It's Entirely Too Hot Playlist

A Sunday evening, hoping it's the end of the hot temps, wishing for some serious cooling, and just because I want to make a random playlist tonight, playlist.

• The Jayhawks - This Forgotten Town
• Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey
• Brian Eno - By This River .... Something that needs immediate rectifying, the fact that I only have one Brian Eno album. 
• Chris Whitley - Poison Girl .... I was warned recently to steer clear from a certain lady at work. That when she gets angry, she becomes "a poison snake and you'll get bit."
• Jonatha Brooke - Linger
• Harry Manx - Don't Forget to Miss Me
• Tom Waits - Emotional Weather Report .... Many years ago, my college roommates put this on the turntable. It was my initial Tom Waits experience, and I was hooked.
• Tom Waits - Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street) .... "Goodness gracious .... my bass player should be chained up somewhere."
• Warren Zevon - Sentimental Hygiene .... An indication of it being way too hot for way too long: I'm wondering such things like, if Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner crossed paths with the gorilla in Gorilla You're a Desperado, would they steal a Studebaker in search of some Sentimental Hygiene? I think yes!
• Anders Osborne - Coming Down
• Anders Osborne & Luther Dickinson - Black Muddy River .... Not saying it's going to happen, but this seemed like a good one for getting ready for the end of the day and going to sleep.

New Record Store In Town

It's about damn time!! 

Dreams do come true!!

There's a new record store in town. It's not a huge shop but my initial visit showed an interesting selection with a promise of more arriving soon. It's a start. It's what I've been hoping for  ..... well for over two years now. A place to get lost for a few minutes when needed.

What I came away with, all on vinyl:

• Clifton Chenier - Black Snake Blues (1967)
• The Ramsey Lewis Trio - The In Crowd  (1965)
• Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band - The San Francisco Style: Stomps, Etc. & The Blues (1954) ..... Recordings from 1946.
• Red Garland - Satin Doll (1983)
• Gene Harris Trio - Live at Otter Crest (1981) .... Otter Crest is on the Oregon coast. From a summer jazz festival that I think, no longer exists.
• Chris Connor - Chris In Person (1960) .... Live recordings from a great voice.

Not the most well-known titles but I've always loved finding the lesser known, more obscure titles. 

Heavy on the Jazz sounds with a little Zydeco mixed in. As always, interesting cover photography and sleeve spines in decent shape are important to the decision to purchase. 

                                                                            

The Gene Harris recording is especially intriguing to me because it was recorded live at the Oregon Coast. And it's autographed as well. 

A couple of the records are promotional copies which is something the truly serious and dedicated vinyl collecting nerds, dorks and geeks are always happy to stumble upon. 

I was happy with my haul. but even more ecstatic with the discovery of a new local record store. And in a cool location on the edge of downtown. 

Not all was joyful though. I did sigh a little while coming up empty when checking for the record that I've had on my radar of late. I've been obsessed lately with finding an original vinyl copy of 'The Nightfly' by Donald Fagan. I don't want to accept finding it online. I want to find it while flipping through bins of used records. There has to be one out there someplace. 

Suffering Through the Heat Playlist

 Hottest day and night of the summer to date, playlist .... 

• Mary Lou Lord - Western Union Desperate ..... "I'll wire you some love today, There's so much more I want to say, But I'm western union desperate, in a pay phone in the rain, and it's so insane, I'm Rimbaud and you're Verlaine."
• Matthew Ryan - Return to Me
• The Feelies - Find a Way
• The Jayhawks - Quiet Corners 
• Todd Snider - Can't Complain .... Reminds me of John Prine though if I played John Prine first, I'd likely says he reminds me of Todd Snider.
• Tim Easton - You Don't Even Know Me

I've apparently got an Americana, Singer/Songwriter from the 1990's-2000's thing going on here tonight. 

