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.
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.
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
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.
I’m unsure how I stumbled upon this album, but I’m glad I did. Shape The Future is electronic by genre, but world music outside of that label. It has samples of music and building blocks from all over the place. It flows with an easy continuity and becomes two cohesive slabs of vinyl. Highly listenable.
Larry NormanUpon This Rock
Larry Norman was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and producer. He is considered one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and has released more than 100 albums. I do not recommend buying or even listening to all 100. Upon This Rock, So Long Ago the Garden and Only Visiting This Planet are albums that I would highly recommend. These three became known as Larry Norman’s trilogy of albums and comprise his most widely recognized albums, as well as his best material.
OxbowThin Black Duke
The Oxbow album, Thin Black Duke, is another mystery as to how I found it. Oxbow was an experimental rock band known for the vocal prowess of frontman Eugene Robinson. If you are listening to this for the first time, I recommend having Wikipedia and Genius open to track what you are listening to. Thin Black Duke is an interesting album with twists and turns that kept me busy listening intently.
Gary NumanThe Pleasure Principle
The Pleasure Principle is a blast from the past. I would be willing to place a bet if you asked a random sample of people who were 15 or older when this album was released if they knew it. Then ask them if they have ever intently listened to it. I was guilty of using this album as background noise rather than paying attention as I listened to it. This time, I sat down with a cup of coffee, my second addiction after listening to music, opened Wikipedia and Genius, and paid attention to the grooves in The Pleasure Principle. It had a depth that I hadn’t heard before, and I developed a deeper appreciation for what Gary Numan created on this album.
The Oak Ridge BoysThe Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived
The Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived sounds like a wheelbarrow full of other southern USA Nashville Pop vocal groups. Generic and quickly forgotten after the needle is lifted from the runout groove.
The Oak Ridge Boys Heartbeat
The same band delivers Heartbeat as The Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived, but it does not sound the same as the Oak Ridge Boys I listened to previously. Heartbeat is more polished, and while still a Nashville pop-flavoured album, it is more listenable, for me at least. The vocals are tighter, and the bass vocal is moulded into the vocals instead of the occasional bass word or two featured on the Arrive album. The Oak Ridge Boys don’t write any songs on this recording, but they have chosen some tasteful songs to cover. They are a pure vocal band, not playing any instruments themselves, but they use top-notch session musicians. Adding up, we get this: great vocals, well-written songs that fit their vocal style, and delivery by the aforementioned top-notch musicians.
Phil OchsPleasures of the Harbor
Pleasures of the Harbor isn’t an album on my deserted island list. But Phil Ochs is an important musician to hear and to read about. Pleasures of the Harbor was released in 1967, and the Vietnam conflict and the protest movement were in full flight. And, naturally, it wouldn’t be much of a protest movement if there weren’t protest songs.
Pleasures of the Harbour is Phil Ochs’ fourth album, and a significant departure from the previous three albums, which were definitely folk music. Pleasures of the Harbour features traces of classical, rock and roll, Dixieland jazz and experimental synthesized music, and of course, folk music.
The songs in Pleasures of the Harbor are less apolitical than his folk albums. Pleasures of the Harbor features songs that are more in the realm of social commentary. “The Party” savaged high-class snobs, and “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” is a sarcastic jab at the apathetic nature of people in certain situations. Ochs also used the medium of music to tell stories. The title track, Pleasures of the Harbor, is a dirge to lonely sailors seeking human comfort and connection while in port.
Pleasures of the Harbor is not a go-to album for me, but an entertaining and illuminating album just the same.
Mike OldfieldTubular Bells
This album is the same as The Pleasure Principle. Well known but not well listened to. I listened intently and had the same result as on The Pleasure Principle. There is much more going on in this album than I had heard before I started listening to albums focused and alert to what was going on musically, what the lyrics said, and how the message was delivered.
Michael And Stormie Omartian
Omartian Odyssey
Michael Omartian has created a pleasant album, but I enjoy him more for his work with other artists. Brace yourself, the list is impressive to say the least.
Michael Omartian produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Award nominations and won three of those nominations. He spent five years on the A&R staff of ABC/Dunhill Records as a producer, artist, and arranger; then he was hired by Warner Bros. Records as an in-house producer and A&R staff member. Omartian moved from Los Angeles to Nashville in 1993, where he served on the Board of Governors of the Recording Academy, and has helped to shape the curriculum for the first master’s degree program in the field of Music Business at Belmont University.
Artists whom Michael Omartian has produced albums for include:
Clint Black, Michael Bolton, Debby Boone, Steve Camp, Peter Cetera, Christopher Cross, Joe “Bean” Esposito, Amy Grant, Benny Hester, Whitney Houston, the Imperials, The Jacksons, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Cliff Richard, Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, Wayne Watson, Billy Joel and Trisha Yearwood.
