Kim Deal and chocolate: they both go with everything—wine, whiskey, coffee, tobacco, strawberries, caramel, pretzels… You name it, they work. Guess that’s why she’s such a heartbreaker. She combines with anything, then melts away. It’s odd she’s been drafted outside her band’s contexts so rarely, given that she guests so well.

Ultra Vivid Scene- Special One

A perfect pop tune, nearly on the level of “Here Comes Your Man,” albeit with slicker production and a wispy, idiosyncrasy-free lead vocal by Kurt Ralske, one of the original bedroom auteurs. Kim may or may not have been overdubbed during production, but her simple “How do you think it feels, how do you think it feels right now?” provide a great counterpoint to Kurt’s crestfallen mopiness.

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Sonic Youth- Little Trouble Girl

“If you want me to, I will be the one, that is always good, and you’ll love me, too, but you’ll never know, what I feel inside, that I’m really bad, little trouble girl.” This, and the sha-la-las, add just the sweetness wanted by one of SY’s most de-tuned songs, with a particularly disaffected vocal by Ms. Gordon. It was such a relief, at the time, that they’d finally sung on the same song. What could be a more obvious pairing than the two coolest Kim’s on the planet, especially more than two years after they worked together on the “Cannonball” video?

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Bob Pollard & Kim Deal- Love Hurts

A bit lo-fi, this, but still quite pretty, and at least it’s a real duet, rather than the prior two. By the time Bob and Kim work up to the climactic line, “Some fools think of happiness, blissfulness, togetherness. Some fools fool themselves, I guess, but they’re not fooling me,” Kim’s almost belting. Surely one of her more full-throated efforts. It sounds even richer when contrasted with the cornball guitar solo.

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