• Grant Lee Buffalo - Happiness
• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Only Children .... "Are you still taking notes?"
• Jason Isbell - The Magician
• Buffalo Tom - Sodajerk
• The Delines - Drowning in Plain Sight

Vinyl Finds

 

New Order - 'Low Life'  

From 1985 on vinyl. Attempting to fill some gaps in my record collection. Specifically mid-1980's sounds. At the time, even though I was a huge fan of MTV, I was apparently too hung up on my old favorites from the 70's to notice much of what was going on that was different.

On the road yesterday, twenty miles out of town and had this in my hand, knowing that I've been wanting to add New Order for quite a while but still just not sure at the asking price. So, I put it back. It was ten minutes after returning home that I realized my mistake. I would have hit the road again had there not been a closing time. I had to get through todays time at work, speed back down the freeway, fretting the entire time, (knowing my kind of luck), the scary possibility that someone else just might not be as hesitant as I had been. 

It was still there!!! The ongoing issues of lack of 1980's Brit-synth sounds has been addressed for the moment.

I also had this in hand and foolishly returned it to the bins. 

Why can't I be more decisive?

John Williams Trio, self-titled album from 1955. Jazz piano. I loved the cover photo and had no hesitations or objections to the asking price. I was just unsure, having never seen this cover image before, of the musical quality. Again, a little research from home and I realized the errors of my ways, though I felt a little better about the likelihood of returning and it still being there. I made sure that it wouldn't be there tomorrow. 

I am of the opinion that there was much more thought put into album cover presentation and photography in the 1950's and 60's. Creating an impression through an image was more important in those days. The sounds within the cover photo and liner notes sometimes feels like ten bonus tracks.

Spill The Beans

'Spill The Beans,' a compact disc-EP, from 1994 and The Bats. Indie-Rock from New Zealand on the Mammoth / Flying Nun record labels.  

Jangly guitars and catchy tunes. 

I discovered The Bats just a few years ago, a little late in life, but at least I eventually discovered them. None of this waiting anxiously for a new release. They already had a sizeable catalogue of sounds.

Hey! that should be a title for a song .... "Waiting Anxiously."

I love some of the names of the smaller record labels: Yep Roc, Lost Highway, Flying Fish, Secretly Canadian, Flying Nun, et. all.

The Sacred Veil

The Los Angeles Master Chorale performing 'The Sacred Veil,' in twelve movements. Eric Whitacre, the composer and conductor. The recording on compact disc from 2020 on Signum Records. The choir accompanied by piano and cello. 

Incredibly powerful and beautiful. I can't recommend this too highly. Find it!! Listen to it!!! Take the time to listen from start to finish!! Then, listen again!

From the Eric Whitacre website:

NOTE FROM COMPOSER

The Sacred Veil is a 12-movement work and the most recent collaboration between Eric Whitacre and poet/lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri telling a story of life, love and loss. Silvestri’s wife, Julie, died of ovarian cancer at age 36 in 2005, leaving two young children. Including texts from Silvestri, Whitacre and Julie herself, the intimate, compelling score tells a story of courtship, love, loss and the search for solace. 

The Sacred Veil  .... Eric Whitacre's page for The Sacred Veil.

Paul Bley & NHOP

Self-titled album from Paul Bley and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. Just stumbled across yesterday on a road trip to search for vinyl records. 

Recording from 1973. On the Inner City Records, label. Improvisational free jazz pieces for piano, both acoustic and electric, and bass. Some more melodic than others. All fascinating. 

I've been drawn to and fascinated by improvisational jazz ever since hearing, 'The Koln Concert' by Keith Jarrett on the radio over forty-five years ago. Shortly after that, I discovered the two volume, 'Piano Improvisations' by Chick Corea.

Time For Some Trumpet

Markus Stockhausen - 'Cosi Lontano ... Quasi Dentro.'

On vinyl, from 1989 and on the ECM Records label. Contemporary jazz. 

