Skip to main content

12 More by The Honeydogs

 Sometimes an artist just needs 12 more songs to summarize their career. Case in point...


A fixture on the Minneapolis indie music scene since the mid-1990s, The Honeydogs swing from alt-country to bar rock to Stax-style rock 'n' roll to Beatley power pop. Since the artistic high of 2004's 10,000 Years, the band has put four additional records of smart, solidly-constructed tunes. 

Since songwriter Adam Levy has a gift for one-liners, I'll limit my commentary to a favorite line from the song.

Check out 12 by The Honeydogs for a summary of their first 8 years. And if you have Amazon Music Unlimited, you can listen along here.


1) "Too Close to the Sun" (from Amygdala, 2006)
"I have no regrets, only epithets"

2) "Mrs. Ketchup and the Arsonist" (from Amygdala, 2006)
"Jettisoned up to the stars / Close to god, but no cigar"

3) "Amygdala" (from Amygdala, 2006)
"Too good for words, too good for me, too good to be true"

4) "Stash" (from Sunshine Committee, 2009)
"Well is it written on my forehead, 'I'm gonna crash?'"

5) "Sunshine Committee" (from Sunshine Committee, 2009)
"Analog rules in a digital world"

6) "Aubben" (from What Comes After, 2012)
"Beware of the murder of crows in your backyard"

7) "What Comes After" (from What Comes After, 2012)
"She's like candy / It's never better than the first time / Savor it / Don't devour in a gluttonous haste"

8) "Better Word" (from What Comes After, 2012)
"Shame begets shame and lies beget lies / and the glimmer of humanity disappears from your eyes"

9) "Smile To Yourself" (from "Indomitable" single, 2015)
"Witches will burn / opinion will turn"

10) "Devices" (from Love & Cannibalism, 2016)
"Doors are closed on the avenue of the righteous"

11) "Wheels" (from Love & Cannibalism, 2016)
"Our tank is on empty / We'll make it on fumes"

12) "Look Through the Sun (Photokeratitis)" (from Love & Cannibalism, 2016)
"Whole milk in the veins / cupcakes for brains / battling for billboard space in the endzone"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

REO Speedwagon: R.E.O. Speedwagon (1971)

REO Speedwagon got its start in the late 1960s on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. The band grew out of a friendship between a students Neal Doughty (piano/keyboard) and Alan Gratzer (drums). Joining up with a couple of other musicians, they took the name R.E.O. Speedwagon. It wasn't long before they started getting gigs at parties and bars, doing covers of the hits of the day. The band cycled through several players in its first three years, with Gratzer and Doughty as the only constants. One-by-one they added the members that would form the first "official" lineup: singer Terry Luttrell in early 1968, bassist Gregg Philbin later that summer, and guitarist Gary Richrath at the end of 1970. Richrath was a native of Peoria, 90 miles northwest of Champaign, and had essentially stalked the band until they let him join. It was a good move, as he not only an accomplished guitarist, but also a songwriter. With Richrath the band ascended to the n

12 by Matthew Sweet (2002 - 2021)

Sometimes a huge part of an artist's career has not been summarized. Case in point... Matthew Sweet has a couple of compliations out there, but neither of them cover the past couple of decades, a span that has seen him release 8 albums of original material and 3 albums of covers.  I followed Sweet's career religiously early on, with my ardor gradually diminishing after the magnificant one-two punch of In Reverse (1999) and The Thorns (2003) That's not to say he hasn't produced some great work since then, it's just that it requires bit of effort to pick out the gems. Here's my college try: (Two of these albums are not available on streaming servies, so here's a slightly modified version of the playlist on YouTube .) 1. "I Can't Remember" ( The Thorns , 2003) The Thorns was a rootsy, close-harmony early-aughts version of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, featuring Shawn Mullins (of "Lullaby" fame) and Pete Droge (of "If You Don't Lov

2022: The Album

Since 2003 I've made a mix of some of my favorite songs of the calendar year. Here's the cover art and track listing for the 2022 edition. 1. BODEGA - "Pillar on the Bridge of You" 2. Harry Styles - "Late Night Talking" 3. Vicious Vicious - "Evolution" 4. Hot Freaks - "Lovely" 5. Carly Rae Jepsen - "The Loneliest Time" 6. Tears for Fears - "End of Night" 7. Spoon - "Wild" 8. Death Cab for Cutie - "Here to Forever" 9. Citrine and GUKKO - "Feel Better" 10. Rhett Miller - "Fascination" 11. Broken Bells - "Fade Away" 12. Leah Marlene - "Flowers" 13. Robbie Williams - "The World and Her Mother" 14. Jimmy Eat World - "Something Loud" (acoustic version) 15. Sloan - "Dream It All Over Again" If you have Amazon Unlimited, you can listen at this link .