Next up, please. 

Duncan Lloyd releases ‘Unwound,’ a nice collection of songs for a summer day. Unwound would make a great album to walk through a wooded park with headphones on.

Everything about this album is stellar. The mix is spot on, a great use of stereo, recorded & mixed by Duncan Lloyd (except 4 & 5) at The Dagda Rooms

Tracks 4 & 5 recorded & mixed by Julie McLarnon at Analogue Catalogue

I will refrain from giving you a song-by-song overview of this album when it comes to lyrics. Suffice it to say that they are often cryptic, but the more times around the platter, the more they start coming into focus.

Written during a difficult personal period, this 12-track record came into being as a form of sonic therapy – a means of coping and catharsis, forging a sound with greater depth and ambition than past releases. Lloyd earlier shared the singles ‘Laugh So Loud’ and ‘Rituals’, blending a modern sound with a deeply personal message about habits and healing, voiced through a circular, radio-like musical journey.

With cover artwork derived from Lloyd’s own paintings, this record weaves a unique musical maze of free and varied personal expression, profound and transient, spare, intense and urgent with a balance of grit, beauty and melody. Things got moving when Lloyd set to work with Julie McLarnon (The Vaselines, Lankum, King Creosote, Brigid Mae Power) at Analogue Catalogue Studios in Ireland. Gaining impetus from his trip across the Irish sea, Lloyd returned to Newcastle to complete the rest of the album, each song carefully crafted with more anarchical arrangements than previous outings.

“I needed a break from all things online. Stepping away from it and being closer to nature reignites the imagination; it’s kind of obvious, but easy to forget how important it is.  It’s an album about experience, throughout you get the sense that dynamics, speed and space were all careful considerations. I am sort of looking under the soil, trying to shape the sounds I imagine, and if possible, create something relatable that has a heart. I didn’t want it to be one produced sound, I wanted it to feel like different rooms, many spaces,” says Duncan Lloyd.

“I partly had the book “The Poetics of Space” by Gaston Bachelard in mind, every song is its own room with its own signature. This is probably my heaviest album, in sound and mood. There are songs that lean towards post-punk and with hypnotic rhythms that are darker in tone. I wanted it to feel like the listener can climb inside the sound rather than be on the outside looking in. I don’t want them to be in the cinema, I want them to be in the film or in the room, so it’s almost spooky.” 

The album features a host of Lloyd’s musician friends, including Maximo Park keyboardist Jemma Freese and drummer Tom English, Andrew Mills (Purploid Zing) and Joe Boyer (Cloud Nothings, Autopolitan, Nicole Yun).

‘Unwound’ is imbued with a darker mood than Lloyd’s previous works, but with a continuing sense of melancholy at its core. Restrained yet intimate lyrics are housed in inventively evolving structures. The album draws to a close with ‘A World Away Now‘, a song of lost opportunity. 

Sometimes, simply making a connection is enough.

“Sometimes on a song, the bass or percussion talks louder than a voice, so I mixed it like that. Sometimes, nothing else contends if the emotion isn’t clear. When you hear musicians playing together, you are invited into something far more personal or engaging. You can’t always tell the detail, yet you can feel the dynamics — you can sense it is living,” says Duncan Lloyd. “I may let guitars get loud and careen around if that’s where it wants to go. It can then go the other way and be minimal, economical. Although it is a very personal album, it’s also addressed to the stranger and, if the listener can relate and even laugh about what life throws at us, then a connection lives”.  

Sometimes an album just connects with me. Sometimes it is loud and brash. Sometimes it is quiet and personal. Sometimes an album like Unwound rambles about making its own path in the world. I love it. Unwound is a keeper.

