Lost Songs: Five Forgotten Tracks from the 1980s

Let’s concede that sometimes the world moves too fast. Time, to our mortal frustration, never stops. And down on a personal level so much of our limited time is taken up with the big chunks of real, mundane, responsible stuff that constitutes our everyday lives; and then there’s our daily turning off for sleep.¹ The upshot of this is that even the most alert, astute, inquisitive, energized, wired…[fill in your adjective here]…of us can barely keep up with even the most momentous peaks of that uninterrupted wave of complex, countless happenings that make up our world. And this is reality.

This little preamble is my way of saying that we’re mostly stuck to follow the flow of events. I doubt you’ll want to follow me down this path of philosophical rumination, so let me do a quick left turn and apply this line of thinking to something a lot more fun, pop culture. Now is a glorious time to be a fan. What with the internet, blogosphere, youtube, television channels and websites dedicated to every form of entertainment, twitter, facebook, etc., and the endless parade of commentators and critics ready to make sense of it all. This is the age of entertainment variety and specialization. And I don’t think us fans of pop culture (a fairly frequent subject of this blog) would want it any other way. In fact, if anything, we probably want our special tastes even more catered to. But as any economist will tell you, life is about compromise and trade-offs. Specialization and variety are accompanied by scattering and diffusion. I may get to enjoy my favored entertainments better than ever, but at the loss of all the other things that I’ll never even know were there to be experienced. And this is reality.

So, here is the first in a new series of pop culture posts that represent my battle against the uninterrupted wave of time. To paraphrase a famous American conservative, this is my standing athwart history and yelling "stop". Or at least asking you to take a few moments to experience some bits of pop culture that you may have missed. The subject of this post is five “lost” tracks from the 1980s. I’ll touch on movies, TV, books, etc., and other decades in future posts. Before I get to the songs, let me note upfront that these tracks aren’t supposed to be my version of a “best of” or a shrill screed against a culture that failed to recognize the excellence of so-and-so 20-plus years ago. It’s just a list of relatively unknown songs that I think have aged well, and that you might like.² It’s all meant in the spirit of fun, so enjoy.

Conroy’s Five “Lost” Tracks from the 1980s (in no particular order):

"Pure" by Lightning Seeds. This is pure 80s, what with the heavy synth backing, melodious, upbeat rhythm, and distinct way the English have of singing a pop song.

Reentering the Tunnel of Love

by Conroy

“There's a crazy mirror showing us both in 5-d / I’m laughing at you, you're laughing at me / There's a room of shadows that gets so dark brother / It’s easy for two people to lose each other, in this tunnel of love”
– Bruce Springsteen, “Tunnel of Love”

Bruce Springsteen surely ranks as one of the most successful and admired musicians of the rock era.¹ His career has been a rare combination of immense popularity and critical adulation, and he’s been doing it for 40 years. In fact it’s the very scope of his career and the enduring airplay of his biggest hit songs (not to mention his reputation as a colossus of arena-rock), that can obscure the fact that Springsteen was capable of startling artistic turns. It’s been 25 years since one of these turns when he released what has become an overlooked album, a forgotten masterpiece, Tunnel of Love.

Ask fans or critics to identify Springsteen’s best album and they’re likely to say Born to Run, Born in the U.S.A. or even The River. Few, I suspect, would choose Tunnel of Love. Springsteen developed a pattern of alternating between “big” accessible albums with smaller more intimate ones. He followed Born to Run (1975) with the darker Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978); The River (1980) with the down-right bleak Nebraska (1982).

But Springsteen roared back after that album, becoming a rock god, The Boss, after releasing the immensely successful album Born in the U.S.A. (1984)² and enjoying its immensely successful follow-up tour. Born in the U.S.A. was, among other things, an anthemic and exciting album. That’s why it sold so well. And naturally there was tremendous anticipation for the follow-up. When he delivered Tunnel of Love in 1987, I doubt many fans could have anticipated the sound or subject matter. Rather than traffic in the same blend of power rock, Springsteen did a 180, turning inward and stripping his music down, almost entirely removing the E Street Band from the recording sessions. He turned from the social and political to the personal and introspective. It’s a startling 12 tracks.³

Above and beyond anything else, Tunnel of Love is an album about love and doubt and marriage and disappointment. Or what I like to term a divorce album. Befitting its subject matter, the music is mostly subdued and lyrics dwell on failed marriage and love. While this may seem like a recipe for dour listening, Springsteen’s evocative lyrics paint stark pictures and his music while stripped down remains haunting. In many ways the album is a cousin to U2’s Achtung Baby, which is also a divorce album, and no less compelling for it.

