Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik

Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik

4:15

Duncan Sheik, 1996

Written by Duncan Sheik

Duncan Sheik died a few days ago, way too young, of cardiac arrest,  In the mid-1990s, the era of grunge, wistful pop, and the one-hit-wonder, Sheik was beautiful, talented, and on top of the world.  I, being an angsty Dylan-loving curmudgeon, dismissed most everything on the charts by virtue of their existence on the charts, so this megahit never seeped into my consciousness.  I doubt I ever listened to more than a few seconds of it, despite being in college at the time of its apex.  The acoustic guitar and soft drums form an upbeat melody covering a melancholy mood; the narrator, like so many lost young men, can't explain even to himself his attraction to a damaged soul.  The lyrics are introspective and, if not exactly poetry, reasonably clever: "You really had me going, wishing on a star / But the black holes that surround you are heavier by far / I believed in your confusion, you were so completely torn / It must've been that yesterday was the day that I was born."  Sheik was cut down too early, but it's not a bad legacy to have created something people are appreciating three decades later.

She's Just Killing Me - ZZ Top

She's Just Killing Me - ZZ Top

4:56

Rhythmeen, 1996

Written by Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard

Frank Beard died yesterday.  This song is one of their hardest, swampiest blues rockers.  The slick, synth-driven MTV sound is in the band's rearview mirror here, and the grit and sludge are back in the guitar solos, tuned way low.  The tempo is rapid, a straight shot down a long Texas highway.  The lyrics are influenced by the content of the movie From Dusk Till Dawn, whose soundtrack it was feature don.  And are the tres amigos still obsessed with fine foxes and crude innuendo?  Yes.  "Her castanets are enormous / Her bongo beat absolute."  It's a fitting reminder that beneath all the MTV polish and cartoonish sex jokes, ZZ Top was always a hell of a blues-rock band, and Beard's drumming was a huge part of that.  Rest in power, Frank.

That's Right (You're Not From Texas) - Lyle Lovett

That's Right (You're Not From Texas) - Lyle Lovett

4:55

The Road To Ensenada, 1996

Written by Lyle Lovett, Willis Alan Ramsey, and Alison Rogers

The Texas Tourism Board used this light-hearted song in ads for Texas.  With rollicking boogie-woogie piano and steel guitar, this is a catchy, tongue-in-cheek celebration of Texas pride and a gentle jab at outsiders playing cowboy. Lovett also tips his hat in the lyrics to Uncle Walt's Band, a South Carolina group that Lovett was a fan of and became part of Austin's musical scene: "Those boys from Carolina / They sure enough could sing / But when they came on down to Texas / We all showed them how to swing." It's funny, affectionate, and quintessentially Lovett, and despite the Texas Tourism Board, more amused than boastful about Texas exceptionalism.

Time Marches On - Tracy Lawrence

Time Marches On - Tracy Lawrence

3:05

Time Marches On, 1996

Written by Bobby Braddock

A country observing the coming and going of generations.  There's ghosts of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," obviously, from its chronicling of the sweep of history, but also the Stones "Mother's Little Helper" in that it hints at the drug use, psychological problems, and idiosyncratic behavior that go on behind the closed doors of ostensibly proper blue-collar families: "Brother's wearin' beads and he smokes a lot of dope / Mama is depressed, barely makes a sound / Daddy's got a girlfriend in another town."  Lawrence wisely resists over-singing the material. His straightforward delivery allows the lyric to do the heavy lifting, while the restrained mid-'90s country arrangement keeps sentimentality at bay.

Here She Comes - Ho-Hum

Here She Comes - Ho-Hum

3:12

Local, 1996

Written by Rod Bryan, Lenny Bryan, Kevin Kerby, and Dave Hoffpauir

Ho-Hum is a well-regarded band from Arkansas.  The vocalist's smooth delivery evokes Adam Duritz, over a confident burst of 1990s alt-rock, which in the final third ratchets up to near Pearl Jam levels of impassioned belting.  The song discusses a girl who has the power to make you love or be broken.  "What are you gonna do when she takes that love away from you?"  The narrator finds himself bewildered, lost.  "She could be in a trap somewhere and left for dead / You'd die looking for her yourself."

A Long December - Counting Crows

A Long December - Counting Crows

4:55

Recovering the Satellites, 1996

Written by Adam Duritz

Built around a gentle piano line and a disarming "na na na" refrain which echoes "Hey Jude," but slower and drained of triumph, this is an emotionally-fraught ballad.  It's solemn without being showy, and tender without being comforting. The melody carries a weary grace, keeping optimism in sight but at a careful distance.  The story of the song comes from a real-life trauma: a friend's near-fatal car accident, captured in images that feel sad and cold: "The smell of hospitals in winter / And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls."  It's been a long December and there's a long recovery ahead.  Yet the song is also haunted by the band's sudden fame and Duritz's mental breakdown under its weight. Lines like "It's one more day up in the canyons / One more night in Hollywood" blur geography with psychology. Is this Los Angeles, or something darker and internal, a long, narrow canyon of the soul where echoes linger and escape feels uncertain? There's no answers in the song.  Could you forgive him for whatever he's done?  When you look across to the girl, will she meet your gaze?  Will the friend recover?  The song just sits with these questions, wounded but quietly hopeful.