I told you it was impressive.
Roy OrbisonRoy Orbison’s Greatest Hits
Roy OrbisonIn Dreams
Roy OrbisonThe Very Best of Roy Orbison
Roy OrbisonThe All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison
I was blessed to see the Big O live, and that show stood unchallenged for decades as the best concert I had ever attended. It has been nudged aside and shares that podium now, but I still deeply revere Roy Orbison and his music. I listened to all four of these albums, but you could get away with listening to In Dreams and the double album, The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Architecture and Morality
Architecture and Morality completes the trilogy of albums I had to appreciate and pay attention to, intentional listening. The Pleasure Principle and Tubular Bells are the other two. I have an earworm from Joan of Arc, the only song off the album that I carried forward from when I bought it. Architecture and Morality was a more challenging listen, but well worth the effort.
Gilbert O’Sullivan Himself
Alone Again Naturally is the big hit for Gilbert O’Sullivan and the only reference I had for him and his music. He is a great storyteller and delivers the lyrics in a manner that is unique to him. It turns out he had a long and prosperous career, besides “Alone Again Naturally.” If you had asked me on Friday what I thought of Gilbert O’Sullivan, I would have labelled him a one-hit wonder. He isn’t. He had a long and productive career in music that spanned from his debut album, Himself, to his twentieth release, which was released last year, 2024. I may have to go bin diving to expand my discography of Gilbert O’Sullivan.
So, there we have it. Another week of great music checked off with Roy Orbison being the heavy hitter this week. I love my newest turntable, the Fluance 81+. It is paired with my Cambridge Azur 351A and image Concept 200 speakers. The sound is warm, and the separation is immaculate. I can hear sounds left, right and in between clearly. It is also capable of pushing the sound to a slightly higher volume when the music, or I, ask it to. I use it so much that the stereo in my office rarely gets used. It is a new Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB with Romanca R2 speakers, a decent stereo in its own right. It will get its turn to shine as time passes; meanwhile, onward and upward to another week of music.
I have been playing in The Dirt this week, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, that is. I have seen The Nitty Gritty Dirt live in concert twice. The shows were 40 years apart in the same venue, I thought that was interesting. They mentioned the 40 years but didn’t ask who had been at the first concert. I would have loved to stand up and raise my hand high. In 1977, Steve Martin opened for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
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.
I’m not sure if I was brave or foolish, but I listened to the entire discography of The New Pornographers in one week, actually in five days. I didn’t go insane and enjoyed revisiting some albums I hadn’t heard recently. I had this notion that I would write down thoughts, inclinations and assorted comments sifted from the internet and my noggin as I listened to each album. That didn’t happen, at least not in any meaningful or helpful way. I jotted down some notes as I listened to the first two albums and then quit. There were so many notes and comments that I would have written a short book rather than the short format I employ in my blogs. In a truncated style, here are some of my takeaways from this music marathon. A.C. Newman and Destroyer frontman Dan Bejar wrote all the songs on the album. Lead vocals were mainly by A.C. Newman and Neko Case. The New Pornographers’ membership has ebbed and flowed over the years and album to album, with Neko Case, A.C. Newman, Dan Bejar, and Kathryn Calder as more or less consistent members. The New Pornographers are often called a Canadian supergroup; as a Canadian, I am OK with that assessment; even if Neko Case isn’t a Canadian, she should be.
Mass Romantic
Wikipedia tells us that Mass Romantic was written over the three years prior to its release on November 21, 2000. Standout samples for me started with track one, appropriately, and blended into track two, then three and all the way to twelve.
“In the streetlight dawn
This beat turns on.”
In “Way Back Machine,” Sonny & Cher sang “The Beat Goes On.”
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, drummer of Le Figaro. 😉
The Beatles sang that they “read the news today” & “the news was rather sad.”
The New Pornographers “wrote the news today” and then “Make headlines.”
Living in the modern era of social media, we have come to accept that “fake news” is the new normal, especially when Trump is proclaiming it. The New Pornographers wrote a song that goes from “make headlines” to “fake headlines.” They recorded Mass Romantic well before the era of Trump’s fake news nonsense.
Several more comments in my jotted notes have penmanship that make them all but indecipherable. So I won’t mention The Who seeing for miles and miles while The New Pornographers “claim to see for miles, you don’t, but I believe you do.” I have no idea what is going on there.
And I won’t mention that The Mary Martin Show ignited some random synapses in my brain that brought to mind Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a television parody show. Go figure, eh?
“Breakin’ the Law” closes the album Mass Romantic with a cornucopia of delightful music.
