On the road again, bringing home thousands of records. Would you believe a hundred records? How about a couple of dozen? Well, Chief, would you believe a handful of fresh records?”

This will also serve as a brief summary of our trip to Europe. Let the journey begin.

Starting in Edmonton but not listening to anything on the plane, I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which featured some good music. We stopped over in Montreal just long enough to run to our next flight. Montreal has a special place in my musical heart. In 1970/71 I flew in and out of Montreal several times, and I often had longer waits for the connecting flights, so I hopped into a cab to the nearest shopping mall. In that mall, there was a small record store, and the guy working there always had some goodies playing. It was through my visits to that store that two of my fondest music memories were formed. CSN&Y and their fantastic album Déjà vu, and In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson. I still keep these two albums close to my turntable. I have been blessed to have seen live performances by several of these musical geniuses. I saw Neil Young live so long ago that I can barely remember it, and I saw David Crosby recently. The Neil Young show was not that great; he was in a minimalist country music frame of mind that didn’t translate very well to me, way up in the cheap seats of the stadium. David Crosby, on the other hand, delivered a stellar performance that was mostly solo but featured his son on a few of the songs. We were only a few rows back in the Winspear, and that translated well for me. I have seen King Crimson live twice, once in Calgary and once in The Royal Albert Hall in London, England; they were both amazing concerts that I will cherish all the more because my son, Joel, accompanied me to both shows.

Back to the trip, Montreal to Paris was the next leg of our itinerary, and we were able to see the Northern Lights from the plane. We didn’t spend much time in Paris, but now I can say that I have been there, even though I was only in the airport. Nouvelle Vague is the only Parisian artist in my music collection, so the playlist for Paris consisted of just one album. Then, we caught the next flight to Florence, Italy. We only stayed in Florence long enough to find out that I am rusty at driving manual transmissions and that I shouldn’t go the wrong way down a one-way road. No record shopping in Florence or in the rustic villa that we spent 3 nights in for the wedding of a niece. I learned why so many good rally drivers are from Italy; the roads have to be driven to be appreciated.

The scenery is magical. The picture below is from the deck of our guest house, which is visible in the photo below. The cash crop in the area we visited was olives. The guest house is in the second photo.

The wedding was a good time. The food was OK, the weather was good, and the guests were good to converse with. I could never be a racist in our family. I am of Scottish and Finnish/Swedish descent. Valeria is from Jamaica, with English, Spanish, and African ancestry. Valerie’s brother, Wayne, is married to Oi-Wa, who is from Hong Kong. The wedding was for their daughter, who is now married to a German who lives in Switzerland. Her brother has moved to Poland to live with his significant other in her hometown. Whew! I have probably left some nationality out of this list. Please send me the information if you can add to this tree.

Charis and Toby, the bride and groom, are busting some moves.

Onward to Pisa, where we spent a couple of days doing the tourist stuff. Pisa is an experience like no other that I have experienced. Good food was abundant, and history was all around us. Not a good place for rollators or wheelchairs, as there are cobblestones everywhere.

The Leaning Tower began to lean during its construction in the 12th century. Construction on the cathedral began in 1064. That fact suggests that a significant city must have existed before construction began. Pisa has a history going back thousands of years. Excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth-century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince. The Leaning Tower is still leaning and is actually the bell tower for the cathedral, which I found more interesting than the bell tower itself.

I also found a couple of good record shops and scored some vinyl. I discovered the album Maledetti (Maudits) by the Italian progressive rock band Area in an interesting shop, La Galleria del Disco.

I asked the man at the till for his recommendations of Italian prog bands. He then turned on the lights in a back room where some hidden gems were kept. I found the Area in that area. AreA, are an Italian progressive group that formed in 1972 by singer Demetrio Stratos and drummer Giulio Capiozzo. They are considered one of the most respected, innovative and important bands of the blooming 1970s Italian progressive rock scene. The songs are in Italian, but language does not constrain the music. The band AreA is cited as playing Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Free Jazz, Jazz Rock, Experimental, and electronic music. They have all the bases covered. I enjoy pretty much all of those styles, which translates into me enjoying the album. I used Google Translate to follow the lyrics; however, I got so caught up in the music that I lost my place in the lyrics. It doesn’t matter what label you use; I enjoyed this album start to finish. No Finnish jokes here, please.

From Pisa, we flew to Stockholm, Sweden, which is located near Finland and close to my ancestral roots. Although my family are Swedish, I have more Finnish DNA than Swedish. My mom spoke only Finnish until she went to school and had to learn English.

Sweden has been on my bucket list for a long time. My grandparents sailed from Sweden 99 years ago, looking for a better life in Canada. I wasn’t able to see the town that they came from, but I can say that I have been to Sweden. While in Sweden, we did some sightseeing, starting with the Vasa Museum. That was a truly wonderful time; the museum was well thought out, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We also visited the Swedish Museum of Natural History, another excellent museum with something for everyone.

I also scored some nice vinyl in Sweden. I found Record Mania, which had something for everyone in the vinyl category. That is where I discovered the 21st Century Schizoid Man album, credited to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, but it should also be credited to the band Free, as the B-side is entirely theirs. The vinyl is clean, but the music is really rough; it is a live album that sounds like it was recorded from the back of the room on a vintage Radio Shack cassette deck. A very limited, strange release from the USA in the early 1970s. Packaged in an LP-sized cardboard envelope with inserts Scotch-taped on either side and a loose sheet of reviews on the inside. The ELP show is from Spring 1971. An interesting album that will be filed away as a collectible, a unique oddity since only about 300 were made.

On a prog rock tilt, I also bought Vital from a band that I have enjoyed for a long, long time,  Van Der Graaf (Generator). This is a live album that covers a wide range of their prodigious catalogue. I didn’t get the feeling that this was a greatest hits concert tour. Their music is complex, compelling and captivating. Vital is a good overview of Van Der Graaf, encompassing both older and newer material, as well as some in-between material. I found it to be a very good listening experience. Not all live recordings are the same, as the quality of the recordings can vary. Some, like the 21st Century Schizoid Man album by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, are sketchy at best. Other live albums recorded from the soundboard can achieve a quality comparable to studio recordings. Some of my favourite albums are live, including Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads. I won’t bore you with a long list of live albums; I’m just making the point that Vital by Van der Graaf is a high-quality live album. Not everyone will like the sounds that come from Van Der Graaf; it is a bit of an acquired taste. They did not experience significant commercial success in the UK or North America, but gained popularity in Italy during the 1970s. I should have bought it while in Italy! Such is the vagaries of bin diving.

Sweden had a wealth of good music, and I had to limit myself so I didn’t bring back a whole suitcase of records, which would have been expensive. We enjoyed our couple of days in Sweden, I would go back at the drop of a hat. Below is Stockholm. Next stop, Iceland.

The photo below is typical of Iceland. I couldn’t see anything but clouds from the airplane’s window.

Flying directly from Stockholm to our home would be a mind-numbingly long flight, so we broke it up with a stopover in Iceland. While in Iceland, we experienced fog, rain, and overcast clouds all day, with the exception of ice in our beverages. I am glad we can scratch Reykjavík off our bucket lists. I doubt I would return, except for a stopover on a long flight. They have an amazing church, a sight to behold. And Iceland has good music. Iceland has a vibrant arts scene that offers a wealth of excellent music. I only brought one record home from Iceland, but it has provided me with a great deal of joy. Come to think of it, I may return to Iceland; there are a few more records that I would like to purchase there.

The only one I purchased was “A Dawning” by Ólafur Arnalds, featuring Talos. “A Dawning” is the collaborative album by Icelandic musician Ólafur Arnalds and Irish musician Talos (Eoin French), released on July 11, 2025. It is a posthumous release for Talos, with Ólafur Arnalds completing the project following Talos’ death. The results are a powerful tribute that blends their artistic styles and explores themes of friendship, grief, and hope. 

“A Dawning” isn’t all about the music, which is good. Or the lyrics, they are profound. It is about the experience. This album isn’t one for background music while you do the chores. “A Dawning” is an album that deserves our attention. We listen for the space between words. We listen for the instruments. We listen for the emotion. We listen for the words between notes of music. We listen because an album this good deserves our attention.

So, there we have it. 12 days on the road. Edmonton to Montreal. Montreal to Paris. Paris to Florence. Florence to Stockholm. Stockholm to Reykjavik. Reykjavik to Vancouver. Vancouver to Edmonton.

Below we find Greenland on the left and icebergs on the right. The mountains in Greenland are impressive.

Back home I dived right back into listening to music.

