Alphabet Soup Week 06: The C Tracks

Tracy Chapman's breathtaking performance at The Grammy Awards; the importance of checking in on each other. Oh, and an additional ten tracks added to the Alphabet Soup playlist!!

Feb 08, 2024

On Monday morning, during the few minutes I spend with social media over breakfast, I was served a healthy portion of musical joy in what was a wonderful way to start the week. Facebook was blowing up with videos of Tracy Chapman performing her hit song Fast Car with Luke Combs on Sunday evening’s GRAMMY Awards. I had become aware of the Luke Combs cover, and the fact that it had taken the country world by storm, in November when Tracy Chapman made history by becoming the first Black songwriter to win the CMA Award for Song of the Year. At that point I decided to give Combs’ version a listen and while I found it a fairly faithful rendition it was all a bit meh for me. But Tracy Chapman performing the song live for the first time in 20+ years (she’s performed publicly only three times since her last tour in 2009)? I am here for that!

As the lights brightened, revealing Tracy Chapman playing the song’s opening, much to the delight of the audience, I found myself moved to tears (indeed, I’m getting verklempt as I write this). The 1988 self-titled debut album on which the track appears has long been a favorite of mine and featured on my 2009 list of 15 Albums That Shaped My Life. When I reposted my list on Substack last year (part 1 here; part 2: here), I was astounded to read that fifteen years ago I’d considered it one of the weaker songs on the album. While there were, for me, stronger and more meaningful songs on the album (Mountains of Things and For My Lover immediately come to mind), this song, and its subject matter, feels timeless. Swap out “working at a convenience store” for working a dead-end job in the gig economy, replace her father’s problem with the bottle with an opioid addiction, and the song is as relevant as it’s ever been.

Chapman has clearly lost nothing over the years as her performance, delivered with a clear sense of joy and in the same dulcet tones I fondly recall from the 80s, was absolutely sublime and left me wanting for more. Much more. At the end of the first verse Chapman sings, “Me myself I got nothing to prove,” and while I’m sure that’s true, I’m now holding on to a hope that she’ll dig into her musical bag and grace the world with a new album sometime soon.

Let’s get on to this week’s music!

ALPHABET SOUP WEEK 06: The C Tracks

TRACK: "Central Reservation (The Then Again Version)" from Central Reservation (1999)

ARTIST: Beth Orton

Central Reservation (The Then Again Version) was the second single from British folk singer Beth Orton’s second album released in 1999. I’ve always been partial to this Ben Watt-remixed version over the original acoustic version included on the album. As is often the case with music from my physical album era, I completely lost touch with Beth Orton’s music after her 2002 release Daybreaker. She firmly reestablished herself in my musical consciousness in 2022 with Weather Alive, an absolutely stunning work of art which by the end of the year had worked its way up to tenth on my AOTY List.

TRACK: "Could I Be Your Girl" from Living Under June (1994)

ARTIST: Jann Arden

It’s interesting to me how some songs and albums feel timeless to the point that they retain an immediate pull on my heart regardless of how long it’s been since my last listen. I was sure this would be the case with Jann Arden’s second studio album Living Under June, which I recall being in extremely heavy rotation during the summer of 1997, but that turned out to not be the case. Although my three favorite songs (this track, Insensitive, and Good Mother) remain stunning examples of singing and songwriting, the album as a whole seems to have lost a little of the shine it held for me 25+ years ago.

TRACK: "Colour Me" from Afterglow (1999)

ARTIST: Dot Allison

When researching Dot Allison for this week’s entry, I discovered she’d originally fronted the Scottish electronic group One Dove in the early 90s. Their only album, 1993’s Morning Dove White, didn’t gain traction and Allison ultimately embarked on a solo career beginning with her 1999 debut Afterglow from which Colour Me is drawn. Although I wasn’t keeping track of my listening habits back then, let alone compiling an AOTY list, I remember this being one of my favorite releases of the year. Twenty-five years later the album sounds as fresh to me as it did back then.

As you make your way through this week’s playlist, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do any of these tracks really stand out for you? What do you like? What don’t you like?

Please click the button below to leave a comment.

TRACK: "Citysong" from Natural Ingredients (1994)

ARTIST: Luscious Jackson

I was today years old when I learned that Luscious Jackson were the first artist released on the Beastie Boys’ record label Grand Royal with their 1992 EP In Search of Manny (Catalog GR 001). It was surprising as I’d always assumed Natural Ingredients, their 1994 full-length, to be their debut release After spending 25 minutes working my way through the YouTube playlist for In Search of Manny (which I’d never previously heard but thoroughly enjoyed), I can’t help but feel Natural Ingredients was somewhat of a step back for them both stylistically and musically.

