This Week

A Monday (May 26th) evening playlist .....

• The Bats - Electric Sea View / I Go Wild
• Phil Cook - Miles Away ..... Had been seeing him in videos playing with Hiss Golden Messenger and he always looks like he's getting so much enjoyment from what he's playing. Then discovered that he has his own albums.
• Warren Zevon - Desperadoes Under the Eaves
• Sarah Jarosz - Jealous Moon
• The Jayhawks - This Forgotten Town / Society Pages
• Son Volt - Bandages and Scars

And a few more from a few days later. Not sure if it qualifies as a playlist but it's a list of songs that I took time to listen to ......

• The Church - Under the Milky Way / Metropolis
• Donald Fagan - I.G.Y. ..... Heard in the store while grocery shopping and having to hear it again, played it while at work.
• Van Morrison - Wavelength ..... I didn't really become a Van fan until I heard this. I think, (though I may be in error), that it was on SNL all those years ago.
• Poco - I Can See Everything
• Terence Boylan - Trains
• Counting Crows - Children In Bloom / Walkaways
• Matthew Ryan - Return to Me
• Richard Buckner - Progress ..... A demo from his 'Extractions' email. Not sure if it's on any of his records.

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

Just A Monday Night Playlist to End a Blah Day

Just going back in time for another late-night playlist. Not much of a thought process involved. Whatever comes to mind and what leads to what. As it should be .....

• Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
• Big Country - We're Not In Kansas ..... Don't ask me to turn down the volume. Stuart Adamson left us far too soon.
• China Crisis - Black Man Ray 
• REM - It's the End of the World As We Know It ..... "and I feel fine."
• Neil Young - Tell Me Why ..... Remembering a night long ago, three childhood friends, suddenly teenagers, sitting in a room, playing acoustic guitars and singing this song. Wish that moment didn't have to end.
• Traveling Wilburys - Tweeter and the Monkey Man
• Electric Light Orchestra - Show Down (It's Raining All Over the World) .... Because I heard a five second snippet of the violins or cellos, whatever they are, on the radio the other day, and suddenly had to hear the entire song.
• Eric Burdon and the Animals - San Francisco Nights ..... Going way back here. My vinyl record collecting mentor used to play this song. It was his anthem. We'd play basketball and then go listen to records. I'm sure I lost a game or two on purpose, just so we could get to the records. A perfect day in my estimation. 
• Arlo Guthrie - Motorcycle Song .... My radio roots. "I don't want a pickle, just want to ride my motorsickle." And tonight, I'm also listening to Arlo's explanation of: The Significance of the Pickle.  

I need to get to sleep but I also need one more song to make a ten song playlist. Because I don't know the definition of such but somewhere bouncing around in the back of my mind is the thought that you need at least ten songs for a proper playlist.

• The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays .... Once again, I'm late on arrival. I should have played this last night (Sunday). 

Bonus Song, or three. What led me to purchase my very first compact disc (Giant Steps by John Coltrane), and transition from vinyl around 1989 or 1990 was the concept of bonus tracks on cd's. .....

• Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out ..... One of those that causes me to ache with nostalgia. 
• General Public - Never You Done That .... Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger. Oh Geez, this brings to mind being awake at 3am and watching MTV videos. Back in the days when MTV really played music videos. 
• Level 42 - Something About You

I should mention, in case it's not obvious to anyone who pays a second's notice to my tweets, and to complete a thought above, that I eventually found my way back to vinyl. And while others love colored vinyl, I still think that black vinyl is one of the most beautiful visions in the world.

Another Saturday Night Random Playlist

Random Playlist for a April Saturday night in Oregon. Because I'm nothing at all if I'm not Oregonian .... and random.