Mass Romantic must be one of the greatest debut albums. I asked the internet, and it appeared on a few lists, including Paste magazine, which I consider a legit music source, and The Village Voice, which is equally legit.
The New Pornographers‘ first four albums placed in the top 40 on The Village Voice‘s Pazz & Jop year-end poll of hundreds of music reviewers. From 2000 to 2006, either a New Pornographers’ album or a solo album from one of the band’s members ranked in the top 40 on the list each year. In 2007, Blender magazine ranked the New Pornographers’ first album, Mass Romantic, the 24th best indie album ever. In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band’s second studio album, Electric Version, No. 79 in the “100 Best Albums of the Decade”. Stereogum has retrospectively praised the band’s debut album, Mass Romantic, as “one of the greatest” power pop albums. I agree.
See what I meant by writing a short book instead of a short blog? What we have here is the edited short version of the notes.
Their sophomore album is Electric Version. I lay awake at night, wondering where the acoustic version is.
On Electric Version, we have From Blown Speakers. That is a great song title; I didn’t drive my speakers that high, but I once worked with a guy who turned the volume so high it vibrated the speaker cabinet off the shelf and crashed to the floor. I had made the shelf and put the speaker on it with no expectation that anyone would listen to music that loud. He did.
New Face of Zero and One was a standout track for me. It’s Only Divine Right is a driving rock number. July Jonesreminded me of Danielson Famile. Why? I don’t know. It just does.
As a whole, the Electric Version sounds like The New Pornographers but dressed up a bit more posh. They are learning as they go, and it sounds good. It’s a more mature sound, fuller somehow.
Track 7 on Brill Bruisers is Another Drug Deal of the Heart with the line “Don’t meet me here
Just meet me out on that corner stop.”
In my mind, it jumped to “Just Walk On By.”
“Just walk on by, wait on the corner
I love you, but we’re strangers when we meet.”
written by Kendall Hayes and performed by American country music artist Leroy Van Dyke. Everyone and their children have subsequently recorded covers of it.
Here are some condensed takeaway thoughts from listening to the discography of The New Pornographs from Mass Romantic to Continue as a Guest. They retained their overall sound but matured and polished their skills as they moved from album to album.
Mass Romantic, their debut album, stuck with me, which is incredible considering the fact that I listened to all eight of their records after Mass Romantic in chronological order. It isn’t amazing when I reconsider the album; it has always been a highlight favourite of mine. Their sophomore release, Electric Version, is a solid album that proves that Mass Romantic wasn’t a one-off. Twin Cinema, their third release, didn’t stick like glue; it was more like bubble gum. The song “Sing Me Spanish Techno” is a good un. I’ll always hold the album Together in a special place because that was the first time I saw them live. I scored a t-shirt, a poster and a CD from the show.
The Together record is a solid listen, with a couple of tracks that stood out to me, such as Crash Years and Silver Jenny Dollar. Brill Bruisers was gifted to me, which means it will stick with me forever. It is also a good listen for a bonus, and I love the cover art. Whiteout Conditions features Katherine Calder on vocals and harmony. Their last two albums, In The Morse Code of Brake Lights and Continue as a Guest, are good, but one of us is missing something. I will have to listen to them again. The fact that I had listened to all of their albums released up to these two in five days may have coloured my vision. Final comment? It was a good five days of good music; I wonder what will be next in my odyssey through my album library from Eh to Zed.
It was purely coincidental that I listened to this band in the week after their drummer, Joe Seiders, was arrested for possession of child pornography. The band cut all ties to him, and I imagine fans like myself will also distance themselves from him.
The name of the band, New Pornographers, has nothing to do with pornography. The New Pornographers‘ name was chosen by Carl Newman, who said that he came up with it because he was a fan of a Japanese film called The Pornographers. It was also an homage to The New Seekers and “The Pornographers,” a track on bandmate Dan Bejar‘s first Destroyer album, We’ll Build Them a Golden Bridge. My son, Joel Weatherly, and I have seen the New Pornographs live several times and Destroyer once, and it was intense.
As usual, I had an eclectic week of music, from Willie Nelson’s outlaw country to Sixties Music’s hard rock. I didn’t listen to a large number of albums this week, 13, which works out just short of two per day. In reality, I listened to four albums on some days and nothing on other days.
Willie Nelson Red-Headed Stranger
This album is labelled by many sources as a classic in modern music, and rightfully so. Red Headed Stranger is a quasi-concept album about love, lust and loss. It is very high on my list of songs on the boat ride to the deserted island, when I get their I’ll let you know if it made it to the island or not.
Wikipedia: “Red Headed Stranger was a blockbuster among country music fans and mainstream audiences. It was certified multiple-platinum and made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. The cover of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” released as a single before the album, became Nelson’s first number-one hit. The title of the album became a lasting nickname for Nelson. It was number 183 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and number one on CMT’s 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music. In 2010, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry.”