‘Unwound’ album  https://duncanlloyd.bandcamp.com/album/unwound-2025

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/78e7ybnIpMuBlETMWQXc3t

YouTube playlist http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nm6_f5m75bsJnUG2G2W2fzCbPjia8q2Ao

‘One Step Closer To The Dam’  https://duncanlloyd.bandcamp.com/track/one-step-closer-to-the-dam

YouTube  https://youtu.be/JknksNxc8SY

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/track/7wuG2IMLXzpvFmjXBkGh9M

‘Rituals’ video  https://youtu.be/UL5IHUIuJUM

‘Laugh So Loud’ video https://youtu.be/1L1Rk4bIkyE

Get the single  https://tinyurl.com/DuncanLloyd-LaughSoLoud

Apple Music  https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/duncan-lloyd/203305310‘

Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR

http://www.shamelesspromotionpr.com/

_________________________________________________________________________________

I also listened to these fine albums. Albums of note include more ventures into Pink Floyd, the last of Hank Snow and some tainted love.

Hank Snow	Souvenirs
Hank Snow	The Best of Hank Snow
Hank Snow	Railroad Man
Hank Snow	Country & Western Jamboree
Hank Snow & Jimmy Snow With The Evangel Temple Choir	Live From Evangel Temple
The Platters	The Platters Greatest Hits
Hank Snow	Gloryland March
Soft Cell	Tainted Love Dub 12” extended
Soft Cell	Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Sons of the Pioneers	Cool Water
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes	The Jukes
Various	Zabriski Point
Pink Floyd	Masters of Rock
Hank Snow	Four/Square Album
Pink Floyd	Atom Heart Mother
Pink Floyd	Meddle
Duncan Lloyd	Unwound
McCabe	Sunset Boulevard

I also listened to Sunset Boulevard by McCabe several times; it’s a worthy album. The wait is finally over for fans of London’s experimental soul artist McCabe as he drops his debut album, Sunset Boulevard, on July 11th.
Blending vintage Motown sounds and emotive string-based pop with darker, experimental excursions into dub and trip-hop, McCabe’s debut LP navigates themes of love, loss, stardom, madness, and paranoia across ten meticulously crafted tracks. The album stands as a truly genre-bending odyssey, refusing categorization as it weaves between pop, soul, R&B, indie, electronic, and avant-garde sensibilities with fearless originality.
“Throughout the process, the intent was to marry my love of pop music and experimental music,” McCabe explains. “I threw the idea of traditional songwriting structures out of the window and chose a free-flowing, stream of consciousness approach instead, improvising many of the lyrics in the early stages and letting the song direct me rather than me directing the song.”
From the sun-drenched melancholy of ‘Vicious’ to the west coast-inspired title track, ‘Sunset Boulevard’ showcases McCabe’s artistic depth and versatility. However, it’s the focus track ‘Borderline’ that reveals McCabe at his most cinematic – a lush soundscape featuring warm, velvety strings and infectious guitars beneath his hypnotic vocals. “Borderline is about being betrayed by friends in a time of need and the feeling of not fitting into the musical and social landscape but continuing on anyway with the belief that one day it will all be understood,” McCabe shares. Masterfully fusing soul elements with indie influences like The Smiths or The Strokes, McCabe creates a compelling centrepiece that encapsulates the album’s emotional core.
Brought to life in collaboration with acclaimed producer Patrick James Fitzroy (known for his work with Sorry, Katy J Pearson, and PVA), this ambitious hi-fi production features contributions from 17 musicians, including David Zbirka (Drum Store Romeos) on drums and Nat Phillipps (Crack Cloud) on saxophone. “It was a great experience working with Patrick,” McCabe reflects. “We both have very different qualities. He is very technical and detail-focused, while I am more stream of consciousness and untrained in my approach.” The creative journey wasn’t without challenges – at one point, a studio blackout led to lost files that Fitzroy had to meticulously reconstruct. “One expects the making of an album to have these incidents,” he adds, “and it adds a character unto the world in which it exists.”
Sunset Boulevard emerged over an extended creative period, with songs evolving organically throughout the process. McCabe drew inspiration from seminal works like Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? and Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, while also channeling the innovative spirit of artists including Dean Blunt, Yves Tumor, Public Image Ltd, and The Fall. His distinctive musical identity was shaped by formative years in South London’s vibrant scene around venues like Brixton Windmill, where he deliberately charted a different path from the area’s dominant post-punk sound. Early exposure to Prince through his father laid the foundation for his musical sensibilities, while embracing his natural falsetto at age 24 marked a pivotal moment in developing his current artistic voice. The result is what McCabe himself terms “Experimental Soul” – a captivating fusion that acknowledges its influences while refusing to be constrained by them. This genre-defying approach creates something entirely his own, establishing McCabe as one of London’s most innovative emerging artists who bridges retro and contemporary elements with remarkable originality.
Sunset Boulevard will be available across all streaming platforms from July 11th.

