Richard ChallenJun 26, 202010 min readLinda Ronstadt – “How Do I Make You”“How Do I Make You” is the sound of SoCal’s prom queen letting her hair down—or, more accurately, chopping it all off.
Richard ChallenJun 22, 202016 min readPink Floyd – “Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)”An improbable blockbuster that distilled one man’s psychodrama down to three minutes of pseudo-disco performed by schoolchildren.
Richard ChallenJun 19, 202011 min readTom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Refugee”“Refugee” is a fight song with the potency of a powder keg, a love song with serrated edges, an anthem in the shape of a bruise.
Richard ChallenJun 15, 20205 min readKool & The Gang – “Too Hot”“Too Hot” was the first single from Kool & The Gang “Mach II” that would never have existed within the band’s earlier incarnation.
Richard ChallenJun 12, 20207 min readShalamar – “The Second Time Around”This is discofied pop at its buoyant best, fizzy and funky in a way that epitomizes the whole of its parent album’s title, Big Fun.
Richard ChallenJun 8, 20205 min readBarry Manilow – “When I Wanted You”Like soap scum, Manilow’s Eighties work lingers in the grout of the Billboard Hot 100, no matter how hard you try to scrub it away.
Richard ChallenJun 5, 20207 min readAndy Gibb – “Desire”“Desire” is honestly just a great lost Bee Gees song, which means it works for three simple reasons: Barry, Robin, and Maurice.
Richard ChallenJun 1, 20206 min readElectric Light Orchestra – “Last Train To London”“Last Train” flits casually between disco and new-wave, combining the bubbly pulse of the former with the mechanical remove of the latter.