Willie Nelson The Troublemaker
The Troublemaker is a good album, containing gospel standards with the trademark Willie Nelson feel running through it.
Willie Nelson To Lefty From Willie
I have listened to this album dozens of times and never tired of it. As far as tribute albums go, Willie nails it on To Lefty From Willie. Willie captures the emotion Lefty wrote into his songs and can retain most of the song’s musical and lyrical feel. Lefty Frizell was an incredible all-around musician, a guitar picker, a singer, and a writer. This album is a good place to start if you are getting acquainted with Willie Nelson or Lefty Frizzell. To Lefty From Willie is a deserted island pick in my library.
Willie Nelson Somewhere Over The Rainbow/The Minstrel Man
It’s a waste of vinyl. These are overcooked, with the orchestra obliterating any notion of this being a C/W album. Willie was good when he was an outlaw, not so hot as a pop crooner. I’ll go back and listen to Red Headed Stranger again to get The Minstrel Man out of my brain.
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
This album has been overdue for a listen. I plopped down in the recliner, cranked the volume to 8, and opened Wikipedia to read about the album as I listened to it. I need to hear this more often; it has some very good music.
Oxbow Thin Black Duke
I don’t know what genre Thin Black Duke belongs in; I hear alt-rock and experimental rock. Something quirky about this album caught my attention and has stuck with me. I have never listened to any of their other recordings, but I frequently listen to Thin Black Duke—a quality-over-quantity situation.
Various. Electric Sixties
What a fun listen this was! Electric Sixties was a trip down memory lane with an album full of top-notch songs. The Electric Sixties will reside in my various artist’s collection with five stars beside it. It leans towards the harder rock bands of that era, and I was carried away hearing these songs again.
Juice Newton Juice
Juice Newton has enjoyed a stellar career in music, with numerous cross-over albums that charted, as well as a long list of charting singles in both pop and country charts. Juice is her third solo album and the only one I have ever owned; it is a good one if it is the only one. Juice is packed with good songs and three charting singles, with Angel of the Morning being my favourite song from the album.
Bobby Bond The Roger Miller Songbook
I could swear that this is a recording by Roger Miller. It isn’t. The Roger Miller Songbook is the first album, recorded in 1965, for an aspiring musician named Bobby Bond. The Roger Miller Songbook sold more for the name Roger Miller than Bobby Bond. Bobby Bonds’s next album, which was dedicated to Jim Reeves, enjoyed good sales, but like The Roger Miller Songbook did nothing to establish Bobby Bond as a singer. The Roger Miller Songbook is a nice album, especially for those of a certain age who can remember these songs from years long gone.
Van Morrison Enlightenment
Enlightenment is a cassette that I used to sound test a new old cassette deck that I had purchased. The cassette is good, but the deck needs some TLC. Several Moments Later… I ran a pair of cleaning cassettes through the deck and it sounds better, but not good. It has a dirty sound that I suspect is more than I can fix.
A person that I used to work with was a fan of Van Morrison but stated that if you heard one Van Morrison album, you’ve heard them all. There is an element of truth in that statement. There are, however, different lyrics, fresh musical arrangements, and new emotions and feelings in every one of Van Morrison’s albums. I liked listening to Enlightenment and can see myself returning to this album someday.
The Violet Burning Chosen
The Violet Burning is a Christian alternative rock band from the days when I went to church. It is still a decent album; it has aged well. I suspect this could easily be categorized as an alternative rock band, but they got labelled as a Christian band. That label has been a weight around the necks of many good bands. They get stuck in the nowhere world of music, they are too Christian for popular media and too rock for most churches. Larry Norman and Daniel Amos are two fantastic bands, in my opinion, that never broke out of that wasteland. All three of those artists were able to make a career of walking that tightrope. The Violet Burning went on from this debut album to record about a dozen more albums and a slew of other related music projects. I enjoyed listening to this album again and realized that this is the only recording by The Violet Burning that I have. I’ll keep my eyes open for more in my search through thrift and second-hand stores.
Kevin on Repeat #294
I wasn’t familiar with these bands, other than Hendrix, but being open to listening to new music, I listened to this while I tapped out this blog. They are all good, Kevin, according to Norman.
Last week, I went for quantity, with 18 albums in my playlist. That does not mean I listened to them so that I could brag about how much music I listen to. No, I listened to every single album with attention to its contents. What instruments were used? How did the lyrics mesh with the instrumentation? Etc. This week, I listened to six albums, several of which I listened to more than once.
Nash the Slash / Children of the Night
This is easily one of the most disturbing album covers in my recent memory.
