The 3 Stars – August 24, 2004
There are some weeks when finding more than two songs for this blog can be challenging. Other weeks, it’s hard to narrow the list down to three. If there were some sort of equal distribution of music, it would be a great way to even things out.
But my conservative friends would call that “socialism” and ask why I hate America.
This is one of those overfill weeks. So many deserving songs could be featured in this edition, but alas, there can be only three.
Okay then, let’s do this!!!
The Number 3 Star: Venus Grrrls – Darla
Let’s face it: Labor Day is a lovely three-day weekend, but Target or any other store has no Labor Day aisle where you can buy a collective bargaining package or a 40-hour work-week commemorative mug. So, next on the list is Halloween. As the off-ramp to October is in sight, we’ll feature a song about witches.
In an interview with V13, lead singer Grace Kelly said of the song, “‘Darla’ is a ritual of witchy premonitions that two people were destined to meet. Embodying the sanctity of female companionship, friendship, and love, ‘Darla’ and her best friend Marceline join a coven together, knowing they are better together, becoming two halves of the same whole.”
This is the third release from this goth-grunge band in 2024, following “Bloodsick” and “Divine.”
The Number 2 Star: Good News – New Dawn
These up-and-comers from Sheffield are hitting all the right notes. Their first full-length album, Small Forms, is due for full release on September 13. Coming in at under two minutes, this bass-heavy track isn’t a shot of musical booze; it’s sipping whiskey…something you want to savor. According to an IG post, the band writes that the song speculates how the British left must have felt upon realizing that the Soviet Union really sucks. It was written after one of the band members read Landscapes of Communism by Owen Harherley.
The Number 1 Star: Willie Nelson – Last Leaf
At 91, the Red Headed Stranger is still going. Willie is set to release his 76th studio album (152nd overall album), Last Leaf on the Tree, in November. There are many covers on this new album written by Keith Richards, Beck, the Flaming Lips, Nina Simone, and Neil Young. The leadoff track, the Tom Waits song “Last Leaf,” was not accidentally selected. The song talks about how the other leaves have fallen in late autumn and the last leaf is barely hanging on. It strikes a similar tone to his 2018 album Last Man Standing. For the tour supporting that album, Willie covered Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and other great country minds of his generation. That was a tribute to their lives. This seems to be Willie’s own requiem mass.