Markus Stockhausen is a trumpet player. The sounds are improvisational, avante-garde and often minimalist. Also playing on the record is bassist, Gary Peacock, who can be heard on many of ECM's jazz offerings and was a part of Keith Jarret's trio.

This record was found in the used bins of the record store, but the vinyl is in pristine shape. Like it has never been played in the thirty-three years since it was released.

Beth Orton

'Sugaring Season' by Beth Orton.

It was waiting on my doorstep a couple days ago. 

A vinyl release from 2012 and on the Anti recording label. Singer/Songwriter.

Since I'm not an accomplished reviewer of music....

.... I've had this thing lately of compiling playlists that make little or no sense in regard to a theme or just a loose reason other than total abstract and bizarre randomness as to why I am playing them together, I actually had an idea of making a playlist of songs that after original exposure, I refused to listen any further, but these days, have had a change of heart and can now tolerate or even possibly enjoy. (And I want to want to find the Kraftwerk listed below, on vinyl to add to my collection but it seems to be a rarity.)

BUT I CAN ONLY THINK OF THREE SONGS!! 

 Not much of a playlist is it. 

• The Box Tops - Cry Like a Baby .... Oldie from 1968.
• Kraftwerk - Autobahn ..... Another oldie but not quite as old. From the mid 1970's. 
• Zagar and Evans - In the Year 2525 ..... Also a late Sixties oldie. Try being a young teen, in the fields picking pole beans in August under a hot sun for three cents a pound and seemingly hearing this on the radio every fifteen minutes and just maybe you'll understand why I turned out the way I did.

Of course, this excludes holiday tunes. That would require much more space here.

Weekend Playlist

A playlist that feels like it fits the vibes of this late Saturday Night. Tunes with no common theme, as is often my style, to tell totally unrelated stories to. Hopefully all remembered accurately. Compiled while struggling with multiple yawns and watery eyes.

• The Appleseed Cast - Blind Man's Arrow
• The Bats - Horizon .... When I was a teenager, on nights like this, we'd jump in a car and drive up and down a local strip in town known as "the gut" .... trying to look as cool as we could muster for girls. If you weren't driving up and down it, you were parked along the route watching others. All the teens from all the high schools were there. Along with the 20-something, wanna-be teens and a few 30-somethings.
• The Bats - Bells .... "The gut" was a Friday and Saturday night event and tradition for at least three decades of teenagers. Maybe longer. It once moved to another location, due to neighborhood protests, but soon found its way back to the original spot. I don't recall how it ended but it eventually faded away. 
• Benjamin Oar - Stay The Night .... Of course, whichever friend had the coolest car would be the chosen mode of transportation. You sure didn't want to be seen driving your dads station wagon, defeating the purpose of looking cool. Anyone attempting such foolishness would be flying solo for that night.
• Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out ..... One time, we engaged in a game of chase with a car full of girls. They finally stopped and talked to us for a bit, inviting us to a party. We arrived at the address that was given to find a dark, empty house. 
• Level 42 - Leaving Me Now .... How did this morph into a playlist from the 80's?
• Big Star - In the Street .... I'm reminded of a high school story. I didn't witness this, but the story quickly became legend. A bus returning to town on a Friday night from a football game on the road and one of the guys sitting in the back of the bus, mooned a random car on I-5. He was called into the principal's office the following Monday morning. It turned out that he had mooned the vice principal's wife.
• Big Star - When My Baby's Beside Me ..... Funny the things that come to mind when the flashbacks start. I wore a walking cast for two weeks when I was seventeen, after badly spraining my ankle. The afternoon that the cast was removed, I found myself a few hours later, in my driveway, playing one on one hoops with a friend. We would play those games to a hundred points back then and he beat me and my atrophied lower leg by something like 100-24. 
• Shotgun and Jaybird - Secret .... I don't know if there's a morale to that story. Maybe not to gloat too much about your wins in life over immobile, less capable opponents.  
• Spoon - Everything Hits at Once .... As a teen, I had this ugly stocking cap that I wore everywhere. I even attempted wearing it to mass one day resulting in it being snatched from my head by one of my former nuns. It disappeared one day. A few days, maybe a week later, I received a letter in the mail. Inside was a ransom note and a photograph of my stocking cap tied to a chair. 

