Weekly Playlist 6/12
Every Friday, I share the highlights of what I’ve been listening to over the course of the week, from old favorites to new discoveries. Playlist best enjoyed in order.
Last weekend was a busy one for me, and I never had a hot minute to post a playlist — which was abysmally small anyway. So instead, we have more music this week, starting with “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin to kick off a few rock songs in a row. “Caught Up in You” by 38 Special follows, then “Stone in Love” by Journey, a great classic-rock track that’s a bit underrated. We tend to focus on some of the bigger, dare I say cheesier hits of Journey’s career, but “Stone in Love” is just a great, solid rock song, particularly as we head into hot summer nights.
We head into country territory with Johnny Cash’s lovely cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire,” a perfect choice for Cash, frankly. It suits his voice and style wonderfully, and it’s a beautiful song with great imagery in its lyrics.
I’m still trying to decide how I feel about Orville Peck, but “Turn to Hate” is a great song — and a good example of what I’m unsure about. Musically, he’s not my style, but I really love his voice. “Turn to Hate” is perhaps not the best example of it, but it is fantastic, and to ignore that would be a shame.
Continuing with more upbeat, summer-appropriate songs is Rusted Root classic “Send Me on My Way,” a song pretty much everyone likes. How can you not?
Appropriately, we go pop after that, first with Cocteau Twins’ dreamy “Cherry-coloured Funk” and then closing with the latest from synthpop perfectionist duo Erasure, “Hey Now (Think I Got a Feeling).” It’s very much a funErasure track with dance beats and Andy Bell’s recognizable vocals, and hopefully it’s just a tiny hint of the rest of album — Erasure can really kill it when it comes to earworms, and that’s what I’m hoping to hear from the full release.
For some brief weekend watching, enjoy this piece from NPR on discrimination in the jazz era, appropriate and important at this time.
