#906. Disturbed, “Sound of Silence”

 

In 2015, Disturbed released its sixth album, Immortalized.  If you look at the summary of critical reception over at Wikipedia, you'd think there wasn't much to talk about.  Based on the flood of praise for the band's cover of "The Sound of Silence" I discovered years after the fact, I would certainly question such conclusions.

Once the video for the cover was released later that year, things began to change, and it was even nominated for a Grammy in 2017 as Best Rock Performance (losing to David Bowie's sentimental favorite, "Blackstar," with other nominees including Twenty One Pilots' "Heathens," featured as one of the few original songs in Suicide Squad).

These days I discover music most easily on YouTube, which is how it went with this song, which has since remained, in the years that've followed, one of my most frequent views on the site.  It's a powerful vocal performance (suggestions always include testimonies to such), a  heavy and yet elegant reinterpretation of the classic Simon & Garfunkel harmonies, plus a spare but equally effective accompaniment.  I get that Disturbed is not known for this kind of music, so the band's fans, and anyone else following their activities, probably never expected it in a million years (although maybe they did? I have no idea), but if a classic song gets a new version that's this good?  You don't quibble with its provenience.  And it should be hailed widely both for its own time and as part of the continuum of the rock genre.  Which is of course impossible in the current "rock is dead" era that must be continuously affirmed by never, ever admitting anything good can possibly still happen.

In a perfect world radio (which still exists) would have this in regular rotation.  Not just stations catering to Disturbed's regular fanbase, but to the broader set, where it really belongs.  

A classic is a classic.

#905. Tracy Chatman’s “Fast Car”

 

On February 4th Tracy Chapman reminded the world that she exists, taking the Grammys stage with Luke Combs in support of his recent cover of her 1988 song “Fast Car.”

It caused something of a sensation.

With the exception of another hit somewhat belatedly in 1995 (“Give Me One Reason”), it seemed all too easy for the pop world to leave Chapman behind. Until the Grammys viral moment I didn’t even know the name of the song was “Fast Car.” 

It was just a song I knew, and knew that I loved. It’s kind of symptomatic of the modern pop song. The station I check in with these days advertises itself as playing the best of the “80s, 90s, and today,” literally lumping three decades into that last signifier. I mean, the only reason the ‘90s are listed at all is because four decades would probably be too much. I mean, we’re here in 2024. Time to knuckle up and name the ‘00s, the ‘10s (even if a century ago we didn’t until the “Roaring ‘20s,” even if that’s a poor excuse at best). Call them the Oughts, the Tens, or Twenty-Tens if you must. I mean, what the heck are we gonna call these decades when they are the relevant nostalgia period?

The ‘90s are a whole decade that still define pop music, but for all the wrong reasons. “Boy bands” are now Korean, but they still contain no actual instruments. Rock music was so ruthlessly dismissed it effectively killed it as a mainstream phenomenon (and even today, the acts that do manage to make it are mocked or ignored when discussing what happened to the genre). 

The ‘80s were hair bands and Michael Jackson, the splintering of rock into pop and various kinds of heavier sounds that increasingly had no place in the mainstream. And you had Chapman, who in the ‘60s would’ve been accepted as the prodigy she was. What a pure voice, such perfectly spare composition, the stuff they built that decade around. 

And she vanished without a trace for twenty years, and took back the stage with effortless grace. 

I guess that’s its own commentary. Wait long enough and I guess things will be rectified. If you’re lucky you might even be able to enjoy it personally.

#904. Perfect Darius Rucker vocals

A collection of videos (and some songs I couldn’t find videos for) of perfect Darius Rucker vocals, not to be confused with a greatest hits or singles or in other words comprehensive listing…

“Let Her Cry,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View (1994) One of the iconic hits from Hootie’s debut album, a ballad of heartbreak.

“Earth Stopped Cold at Dawn,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Fairweather Johnson (1996)

Hootie’s first song that should’ve been a single but wasn’t, although I still heard it years later at a department store.

