Kronos Quartet and Son Volt

Sometimes you walk into the little "Friends" shop inside the local public library and they have something cool available to take home at minimal cost. I've found previously owned books, music, postage stamps, art prints and magazines there. Even came across baseball cards on one occasion.

This recording is from 1995. The Kronos Quartet are two violins, a viola and a cello and always choosing interesting pieces of music to perform. No orchestra or voices needed here.

I don't know if this is best called, Modern Classical, Contemporary Classical or Chamber Music. Philip Glass is a modern composer.

Following completion of The Kronos Quartet recording, the compact disc player transitioned to this previously loaded disc from one of my favorite bands, Son Volt. "Notes of Blue" from last year.

Americana or Alternative Country-Rock.

I would have never thought of playing these two recordings back-to-back but for this place and time, it works!!

Tim Easton

"Beat the Band" by Tim Easton and The Freelan Barons.

Call it Singer/Songwriter, Americana, Rock or Folk/Rock, it's just great music.

Additional recordings are under his name only.

The Weeds

Celebrated a holiday yesterday. No not Thanksgiving, that was the day before. Yesterday was Record Store Day, the black Friday edition. I didn't buy a special release for the occasion. I went through the list and nothing grabbed my interest. But I did buy a vinyl record. Picked up a record by a group called, The Weeds!!! They were also known as The Lollipop Shoppe. I prefer "The Weeds"

1960's psychedelic garage rock. (A couple of the songs were recorded in 1971 in Portland.)  A person needs some 60's music in their world.

For some reason, the sounds remind me of an episode of the old detective television show from the late 1960's, "Dragnet," where there were a bunch of tripped out, long haired hippies in a room, smoking plants of ill repute (allegedly) and listening to psychedelic 60's music with the volume cranked up, when Joe Friday and Bill Gannon came knocking on their door.

Maybe that's why they were called, The Weeds???

Rainy Thanksging Eve Jazz Radio Playlist

Overnight playlist from the music stream of KMHD-fm, the Portland Jazz radio station. And just because it's a Jazz station, don't assume that it's all Jazz. Marking songs with ***** to designate tunes I find especially interesting.

• David Axelrod - The Human Abstract *****
• Don Wilkerson - Ring 'Dem Tambourines
• PLS Trio - Into the Skyline
• Sonny Levine with Hugh Masekela - One of These Days
• Gregory Porter - 1960 What? *****
• The Heshoo Beshoo Band - Amakhaya *****
• Kelan Philip Cohran and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Curenavaca *****

There's another "Record Store Day" (Black Friday version) coming up the day after tomorrow. Hoping to find something far out, groovy, cool, hip and unusual to take home. Something to make a senior citizen feel proud to add to their collection. Something to stay up late at night listening to.

• Willie West - Fairchild
• Abdullah Ibrahim - Did You Hear That Sound *****

Don't misunderstand. I still greatly appreciate and enjoy the 1950's and 60's Jazz sounds and the fusion of Jazz and other styles in the late 1970's and 80's but lately I've been searching for different directions in the genre. I don't know exactly what ….. Exploratory but still melodic. Abstract suggestions. Occasional hints of improvisation. Does that clarify things or make sense?

• Grant Green - Down Here On the Ground
• Brandee Younger - Dorothy Jeanne ….. I was thinking Hiroshima meets Paul Horn while this was playing.
• DJM Trio - The Way You Do It *****
• Eddie Henderson - Sunburst

The hell with sleep!!! Sometimes you just want the mystery and anticipation of what's next that late night radio provides. Then afraid if you walk away, you'll miss out on something new to your ears. Something great!! So an intended short playlist of maybe five or ten songs becomes longer and longer and you wonder if you'll have to keep listening until the end of your days or the end of time ….. whichever comes first.

• Curtis Fuller - The Spirit
• Florian Pellssier Quintet - Les masques africains ***** …… The name, "Florian" always causes me to think of that 1970's German experimental Rock group, Kraftwerk. Maybe not considered experimental to German ears? 
• James Moody - Behind Every Good Man ….. I'm sure it has its place and loyal appreciative fans but to state as nicely as possible, I'm just not a lover of the use of a flute.
• Lonnie Liston Smith - A Chance For Peace ….. The song starts and thirty seconds in you think you don't care for it but as it unfolds and fades out you find yourself tapping your toes and bobbing your head.
• Cinematic Orchestra - Evolution

Elder's Wisdom

"Wisdom of Elders" by Shabaka and the Ancestors. 

Just discovered. Ever since I heard "The Eraser" by Christian Scott about a year ago, I've been searching for new Jazz sounds and directions and found it here.

I read a review that summed it up with three words: "Pulsing, exploratory and vibrant."

Set aside seventy-five minutes and get lost in it!!

All About Jazz Review

Village Green

Attempting to get enormously cooler by filling in the gaps. From 1968."The Village Green Preservation Society" by The Kinks. Another classic that's been missing from my collection until a few days ago. This is the 50th Anniversary Edition with tons of bonus tracks. No top-40 radio hits back then, instead just a lot of great songs.

Highlight for me ..... The song, "Animal Farm."

Flashing Back Again

Back to the 70's again. Remembering my youth. Growing up with this stuff! My time! Feeling like I was part of it all. Life full of people and places! What a great sound it was back then!! Each song somehow leads me to the next.