The Saint James Society Bab(a/y)lon Rising
Phillip Sandifer On My Way
Jim Reeves The Best of Original Hits
Ólafur Arnalds, Talos A Dawning
Faron Young Four In The Morning
Nena 99 Luftballons
Erik Satie Piano Music Of Erik Satie, Vol. 1
Eddie Schwartz Schwartz

I had a slow week musically. I bought a new big-screen smart television and found myself wasting more time than I should have in front of the idiot box. I also had a few household tasks that ticked off a few hours. Anyhew, no excuses, I have a short list this week. Short in quantity but still bursting with quality.

https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2021/winter/tv-brain-study/

Todd Rundgren Initiation

Todd Rundgren The Hermit of Mink Hollow

Todd Rundgren Back To The Bars

Harry Rusk Canadian Country Hits

UB40 Labour of Love

Let’s start with Todd Rundgren, shall we? I have four of his albums, two of which are double albums, so I had a total of six albums to listen to. That came out as 4.38 hours of Todd. I had listened to Something Anything last week, so that shaved off 44 minutes, but it was still over four hours of Todd Rundgren in one sitting.

I have only had one occasion where I overdosed on a band, that was The Talking Heads, and that was years ago. Since then, I have plowed through many multi-album artists with no hangover. Until I hit Todd Rundgren, I really liked his music. Something Anything is a fantastic album, and the rest come just behind it. The Hermit of Mink Hollow has lots of ear candy, and it spawned several single hits, including “Can We Still Be Friends,” which should be making Todd barrels full of money because it has been covered by numerous people and created hits for a few of them.

Back to the Bars is a two-slab live album which reprised a significant number of songs from his early albums, so I had already listened to many of the tracks. I’m glad that I made it out without hating the music of Todd Rundgren, I just have to limit myself to one album at a time.

The Quality of Mercury is a new band to me, courtesy of Shameless Promotion PR; thank you, Shauna. I like them. The first listen to their new single, ‘Ganymede,’ was very good, so I listened to the album again with the lyrics in front of me and liked it just as much. They do not conform to the top ten recipes of three-minute songs about finding love, being in love, or losing a lover. They do sing about love, but it is so obtuse that you may not even notice that it was about love.

From the press release:

“Ganymede builds patiently and purposefully, taking us on a cinematic journey that reflects the album’s overarching themes of distance, discovery, and transformation. It’s a song about finding love and losing it, fulfilling Rouse’s core mission of exploring emotion and texture across vast sonic terrain.

“Ganymede is a love story told through the lens of science fiction. It follows two people who meet and fall for each other on a space station that’s orbiting in the golden atmosphere of Jupiter, a place full of warmth, wonder, and the thrill of possibility. He’s cautious. She’s fearless. And he follows her, chasing the gravity of her spirit,” says Jeremiah Rouse. 

“But when she persuades him to explore Ganymede, a cold, sterile moon, the warmth between them starts to fade. The relationship fractures in the isolation and cold environment, and eventually, she walks away, leaving him alone at the edge of an airlock. This song is about how love can start bright and beautiful, but lose itself in unfamiliar terrain. I want listeners to feel like they’re watching a film unfold in slow motion and to feel the quiet heartbreak of trying to hold on to someone who’s already gone.”

Handling not only writing and performing, but also engineering, this music is a reflection of Rouse’s sonic DNA. Influenced by iconic bands such as Hum, Failure, Starflyer 59, and Sunny Day Real Estate, The Quality of Mercury crafts music that is anthemic yet accessible, cinematic yet catchy—the perfect blend of muscle and melody.

Rouse’s recorded works serve as a bridge to his audience —a suitably distant medium, given his songs about receiving transmissions emanating from the other side of the universe and epic, intergalactic voyages. For all its otherworldly sound and association with the vastness of outer space, the intensity and intellect, depth and profound insight of this music is also a journey into the artist’s own inner space.

For Rouse, music isn’t just sound. It’s a vast, immersive world. Each track is built as a sonic landscape, grand in scope yet meticulously detailed. The goal is simple but ambitious: to create music that reveals something new with every listen. Tiny flourishes, subtle swells, and sound elements crossing the stereo field are placed with obsessive precision, often blooming unexpectedly or popping out at just the right moment. Every detail matters, perhaps to a fault, but that’s part of the craft.

With a background in film production and a lifelong love of sci-fi cinema,  Jeremiah approaches songwriting with a distinctly visual mindset. Every song is imagined like a scene from a movie — framed, lit, and paced as though it were a short film. That cinematic sensibility, combined with a meticulous approach to sound design, results in music that’s as emotionally resonant as it is sonically rich.”

Back to Norman: Combining sc-fi and hi-fi lights up the space around me with great music. I’m eagerly anticipating the release of the entire album on October 24. I quite imagine it sounding even better on a full-on hi-fi, please tell me it comes out on vinyl, or CD, or even cassette.

‘Heaven’s Gate’  https://thequalityofmercury.bandcamp.com/track/heavens-gate

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/727hN46NfBt32nJJMeDo2N

YouTube  https://youtu.be/pusaFvxHyes

‘The Voyager’ album https://thequalityofmercury.bandcamp.com/album/the-voyager

‘Ganymede’  https://thequalityofmercury.bandcamp.com/track/ganymede

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/track/7wNn8ZS3FihGCPH8sNW18n

Apple Music  https://music.apple.com/us/album/ganymede-single/1833980836

YouTube   https://youtu.be/POUek4JKClQ

‘Transmission’ LP (2017)  https://thequalityofmercury.bandcamp.com/album/transmission

Harry Rusk Canadian Country Hits

Harry Rusk gives us our weekly dose of Canadian content with his album of Canadian Country Hits. This is an enjoyable album; it won’t top my list of favourite albums, but it is still fun to listen to. While most of these songs are relatively obscure, they are hits for Harry Rusk fans; it is still good-quality music. If you like old-time country music, you will likely enjoy this album.

The Joe UT OH

Speaking of obscure, we have The Joe. Good luck finding a hard copy of the album. UT OH is not going to knock fellow Canadian rapper Justin Bieber off the charts, but UT OH has its own charm. It wanders all over hell’s half-acre, which gave me a challenge to try to coalesce any meaning or overarching theme to this recording. So, I am listening to UT OH again, and I still don’t know for sure, but I think it is the rant of a confused young man who doesn’t know what to believe. His faith is a jumble, his life is chaotic, and he can’t find a place that is safe to call home. Home, both literal, metaphorical and figurative. In fact, one of the tracks is “It’s A Jungle Out There.” I don’t know, I just like it. The Joe is something new to me and has introduced me to some rap that I don’t hate, unlike mainstream rap, which is often marred by hate, lust, and lies.

UB40 Labour of Love

I listened to UB40 back in the 1980s, but then the 1990s came along, and they disappeared from my radar – my bad, not theirs. Now, we are in the 2020s, and I am enjoying UB40 again. Labour of Love is reggae/pop, not hardcore reggae. If you are looking for authentic Jamaican reggae, stop reading right here.

If you are OK with reggae/pop and playing loose with the downbeats, you will likely enjoy Labour of Love. It is not a bad album; in fact, I enjoyed it as a reggae/pop album. Labour of Love is an album of cover versions. Released in the UK on September 12, 1983, the album is best known for containing the song “Red Red Wine”, a worldwide number-one single, but it also includes three further UK top 20 hits, “Please Don’t Make Me Cry”, “Many Rivers to Cross” and “Cherry Oh Baby”. The album reached number one in the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands and the top five in Canada.

Done. That is another week of music. Although it may not have been a particularly big week in terms of the number of albums listened to, it was still a good music week. I am at the end of the letter “S” and look forward to starting the letter “T” soon. Have fun listening to whatever music makes you happy, I do.

The Romaniuk Family The Romaniuk Family

The Romaniuk Family With Stella Bayes Country Echoes

I discovered the Romaniuk family by chance. A former coworker, a nephew of the Romaniuk family, offered me copies of these two albums, along with a nice collection of Carter Family records. Stella Bayes was a member of The Carter Family who formed a relationship with The Romaniuk Family. She would periodically visit Canada to play with The Romaniuk. During those visits, recordings were made, and this one was even released on vinyl. I have a bunch more on acetate. The Romaniuk Family made music that was very similar to that of The Carter Family, which is how the friendship between The Carter Family and The Romaniuk Family was forged. For fans of early Bluegrass, Country and Appalachian Folk music, you will enjoy this album. The Carter Family had a significant influence on the music we play today. Not just Country music, even rock and roll artists have cited their musical influence from The Carter Family.

Chan Romero Bought With A Price

This is a quirky album from an interesting character. The album cover is different. The 8X10 photo of Chan can be removed and framed if you so desires, I don’t.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Romero

Linda Ronstadt Simple Dreams

Linda Ronstadt Greatest Hits

Linda Ronstadt has an angelic voice, and that makes any recording by her magical. I consider her one of, if not the best, backup and duet singer out there. Her Greatest Hits album was a joy to listen to.

