Marvin Gaye, "Can I Get A Witness"
It's sometimes a little hard to reconcile the early Marvin Gaye with what he would eventually become. This is from 1963, and yeah, sure, it's an excellent tune. But it's just so far away from where he would end up. Popular music evolved so fast in this decade, it's still hard to wrap my mind around it.
The Young Fresh Fellows, "View From Above"
The first Fellows record, The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest, was kind of tied together with these little spoken word travelogue snippets, as a theme. The Fellows are light hearted enough that the gimmick comes off as charming, and the music is all just kind of loose, happy rock. While there's plenty to like, they also didn't really totally have control of their songwriting yet, so the record is kind of just for fans.
Coldplay, "The Scientist"
It's so earnest! But I still like it, so whatever! It's OK to like some guileless stuff every now and again.
Tilt, "Gun Play"
I think I've mentioned in the past here that I'm kind of mystified as to why I picked up four Tilt records. They are all only fine! I never really listened to them much even back when I was buying the records. I'm very stupid, is what I'm saying.
Big Thief, "Masterpiece"
When Big Thief's debut record came out, critics went kind of crazy for it, so I picked it up. And to my ears, it kind of falls through the cracks a little bit. I can recognize that it's well done, but it just totally slips through my brain. There's nothing memorable about it to me. Into the "not for me" bucket they went, and I haven't ever checked them out again. I do wonder if I just didn't give them enough of a chance.