Call Me Up Whenever U Want 2 Grind

Silver Apples “You & I” – For those who don’t know, the Silver Apples were an NYC duo from the late 60s who paired elaborate homemade electronic instruments with live percussion and had a sound which I think to this day is still ahead of their time. “You And I” is from their second LP Contact, and it is their masterpiece, as far as I’m concerned. Few songs that I’ve encountered sound quite as frantic and nervous, or communicate a deep frustration with the circumstances of a busy life as effectively as this. There’s a real sadness to this song that is only made more poignant by the obvious rationalization and resignation of the lyrics – “you and I could love each other … life is full of important things, life is full of necessary things … and there just ain’t room for the little things” – the narrator has just given up on love entirely. He’s utterly hopeless. It’s a pretty tragic song.

The Foo Fighters “Darling Nikki” – According to the official Foo Fighters website, this was recorded during the sessions of their most recent album One By One, and it will probably end up being a b-side for one of their future singles. It’s a pretty good version of the song – it doesn’t touch the Prince original, but Dave Grohl pulls off a faithful version, and the rocking out at the end is very impressive without getting all “haw haw, we’re a rock band doing a pop song, let’s rock extra hard to overcompensate” about it.