“James Jeffrey “Jeff” Plewman (March 26, 1948 – May 10, 2014), better known by his stage name Nash the Slash, was a Canadian musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he was known primarily for playing the electric violin and mandolin, harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments (sometimes described as “devices” on album notes).
Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975, founding the progressive rock band FM in 1976. Soon after releasing the band’s first album, Black Noise, in 1977, he left the band; he resumed his solo career in 1978 (it was not until after Nash’s departure that the album was widely promoted, eventually charting and receiving a gold record award). He rejoined FM from 1983 to 1988, followed by a brief reunion from 1994 to 1996, all concurrent with his solo work.
Nash’s music covers an eclectic range, varying from instrumental—mood-setting and shoe-gaze music to rock and pop music with vocals. In addition to giving concert performances, he composed and performed soundtrack music for silent films, presenting these works live in movie theatres to accompany screenings of the films. Another venue for his music was in performances to accompany the viewing of paintings by surrealist painter Robert Vanderhorst, an audiovisual collaboration, which took place in 1978 and again in 2004.
Nash famously never allowed guitars on any of his solo albums and singles. He turned down Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour‘s offer to lay down a guitar track on his Children of the Night album. It takes something special to turn down an offer from David Gilmour.
I don’t know what to make of his albums. They are exotic and non-conformant. Discogs has them pegged as Rock/Darkwave/New Wave/Prog/Rock. I have always had a soft spot for electric violin, Nash the Slash used that as his primary instrument.
I like his cover of 19th Nervous Breakdown just because it veers away from the original recording by The Rolling Stones and becomes a unique recording by Nash, with no guitars. I’m not sure what Keith Richards would think of that! Another song that gets a work over is Smoke on the Water, which becomes Dopes on the Water. The music of Nash the Slash is not music for the faint of heart. Nash the Slash made music that challenged the boundaries of music and pushed them further out of the comfort zone of popular music in the early 80’s. He was a nonconformist and stayed that way in the three albums of his that I have.
American Band-ages, released in 1984, featured covers of popular American songs. The album, intended for the US market, never got the push it needed due to distribution and management problems, including a change in record labels.
American Band-ages featured Bandstand Boogie/American Band (We’re An American Band), veering from big band to punk on the same track. Wow, what a way to start an album. What follows is Born to be Wild. It sounds like the original but doesn’t. The electric violin and the use of synthesizers mimic the electric guitars featured in the original by Steppenwolf. I had a big deja vu trip listening to Born to Be Wild in the movie Easy Rider on YouTube. That movie resonated with me as a rebellious teenager in 1969. The Nash the Slash remake of Hey Joe blows. Hey Joe, it has been covered so often that no one knows the song’s origin. The most noteworthy version is likely the Jimi Hendrix Experience cover from their Are You Experienced album. You can do Wikipedia for more covers.
Another thing I noticed is the length of the tracks on American Bandages; these are not three-minute radio edits. The songs run from the shortest, Hey Joe, at 3:34 to several at four and five minutes and the closer, 1984, at 7:08. These are three songs per album side, and I like it. He gets a groove going on these songs and he works it with all the musical toys he can muster, but no guitars.
So I listened to Nash the Slash twice over the course of a couple of days and gave them a good listen, not a casual noise in the background while I did something else kind of a listen. I got his music, but not everyone did.
I suggest reading and listening here if you want to listen to his music and find out more about him as a person.
Rick Nelson The Very Best of Rick Nelson
Ricky Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. In 1957, he began a long and successful career as a popular recording artist. The Very Best is a standard Best Of album. It contains some hit songs you may recognize if you are a boomer like me.
NDTC Singers The Very Best of NDTC Singers
This album contains songs from several Caribbean nations, including my favourite, Jamaica. Truthfully, it is the only Caribbean island I have been to, but I liked it and would like to return. My Jamaican princess, Valerie, listened to this alongside me and hummed to many songs.
Bible Club Umbra
This album has been sitting on the back burner for a week or so. I enjoyed the first spin, so I found the lyrics and gave it another spin, reading along as I went. And then I forgot about it for one reason or another. And now I am listening to it again and hoping to flesh something out to write about.
This album starts out with some relaxing guitar and other instruments over some vocals that sound other-worldly. A nice chill track. Track two has a more or less alt-rock sound and recognizable vocals telling us about the futility of life and eventually getting to a place where they can forget everything and start a new life. Nihilist, that word pops up early in the song. A nihilist is a person who believes that life is meaningless and rejects all religious and moral principles. The lack of moral principles is a frightening thought. I can get on board with rejecting religion, heck, I’ve done that and feel fine with how my life is going, gut rejecting moral principles is on a whole new level. Life needs some morality to function, we can not throw out all concepts of good and proper. Without moral principles we will devolve into a culture of savage brutes trying to suppress each other. Come to think about that, and maybe we are living there already.
