Weekly Playlist (10/10/2024)
Photo Courtesy of Official Jeff Buckley Instagram
Bryce Russell | Arts & Entertainment Editor
“Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” – Fairport Convention
Off the back of the American folk revival of the late 50s / early 60s the folk rock boom of mid-60s with artists like Bob Dylan and the Byrds, Fairport Convention became England’s response to a genre dominated by American artists. Starting more in the vein of American folk rock with covers of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention settled into a sound categorized by distinctly British folk influences. With the addition of the amazing Sandy Denny on their second album, the band released (at least) three superb studio albums, all in 1969, What We Did On Our Holiday, Unhalfbricking, and Liege & Lief. This track, “Who Knows Where the Times Goes?” is written by Sandy Denny and shows the group’s ability to write songs that have entered the folk music tradition themself.
“Haunts of Ancient Peace” – Van Morrison
1980’s Common One was somewhat of a comeback album for Van Morrison, after the slickly produced albums of the late 70s like Wavelength and Period of Transition. The opening song, “Haunts of Ancient Peace,” sets the stage for Common One, a jazzy, soul-filled reflection on the art, poetry, and landscapes that have inspired Van’s music. Though overlooked in recent times, Common One is one of Van Morrison’s best, and is an example of an often confounding and hard-to-pin-down artist at his most reflective and introspective.
November of 2024 will mark 20 years since MF DOOM’s classic album Mm..Food, made up of genius rhymes, soul and cartoon sampling, and accented with food-based puns. Having, arguably, his most popular song, “Rapp Snitch Knishes,” Mm..Food boasts some of DOOM’s most genius lines and fun vibes, and it’s worth checking out for more songs than just “Rapp Snitch Knishes.”
“Married With Children” – Oasis
With Oasis back together after 15 years of the Gallagher brothers’ infamous feud, the Manchester rock group is set to partake in what is certain to be one of the highest-grossing and widely attended tours in the history of Rock n’ Roll. The band, most well known for their rock anthems like “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and “Cigarettes and Alcohol,” is more than just a whiney band with some stadium sing-a-longs. “Married With Children,” the closing track on their 1994 debut Definitely, Maybe is a great example of Noel Gallagher’s softer side of songwriting, and Liam Gallagher’s more reserved vocals.
One of popular music’s most tragic losses, Jeff Buckley was only 30 years old when he passed away in a drowning accident in the Wolf River in Northern Mississippi and Western Tennessee. Having only released one full length studio album, 1994’s Grace, Buckley (much like his father Tim Buckley) only began to receive fame after his death in 1997 in the midst of recoridng his second album. Since then, Grace is widely considered one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, with accolades from the likes of Robert Plant, David Bowie, and Bob Dylan. While the album is most widely known for Buckley’s now famous cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and receiving greater attention in recent years from Tik Tok finding his dramatic song of lost love, “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over.” The opening song, “Mojo Pin,” is a criminally underrated song from a generational talent taken far too soon and at the height of his power.
I’ll close off this week’s playlist with a singer/songwriter whose music has been impactful for the last 50 years but hasn’t received a ton of widespread attention. Tim Buckley (as mentioned above) was the estranged father of Jeff Buckley and released 9 albums from 1966 until his death at the age of 28 in 1975. His most well-known albums, Goodbye and Hello and Happy Sad, show his transition from folk rock singer/songwriter into an avant-garde funk artist. Personally, I am partial to his earlier folk rock sound (though I love basically his entire music output), and I think that this song, “Wings,” off of his underrated debut self-titled album is a hidden gem in a vast catalog of great songs. When listening to Tim’s work, you can see where his son got his strong, emotional vocal and lyrical ability.