Category: Love Crypt: Old Music to Rediscover

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic songs & albums that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. We are digging deep, really deep in this edition to shine a light a couple of forgotten yet wondrous, old diamonds…

Nick Barone: Blues In The City (1987)

As far as I can tell based a bit of research, this is the only music Nick Barone ever officially released. All I know about him is literally this song which I heard by total chance just because I walked into the Vinyl Mania shop back in the day and it happened to be playing. The song features a lyrical reference to California but make no mistake “Blues In the City” sounds like New York City in the ’80s. It’s a sleek hypnotic, electronic groove with a bit of a post punk vibe and some warm guitar stabs thrown in along the way. The overall sound conjures images of cavernous, dusty nightclubs and perilous nighttime walks by the river which is to say, it’s got some chilly city soul running through its veins. Nothing genuinely dramatic happens, the chorus doesn’t overwhelm and it has kind of a demo-ish quality…yet there is something oddly unforgettable about it. It’s one of those ’80s songs I could just plain never get out of my head. Chris Lord-Alge who has worked with everyone from James Brown to Madonna is listed as one of the mix engineers on the sleeve but there is nothing highbrow or expensive about this song, it’s just cool and lost and kind of beautiful.

Eric Eden: I’d Make You Happy (If I Could) (1992)

Eric Eden’s “I’d Make You Happy ( If I Could)” is over the top dramatic-romantic and sits somewhere between vintage Todd Rundgren and a Queen piano ballad. It is one gloriously plush, angsty, string-soaked 5 minutes and home to some pretty swoon-worthy melodic twists. There is some serious pedigree on this track as well in the form of Elton John’s longtime percussionist Ray Cooper and Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar (!) who also feature prominently on Eden’s entire debut album Grooving Up Slowly where “I’d Make You Happy…” is pulled from. Speaking of which gonna offer up a bonus track in this edition of the Love Crypt from the same album; rainswept Prince-flavored candy “Don’t Cry Out In Tears From The Sky” is even more over the top than “I’d Make You Happy…” and just as sweet. Check it out below.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. This edition is all about the solo work of Fleetwood Mac’s songwriting core, namely Christine, Lindsey & Stevie, just because. Come join us in the velvet underground to meet some beautiful dark horses. Never change, never stop…

Stevie Nicks: Ooh Ooh Baby (1984)

“Ooh Ooh Baby” is a demo of a song from 1984 that has never been released officially in any form and as such the sound quality is a bit murky. But forget all that, for despite its unfinished quality, its an unadulterated beauty with the foggy, faraway feeling of a latter day Beach Boys tune, specifically one composed and sung by lost genius Dennis Wilson (as opposed to brother Brian). A mournfully melodic tearjerker that moves at a positively funereal pace, “Ooh Ooh Baby” is also a frontrunner for the absolute Saddest Stevie Song Ever™. Is it safe to listen to when you are feeling fragile ? Mmm, maybe not but then again it sounds most magical if you are hearing it whilst in particularly melancholic state ( let’s just call it a tear expectorant). Stevie serves up a vocal equal parts bereft and defeated for the entire length of the song and the whole thing is just heart-stoppingly gorgeous. Be brave and give over to it.

Lindsey Buckingham: Stars Are Crazy (2011)

While “Stars Are Crazy” sounds in some ways like the prototypical Lindsey Buckingham song with it’s big yelping chorus and virtuosic picking, there’s something peculiarly riveting about its construction. Marrying languorous, slow motion vocals and lightning fast acoustic shredding, “Stars Are Crazy” almost sounds like two totally separate songs that have been sewn together expertly, perfectly. The effect is positively exhilarating.

Christine McVie: The Smile I Live For (1984)

I’ve always thought there should be a rule wherein all albums are required to end with an over the top and epic ballad lasting no less than 5 minutes. It’s especially important if what came before it was underwhelming. And the song should be something that shakes you by the shoulders and gets you misty. While Christine McVie’s self-titled solo album from 1984 is by no means bad and spawned a couple of hits, it was invariably a disappointment knowing what she was capable of. Still there was one track that emanated a pretty glorious light. “The Smile I Live For” has one of those gigantic productions typical of the era. There are the requisite gargantuan drums that sound like they are being played from a riser in an arena, loads of lush synth swooshes as well as a whole lotta “glistening” and “shimmering” to contend with. But none of that does anything to diminish the beauty of the actual tune, with its mournfully melodic piano line and lyrics describing a love that’s gotten a bit lopsided. And despite all the supersize instrumental action happening around her, Christine’s wondrous forthright voice still ends up on top. “The Smile I Live For” smolders, cries and shines.