• America - Ventura Highway ..... With the wildfires going on in Southern California right now, I wonder if there will still be a Ventura Highway?
• Jackson Browne - Take it Easy
• Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze
• Poco - Faith In the Families
• Souther Hillman Furay Band - Fallin' In Love ..... Short lived super group. J.D. Souther, Chris Hillman and Richie Furay!! Each linked to so many other great groups, people and sounds.
• Stephen Stills & Manassas - It Doesn't Matter ..... Chris Hillman was in Manassas.
• Crosby, Stills & Nash - Cathedral
• Brewer & Shipley - One Toke Over the Line
• Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman ..... Actually from 1968 but has always been a favorite. Written by Jimmy Webb. On my ever-updating short list for greatest song ever written.
• Steely Dan - Doctor Wu ..... I love the line: "You walked in and my life began again."
• Craig Fuller and Eric Kaz - Feel That Way Again
• Little Feat - Long Distance Love
• Ry Cooder - Little Sister

Brad Mehldau

"House On Hill" is the name of the album. Performed by a Jazz trio led by pianist Brad Mehldau who also composed all of the songs.

Flashing Back Playlist

Going back to the 70's. This might have been a typical playlist back then.

• The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - You Know Like I Know
• Rick Roberts - Jenny's Blues
• Bad Company - Seagull ….. As I recall, the album this song was on was a Christmas present from my parents. I think I gave them a shopping list of four or five albums and they found each record. That said, I've discovered a time or two that my 40-50 year old record acquisition memories are not always accurate.
• Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number ….. Always causes me to think of Junior and Senior years in high school even though it was released just a few weeks before I graduated.
• Splinter - Which Way Will I Get Home

• John Stewart - Oldest Living Son ….. Maybe because I am a oldest son?
• Gordon Lightfoot - Circle of Steel / The Watchman's Gone
• Shawn Phillips - Steel Eyes ….. What has always come to mind and I don't know why is "cold." Something about this song just feels cold for me.
• Bonnie Raitt - Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes
• Steve Goodman - The Dutchman
• John Prine - Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard …. I bought his "Common Sense" album because I read that Jackson Browne did background vocals on a song or two. Found out that I loved John Prine's music.
• Country Joe McDonald - Tear Down the Walls ….. The guy that I identify as my album listening mentor used to play Country Joe's, "Fish Cheer" from the Woodstock album. Though the four letter word spelled out that day and beginning with F wasn't fish. A few years later, this was my Country Joe follow-up.
• Kinky Friedman - When The Lord Closes the Door (He Opens a Little Window)  
• Gregg Allman - Multi Colored Lady ….. Takes me right back to my Freshman year in college, The OSU campus (Oregon not Ohio State) and everything around me back then.

More Blood On The Tracks

Just released!!! Bob Dylan's - :More Blood, More Tracks" The latest in his Bootleg Series.

From my understanding the original recordings made in New York City of Dylan's great 1975, "Blood On The Tracks" album. He later reconsidered and made new recordings in Minneapolis that were used on the album.

This is mostly solo Dylan singing, playing his acoustic guitar and harmonica.

When Blood On The Tracks was released it became an instant favorite in my mind. I was a Freshman in college, lonely and away from home. The record and songs were a constant companion back then. Hearing these alternate versions of all the songs brings forth waves of visual memories from those days .... old friends, new friends, falling in love for the first time, having my heart torn apart. What else is there in life for an eighteen year old?

I had Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volume Two album (which I gave minimal attention to) prior to Blood On The Tracks but this is the record that made me a true fan.

I'm taken by a song from the 2016, Jesu & Sun Kil Moon album ..... "Last Night I Rocked the Room Like Elvis and Had Them Laughing Like Richard Pryor." ..... Yes that's the songs title.

Also from the album, the song, "Father's Day." 

I always get sucked in by Mark Kozelek's voice.

November Radio Playlist

Saturday evening, late. Blazers, Ducks and Beavers games over. Falling back an hour tonight. Makes for additional time for music. OPB Music radio playlist …..

• Frightened Rabbit - Scottish Winds
• The Go! Team - Mayday ….. Horns that sound like they came from a Rocky movie and rally squad-like vocals.
• Broken Bells - Vaporize
• Garbage - Milk
• J Mascis - See You At the Movies ….. It is a movie kind of night. 
• Saintseneca - Ladder to the Sun

Autumn night in November. Raining earlier. Feels relatively warm and breezy outside. Leaves still falling from the trees. Wish I could bottle it all and save it for the chills of January and February.

• Nik Freitas - What a Mess
• Mimicking Birds - Another Time
• Buck Meek - Ruby
• The Clientele - Everyone You Meet
• Cate Le Bon - I Can't Help You

Listening to these songs and remembering times spent listening to AM radio hits in my younger years. 1968 is the year that always stands out. Then the early 70's and making the jump to FM radio. I had seen the FM dial on my parents television/stereo system but there wasn't much there. Then a classmate told me about KINK-fm in Portland. I always think of The Eagles and "Peaceful Easy Feeling." Like possibly that's the first song I heard on fm radio.

• Pete Krebs & the Gossamer Wings - Distant Lights of Home
• Black Moth Super Rainbow - Windshield Smasher ….. If only I could collect unique names for groups and songs to go with all the other items that I collect.
• Mitski - Nobody

Thinking about the past fifty years and the progression of music during that time. If I was sitting in this same place fifty years from now, what would I be listening to? And how would the hundred year old classics be thought of?

• Wye Oak - If You Should See …… Saw this band on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" a few months ago.
• Gary Numan - Metal ….. And then there's the music of the 1980's!!! 1979 actually.
• Shame - One Rizla ….. This must be a OPB favorite. I've heard it a few times on these late evening musical excursions.
• Spiritualized - Electricity

Comeback Kids

My favorite album that's been released in the past year or two is "Paging Mr. Proust" by The Jayhawks. An entire record of great songwriting. Been listening to the song, "Comeback Kids" a great deal lately. Proof of greatness is in the video.