The Daily Spinner (July 13-14, 2005)
Well, it happened a little sooner than I thought it would, but I broke my own rules: I skipped ahead from the B's to listen to side 1 of Simple Minds' Sparkle in the Rain. For some reason, a discussion of Rick Springfield's new covers album (in which he not only has the gall to cover Lennon's "Imagine," but also tortures listeners with his takes on The Church's "Under the Milky Way" and Gerry Rafferty's classic "Baker Street"--complete with a horrid sax solo reminiscent of Rob Lowe's work from St. Elmo's Fire) started this daliance. It was quite satisfying to hear Minds' pounding drums and earnest singing again. I hear they're trying to make a comeback with a new album later this year.

Anyhoo, back to the task at hand--an alphabetical excursion through my LP collection:

• Black Uhuru - Sensimilla and Brutal . These brought me back to my time spinning discs at the Great American Music record store in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis back in 1990, but they quickly turned into aurul wallpaper. Their masterpiece Red is the one to pick up.
  
• Blondie - Parallel Lines. A great new wave record with some of the group's biggest hits ("Heart of Glass," "One Way or Another"), but again, I tend to turn to the lesser known Eat to the Beat, which is even more New Wavy.
  
• BoDeans - Home. Just looking at the cover shouts "sell out" from this Wisconsin band's rootsy Midwestern pop. I only made it through side 1.
  
• Billy Bragg - Brewing Up with.... Ahh, a fine, fine classic from back when everyone's favorite flaming Socialist cockney folk singer was just performing with his electric guitar and his voice. It includes "St. Swithins Day" (a song that was made classic by the late, great Kirsty Maccoll) and one of the greatest tunes I know of--the sweetly romantic "A Lover Sings" (with Hammond organ accompaniment). This album has been combined with his first EP (Life's a Riot with Spy v Spy) on the CD Back to Basics.