Paul McCartney - Ram On

"Paul Ramon" is a name Paul McCartney used to use when he was checking in to hotels. Douglas Colvin was inspired by the pseudonym and started calling himself Dee Dee Ramone, which led to the the band he was in being called The Ramones. Cool, huh?

Tennis - Long Boat Pass

U2 - I Will Follow

I can almost understand why they got so big.

One time in high school I got free tickets to see U2 in Oakland. I sold them and used the money to go snowboarding. Sorry guys.

Yo La Tengo - Here to Fall

This is one of those songs (I listened to it a bunch of times in the same day). Understated, highly worthwhile. Play it loud. (and the video is rad, too)

"There will be some happy endings

There'll be dreams that don't come true
But in the times ahead, there's love and hate and hope and dread coming
All and all, it makes it that much harder for you, yeah.

It's worth noting that Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, the couple who started this band, are also married to each other.

And the band's name? Read this. 

Another great, great song that's got the same sort of quality:

Cibo Matto - Working For Vacation

"people got science but make no sense...
when I think of something goes out to space
then it comes back in another shape
we know we're not apes but we could make
sweet seedless grapes"

"feeling wrong because the days are too long
counting heartbeats 72 in a minute"

Science fiction!

I've been listening to this album since elementary school. The Boys Are Back in Town still sounds good to me, despite its belonging to classic rock radio and Toy Story commercials. There are other great songs on here, too: Romeo and the Lonely Girl, Running Back, Fight or Fall, and Cowboy Song all have a great groove to them. For the record, the number of albums with five songs I don't skip consistently is pretty small. Even when listening to albums by some of my favorite artists, there will usually only be 1-4 songs I want to hear. Maybe this type of groove is just what happens when a talented band makes six albums before having a real hit. I wish it happened more often. (Wilco?)

Oh and by the way, there's a short sci-fi backstory that explains the cover art and title. You can read the whole thing on wikipedia.

Led Zeppelin - That's The Way

The Innocence Mission - Bright as Yellow

Back in the 90s, girl singers were a lot friendlier-looking.

Band of Horses - Detlef Schrempf

It's really a strange title for a song. Detlef Schrempf was an NBA player from Germany who had a flat top.

Here's the song:

Detlef Schrempf

If my beard gets as big as that guy's, I'll be pretty happy about it.

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

"it may be going overboard to say it's the classic of the century ... but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways."
-Paul McCartney

Brian Wilson is the one with the Beatles haircut.