DISCOVER MCCABE

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For all press enquiries, please contact charlotte@barkpr.co.uk 

TIAN QIYI ‘SONGS FOR WORKERS’ ALBUM

I am constantly listening for new sounds in the world of music. There is a wealth of good music available on the vast web, so I narrowed my search to albums for which I receive promotional links. That is a large, but manageable field of listening.  I have a wide range of musical styles, and I seldom dislike what I’m hearing. Having said that, what do I post here as opposed to the number of links I get in an average week? The answer is this: I sample all the posts by skipping through the tracks to get a feel for what I’m listening to. If I like it, I save it to the file. Do I dislike the others? I don’t necessarily dislike them; they just didn’t catch my attention and pull me in to listen to the whole album. They could be too top ten oriented, I seldom go there. They could be death metal, or in that vicinity, I do listen to samples of it, and a few make it to the saved stack.

This album, Songs For Workers by Tian Qiyi, hit my inbox on June 27. That was a hectic week for me on multiple levels. I got enough free time today to listen to it, and it certainly fits the mould for new sounds. Those sounds were created by Tian Qiyi, which is more than just a band; it is the bringing together of brothers John Tian Qi Wardle and Charlie Tian Yi Wardle with their father, Jah Wobble (John Wardle). Their unique sound reflects their rich family heritage, blending their father’s pioneering work in post-punk and dub with the Chinese cultural influences of their mother, Zilan Liao.

I am leaning towards labelling this as world music with modernization, whatever the heck that means. Dang, it is music. It is music with a distinct Eastern ethos. It is Eastern music with beats and bass. It’s beats and bass with lyrics that require a lyric sheet to read as you listen. It is lyrics that go beyond the standards of finding love, living in love, losing love, etc.

This is an album that is new, fresh, and different from the standard three-minute, radio-friendly pop that is so prevalent at this moment in time. Songs For Workers is a breath of fresh air. It is the equivalent of pop that Sturgill Simpson’s album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is to Country Music. It is new, it is grating at times, it asks us to pay attention as we listen, and it rewards us in the run-out groove as a time well spent.

I am a sucker for the violin, especially the electric variety, and Songs For Workers gave plenty of that. They provide us with a variety of different instruments and distortions; their songs’ distorted sounds often walk arm in arm with the original sounds of the instruments. It is a whirlpool of sound that must have been a joy to engineer and produce. Hats off to the many people who worked behind the scenes to bring this music to us.

In the lead-up to this album’s release, Tian Qiyi shared the stellar singles ‘Watch The Sunrise’, ‘Mongolian Dub’ and ‘Dharma’, each offering a captivating blend of Eastern psychedelic melodies and Charlie’s ethereal vocals, underpinned by a hypnotic fusion rhythm and beautiful percussion. As groovy as it is addictive, the trio serve up a truly grounding experience.

“‘Songs For Workers’ is an album where we have moved away from influences and inspiration, instead embracing instinct and familiarity. Our background played a crucial role, from the traditional Chinese music we learned with our grandad and mum, to the improvisational, instinctive playing we developed from performing and recording with our dad,” says John Tian Qi Wardle.

I have grown to enjoy this album more with each listen. It may not be your cup of tea this morning, but you will never appreciate different music if you don’t listen to it. Songs for Workers is also an album that entertained me, and I hope you will give it a chance to entertain you as well.

Songs for Workers features the legendary Jah Wobble on bass, a worthy addition to the soul of an album that is filled with so much good music. Tian Qiyi have taken elements from dub, to soul, to ethnic eastern music. There is so much going on that I had to listen to the album numerous times to fully appreciate it. And I don’t think I’ve done it fully yet.

