Monday 31 December 2018

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, DEC. 30th, 2018

Quotation du jour ~ Hoda Kotb: I love music. For me, music is morning coffee. It's mood medicine. It's pure magic. A good song is like a good meal-I just want to inhale it and then share a bite with someone else.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from Toronto! Well, obviously that wouldn't have worked, so i disconnected from and reconnected to my VPN and – whoosh! -- i was in Clifton, New Jersey, where i've been several times.]

I was on my way to awarding this week's rather disappointing installment a “mere” B+ but then Uman played that awful tripe by Aphrodite's Child and that torpedoed it down to a B. But all was not lost – later, he played Mama's Pride and that nudged it northwards to an A minus -- and it wasn't even one of my favourite songs of theirs but it's always great to hear Pat Liston's voice. The Wishbone Ash and Thin Lizzy tracks helped, too. (The Liston brothers have a new album out but, as of this writing, it is only available through their website and they don't ship to Canada. Bummer!)

In truth, there was nothing actually wrong with this morning's show (apart from Aphrodite's Child), but there wasn't much that was great about it, either. A lot of music i like, for sure, but not much that i can honestly say i love and a lot that was merely all rigttht.

And there's The Marshall Tucker Band. Ugly bunch, really, but very pretty music.

 

The Marshall Tucker Band – Heard It In A Love Song
Poco – You Better Think Twice
Joe Walsh – Indian Summer
Lake – On The Run
King Crimson – The Court Of The Crimson King
Rod Stewart – Gasoline Alley
Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina – Nobody But You
Deep Purple – Burn
Leon Russell – Stranger In A Strange Land
Nite City – Summer Eyes
Dave Mason – So High (Rock Me Baby And Roll Me Away)
The Electric Light Orchestra – Sweet Talkin' Woman
The Spencer Davis Group – I'm A Man
Heart – Little Queen
The Little River Band – It's A Long Way There
Phantom, Rocker And Slick – Men Without Shame
The Grateful Dead – One More Saturday Night
Jackson Browne – Hold Out
The Little River Band – Cool Change
Frank Marino – Strange Dreams
Badfinger – No Matter What
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Spaceship Orion
Billy Joel – Captain Jack
Aphrodite's Child – Loud Loud Loud / 4 Horsemen
Paice Ashton Lord – Remember The Good Times
Rainbow – Stone Cold
The Babys – Looking For Love
Mama's Pride – She's A Stranger To Me Now
Roger Daltrey – One Man Band
Thin Lizzy – Don't Believe A Word
Wishbone Ash – Blowin' Free
The Allman Brothers Band – Jessica
Elton John – Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
Blue Őyster Cult -- Take Me Away
Steely Dan -- Pretzel Logic
Paul Collins & The Beat -- On The Highway

In my own personal playlist, as you can see, the rot set in early in the week: Christmas music. I soon got over it, though....

Joan Osborne – Christmas Means Love
Spiers & Boden – Tunes
Jane Siberry – Shushan The Palace (Hymns Of Earth)
The Albion Christmas Band – Under The Christmas Tree
Donovan – What's Bin Did And What's Bin Hid
Shirley Collins And The Albion Country Band – No Roses
Loreena McKennitt – A Winter Garden
Paul Simon – The Rhythm Of The Saints
Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth
Amy Grant – A Christmas Album
Keith Emerson – The Christmas Album
The Eagles – Their Greatest Hits
The Albion Band – Another Christmas Present From The Albion Band
Dan Fogelberg – The First Christmas Morning
Phil Pickett w. Richard Thompson et al. -- The Bones Of All Men
The Bothy Band – Old Hag You Have Killed Me
The Chieftains – The Bells Of Dublin
Enya – And Winter Came
Renaissance – A Song For All Seasons
Jon Anderson – Olias Of Sunhillow
The Beatles – Yellow Submarine
Neverending Bright Lights – Act I: Goodbye Friends Of The Heavenly Bodies
Camel – Breathless
Jethro Tull – Stormwatch
Five Hand Reel – Five Hand Reel
Matchbox Twenty – Mad Season
Pink – Try This
Bob Dylan -- Bob Dylan
Jack Bruce – Silver Rails
Martin Carthy – Crown Of Horn
Arkells – Michigan Left
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Superstition
Paula Cole -- Harbinger

