13 Wonderful Will Songs: The Next Generation - Vol. 8

Featuring songs by Jellyfish, Drake Bell, the Style Council, Jason Isbell, R.E.M., Pet Shop Boys, Patsy Cline, and more

That’s right, it’s time for another installment of 13 Wonderful Will Songs: The Next Generation, a series of playlists which are, in fact, in no way distinguishable from the original incarnation of 13 Wonderful Will Songs playlists. So don’t feel as though you need to have listened to those in order to appreciate these, because that’s not the case at all.

Hit “play,” and here’s hoping you enjoy what you hear!

1. Jellyfish, “Hush”

I love Jellyfish. This is perhaps not breaking news. But I love this opening song from the band’s second album, Spilt Milk, so much that my wife printed out the lyrics for me, and we put them in a frame and hung them on my daughter’s wall when she was a baby. Possibly not coincidentally, my daughter is now in college and has a Spilt Milk poster on her wall…or if she doesn’t at this precise moment, it has been on there, and it undoubtedly will be again. (She’s got a lot of posters. Rotation is a must.)

2. Drake Bell, “Wayside”

If you’ve listened and paid attention to all of the volumes of the O.G. incarnation of 13 Wonderful Will Songs, then you’ve heard the track that was my gateway drug into Bell’s music: “Up Periscope,” an unbelievably Jellyfish-y number. By coincidence, the week Bell’s new album, Non-Stop Flight, was released, I did an interview with Nancy Sullivan, who played Bell’s mom on his Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh. As such, it felt like fate was steering me towards including a song from the new album on this playlist, so…here it is!

3. The Style Council, “How She Threw It All Away”

I often speak of how there have been many occasions where my introduction to an artist’s music has been through one of their most critically-maligned albums, and I suppose that’s the case with the Style Council. Technically, the first album of theirs that I owned was a live album (Home and Abroad), but the first studio album I picked up was Confessions of a Pop Group, which is by far the jazziest thing in their catalog. I loved it then, and I love it now, but I can understand why those who enjoyed their more soulful early material could find the later stuff a bit boring. I still dig it, though.

4. Deacon Blue, “Your Town”

Everyone says that Deacon Blue’s debut album, Raintown, is their best. I, however, remain steadfastly convinced that their best is their sophomore LP, When the World Knows Your Name. Virtually no one, on the other hand, tends to assign that title to their fourth album, Whatever You Say, Say Nothing. But damned if I don’t still love its epic opener, “Your Town.”

5. Adam Schmitt, “Brilliance in Failure”

To hark back to the O.G. 13 Wonderful Will Songs playlists again, I’ve already spotlighted my absolute favorite Adam Schmitt song, “Three Faces West,” which features the late, great Tommy Keene delivering a shredding guitar solo. After departing from his major-label deal with Sire, however, Schmitt eventually put out a third album on Parasol called Demolition, and this is my favorite track from that record.

6. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Nightswimming”

Obligatory cover song! If you’ve cheated and looked ahead, then you already know that the next song is by R.E.M., and I always knew that I was going to lead into it with an R.E.M. cover. My original pick was Gus Black’s cover of “You Are the Everything,” but when I listened to a rough draft of the playlist, it just didn’t segue as well between Adam Schmitt and R.E.M. as I would’ve preferred, so I opted for this one instead, which finds Isbell and the 400 Unit ably aided by an extremely talented twosome: Bela Fleck and Chris Thile.

7. R.E.M., “Texarkana”

This album came out during my senior year at Averett University, and I think I probably love it more now than I did then, which is saying something, because I played the living shit out of it at the time. But this song has always been one of my favorites, and that’s because it features a lead vocal from Mike Mills. You don’t find many of those in the R.E.M. catalog, and I’m willing to concede that it’s probably for the best that that’s the case, but I sure do love it when they pop up.

8. Nelson, “You’re All I Need Tonight”

Yes, this is the same Nelson that brought you such hair-rock hits as “(I Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” and “After the Rain.” No, their hair isn’t as long as it was back then. Yes, they still know how to write an epic pop hook and a killer chorus. Don’t judge, just listen.

9. Chris Difford, “No Show Jones”

My friend Jessie is the one who helped make me a forever fan of Squeeze, and I don’t think I’m misremembering when I say that she at least once lovingly referred to Chris Difford’s voice with the work “croak.” And let’s be honest: when it comes to vocals, Chris Difford is no Glenn Tilbrook, and I think even Difford himself would agree with that. But he’s a goddamned great songwriter, and he knows how to pen a tune that works well with his limited vocal range, which is what he’s done here. Plus, bonus points for working the Monkees, Lennon and McCartney, and the Captain and Tennille into the lyrics.

10. Pet Shop Boys, “Up Against It”

When the Pet Shop Boys released their Bilingual album, it was well-known that Johnny Marr had contributed some guitar work to it, so as soon as I picked up a copy, I immediately scoured the credits to find out which songs featured his fretwork. This was one of them, and I loved it immediately, particularly the bit after Neil Tennant sings the words, “Run for your life.”

11. Timi Yuro, “Interlude”

I had literally never heard this song before until Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux duetted on it and released their efforts as a one-off CD single. Their version is beautiful, but once it led me to check out the original… Yeah, I have to admit, Timi Yuro’s version is even better.

12. Patsy Cline, “Crazy”

I mean, you can never go wrong with Patsy Cline, right? Particularly not when she’s singing a song written by Willie Nelson and being backed by the Jordanaires. In terms of old school country music, this is just about as good as it gets.

13. Blue Cartoon, “She’s Gone”

My memories of the period immediately prior to when I started dating Jenn, the woman who would become my wife, are occasionally a little bit blurry, so I must concede that I can’t remember if I actually saw Blue Cartoon perform when I attended the 1999 International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles or if that just happened to be when I was first introduced to their music. That said, I feel at least 75% confident in saying that I did see them, because I’m almost positive that I picked up this CD at their show. But this is the sort of thing that happens when you see a ton of bands in concert and own thousands of CDs. All I know is that this might be the opener to their album, but it’s also a great closer for this playlist.