• The Jayhawks - Society Pages .... Not sure if I'm crazy or not but I'm always hearing little bits and pieces in their music that brings to mind, The Beatles. 
• Pete Yorn - Old Boy .... Had the thought while listening, Whenever my spirit  decides it's time to give up and move on to whatever is next, I hope I'm sitting here like I am now, listening to music. This song would be fine to be listening to as I fade away.
• Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me .... Occasionally (rarely) you cross paths with someone who truly moves your soul.
• The Church - Under the Milky Way .... In my mind, the end of the 1980's.
• Robert Palmer - One Last Look .... "Take one last look at the love we're leaving behind."  In the last year or two, this song has become a desert island tune for me. 
• Dionne Warwick - Walk On By / I Say a Little Prayer  .... Don't know how the previous tunes led me here but here I am. Swept up in waves of bittersweet and haunting nostalgia. 
• The Bats - Rooftops 
• Mothers of Invention - Directly From My Heart to You .... I'm only half a century tardy but I just picked up my first Mothers of Invention album last weekend.
• The Bats - Free All the Monsters .... Returning for more Bats. Infectious sounds. 
• Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn .... From 1978's, 'The War of the Worlds' recording narrated by Richard Burton.
• Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds .... Since I played the Justin Hayward tune and referenced the entire recording, I might as well go and listen. Now experiencing flashbacks to the first time I heard this, over forty years ago, also late at night.
• George Harrison - Looking For My Life .... I'm still stuck in the days of the iPod. I may just empty mine out and put this song on it and drive around along rural roads with the volume way up.

1972 Playlist

Had a particular year come to mind. A playlist of what I might have been listening to on any given day in 1972. .... That's if I can recall. It was only forty-nine years ago.

• Jackson Browne - Rock Me On the Water
• Neil Young - Needle and the Damage Done
• Poco - I Can See Everything
• Gordon Lightfoot - Second Cup of Coffee .... People overlook what a great songwriter he was.
• Carole King - Come Down Easy
• It's A Beautiful Day - White Bird .... One of the first songs I think of when I think back to discovering fm-radio in the late 60's/early 70's. Only a few stations at the tile but one was playing this.
• Cat Stevens - But I Might Die Tonight
• Dan Fogelburg - To the Morning
• Arlo Guthrie - Lightning Bar Blues .... Bought the album for 'City of New Orleans' but quickly was taken by this song.
• Cheech & Chong - Let's Make a Dope Deal .... Just a tiny bit of comedy thrown in between the lines. As I recall, first heard at a friends house while hoping not to have to explain our laughter to his parents.
• Crosby & Nash - Immigration Man .... A little bummed when CSN and CSNY broke up but this proved that any two members of that collective, could also make great music.
• The Eagles - Train Leaves Here This Morning
• Pure Prairie League - Amie
• Rick Roberts - Jenny's Blues
• War - The Cisco Kid

Short But Great OPB Radio Playlist

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Bad Brood *****
• The National - Conversation 16
• Elbow - The Delayed 3:15  ..... I keep mistaking Elbow's lead singer for Peter Gabriel. I'm sure that Guy Garvey will enjoy reading that. But hey!! It kept me listening the first time. It sent me on a voyage of discovery.
• Julien Baker - Something
• The Decemberists - Make You Better ..... And their from Oregon!!!

Afternoon OPB Playlist

A rare early afternoon session with OPB Music. Usually reserved for late nights.

Sudden sad news yesterday that my local record store is closing. No indication beforehand that it was being considered, even as I spoke to one of the owners the day before about sisters (mine) and fathers (hers). It says '#retirement' on the store's facebook page but I can't help but wonder if the sight of too many people in the store with limited floor space during this covid crap has something to do with it? I know that it caused me to feel uncomfortable and exit much sooner than I usually would have. I actually wondered at the time if they were feeling uncomfortable as well? If they saw closing the store as the only option for staying safe and healthy?

• The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking
• The Beths - Dying to Believe
• Post Animal - Special Moment
• The Cure - Lovesong ..... A classic from the 1980's.
• Leon Bridges - Sweeter
• The Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale
• Elbow - White Noise White Heat ..... I hear something in this that reminds me of Peter Gabriel.
• Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
• Margaret Glaspy - Devotion
• Pinegrove - Phase
• Doves - Winter Hill *****
• Mondo Cozmo -  Upside Down
• Soccer Mommy - Lucy
• Christian Lee Hutson - Get the Old Band Back Together ..... First time I've ever heard the words in song: "You know I can still kick all your asses."
• The Airborne Toxic Event - Hollywood Park

Another OPB Radio Playlist

Late night, in and out of the room, tuned in to OPB Music Radio, playlist .....