Recorded at Pagoda Studio, Airtight Studios, and Pressure Drop.

Engineering by John Tian Qi Wardle with Seadna McPhail (on ‘At the Beginning’, ‘Mongolian Dub’, ‘Dharma’ & ‘Dharma AMBIENT’)and with Will Farley (on ‘Songs For Workers’)

Mixed by John Tian Qi Wardle, with additional mixing by Charlie Tian Yi Wardle & Jah Wobble on ‘At the Beginning’, ‘Dharma’ & ‘Dharma AMBIENT’Special thanks to Sean Leonard, Pagoda Arts, Will Farley, and Antony Walsh at Pressure Drop

Published by Domino Publishing / 30 Hertz

Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR

‘Songs For Workers’ album pre-save / pre-order  https://ffm.to/songsforworkers
Bandcamp  https://wearetian.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-workers
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/5F7Bo9gHjAR6DqdYhZTSNp
‘Dharma’ ft. Jah Wobble https://ffm.to/tianqiyi-dharma
YouTube  https://youtu.be/YWrH130NxxU
‘Watch The Sunrise’ single  https://ffm.to/watchthesunrise
YouTube  https://youtu.be/uLCyuyOmvyI
‘Mongolian Dub’ ft. Jah Wobble  https://wearetian.bandcamp.com/track/mongolian-dub

On the heels of Songs for Workers, we have legendary bass player and vocalist Jah Wobble presents ‘Dub In The East‘, a groovy dub offering and the first track from his new album ‘Dub Volume 1’, a solo effort that sees him write, play and arrange everything. Drawing inspiration from his East London upbringing, the artist’s latest song is a deep dive into the historical influences that shaped his community, from the waves of Irish immigration to the perilous lives of his ancestors, who were watermen on the River Thames.

Known for his original rock-reggae hybrid, forged through a deep embrace of reggae, punk, world music, and a DIY ethos, Jah Wobble’s heavy, hypnotic bass lines have defined a whole musical era and influenced many musicians for over forty years.

Born John Wardle, his career has encompassed genres ranging from post-punk, dub, and world music to experimental rock and electronic music. An original member of Public Image Ltd (PiL) from 1978 to 1980, he contributed to two groundbreaking albums with the band, including the iconic ‘Metal Box’ (1979). He continues to tour with ‘Metal Box in Dub’, presented as a two-hour show with Jon Klein.

Wobble launched his solo career even before leaving PiL, forming Invaders of the Heart in 1982 and collaborating with Can’s Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit, as well as U2’s The Edge and producer François Kevorkian, soon after. By the 1990s, he had achieved public notoriety, including chart success and a Mercury Music Prize nomination for his ‘Rising Above Bedlam’ album. After releasing the top-40 album ‘Take Me To God’ and ‘Heaven and Earth’ via Island Records, Wardle fled record company constraints, returning to more experimental and non-commercial sounding records.

He was part of the industrial supergroup The Damage Manual, worked with Julie Campbell aka LoneLady on ‘Psychic Life’, and worked with his wife Zi Lan Liao (guzheng player and harpist) on the award-winning album ‘Chinese Dub’, for which they won the Songlines Magazine World Music Award and toured with a large group of Chinese performers.

More recently, he has been playing and recording with Tian Qiyi, a group formed by his sons, Charlie and John Wardle. Debuting in 2023 with the album ‘Red Mist‘, he once again joins them for their newly-released sophomore effort ‘Songs For Workers’.

On the album Dub Volume, Jah Wooble presents a more jazz-oriented mix that retains his trademark electronics. Combining these two elements has resulted in a very enjoyable album. I was listening to it as I typed, and when it was done, I thought it had passed by way too fast, which is a good problem because I like the album.