Stevie Nicks: Annabel Lee (2011)

Stevie wrote “Annabel Lee” when she was 17 years old and its lyrics are adapted from Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem of the same name from 1849 ( which also served as a major inspiration for the classic Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita). While she first demoed the song in 1996 it didn’t actually appear on an album until 2011’s In Your Dreams…which seems crazy based on how wondrous it is. Resembling a not so distant cousin of F.Mac’s exquisite “Gypsy”, the tune Stevie created to surround Poe’s poem of tragic, eternal love is so well-suited to its lyrical cadence (which expresses a sentiment oh so Stevie) that you could be forgiven for assuming she’d actually written the words as well. Though to quote Stevie from back in 2011, “I love the fact that I have written a song with Edgar Allan Poe”. Had the song appeared on any of the F.Mac albums released during their heyday, it’s likely it would be an eternally beloved and evergreen anthem by now. Next to “Silver Springs” it remains and reigns as one of the finest woulda-coulda-shoulda Stevie songs ever.

Lindsey Buckingham: Street of Dreams (1992)

“Street of Dreams” is not a typical Lindsey Buckingham song. It doesn’t feature any anxious helium-high vocalizing or mind bogglingly fast picking. It is instead a mesmerizing and ethereal hymn with a backdrop of falling rain that grows heavier ( along with the lyrical content) as the song progresses. It’s on the bridge that things hit peak intensity with Lindsey serving up a particularly heart-squeezing and passionate bit of vocalizing. Lindsey has said the song refers back to a particular time in the early ’80s when he was uncertain of what he should be doing creatively and was feeling lonely and unwell, with the powerful bridge describing what he was doing to help assuage this confusion;”I used to go and talk to my father (who passed in 1974) in the cemetery…sit and talk to him and try to imagine what he would say to me…what advice he would give me”. Hypnotic, lonely and riveting to the last,”Street of Dreams”, remains a stunner.

Christine McVie: Friend (2004)

Tired of the touring grind, flying and inter-band politics, Christine McVie left Fleetwood Mac ( and California) in 1998 and moved back to the quieter environs of the English countryside to reconnect with her roots and spend time with her then ill father. While it wasn’t until 2014 that she would officially rejoin the Mac, she did make a tentative step back into the sonic fold in 2004 with the release of her third solo album, In The Meantime. The album as a whole isn’t great and she herself isn’t nuts about it, but “Friend”, it’s lone single, remains a standout. Though she wasn’t the sole composer, with its infectious chorus, heart on sleeve emotion and regal vocal, it bears all the markings of a classic McVie song (and as such exudes the Mac vibe from it’s every pore). In fact, it would have been a very welcome addition to Mac’s 2003 underrated but slightly spotty comeback album Say You Will.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. Basically, if Love Crypt were a Beatle it would be George Harrison. Now join us under the radar to meet some beautiful dark horses…

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: You Can Still Change Your Mind (1981)

“You Can Still Change Your Mind” was written by Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell with Tom Petty and originally appeared on their Hard Promises album in 1981. It sounded noticeably different than the typical Heartbreakers fare up to that point for while it possessed a snarlingly magnificent signature Petty vocal, the tune itself was a lushly melodic Beach Boys style tearjerker. And with harmonies provided by Stevie Nicks and her long time backing singer Sharon Celani, “You Can Still Change Your Mind” quite literally sounded like the physical embodiment of a slow burning Southern California sunset. It’s just a total stunner. Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench himself has said that he loves it and that he thinks “it’s absolutely beautiful”. Tom did too and hoped it could be released as an actual single…but the powers that be weren’t having it. According to Petty, “That’s sort of Mike’s tribute to Brian Wilson. I loved it and worked really hard on that track. No one could hear it as a single. People had a mental picture of what we should sound like and if you played them something that didn’t sound like “Refugee” or “American Girl” or “Even The Losers”, they were puzzled”. More’s the pity because it would have been an absolute treat to hear it played live on a regular basis with thousands of people singing along. Oh if only…so, so miss this guy.