Mint Car - The Cure

Mint Car - The Cure

3:29

Wild Mood Swings, 1996

Written by Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Perry Bamonte, Jason Cooper, and Roger O'Donnell

Cure guitarist Perry Bamonte died on Christmas Eve, so I'm featuring this track from one of the albums he worked on.  It's one of the more ebullient songs in the Cure catalog, describing a beautiful day with someone the narrator loves.   The sun is up, the birds are singing, everything is perfect.  The song glides along on bright guitars, springy keyboards, and a rhythm that skips along. It's pop-forward and unapologetic, engineered for going out on a clear day, not introspection in a dark room. The band sounds loose and buoyant, contrasting with Robert Smith's familiar emotional, nervous yelp.  The lyrics hint that happiness is something to be marveled at and tightly held rather than embraced: "It's all I ever wanted / Ow! it feels so big it almost hurts!" It's light, sincere, and positive.

Gipsy - Jesse Cook

Gipsy - Jesse Cook

2:31

Gravity, 1996

Written by Jesse Cook

This is a flamenco fusion instrumental with a lively beat, rapid virtuoso finger-picking, a jazzy bass line, and some real shake-your-hips array of percussion lines, including steel drum.  It's fun, it's poppy, it's a terrific blend of world styles.  Cook is Canadian, but he's a master of this stylistic blend.  I could easily see this as the track for a Shakira or Santa vocal.

Billy And Bonnie - Steve Earle

Billy And Bonnie - Steve Earle

3:38

I Feel Alright, 1996

Written by Steve Earle

A modern "Bonnie and Clyde," an outlaw "Jack and Diane" from that most take-no-nonsense outlaw of alt-country pioneers.  "So they knocked off a Texaco south of town / Blew down the highway with the ragtop down."  It's a tale as old as the highway itself, ground Springsteen has traveled as well.  "Now Billy wasn't sweatin' no APB / 'Cause they didn't leave a single soul alive to see."  Earle's lyrics have always been storylike and cinematic; this song could be turned into a movie. There's even a twist ending.

2-Tone Army - The Toasters

2-Tone Army - The Toasters

3:20

Hard Band For Dead, 1996

Written by the Toasters

This new wave ska song is meta, a commentary on the scene and music itself: "With a nineties beat on a fifties sound / They're wearing bomber flights / Combat boots, skater pants and sixties suits."  From the perspective of a music listener in 2024 bloated with Jamaican reggae, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Rancid, this is a decent, toe-tapping ska number, but a bit lacking in energy.  In the "120 Minutes" MTV era, it was a blast.

The Distance - Cake

The Distance - Cake

2:59

Fashion Nugget, 1996

Written by Greg Brown

With the usual guitar, drums, bass and deadpan vocal (and an electronic synthesizer whistle), this is a typical Cake song, but one of their most popular songs.  To me it's not up there with my favorites, but it's definitely got a driving beat impelling it along.  It seems to be a song about moving through success and failure and just trying to get there for yourself.  "No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine / He's haunted by something he cannot define."  Maybe doing your best for love.  "And thinking of someone for whom he still burns."

Zero From Outer Space - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Zero From Outer Space - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

3:08

Songs And Music From She's the One, 1996

Written by Tom Petty

A buzzy surf-garage rocker.  The lyrics are rather simple, and seem to be from the point of view of a depressed emo kid.  Or maybe Petty is just having a laugh ("You think that you're so big / But I saw you kick that dog / When the wind blew off your wig"), as he sometimes does.  Either way, it's not Petty's strongest song, but this is a solid turn by one of the powerhouse bands of rock and they're having fun.

Marchin' To the City - Bob Dylan

Marchin' To the City - Bob Dylan

4:33

The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997), 2023 (recorded 1996)

Written by Bob Dylan

An outtake from Time Out Of Mind, something like an early version of "Til I Fell in Love With You," a few lyrics that made it into the final cut popping up here and there.  Note that this is a different cut from the the two versions of this song that appear on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006.  Those songs clock in at 6:32 and 3:40.  This one, from Fragments, is closer in tone and tempo to the shorter version 2.  It was probably recorded in 1996.  Looking back with the knowledge of what would come, this is pretty clearly unfinished, but I don't think you would say that if you'd never heard the final result.