"RIO" DURAN DURAN (1982)

Great album openers get the listeners to keep on listening. They can do this in any number of ways. Some openers set the tone by easing us in. Others jump right in and blow our minds from the very beginning. A great album opener isn’t an easy thing to create. More than a great song, it’s all about the sequence. Track 1 has to be the perfect starter. This month, I’m highlighting my favorites. #AlbumOpeningSongs

I was out of town when Duran Duran played at the Garden in NYC this summer. Hearing from fans and then seeing some of their camera-recorded videos afterwards, it was clear that I missed out on something special. The crowd was so into it because the band was in great form and, for a night, it sounded like everyone in the building was transported back to the eighties. So many of the fan favorites hold up so well some forty years later. Truly a remarkable feat. I remember when a family friend introduced my brother and I to Rio. It felt like a rite of passage. “My Own Way”, “The Chauffeur”, “Hungry Like The Wolf”, “Save a Prayer”, “New Religion”, the album was stacked. And it all begins with one of the greatest Track Ones of the decade: “Rio”.

What an opening. That ominous, metallic noise. Is something closing or opening? Before we know it, the rhythm section of Roger Taylor on drums and John Taylor on bass kicks in as Nick Rhodes lays down the main synthesizer riff that conjures up images of sparkly reflections off the Rio Grande. The drum fill ushers you in, the bass takes it from there. John Taylor is exceptional at melding elements of funk, rock and new wave, squashing any doubt that the bass is a frigging cool instrument. Andy Taylor’s guitar hook is a simple scorcher, like blazing sun rays “through the dusty land”. These are also some of Simon Le Bon’s finest lyrics and vocal performances. Who hasn’t wanted to do karaoke to this? And then we wrap things up with a killer sax solo for the ages. It seems like you can only go downhill from here, but the Rio album doesn’t ever let up. It just starts out with an incredible, unforgettable bang.

“Cherry ice cream smile, I suppose it's very nice.”

"PLAINSONG" THE CURE (1989)

I’m not sure if there’s a band that I can claim as my favorite of all time, because the reality is I have a different favorite every day. This process of choosing one favorite over all others seems futile. But, for me, The Cure, is about as close as it gets. For me, their music is irreplaceable. There are things that I feel when I put on a Cure record that I can’t experience with anything else. For the month of June, I hope to share some of this as a I cover a different Cure song each day – counting down from #30 to #1. And, in this case, I have no qualms stating my #1. #30DaysofTheCure

U.S. original release: Disintegration (1989) - Track 1

Ranking: 14

Before Disintegration was released, I heard a few individual tracks on my local alt rock radio station WDRE. If my memory serves me correctly, I heard at least three or four songs before I heard the full album. But that didn’t take anything away from the power of the album for me. There isn’t a mediocre track on the entire record. It’s also an incredibly cohesive album. And then there’s the fact that it opens with one of the strongest, most memorable, most mindblowing openers in music history. The one with the understated title: “Plainsong”.

There’s certainly nothing plain about it. “Plainsong” The track seems to awaken itself. Its slumber is disturbed by movement in the air with opening wind chimes. Then before you know it, the song has thrown itself into a state of catharsis. “Plainsong” is utterly lush. Almost stately in its orchestral wanderings. The protagonist in the lyrics could potentially be caught in a downpour, but it also might very well be a baptism. Smith’s echoing vocals sound like he’s underwater. The synthesizers sound like crystalline reflections sparkling along the surface, joined by Gallup’s bass meanderings that are higher than usual a la Hooky. By the end of the track, the listener is fully submerged. It’s unavoidable every single time.

“Sometimes you make me feel like I'm living at the edge of the world.”

"A NIGHT LIKE THIS" THE CURE (1985)

It’s time to get back to my favorite decade. For the month of March, I’ll be looking back at some of my favorite jams from the 80s. These songs often came to me via MTV or the radio. NYC-area stations WDRE, WPLJ, WNEW, K-ROCK and Z100 introduced me to everything from irresistible pop confections to under-the-radar post-punk anthems. I would not be who I am today if it weren’t for the 80s. It was the decade when I discovered music can be a truly powerful thing. #31DaysOf80sSongs

In my opinion, this is where the golden age of The Cure began. A string of early albums (Seventeen Seconds, Faith, Pornography) had exceptional moments. But The Head on the Door is where it all came together. The sound was full, now featuring a quintet: Robert Smith who wrote all the songs, Lol Tolhurst on keys, Porl Thompson as a multi-instrumentalist, Simon Gallup laying down the bass lines and Boris Williams on drums. The album is tight from start to finish – and one of the standouts appears midway through Side B: “A Night Like This”.

Probably one of my all-time favorite Cure jams, “A Night Like This” is a prime example of the band’s expertise in musical layering, where each instrumentalist finds his own unique territory and no one is stepping into another’s territory. Yet, the power of The Cure is that the songs are so incredibly cohesive. The layers all come together. In this Head On the Door classic, Tolhurst’s iconic chords on the keys fade in first and luring us in. Smith and Porl spin these gorgeous, intricate webs on their guitars. These riffs are the bedrock of the song, not the rhythm section, which becomes the most prominent aspect of the track. Gallup’s bass lines are perhaps the most memorable aspect of the song, and Williams matches Gallup’s heavy imprint on the drum set. On the studio version, session contributor Ron Howe blasts out a sax solo for the ages. One of the most epic concerts I’ve ever been to was The Cure at MSG in 2016 – “A Night Like This” sounded as sharp and relevant as it was 30 years prior.

“Say goodbye on a night like this if it's the last thing we ever do.”