Pete Yorn: “On Your Side”(2001)

Pete Yorn’s 2001 debut album Musicforthemorningafter was the recipient of a fair amount of critical acclaim upon release. It was power pop ( Yorn especially loved the band Sloan) with both Smiths and Springsteen style flourishes and inflections. The album ended up achieving Gold status which is pretty damn good for any full length much less a debut. Yorn also had the misfortune of having to play songs from it at one of our yearly business conferences when I was with Virgin Entertainment Group as we ate dinner. And though we were basically a bunch of record store nerds who loved him, I’m guessing that had to have sucked for him a little.

“On Your Side” arrives late on the album, at track #11 to be exact. It’s 5 minutes of shuffling melodic regret and Johnny Marr-esque strumming with a delicate flush of synthesized strings and sounds both a little drunk and a little lost. But while it’s ache is palpable, even tear inducing, there’s still something oddly consoling about it. Either way it’s just a timeless and truly lovely thing.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. Basically, if Love Crypt were a Beatle it would be George Harrison. Now join us under the radar to meet some beautiful dark horses…

Keith Green: Your Love Broke Through (1977) 

While the song I’m about to describe isn’t technically obscure, it’s not exactly mainstream either. It straddles the line between being a beloved classic known to fans of a certain sub-genre and a cool piece of cult pop. Up until the early ’00s, I’d never heard of Keith Green. In the course of a general music conversation one day, a friend recommended him to me and described him as sounding “like a Christian Elton John“. I was instantly intrigued by this this chocolate and peanut butter combo. I loved Elton of course but I’d also had an ongoing fascination with Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) although it’s hardcore messaging was not remotely applicable to my own life (on top of which I disagreed with more than a few of its tenets). But I was somewhat fascinated by it’s earnestness. Of course my interaction with CCM was of the decidedly alternative variety in the form of bands like Jars of Clay and Mutemath who both generally preferred not be branded as such and thus be pigeonholed as bands solely for believers. Once I finally heard Keith Green though, it was clear he’d had no such reservations. He was laser focused on spreading a message. And he made for a curious listen. There is an undeniably Elton-esque quality about the construction of his songs which are primarily big pop piano ballads with gloriously soaring vocals. But that’s where the similarity ends, for Green’s songs are not about yellow brick roads or or horny toads but about Jesus. “Your Love Broke Through” is a highlight of Green’s 1977 debut album Him Who Has Ears to Hear which is regarded as one of the greatest CCM albums of all-time. The tune itself is sublimely melodic and Green’s vocal is exceptionally lovely. It sounds like a classic mid ’70s style am radio hit, is neither aggressive nor preachy and no matter what you feel about the sentiment it’s innate sweetness is hard to deny. If you dig the studio version, check out this solo TV performance of the track from 1977 which is also pretty fine.

Des’ree: “You Gotta Be (After Hours Mix)” (1994) 

It’s not what you think. I’m going to start with the facts then go off the nerd rails so don’t worry ( or worry). Des’ree’s infectious anthem of self-affirmation and belief “You Gotta Be” was a massive worldwide hit in 1994. The song was released in the UK in March of 1994 and was available to purchase as both a “CD Maxi-Single” and a 12″ piece of vinyl. I was a purist and a nerd so opted for the vinyl. It featured 6 different versions of “You Gotta Be”, including something called the After Hours Mix, which was nestled discreetly at the end of side A. It was basically “You Gotta Be” stripped down to it’s absolute bare bones, minus the original single version’s groovily ostentatious piano and drumbeats. Its only occupants were Des’ree’s exquisitely warm vocal, some Rhodes style keyboard chords and a rubbery bass. Once I’d heard it the original ceased to exist for me forever, for the eye-rollingly titled After Hours Mix is absolutely gorgeous. The song morphs into something otherworldly and untouchable…and it kind of crushes the original. Sadly the mix is not available on either Spotify or Apple Music as of this writing which is a damn shame.  Here’s hoping someone will one day see the brilliant light it emanates and it’ll find it’s way to the mass audience it deserves.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. Basically, if Love Crypt were a Beatle it would be George Harrison. Now join us under the radar to meet some beautiful dark horses…

Laura Veirs: The Canyon (2018)

Things are messed up right now. And songs about the finite nature of human life, and the fact that we are all basically dustballs might feel like the last thing you’d want to hear at the moment. But maybe “The Canyon” will change your mind. It originally appeared on singer-songwriter Laura Veirs’s superb 2018 album The Lookout and for a song whose theme is our mortality, it is oddly, extraordinarily, comforting. It begins as a somewhat sunny singalong before morphing into a twanging windswept (mostly) instrumental. If riding off into the sunset had an actual sound it would undoubtedly resemble what happens in the last minute and a half of “The Canyon”. An utterly embraceable beauty.