Diana Ross Greatest Hits

I’m not a fan of disco, but I respect Diana Ross’ singing on this album. She performs soul music exceptionally well and was a massive star in her time. This is a good sample of her career.

Roxy Music Avalon

It was interesting to listen to this music and read about it online. Avalon was the eighth and last album released by Roxy Music; it was also the only Roxy Music album that I own. It is also the only one I have listened to. The album was highly praised and sold solidly over the years. I enjoyed it more on this listen than in any past session. It has been a while since I last played it, and I listened intentionally this time, paying attention to the details. It is still a good album.

Todd Rundgren Something Anything

This double album offers us a wealth of excellent music. For the first time in his career, Rundgren recorded every part by himself, including bass, drums, and vocals. About “an album and a half” was completed this way. He then decided to expand the project into a double LP and quickly recorded the final tracks with musicians live in the studio. There are a few tracks on Something Anything that resonate with me, Black Maria being the standout track. Something Anything has stood the test of time, 53 years later, I still enjoy it, probably more than I did back then.

Sass O’ Frass Tunic As Blue As The State Allows

Some funky R&B with a Christian gospel flavour.

The Joe The Proletariat LP

Some funky rap with a Christian gospel flavour.

Louie Blue Blood and Bones

Blasting out of Finland, Louie Blue grabbed my attention, thanks to Charlotte Lewis of Bark. PR. The album is entirely composed, written, arranged, produced, and mixed by Louie himself, with mastering handled by Aleksis Raivio. In working on Blood & Bones, Louie built his own recording studio and acquired an impressive array of instruments, including a new bass guitar, drums, and a synth. Louie Blue tells us, “I leaned into analog textures and a raw, organic production style. Everything was recorded on tape using live instruments and vintage techniques. I wanted the sound to be warm and imperfect—an antidote to today’s hyper-polished pop.” Louie’s own creative direction accomplishes a retro vibe and unique sound.

Lyrically, Blood & Bones explores spiritual introspection—discerning what he needs in life versus what he doesn’t. “Blood & Bones is a personal exploration of identity, growth, and artistic truth. At its core lies my desire to understand who I am—and who I’m becoming,” says Louie. “The songwriting reflects a journey of emotional maturity: accepting hard truths, embracing myself in the present, and consciously stepping away from external pressures to fit in or follow trends.” The album chronicles his attempt to tame “this sort of learned hunger for irrelevant things by enjoying and romanticising life as it comes, without wanting more,” while simultaneously surrendering to “love, lust and the magic of brief romances that almost feel like fairytales.”

Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose

The library has a sale every so often and sells off old books, music and a corinicupua of donated items. I managed to buy enough books to get me into 2026 easily and a handful of CDs, including Van Lear Rose. This album is an interesting beast because Jack White produced it and features him playing throughout, with one song written by him. Van Lear Rose takes Loretta Lynn into new territory while retaining her trademark vocal style.

Loretta was 72 and Jack White was 28 when Van Lear Rose was recorded in 2004. Jack White is well known for his aggressive rock and roll with The Raconteurs and The White Stripes. On paper, this sounds like an unusual pairing, but it works. Loretta sings in her own distinctive vocal style, retaining much of her country music influence. At the same time, Jack White incorporates electrified guitar work and production freshly and innovatively. I really like this recording and can see it popping up here and there in the future.

Another week has gone by, and, as always, there has been some really good music. Todd Rundgren was the standout album for me, because of the long time that I have been listening to it. Louie Blue was a treat also, bringing some fresh sounds out of my speakers. I’ll have to see if I can score a hard copy. Until next week, happy listening, everyone.

p.s. I scored this stack of books and CDs from our local library for $10. They sell off extra copies or damaged ones; only one CD was inferior, and all the books are readable.

Max Rael The Enemy Is Us

Jack Rogers Jack Rogers Sings Country Music Hits The Road

Kenny Rodgers & The First Edition Kenny Rodgers & The First Edition Greatest Hits

Kenny Rogers His Greatest Hits And Finest Performances/ 5 albums

Jimmie Rodgers Never No Mo’ Blues

The Jack Rubies Are We Being Recorded & Phantom

The Jack Rubies Witch Hunt In Lotusland

The Rolling Stones Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass

The Rolling Stones Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)

The Rolling Stones Jamming With Edward

The Lost Dogs The Green Room Serenade

The Romaniacs World On Fire

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Max Rael The Enemy Is Us

Max Rael sounds like a version of Flash and the Pan, except they could sing. Max talks. He talks for the whole album. These are not lyrics; they are poetry with a backing track. The backing track isn’t bad, but it is not getting a 10 from me. I will give it a solid 7. Max crafts shoegaze, electronica, and synth music that moves along moderately well, except for the last track, “For The Last Time.” It is a more adventurous track that left me on a positive note, and I went back and listened to the album again. Felt better about it and moved it up to solid 8.5.

Max Rael possesses strong writing skills in his lyrics, presenting the pain of being alive and experiencing defeat along the way. Max explores the journey from hope to pain and then looks for a brighter future. His debut album, ‘The Enemy Is Us,‘ is a look into the chaos of the world we live in. Max Rael says this is about “that self-defeating spiral where you start to question your own right to hope in the first place… about finding a way to release that frustration safely, a way that doesn’t turn into self-punishment.” I couldn’t listen to the album more than once; it is a bit of a downer. That is what Max was aiming for, and that’s what we get. And then I listened to it again, looking for the positives. There are nuggets hidden here and there in both the music and the lyrics. I will leave it up to you to find your own nuggets; I’m not sharing mine.

Jack Rogers Jack Rogers Sings Country Music Hits The Road

If you like old-time country and western music, then this album is for you. Jack Rogers serves up some prime road music with a platter of old tunes that took me back to my youth. Nostalgia kicked in, and I found this to be a decent album with sing-along songs presented with music that carried the tunes skillfully.

Kenny Rodgers & The First Edition Kenny Rodgers & The First Edition Greatest Hits

I loved listening to this album of blasts from the past. I have to admit that I turned the volume up to blast those memories at me.

Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town had me singing along. I don’t consider myself a good singer, but with enough volume from the speakers to drown me out, it sounds OK.

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) is a great example of psychedelic mind-tripping music, once again featuring volume and singing.

Something’s Burning, Reuben James, and a few other songs from pop radio in 1971 make this a fun album. Ten out of ten for me.

Kenny Rogers His Greatest Hits And Finest Performances/ 5 albums

This is a box set that provides a comprehensive overview of the long and storied musical career of Kenny Rogers. It seemed daunting at first, but the five albums flowed by easily, and I didn’t overdose on Kenny Rogers.

Jimmie Rodgers Never No Mo’ Blues

If you have any interest in the history of folk, world and even country and western music, Never No Mo’ Blues will answer that question. For newbies, you may want to take baby steps, starting with albums from the 60s, and then working your way back through the years until you reach this point. Recorded from 1928 to 1933, this is raw, unfiltered music of the country people in that era. The city folk had Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Country folk had Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family and Woody Guthrie. The performances are not polished and accompanied by a band; it is just Jimmie and his guitar.

The Jack Rubies Are We Being Recorded & Phantom

The Jack Rudies Witch Hunt In Lotusland

I had The Jack Rubies land in my inbox courtesy of the fine people at Big Stir Records. I liked the singles ‘Are We Being Recorded & ‘Phantom’ so much that I couldn’t wait for their new album to come out. So, I stepped back and listened to their first album, ‘Witch Hunt In Lotusland,’ to get an idea of where they were coming from and how their music had evolved. I had intended to listen to all of their albums up to the present, but life got in the way, and I never got there. What I did hear was good music that left me yearning for their new album due out in early 2026.

The Rolling Stones Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass

The Rolling Stones Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)

The Rolling Stones Jamming With Edward

I was surprised that I only have these three albums by the Stones. While they were never a desert island band for me, I still enjoyed their music, and these three records provide an overview of their early years.

I was most definitely toe-tapping and singing along as I listened to the compilation albums, Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass), and Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2). These albums came out in 1966 and 1969, respectively, the fact that they can have compilations this good, this early in their career and the rock era, gives us some idea of just how good they were.

The Lost Dogs The Green Room Serenade

The Lost Dogs are a band that I return to frequently for some ear candy. While The Green Room Serenade may not be their strongest recording, it remains a very good album. Released in 1996, I remember the day when I bought it. It had been a stressful week; our son had just arrived in the world, and it had taken a heavy toll on my wife, who we nearly lost. I was on extended leave from work to babysit, and although I had help from family, it was still a rough time. I bought this CD for some solace, and when I put it in the stereo, my Mom was sitting there with me. The first two songs were OK, but by the time the third track cued up, Mom was telling me she didn’t like their music, so I turned it off and listened to it in the car until she returned home.