Tuesday 25 December 2018

The Year In Radio, 2018


Time to start the year-end wrap up. Over the next week or so i'll be blethering about my favourite books, CDs and movies of 2018

My year in radio was based, naturally, on the stations i listen to, and by far the station i listened to the most – and therefore my Radio Station Of The Year – was Radio Paradise (www.radioparadise.com) (They're based somewhere in Southern California but originated in, and are named after, Paradise, California – a town which, you may recall, was virtually destroyed by wildfires not that long ago.



The playlist is eclectic if nothing else. Here's what they played for two hours on Christmas morning:

Zola Blood – Play Out
Remy Zero – Hermes Bird
R.E.M. -- Belong
Counting Crows – Anna Begins
Sonic Youth – New Hampshire
Dire Straits – Single-Handed Sailor
Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban – La Luna En Tu Mirada
Peter Schilling – Major Tom (Coming Home)
Oi Va Voi – Yuri
Creedence Clearwater Revival – It Came Out Of The Sky
Kesha – Spaceship
Mark Vidler – Rapture Riders
Shpongle – The Epiphany Of Mrs Kugla
Eddie Vedder – Rise
Neil Young – Old Man
Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien
The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make?
The Clash – Clampdown
Githead – Take Off
Glen Hansard – Don't Leave Me Waiting
James McMurtry – Off And Running
Tom Petty – It's Good To Be King
Elephant Stone – A Silent Moment
Dar Williams – Mercy Of The Fallen
Patti Smith – Because The Night

Quite a few performers there i've never heard anywhere else, but only one song i truly couldn't stand: The Smiths. Ugh, Morrissey.... Otherwise all very enjoyable.

The station is commercial-free and listener-supported, in fact i contribute $10 (U.S.) every month and i think it's well worth it.

The station i listen to the most otherwise is KSHE from St Louis (www.kshe95.com), but i only listen for four hours a week now. I used to listen more often, but early in the year Emmis Communications sold the station to Hubbard Broadcasting and things went downhill almost immediately. I can't listen for more than about thirty minutes anymore, before they play something i hate (like KISS, Aerosmith or REO Speedwagon) – their playlist used to be much wider – and they let go their overnight deejay and my Facebook friend Tommy T. I used to listen to his show every day.

Now i only listen to their Sunday morning Klassics Show – about which i blog every week, of course. Four hours of mostly wonderful classic rock that's rarely played elsewhere. It is the highlight of my week and it's my Radio Program Of The Year for sure.

There are only a couple of other stations i ever listen to: KOCI from Newport Beach California, and KCLC from St Charles Missouri and they're both all right, KOCI plays a lot of blues-rock along with classic rock and KCLC plays mostly classic rock – the usual suspects but with quite a few surprises -- but, like most stations nowadays they're all automated overnight and technical screw-ups are rife. A song will start and end abruptly so that another song can play and then the first song will start again. It's very disconcerting.

Finally, my favourite Estonian deejay of the year is Maie Pauts, but as i never listen to her station any more, i don't think i can give her an award. Sorry, Maie!

Sunday 23 December 2018

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, DEC. 23rd, 2018


Quotation du jour ~ Joan Osborne: There's so many different ways humans have used music to express the spiritual part of our nature and to connect us with the divine. So for me the pathway is through music."

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from San Francisco again.]

So, is everyone ready for Christmas? No? Poor you. Good luck at The Mall on Christmas Eve. I've been ready for a couple of weeks, but i had to go to The Mall on Saturday, just to pick up my other medicine at the liquor store and even the parking lot was insane – i was nearly run over three times. Fortunately i pay attention to my surroundings when i walk, unlike so many drivers when they're behind the wheel.

The Klassics Show is not, as you may know, broadcast live. John Ulett pre-records it for re-broadcast on Sunday mornings and occasionally there are screw-ups in the automated system. Today, for instance, KSHE's home page indicated that they were playing “Natural Science” by Rush when in fact they were playing The Who, and they were playing Patti Smith when the home page said Pink Floyd (who were played right after Patti), and when John announced the Bloodrock song, a commercial break came on instead and the song was played after it. There were other instances, too.

