The Shirts [mm:ss] "Teenage Crutch" The Shirts Capitol Records SW-11791 1978 (US pressing) (see below) The Shirts [mm:ss] "Reduced to a Whisper" The Shirts Harvest 5C 062-06 717 1978 (Netherlands pressing) That's right, not one but 2 (two!) tracks from The Shirts' debut album. Normally, I am not one to buy 2 copies of the same album, but when I was in Amsterdam a couple of years ago, I came across the Netherlands pressing with a more stylized cover and couldn't resist. They were one of the original CBGB bands that saw more success in Europe. You can also spot lead singer Annie Golden in the film adaptation of Hair (Forman, 1979). Philharmonic Symphony of New York, Dimitri Mitropoulos [mm:ss] "Second Movement: Allegretto" Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 Op. 47 Columbia Masterworks ML 4739 1962 Composed by the Soviet Russian Shostakovich in 1937, this recording dates to 1953. Robyn Hitchcock [mm:ss] "Socrates in Thin Air" Shufflemania! Tiny Ghost Records TINY GHOST 07 2022 Great outing from Mr. Hitchcock from a couple of years ago. Joined here by Soft Boy cohort Kimberley Rew on guitar. Los Campesinos! [mm:ss] "5 Flucloxacillin" Sick Scenes Wichita WEBB500LP 2017 The wonderful 6th album from these Cardiff folks. Self-financed, no less! There is a supercute video for this song done in the style of the BBC show Flog It! Thompson Twins [mm:ss] "We Are Detective" Side Kicks Arista AL 6607 1983 So much floppy hair. The trio's third single from their third album. A suitably 80s video was also made for this track. Raspberries [mm:ss] "Tonight" Side 3 Capitol Records SMAS-11220 1973 Speaking of third albums. This song was the first of three singles from the album and reached number 69 on the Hot 100. Rush [mm:ss] "New World Man" Signals Mercury SRM-1-4063 1982 Rush's only Top 40 single, oddly enough. From the last album produced by Terry Brown. Sure, I could have chosen "Subdivisions" but if you were like me and were a suburban early-teenage male when this album came out, it was pretty inescapable and hence not really necessary to revisit. Boz Scaggs [mm:ss] "Lido Shuffle" Silk Degrees Columbia PC 33920 1976 Speaking of ubiquitous songs from my youth. With Mr. Scaggs himself on the Moog riffs. Sqürl [mm:ss] "John Ashbery Takes a Walk" Silver Haze Sacred Bones Records SBR-316 2023 Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan, assisted here by Charlotte Gainsbourg in an homage to the poet John Ashbery. There's a nice moody video to accompany this song as well. Klaus Nomi [mm:ss] "Falling in Love Again" Simple Man RCA Victor PL 37702 1982 A contemporary update of the Marlene Dietrich classic from the iconic Klaus Nomi's second album. Kris Kristofferson [mm:ss] "The Pilgrim - Chapter 33" The Silver Tongued Devil and I Monument Z 30679 1971 If I were Donnie Fritts (which I can only aspire to), I would have definitely had my name legally changed to Funky Donnie Fritts. Nine Inch Nails [mm:ss] "Sin (Short)" Sin TVT Records TVT2617-1 1990 Why it seems like 33 1/3 years ago that this album was released. Frank Sinatra [mm:ss] "When Somebody Loves You" Sinatra '65 Reprise RS-6167 1965 That is some bizarre stereo separation. Frank Sinatra [mm:ss] "Witchcraft" Sinatra's Sinatra Reprise Records R9-1010 1963 Some of Frank's big hits, recompiled here for his own label. Dwight Twilley Band [mm:ss] "I'm on Fire" Sincerely Shelter Records SRL-52001 1976 Some primo power pop kicking off Dwight Twilley Band's debut outing on the already-doomed at the time Shelter Records. Music behind the DJ: "Diamonds Are Forever (Instrumental)" by John Barry