The Shins vs. BoDeans

"Gone for Good" by The Shins, from Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
I'm not over The Shins, don't think I ever will be. Some bands, you just know you're going to always enjoy listening to. Even Natalie Portman's public outing hasn't ruined it for me. Of course I thought I'd love Dave Matthews forever too. *sigh* Despite that, I wait in anxious anticipation for the next album. This track, from the New Mexico collective's second album, whispers of country and folk and features, as always, infectious vocals from Jim Mercer. Not even close to the strongest track on this album, you still can't really go wrong with the formula.

"Good Things" by BoDeans, from On the Mountain, volume 1 (1992)
As much as it pains me to say, I can't claim to be a diehard BoDeans fan... Apologies to any raging BoDeaniacs out there... (do they have those?). What I am a fan of however is this series of discs from radio station KMTT in Seattle. Remember radio? Regular, commercial radio? That's what this is. For more than a decade, the station has put out annual collections of live, in-studio recordings featuring a wide sampling of artists. To be frank, I think this song sucks. But it was the first track on the first volume of an impressive catalog of music. Points for that.

THE WINNER: My love of a radio station can only go so far, it's still the BoDeans. Shins in a walk.