That Petrol Emotion: “Heartbeat Mosaic” (1993) 

 That Petrol Emotion were formed from the ashes of legendary Northern Irish band The Undertones in 1984 and featured that band’s core guitar team of brothers John and Damian O’Neill. Their sound uncannily predicted the unruly animal that would come to dominate mid ’90s musical culture, namely the beast of Britpop. “Heartbeat Mosaic” which appeared on Fireproof, the 5th and final TPE album, is a sparse, epically handsome ballad that despite being full of optimistic imagery ( “sun-kissed oceans”) and sweet psychedelic illusions (“moonbeams and maybes”) sounds like it should be playing over a set of closing credits after a particularly intense final scene. And singer Steve Mack’s vocal positively soars with love, love, love.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. Basically, if Love Crypt were a Beatle it would be George Harrison. Now join us under the radar to meet some beautiful dark horses…

Jackson Browne: Hold Out (1980) 

The initial reviews for Jackson Browne’s 1980 album Hold Out were not particularly favorable. Upon release Rolling Stone magazine stated “What we have is a song cycle with scarcely a single tune that has the moral imagination, pop grace or writerly precision of Browne’s best material”. Doesn’t exactly make you wanna run out to the record store right ? …but people did, in fact it ended up being Browne’s first # 1 album. Truth be told, it was riding on the reputation of it’s predecessor from 3 years before, a critically acclaimed, multi-platinum behemoth called Running On Empty, Browne’s absolutely beloved suite of songs about life on the road. That album got as high as # 3 on the charts and it’s success and quality inevitably ratcheted up the expectations for whatever was to come next. And so when Hold Out arrived 3 years later, the world at large was primed. But as Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk was critically savaged for not being like planet earth’s favorite album Rumours, so too was Hold Out for being not only a mere shadow of Running On Empty in terms of song quality, but for Browne’s not sounding like the favored acoustic troubadour of years past.

But forget all that. Seriously. For while, Hold Out is as slick and shiny as a brand new Corvette cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway on a summer day in 1980, it’s also a ridiculously good, earnest and heartfelt bunch of pop songs. It has a lot of things working in its favor. It’s an easily digestible 7 tracks long. It consistently employs the most wonderful of all pop music tropes with it’s sweet, upbeat tunes marrying themselves to sad and wistful lyrics. Its over-arching theme is loss. Lost and unrequited love in”That Girl Could Sing”and “Call It A Loan”, a lost friend in “Of Missing Persons” and a population of lost souls in the supremely radio-friendly “Boulevard” and “Disco Apocalypse”. It’s closing track, “Hold On Hold Out”, an 8 minute unabashedly romantic epic with an exceptionally clumsy spoken word break is Browne doing his best Springsteen and it’s a pretty endearing thing to behold.

Yes, Hold Out is not Running On Empty or the soul baring equal of any of Browne’s uniformly fine albums of the early ’70s…but it is kind of wonderful.

Hear it here: 

Tashan: “For The Sake Of Love” (1993) 

Tashan’s “For The Sake of Love” had little in common with what was happening in R & B at the time of its release in 1993. While the soul charts at that point were dominated by latter era New Jack Swing grooves, slick ‘n sweet boy band-girl group pop and glossy, over the top balladry, “For The Sake of Love” was looking the other way, namely backward. The song was a brazen throwback to the string-laden, lovelorn “Philly Soul” that the legendary team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff wrote and produced for eternal lover man Teddy Pendergrass in the late ’70s. It didn’t sound modern…and, maybe unsurprisingly, sank without a trace. To make matters worse, despite its being released through Sony, as of this writing you won’t find the song or Tashan’s album of the same name on Spotify or I-Tunes ( though the cd can be had through Discogs pretty cheaply). It’s a damn shame because it is an extraordinarily lush and beautiful song (with an especially wondrous hook on the chorus) and deserves to be heard. I know that’s a whole lotta breathless hyperbole to take in but “For The Sake of Love” is pretty special.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. Basically, if Love Crypt were a Beatle it would be George Harrison. Now join us under the radar to meet some beautiful dark horses…

Psychic Babble: My Brother’s Ears, My Sister’s Eyes (2011)

I made a playlist a while back called “Beach Boy-esque” featuring songs that openly and lovingly bowed toward the legendary band in sound and scope. And within that list were a couple of songs by Psychic Babble, the side project of Colin Frangicetto, guitarist of artistically ambitious band, Circa Survive. 2011’s My Brother’s Ears/My Sister’s Eyes is the only album Frangicetto has released under the Psychic Babble moniker thus far and it’s a beauty. It’s alt-rock filtered through a Brian Wilson lens, plushly melodic, occasionally edgy and filled end to end with epic, echoing, sundown soundtracking anthems. Special nods go to “Harper”, “Let Me Change” and “Samantha” , all undeniably handsome and evocative to the last.

