Nada Surf, Lucky
Let Go, Nada Surf’s 2003 album, introduced me to three songs that were consistent additions to mix CDs given to friends: “Blizzard of ‘77,” “Inside of Love” and “Blonde on Blonde.” This year’s Lucky has done the same with “See These Bones,” “Whose Authority” and “The Film Did Not Go ‘Round.” It’s also a more solid record than Let Go, allowing a relaxed tone on songs like “Are You Lightning?” to permeate the middle of the album. “See These Bones” is an interesting choice for an opener, taking a measured and lyrically cold look at the past with lines like, “What you are now, we were once.” “Whose Authority” delivers a typically upbeat Nada Surf track, and the video that accompanies it featuring Michael Maronna (perhaps better known as big Pete) sets a perfect visual rhythm for the song. The album closes with a four-minute guitar lullaby, softly resembling the sentiment expressed in the first song: “Just the thought of you makes me want to cry.”
Tori Amos, “China”
With so much of the news dealing with China recently, this song has been bouncing around in my head. A soft track from Little Earthquakes, Tori’s first album, it manages to quietly stand out against so many excellent songs. A five-minute track about distance in a relationship, the lyrics are vague about details but emotionally specific. I first heard the remastered versions of the singles from Little Earthquakes on the compilation Tales of a Librarian, so those versions of “Crucify,” “Precious Things” and “Tear in Your Hand” are closer to me than the original tracks. “China” avoided this treatment, so it’s closer to me in some respects when I think about the album as a whole. «»
