VIRTUAL MIX TAPE: "13 Wonderful Will Songs - Vol. 2"

Yes, that’s right, it’s time for another installment of songs that I love and that I hope you’ll love, too. And if you don’t, well, it ain’t like this thing is behind the paywall, so what’d you pay for it, anyway?

In conclusion, listen or don’t, but if you do, I hope you dig it.

1. Brown Eyed Susans, “Let’s Get Out of L.A.” (2000 - Afraid of Heights)

I’m not 100% sure how I first happened upon the Brown Eyed Susans’ music, but I can reasonably presume that I was tipped off to them by one of my three primary music-recommendation sources at the time they released their 1998 album, Afternoon Tea: the Audities email list, the Not Lame Records catalog, or Amplifier Magazine. Actually, there’s even a possible fourth: POPsided, a wonderful but relatively short-lived power pop magazine. They were signed to Permanent Press Records, an indie label that helped introduce me to a number of great pop bands back then, and it probably won’t surprise you that the reason I was so quickly sold on Brown Eyed Susans was because they sounded very much at times like Jellyfish. By the time they released their second album, Afraid of Heights, they’d evolved somewhat, but the hooks were still there, as you can hear from this track.

2. The Crayons, “Allyson Fell Off the Bike” (2002 - What Color Are You?)

If you know me at all in the real world, then you can tell this song is special to me simply by virtue of the fact that the face you see in the video below is that of my daughter. I was introduced to this song through International Pop Overthrow, Vol. 6, and I fell in love with it immediately, so it was still in regular rotation when my wife and I were expecting our first—and, as it’s turned out, only—child and trying to decide on names. It’s not entirely true to say that we named Ally after this song, but it is accurate to say that we were inspired go with the specific spelling of her name because of this song. As she’s now on the cusp of going to college, I think my wife and I have served as very good safety nets for her and have tried to keep her from dropping back down…and, boy, I got a little teary just typing that sentence. It’s gonna be a bit tough to let her ride off on her own, but I sure am proud of that child, and I know she’s gonna do bigger and better things that her dad ever did, which is the best any parent can hope for their kid.

3. Fountains of Wayne, “Troubled Times” (1999 - Utopia Parkway)

I’m just one of millions of folks who took a punch to the gut when they heard the news that Adam Schlesinger had died from compilations related to COVID. Songwriters don’t come more talented than that guy, and he proved it with every project, from Fountains of Wayne to Ivy, his film soundtrack work (That Thing You Do, Josie and the Pussycats, etc.), and all of his contributions to The CW series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, not to mention the stuff he did for those last few Monkees albums. In the end, though, this is the song that always helps me get past the sadness of his absence and focus on the fact that he was here at all, because if he hadn’t been, then we never would’ve gotten this musical gem of inestimable value.

4. The Cure, “2 Late” (1989 - B-side of “Lovesong” single)

Although this B-side emerged in the midst of one of the Cure’s most melancholy musical periods, it’s easily one of the bounciest, jangliest pop songs in their catalog, one that can arguably be viewed as a predecessor to “Friday I’m in Love.” It’s just a soaring pop song.

5. Lloyd Cole, “So You’d Like to Save the World”

I don’t find myself utilizing the term “stomper” a lot to describe songs, but that’s really the best possible word to describe this track from Lloyd Cole’s third solo album, Bad Vibes. It was his first for Rykodisc, the label he landed on after departing from Capitol Records, and it may not have set the charts on fire, but it’s the song that’s consistently kept me coming back to Bad Vibes.

6. Chicane featuring Tom Jones, “Stoned in Love”

I have loved Tom Jones since hearing him cover Prince’s “Kiss,” and I even had the pleasure of doing a phoner with him in 2007 (even if the excitement was slightly tempered by the horror of realizing that my digital recorder had failed to capture the conversation, forcing me to pull together the interview completely from memory), but what still kills me is how I could’ve interviewed him for the A.V. Club if the music editor at the time hadn’t basically told me that they didn’t know if he was a fit for their demo.

Are you kidding me? He’s TOM FUCKING JONES. He’s in every demo! That’s because he’s spent his career collaborating with a wide variety of artists, including a fella by the name of Chicane. Their song, “Stoned in Love,” is an absolute dance-floor filler, but as much as I love it, I think I love Tom’s live solo version of the song even more. That one, however, isn’t on Spotify, but there’s a kick-ass version on YouTube, so I’m including both videos here.

