
Threesome: City of Angels
January 30, 2009[image: Los Angeles by Andreas Gursky, C-print, 1999. From the exhibition “Global Cities” at the Tate Modern, UK]
I’ve been on a roadtrip in the Central Coast of California all this week, and it’s beautiful, but I think I am temperamentally more suited to grey Seattle, icy Cambridge, or even foggy San Francisco. This became particularly apparent to me as I took a look through my music collection for this trio of songs. No sunshine, no surfing, no California dream in sight.
MP3: Youth Group – The Destruction of Laurel Canyon [buy]
MP3: Elliott Smith – Angeles [buy]
Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” is still my favorite paean to Southern California. Although the Mates of State cover of the theme song from The O.C. is pretty good as a genuine positive approach to the region.
Thanks, Scott – I’ll have to check out the Mates of State cover (although I haven’t heard the original…)