The Lost Dogs were an American musical supergroup formed in 1991. Their lineup included Terry Scott Taylor (Daniel Amos, The Swirling Eddies), Michael Roe(The 77s), Derri Daugherty and Steve Hindalong (The Choir). The original lineup included Gene Eugene (Adam Again), who died in 2000. As a tribute, the remaining Dogs wrote the songs Real Men Cry and The Romaniacs, which appeared on their 2001 album, Real Men Cry. The band’s eclectic blending of folk, blues, country, and rock has been characterized as “a sort of CCM equivalent to the Traveling Wilburys“. The band released their debut album, Scenic Routes, in 1992 as a one-time collaboration, which didn’t last long; they are still listed as active, although they haven’t released an album of new material since 2010.

The Romaniacs World On Fire

I have no idea where I connected with The Romaniacs, but I am sure glad I did. World On Fire is a quirky little gem filled with fun and adventure. The Romaniacs ended my week on a positive note.

20th Century Composers Arthur Fiedler With Boston Pops Orchestra

The Righteous Brothers Greatest Hits

Johnny Rivers Home Grown

Tex Ritter High Noon

Tex Ritter The Friendly Voice of Tex Ritter

The Call Reconciled

Various Early Soul Gospel

Marty Robbins 20 Golden Memories

Robbie Robertson Robbie Robertson

Rockpile Second’s Of Pleasure

Robbie Robertson Robbie Robertson

Rockpile Second’s Of Pleasure

Johnny Rodriguez Reflecting

Johnny Rodriguez Country Classics

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20th Century Composers Arthur Fiedler With Boston Pops Orchestra

Arthur Fiedler was often dismissed for creating nothing but pop music, particularly when adapting popular songs or editing portions of the classical repertoire. However, with Fiedler’s direction, the Boston Pops reportedly made more recordings than any other orchestra worldwide, with sales exceeding $50 million.

This box set comprises three albums of music, including a handy booklet that provides a brief overview of the recordings. This was an enjoyable listen, particularly the first record. For a newbie to classical music, this recording would be a good place to start.

The Righteous Brothers Greatest Hits

Quoted from Rolling Stone magazine: “Neither actual brothers nor particularly righteous (one died of cocaine-connected heart failure), tenor singer Bobby Hatfield and sepulchral-voiced Bill Medley’s ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,’ an epic 1965 example of producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, remains one of radio’s most-played songs of all time.”

They were good, but when it comes to duets, give me The Everly Brothers or Simon & Garfunkel any day of the week over The Righteous Brothers.

Johnny Rivers Home Grown

Johnny Rivers rode a series of hits, including classics such as “Memphis,” “The Seventh Son“, and “Secret Agent Man“. Rivers had a total of nine top-ten hits and 17 top-forty hits on the US charts from 1964 to 1977. The ’70s included this album, Home Grown, which is a forgotten favourite of mine. Home Grown is an album that is more in the singer/songwriter genre than the rock songs that made him famous. Home Grown didn’t sell all that well, but was received favourably by critics and album reviewers, including me.

Tex Ritter High Noon

Tex Ritter The Friendly Voice of Tex Ritter

Tex Ritter is best taken in small doses. He is an excellent example of the country and western tear-jerker songs. While he was a box office hit in the ’40s and ’50s, he didn’t do much for my ears this week.

The Call Reconciled

“Filled with deep spiritual imagery, some aggressive rhythms and grooves and an amazing cast of extras that included Peter Gabriel, Kim Kerr (Simple Minds) and the legendary Robbie Robertson, Reconciled packed a punch that the predecessors lacked and only “Into the Woods” has come close to matching.”

-https://greatestchristianalbums.wordpress.com

Making a list of the all-time greatest of anything is a daunting task and one that will most surely draw the derision of others. I copied the above quote from the page devoted to their number 24 pick, Reconciled, by a band that I greatly admire, The Call. I’m not debating whether Reconciled is worthy of 24th place; I don’t know where I would place it if I were to make a list like this one. I won’t. Reconciled is an excellent album from an often overlooked and undervalued band. I will put it in my basement stereo and listen to it again. The previous listen was in the car with my wife on a long road trip. It gave us something to talk about, not that we needed it; we talk to each other easily.

Robbie Roberson – Robbie Robertson

Wow, talk about a loaded album. There is a who’s who of rock on this album. It’s no wonder I like it so much.

Wikipedia with Grammarly and Norman:

“Robbie Robertson is the solo debut album by Canadian rock musician Robbie Robertson, released in 1987. Although Robertson had been a professional musician since the late 1950s, notably as a founder and primary songwriter of The Band, this was his first solo album. Robbie Robertson won the Juno Award for “Album of the Year“, and producers Daniel Lanois and Robertson won the “Producer of the Year” Juno Award, both in 1989.

The album includes contributions from Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of The Band, as well as U2 and Peter Gabriel, both of whom had worked with Lanois. U2 was recording The Joshua Tree concurrently with the early stages of this album, and Gabriel had recorded So the previous year. U2’s contributions are heard in the song “Sweet Fire of Love“, a duet of sorts between Robertson and U2 lead singer Bono, and in “Testimony,” again featuring backing by U2. Gabriel’s contributions are heard on the song “Fallen Angel“, which was dedicated to Richard Manuel, Robertson’s former bandmate in The Band, and “Broken Arrow“, which reverberates with Gabriel’s signature Yamaha CP-80 electric piano. In addition, Tony Levin and Manu Katché, who were recording with Gabriel, are featured prominently on this record.” That is some heavy-duty backing band, which pays off with an excellent album. I have to listen to this album again; it has many nuances that are easily overlooked in a casual listen. I’ll pay more attention this time to what the guest artists are doing. I also enjoy listening to the instruments and how they are used, as well as paying attention to what the lyrics are saying, if anything. In conclusion, I loved this album in the ’70s and I love it today.

Rockpile – Seconds of Pleasure

Wikipedia with Grammarly and Norman:

Rockpile were a British rock band of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Noted for their strong pub rock, rockabilly, and power pop influences, they were a foundational influence on the new wave movement. The band consisted of Dave Edmunds (vocals, guitar), Nick Lowe (vocals, bass guitar), Billy Bremner (vocals, guitar) and Terry Williams(drums). I’m not sure if Rockpile qualifies as a supergroup; they must be awfully close if they aren’t already.

Rockpile recorded almost enough material for five studio albums, though only one (Seconds of Pleasure) was released under the Rockpile banner. Three other albums, Tracks on Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary, and Twangin’, were released as Dave Edmunds solo albums, and one more, Labour of Lust, was released as a Nick Lowe solo album. Scattered Rockpile tracks can also be found on a few other Lowe and Edmunds solo albums. Additionally, Rockpileserved as backing group on tracks recorded by Mickey Jupp in 1978 and Carlene Carter in 1980.

This record cover has something I haven’t seen on any other album: a list of touring dates and locations for the year the album was released, 1980. A quick Google search revealed a handful of other albums that featured touring information, none of which were in my collection, making Seconds of Pleasure the only one that had that information in my collection.

Johnny Rodriguez Reflecting

Johnny Rodriguez Country Classics

If you had asked me who Johnny Rodriguez was two days ago, I could not have given you an honest answer. I can give you an answer today, after listening to him and reading about him. He was a down-to-earth Country and Western artist who had the backing of several Nashville heavy hitters when I was a novice in the Outlaw Country bracket,  Tom T. Hall and Bobby Bare. Rodriguez was one of country music’s most successful male artists in the 1970s, recording a string of hit songs, such as “You Always Come Back To Hurting Me,” “Desperado,” “Down on the Rio Grande“, and “Foolin‘.” He recorded six No. 1 country hits in his career. I enjoyed listening to his music this week, and I don’t know how I had overlooked him in the past.

In conclusion, this was another good week of good music. Highlights for me were Reconciled by The Call and Seconds of Pleasure by Rockpile. Both of these albums have given me pleasure and continue to do so. I have made good progress in the letter “R”, with some good uns coming up this week. Until then, happy listening, my friends.

Happy Birthday to my sister Wanda, who likes Elvis. The Presley one, not the Costello one.

Various American Folk Singers and Balladeers

Jim Reeves The Country Side of Jim Reeves

The Statler Brothers Country Music Then and Now

Jim Reeves We Thank Thee

Jim Reeves Moonlight and Roses

Hank Williams The Best of Hank Williams

The Saint James Society Bab (A/Y)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor G_d’s Pee At State’s End!

