Though occasionally given as a gesture or as a way to transport stolen music, CDs are mostly obsolete now. But CD players are still common in cars, which makes any automotive collection a bit weird.
Most of my car CDs come from my friend Jordan’s music buying youth. We stopped at her childhood home on the way west. Since she doesn’t have a car or a CD player, she offered her collection, once developed in $14.99 increments, to me . Though my old CDs are lame, hers are lame in a way I didn’t grow up with. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get into the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. So last time I was home, I brought some of my old CDs back to my car in Denver.
One such CD was Bringing Down the Horse, the breakout album of the Wallflowers, a 90s band headed by Jakob Dylan. Forgetting about the existential crisis of being pretty decent at something your father remains much better at, and also those eyes, I stand behind Side A of Bringing Down the Horse. This album was produced at a time when people bought a band’s music wholesale. With that in mind, the Wallflowers wisely put their best stuff up front. The album starts with their second hit, “One Headlight,” and continues to their first, “Sixth-Avenue Heartache.” All of their other singles are within the first five tracks.
Listening to Side A of Bringing Down the Horse feels like opening a time capsule of mid to late-90s pop. I’m sure someone as handsome and related to fame as Jakob Dylan could be popular now. And I wouldn’t even say the Wallflowers best songs changed anything about pop music. I’m just saying, it’s not a bad few tracks, and listening to the album feels like opening a yearbook.