TRACK: "Christobel" from Real Life (2007)

ARTIST: Joan As Police Woman

Joan Wasser, who performs as Joan As Police Woman, began her musical career as a violinist in The Dambuilders. After the death of her boyfriend Jeff Buckley in May 1997, Wasser spent time playing with Those Bastard Souls, Black Beetle, and Anthony and the Johnsons before emerging as a solo artist. In an August 2006 article in The Telegraph, Wasser had this to say about her inspiration for the band’s name: “My friend said I was channelling Angie Dickinson in Police Woman [a 1970s cop show] and I loved that because she was really powerful but sexy at the same time. I also wanted the name to be funny because, although my music is serious, I like to laugh at tragedy.”

Christobel is the lead single from Joan as Police Woman’s debut album Real Life, released in 2006.

TRACK: "Clumsy" from Clumsy (1997)

ARTIST: Our Lady Peace

During my time spent at university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I was introduced to a wealth of Canadian music, ranging from legendary classic Canadian bands to artists of the day (both local and from across Canada). Given the parameters of the Alphabet Soup playlist, you’ll be hearing a bunch of this music through the course of 2024.

One of my favorite bands from that era was Our Lady Peace who blasted their way onto my musical radar in 1995 with Naveed, the fifth single from their debut album of the same name. I was a consistent fan for the better part of a decade, sticking with them through their first five albums released between 1994 and 2005, before losing touch with their music.

Clumsy, their second album released in 1997, is probably my favorite album of theirs. It generated five singles including Clumsy which was the most successful, reaching #1 on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada.

TRACK: "Counting Blue Cars" from Pet Your Friends (1995)

ARTIST: Dishwalla

Surprisingly Counting Blue Cars wasn’t the lead single from Dishwalla’s 1995 album Pet Your Friends (that honor goes to Haze, a track I can’t even remember despite owning the album). Counting Blue Cars remains Dishwalla’s greatest (and only) hit, reaching #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and spending 48 weeks on the Hot 100 chart peaking at #15. The song would go on to earn an RIAA gold certification in March 2022.

TRACK: "Charlotte Sometimes" from Faith (1981)

ARTIST: The Cure

I was first introduced to The Cure by my British cousin Ali who came to stay with us in the summer of 1984. Ali blew in like a visitor from another planet, bringing with him a comprehensive collection of mixtapes filled with exciting and unknown artists (Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure) that completely and irrevocably altered my musical universe. Everything about him, from his collection of strange and wonderful music to his goth hairstyle, Bauhaus t-shirt, and winklepicker shoes, exuded an air of exotic coolness that this just-turned-12-years-old, musically uneducated innocent could only ever hope to imitate.

In my (albeit perhaps not entirely reliable) recollection, when Ali returned home, he left me his cassette of Japanese Whispers, The Cure’s 1983 compilation of singles and B-sides. Over the following few months, I somehow managed to sleuth out the fact that The Cure had already released four prior albums. I was excited but yet also aghast that I was already so late to the party!

I drafted a handwritten letter to Ali exhorting him to purchase the four records for me and send them to Bermuda. I included some vague language about how I would get the money back to him one day (money which I didn’t have BTW). In a moment of clarity, I crumpled up the letter and threw it away (what a ridiculous idea!). I did eventually fill those gaps in my collection and 40 years later they remain my favorite band.

Charlotte Sometimes is a non-album single released in 1981 shortly following the band’s third studio album Faith. I finally managed to see The Cure live in concert for the first time in November 2011 at New York’s Beacon Theatre. On a three-night stint at the grand old venue during the Reflections tour, the band performed their first three albums (Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, and Faith) in their entirety along with three encores (one of which included this track). This performance, comprising 46 songs and lasting over three hours, remains one my top concerts of all time.

TRACK: "Cumbersome" from American Standard (1995)

ARTIST: Seven Mary Three

Although Cumbersome was included on Churn, the debut album independently released by Seven Mary Three in 1994, it wasn’t until its release in 1996 as the lead single from the 1995 major label debut American Standard that the track exploded. Although often considered a one-hit wonder, the band also found success with their second single Water’s Edge, which is probably my favorite song from the album.