I think you have to be a little careful when considering autobiography in an artist’s work, but in the case of Tunnel of Love, Springsteen’s personal life may well have inspired his art. He married actress Julianne Phillips in 1985 during the Born in the U.S.A. tour. A newly married man in his mid-30s, a mature Springsteen seemed to find disappointment instead of happiness. And it’s hard not to connect an album full of tracks about failed love with the experience of his recent marriage. Consider that it was during the Tunnel of Love tour ⁴ that he separated from Phillips and began his relationship with E Street Band back-up singer Patti Scialfa.⁵

This personal history is worth remembering when listening to the album. Here’s a track-by-track review:

“Ain’t Got You” sets the albums tone with Springsteen’s arrhythmic, country-twinged vocals backed by a spare guitar. The lyrics focus on a musician, indistinguishable from Springsteen, awash in wealth, luck, and luxury, but lacking love. The opening verse says it all:

“I got a fortune of heaven in diamonds and gold / I got all the bonds baby that the bank could hold / I got houses 'cross the country honey end to end / And everybody buddy wants to be my friend / Well I got all the riches honey any man every knew / But the only thing I ain't got honey I ain't got you.”

Tougher Than the Rest and All That Heaven Will Allow
The song is clever and a bit funny, and its longing leads directly to the second—and standout—track, “Tougher Than the Rest.” A slow ballad backed by an insistent drum-bass line and a mild synthesizer drone (this is still a mid-80s album after all) the lyrics show hope for true love: “Well if you’re looking for love / Honey I’m tougher than the rest.” But a hope full of compromise:

“Well ’round here baby / I learned you get what you can get / So if you’re rough enough for love / Honey I’m tougher than the rest,” and “Well it ain’t no secret / I’ve been around a time or two / Well I don’t know baby maybe you’ve been around too / Well there’s another dance / All you gotta do is say yes.”

“All That Heaven Will Allow” carries on much in the same musical and lyrical vein, but the compromise isn’t with love, but with circumstance. This is the last time on the album that belief in love triumphs over all: “Rain and storm and dark skies / Well now they don’t mean a thing / If you got a girl that loves you / And who wants to wear your ring.”


Spare Parts, Cautious Man, and Walk Like a Man
The albums falls from its tenuous hope on the next three tracks. “Spare Parts,” a country-rocker that tells the story of a man who runs out on his pregnant fiancé. “Cautious Man,” the album’s sparest track, is a somber ballad of a loner who battles his demons and his desire to walk away from his wife. Then there is “Walk Like a Man,” another slow ballad, that sounds like a message to Springsteen’s father conveys the sentimentality and hope attached to marriage:

“I remember ma draggin’ me and my sister up the street to the church / Whenever she heard those wedding bells / Well would they ever look so happy again / The handsome groom and his bride / As they stepped into that long black limousine / For their mystery ride.”

Tunnel of Love
Having firmly established a grim and soul-addled mood, Springsteen speeds up the music with one of the album’s best tracks, “Tunnel of Love.” The title track is awash in synthesizer (it’s easily the most musically robust track) and jangling guitar. It also introduces the albums central metaphor, comparing love and relationships to a funhouse ride, it’s worth quoting at length:

“Fat man sitting on a little stool / Takes the money from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you / Hands me the ticket smiles and whispers good luck / Cuddle up angel cuddle up my little dove / Well ride down baby into this tunnel of love/

I can feel the soft silk of your blouse / And them soft thrills in our little fun house / Then the lights go out and it's just the three of us / You me and all that stuff were so scared of / Gotta ride down baby into this tunnel of love/

There's a crazy mirror showing us both in 5-d / I’m laughing at you you're laughing at me / There's a room of shadows that gets so dark brother / It’s easy for two people to lose each other in this tunnel of love/

It ought to be easy ought to be simple enough / Man meets woman and they fall in love / But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough / And you’ve got to learn to live with what you can't rise above if you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love.”