• Hanni El Khatib - ALIVE
• Caribou - Home
• The Clash - Spanish Bombs ..... Their 'London Calling' album continues to be one of the holes in my vinyl collection. Can't ever find it at a price I am willing to pay. 
• Car Seat Headrest - Can't Cool Me Down
• The Pixies - All Over the World
• Cloud Control - Scar ..... The highlight of the listening session.
• Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes ..... What's a palindrome?
• Brownish Black - Dance Fever ..... Reminding of the disco dance competition television show from the 1980's.
• Phosphene - Cocoon

Sunday Evening Playlist

Sunday night listening to OPB Music Radio, hoping to discover something new.

• Houndstooth - No News From Home
• Michael Nau - Hoops ..... OK so now I'm thinking about basketball, even if that's not what the song is about.
• Woods - Where Do You Go When You Dream? ..... Seems like frightening places more often than pleasant places.
• Phantogram - Into Happiness
• The Black Keys - Gold on the Ceiling
• Deer Tick - Mange ..... 'Mange'? I'm going to attempt to use that on the word game I play online.
• Stephen Malkmus - Shadowbanned
• Laura Marling - The Muse
• Ages and Ages - No Nostalgia ..... That's always been one of my biggest problems .... Way too much nostalgia. For everything that's passed it seems.
• Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
• Weyes Blood - Something to Believe
• The National - Bloodbuzz, Ohio

A Random 60's Playlist

A little playlist from the 60's. Yes the 1960's. Most of these songs I would hear late at night listening to the radio while the rest of the house slept. This is where my interest in music really began. AM radio hits mostly. Soon to discover the FM dial.

• Gary Puckett and the Union Gap - Young Girl
• Otis Redding - Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay 
• Phil Ochs - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends
• Guess Who - These Eyes ….. This song is counter balanced by their song, 'Friends of Mine.' If not familiar, give it a listen sometime. 
• Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
• Arthur Alexander - Anna (Go To Him) ….. The Beatles also recorded this song. I first heard it on the television program, 'Married With Children' as a song Al keeps hearing on the radio, that he loves from his youth but doesn't know the title.
• Eric Burdon and the Animals - San Francisco Nights ….. Introduced through the older brother of a friend, who was my first record collecting mentor.
• The Mindbendes - A Groovy Kind of Love
• The Foundations - Baby Now That I've Found You ….. This still gives me 'chills' that bring back the feelings of those times listening to the radio. Actually most of these songs do to a certain extent but none quite like this.
• Neil Diamond - Kentucky Woman ….. A few years later as a teenager, I took a lot of good natured grief for being a Neil Diamond fan. It wasn't thought to be cool. What the hell, I didn't care.

Just Another Late Night Online Radio Listening Playlist

• Shearwater - The Snow Leopard
• Dum Dum Girls - Too True To Be Good
• Deerhunter - Plains

I can always count on being exposed to bands and music that are new to me. These late night listening sessions are quite possibly my main source of discovering new sounds these days. 

• Summer Cannibals - Not Your Turn
• Eyelids - The Accidental Falls
• Spoon - Black Like Me ..... There's a few seconds of piano that remind me of Martha My Dear by The Beatles. Not sure if anyone else would hear it.
• The Afghan Whigs - Algiers ..... One of those bands whose name I've seen around for years but have no idea what they sound like ..... until now that is. This has a slight early to mid 1980's, U2 feel to my ears. Further investigation required.
• Wajatta - Don't Let Get You Down
• The Raveonettes - Aly, Walk With Me
• King Tuff - Keep On Movin'

Prior to this listening session, I was making up a online grocery list but quit in frustration as every pickup date for the next week was apparently taken. I guess they don't want my money. 

• MAITA - Kid Anymore
• Fontaines D.C. - Boys In The Better Land
• Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline) ..... Another familiar name and no previous idea of their sound. I think I saw a recording or two just this morning while looking at the Third Man Records page. Again, more investigation needed.
• Bright Eyes - Persona Non Grata
• Feist - I Feel It All ..... "I know more than I knew before." *****

OPB Playlist

Stay at home order in effect and being followed. Time for another OPB Playlist ….

• Marika Hackman - Blow
• Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
• Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything ….. Love when an musician/band pops up on OPB's playlist who I can claim to be a longtime fan of.
• Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes ..... It's looking a little like it's a female artist spotlight type of night. Not that there's anything wrong with that. 
• Eyelids - The Minutes
• Andrew Bird - Fallorun
• Patti Smith - Dancing Barefoot ….. I should know this and am embarrassed to even ask here, even as I know no one will likely read this page but is this a cover version? Seems like I know this song by another musician. 
• Sandy) Alex G - Hope
• The Antlers - Hotel
• Dirty Projectors - Overlord
• Jose Gonzalez - This Is How We Walk on the Moon

A quick search and the discovery that 'Dancing Barefoot' is an early U2 song. No wonder it sounded so familiar. A B-side that appeared years later as a bonus track and one of the reasons that I loved the concept of bonus tracks on compact discs. But why didn't I just recognize it without the research? 