“Tootie,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Fairweather Johnson (1996)

One of Hootie’s true buried treasures (no video found of Darius singing but plenty of covers, which is testament enough.

“Michelle Post,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Musical Chairs (1998)

Hootie’s third album saw the band bust loose from expectations. This one’s pretty stripped clean, almost just Darius with backing vocals and banjo.

“Desert Mountain Showdown,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Musical Chairs (1998)

Another delight, a hoedown that became a staple of Hootie’s concerts.

“Fine Line,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Scattered Smothered and Covered (2000) 

A Radney Foster cover circa the first album but finally released officially years later.

“I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Scattered Smothered and Covered (2000)

Another great cover. Hootie started as a cover band and it always shows, as they’re excellent at interpreting material.

“Can’t Find the Time,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Me Myself & Irene soundtrack (2000)

Another cover, this time leaning deep into soul territory.

“Exodus,” solo, Back to Then (2002)

The best song from Darius’s first solo album, although he sings it better without musical accompaniment.

“When She’s Gone,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Hootie and the Blowfish (2003)

“Little Darlin’,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Hootie and the Blowfish (2003)

Hootie’s fourth album builds and expands on Musical Chairs in its best moments. “Little Darlin’” is another buried treasure. They both are.

“State Your Peace,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Looking for Lucky (2005)

I didn’t choose a lot of rockers for this list, but here’s a good one.

“A Smile,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Looking for Lucky (2005)

By the fifth album Hootie had lost all mainstream momentum. A real pity, as songs like this in an earlier era would’ve been iconic.

“Alright,” solo, Learn to Live (2008)

“This,” solo, Charleston SC 1966 (2010)

Two songs that illustrate how perfectly Darius slipped into country music.

“True Believers,” solo, True Believers (2013)

Other than the other highlight from this album, this would be one of my personal favorites for true calling cards of his country efforts.

“Wagon Wheel,” solo, True Believers (2013)

The song that made Darius as a country artist blow all the way up, and probably his musical legacy.

“Not Tonight,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Imperfect Circle (2019)

“Lonely on a Saturday Night,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Imperfect Circle (2019)

If Hootie’s comeback had landed, these songs would be recognized as classics.

“Fires Don’t Start Themselves,” solo, Carolyn’s Boy (2023)

Darius’s most recent single, and one of his best vocals, incredibly still finding new depths.

#903. Now and then, I miss you...

 You’ve probably heard the Beatles released a new sing. Argylle kind of builds itself around it, even.

It’s pretty great.

"Now and Then" John Lennon December 2023 tribute performance. It was kind of immediately embraced by at least a visible part of the fanbase.

"Free as a Bird"

That was the first “new song,” from Anthology 1.

"Real Love"

That was the second “new song,” from Anthology 3.

“Now and Then” was one of two songs kicked around for Anthology 3, but the original recording quality just wasn’t there, and George just didn’t feel it was worth pursuing.

Part of the problem that will exist as they were finished some thirty years ago is that “Free” and “Real Love” were rough even themselves in how they found John, and the remaining Beatles didn’t play around too much with what they did.

“Now and Then,” as finally completed, is noticeably different. I’ve been obsessed with it since first hearing it. It’s obviously not a traditional Beatles song, but it sounds like a perfect coda, even tribute to John, and the end of the band, something that never happened back in the day, when the Beatles existed one day and didn’t the next, and everyone just went off to solo projects. 

Paul & Ringo put in the work. Everything about the song sounds like what the band, at its height, was doing, even the bits pulled from other songs (which Beatles songs absolutely did, even if one magazine article I read seems to have somehow forgotten).

I’ve been catching up with the Beatles for two decades, and anytime someone suggests Beatles music somehow isn’t relevant today (as the major criticism of Yesterday somehow was, despite the recent phenomenon of One Direction, and probably BTS was already a thing back in 2019, and even more ironic if it wasn’t, and of course Coldplay, the latest band to scare people who don’t want any competition to the Beatles legacy), it just baffles me. It’s endlessly rewarding.

And we just got something new. Only the Beatles. As ever.