Brandon's Buzz

Blake Shelton — “Ol’ Red”
(from Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton) —

I s’pose his recent win as the Country Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year means that I can no longer refer to Shelton as a vastly underrated talent. He has had substantially bigger hits, but this — a highly hilarious prison break fairy tale that no less than George Jones and Kenny Rogers have also taken stabs at — has always been my bar-none favorite. (Moral of the story: dog really is man’s best friend, even when he’s trained not to be.)

If you missed any of last week’s tunes, below is a quick recap:

MONDAY: Kate Rusby — “The Wild Goose” (from Sleepless) —

TUESDAY: Soul II Soul (featuring Caron Wheeler) —
“Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” (from Keep On Movin’) —

WEDNESDAY: The Pretenders — “2000 Miles”
(from The Singles) —

THURSDAY: Lady Antebellum — “Need You Now”
(from Need You Now) —

FRIDAY: Brendan James — “Stupid for Your Love”
(from Brendan James) —

SATURDAY: Basia Bulat — “If It Rains” (from Heart of My Own) —

SUNDAY: Madonna (featuring Lil Wayne) —
“Revolver [David Guetta One Love Mix]” (from One Love 2010) —

Madonna (featuring Lil Wayne) — “Revolver [David Guetta One Love Mix]” (from One Love 2010) —

Fifty-two now, and she still hasn’t figured out the art of subtlety. Not that it matters: helped out by Wayne’s typically randy cameo, Guetta bestows his magical Midas touch onto the Material Girl’s strongest (and most fascinatingly frisky) single in at least a decade.

Basia Bulat — “If It Rains” (from Heart of My Own) —

A meandering yarn about why the iPhone might just be the greatest freakin’ invention in the history of ever: A had to drive to Houston yesterday to take some insurance exam (the full purpose of which I remain unclear, though I’m sure he’ll love you sending him all your good karma), and I spent much of the day backing up the important file on my computer so that I could turn it over to the good folks at Best Buy, who are slated to replace the machine’s dead battery and repair the touchpad’s broken left click button. And after that wrenching experience — if you know me at all, you know I never, ever, ever part with my computer, which is essentially a permanent extension of my typing fingers, as seemingly vital to my inner stasis and well-being as such trivial mechanisms as lungs and kidneys — I needed a little retail therapy, which in my case almost always means a trip to the local record store. And whilst I was browsing the racks and taking in the sights and sounds of my single favorite place on Earth, a song I failed to recognize came tumbling from the store’s loudspeaker. Back in my Luddite days, I would have either bummed a pen off of somebody and scribbled down some lyrics on my hand — or, barring that, would have just tried like hell to remember a line or two — to look up when I got home. But now, just as it has with so many other mundane daily activities (checking email, tweeting, catching up on the news and weather, even setting up the damned DVR), the new phone has revolutionized the ID process: I cued up that handy-as-hell Shazam app and had a definitive answer inside of ten seconds. And me and my iTunes lived ‘appily ever after. (P.S.: Isn’t this song just terrific? I know nothing at all about this girl — trust and believe that’ll be changing, ay-sap — but, if this is any indication, she’s an elegant font of earth-mama fabulosity.)

Brendan James — “Stupid for Your Love” (from Brendan James) —

One of those happy, cutesy tunes that also manages to hit home (like, how many of us haven’t done a handful of abominably stupid things in the name of (what we thought was) love?). (Incidentally, A, my favorite mathematician, reports that, off the top of his head, he can only remember nine of the numbers that succeed 3.14 in pi — to be fair, it has been years since my beloved needed to be able to — so this lovesick James kid is doing pretty swell, if you axe me.)

Lady Antebellum — “Need You Now” (from Need You Now) —

More extensive thoughts on the just-announced 2011 Grammy nominations are forthcoming — would have live-blogged the thing, as per Buzz tradition, but A and I had a small dinner party last night and I wasn’t sure we’d be done in time (turns out we were) — but get a good lingering look at your Record of the Year winner right cheer, peeps: pitted as it is against four rap-slash-hip-hop hits — Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You,” Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie,” B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ On You,” and Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” which you just know are all gonna split that contingent’s vote that many ways — you can betcher bippy that Lady A’s blockbuster crossover smash will stand as safe harbor for all those stodgy old Academy members whom Marshall Mathers and his ilk scare the living, curdled crap out of. (Of course, the fact that “Need” is the hands-down best tune among the five singled out for recognition will certainly help carry it to the winners’ circle, but — just as with that Dixie Chicks sweep a few years ago — don’t believe for a slick second that that’s the reason it’s gonna win.)

The Pretenders — “2000 Miles” (from The Singles) —

Christmas month opens in earnest with one of my all-time favorites, which A and I heard last night as we waited for a table at one of our favorite restaurants. Even though, much like Joni Mitchell’s classic “River,” it is related to the holiday on only a superficial level, “Miles” has become the token heartbreaker on many a Christmas album, but methinks you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more moving (or more masterfully executed) version than the wistfully shattering original, on which Chrissie Hynde achingly yearns for the safe and timely return of an absent loved one. (Here’s hoping the one you adore is not two thousand miles away from you this holiday season.)