The first phase of Boston’s The Cars ended with the release of Door to Door in 1987. Produced by Ric Ocasek, it is the first time the band didn’t use an outside producer, somewhat surprising considering the massive success the band enjoyed with the Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange produced Heartbeat City album. “Leave Or Stay”, the first track on the album certainly sounds like The Cars. The drums of David Robinson are back instead of the mostly programmed beats on the last album. Listen closely and the insipid lyrics leave a lot to be desired – “She changed into her silk/I stood there drinking milk”.
Looking back on the band’s history, Door to Door is mostly forgotten and typically ranks at the bottom of the list when publications rank albums by The Cars. Songs like “Double Trouble” and single “Strap Me In” are non-descript 80s rock songs with little personality. Where the album does pull through is when the band sticks to what they are good at – new wave pop songs with Greg Hawkes’ keyboard flashes.
“You Are The Girl” was the biggest hit on the album, peaking at #17 in the US – it has a arpeggio synth lines and solid vocals from Ocasek and Benjamin Orr. “Go Away” could have been on Heartbeat City and the sped up Western tempo of “Everything You Say” is a definite highlight. A terrific pop song with some piano trills to fill in the gaps. While not the complete dud that was expected, Door To Door does sound uninspired and the couple of lows are awful. But when it’s good, it’s solid. Likely for many reasons, the band would break up a few months after the album was released and sadly, the last one to feature Benjamin Orr who passed away from cancer in 2000.
A year after releasing his first solo live album, Paul Simon put out the massively successful Still Crazy After All These Years record. The album would see him reunite with old partner Art Garfunkel on the piano driven single, “My Little Town”, sung from the point of view of someone who hates their hometown. The duo would sing the song and other classics on the second episode of Saturday Night Live.
Exploring other sounds, Simon touches on R+B on the social critique, “Have A Good Time”. While ignoring the news of the day, the protagonist says that “I’ve been loving and loving and loving/I’m exhausted from loving so well”. After their collaboration on the live album, the gospel track “Gone at Last” is sung with the Jessy Dixon Singers and Phoebe Snow. Simon then closes the album with the religious overtones of “Silent Eyes” where we will stand before God “and speak what was done”.
The album is mostly remembered from a couple of songs, the first being the title track. The enduring song about running into an old flame on the street only went to #40 in the US. More commercially successful is the often referenced #1 single, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”. Written after his divorce from his first wife, Peggy Harper, the song memorably sings of how to leave a relationship in the chorus, starting with the classic lines “Slip out the back, Jack/Make a new plan, Stan”. The drum patter of Steve Gadd and all star back-up singers Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson and Phoebe Snow make it all the more special. The song helped propel the album to top ten status around the world and won Simon two Grammys including Album of the Year. A great example of easy going yet sophisticated 70s songwriting.
Recently, Joan Shelley and guitarist/husband Nathan Salsburg have been on the move. Leaving behind Kentucky for Michigan, they then travelled to Toronto to record Shelley’s 2025 record, Real Warmth. Working with producer Ben Whiteley and local musicians, including members of The Weather Station, on songs like “For When You Can’t Sleep”, the beautifully delicate recordings sound like Shelley is singing right in your ear. The thick drums courtesy of Philippe Melanson are a part of the very good opening song, “Here In The High And Low” where Shelley gives guidance, “Guard what’s gentle, not castles or kings”.
The track, “Everyday” addresses the couple’s move with the line “Now we’re living by the road far from our little Eden”, the sweetness then follows on the duet song “Heaven Knows”. The deafening quietness of “The Orchard” sees Shelley sing of the world where “A factory for misery that prays that war won’t end”, unfortunately fitting these days. The crashing drums on “Wooden Boat” along with an extended instrumental passage provide one of the highlights on this all together fine album.
Just under a year after releasing his third solo album, There Goes that Rhymin’ Simon, Paul Simon put out his first solo live concert – Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin. The album is a mixture of his solo singles and hits from the Simon & Garfunkel archive. The first few songs he tackles with just his acoustic guitar including the jaunty “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” and a solid take at “Homeward Bound”. For the next few songs he performs with South American group Urubamba, most pleasingly on “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)”.
For the next batch of songs Simon brings out the Jessy Dixon Singers (Group). This ensemble works well on his solo material including some nifty bass playing on “Mother And Child Reunion” and a rollicking version of “Loves Me Like A Rock”. On the other hand “The Sound of Silence” sounds more like a Christmas carol and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” isn’t a patch on Garfunkel’s classic vocals. It’s the starkness of young men singing the originals that help make them memorable rather than the gospel embellishments found here. The concert album with performances recorded at the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Hall in New York has a few good moments but overall feels a bit underwhelming with better versions found elsewhere.