• Jonathan Something - Unfortunately Blue
• Lomelda - Interstate Vision
• Sharon Van Etten - One Day
• Alela Diane - Moves Us Blind ..... Nothing quite like being up at 2:00am, sipping orange juice,  listening to internet radio and discovering new sounds. I never know when to stop, always telling myself: "Just one more."
• Black Belt Eagle Scout - My Heart Dreams *****
• Y La Bamba - November ***** ..... Was thinking: Who does this tune remind me of? Oh Yeah, The Sundays!!
• Houndstooth - No News From Home

Afternoon Playlist

Another OPB Playlist. This time late afternoon/early evening listening …..

• Marika Hackman - I'm Not Where You Are
• Tracy Chapman - Change
• Fruit Bats - The Bottom of It
• Midlake - Head Home
• Crooked Still - Can't You Hear Me Calling
• Amelia - Between the Bars
• Phantogram - Into Happiness
• Sparklehorse - Piano Fire *****
• Post Animal - Ralphie

Discovering Gold

OPB Music overnight streaming ….. turning me on to new sounds and causing sudden trips to the record store. This is from three evenings ago.

• Craig Finn - When No One's Watching
• Geographer - I'm Ready
• Wye Oak - Before
• Beirut - Gallipoli ***** …… I'm obsessed with the trumpets on this. I'd heard it once or twice before but it was this listen that opened my ears to the beauty of the trumpets.
• Dan Black featuring Kid Codi - Symphonies ***** …..  Leading to a download.
• Other Lives - Take Us Alive
• Nilufer Yanya - Paralyzed
• Boreen - Lovely
• Aan - Cause and Effect
• Dinosaur Jr. - Watch the Corners ***** ….. Research, followup research and two trips to the record store. Good amount of music to discover under this name or the band's frontman, J Mascis. .
• Babehoven - Lena
• Pavement - Stereo

And a few from the current early morning listening session …..

• Damien Jurado - Allocate ..... Been following his music for the past ten years. Loving the violins used. 
• Generationals - When They Fight, They Fight ***** ..... Has a 60's era feel to it.
• Booker T. Jones featuring Sharon Jones and Matt Berninger - Representing Memphis *****
• Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource
• The National - Apartment Story *****
• Emma Ruth Rundle - Fever Dreams *****
• Blind Pilot - Keep You Right *****
• Jonathan Something - For All My Life ..... "I brought my donkey to a horses show" I'm not saying he sounds like George Harrison but that's who came to mind as I listened.

Night Listening

Another late night radio playlist ….. because I'm always listening and searching for something new and exciting.

• Nilufer Yanya - Thanks 4 Nothing
• Angie McMahon - Keeping Time *****
• The Shaky Hands - Another World …..  A few introductory notes that brings to mind CSNY's song, 'Shadow Captain.'
• Bahamas - Lost In the Light
• Blood Orange - Clipped On
• Peter Gabriel - Digging In the Dirt ….. You don't hear a lot of older classics on this music stream. A longtime favorite.
• Photo Ops - Once Around the Town Square
• Saint Seneca - The Awefull Yawn
• Ellen Jewell - Sea of Tears
• Just Lions - Paper Cage
• Palehound - Aaron
• Ten Fe - Won't Happen

OPB Music Playlist

Late night, because I'm dead freaking tired but don't want to go to bed yet and would rather listen to the radio playlist as spun by DJ Doug .....