Track 3, Umbra, tells us what we are experiencing in the here and now.
“Everyone cycling around not knowing why or how
Just drudging on
for a bliss that’s promised
Rid me of this mind now
Tell me there’s truth, things will get better
…
As I cast off these things
I grow older and weary”
That just about sums it up for me, I feel old and weary. There are moments of bliss, like when I get some new music that takes me of to the promised land. Please tell me that things will get better. Great music in the alt-rock genre.
Track four takes the author to a dark and dreary place with some very interesting music, I found myself ignoring the lyrics and just soaking in the music. It has a feeling like listening to a click track that moves in and out with instruments that move in and out, not neccissarily in sync with the lyrics, but it works. I get lost in this track and put it on instant replay.
Track five explodes with the pent up angst, anger and weariness that the author has been carrying about for far too long.
“We’re all eating cardboard
Crap wrapped in tinfoil
Bleached clumps of empty substance
We eat it just to feel
Saturated
Uncomplicated
Watch out
Why won’t you hear me out
So watch out
You’re gonna hear me out
Don’t
Don’t waste my time
Don’t waste my time
With all your lies”
“Capturing the stark awareness of a world stuck in disarray, ‘Umbra’ is a dreary rumination on the state of affairs in this post-consumerist world, offering vignettes of the symptoms of late-stage capitalism. Materialism has gone non-material, substance is replaced by empty filler, and callous waste of life. More now than ever before we are within the darkest shadow of our times – the umbra – a shadow cast by a force that overpowers.” – Bark PR http://www.barkpr.co.uk/
Five tracks of fusion alt punk, rock and shoegazing lamenting the world of capitalism and materialism. An album that sounds great despite the dreary tone of the lyrics. They use two guitars to great effect as they wander in and out and playing around each other and together. I want to hear these guys ten years from now to hear how their world view has changed, or hasn’t. Chalk Umbra up as a five star record.
p.s. I listened to their earlier music, and it is good listening.
I scored a box of assorted albums, about 100, and most of them were vintage C&W. There was also a nice cache of Canadiana amongst those albums; all in all, it was a good buy for only $20. Needless to say, I have been on a C&W binge this week. I am not going to give a review for each and every one of these. There was too much listening, leaving too little time for writing. I will mention a few standouts. The Best of Smiley Bates was a good traditional C&W listen; he plays a mean guitar. Patsy Cline is always a good listen, and she should win an award for the album cover. Just an old cowboy putting in his two bits worth. It’s Hard To Be Humble by Mac Davis was a modest hit and made me smile as I listened. I had never listened to Cowboy Copas previously; he is another traditional, old-timey Country and Western singer, and I liked it. Moving on from C&W to some rock, I relistened to Crime of the Century by Supertramp, and I still like their sound. I ended the week with Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck. I have an adage saying I can’t criticize an artist or an album unless I have listened to it non-judgementally. I gave Engelbert a good, honest listen, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Sure, it’s sappy crooner pop music, but it is good sappy crooner pop music.
Hoyt Axton Life Machine
Smiley Bates The Best of Smiley Bates
Smiley Bates Flat Top Guitar Instrumentals
Al Caiola The Guitar Style Of Al Caiola
Patsy Cline Patsy Cline’s Golden Hits
Tony Booth Lonesome 7-7203
Mac Davis It’s Hard To Be Humble
Various 40 Country Classics
Various Canadian Country Jamboree Vol. II
Roy Clark Take Me As I Am
Supertramp Crime of the Century
Al Hirt Struttin’ Down Royal Street
Mac Davis A Satisfied Mind
Cowboy Copas A Satisfied Mind
Stan Freeman And The Twisters Everybody’s Twistin’
This band and their album are new to me, courtesy of Bark PR. I’ve given this album easily a half-dozen listens, and I want more. Addictive? Perhaps. It’s definitely music that I want to hear again and again. They churn out distortion-fueled post-punk that charges out of the speakers and assailes my ears. It is not dark, moody music. No, no! They serve the music up raw and gritty with lyrics that touch on faith and the search for meaning in life. Who isn’t?
From the press handout:
“Hailing from the remote coastal town of Norrtälje, Sweden. Isolated Youth’s debut LP is deeply shaped by the atmospheric Nordic landscape they grew up in. From the icy hooks of ‘Ghost Town’ inspired by the desolate streets of Stockholm to the ghostly ‘Psykosoma’, conceived in a studio nestled between a forested graveyard, the band channel the play of light and darkness of their region through a gothic, distortion-fueled lens. Formed by brothers Axel and William Mardberg, along with drummer Andreas Geidemark and bassist Elmer Hallsby, the band channels a raw and atmospheric style that draws influence from icons like The Chameleons, The Gun Club, and Siouxsie & The Banshees. With Axel’s piercing falsetto and William’s intricate, Johnny Marr-esque guitar lines, Isolated Youth have crafted an album that feels both nostalgic and deeply contemporary.”
