Song Of The Day 2/5/2014: Eleni Mandell - "Put My Baby To Bed"

There's a new album from Eleni Mandell. It's called Let's Fly A Kite, which is a positive rejoinder to the commonly disparaging suggestion to "go fly a kite." Eleni is one of the most consistently good solo artists of the last decade. I get reminded of that every two years or so. I'll be just sitting around and doing things of little import, then all of a sudden an Eleni Mandell album shows up, and I'll play it, and I'll shout, "Why do I keep forgetting about Eleni Mandell being so goddamn good?" Then everyone at the bus stop looks at me. Let's Fly A Kite was a collaboration with everyone connected with Nick Lowe with the exception of Nick Lowe himself. His band and his producer helped out. "Put My Baby To Bed" is the opening track. When I heard it on WFMU the other afternoon it snapped my head back. It calls to mind the work of country singer Skeeter Davis and other countrypolitan artists of the '60s. It's getting a lot of notice in the blogosphere, but it's hugely addictive. The licensing opportunities are endless. Yes, that's right, one of my initial levels of assessment in music these days is licensing opportunities. I think I'm supposed to feel bad about that. Make that assessment irrelevant by purchasing more Eleni Mandell recordings.