Looking Forward to Vacation Playlist

 Playlist for the eve before my last day at work for a week. That certainly calls for some special tunes. 

• Antje Duvekot - Dandelion ..... Saw her perform this in concert at a small venue in Portland. "You could go blind in my light." Entirely possible I thought .... both then and now.
• Barn Burning - Friendship Fails You .... Slow and mournful. Perfect background vocals provided by the late Robert Fisher of Willard Grant Conspiracy. 
• Bettysoo - If You Fall

Sidenote: Just because the songs selected for this playlist may not all be joyful; it doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to these upcoming days off. 

• The Batture Boys - Rabbit Hole Blues .... A decade or two ago, I went through a Subdudes phase. Tommy Malone from the Subdudes is part of The Batture Boys. A New Orleans take on Americana. 
• Mandolin Orange - These Old Wheels
• Mark Erelli - The Only Way .... My old friend, Suzie, once played this song for me. I think she knew that I'd get hooked on the first listen. 

Just changing up the vibe in this place and moment a little .....

• The Outdoor Type - On My Mind
• Pops Staples - The Lady's Letter
• Ryan Adams - Everybody Knows

Playlist For a Work Free Day

Another playlist without a theme or connecting thread, though it is the earliest hours of the 4th of July. Perhaps a playlist for a day off from work. 

• David Bromberg - The Main Street Moan
• David Saw - Don't Call .... I was pondering the opposite thought earlier this evening.
• Nuclear Valdez - Run Through the Fields ..... I was thumbing through vinyl records in an antique shop yesterday and I came across this record. I discovered the band/song many years ago on an compilation sampler disc put out by Columbia Records titled, 'Theodore.'
• Shawn Colvin - Shotgun Down the Avalanche .... Another song first heard on the Theodore collection.
• The Doc Watson Family - Your Long Journey
• Eliza Gilkyson - Beauty Way .... "Doe eyed kid and a little transistor, tuned into Wolfman Jack, I picked up a guitar heard the sirens whisper, and I never looked back."
• Drew Chadwick - I See Fire
• Griffin House - Yesterday Lies 
• Fiction Family - Not Sure .... I unearthed my ipod, chose shuffle, and this came up. When did I have time to put all that music on there?

The Schramms

The Schramms - 'Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite'

A 1992 recording on compact disc and on the Okra Records label.

Americana. Ringing guitars. Rock with little hints of alternative-country. Or perhaps obvious hints. 

From All Music Guide:                                              "Melding pop, folk-rock, and alt-country sounds with quirky wit and a keen intelligence, the Schramms were the brainchild of guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Dave Schramm, who debuted the group in 1987. The band's sound is built around Schramm's guitar work, at once tuneful and wiry, but he and his collaborators create a sound that's edgy but welcoming, with a warmth in the performances that rivals the subtle intelligence of Schramm's lyrics. "

From Darkness and Big Vicious

'From Darkness' by Avishai Cohen Trio. Released in 2015 on compact disc and on the RazDaz Records label. 

Avishai Cohen is a bassist. This is not traditional jazz .... bebop or swing. And not improvisational, avant-garde or free jazz either. I suppose it would be labeled, contemporary jazz. Melodies that don't always go in the expected directions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

More contemporary jazz from a second Avishai Cohen. 'Big Vicious.' On vinyl, from 2020 on the ECM Records label. This Avishai Cohen is a trumpet player.

And before anyone assumes that I knew there were two different Avishai Cohen's, I didn't. I just discovered as I was typing this. I thought to myself, "Ummmm wait a minute. Bass? .... Trumpet?"

Another case of learning something new, every day.