Hear it here:

Emmylou Harris: “The Connection”

For a song that won a Grammy in 2006 for best “Female Country Vocal Performance”, “The Connection” feels oddly obscure. For one thing its introduction to the world wasn’t particularly conducive to discovery; it appeared as the last track, #19, on the 2005 compilation The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches and Highways. It was never a single. It was over 5 minutes long. It fell in right between the chairs, not quite a sleeper but hardly famous. But it is one of the true Emmylou lost gems, an absolutely gorgeous and wistful waltz of desperation, ethereal and melodic. The song was written by by Jack Routh and Randy Sharp, who in an interview with Songfacts said the idea behind the song  ” …was this connection, this stream, this desperate person who just wouldn’t let go. And the state of mind that they would go to. But the concept of just refusing to let go, even when there really was nothing there… so desperate that they’re conjuring up a connection of any kind just to keep from letting go”. Emmylou offers up a vocal of pure, rustic beauty and “The Connection” remains an absolute stunner.

Welcome to PuR’s Love Crypt, spotlighting the underrated, secretly classic albums & songs that didn’t always get the attention they deserved upon release but are worthy of adoration & a listen. Basically, if Love Crypt were a Beatle it would be George Harrison. Now join us under the radar to meet some beautiful dark horses…

Todd Rundgren: Nearly Human (1990)

4 years had passed since Todd Rundgren had last released a studio album by the time Nearly Human hit the shelves in 1989. 4 years is of course a veritable eternity in pop music. But instead of chasing modern sounds, Todd instead went the other way, eschewing the trends and making an epic, straightforward soul-pop record. Nearly Human contains none of Todd’s trademark quirky interludes and no outright experimentation ( another Todd tendency), it’s basically “Hello It’s Me” on steroids. Melodic, plush and stirring, full of longing lovelorn anthems (“Parallel Lines”, “The Waiting Game”) and hymns of self-realization (“Can’t Stop Running”, “Hawking”) as well as a wondrous scenery chewing cameo from R & B legend Bobby Womack on magnificent roof-raiser “The Want of a Nail”. Nearly Human is a beauty.

 Hear it here:

Annuals: Be He Me (2006)

The debut album by Annuals ( led by Adam Baker) is an ambitious mix of indie rock, seventies style harmonizing, emo and Brian Wilson. Tuneful as hell, it stomps, pleads and intermittently screams and is home to many a singalong chorus. It received a fair amount of acclaim upon release but seemed to fade from view with alarming speed…which is a shame because it’s a manic, theatrical and truly inspired record. From the absolutely gigantic opening track “Brother” to the seven minute closer, the sweet, sad, almost proggy “Sway”, there’s a lot to love here.

Hear it here:

Glen Campbell: “Early Morning Song” (1977)

Legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb had no greater muse than late country legend and virtuosic guitarist Glen Campbell. “Early Morning Song” was a deep cut off 1977’s Southern Nights LP, the title track of which went to #1 in the pop charts that year.  Despite being on an album that also sold pretty damn well ( hitting #1 on the Country chart ) and Glen going so far as to perform it on TV, “Early Morning Song” remains a lost gem, never appearing on any of the multitude of Campbell compilations that have been released over the years. It’s a world weary cousin to the absolutely perfect “Wichita Lineman” ( also composed by Webb), full of regret, loneliness…and hope. Glen could do a wistful tearjerker like nobody’s business and he absolutely crushes it here offering up a truly heart-squeezing vocal. It’s full of evocative Jimmy Webb poetry, the song’s narrator recognizing he “ain’t that much fun no more” and dedicating the proceedings to cowboys, hawks in the morning haze, friends lost along the way and lovers “trying to love a telephone”. Campbell said “I think it’s one of the most beautiful ballads he’s ever written”. You got that right Glen.