Black Rose Burning Fear Machine

Ghoti Hook Songs We Didn’t Write

Planning For Burial

Lou Reed Walk On The Wild Side/The Best of Lou Reed

Larry Renn Paradise Knife & Gun Club

Sheila Rickards & King Tubby Jamaican Fruit Of African Roots

Cliff Richard Wired For Sound

Reo Speedwagon Hi Infidelity

Today is Labour Day, and as I read the news today, oh boy, I was reminded that I used to have a playlist from the days of Music Appreciation. I grabbed my iPod and found the list; it contains some great selections, for sure. Here are a few of them:

Working Class Hero by John Lennon, a personal favourite.

Working Man by Rush, Canadian content, eh!

Workin’ Man Blues by Merle Haggard, gotta have some C&W

Working for the Man by Roy Orbison, I still rave about his concert in 1977

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, a perennial favourite

And I will close with two songs that have a trade in their titles:

The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel and Piano Man by Billy Joel

I don’t think I have any songs in my weekly playlist. Correct me if I am wrong. As usual, it is an eclectic group of artists that cover a lot of ground. I like Jim Reeves, but I have reached my yearly quota, and I am glad his albums are in the past. Moving forward in the “R” section, I listened to Lou Reed, Larry Renn & Sheila Rickards & King Tubby.

I enjoyed revisiting Lou Reed and taking a “Walk On The Wild Side.” Larry Renn provided some Canadian content, not a great album, but not a bad one either. It goes down easily if taken infrequently. Sheila Rickards is worth reading about and a pleasure to listen to. And, of course, King Tubby is an iconic figure in Jamaican music and reggae, having had a profound influence worldwide.

The Statler Brothers and Hank Williams checked off the Country music content box. These are two artists that I don’t tire of listening to. I grew up with my Dad playing Hanks Villiams to my Swedish Granny‘s requests.

The Saint James Society and Godspeed You! Black Emperor are two new albums that I snagged at Record Collectors Paradise. The Saint James Society was a used record, but they are a new band to me. Bab(a/y)lon Risingwas their only album, that’s a shame because I enjoyed this album, which means I would probably have purchased more of their albums if they had them. They play some good psychedelic/prog music, good enough for me to play it several times back to back.

Listening to Godspeed You! Black Emperor brought back fond memories of the concert they headlined. Along with Roy Orbison, Godspeed You! Black Emperor rank high in my favourite concert list.

Ghoti Hook’s album, Songs We Didn’t Write, is a great title for an album of covers. They are no longer an active band, but they have left us a legacy of some decent punk music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti.

Planning For Burial are a shoegaze/post-metal/ambient/gothic/rock band that has released several albums. I have two: “Desideratum” and “Below the House.” I like both of them.

Reo Speedwagon Hi Infidelity is a memory album. It was a gift from someone I used to know.

So, there you have it—another week of stellar music from a diverse grouping of musical talents. If you listen to even one of these to find out what the heck Norman is listening to, bravo. New music is a joy that should be celebrated and listened to. It expands our horizons and gets us out of the musical echo box. Happy listening, everyone.

August has drifted by on the winds of early autumn. The leaves are turning to their fall colours, most of the summer birds have flown, and the temperatures have been pleasant, giving us our first real summer-like weather. Along with all of those events, I have been doing my due diligence, listening to the letter “R” with a few more or less random other albums tossed into the mix.

Eddie Rabbit Horizon

Eddie Rabbit The Best Year of My Life

I started the week and my journey through the letter R with Eddie Rabbit. While he is not a go-to artist, he does have some listenable songs. The lead song on the album Horizon is “I Love a Rainy Night,” which was a big radio hit for Eddie Rabbit. Like much of his material, “I Love a Rainy Night” is a crossover song, charting on both the Country charts and the contemporary music charts. “The Best Year of My Life” is not the best album of my life; in fact, it wasn’t the best album of Eddie Rabbit’s life. I turned out to be the album that marked the end of Rabbitt’s crossover success. “The Best Year of My Life” struggled to #22 on the Country charts and barely made a ripple on the Contemporary Music charts. The remainder of Eddie Rabbit’s career charted primarily on the Country charts.

Adam Again Dig

Leaving R for a moment to listen to an album that would be on my deserted island list. The highlight for me is the song “River on Fire,” which has to be one of the greatest breakup songs of all time. Gene Eugene based this song on his divorce from Riki Michele and used the fantastic image of a river on fire as a metaphor for their relationship. That imagery is based on the real river on fire, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Rascals Time Peace

Time Peace is a collection of songs from the early years of The Rascals and was their most commercially successful album. Music critic Robert Christgau regarded the album as representative of New York City’s rock music at the time. I enjoyed the single “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore.” I confess that I am not a big fan of their music, but it is an enjoyable snapshot of some of the music of the era and how it served as a stepping stone for the music to come.

The Who Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy

Take a deep breath and dive into another deserted island record.

This album is more like a greatest hits compilation than a regular release.

1. “I Can’t Explain” (non-LP single) 2:05

2. “The Kids Are Alright” (US edit) 2:45

3. “Happy Jack” 2:12

4. “I Can See for Miles” 4:06

5. “Pictures of Lily” 2:43

6. “My Generation” 3:18

7. “The Seeker” (non-LP single) 3:11

Total length: 20:20

Side two

No. Title Writer(s) Length

1. “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” (non-LP single) Roger Daltrey, Townshend 2:42

2. “Pinball Wizard” 2:59

3. “A Legal Matter” 2:48

4. “Boris the Spider” John Entwistle 2:28

5. “Magic Bus” (extended version) 4:33

6. “Substitute” (UK version) 3:49

7. “I’m a Boy” (extended version)

While I have listened to this album dozens of times, this was the first time I began to hear the details and focus on listening intently. The one song that really stood out to me with fresh appreciation was “I’m a Boy.” I heard the details in John Entwistle’s bass playing; the man was a monster with four strings. I highly recommend watching Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who on the streaming service of your choice. I rarely make a road trip without exclaiming that “I Can See for Miles,” Alberta is an excellent place with kilometres and miles of big country vistas.

I am tempted to write some more song synopses, but due to the 20-minute rule, I am going to stop here and encourage you to sit down and give this album some time to pay attention to the details.

Jerry Reed Oh What a Woman

Jerry Reed recorded some great songs over the years; unfortunately, this compilation is not the best record of his career in music.

Del Reeves The Wonderful World Of Country Music

“The Wonderful World of Country Music” is a 1969 compilation album by country singer Del Reeves, released on the Sunset label. The album features some of Reeves’ popular tracks, such as “The Girl on the Billboard.” They don’t make novelty songs much anymore; they used to be a staple of Country and Western music. Every country artist had to have one silly song and one gospel album! 

p.s. That’s not true, but it sounds plausible.

Gerry Reeves Golden Guitar Favourites

This album emerged from a small collection of several boxes of albums that I purchased several months ago. There were some Canadiana gems, including this album. While this is not top-ten material, it provides a good snapshot of Canadian music in the 1970s. The federal government, through the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, has mandated that all broadcasts in Canada contain a certain percentage of Canadian content, which has fluctuated over the years but is generally between 35% and 40%.

While many chafed at this perceived intrusion of the government into our music listening habits, it did have a positive side, as it gave many smaller acts a chance to have their music heard. Gerry Reeves would fall into that category. He never had a big radio hit, but he did record some music that showcased his guitar picking. He was a better guitar picker than me, and recorded more albums than I have. As of today, I don’t play the guitar and have never made a record, butmy Dad did, and Gerry Reeves did.

King Crimson Earthbound

This album was on sale in RCP, so I snagged it because I like King Crimson. I should have researched it before I paid. It was recorded to a cassette deck in a truck parked in the alley behind the venue, and sounds exactly like that. I am willing to forgive some shortcomings in live recordings, but Earthbound has too many shortcomings to forgive. I will return Earthbound to the store for in-store credit.  Robert Fripp refused to acknowledge Earthbound as an official King Crimson album, I don’t blame him.

Graham Parker Squeezing Out Sparks

Squeezing Out Sparks is an album that has been on my want list for a long time and was overdue for a sit-down listen. It received good reviews when it was first released, and I agree with them. I need to give Squeezing Out Sparks another listen because I enjoyed the first go-round and want more of it.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven

Their live show made a good impression, and I may trade Earthbound for one of their other albums on vinyl. It is hard to describe what they do, but they do whatever it is that they do, they do it very well. CanCon or not, this album qualifies as excellent Canadiana.

Jim Reeves God Be With You

Jumping back into the alphabet, we have a stack of Jim Reeves to plow through. My Mother-in-law liked his music, and I can’t play his records without thinking of her. He made a lot of gospel records, so I invite my wife, Valerie to listen with me. Making more good memories.

Jim Reeves Songs To Warm The Heart

Same as above, it warms my heart.