The Best Songs from 2011

by Conroy

With only days left in 2011, it's time for my annual Top 10 Songs list. As with the previous versions (see my 2010 list here), this list will count down what I consider to be the ten best songs from this year. As a reminder, there are a couple of ground rules for songs to be eligible for the list:

• If at all possible, I try to include only one song per artist. For instance, I could have included multiple songs from the excellent album The King is Dead by The Decemberists, but adhering to my rule, and because I wasn't completely blown away by numerous album tracks, I've included just one song from the album. However, if we turned back time and I was writing about my Top 10 songs from say 1997, I would have included multiple songs from Radiohead's spectacular album OK Computer (after all, four songs from that album are included in my Top 250 Songs).   
• All songs must be released in this calendar year (i.e. 2011). For instance, Adele released her massive hit album, 21, this year. The lead single "Rolling in the Deep" was a global hit, and it has made (often topped) critics’ Top 10 lists for 2011, but it was actually released and gained immediate airplay in 2010. Since it was released separate from the rest of the album and gained widespread attention, I must disqualify it from consideration for songs from 2011. Is this unnecessarily hair-splitting? Maybe, but I dislike recognizing songs more than a year after they become hits (or in the case of many great songs that don’t become hits, after their initial release). 

Also, as you read through this list I offer my familiar caution. As with all annual lists, my Top 10 Songs is based on impressions from this year with only a limited amount of time to have heard and internalized each of these songs. Often it takes years or more for the significance of a song, album, or any other artistic creation to become clear. I publish these lists because I think it's fun, generates discussion, and identifies some of the outstanding songs from the past year. However, it could be that I look back years from now with different opinions of what really was best from 2011 (consider my 2010 list to judge my judgment).  

Okay that's enough background, the list:

Conroy's Top 10 Songs of 2011

10. “Change the Sheets” by Kathleen Edwards. It’s been a few years since Kathleen Edwards’ previous release, the outstanding Asking for Flowers, but her follow-up Voyageur will be released early next year. If the whole album matches the quality of the lead single “Change the Sheets,” her fans will be much pleased. I especially like the multi-layered backing vocals that add a depth I haven’t heard from her before. The overall atmospherics of the track mix well with the personality that makes Kathleen Edwards’ music so appealing.

9. “Pill” by Edie Brickell. Edie Brickell has been around for a long time. She first hit it big with “What I Am" way back in 1988. So it was both surprising and exciting to hear her back this year with a self-titled album. “Pill” is a great example of ”happy” music – light, peppy, propulsive – that is about a dark subject, here depression. Some lyrics: “You can’t pay attention / It’ getting pretty rough / You feel a little down now / And you can’t get it up / They got a pill for that…” I like this type of juxtaposition of music and theme, but most of all, “Pill” is the type of song that can be listened to on a loop. I hope we don’t have to wait another eight years for the next Edie Brickell release.

8. “My Body” by Young the Giant. My sister turned me onto Young the Giant, and I’ve heard there debut album described as a mix of Fleet Foxes and Kings of Leon. Maybe, but I always find those types of descriptions unhelpful. What “My Body” features is a fantastic guitar-powered chorus, as good as anything released this year. Rock critics (and to a lesser extent fans) seem to have a longstanding angst that the genre is one day going to run out of steam. That a point will be reached when nothing new or interesting will come along. Given that the Rock n Roll has been popular and artistically inventive for over half a century, I find this point of view silly; no worry needs to be given to the fate of rock. Young the Giant is evidence that rock continues to be home to new, vibrant, and interesting music.

