The Return of the Storyteller

Since the earliest days of my vinyl collecting life, I've been a huge fan of 'singer-songwriters.' So, I am excited to add another .....  'See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion: Rare and Unreleased Songs' by Josh Ritter. From 2020 on red marble vinyl. 

Original songs, original lyrics, stories to be told and heard. It's always best to hear the storyteller express his/her own thoughts and tales in their own unique voice and style. I've been so heavily into jazz the last three or four years that I've largely gotten away from the storytellers.

It always feels like a genre of the 1970's but there's still plenty of these voices around.

The highlight for me though, is a cover version of the Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits song, 'Brothers In Arms.' Backed by an organ and mandolin, it's absolutely beautiful and had me lifting the tonearm and moving it back to listen again, multiple times.

On Vacation Playlist

Just one of my weirdo playlists. One song leading to another for no particular reason other than the song popping into my head, maybe because of a note or single word in the lyrics or a split-second feeling. Or maybe just because, I'm staying home from work this week?

• The Bats - Rooftops / Diamonds
• Jesse McReynolds - Standing On the Moon .... The old Grateful Dead song.
• John Mellencamp - Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First) .... The first time I heard it, I didn't like it. Why? Well because I was narrow minded, and it marked a change in what I was expecting from Mellencamp. Thankfully, I got over my little hissy snob fit rather quickly.
• Robert Palmer - One Last Look .... I keep returning to this song. Can't stray away for too long.
• Todd Rundgren - Hello It's Me .... My old college roommate hooked me on Todd, forty-five years ago. Thanks, Kent!!
• Little Feat - Roll Um Easy .... "Play that concertina, be a temptress, and baby I'm defenseless."
• Clifton Chenier - Wherever You Go .... Had me up on my feet and bouncing around the room. I then messaged my friend who plays the accordion, that she needs to form a Zydeco band.
• David Bowie - Blue Jean

Do You Believe In Miracles?

So, I received a notification on FB that a post from a few weeks ago had received a 'like' and thought to myself: "Why didn't I make that posting here?" 

'The Nightfly' by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame. From 1982 on vinyl. I've had it for years on compact disc.

I was in an out-of-town record store recently that I had just discovered and had flipped through all the Jazz records and was about to pay and go home when I thought: "Check the F's in rock."  I've been looking for this on vinyl for quite some time. It had taken up grail status for me. I didn't want to buy it online, I wanted to find it out there while wandering around the aisles of record stores. So, at that moment, I looked up from the spot I was standing in preparing to pivot and proceed to the rock section, ..... and there it was!!! Right there on the wall above the spot where I stood!! And at, what I thought, was a very reasonable price.

Apparently, not all my luck is bad luck. 

Brother Jack McDuff

I guess I don't need to type out the title. It's right there for all to see, in big, bold lettering on the album cover. 

A vinyl find from 1963 on Prestige Records. Brother Jack McDuff is a jazz organist. One of those record labels that I trust for quality. 

You just never know what you're going to find on a visit to the record store and I love stumbling across previously unknown vinyl from sixty years ago.

Reading the back cover liner notes, feels like I'm in a history class. That's the way it is with records from half a century ago. I'm fascinated with the designs of so many of these older recordings.