It's probably unfair to penalize the show because of technical glitches, but they're not the only reason i'm only giving this week's instalment a B+ -- there were for sure a few songs i can honestly say i love and a lot of great music but also a lot of mediocre schtuff, plus one utterly obnoxious piece of shit by Ted Nugent. I don't like the man or his music but his song -- about a hunter who laments the fact that the spirit of Fred Bear isn't walking alongside him, is egregious. Well, maybe you shouldn't have just blown his brains out with a high-powered rifle, arsehole.

Happy Christmas, dear reader!



Jefferson Starship – Can't Find Love
Elton John – Harmony
The Electric Light Orchestra – Ma-Ma-Ma Belle
Supertramp – Hide In Your Shell
Eric Clapton – The Core
The Who – Getting In Tune
Bloodrock – Kool-Aid Kids
Billy Joel – Prelude / Angry Young Man
The Michael Stanley Band – One Good Reason
Joe Vitale – Lady On The Rock
Ted Nugent – Fred Bear
Jackson Browne – That Girl Could Sing
Eddie Money – No Control
The Charlie Daniels Band – Trudy
Pete Townshend – Pure And Easy
The Marshall Tucker Band – This Ol' Cowboy
Atlanta Rhythm Section – Crazy
Patti Smith – Because The Night
Pink Floyd – Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Badfinger – Perfection
Trooper – It's Been A Long Time
Blue Öyster Cult – Godzilla
Journey – Still They Ride
Steve Winwood – Don't You Know What The Night Can Do
.38 Special – Back Where You Belong
Little Feat – Feets Don't Fail Me Now
Grizzly – China Lake
Yes – Siberian Khatru
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Dark Star
Z.Z. Top – Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers
Iain Matthews – Lonely Hunter

And, yes, the rot set in: i played a lot of Christmassy music this week:

Runrig -- Mara
Pyewackett – Pyewackett
Rié Yanagisiwa & Clive Bell – Kurokami: Traditional Music Of Japan
The Who – Odds & Sods
The Baltimore Consort – Bright Day Star: Music For The Yuletide Season
The Albion Christmas Band – Under The Christmas Tree
Afro Celt Sound System – Flight
Renaissance – A Song For All Seasons
Brian Plummer – No Questions
Caro Emerald – Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor
Atlanta Rhythm Section – ARS: The Best of Atlanta Rhythm Section
The Who – Quadrophenia
Amy Grant – Home For Christmas
Dead Can Dance – Toward The Within
Marillion – A Collection Of Recycled Gifts
Kate Rusby – Hourglass
Loreena McKennitt – The Visit
Kim Mitchell – Ain't Life Amazing
Dan Fogelberg – Souvenirs
Jethro Tull – The Christmas Album
Kirsty MacColl – Galore
Ray Davies – Return To Waterloo
Sheryl Crow – Feels Like Home
Various Artists – Blue Christmas
Various Artists – The Best Of The Blues
Colin James & The Little Big Band – Christmas
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – I Believe In Father Christmas (EP)
The Albion Christmas Band – Snow On Snow
Annie Haslam – Annie In Wonderland

Monday 17 December 2018

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, DEC. 16Th, 2018



Quotation du jour ~ William Shakespeare: If music be the food of love, play on.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from San Francisco.]

Boy, did i ever need this show today. I've had a brutal week.

Last Sunday, my ISP shut down my email account. I realised this when i couldn't send or receive messages. I called tech support on Monday and they said that my account had been spewing spam on Sunday morning (as i was listening to this show). So i changed my password and was back to normal ... for a while.

On Tuesday, my PC died, and i've been so damned busy at work (my other job, that is) – starting early and staying late virtually every day – that i haven't found the time to take it in to the shop. I'm writing this on my old laptop, which is slow but functional.

But therein was another problem – when i tried to log in to email on the laptop with the new password, i couldn't. Oh, what fresh hell is this, i moaned. It took me a few days but i solved it (i'm not just another pretty face after all!) My new password includes a couple of hashtags, but when i typed # on the laptop, a would appear. (Well, they are both “pound” signs.) Of course, when typing a password, this wouldn't be visible. I eventually discovered that the laptop had somehow switched to a British English keyboard, instead of a Canadian English one. Solved!