The Music of 1991

by Conroy

Loveless - among the great albums of 1991

There's a new documentary out, Pearl Jam Twenty, that chronicles the eponymous band's two decade history. A history that started with a bang with the release of the hugely acclaimed, popular, and influential album, Ten in late 1991. Ten became a central document of the Seattle music scene, on the leading edge of the wave of grunge, a genre that seemed to change the course of rock music. The legacy of Ten is secure, but what is remarkable is that when taking a broader look back at the music of 1991, Ten appears to be just one - and not the best one - of many landmark albums from what must certainly be one of the great years in music history.

The Music of 1991
Readers of this blog know of my strong feelings about judging art. Only with time can we come to value all art, including music. Well, the passage of twenty years is surely time enough (I would think) to put the music of 1991 in proper perspective. The familiar narrative of that time holds that a band from Seattle changed the course of music history with the release of a monumental, epoch-defining album. This band wasn't Pearl Jam, but Nirvana, and the album the amazing Nevermind, which was spearheaded by the exceptional single "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It's been frequently noted that Nevermind became so popular that it knocked Michael Jackson's album Dangerous from the top of the album charts. A symbolic change that seemed to close out the music of the 1980s, including hair metal of bands like Warrant, Motley Crue, Cinderella and others. Nirvana was joined by Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and other grunge bands to remake rock, under the greater label of "alternative rock", having an indelible influence on music for the rest of the decade.

That's the traditional story anyway, but like all history, it's a simplification that ignores what actually happened in 1991. It was a great year in music, but there was a lot more to it than the grunge scene of the Pacific Northwest.

Critical Confusion

by Conroy

Death Cab for Cutie playing live

Last night I went to see Death Cab for Cutie at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I'm a big fan of the band; this is the second time I've seen them this summer. DCFC (for short) is touring in support of their latest album, Codes and Keys, which was released at the end of May. The lead single, "You Are a Tourist", was a big hit on on "alternative" and rock radio, and even gained some airplay on mainstream stations (and VH1). I like the song, I like the album. That's no surprise, as I noted, I'm a fan (see my ten favorite DCFC songs below). 

What I'm not going to do is make a quick judgment about the value of the music, the depth of songwriting, the thematic cohesion of the album. I'm not going to compare it to DCFC's other albums, not yet anyway. I know right away that it's good, anything more will take time to realize. Why? Well, as I with written before (here and here), you have to wary when making quick judgments about art. It takes time, many years, to fully evaluate a work of art.

But then I'm not a professional critic.

Critical Confusion
Critics, some of whom get paid for their opinions (good for them), are quick to make, in fact must make, quick judgments. I'm always cautious when reading these first reviews. To wit, consider a couple of reviews of Codes and Keys:

Evan Sawdey, PopMatters -

 "...it was inevitable that Death Cab for Cutie would eventually hit a wall - after all, there are only so many...tricks you can pull before everyone realizes you're merely rehashing all of you old material-and with Codes and Keys...the bottom has dropped out almost completely."

He continues,

"...as daring as they want to bill Codes and Keys as...this is the sound of Death Cab at their most generic, disjointed, and disinterested. It's a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is this: Codes and Keys is the worst album of their career."

Would it be an understatement to call that a negative review? Here's another opinion,

Bad Cover Version

by Conroy

No one has ever improved on a Beatles original

I’m issuing a challenge to readers. Find one example of a cover of a Beatles song that is better than the Fab Four’s original. I am confident you will not succeed. But if you think you find one, send me the example (with Youtube or other links if possible) and I will recognize you on this blog.

The culture of contemporary music, more so than any other art, embraces imitation. Musicians regularly perform the songs of other musicians. In fact, a generation or more ago, it was very common for several artists to cover the same song. There are many examples of the cover version of a song being far more popular than the original. For example, Rod Stewart had a big hit with “The First Cut is the Deepest”, certainly more than Cat Stevens did with the original. Some songs are hits in both the original and cover versions. Creedence Clearwater Revival had a hit with “Proud Mary”, but the cover by Tina Turner was probably even more successful.