‘Dub Volume 1’  https://wardle.bandcamp.com/album/dub-volume-one
Vinyl order  www.normanrecords.com/records/209059-jah-wobble-dub-volume-1
Vinyl & CD order  https://www.resident-music.com/productdetails&product_id=127177
‘Dub In The East’  https://youtu.be/OvApXq_4Clg
Bandcamp  https://wardle.bandcamp.com/track/dub-in-the-east
‘Tyson Dub Mix’  https://wardle.bandcamp.com/track/tyson-dub-remix
YouTube  https://youtu.be/c84zGfYmy2U
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/5jhqwsWfRaETrWPWI0Rc7uWebsite | Facebook | 

Keep up Jah Wobble
Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music | Press contact

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This is all the other stuff.

Billy Joel	Storm Front
Pink Floyd	More
Pink Floyd	Ummagumma
Gene Pitney	Greatest Hits of Alltimes
Hank Snow	My Nova Scotia Home And Other Early Hank Snow Favorites
Hank Snow	Snow in Hawaii
Hank Snow	Gloryland March
Hank Snow	Souvenirs
Hank Snow	The Best of Hank Snow
Hank Snow	Railroad Man
Hank Snow	Country & Western Jamboree
Hank Snow & Jimmy Snow With The Evangel Temple Choir	Live From Evangel Temple
The Platters	The Platters Greatest Hits
Hank Snow	Gloryland March

I dived into Pink Floyd at the end of this week, and they will start off next week. Always a favourite of mine. The band’s early recordings are often overlooked due to the popularity of their post-1973 releases, including Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Not on my turntable, they get close to equal billing.

Sam Phillips The Indescribable Wow

Murray McLauchlan Whispering Rain

Isaac Hayes New Horizon

Various Oh! Canada

Various Strong Hand of Love

Various Heavenly Praises

Pink Floyd Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1969 repress)

Pink Floyd Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (2018 Record Store Day Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Mono, 180 Gram)

Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets (1968 The “6000” Series)

Pink Floyd Complete BBC Sessions 1967-1968

Monday, June 23, 2025

It has been a long time since I last posted. I did not quit listening to music; in fact, I probably listened to more music in the past month. I am not going to do an album-by-album commentary; I am posting this solely to fill the gap between my last blog and what I hope will be a new one next Monday.

Hold your breath, here it comes.

Andre Bisson	The Ballad of Lucy Stone
Andre Bisson	Latchford
Sweet	The Best of Sweet
Bob Dylan	World Gone Wrong
Ali Farka Toure With Ry Cooder	Talking Timbuktu
Pink Floyd	The Wall
Various	Country Greats
Lost Dogs	The Best of the Lost Dogs
Greg X Volz	No Room In The Middle
Charlie Parker	The Very Best of the Bird
Alan Parsons Project	Eve
Alan Parsons Project	Pyramid
Planning For Burial	Desideratum
James Wesley Stemple	Shakespear Behind Bars
Carl Maria von Weber	Overtures / Clarinet Concerto No. 1
Graham Parker	Heat Treatment
Tom Paxton	New Songs For Old Friends
Undercover	Forum
Uncle Kracker	Double Wide
James Taylor and the Flying Machine	James Taylor and the Flying Machine
Ten Years After	A Space In Time
Freddie Pelletier	Canadian Country Guitar Picker
Oscar Peterson	Canadiana Suite
Oscar Peterson and Stephan Grappelli	Peterson/Grappelli
Peter & Gordon	Lady Godiva
Peter, Paul and Mary	Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary	Peter, Paul and Mary Late Again
Peter, Paul and Mary	In The Wind
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	Damn The Torpeoes
Breakfast With Amy	Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt
Skip Ewing	The Coast of Colorado
Garth Hewitt	Broken Land
Mad At The World	Seasons of Love
Various	My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Pink Floyd	The Delicate Sound of Thunder
Randy Stonehill	Return To Paradise
Leslie Phillips	Black and White in a Grey World
Leslie Phillips	The Turning
Rush	The Spirit Of Radio (Greatest Hits 1974-1987)
John C. Reilly & Mister Romantic	What’s Not To Love
Jethro Tull	This Was
Jethro Tull	Aqualung
Jethro Tull	Thick As A Brick
Jethro Tull	The Broadsword and the Beast
Various	Roaring Lambs
Various	Modern Rock
Various	20 Country Legends

See you next week, Happy Listening until then.

