.

Artist: Kanye West
Album: ‘Ye‘
Year: 2018

Ever had a long conversation with a drunk or high person? The kind where they start off telling you their theory of everything and it devolves into all of their conspiracy theories about how the world hates them. And not just a passive hate, but an active hate that keeps them from reaching their full potential? Then they start naming names of the people that wronged them? And then they start crying because they start thinking they did it all to themselves? And then, blurry-eyed and staggering, they try to stand only to fall, pass out, and shit themselves? That’s this album. I’m just glad it was shorter than most of those conversations I’ve had in my life.

Track of Distinction: “Yikes” just be cause I couldn’t think of anything else that was worth it.

Artist: Florence + The Machine
Album: ‘High As Hope‘
Year: 2018

I’m ending my catch-up with a late addition (which is good because I couldn’t find my copy of the new Mountain Goats album anywhere) and it’s an album that, for me, cements Florence Welch as one of the great voices in contemporary music today. This album shows a lot of pain as well as a lot of strengths. As most of their songs do, they elicit a sense of power that seems to come from the depths of our dark souls so it can be released to finally give us peace. Florence and her band of souls show us the way and, for that, we thank you.

Track of Distinction: “The End of Love” brought the house down on an album that had many contenders for the crown.

That’s it! Soon, there will be a Catch-Up Mixtape coming before I jump back into the alphabet! See you then!

Soundtracks, Part 6

Album: ‘Forrest Gump‘
Year: 1994

Though not the catalyst for my love of classic rock, this certainly helped me expand my horizons beyond the realm of contemporary music during my formative years. This soundtrack, like the film, has mass appeal written all over it with every track a household sound that was sure to please. My dad took a look at the track listing and simply said, “Wow.” It sounds like a time capsule of when American rock music finally came into its own.

Track of Distinction: Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers” is a rocking good time that I keep overlooking. No longer.

Album: ‘Friday‘
Year: 1995

I didn’t watch this movie until I was in college and, when I did, I was immediately attracted to the music. Still being a relative rap newbie (not to mention the whitest person in the county), I find this soundtrack welcoming showing me the personality of the film in song form. Like the neighborhood in the film, the soundtrack has its overly-masculine side, its smooth old school side, and even its soft side that all ring genuine. A well-crafted album for a surprisingly poignant movie.

Track of Distinction: Rose Royce’s “I Wanna Get Next to You” is the softest offering on the album but it also resonates the most.

Album: ‘Godzilla: The Album‘
Year: 1998

While most of us would be fine with going about our lives like this turd of a movie never happened, we tend to forget about the dumpster fire that is the soundtrack. Built up around power singles from Puff Daddy and an above-average David Bowie cover by The Wallflowers, the album is a hodge-podge of music that likely didn’t make the movie and was included to build up the albums credentials with its target audience. I was part of said audience in 1998 and, therefore, handed several dollars to my local Target for this CD. I defended it at the time, but time did not treat this well with many sub-par offerings by bands lucky to make the undercard at Lollapalooza. Not time well-spent.

Track of Distinction: I didn’t star a single track off this album for distinction. HAHAHAHAHA! Fuck it, I’ll give it to The Wallflowers just for the hell of it.

Album: ‘The Great Gatsby‘
Year: 2013

Another in a shockingly long list of soundtracks for films I have never seen, I come to a heavy-R&B soundtrack to a movie based on the whiniest white privilege book of all time (read: not a fan). The album is good, though. Executive producer Jay-Z takes some chances with an above-average cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” a soaring Florence + The Machine track, a Lana Del Rey song that could double as a Bond movie song, and even a rocker by Jack White making it an album that truly keeps you on your toes. While I could have done without Beyonce’s speakeasy version of “Crazy in Love,” the album does its job and (probably) compliments the film rather well.

Track of Distinction: Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and The Dream get together and knock “No Church In the Wild” out of the freaking park! This track is head and shoulders above everything else on the album, and that’s quite a feat.

Album: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Vol. 1‘
Year: 2014

My wife affectionately calls this movie, “The Movie Where Chris Pratt Got Hot.” She’s never seen it. She doesn’t like “comic book movies” so I watched this alone in our basement one night and immediately loved it. The soundtrack, based on a mixtape the mother of Pratt’s character  gave him full of good 70s and 80s pop classics, is freaking great except my wife couldn’t stand it. Well, if I had known that, I would have listened to this album in the basement without her. But hearing it while driving was definitely worth it.

Track of Distinction: From an album with no stars to one where nearly every track was starred, this was one tough choice. In the end, Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” won out for being smooth and insanely catchy.