7. Bridal Party, “Cool Down” (2023 - Cool Down)

Try not to freak out about the fact that I’ve actually included a current tune in the mix. Technically, it’s from last year, but the album for which it serves as the title track didn’t come out until last month, hence the parenthetical date above. For the life of me, I can’t even remember how I stumbled into the discovery of this song’s video, but the combination of the visuals and the slick pop production surrounding the gorgeous hook made me a believer from my first viewing.

8. David Mead, “Human Nature” (2004 - Indiana)

It would be very easy for me to put together 13-track compilations featuring nothing but cover songs, but I’m going to do my best to restrain myself to only including one per volume. David Mead is one of those artists whose music I’m pretty sure I discovered in a used bin originally, but it took until my buddy David Medsker fell hard for Mead’s second album, Yours & Mine, that I realized just how great this guy’s songs were. In turn, I continued to buy his albums whenever they emerged, and although I come to the table for the original material, this Michael Jackson cover is just a thing of beauty. If you need it as a gateway drug to get into David Mead’s music, have at it. Whatever it takes. The guy’s songs are great, and so are his covers, so it’s a win no matter what.

9. Bee Gees, “Fallen Angel” (1993 - Size Isn’t Everything)

The first Bee Gees song I fell in love with was “Tragedy,” and you can blame that on the fact that it was such a great roller-skating jam. (Sadly, I doubt if I could skate to it now. Damn my deteriorating ankles!) As the ‘70s turned into the ‘80s, however, the brothers Gibb found their chart successes shrinking somewhat, so I wasn’t really following their career for a few years, but that all changed when I first heard their 1987 single “You Win Again.” It wasn’t a significant hit in the US, but it was a #1 hit in the UK, and when I heard it, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why America wasn’t embracing it. As it turned out, it was because it was a song by the Bee Gees, so radio stations weren’t playing it, owing to the group’s perceiving uncoolness. Fortunately, things changed for the guys with the release of “One,” which put them back in the spotlight—and on the charts—once more. Why that success didn’t continue with the band’s subsequent albums is another mystery, but my fandom remained unabated, and I even had a chance to interview Robin Gibb when they released Size Isn’t Everything in 1993. This is the album closer, and Robin confirmed exactly what everyone thought when they heard the song: it was the Bee Gees’ homage to the Pet Shop Boys. And a fine one it is, too.

10. Little Boots, “Symmetry” (2009 - Hands)

To be honest, I don’t really know a great deal about Little Boots as an artist, nor have I actively followed her career since she released her debut album, Hands. But what I do know is that this track, which finds her duetting with Human League frontman Philip Oakey, is an absolute synthpop delight.

11. Trashcan Sinatras, “Twisted and Bent” (1996 - A Happy Pocket)

I’ve said on other forums that I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Trashcan Sinatras, and I stand by that position. I was a huge fan of the band when they released their first two albums (Cake and I’ve Seen Everything), and when the internet first began to take off, I joined a mailing list devoted to the band. This list led me into several friends that remain strong to this day, but there’s one that stands above all others in terms of my career: David Medsker helped me secure my first full-time gig as a journalist, writing for the website Bullz-Eye.com, and while he would argue that I might well still have ended up where I am today whether he’d gotten me that gig or not, the fact of the matter is that he did get me that gig, and I remain eternally grateful for it. As for this specific song, I selected it because it’s from the album that had just been released when the aforementioned mailing list was going strong, so it’s the one that has the most sentimental value. That, and it’s just a fabulous damned hook.

12. Denzil, “Fat and Loose Fancies Me” (1994 - Pub)

Some artists come and go in the blink of an eye, and such was the case with Denzil, at least in terms of his status as a major-label artist. This album was released on Giant Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, and I don’t know what kind of promotion Giant did for the album, but literally every person I know who has a copy of the CD either got it as a promo or found it in a bargain bin. This is insanity, because it’s one of the best British pop albums to emerge in the mid-1990s. Do yourself a favor and spend the ridiculously low amount it’ll cost to add it to your collection.

13. Gene, “As Good As It Gets” (1999 - Revelations)

This struck me as a solid closer, so I went with my instincts, and here we are. This is the opening track from Gene’s third and final major label album, and I don’t mind telling you that in the days when you couldn’t just pop onto the internet and search yourself out a copy, it took me forever to add it to my collection. All was forgiven for the delay, however, as soon as I popped it into my CD player.