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Yup, that'd be me. I have ideas scribbled in notebooks, on Post-its, in my email Drafts folder (technically not scribbled, I know), in random places in crossword-puzzle books. And yet I never seem to get around to formulating them into something readable. Erf.
I have genuinely missed writing about music and have been crafting rants, raves, blog posts and other musicabilianess here and there.
One idea that has floated round my brain for years is a series I'll call SIFA, or Songs I'd Forgotten About (but have recently rediscovered and still love). A few gems:
1. "Sara" and "Hold Me" - Fleetwood Mac
Easily tied for my favorite Mac songs. I hadn't heard either in years till one recent day, "Sara" came on the radio and I fell in love all over again. Anyone who knows me knows I'm an unabashed, lifelong lover of radio. When I was a child, my family and I flew between New York and L.A. almost every year. As soon as I was strapped into my seat, I'd hungrily rip the plastic off those (free!) plastic headphones, plug 'em into my armrest and spend the entire flight surfing the radio channels. Certain songs never fail to remind me of those flights: "Sara" is absolutely one of them, others include Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover," the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why" and Diana Ross's "Theme from Mahogany."
But back to Fleetwood Mac. I could listen to "Hold Me" ten times in a row without tiring of it--it's one of those truly masterful pop songs. It easily transports me back to the summer of 1982, when I was 10: Mirage was one of my first LP purchases and "Hold Me" was in heavy rotation on MTV, feeding my Lindsey Buckingham crush.
2. "Tusk" - Fleetwood Mac
I rediscovered this--plus a few other Fleetwood Mac goodies--when I went to download "Sara." Fleetwood Mac certainly doesn't rank in my top 10 or even top 20 favorite bands (they might make the top 25 if I forgive them for "Oh Well"), but I've always admired their songwriting, harmonizing and musicianship. They're solid. Plus, since watching a VH-1 "Behind the Music" special on Stevie Nicks about a decade ago, I can't forget the sheer volume of songs that have poured out of this woman. We're talking HUNDREDS. Look up "prolific" in the dictionary and there's a photo of her, in all her billowing glory.
3. "I've Been Losing You" - a-Ha
I almost hate to get off the Fleetwood Mac track, but I've been listening to this song quite a bit lately and I appreciate it far more than I did when I first heard a-Ha in the 80s. Like every other giddy teen, I adored "Take on Me," bought the 45 and sat glued to the TV whenever the video aired. Then, they released "The Sun Always Shines on TV," which I liked even MORE than "Take on Me" and which pushed me to buy their first album. Upon listening, I discovered another gem, the hauntingly beautiful title song, "Hunting High and Low."
A couple years later, when a-Ha released their second album, Scoundrel Days, our local New Wave station, KROQ, started playing the singles "I've Been Losing You" and "Cry Wolf" regularly. I liked both songs and was pleasantly surprised that a-Ha hadn't disappeared after their first wave of success.
(Which brings me to another list I'd like to explore eventually: BUCOW, or Bands Unfairly Categorized as One-hit Wonders. Tune in for that later.)
A-ha certainly fits into that category. Most people only recall "Take on Me" for the catchy pop gem it was, but these guys were actually quite a good band with a handful of well-crafted pop tunes. To my teenage self, it helped that they were cute and photogenic and stylish. But when that fades, what you have left is a pop group as good as Duran Duran or Erasure but who are, sadly, mostly remembered as a one-hit wonder.
More to come in my SIFA series at a later date. Whenever I spend considerable time away from this blog, I eventually come to the overpowering realization that I need it. I just do.