VIRTUAL MIX TAPE: "13 Wonderful Will Songs, Vol. 14"

Yes, that’s right, it’s time for another installment of songs—the 13th, in fact!—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…and if you really dig it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription!

1. Gary Clark and John Carney, “Setting Sail” (2019 - Modern Love: Season 1—Music from the Amazon Original Series)

I’ve been a fan of Gary Clark’s music since he was the frontman for the Scottish band Danny Wilson, and I’ve followed him through his solo career, his work with King L and Transister, and his fascinating gigs as a songwriter, including the material he penned for Sing Street. It’s that latter job with writer/director John Carney that led him into writing music for the Amazon series Modern Love, including the show’s bouncy opening theme.

2. Cobra Starship, “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane” (2006 - While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets)

Who among us can forget the brief phenomenon that was the Samuel L. Jackson action flick Snakes on a Plane? Your mileage on the actual film may vary—my wife and I were and remain big fans—but I was also sold on the theme song, which made me into a fan of Cobra Starship. In fact, to this day, they remain the only band that I’ve ever interviewed on their tour bus.

3. Neil Diamond, “Pretty Amazing Grace” (2008 - Home Before Dark)

One of the most enjoyable phenomena of the 1990s and 2000s music scene was the way Rick Rubin helped to reinvigorate the music of legacy artists like Johnny Cash, Donovan, Mick Jagger, and Neil Diamond. This is not to say that all of these artists received a kick up the charts as a result of working with Rubin, but he definitely did a fine job of approaching their material in a way that made it stand out in a crowd. Rubin first worked with Diamond on his 2005 album, 12 Songs, but this has always been my favorite song of the Rubin era.

4. Webb Wilder, “Tough It Out” (1991 - Doo Dad)

This is one of those albums where I can’t remember exactly how I came to hear it, but given the time frame of its release, I can reasonably presume that it was the result of hearing it while I was working at the record store. Actually, I’m not even sure if I heard the entire album at first. This song could well have featured on some compilation disc that we listened to as in-store play. However I first heard it, it’s a modern-day rockabilly classic that still holds up.

5. Chris Isaak, “This Love Will Last” (1987 - Chris Isaak)

This wasn’t Isaak’s debut album - that honor goes to Silvertone - but it was the first one I ever heard, thanks to my buddy Donnie Sadler. I think the first track that really grabbed me was his cover of the Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul,” but once I listened to the album as a whole, this is the song that was destined to grace more than a few mix tapes over the years.

6. Frazier Chorus, “Cloud 8” (1990 - Ray)

I don’t know if this crosses over from lush pop into well-polished twee tunes (or if there’s even any intrinsic difference between those phrases), but I do know that I love this album as well as the album that preceded it and the one that followed it. I also love the fact that the band’s lead singer and songwriter, Tim Freeman, is the brother of actor Martin Freeman. I met Martin at a TCA event for Fargo several years ago, and he seemed absolutely dumbfounded that I not only knew his brother’s band but, indeed, knew it well enough to be aware that Tim was, in fact, his brother. (You can imagine what a cheap thrill that was for me.)

7. Julian Lennon, “Lucky Ones” (2022 - Jude)

You know this guy, of course, but what you may not know is that he’s continued to record and release new material sporadically ever since his chart heyday in the ‘80s. I’ve loved a lot of that material, but this song from his latest album might be the most in touch with current music and production that he’s sounded in a couple of decades.

8. Dumdums, “Can’t Get You Out of My Thoughts” (2000 - It Goes Without Saying)

The Dumdums are one of those fascinating UK bands that popped up for one album, had several top-40 hits in their native land, and then broke up. This, as you may have suspected, was one of those hits, with the rest being “Everything,” “You Do Something to Me,” and “Army of Two.” They apparently went back into the studio to record a second album, reportedly finished an album’s worth of tracks, and then as far as I can tell, they never actually released any of them. Lead singer Josh Doyle subsequently moved to America, kicked off his solo career, and then started a duo with Candi Carpenter called Church of Roswell. I can’t really tell you much about those projects (although I certainly plan to investigate them), but I can assure you that this is a kick-ass power pop tune.

9. The Kinks, “Do You Remember Walter?” (1968 - The Village Green Preservation Society)

I come from the era where most of us were introduced to The Kinks through their big MTV hit, “Come Dancing,” after which I discovered that they’d actually been around since the ‘60s and had recorded several singles which were still in regular rotation on classic rock radio. What I didn’t know about for many years, however, was that one of their best albums was hugely underrated at the time of its release and has since come to be regarded as one of the best albums of the ‘60s. As much as I love the title track, I think I may love this song more. It’s one of those perfect pop tunes that lasts the exact right amount of time to leave you loving everything about it but not really longing for more because you can’t top perfection.

10. Sting, “Mad About You” (1991 - The Soul Cages)

I didn’t really appreciate the merits of this song until I picked up a CD single for the track that included Sting’s cover of Squeeze’s “Tempted” (you may have noticed that I have a thing for cover songs), but once I actually took the time to listen to it, I loved it. I clearly never heard it on the radio before that, because if I had, I would’ve loved it much sooner. It’s very much in my musical wheelhouse.

11. The Hooters, “Heaven Laughs” (1989 - Zig Zag)

The Hooters remain one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, and this song from their underrated third major-label album remains one of the songs I want played at my funeral. It’s not a dirge, it’s a testament to the power of faith and the belief that death isn’t the end. As Eric Bazilian sings, “Heaven laughs when we say goodbye / It ain’t so far to the other side / Someday soon we will meet again / Say it over and over and over ‘til then…”

12. The Dream Academy, “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” (1985 / 2014 - The Morning Lasted All Day: A Retrospective)

Obligatory cover song! This Smiths cover came out as a single a few years before I even knew who the Smiths were, hence the 1985 date, but it wasn’t until it turned up on a compilation of The Dream Academy’s best singles and album tracks that I was finally able to own a copy of it for myself. Well, a legal copy, that is. But the less said about that, the better.

13. Jellyfish, “Baby’s Coming Back” (1990 - Bellybutton)

I fell in love with Jellyfish from the moment I first heard “The King is Half-Undressed,” but it was this song that made me realize that they were something special. Why? I mean, obviously, it was that little nick from the theme to The Partridge Family at the end of the song.