The Beatles’ Anthology 4 has not been met with the same rapturous praise that their recent expanded albums have received. Nonetheless, there are some delights to be found on the newest anthology addition that stretches from the band’s earliest recording days right up to 2022. A few highlights include “I’ve Just Seen A Face (Take 3)”, “All You Need Is Love (Rehearsal For BBC Broadcast)”, and “Baby, You’re a Rich Man (Takes 11 & 12)”. Perhaps a bit inessential for some but it would take more than two hands to count highlights from the 2 disc set.
The two main songwriters from British Britpop/Shoegazers Lush have released very good albums in the past few years. Emma Anderson’s Pearlies + the Piroshka albums that Miki Berenyi has released. Early in 2025, Miki released Tripla under the Miki Berenyi Trio moniker. Excellent songs include “8th Deadly Sins” and the dreamy “Ubique”. These next generation of releases by the Lush ladies have been a joy.
The much acclaimed Big Thief has been one that I’ve struggled to get into. I appreciate them more than really enjoyed their albums. That changed with last year’s solo album from singer Adrienne Lenker and continued with the band’s latest release, Double Infinity. Finally, their music clicked on an album that many others loved as well. All this time it’s been me with the issue, not you.
While others have long since listened, I’m still working my way through the David Bowie box sets that have been released over the years. The boxes that collect all the official releases and group by certain eras has been a bit of a mixed bag at times but finally reaching his Berlin Years on the brilliant A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) released in 2017 was a glorious listen. It’s been one where each new album listen made me excited for the next to hear the next one. A highwater mark in the legend’s career, this will be a set returned to again and again.
I ordered Kim Deal’s 2024 album from a local record store with normally fast shipping times but this one seemed to take ages, to the point of thinking I already had it in the collection when the call came that it had arrived. It took a minute to finally have in my hands but the impression of the album was immediate, Nobody Loves You More could have been released some time in the 90s and would not sound out of place with the great records from that period. Several decades later, Deal sounds as relevant as ever as she sings, “coming around is easy/coming down is rough”.
The world has genuinely been a scary place at times this year. War, bombs, rampant racism/antisemitism, random violence, drug abuse, homelessness, etc. I don’t make it out to as many local band shows as I used to but did attend the Death Cassette show at Winnipeg’s fantastic Blue Note Park venue. The punk rock energy was a cathartic release from all of the world’s turmoil. The beers were cold and the energy was electric. Punk rock lives, the kids are alright.
When walking through the hallways of high school in the late 80s/early 90s, sounds from the golden age of hip hop was regularly being blasted. Some albums I was fully onboard with and others passed me by. One of those albums that got away from me was the classic 3 Feet High and Rising from Long Island, New York’s De La Soul. Famously the disc has not been re-released in years due to original record label Tommy Boy not bothering to get clearances for the sample heavy tracks. That changed in 2023 when it finally saw the light of day again, in slightly altered form. Well worth the wait to finally hear daisy chain era tracks like “The Magic Number” and top 40 hit “Me Myself and I”, among the many.
I heard about the new Geese album when it released and knew it was getting some great reviews. I made the mistake of listening to the Sound Opinion podcast guys who completely trashed the experimental album. So it sat in my playlist for ages before finally getting back around to it months later. The podcast guys got it all wrong – Getting Killed was a helluva album that was chaotic at times but also had the melodies and tunes to back it up. My pick as album of the year – this one is a classic.
The last I had heard about Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires was from the excellent 2023 documentary Running With Our Eyes Closed. I hadn’t heard about their relationship since then and was sad to hear that they have gone their separate ways. Isbell’s newest album, Foxes in the Snow talks a lot about old and new relationships. Working with engineer/producer Gena Johnson, he put out the album that is heavy on acoustic guitar and personal matters. When he played the Winnipeg Folk Festival in July of this year, the acoustic guitar was put to the side several times so he could riff heavily with his band The 400 Unit. One of the great concert moments of the year.
For those of us that hit the drinking age in the 90s, 2025 was a big year for nostalgia. Suede released a terrific album as did their former tour partners, Manic Streat Preachers. It was their album, Critical Thinking that caught my attention. Never short on ear catching songs, “People Ruin Paintings”, “Brushstrokes Of A Reunion”, and “Decline and Fall” all held up through the year.
The Light Appears 