Jim Reeves He’ll Have To Go

I am going to take the lazy way and quote Wikipedia for this album.

“He’ll Have to Go is a compilation album recorded by Jim Reeves and released in 1960 on the RCA Victor label (catalog no. LPM-2223). The album included two No. 1 hits: “He’ll Have to Go” and “Billy Bayou.”

Unlike other Jim Reeves albums, this was a compilation of previously issued non-LP singles and EP tracks. In 1962, RCA reissued this album in “electronic stereo” (RCA LSP-2223 (e)). All twelve songs, including the title track, were presented in “electronic stereo” even though “He’ll Have To Go” was issued in true stereo on a 1960 single (RCA 61-7643, 1960), and true stereo masters existed for five other songs.

In Billboard magazine’s annual poll of country and western disc jockeys, it was ranked No. 4 among the “Favorite C&W Albums” of 1960.”

The Who Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who

I gave this Amazon-released show a plug above and will now provide a review. It’s good, now go watch it.

That’s it for this week. Happy listening to everyone, and a tip of the hat to those who made it this far down the blog.

Elvis Presley Elvis Love Songs

Elvis Presley Promised Land

Charlie Pride The Best of Charlie Pride

Charlie Pride Did You Think To Pray

John Prine John Prine

John Prine Common Sense

Ray Price I Won’t Mention It Again

Procol Harum  Shine On Brightly

Procol Harum  Procol Harum In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra – Live

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Elvis Presley Elvis Love Songs

Elvis Presley Promised Land

What can I say? He was called ‘The King of Rock & Roll‘ and was certainly a huge part of early rock & roll’s history. I was never much of an Elvis fan; I went with The Beatles. One of my sisters was and still is an Elvis fan, and we get along just fine. I can listen to Elvis’s music from his early years and enjoy it; however, I don’t care much for his movie music or his music from the mid-sixties and beyond. These two albums contain a movie soundtrack and a gospel collection. I have always found it interesting that early country and western musicians, almost without fault, had to release a gospel album. Some of that rubbed off on Elvis; he was raised in parts of the country that leaned heavily towards C & W, and he fancied himself, sublimely, as a man of faith.

Having listened to these two albums along with the accompanying Wikipedia articles, I am still not an Elvis fan, but I can appreciate the impact he had on the USA, and to a lesser extent, on the rest of the world.

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Charlie Pride The Best of Charlie Pride

Charlie Pride Did You Think To Pray

Charlie Pride wandered between The Nashville Sound and more traditional country and western music. These two albums highlight his career in music on the best of album and the prerequisite country and western gospel album on the other. They are not great albums, but after Ray Price, a monkey with a tambourine would sound good. I enjoyed the “The Best of Charlie Pride” album. He was on the radio plenty of times as I grew up, and it rubbed off on me.

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John Prine John Prine

John Prine Common Sense

I have and continue to derive a great deal of pleasure from the debut self-titled album by John Prine. A greatest hits album featuring John Prine would have to include 3/4’s of this album, it is one great song after another. He is a master storyteller and can cram more into a three-minute song than some hacks can put in a short novel.

“Illegal Smile” shows us John Prine’s sense of humour.

“Hello In There” is a gut-check song that made me stop and ask myself, “How do I treat my elders?”

“Sam Stone” is a song about a drug-addicted veteran with a Purple Heart and his road from the battlefield to his death by overdose. Sam Stone is a powerful song that I have on my Remembrance Day playlist.

“Angel from Montgomery” is about an old woman who wants an angel to come down and take her away from the hard life that she is living. This song has a great organ playing in it. “Angel from Montgomery” has been covered by a long list of artists, which attests to its power.

“Donald and Lydia” is another song that tells a story with characters John Prine has created in such a way that we are pulled into their lives; they aren’t just residing in a song, but are brought to life.

John Prine’s debut album is on the shores of the proverbial deserted island with one foot on dry sand and the other in the water. I certainly enjoyed this album and will most likely listen to it again in the not-too-distant future.

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Ray Price I Won’t Mention It Again

I Won’t Mention It Again is a studio album by country music artist Ray Price. It was released in 1971 by Columbia Records.

The album debuted on Billboard magazine’s country album chart on June 12, 1971, held the No. 1 spot for five weeks, and remained on the chart for a total of 42 weeks. It also won the Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year. It included two hit singles: “I Won’t Mention It Again” (No. 1) and “I’d Rather Be Sorry” (No. 2).

AllMusic gave the album three stars. Personally, I think they were being generous. This album exemplifies the music genre known as The Nashville Sound, “orchestrated strings and choruses”, “sophisticated background vocals,” and “smooth tempos.” For this album, Ray Price ruined some good songs. Six of the eleven tracks are by Kris Kristofferson, which highlights the impact of Kris on the music world, and the shallowness of Ray Price, who relied on others to write good songs and then plagiarized them.

These Kristofferson songs are on the Ray Price album, I Won’t Mention it Again:

Kiss the World Goodbye

Sunday Morning Comin’ Down

I’d Rather Be Sorry

“Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)

When I Loved Her

Jesse Younger

Good on Kris for writing some fantastic songs, and hopefully, getting some royalties from this, which is the only positive aspect I can find in this recording.

Going from bad to worse, we get an iconic pop song, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel, brutalized by Ray Price. I could not finish this record; there is only so much pain that a man can take.

I won’t mention this album again.

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Procol Harum  Shine On Brightly

Procol Harum  Procol Harum In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra – Live

Procol Harum are often cited as the band that ushered in the age of prog rock. According to AllMusic: “Prog-rock began to emerge out of the British psychedelic scene in 1967, specifically a strain of classical/symphonic rock led by the Nice, Procol Harum, and the Moody Blues.” Procol Harum were probably not the first band to experiment with the newly emerging world of technology in music and other aspects of Prog, such as extended tracks, often using the entirety of one album side, extended solos, fantastic lyrics that often used a story that ran through the whole album, and a focus on technical skills.

Shine On Brightly is a pretty good album; it is not traditional top ten material, but it does contain some rather compelling music. My favourite is “In Held ‘Twas in I,” which is a good example of prog rock using extended song formats, this one being over 17 minutes in length. I have albums that don’t have enough material to fill 17 minutes, let alone add a 2:30 song at the beginning. I walked away from this album with an earworm that didn’t last long.

Procol Harum Live with The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra booted “In Held ‘Twas in I” out of my ear and replaced it with the “Conquistador” song. I am partial to this album because I live in Edmonton and simply enjoy listening to it.

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And that brings us to the end of the “P.” I was going to do a list of a few highlights from that portion of the library, but I liked too many of them, so I abandoned that thought rather quickly. There was, however, one exception, Pink Floyd. They are a band that I have enjoyed from the early 70s up to the present. Dark Side of the Moon is the album that I listen to the most, not just from their canon, from the whole library. Dark Side of the Moon isn’t just a deserted island record; it is a foundational piece of the island’s character.

Enough already! Let’s move on from the letter “P” and enter the realm of the letter “Q”. The Kingdom of Q has a Queen. And that is all it has. One album, Queen. One album that showcases the talent of the whole band, but front and center, the voice of Freddie Mercury. 

The Game is the eighth studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on June 30, 1980, by EMI Records in the UK and by Elektra Records in the US. The Game features a different sound from its predecessor, Jazz (1978). The Game was the first Queen album to use a synthesizer (an Oberheim OB-X).

A critical and commercial success, The Game became the only Queen album to reach No. 1 in the US and also their best-selling studio album in the country, with four million copies sold to date, tying with the sales of News of the World. Notable songs on the album include the bass-driven “Another One Bites the Dust” and the rock and roll “Crazy Little Thing Called Love“, both of which reached No. 1 in the US.

And another letter of the alphabet bites the dust (sorry, I couldn’t resist). The letter “R” is a hefty stack of albums, and I look forward to starting there later today.

The week flew by, and I felt like I hadn’t listened to as many albums as I would in a normal week. Then I cut and pasted the list from the Numbers file into Pages and surprised myself with how much I had actually listened to. So what is the takeaway?

The Pogues are ok in small dosages. If I Should Fall From Grace With God is a good album; however, I don’t think I would listen to another album from them back to back. I enjoyed the references to The Troubles, a mini history lesson. I follow the album with the internet up and running so I can reference albums as I listen to them.

Fairytale of New York is a great song that pairs well with Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis from Tom Waits and Rudy by The Be Good Tanyas. I keep those three on my Christmas playlist.

