Vinyl Records I Highly Treasure That Might Surprise People Who Know Me

 

The people I grew up with, the people I attended concerts with, they probably assume that my favorite records are the certain singer/songwriters and jazz artists that they've heard me talk about many times before. They might just be surprised at some of the other records that I've felt a connection with over the years.

Discovering new sounds has always been vital to me. These records were never spoken about between us. They may know of them and appreciate them as I do but we never shared that information. I tend to think that some of these records are my discovery only. 

Come and sit with me for an hour or two and I will play records for you. It would be a pleasure. I'll tell you a story that I've never shared with you before. I'll hope that you hear and feel what I hear and feel ..... or that you'll hear something that you find exciting in your own way. 

I find power in all these records. I feel the musicians pouring their emotions into the recordings. Even decades or half a century later. I try to recall what I heard of felt upon my first listen ..... and what I feel now. There's power and emotion behind all these recordings. 

Peter Gabriel Playlist

I don't usually do a musician specific playlist ..... Why? Because everyone else does that. But I suppose I could include one now and then ..... So for anyone interested, a Peter Gabriel playlist:

• Red Rain ..... Fascinating visual imagery in the lyrics.
• No Way Out
• This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)
• Games Without Frontiers .... Powerful use of images in the official video.
• Burn You Up, Burn You Down
• Digging In the Dirt .... "Digging in the dirt, to find the places we got hurt."
• Shock the Monkey
• I Have the Touch
• Here Comes the Flood
• Solsbury Hill .... I was trying to avoid what in my eyes is the most obvious choice but just couldn't hold out.
• That Voice Again
• Mercy Street .... "There in the midst of it, so alive and alone, words support like bone." 
• Kiss That Frog

I might as well include the entire "So" album. Depending on the day I'm asked, the greatest album of all-time. 

Sky Blue

There's perfect timing and a place for everything it seems. I've always enjoyed this song but now I'm finding myself obsessed with it, listening more closely than ever before. There's power in its notes, progression and ending. 

'Sky Blue' by Peter Gabriel 

Its beginning is reminiscent to my ears to two songs, 'Mercy Street' and 'Red Rain' from his classic 1986 album, 'So.' And the ending, when The Blind Boys of Alabama, held in reserve until the final moment, then entering and blending their voices for the powerful closing chorus, is perfection. I can't help but to join in.

 

Jason Isbell

As I've entered my senior years of life, there's a small group of musicians and bands releasing new music in recent years, that I've become a loyal follower of ..... Son Volt, The Jayhawks, The Feelies, The Bats, Yo La Tengo, Hiss Golden Messenger, (maybe one or two others that I'm forgetting) ..... and Jason Isbell!!

On my doorstep today, the new one titled 'Weathervanes' by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

I've refrained from listening to song samples beforehand because I wanted to experience the record for the first time like it was done long ago. By sitting down and taking in each song in its entirety. I'll go out on a limb ahead of time and say it's going to be great. I've come to trust over the past decade(s), the quality and consistency of the songwriting. And I know that I'm going to be 'feeling' the vibe of each song.

The Stuff

A two-cd compilation set of various musicians performing early blues, old country and Appalachia music. Even one that sounds like an old Cajun tune. Recordings gathered from the 1920s and 30s on the Yazoo Records label. 

"Old-timey."

Great stuff for those interested in the early days of recorded music. 

46 cuts in the package and a booklet of liner notes, old photos, reproductions of record labels and intricate artwork by Robert Crumb. 

For someone my age, it's like you've flashed back in time to stories once heard ...... of your grandparents living room and it's a Saturday night in small town South Dakota with the family gathered together listening to the radio. 

If country music hadn't strayed so far from its beginnings, I'd be listening to it today. 

Vinyl Find

Saturday afternoon vinyl find. Recorded in 1961. 

I have a different, more varied MO when searching online but when I walk into a physical record store these days, I primarily browse the jazz section. Among all the records seen a dozen times before, I came upon this, which I'd never seen before.

Headphone Love

OK I have seen the new headphones that I wanted as a retirement gift to myself.

I was crazy madly in love!!!

Then, expecting (or hoping) $300-$400, I checked the price ......... $6000. 

Say what?? For YIKES sake!!!

As a friend would say: "That's not real love."

Perhaps I should have clicked on the link that read: 'The 30th-40th Best Headphones.'

I'd have to really retire .... without continuing to work, in order to stay home listening to music every day, all day long, not even taking breaks for sleep, food and bathroom visits, to justify in my own mind, spending that much on new headphones.

This may have been the shortest love affair ever. I've recommitted to the old well-worn headphones. They deserve better from myself than being replaced.  

Little Feat Playlist

 A Little Feat playlist dedicated to my old friend Mitch. I'd often walk into the office we shared at work and most likely would hear him playing either, Frank Zappa, John Mayall or Little Feat. Rest In peace Mitch.

I could tell a thousand stories, not all G-rated. My favorite memory of Mitch is the time I had purchased an old 78 record player but had no records to play on it. A few days later, there was a knock on my door. It was Mitch with a literal armful of old 78's that had belonged to his parents. There must have been 40-50 records. Most scratched and unplayable but a few gems within. I still have the keepers. Thanks, Mitch. 😀

• Front Page News .... I much prefer the version in this video over some of the slower versions out there.
• Fat Man in the Bathtub ..... A friend of mine once told me that after I introduced this song to her, she would drive around in her pickup with her young son in tow and they would sing this song together. 
• Heaven Forsaken .... Mitch much preferred the Lowell George years of the Feat and he refused to listen to the post-Lowell recordings. Not me though. 
• Loved and Lied To
• Borderline Blues
• Rock and Roll Doctor
• 20 Million Things / Two Trains ..... From Lowell George's solo album, 'Thanks, I'll Eat It Here.'
• Easy to Slip
• Truck Stop Girl .... We worked in the cold storage industry and dealt with a lot of long haul truck drivers over the years, so I like to think that this song is our anthem. 

Sunday Flashing Back Playlist

Playlist for this Sunday night ......

• Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In the Sky
• Bob Dylan - Positively 4th Street .... Does this count as four or five songs on the playlist since I'm listening to alternate versions as well?
• Tom Rush - Joshua Gone Barbados 

1970, 1965 and 1966 so far. Guess I'm flashing back. 

• Jackson Browne - Something Fine .... There are so many feelings, emotions and memories of teenage years when I hear 1970's Jackson Browne. Fifty years ago and it feels like yesterday. 
• The Guess Who - These Eyes
• Neil Diamond - Cracklin' Rosie ..... Reminded of this because I saw two copies of his 'Tap Root Manuscript' album in an antique shop today. 
• Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze ----- I rarely hear this anymore on my favorite oldies radio station but this was huge when it came out in 1972. You couldn't miss it. I play it now and friends faces from long ago, flash by.
• Jefferson Starship - Miracles 
• Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
• King Harvest - Dancing In the Moonlight

Tedeschi Trucks Band - "Midnight in Harlem" (Live on eTown)

Lioness

A cover version of the Jason Molina / Songs: Ohia song, 'Lioness.'  I'm usually not a fan of covers of songs that are classics in my mind, but this version is incredible. It captures the mood of the original and may be even more brooding.

Memory of Us

Heard on the local jazz station while driving about town. But it's certainly not like once was enough. So heard several more times upon arriving home. De La Soul - 'Memory of Us.'