The mud above and the stars below

In a bookstore last night they were playing Tom Verlaine’s first solo album in its entirety, which was making me happy indeed. This song in particular is on my Anywhere Anytime list.*

• Tom Verlaine, “Red Leaves” (buy here)

Great guitar work, which is to be expected – the steady chug in the left channel alongside the jazzier flecks in the right. And the chorus, while pretty minimal, is still damn pleasurable. I’d argue that the background coo helps out disproportionately, but then I tend to like background coos disproportionately. The shameless rock-star tricks at the end – the key change and then the double-time drumming – also work on me like sugar.

Man, I’ve just listened to this like 10 times in a row. You should too.

* (It’s true, and it’s a real list. On my iPod. Called “Anywhere Anytime.”)