The song Love Locked In A Dark Room mesmerizes me. It has a jaunty rhythm that reminds me of someone but sounds fresh and original at the same time. It has crashing cymbals and chugging guitars that melt into the lyrics that cry out in longing not to be left alone in a dark room like a bird in a cage. As I listened to this song and meditated on the lyrics, I was reminded of a poem by Maya Angelou, Caged Bird.
Love Locked In A Dark Room:
“Hold me
Before the sun hits and the walls they turn
The dark room is bending
Bird in a cage
Dancing in the Devil’s lair
Love locked in a dark room
I can’t see where I stay.”
Maya Angelou, Caged Bird:
“The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.”
I would love to hear Isolated Youth perform Love Locked In A Dark Room live. I may be in Sweden, their home and native land, in October. They don’t have any tour dates on their web page, but I remain optimistic. In conclusion, I rate this album as a 5 out of 5. It is a well-crafted musical experience with powerful music and insightful thought-provoking lyrics.
miserere mei is available via Memorials of Distinction and Birthday Productions
Joe Jackson Stepping Out
I hadn’t listened to the music of Joe Jackson other than competing with road noise on the radio back in the days when listening to the radio was a thing. I popped this in the big stereo, sat back in my recliner, closed my eyes and let the music come to me. What I heard was a side of Joe Jackson that I didn’t know existed up to that moment. I could hear sumptuous bass underscoring the songs, powerful but understated. It starts on the first track, Is She Really Going Out With Him? The bass is the bedrock on which the rest of the song is built. I won’t do a long track-by-track review of Joe Jackson’s greatest songs. This listening session gave me another side of Joe Jackson I never knew. I’m listening to it again, focusing more on the vocals and the lyrical content.
Modest Mussorgsky Pictures At An Exhibition
From Wikipedia:
“Pictures at an Exhibition is a piano suite in ten movements, plus a recurring and varied Promenade theme, written in 1874 by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. It is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann put on at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg following his sudden death in the previous year. Each movement of the suite is based on an individual work, some of which are lost.
The composition has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists, and became widely known from orchestrations and arrangements produced by other composers and contemporary musicians, with Maurice Ravel’s 1922 adaptation for orchestra being the most recorded and performed. The suite, particularly the final movement, “The Bogatyr Gates,” is widely considered one of Mussorgsky’s greatest works.”
Pictures at an Exhibitionis easily my favourite classical music album, CD or record. It is a good bit of easy listening for winding down from some business. It is also a favourite of mine for what I call intentional or focused listening. I sit back with no distractions and just listen. I pay attention to different aspects of the music every time I listen to it. I listen to what instruments are used. What is the pacing of the music? Is it going faster? Slower? Escalating or depressing? And other aspects of the album. Yeah, Pictures at an Exhibition is my go-to for classical music.
This week’s listening was light in the rock/pop categories, but I had a good time listening to these albums. I didn’t listen to any new releases this week, and I think that my listening will continue in that direction for now. I am enjoying listening to a wide variety of old music. I won’t stop listening to new music, but it will not be my focus for now. On with the show then:
Mott The Hoople All The Young Dudes
I can’t listen to Mott The Hoople without hearing David Bowie. Mott The Hoople released four albums between 1969 and 1971 but failed to find success other than a modest following of fans. They were on the verge of quitting after a tour of Europe and poor album sales. David Bowie had been a fan of theirs, and upon hearing about the band quitting, he stepped in and offered them a song that he had written, “Suffragette City.” They declined that song but recorded another song Bowie had written, All The Young Dudes, and he co-produced the album with Mick Ronson. The result was on my turntable, and I’m glad Bowie rescued them. While it isn’t a great album, it is a good album with great moments.
Rich Mullins Rich Mullins
I’ve enjoyed Rich Mullins’ music for a long time. However, he has been out of circulation on my stereo for an equally long time. Continuing my journey through the alphabet, I am reaching the end of the letter M. The album opens with some grungy distorted guitar, and then a “few good men” kick the album to full throttle. A Few Good Men could be a rallying cry for our current world.
“Show me a someone who knows how to struggle
Who isn’t caught in the hold of his luxuries
I just need to see
Someone who was made for trouble
Who could come and help shape our destiny.”