The fact that covering other musician's work is common in music provides us with an opportunity to directly compare artists, something rare in art. Listening to all these covers has led me to a conclusion: the better artist will almost always perform the better version of a song. This is why I issued the challenge about the Beatles. After all, if they are the best band of modern music, and that seems to be the general critical and popular consensus (one this blogger shares), then their version of a song should be better than anyone else's version of the same song. Fortunately, when it comes to the Beatles we can test my assertion. They covered a lot of songs in their early period and they have been covered continuously since they started recording music.

Most people have heard “Twist and Shout”, the last song off the Beatles first album, Please Please Me. It’s a classic, but it is also a cover. The original was recorded by the Isley Brothers and was a hit. One listen reveals that the Beatles version vastly improves on the original with greater energy and a famous one take vocal performance from John Lennon. The examples go on, I even think the Beatles version of “Long Tall Sally” rivals Little Richard’s howling track. What about the other side, an example of a popular cover of a Beatles song that doesn’t stack up to the original?

Top 250 - Update

by Conroy

Recently my favorite radio station, WTMD, out of Towson, Maryland (and affiliated with Towson University) played a list of the "500 Desert Island Songs" as compiled by WTMD listeners. WTMD has a history of playing countdowns of lists like these during its tri-annual fundraisers. Like all public radio stations, WTMD survives because of user contributions, a fiscal reality that may become even more basic if federal funding is largely or entirely curtailed.

I am a contributor to WTMD because the station resurrected my belief that radio is worthwhile, and because I think it's a great supporter of the Baltimore music scene. It is as advertised, radio for music people and not radio around commercials. It has also become my best source to hear new music. The station streams online and the website is linked in this blog's Favorite Web Sites list (see right sidebar). Check it out if you get a chance.

When I heard about the latest list, I hurriedly submitted my 10 favorite "desert island songs" to WTMD (this is how the overall list was compiled). Actually, I submitted three lists, or my top 30 songs (only mild cheating because I didn't submit any song twice). WTMD took a month to compile the full list, so I can only assume that thousands of songs were submitted. "Desert Island Songs" were supposed to be songs that a person couldn't live without, which I think is a form of a person's favorite songs. As a result, I thought it would be interesting to compare WTMD's 500 Desert Island Songs to my Top 250 Songs. How much overlap could there be? On one extreme all 250 songs from my list would show up on the WTMD list, on the other extreme none of my Top 250 Songs would show up on the WTMD list.

Before the countdown began, I guessed that 75 of my Top 250 Songs would be represented and 35 of my Top 100 Songs would be there. The actual results:

• 41 of my Top 250 Songs were on the Desert Island List (16.4%)
• 26 of my Top 100 Songs were on the Desert Island List (26%)

So I'm a little surprised that not as many of my favorite songs were listed as other WTMD listeners favorite songs. And a review of the WTMD list reveals song songs and rankings that are head-scratchers (and maybe some "ballot stuffing" by zealous fans of particular artists/songs). Still, the amount of overlap seems reasonable...my list has enough "popular" songs to avoid being overly eccentric but enough outliers to be distinctive.

What was the highest ranked song that is included in my Top 250 Songs? "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen (also the highest Top 100 Song), ranked number 3. The most surprising Top 250 Song to make the WTMD list? I don't know, maybe "Misunderstood" by Wilco; I thought maybe this song wasn't as liked by others as it was by me.

The Best Songs from 2010

by Conroy

With only days left in 2010, it's time for my annual Top 10 Songs list. As with the previous versions, this list will count down what I consider to be the ten best songs from this year. There are a couple of ground rules for songs to be eligible to make the list:

• If at all possible, I try to include only one song per artist. For instance, I could have included multiple songs from the album The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, but adhering to my rule, and because I wasn't overawed by the additional tracks, I've included just one song from the album. However, if we turned back time and I was writing about my Top 10 songs from say 1996, I would have included multiple songs from Weezer's spectacular album Pinkerton (after all, three songs from this album are included in my Top 100 Songs).  