What can I say? I had never heard of Clarence Ploof until I got the album in a mini Marketplace collection. Gaby Haas is well known in the Edmonton area as a very prolific musician; he made over 50 albums and 60 singles, mostly of polkas and waltzes. CFRN is a local radio and television station. The facade has changed, but the totem pole is still there. Gaby Haas Presents the 12-string Guitar of Clarence Ploof isn’t a bad album, but it isn’t really good either. It comes out of a different era, and taken in that context, it makes sense and is a listenable album, and Clarence Ploof is a competent guitar player. He plays the guitar better than I do and has made more albums than I have.
p.s. I don’t play guitar. I used to, but I was never good. I would play with people who were better players than I and keep my volume down. I have never made a record either.

p.s. I don’t play guitar. I used to, but I was never good. I would play with people who were better players than I and keep my volume down. I have never made a record eithe

Poco follows in the category of “I know who they are, but I don’t listen to them.” As I plow forward through the letter “P”, I came to Poco. I listened to it, but it didn’t have any effect. They should; they have an all-star band, loaded with talent. But it still didn’t click the right buttons. That happens occasionally. Rose Of Cimarron is a good album with some tracks that got my toes tapping, but not enough to make it onto my deserted album list.

The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers. This was a pick for my car. It will be in a future blog.

The Pointer Sisters are not a band that I would normally listen to. It’s not in the wheelhouse of what I usually put on the turntable. I have an open mind when it comes to music, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked their album, “Hot Together.” It isn’t a high-scoring album on the charts, but it makes nice background music.

The Police, Ghost In The Machine. I kind of like The Police, but not much. My favourite memories of The Police are seeing Sting with Peter Gabriel. That was a great show. I have listened to Peter Gabriel a lot over the years, but not Sting. They blended their songs to flow into each other’s and did duets that were magical. Another great memory was seeing Stewart Copeland perform live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. We had passes to the Symphony that we enjoyed attending over the years, featuring top-notch soloists. Stewart Copeland delivered a fantastic show. A show that was out of the ordinary, but very enjoyable.

Jean-Luc Ponty, Electric Collection
Jean-Luc PontyCosmic Messenger
Jean-Luc PontyIndividual Choice

I have a soft spot for the violin, especially electric violins. Jean-Luc Ponty took it to the next level. He is a versatile musician who can move seamlessly from Symphonic music to edgy, experimental music. These three albums give a brief overview of what he can do, with ‘brief’ being the key word.

Premiata Forneria Marconi, Photos of Ghosts. I stumbled upon this album while working at Record Collectors Paradise. They now occasionally grace my turntable. They are an Italian band, so I’ll have to see if I can get anything while in Italy.

Push Puppets, Tethered Together. New music from a band that is new to me, thanks to Shauna McLarnon over at Shameless Promotion PR. You should check out the roster of bands in their stable; lots of great music. This album has a retro feel, but is played in a modern way. That doesn’t make much sense, consistent with my dislike of blanket labels. Push Puppets give us some happy music, not sappy though. Rock, in a pop atmosphere. Alt without straying too far from their original sound. You really should give them a listen. I don’t think you would be disappointed.

‘Shake It Like You Mean It’  https://youtu.be/K5MNUTI5rJU
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/track/6V4GecCLBYPeu5b4EPoDGC
‘Tethered Together’ album https://bit.ly/3Cxaza9
CD order  www.pushpuppets.net/product/tethered-together-2025-cd
Bandcamp  https://pushpuppets.bandcamp.com/album/tethered-together
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/31xH5DRAHMKIAOnGemMOCW
‘Launching a Satellite’  https://youtu.be/G0lSAm1kyqw
‘Hearts Aren’t Souvenirs’  video  https://youtu.be/BCtbCI_RvK0
‘Similar’ video  https://youtu.be/gYnxtAaUiQM 
‘All Together on 3’ video  https://youtu.be/mPiiQjnZ0CY

POPSICKO, Off To A Bad Start. A good pop/punk album from Big Stir Records
Big Stir is proud to announce the long-awaited, first-time on vinyl reissue of OFF TO A BAD START, the 1994 debut and only full-length album from Santa Barbara, CA’s underground heroes of alternative rock and punk-edged power pop, POPSICKO. This deluxe edition packages the LP with a new book, TO WOULD HAVE BEENS: THE OFFICIAL ORAL HISTORY OF POPSICKO, edited by S.W. Lauden and featuring insights from all surviving band members and others who were there for the band’s meteoric and all-too-short career. The LP artwork and book also offer up a generous selection of never-before-published photos and memorabilia from the Popsicko archives and remembrances of the band’s frontman KEITH BROWN, whose tragic 1995 death in a car accident ended the band’s career far too soon. The reissue sees exclusive release as a strictly limited run Vinyl LP on April 28 and is up for pre-order at http://www.bigstirrecords.com and major online retailers now, landing on record store shelves worldwide on the street date.
Long out of print and previously issued only on CD in two versions with differing track listings, OFF TO A BAD START hits vinyl in its definitive and band-approved version. It’s been preceded by Big Stir’s release of a pair of Double-A-Side Digital 45s, including the lead single “Nastassja” and the non-album track “Ashtray Mouth”. With the vinyl album, the book, and the overdue bow of the tracks on all streaming services, the legacy of POPSICKO will finally be on display for those who remember, those just now discovering this lost chapter in ’90s alt-pop-rock history, and anyone seeking a treasure trove of enduring songs in the spirit of bands from peak-period Soul Asylum to Nirvana. “We were often described as Cheap Trick meets The Replacements, which I feel works as a quick and easy way to characterize Popsicko’s sound,” recalls guitarist Cullen, and OFF TO A BAD START captures that sound for the ages.
POPSICKO’s music has more than stood the test of time, as underground rock fans worldwide are about to discover. Brown was known to say of the band, “The description of our music is supposed to be in our name,” and the tunes on OFF TO A BAD START emphatically bear that out. Legends of their local scene and beloved on the road, POPSICKO possessed everything it took to rule the airwaves in the ’90s heyday of the alternative rock and pop punk sound: the jagged guitars and rocket-fueled rhythms, the indelible hooks, and, in Brown, an electrifying frontman capable of crafting indelible and often heartbreakingly beautiful tunes. Seemingly destined to join the ranks of Weezer and Green Day (both bands with whom they shared stages) on the charts, the band’s trajectory was tragically halted by Brown’s passing. The surviving members would go on to build impressive resumés of their own – guitarist Tim Cullen with his band Summercamp and solo career, bassist Marko DeSantis with Sugarcult and Bad Astronaut, and drummer Mick Flowers with stints in bands including The Rentals, and together as a side-project called The Playing Favorites. but the music they created with Brown has stayed close to their hearts.
Reflecting on the album today, bassist DeSantis says: “Off to a Bad Start is a well-rounded document of where we’d arrived after after a whirlwind two and a half years or so as a band. It showcases Popsicko’s sonic mood swings: upbeat barn burners like ‘Nastassja,’ ‘Dragging Me Down,’ ‘Getting’ Used to You,’ ‘Back It Up’ and ‘Distrust’ juxtaposed with gin-soaked ballads like ‘Story,’ ‘Starless’ and ‘To Would Have Beens,’ whose title fits the new Oral History book so perfectly. There’s also the heaviness of ‘Some Mother’s Son’ and ‘I Don’t Need You’ balanced by the bittersweet power pop of ‘Hard To Tell,’ ‘Same Old Me,’ and ‘No Better Time’.
“These songs are mostly short stories about the trials and tribulations of young adulthood; navigating the choppy surf of love and lust, ambition, guilt, recreation and occasionally drifting out past the buoys into the darker depths of self-destruction,” continues DeSantis. “I would tell you what each song is specifically about, but I would hate to spoil the fun of deciphering them for yourself! Some lines from Keith do stand out: ‘I’m washing down my pride with a bottle full of wine, and I’m forcing down my shame, and I’m chasing it with a life left of time’ from ‘Story’. And from ‘Some Mother’s Son’: ‘I lost myself so many times I can hardly recognize it.’ Those are lyrics that kinda sum up our worldview at the time, and they really cut deep in retrospect.”
Drummer Flowers feels much the same. “I still listen with teary-eyed nostalgia. I’m very proud of the end result,” he says. “Honestly, recording is where we shined.” The new reissue will be cherished by those who were there, and awaits discovery by those who love the perfect short, sharp, bittersweet pop song delivered with power and passion. OFF TO A BAD START is a revelatory work emblematic of POPSICKO’s charm and energy in their prime, and the potential for what could have been. “No doubt had Popsicko stayed together, they’d have been at the very forefront of the ‘90s pop punk explosion,” says Pat DiPuccio, co-founder of Flipside fanzine, and the contemporaneous reviews of the band’s celebrated live sets and eyewitness accounts collected in the companion Oral History back up that assessment handily. Anyone craving heartfelt and powerful guitar pop shot through with punk abandon and glam finesse will find a cure that’s been there all along in the music of POPSICKO. This is their story.

