When Your Spirit’s On Trial, These Nights Can Be Frightening

I found the Lee Ranaldo cover “Isolation” on Soulseek, after waiting quite a while for someone to show up with it. This is probably the best vocal performance I’ve heard by Lee, and I already quite like his voice. For those who haven’t heard it, it’s a very faithful version of the song, save for some noise and feedback here and there. It’s just beautiful, and in a time when nothing sounds quite right to my ears, it works for me. It fits just right. I dug up my copy of Plastic Ono Band, and that record is working for me as well. There’s some other things that have been alright for me the past few days – I know I’m going to make some people wince by mentioning that Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellowbrick Road” and a couple Coldplay songs (“Clocks” and “Politik”) are among them. Those two Coldplay songs are very impressive – I never had much time for them before I heard those two songs. Solid stuff, very surprising considering how bland their previous album was, save for the big hit “Yellow”, which I like well enough. I listened to Morrissey’s “The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils” on repeat earlier today, and that fit my mood alright. I’m always amazed by the fact that that song has never been a particularly popular Morrissey/Smiths song. It’s my favorite song the man has ever sung.