The Outlaws

  Wanted!

The Outlaws is a rare gem in my collection, a deserted island record that I revisit two or three times a year. This year, it’s a special treat as it’s the second time I’m immersing myself in its melodies, wait a moment, and now, it’s become the third. Released in 1976, it was a collaborative effort by the pioneers of the outlaw country music genre- Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jesse Colter. The Outlaws made history by becoming the first Country and Western music album to be certified platinum, reaching number one on the country charts and ten on the pop charts.

I have a personal connection with this album, having bought it from a record store on 118th Ave and 124 Street, a place that holds a special place in my heart. The store, sadly, is no longer there, but the owner had the best C&W album selection in the city at the time. I used to pop in every payday to buy albums and, of course, to have those wonderful music conversations.

The Outlaws charted two singles, Suspicious Minds and Good Hearted Woman. It also had songs that are lodged in my brain cells, My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, Honky Tonk Heroes, I’m Looking for Blue Eyes (Jesse on lead vocals), and Me and Paul. 

An interesting bit of trivia is that Steve Earle played acoustic guitar on the album. Steve was working day jobs in Nashville and playing music every chance he had. After several years in Nashville, he relocated to Texas, where he hit restart. That worked out pretty well for him in the long run.

This record is essential for any list of outlaw country and country music in general. It is well-produced by several unnamed folks who did a good job. Interestingly, the songs were recorded over several years and in different locations, but they were all done in one studio with one producer. I should offer a tip of the hat to the person who pulled them all together. I highly recommend this album.

Buck Owens

It Takes People Like You To Make People Like Me

Buck Owens is the king of the Bakersfield Sound. Buck Owens music is unmistakably country, with a Do-si-do that gives it a little swagger to a new place on the dance floor. Dwight Yoakam is a more recent adoptee of the Bakersfield Sound that you may be aware of. He cites Buck Owens as his inspiration.

Two crucial British Invasion-era rock bands displayed some Bakersfield influences. The Beatles recorded a popular version of Owens’ “Act Naturally” with Ringo Starr on lead vocal. Years later, the Rolling Stones made their connection explicit in the lyrics of the very Bakersfield-sounding “Far Away Eyes,” which begins: “I was driving home early Sunday morning, through Bakersfield.”

It Takes People Like You To Make People Like Me is full of love-found, love-lost, typical music fare. If you like traditional Country and Western music, you will enjoy this album as much as I have.

Elaine Paige

  Stages

When I first picked up Elaine Paige’s Stages, I was skeptical. I’ve never been a fan of stage and screen music or musicals. However, as I listened to Stages, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Elaine Paige’s vocal prowess. It’s a testament to the power of music to transcend personal preferences and surprise us with its beauty wherever we may find it.

Matthew Nowhere

  Crystal Heights

Crystal Heights was suggested to me by Matthew Nowhere’s PR firm, Shameless Promotion PR; I liked it from the first notes of Gary Numan or Kraftwerk-influenced robotic voices. “This album takes another look at something beautiful once rejected. I decided to return to the music that was all around during my childhood, and to explore the entire emotional landscape of those incredibly formative years. ‘Crystal Heights’ represents an embracing of a forgotten part of early childhood, and a celebration of all the incredible creativity that was everywhere at the time.” Images of OMD, Depeche Mode and New Order abound in Crystal Heights. Matthew Nowhere has crafted a delightful listening experience that combines the sentiment of times gone by with the smooth sensation of today’s music. Modern gear and recording methods probably contributed to making this excellent recording.

