Interlude: Together Through Life

Looking back at the series so far

As you get older, the years start to fly by faster and faster. Here on Together Through Life, they go even faster than that. The next entry in the series, on the songs and albums that came out in 2004, sees us reach the 10 year mark in this retrospective of the last 30 years of music. If you’re new to the newsletter, or if you missed any of the entries at the time that they went out, here is a quick recap of what has been covered so far, and a look what what might be on the way in future.

1994: Baby, Come Back - Pato Banton (Featuring Ali and Robin Campbell of UB40)

We kicked off with the Number #1 Single from the day I was born, and looked briefly at other songs which have topped the charts in more than one version.

1995: Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette

The second entry saw a slightly longer form run through of Alanis Morissette’s fantastic hit-record, Jagged Little Pill and briefly touched on the music she had been making before.

1996: One Headlight - The Wallflowers, Criminal - Fiona Apple

This was the first entry where I struggled to pick what to write about, so we ended up with a double headline billing between The Wallflowers and Fiona Apple. They weren’t the only things I wanted to write about though, hence the introduction of the “Elsewhere in…” section, which covered albums and songs from Nick Cave, The Cardigans, Wilco and Jamiroquai.

1997: Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan

The most ambitious post from the series yet, this was a real long-form deep dive into Dylan’s 1997 masterpiece Time Out of Mind. Originally the plan was to do a conceptual piece where the album was playing on the radio and I would flick back and forth to other stations to cover what else came out that year, but in the end we look at other releases - from Shania Twain, David Bowie and Nick Cave - in between tracks from each side of the Time Out of Mind record.

1998: You Get What You Give - The New Radicals

Another case of having too many releases to choose from to write about just one. The most densely packed of any Together Through Life entry, this covers music from The New Radicals, The Divine Comedy, The Cardigans, David Gray, Jamiroquai, Alanis Morissette, The Goo Goo Dolls, Fatboy Slim, Cher, All Saints and Bob Dylan.

1999: When the Pawn... - Fiona Apple

Alongside the two Dylan pieces and the Tom Waits one, this is my favourite entry so far. I love Fiona Apple and I loved writing about her music. This one also touched on releases from Wilco, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Tom Waits.

2000: Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell

Another compilation release, Joni was joined here by Warren Zevon, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears; Coldplay, Ronan Keating, The Avalanches and Bob Dylan. Quite a mixed bag, then.

2001: “Love and Theft” - Bob Dylan

My favourite Bob Dylan album, most of the time, and so a great fun one to write about. Not as long or as in depth as the Time Out of Mind piece, this one shared more space with other artists, such as Leonard Cohen, The Strokes, Wilco, Gillian Welch and Mercury Rev.

2002: Blood Money - Tom Waits

Another one of my favourite albums, and another record that was really enjoyable to write about. This one had a series first in that the “Elsewhere in…” section included another release from the same artist as the main article, as well as touching on Norah Jones’ wonderful Come Away With Me album, The Flaming Lips’ Do You Realize ??, and Johnny Cash’s parting gift to the world, Hurt.

2003: Room on Fire - The Strokes

The most recent entry in the series went back to a couple of previously featured artists in The Strokes and Warren Zevon, and also looked at some others for the first time, in The White Stripes, Beyonce and the Kings of Leon.

Coming up, we’ll continue to look at a bunch of new artists whilst hearing again from some old favourites. There’ll be entries about Kate Bush, Randy Newman and Taylor Swift on the way soon. There’ll be more Bob Dylan, more from Fiona Apple, more from Wilco and Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits.

Maybe there’ll be some Miley Cyrus or Phoebe Bridgers. Definitely there’ll be some Paul McCartney and Courtney Barnett. Maybe something from Ángela Aguilar or Angel Olsen, Billie Eilish or Boygenius. I’m looking forward to finding out where we end up. Here’s to the next 20 years of music.

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I’ll be back with a proper post over the weekend about the great guitar music of 2004, but first I just wanted to include a quick thanks to everyone who has clicked, read, subscribed, commented on or shared one of the posts from this series so far.

If you have enjoyed my writing and would like to read more of it, I have a book out about Bob Dylan and his live music. The eBook is only 99p and is available here. There are also still some paperback copies available from me directly, here. Before long, there will be a second instalment, and who knows, maybe even a book or two about other artists in future as well.

But enough about all that. Let’s get ready to go back to 2004.

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