TRACK: "Courage (For Hugh Maclennan)" from Fully Completely (1992)

ARTIST: The Tragically Hip

As it relates to music, particularly live music, I have a handful of regrets when I look back at my time spent at university in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As Halifax isn’t a large city (population circa 325,000 when I was there), it’s often skipped on Canadian tours by major US or international artists. But generally, most Canadian artists will make an effort to get there fairly regularly, if not on every tour.

According to setlist.fm there were five opportunities during my time in Halifax to catch The Tragically Hip in concert. With 14 albums released between 1987 and 2016, “The Hip” as they are affectionately known, are nothing short of Canadian legends. During that period of my life, I was just far too interested in drinking and drugging than in going to watch live music. My loss.

Sadly, the band’s iconic lead singer Gord Downie, who also released eight solo albums (three posthumously) passed away from brain cancer at the age of 53. The band is no longer active as a touring or recording entity; in the words of guitarist Rob Baker, “We wouldn’t be The Hip without Gord . . . The Hip has played their last note”.

It’s difficult to overstate the power Gord Downie holds on the Canadian imagination. Writing in the New York Times in 2017, Simon Vozick-Levinson had this to say: "The place of honor that Mr. Downie occupies in Canada's national imagination has no parallel in the United States. Imagine Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Michael Stipe combined into one sensitive, oblique poet-philosopher, and you’re getting close."

Courage (For Hugh Maclennan) is the first track and third single from 1992’s Fully Completely.

Life in the key of C: Check In

A few years ago, for the first time ever, I began struggling with my mental health, primarily in the form of moderate depression, which manifested itself in several ways. My perception of the world and my place in it, particularly my “performance” (in work and in life generally) and my “worthiness”, became very skewed. I came to understand that in those darker periods I could no longer fully trust the lens through which I viewed the world. I found myself tending towards isolation. I struggled to find the energy to do things that bring me joy, let alone to work, although I continued to put one foot in front of the other. And I got caught in doom loops of comfort eating followed by feelings of guilt and inadequacy which could, of course, always be numbed away by a little food binge.

I did seek professional help, more so for a diagnosis and opinion than for any sort of therapy. After almost 30 years sober and still an active participant in my own recovery, I have a great level of self-awareness and a lot of spiritual tools I can bring to bear to deal with life on life’s terms, no matter what that brings. Thankfully I’ve been able to navigate through the last few challenging years unscathed; the darker periods are now less frequent, less severe, and far more manageable.

One thing I learned over this period is the importance of talking to others, particularly others outside my primary relationship with my wife, with whom I share everything. I began to share my struggles with my male friends and extended family members. Partly in an effort to normalize conversations around mental health, which still tends to carry a stigma, but also to create an environment where I allowed others to become vulnerable in their own way, and to open up if they so chose.

A fundamental lesson emerged from my decision to engage in this open and authentic way: it is important to check in on each other. While this article from Nashville Fit Magazine focuses on the holiday season, the compelling benefits of checking in are valid all year round:

Combatting Isolation: Loneliness tends to intensify during festive periods, amplifying feelings of isolation for those who may not have close family or friends nearby. A check-in can bridge that gap, offering a sense of connection and reminding them they’re not alone.
Offering Support: Sometimes, individuals battling mental health issues might not vocalize their struggles. A compassionate inquiry can create an opening for them to share, providing an opportunity to offer support or guidance.
Validating Emotions: Acknowledging and accepting someone’s feelings without judgment can validate their experiences. It helps in normalizing discussions around mental health, eroding the stigma that often silences those in need.
Preventing Crisis: A timely conversation may prevent potential crises by identifying early red flags. It allows for intervention or seeking professional help if necessary.
Fostering Stronger Relationships: Showing care and concern deepens the bonds between friends. It builds a foundation of trust, ensuring a safe space for open communication.

I’ll admit that, depending on the nature of your relationship, introducing the topic for the first time can feel awkward. And there may be relationships with boundaries that don’t lend themselves to the conversation. But it doesn’t hurt to try. My experience has been that my relationships, particularly with men, have become deeper and more authentic and are becoming undergirded by a foundation of mutual care and concern and a deepening sense that we have each other’s backs.

I urge you to find the courage to break the ice and start the conversation - it’s worth it!

As we say in Bermuda, “that’s all she wrote!!” for this week’s installment.

Thanks for being here, I appreciate you. Until next time, wishing you joy in the journey!

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Here’s the running playlist which will be updated on a weekly basis as each new installment is published.

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Joy in the Journey