WTLX Mix Tapes: Side 1, Song 11

Note: This series originally appeared on Facebook in a slightly different form, Aug-Sept 16.

I can precisely peg the moment collecting LPs (and subsequently CDs) became part of my identity: a weekend night in February 1984, probably Saturday the 11^th. There were a couple of albums I was interested in checking out, so it was over to Cut Corner Records (now CD Central), which in my college days was located over the old Tolly-Ho at the corner of Limestone and Euclid in Lexington. It’s difficult to overstate the impact those two records, along with a third I got a few days later, had on the development of my future musical explorations.

One of the albums I got that night was U2’s War. This is still my favorite of theirs, though Achtung Baby comes close. I don’t have any of their songs on these two tapes, but they were central to my listening at the time.

The other was Marshall Crenshaw’s debut, eponymous record. “Someday, Someway” had been one of my favorites in late summer 82, and I’d read good things about the album. I wasn’t disappointed–twelve magnificent pop songs, all clocking in at 3:10 or under. This is one of its best tracks. His style evolved somewhat over the years but I bought and enjoyed just about everything he put out through the mid-90s.

(Oh, and the third album? Come back Thursday.)