Going Steady: New Singles 9-17-21 – 9-23-21 Reviewed

You Don’t Get to Go – Amanda Shires – lovely violin, but her voice is such a screech – C

Backwards – AMH – I saw em at SohoJohnny’s charity gig two weeks ago and they blew the house down with their old school metal from the 70s sound (and pitchy lead singer), here they channel Bad Company – B+

Gimme Chocolate!! – 10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN LIVE – BABYMETAL – the all girl, metal J-Poppers get the react they want on this ramalamadingdong – B

The Big Sleep is Over (feat. K-I) – Big Boi,K-I, Sleepy Brown -dancehall and rap come together with limited results – C+

God Only Knows – Brian Wilson – one of Brian’s most beautiful songs performed solo on the piano – A-

DiE4u – Bring Me The Horizon – rock is so dead, this fucking song should be embalmed – D

Debussy: Rêverie, CD 76, L. 68 – Claude Debussy, Shani Diluka – Shani is the Sri Lankan pianist via Monaco and she performs the late 19th, 20th century impressionist godfather’s composition for piano with extreme delicacy – B+

Million Dollar Bill – Conor Oberst- a dreary snooze with one of the Dawes co-writing – C

Summertime – Grace Christiansen – for fans of Phoebe Bridgers but the indie goes Americana confessional ain’t that bad – B-

Laughing (Demo) – 2021 Remaster – David Crosby – from that I Can’t Remember My Name upcoming box set, the usual mislead melody and bad poetry – C-

Easy/Lucky/Free – Dawes – a dreadful version of a not great Conor Oberst song – C

Family – Emeli Sandé – she was thisclose to breaking the States but began to take herself way too seriously. When I saw her at Summerstage in 2013, Rudimental blew her off stage because she doesn’t exude pleasure but sadness – C

Until It’s Time For You To Go – Take 5 – Elvis Presley – beautiful but irrelevant different take from his early 70s Nashville sessions – B+

V12 (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) – iann dior -iann sang 24Goldn’s smash “Mood” but has failed to really cash in, Lil Uzi Vert helps but I can’t hear it breaking pop – B+

Find A Way (feat. Lil Baby & Lil Durk) – H.E.R. – two top pop rappers and H.E.R.’s moody neo-r&b at the top of her craft – A-

Famous Last Words – James Blake – more down stream electronica and the best yet from the upcoming album, Blake is only great when he nails the tune, which he does here – A-

Who’s In Your Head – Jonas Brothers – Max Martin sounds increasingly old fashioned on this piece of EDM product – C+

Say Hello to Your Friends – Kate Nash – the netflix tween program “The Babysitter’s Club” is great if you’re a tween and Kate treats the club with just enough respect on this catchy pop trifle – B

Altar – Kehlani – smooth r&b pop from the tattooed love girl – B

Take My Hand – Matt Berry – “What We Do In The Shadows” star Berry is also a serious musician, here he mixes 60s pop with a bizarre and muddy production – B-

Love My Hair – Mickey Guyton – you’re black, you’re female, you’re singing ballad pop country. But the song ain’t all that and while I realize that for black women the question of hair has a racial elementif the song is bad does anything else matter? – C-

One Day – Monsta X – a lovely, synth poppy move from the K-Pop band – B+

Love Love Love – My Morning Jacket – Jimmy as close as he gets to his evil urges in 2021 so, yeah, not bad – B

Earthlings – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – since Ghosteen is Nick Cave’s greatest achievement any outtake is of more than academic interest and one as great as this one, which, I figure, should have ended the album, is a miracle of preservation . I put this along with “Dig Lazarus Dig” as Nick’s greatest moment (or at least a personal fave) – SINGLE OF THE WEEK – A+

Hellraiser – 30th Anniversary Edition – Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Motörhead from 1991, a terrific hard rocker – B+

Blue Heaven – Public Service Broadcasting, Andreya Casablanca – the title track of their upcoming albumis a very strong squeeze and then release – A-

Let’s Change The World – Ringo Starr – Ringo hippie dream – C

One More Time – Rod Stewart – Rod has had a strange third act, in the 00s he was treading water and covering the Great American Songbook, then he 2013 he released one of his best albums and then the follow-ups didn’t pay off, but this re-thinking of “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind” as country pop Rod is a winner with the teardrop of age just behind the chorus – B+

Femme Fatale – Sharon Van Etten – from the upcoming VU tribute album, Angel Olsen singing harmony – B+

Valentine – Snail Mail – when I saw her open for Interpol in 2019 (here) O was impressed, she is livelier and more engaged than on a sleep inducer like this – C+

Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor Swift – 1989 was a huge album for TayTay but it wasn’t as great as Red -which was the next album of Taylor Version’s she promised. And when she writes that Shellback co-produced, does she mean this version or the original. Either way, this is a substantial improvement on the original’s Max Martin world of pop crossover – A-

One Way Or Another – The Coathangers – the all girl band (I bet their name is a pre-Roe V Wade abortion comment) are always great (and better live on stage here) and they do a more than respectable take of the Blondie classic – B+

IDGAF – The Muslims -before there was Lady Parts, there was this punk rock boy band – A-

I Don’t Live Here Anymore (feat. Lucius) – The War On Drugs – TWOD have always been a problem, part of that self-important classic Neil Young children (like former guitarist Kurt Vile) and I have never seen them on stage which might be fucking with my opinion, but whatever the reason, I simultaneously dismiss and admire them. Here as well, though more admire… maybe Lucius are helping a whole lot – B+

Love For Sale – Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga – Tony finally grew old (he has alzheimer’s disease and his Radio City gig was his last) but it ain’t dark right this second with a swinging take at Cole Porter’s ode to prostitution “Love For Sale” shared by Lady Gaga belting out the track right besides him and if we’d have preferred a solo finale, we’ll take it – B+