The Pink Floyd Discography in Ascending Order of Chronological

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Released: 4 August 1967

A Saucerful of Secrets Released: 28 June 1968

Atom Heart Mother Released: 2 October 1970

Meddle Released: 5 November 1971

Obscured by Clouds Released: 2 June 1972

The Dark Side of the Moon Released: 1 March 1973

Wish You Were Here Released: 12 September 1975

Animals Released: 21 January 1977

The Wall Released: 30 November 1979

The Final Cut Released: 21 March 1983

A Momentary Lapse of Reason Released: 7 September 1987

The Division Bell Released: 28 March 1994

I had a grand idea to listen to the discography of Pink Floyd’s studio albums and write an op/ed on each album as I played them. I have since come to my senses, and what follows is a truncated version of that initial enthusiasm.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn                        Released: 4 August 1967 

This is a wonderfully cohesive album that belies the band’s youth and the short time they’ve been together. The album features all members of the band, without any of them taking the lead at any time, unlike other bands that frequently do so through instrumental breaks or showcases of an artist’s mastery of a specific instrument. Two of its songs, “Astronomy Dominé” and “Interstellar Overdrive“, became long-term mainstays of the band’s live setlist, while other songs were performed live only a handful of times. I enjoyed revisiting this album; it is a stellar start to their discography.

A Saucerful of Secrets                                    Released: 28 June 1968 

A Saucerful of Secrets is the second studio album by Pink Floyd, released on 28 June 1968 by EMI Columbia in the UK and the US by Tower Records. The mental health of the singer and guitarist Syd Barrett deteriorated during recording, so David Gilmour was recruited; Barrett left the band before the album’s completion.

Barrett had been the primary songwriter on Pink Floyd’s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). On A Saucerful of Secrets, each member contributed songwriting and lead vocals. Gilmour appeared on all but two songs, while Barrett contributed to three. “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” is the only song on which all five members appear.

Atom Heart Mother                                           Released: 2 October 1970 

Epic. That is what I call this album. Epic. It is composed of pieces of music put together to create a memorable listening experience. Side one is an epic romp through half a dozen musical pieces that come together to form The Atom Heart Mother Suite. The original score was labelled as “Untitled Epic,” while elsewhere he track was initially called “The Amazing Pudding”; I’m glad they went with “Atom Heart Mother.” Its name was changed after the band were due to play an “in concert” broadcast for BBC Radio 1 on 16 July 1970, and had needed a title for John Peel to announce it. Geesin pointed to a copy of the Evening Standard and suggested to Waters that he would find a title in the. The headline of one article, on page 9, was: “Atom Heart Mother Named”, a story about a woman being fitted with a Plutonium-238-powered pacemaker. Hipgnosis designed the cover, which was the band’s first not to feature their name or include photographs of them anywhere on it. This trend would continue on subsequent covers throughout the 1970s. The cover shows a Holstein cow in a meadow.

Meddle November 1971 

When I listen to Meddle, I hear proto-DSotM. The seeds have been planted and are starting to bear fruit. The lads could have made a double album with material from Meddle melding into the Dark Side. Echoes in particular, echoes of what is yet to come.

Obscured by Clouds                           Released: 2 June 1972 

OK, just the short and sweet on this album. Obscured by Clouds was recorded as the soundtrack to the French movie La Vallée and was recorded in two sessions while the band was touring and developing Dark Side of the Moon. While it isn’t a great album, it is still a stepping stone for the band, representing the direction they had been heading up to this point and the direction they were going to take in the future, after the release of Dark Side of the Moon.

While this is not the peak of their musical career, it is still a rather good listen. I am playing it as I write this, and I find my head bobbing and my feet tapping along with the music. It is also important in the grand scheme of things, as the band begins work on their next album, which they seem quite focused on, even eager to start recording. Obscured by Clouds gives us glimpses into the future. On the last album, Meddle, we had Echoes of what was to come. In Obscured by Clouds, we get multiple examples of where the band was heading musically. I won’t do a boring song-by-song breakdown. I would suggest sitting down and listening for the clues.

Considering the relatively small amount of effort they invested in this album compared to other soundtracks, Obscured by Clouds remains a good album. It’s not cringeworthy; I enjoyed listening to it.

The Dark Side of the Moon                        Released: 1 March 1973 

I am at a loss for words to comment on the subject of this album. I bought my first copy in July or August of 1973. I now own 9 copies and have my eyes on the tenth, the 50th anniversary reissue. The Dark Side of the Moon is consistently a “Lost in the Woods” album. I played this three times from start to finish while prepping for this sentence, and I still love the album. Arguably the best Pink Floyd album and consistently at or near the top of almost any best-of list I create.Wish You Were Here             Released: 12 September 1975 

Another stellar album that carries forward the progressive and long-player pattern the band has settled into. Not quite on the same orbit as Dark Side of the Moon, but tremendously well done just the same. Easily another ‘Lost In The Woods’ album.

Animals                             Released: 21 January 1977 

Animals is another Pink Floyd album that I listened to twice in a row while I wrote this short narrative. Animals is at times raw and uncut. These are animals in the wild, where life is hard and you are someone else’s meal if you don’t tread carefully. The album, Animals, carries forward the band’s penchant for extended cuts and story songs. Animals is based loosely on George Orwell’s book “Animal Farm.” Animals is a pivot point for the band as Roger Waters is the leading composer. The cover is Battersea Power Station, which is hard to miss. I saw it from the train we were taking to Salisbury to see the cathedral, which is another grand building. Good memories and a good album to listen to on a chilly, rainy day.

The Wall               Released: 30 November 1979 

I had listened to The Wall a month or so back, so this is a repeat of sorts. On the previous listen, I was of the opinion that the band was falling apart, and the lack of good material on The Wall confirmed that. Listening to it today gave me a favourable taste that restored The Wall to the upper echelons of my albums, and Pink Floyd’s discography in particular. Whilst it was restored to a favourable location, it did not jump forward in the list of albums. It is better than A Momentary Lapse of Reason, The Division Bell, and Endless River, but not as good as Animals.

The Wall is the end of the power section of Pink Floyd’s studio albums. The albums that follow are a hodgepodge of cuttings that do not represent the band well, and often do not even include the whole band. 

The Final Cut                     Released: 21 March 1983 

They should have left this on the cutting room floor or put it in The Wall, since a large part of The Final Cut was made up of cuttings from the recording of The Wall. The Final Cut did, however, redeem itself somewhat by evoking a fond memory of another song, “Face On The Cutting Room Floor” by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The Final Cut comprises unused material from the band’s previous studio album, The Wall, as well as some new material. 

The Final Cut is the last Pink Floyd album to feature founding member Roger Waters, who went on to leave the band in 1985. It is the only Pink Floyd album without founding member and keyboardist Richard Wright, who had left the band under pressure from Waters after the Wall sessions. The recording was plagued by conflict; guitarist David Gilmour felt many of the tracks were not worthy of inclusion, but Waters accused him of failing to contribute material himself. The contributions from drummer Nick Mason were limited mostly to sound effects.

I gave The Final Cut a good listen and then filed it away on the cutting room floor. I did not listen to the final two albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, because I do not own them on vinyl. In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Pink Floyd albums in my vinyl collection. In the past, I have felt overwhelmed by the material of some bands when listening to their discography in one sitting, but I did not encounter that with Pink Floyd, although the last couple of albums were a bit of a struggle.

I group Pink Floyd’s albums thusly.

The Formative Years.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

A Saucerful of Secrets

Atom Heart Mother

Meddle

Obscured by Clouds

The Power Years

The Dark Side of the Moon

Wish You Were Here

Animals

The Wall

The End Years

The Final Cut

A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Division Bell

Endless River

I also listened to these fine albums.

John Mellencamp The Best That I Could Do 1970-1988

John Mellencamp recorded a very admirable amount of material over these 18 years, and that makes this a really good album to listen to.

London Beat In The Blood

I had never heard of this band until yesterday. This was part of a group of 10 CDs that I acquired for $ 10. I can see myself playing this again since it is quite good.

Patrick Watson Close To Paradise

I have listened to Patrick Watson’s material for quite some time now and have had the opportunity to see him live. Close To Paradise is a good album, a bit unfocused at times, but a good listen just the same.

CSNY CSNY 1974

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, what can I say? One of, if not the second-best, super band, I rate The Lost Dogs at number one, but that’s just my opinion.

CocoRosie Heartache City

Same 10 for 10 handful and another artist I had never heard of before. This is electronica/found music; if you enjoy this genre, you will likely appreciate this album. As unusual as it may be, there are some good bits scattered throughout the CD.

Whew, that was a marathon of listening, and at the end of that session, I decided to reorganize my cassette collection; it is a work in progress.