Marc Fagel

It's crazy how they never got any attention here in the US. It made Wes Anderson seem that much cooler when Rushmore launched into Making Time, and maybe a handful of music nerds' ears perked up.

I think a lot of songs from their brief run are interchangeable quality-wise; this one is just a bit more of a sentimental favorite for being my belated point-of-entry for the band.

YouTube video by The Creation - Topic Try and Stop Me

"You couldn't hold me if you tried, I know when I've had enough..."

2000 Great Songs #1254: Try And Stop Me Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1254: Try And Stop Me. Standout Who-like British Invasion track from The Creation; didn't get much play in the US, but one of those songs I was overjoyed to discover once I started trawling through rock's overlooked gems later on.

Robert Pollard: Greatest Solos & Sides

Good call. I think a lot of his best work over the past 20 years (and even during the original GbV era) has been on his solo and side project records. I took a run at a mix awhile back: open.spotify.com/playlist/1c4...

"Not without merit: consistent, without having any especially high highs" would be my review of pretty much every GbV album since they reunited in the 10s. Each album has 2-3 songs I might add to my ever-expanding GbV mix, but few which would replace selections on my original '87-'04 mix.

YouTube video by The Howard Stern Show Brandi Carlile Covers Elton John’s “Madman Across the Water” Live on the Stern Show

Here's a marvelous performance of the song by Brandi Carlile:

YouTube video by Ronnie Friend Elton John & Mick Ronson - Madman Across the Water (1970) With Lyrics!

"Get a load of him, he's so insane; you better get your coat dear, it looks like rain..." Early extended version with Mick Ronson:

2000 Great Songs #1253: Madman Across The Water Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1253: Madman Across The Water. The Elton John song for those of us who don't care for most of his music, trading radio-ready pop for something between prog and a stoner jam-band opus, dark and truly epic.

YouTube video by RHINO Son Volt - Drown (Official Music Video)

"And the cruel, cruel mornings have turned to days of swim or sink..."

2000 Great Songs #1252: Drown Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1252: Drown. Early Son Volt single picks up where Uncle Tupelo had left off, Jay Farrar's uniquely weathered growl over a compelling riff-rocker infused with a sense of Midwestern resign.

YouTube video by Domino Recording Co. Buzzcocks - What Do I Get? (Official Video)

"I only get sleepless nights, alone again in my half-empty bed..."

2000 Great Songs #1251: What Do I Get? Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1251: What Do I Get? Yes, it's the fourth pick off Buzzcocks' definitive Singles Going Steady collection, because that's just how great that run of early Buzzcocks singles was.

This one takes us midway through the 1200s on the Top 2000. So here's a handy mid-week playlist for #1201-1250:

I kinda prefer the Bob Welch era. The Buckingham-Nicks years were the sort of mainstream radio fare I spent my teen years trying to avoid. In middle age I've come around on a lot of it (pretty exquisite production!), though I'm still not a huge Nicks/McVie fan.

For sure. Songs like That's All For Everyone were definitely him channeling Brian. (As a fair weather FM fan, I tend to listen to Tusk as an amazing Buckingham solo album padded out with some random songs I usually skip over.)

If I could only take back some of those tweets I dropped before I'd had my morning coffee...

But any excuse to post the Fleetwood Mac cover is worth it!

Yep. The studio version that showed up as a Tusk outtake is just breathtaking.

As a double-entendre, it's so over-the-top that I have to assume it wasn't meant that way in 1963, or they'd never have gotten away with it. But it does give the song a bit of an ick factor in 2026--overcome by those harmonies, of course.

YouTube video by Marc Fagel Yo La Tengo: Farmer's Daughter

Here's the Yo La Tengo cover that first introduced me to the song:

Needed a break from surfing and cars, I suppose. But, yeah, it doesn't really fit in with the early canon, which is probably why I didn't know it existed until the Yo La Tengo cover came around.

As someone who likes-doesn't-love Iggy with & without the Stooges, that's pretty much the perfect compilation album. (Aside from omitting TV Eye, my favorite Stooges track; I suspect that would've been included if it came out after the Velvet Goldmine film gave it some love.)

I definitely did!

YouTube video by The Beach Boys - Topic Farmer's Daughter (Stereo)

"Glad to help you plow your fields, farmer's daughter..."

2000 Great Songs #1250: Farmer's Daughter Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1250: Farmer's Daughter. Probably not even a top 50 Beach Boys song, but throw in some gorgeous covers by the likes of Yo La Tengo and Fleetwood Mac, and it takes on some surprising gravitas. Harmonies, baby!

YouTube video by Epic Soundtracks - Topic Farmers Daughter

"There once was a time when I worked for your father, he gave me a wage and then the name of his daughter..."

2000 Great Songs #1249: Farmer's Daughter Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1249: Farmer's Daughter. Another wondrous Epic Soundtracks tune, the unexpected sound of a former post-punk experimentalist creating a melancholy, big-band-jazz-infused Burt Bacharach-influenced early 70s pop song. Crazy & lovely.

YouTube video by metricmusic METRIC "Help I'm Alive" - a Deco Dawson short film

"If I stumble, they're gonna eat me alive..."

2000 Great Songs #1248: Help I'm Alive Music-obsessed retired lawyer, sharing a few thoughts on some choice cuts from my obscenely oversized music collection each day.

2000 Great Songs #1248: Help I'm Alive. Metric, with one of the rare post-millennium pop hits that somehow got on my radar screen, maybe not the sort of thing I'd normally listen to, but ended up really liking it. Kinda like a shinier-sounding Breeders.

YouTube video by Kevin Tihista's Red Terror - Topic Sucker

"Did you put any thought into this? Or did you just go?..."