This week's pick...

Artist: Del Amitri
Albums: Waking Hours and Change Everything

I'm promoting 2 albums this week because (a) they kinda go together, being by the same artist n' all, (b) they're what I've been listening to all week, and (c) I can.

Del Amitri's biggest radio hit has probably been "Roll to Me", which is not on either of either of these albums, which is fine by me, because I really don't care for it much. It's pleasant enough, but personally I think they've done better, on these 2 discs.

I originally bought Change Everything for "Always the Last to Know" and "I Won't Take the Blame", which were in heavy rotation on the 'alternative' radio station I listened to at the time, and are both fine pop tunes about love gone wrong. But I immediately fell madly in love with "Just Like A Man", a tale of repressed jealousy and desire that is still one of my favorite songs of all time. The rest of album is also great.

Waking Hours is another I bought for one track ("Kiss This Thing Goodbye") and ended up loving another even more ("Stone Cold Sober"). Again, the rest of the CD is consistently strong. This music is just....listenable. I love singer Justin Currie's voice (and those saucy sideburns!) and he pens some great lyrics (like "You've been seeing S.O.S. when it's just your clock reading 5:05") and he seems to have an ear for how the sounds of words themselves can add to a song. Given my own love affair with words, you can imagine how that makes me swoon.

So now that I'm browsing Amazon.com for the proper links and seeing these CDs are actually readily available and they even have a Greatest Hits complitation out, maybe you didn't miss this stuff after all? But just in case you did, I'm here to steer you straight. I know, I'm a giver.