Crystal Heights’ album order  
https://matthewnowhere.bandcamp.com/album/crystal-heights
‘Transmission’ / Album Teaser  https://youtu.be/RBd4UldpYfI
‘Transforming’ feat. Lunar Twin  https://tinyurl.com/Matthew-Nowhere-Transforming
YouTube Visualizer  https://youtu.be/5-JOsCWj7Rw
‘Stellar Enfoldment’  https://youtu.be/XYBwfCO5xRU
‘Echoes Still Remain’  https://youtu.be/UG7OcHfkW1Y
‘Love Is Only What We Are’  https://youtu.be/c8IG0iDVkIA
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/1psCPo3RHQK3ZjSGKTEaWV
Soundcloud  https://soundcloud.com/matthewnowhere

Shameless Promotion PR at contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com

Jennifer Warnes

 Famous Blue Raincoat

Released in November 1986, Famous Blue Raincoat is a tribute to Leonard Cohen, with whom Warnes had toured as a backup singer in the 1970s. The album’s songs span much of Cohen’s career, from his 1969 album Songs from a Room to his 1984 album Various Positions (on which Warnes sang), and even two songs (“First We Take Manhattan” and “Ain’t No Cure for Love“) from Cohen’s then-unreleased album I’m Your Man. – Wikipedia.

I have enjoyed this album as much as any of Leonard Cohen’s own albums.

George Harrison

Cloud Nine

The quiet Beatle Harrison found his voice on this album, released in 1987. “Harrison’s cover of Rudy Clark’s little-known song “Got My Mind Set on You” quickly reached number 1 in the United States and 2 in the United Kingdom. It was Harrison’s first single to top the US charts since “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” in 1973. A few weeks later, the album Cloud Nine was released to high anticipation and a favourable critical reception.” – Wikipedia

Bee Gees

  Spirits Have Flown

It’s not my favourite Bee Gees record; it’s too much disco for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FEbFLsA59M

John Stewart

 Punch The Big Guy

Punch the Big Guy is not my favourite John Stewart recording. I am a diehard fan of Bombs Away Dream Babies. Trivia time. Do you know the name of the group that John Stewart was a member of before going solo? Answer at the end of his blog.

Steve Abma

 Leaving Omaha

I had forgotten all about this recording. I was trying to enter some cassette tapes into Discogs, and Abma was in the “A” drawer. I liked this album when I first bought it, but it got relegated to the cassette drawer, and with CDs and the resurgence of records, the cassette got lost in the transition. I don’t know what happened to Steve Abma after Leaving Omaha.

Phil Keaggy

 The Master and the Musician

Released in 1978, The Master and the Musician is the first solo acoustic album from Phil Keaggy, his fourth album overall. It blows my mind when I hear this man play guitar—his crazy, next-level playing rises above the crowd. Phil Keaggy is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists ever. I enjoy all his albums, but this one is special to me. I sink into my recliner, close my eyes, and let the music take me away.

Various  

Outlaw Country

A playlist from YouTube Music while I mowed the lawn.

Chris de Burgh

The Getaway

If I hear the name Chris de Burgh, the first thing that springs to mind is Spanish Train. The second will be “Don’t Pay The Ferryman,” if I remember anything other than Spanish Train, which is dubious.

“Don’t Pay The Ferryman” is from the album The Getaway and was a moderate hit for de Burgh. While I am not a fan of Chris de Burgh, the only album I had was Spanish Train and Other Stories, I didn’t mind dropping a buck to pick up two of his albums, The Getaway and Into The Light, from a garage sale.

After listening to The Getaway, I didn’t mind the song “Don’t Pay The Ferryman.” It is in the same style as Spanish Train, an epic story song. The remainder of the album was a waste of cassette tape.

Ricky Nelson

All My Best

This album is worthy of the word “Best.” Ricky Nelson was a very talented man, and it shows in this collection of songs. It is one hit single after another; add them up, and I get 4 grand slams. All My Best is sing-along gold for a certain generation, and I am a proud member of that generation.

Jackson Browne 

Lives In The Balance

Lives In The Balance is another excellent album from Jackson Browne. Thanks to a friend’s ticket gift, I was privileged to see him live in concert. It was a good show that covered his career without being maudlin.

John Cougar

American Fool

Dang, that pile of 50-cent cassettes was surely stacked with talent. American Fool is full of great songs that I could sing along with if I could sing. “Jack and Dianne” is a wonderful story song; if you read these blogs regularly, you will know by now that I like story songs.