• All songs must be released in this calendar year (i.e. 2010). For instance, Vampire Weekend released an album, Contra, this year. The wonderful track "Horchata" leads off the album, and it would certainly have made the Top 10 for 2010 except that the song was released as a single near the end of last year (2009). Since it was released separate from the rest of the album and gained widespread airplay, I must disqualify it from consideration for songs from 2010. Alas, the late release last year meant that it missed making the list for a musically loaded 2009.

Also, as you read through this list I offer a caution. As with all annual lists, my Top 10 Songs is based on impressions from this year with only a limited amount of time to have heard and internalized each of these songs. Often it takes years or more for the significance of a song, album, or any other artistic creation to become clear. I publish these lists because I think it's fun, generates discussion, and identifies some of the outstanding songs from the past year. However, it could be that I look back years from now with different opinions of what really was best from 2010.  

Okay that's enough background, the list:

Top 250 - Update

by Conroy

I have added youtube links to all (or all but two) of my Top 250 songs. You can now watch the associated videos, live performances, or just listen to the songs.

As I was adding these links, which required listening to the songs, I was struck by an emotional response to the music that I failed to emphasize in my post debuting the list. It makes sense that songs that would rank among my very favorite would have an emotional connection, after all music is the most emotional of arts. But I was also struck by how the music evoked memories of the period in my life in which I first heard or took a strong liking to each song. I mean, I've listened to each of these songs dozens of times (at a minimum), so I know them by heart.

You might think that familiarity would lessen the impact over time, especially as I mature, and my tastes and perspectives evolve. Certainly the list has seen songs come and go through it's many versions, but I had an insight when adding these links. I realized that I may have reached the point where my music tastes are what they are. Sure, there will be some modifications, but at this point I like what I like and this current list of 250 songs says a lot about not only my musical tastes, but more importantly about my emotional attitude towards my past experiences and towards the world.

Music affects people in ways that are not easy to articulate - and quite frankly in ways that I don't want to articulate. However, this lack of non-linguistic communication doesn't make it any less important, and the songs in my Top 250 list are vitally important to me.

Top 250 - Update

by Conroy

There is a new page on this site that lists my Top 250 (and Top 100) songs, which were initially provided in this earlier post. I'll periodically update this page as revisions are made to the list. Readers will be alerted to updates, including revised statistics and details of significant changes, through update posts like this.

The Top 250 - Debut

by Conroy

Well it's time for the unveiling of my eagerly anticipated Top 250 songs list. I consider this to be one of the most definitive rankings of songs...wait a minute Conroy, you're thinking, are you trying to pull a fast one on us? Is this really what your post is about? Top 250 songs, whatever that is? What do I care about your Top 250 songs? Maybe I'll surf to another page...but I say wait...before you go, understand that this list will be interesting regardless of your enjoyment, or even knowledge, of the songs I have included.

It's actually not a new list, I first put it together nine years ago when I was still an undergrad, at that time a ranked Top 100 list. Since then it has been revised dozens of times. The current Top 250, which also includes a ranked Top 100, represents my very favorite of a collection of nearly 6,000 songs (just more than 4 percent of the total collection). The nine years of refinement has resulted in a tight yet eclectic mix spanning the last fifty years (and seven decades) of popular music. I'm sharing it here because the best part of music is the experience of shared listening, discovering, and discussion. Listening to music with a few friends is always better than alone in your car. A concert is always more fun than a pair of iPod earbuds.

I won't write too much more, I'll let the list speak - or play - for itself (I've included links to listen to some tracks). I hope, and really I'm certain, my readers will find at least some of the artists and songs featured to be of interest. A few stats:

• 157 artists are represented on the list
• 39 artists have multiple songs on the list led by Rilo Kiley (10), Weezer (9), Bruce Springsteen (8), Pulp (8), Radiohead (8), Oasis (7), U2 (6), The Beatles (5), and Death Cab for Cutie (5)
• In addition, Rilo Kiley has the most songs ranked in the Top 100 (5), followed by Bruce Springsteen, Pulp, Radiohead, and Weezer, all with four apiece
• The songs per decade breakdown: 50s - 2; 60s - 9; 70s - 15; 80s - 56; 90s - 88; 00s - 79; and 10s -1

Without further ado, the Top 250...