• The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez - Cello Song *****
• David Byrne - Good and Evil
• Eels - Prizefighter
• Pond - Elegant Design
• George Harrison - Any Road ..... I've been hopelessly in love for the longest time with the sound of a slide guitar and George's playing has an especially beautiful tone.
• Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams
• U.S. Girls - Velvet 4 Sale
• Ty Segall - Diversion
• My Morning Jacket - All the Best
• Death Songs - Let This Body Go ..... I generally avoid anything with the word, "death" in the title.
• TV On the Radio - Wolf Like Me
• Spindrift - The Legend of God's Gun ..... Has a little bit of a 1960's Surf Rock meets Garage Rock with narration sound. I'm thinking this would be a cool addition to the vinyl collection.
• Aesop Rock and TOBACCO - Corn Maze ..... Hip Hop
• Here We Go Magic - Hard To Be Close
• Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman ..... Heard this song dozens of times over the years but never knew its name. 
• Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23

Once I start listening I often have issues of separation and abandonment with turning off the music for concepts like getting sleep. The inner voices keep resolving: "Just one more." 

• Wye Oak - Symmetry
• Clinic - The Second Line

I fell asleep sitting at my desk with the lights turned down low and missed a few songs. Back now to the mystic fuzzy world of the barely awake aging dude of the late night!!

• Richard Swift - Lady Luck
• Daniel Lanois - Where Will I Be? ***** ..... (A sudden visit to Amazon to order the album.)
• Paul Simon - I Know What I Know
• Floating Action - Dying Punch ..... Reminding of David Lindley and Wally Ingram recordings.
• Desaparecidos - City on the Hill
• Yeasayer - I Remember

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

Another List

I love making lists. Any kind of list. But music is a particular favorite. The middle of the night feels like the perfect time to listen to music. When everything else around you has quieted down.

What am I listening to today? Same as I've been listening to all week. Late night radio.

• The Essex Green - Don't Leave It In Our Hands *****
• Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song
• Wooden Shjips - Staring at the Sun
• Anna Burch - Asking 4 a Friend
• The National - Conversation 16
• The Morning Benders - All Day Day Light
• Sam Evian - IDGAF
• Joseph - Canyon …. "Joseph" is either a female or a band with a female lead vocalist.
• The Decemberists - Cutting Stone
• R.E.M. - Turn You Inside Out …. One that needs to be played loudly. One of my choices for desert island songs.
• Anna Burch - Quit the Curse
• Wild Ones - You're a Winner
• Nick Jaina - Walking Into a Burning House

More Sounds

How many different groups are out there recording and releasing music? Seems like an endless supply of new bands to listen to. Though there are several on this list who are not fresh sounds to my ears.

• The Young Veins - Change
• Parquet Courts - Mardi Gras Beads
• The Decembrists - Starwatcher
• Florence & The Machine - What Kind of Man …. There's a note or two or a tone buried deep in this song and in the singer's voice that sounds like something once heard in a mid to late 1970's Fleetwood Mac recording. I was listening though not very intently when it suddenly struck me.
• Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Big Black Nothing
• Nirvana - About a Girl …. Never did get into the whole Nirvana thing. Though I did become a fan of Pearl Jam.
• St. Vincent - Hang On Me …. Conjuring up memories from youth while attending eight years of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic school.
• Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon …. You hear stuff! Or sometimes it just strikes you! Maybe I'm hearing things but there's something in the vocals that reminds of Bono from U2.
• Frightened Rabbit - Scottish Winds
• Broken Bells - Vaporize
• Garbage - Milk …. A songs going along and after a minute you feel like you can predict where it will go next and then some odd, unpredictable chord change happens that doesn't sound so pleasant to your ears, or like it belongs. But it must have sounded necessary to the songwriter who apparently didn't want to sound predictable.
• J. Mascis - See You at the Movies *****
• Saintseneca - Ladder to the Sun *****
• Wilco - Via Chicago
• The Weakerthans - Aside …. All these tunes helping me get through another long night at work.

OK a couple more. No such thing as too much music.

• The Walkmen - Louisiana
• Rostam - In a River

New Night, More OPB

• The Joggers - Wicked Light Sleeper
• Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes
• Goat Girl - The Man

Lots of interesting names for groups and song titles these days.

• The Black Keys - Fever …. Not the Bruce Springsteen 1970's outbreak of Fever.
• The We Shared Milk - Could This Be Real …. Imagine if I had every vinyl album containing all the songs that I've heard the past few nights from OPB Music. That would be the beginnings of one far out record collection.
• Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
• Yo La Tengo - For You Too …. Two nights in a row for this one. Reminding of the weekly top-40 hits on AM radio from days long ago where the popular songs were played almost hourly it seemed.
• Marika Hackman - Time's Been Reckless
• Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio …. A long time favorite. I enjoy listening to Mark Kozelek's voice.
• Josh Ritter - Girl In The War