We need someone to struggle with the wealthy clinging to their luxuries, perhaps a seaside villa. We certainly need someone to come and rescue us from the power-hungry despots of our current world order.
While this album has an overtly Christian flavour, enough lyrics resonate with the “everyman” to make a casual listen to Rich Mullins palatable. Lyrics like these from the song Elijah
“I want to hear some music once again
‘Cause it’s the finest thing that I have ever found.”
The song “Nothing But A Miracle” is aimed at Rich Mullins’s God, but the lyrics could apply to other relationships, such as marriage. My wife and her love are nothing but a miracle. The rest of the album has a similar lyric styling to 80s pop music. It was a good stroll down memory lane, but I feel this album will be out of circulation for a while longer.
Michael Martin Murphey The Best of Michael Martin Murphey
Wikipedia: “Murphey has had a successful music career that has spanned four decades and included such musical genres as folk, country, rock, popular, western, and cowboy music. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, he has contributed some of the best-loved songs of his generation. His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Cher, Lyle Lovett, Flatt and Scruggs, Claire Hamill, Hoyt Axton, Roger Miller, Bobbie Gentry, Michael Nesmith, and the Monkees.”
I enjoyed this album, but my palate of taste for Michael Martin Murphey leans heavily towards his cowboy songs. I grew up listening to old-school Country and Western music, which has left an indelible mark on my current choice of C&W listening.
Anne Murray Anne Murray’s Greatest Hits
Wow! I grew up with my parents watching Don Messer’s Jubilee and Singalong Jubilee. Both of these television staples featured Anne Murray as a regular member. These television appearances were a springboard that projected Murray into a successful recording career with 55 million album copies worldwide during her 40-plus years as a musician. Murray has won four Grammys, including the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1979. There is a long list of her awards on Wikipedia if you want to read more about her.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Murray
I found myself singing along to many of the songs on this collection of radio staples from the 70s and 80s. Murray retired from both recording and performing after the issue of her final Christmas album in 2008, later explaining, “I did it for 40 years, and that’s long enough to do anything…I wanted to go out, still singing well and not having to make excuses.” I don’t have to justify why I loved listening to this album. It is just plain good.
The Mustangs Best of the Mustangs
I could not find much information about this album besides the fact that it was from my hometown of Edmonton. It is an enjoyable album, not charting, but still OK for a casual listen.
Chuck Mangione The Best Of Chuck Mangione
This two-hour compilation gives a good overview of Mangione’s career. Leaning heavily towards jazz with hints of pop and orchestral music. The Best Of Chuck Mangione will provide a good overview of his 50-year music career. I enjoy jazz music, and this album has good jazz on it, but his jazz isn’t stable in my jazz music listening.
Kenny Hepburn Twangy Guitar
I bought a box of mostly country music and this was in one of the boxes. It is a cool album that lets us glance into early rock and rockabilly music. While not a first or a particularly great album, it is still a fun listen.
Al Martino Spanish Eyes
Most of my blogs have a strong pop/rock/C&W favour to them. This album does not fit any of those handles. I call Al Martino a crooner, a blanket term for a singer who performs with a smooth, intimate style. Some of the early crooners were jazz vocalists of the era, such as Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and Frank Sinatra. Al Martino certainly has a smooth vocal delivery that would have worked well with early Muzak in doctors’ and dentist’s offices; it is calm and easy to relax listening to. I don’t usually listen to music of this style. But when I hear good music, it is good no matter what genre style fits into.
The following are late additions, so I don’t have cover shots or comments. It’s all good music.
Buddy Merrill The Many-Splendered Guitar of Buddy Merril
Nana Mouskouri Nana Mouskouri Sings Over & Over
Nana is isn’t my jam but there are millions of other people who enjoyed her music. We always had hundreds of used copies of her album; they weren’t a big seller.
Russ Morgan Does Your Heart Beat For Me
Maria Muldaur Sweet Harmony
Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur
I saw Maria Muldaur back in 1988, it was very good.
Jawbreaker Sluttering
Various Jam Session
Herb Alpert What Now My Love
Myles and Lenny Myles and Lenny
I love the electric violin and the use of the violin in rock music. Myles and Lenny hit the nail on the head, I ended up with three copies of this album, all in near-mint condition. I love it.
There, we have it. Another week of delicious music. I have finished the letter M, which is mathematically the alphabet’s middle. I have no idea where it is quantity-wise in my library, I suspect it is near the middle, but I am not going to count them. I hope you take time out of your busy day to kick back and listen to music. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of the above albums or one of your favourites. Just sit back and soak it in. What do you hear? What instruments are being played? How is the singer using their voice in the mix? Is there a good stereo mix? Left or right speaker? In the middle of the room? I like relaxed but focused listening. Keep listening and enjoy your life.
Weathered Music 