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Dump – “On The Right Track Now”
Plea for Happiness

This record was pretty spotty, in my opinion, but it was also home to a few gems. This is one of them; “Made for it” and “My head in your hands” were the others. I still listen to them years later (one was even in a Ben Stiller short).

A duty few men are fit for, but you were born for.

She who sinks under real disappointment lacks philosophy; but she who sinks under a fancied one lacks purpose.

Reveries of a Bachelor

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Lupine Howl – “Sometimes”
The Carnivorous Lunar Activities of Lupine Howl

I never listened much to the rest of this album, but “Sometimes” is one of the few one-off tracks I still regularly listen to that I got during my great college music expansion period. I love the lines “The universal gift must always be returned/and everything can be unlearned.” It’s long but broken into three parts, which helps the pacing.

There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and its fruit? If the green-grocer had such a thing as a laurel wreath, I should send Billy round for it.

Sherlock Holmes

And then the various forms He cast
Gross organs first and finer last;
No one at once evolved, but all
By even touches grew and small
Degrees advanced, till, shade by shade,
To match all living things He’d made
Females, complete in all their parts
Except (His clay gave out) their hearts.
“No matter,” Satan cried; “with speed
I’ll fetch the very hearts they need”–
So flew away and soon brought back
The number needed, in a sack.
That night Earth rang with sounds of strife–
Ten million males had each a wife;
That night sweet Peace her pinions spread
O’er Hell – ten million devils dead!

G.J.

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My Education – “Snake in the Grass”
Italian

You have to listen to this one all the way through. It sneaks up on you and the payoff is at the end. These guys have a great ear. I’m getting to know their other albums; they’re shockingly little-known as far as I can tell. If you see this, guys, come to Seattle and play with Kinski.