Wow! What a great week for music. A little of this and a little of that. I know a few of next week’s lineups already. Several of my all-time favourite bands, no new material, just some amazing albums. Some international fare and who knows what else, we will have to wait and see.

Happy listening, everyone. And remember, a day without music is like a fish without a bicycle.

Trivia answer: John Stewart was a member of The Kingston Trio. He was also the songwriter of the Monkees‘ No. 1 hit “Daydream Believer“. John Stewart had a solo career spanning 40 years that included almost four dozen albums and more than 600 recorded songs.

In 2017, JJ Shiplett opened for them. It was a tough crowd for the show openers both nights. Steve Martin hadn’t hit the big time yet, and the red-neck Edmonton crowd weren’t into his comedy yet. JJ Shiplett is a local aspiring country singer working his way up the ladder; I wish him all the best.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta  – Grease

Valerie and I had fun listening to this double album, a trip down memory lane, holding hands with the love of my life.

Harry Nilsson – The Point

I thought I had the album Nilsson Schmilsson, but I only have The Point on vinyl. I will have to make a trip to RCP to correct that problem. It’s not that The Point is a bad album, au contraire, The Point is an interesting album, an excellent example of a story album, and has some clever wordplay. OK for the occasional listen, The Point was fun to hear again.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will The Circle Be Unbroken

I loved this album when it first came out, and I love it to this day. There is so much good music here, I may have to double down and listen to it again. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band brought together a collaboration of many famous bluegrass and country-and-western players, including Roy Acuff, “Mother” Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete “Oswald” Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, and others.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Stars & Stripes Forever

This album is polarizing. I love some of the cuts on it and dislike others. Stars & Stripes Forever is a live/studio album, but it was recorded between March 13, 1972 and January 14, 1974. The live cuts were culled from five concerts, and the stretch of time and locations, including studio time, make this a very unsettled album. I don’t hear a cohesive musical glue holding it all together. If I were to reboot the material in Stars & Stripes Forever, I would cut it down to a single album by cutting a lot of the inconsistent tracks and all of the chatter. Just my opinion. The good parts are very good.

Dirt Band – An American Dream

An American Dream is the ying and yang of the Dirt Band (aka The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). An American Dream is an album with a distinctly pop sound that feels straight out of the modern Nashville studios. I like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band when they stick to Americana, Bluegrass, and Country & Western music. The lead song on this album, An American Dream was written by Rodney Crowell and released on his debut album, Ain’t Living Long Like This, as Voilá, An American Dream. I liked to try playing this one on the guitar. My playing wasn’t high quality, but it was fun, making it good by default. I am listening to this album again as I write this, and apart from the title song, I don’t rate this album higher than a three out of five. The songs on this album are covers or collaborations, such as the aforementioned American Dream, with one exception: the song Do You Feel the Way I Do.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Plain Dirt Fashion

Plain Dirt Fashion takes The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band back to their musical roots, in a way. It is still Americana, but closer to Nashville Pop Country than Bluegrass. Plain Dirt Fashion is good music, polished pop, Nashville Country, and better than An American Dream by a country mile. Once again I am listening to the album in question as I listen to it and it is enjoyable. Face on the Cutting Room Floor is an excellent example of story songs: Astute and a stinging denunciation of the modern film industry. A song I would never have expected to see on a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album is their cover of the Meatloaf song Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two

Not quite on the same wavelength as its daddy, the triple album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. Circle II features largely acoustic, bluegrass music instrumentation with a line-up of contemporary country music artists, including Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Michael Martin Murphey and Ricky Skaggs. Volume Two brings back some of the elderly statesmen of bluegrass and traditional C&W music: Jimmy Martin, banjoist Earl Scruggs, fiddler Vassar Clements and singer Roy Acuff. While different from Volume 1, there is considerable overlap. It is not Vol. 2.1. It stands comfortably on its own merit.

Whew! That was a lot of dirt spun around on the turntable this week. The two “Circle” albums’ opening and closing the listening sessions were a good combo. It opened with a flourish and closed with sentimental favourites. I have already sampled some of next week’s tunes, and I’m happy about what I’m hearing.