But, enough about me (remembering of course that all of my posts are all about me, tra la). On to the music...

...and damned good it was. This instalment definitely merits an A. (It's not really fair to penalise the show itself for all of the friggin' Christmas ads they had to play, that's a corporate decision and everyone has to make a living.) The songs by Renaissance, The Move, James Taylor, Genesis and Mama's Pride were almost enough to kick it up to A+ and there was certainly nothing that annoyed me. Well, apart from the computer....



Barclay James Harvest – Titles
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – If I Only Knew
U2 – I Will Follow
Traffic – Medicated Goo
Kansas – Song For America
The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Mixed Emotions
Derek & The Dominos – Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
The Who – Happy Jack
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Manic Depression
Graham Parker – Don't Ask Me Questions
Dave Mason – Let It Go, Let It Flow
The Michael Stanley Band – My Town (St Louis!)
Nazareth – This Flight Tonight
The Move – Feel Too Good
Steely Dan – Black Friday
Jefferson Starship – Stranger
Yes – Changes
Asia – Time Again
The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver – (I Don't Want To Love You But) You Got Me Anyway
Joe Walsh – Welcome To The Club
Foreigner – Woman Oh Woman
Jackson Browne – Rock Me On The Water
Bruce Springsteen – Kitty's Back
Mama's Pride – In The Morning
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – Fire
Journey – On A Saturday Night
Utopia – Love Is The Answer
Sammy Hagar – The Ice Man
The Little River Band – I'll Always Call Your Name
The Electric Light Orchestra – Rockaria!
Deep Purple – Space Truckin'
Renaissance – Mother Russia
Bob Seger – If I Were A Carpenter
The Kinks – Tired Of Waiting For You
Michael Knott – Shine A Light
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

This -- you may be relieved to know -- is an abbreviated list of the CDs i forced on Cate this week. Tuesday to Sunday only. You'll recall my PC died on Tuesday and my playlist for Sunday and Monday was on it.

Renaissance -- A Song For All Seasons
Santana -- Milagro
Various Artists -- Peter And The Wolf
Steeleye Span -- Winter
Jethro Tull -- This Was
Various Artists -- Two Rooms: Celebrating The Songs Of Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Jane Siberry -- City
Genesis -- Foxtrot
Afro Celt Sound System -- Flight
The Hooters -- Hooterization: A Retrospective
Jefferson Airplane -- After Bathing At Baxter's
Fairport Convention -- Jewel In The Crown
Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts -- Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts
Steve Reich -- Different Trains

Tuesday 11 December 2018

KSHE Klassics Show, Dec. 9th, 2018


Quotation du jour: Benny Hill ~ Don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today because if you do it today and you like it you can do it again tomorrow.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here. I have to connect via a VPN to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/, i was listening from Jefferson, Kansas. I've never been there before. Strangely, it wasn't named after Thomas Jefferson, who happens to be one of my heroes, but after Albert Jefferson Broadbent, the original owner of the town site. Perhaps he was named after the third POTUS.]

Grudgingly, i'm giving this week's installement an A+ because, without the Dan Fogelberg track, it would have rated a "mere" A. Well, all of the Christmas ads pissed me off -- although none of the music did, but there some fairly obscure tracks – The Michael Wynn Band? Really? But there was enough music that i loved to mean that the program just whooooshed by and it was one o'clock before i knew it, and the show was over. Bummer. There were also a few instances where KSHE's home page failed to show what was now playing. In each case i knew what the song was so i didn't have to work too hard .... But there was also one ginormous howler – they mis-identified the Eric Clapton song as being by Queen!

Speaking of Christmas, though, the cards i ordered from The Prostate Cancer Foundation, designed by Jean Fogelberg (Dan's widow) arrived a few days ago and whenever a song came on that i wasn't madly in love with, i addressed one. I'm a bit behind.... But in an odd case of synchronicity, when Dan's "Illinois" came on (one of my favourite tracks of his, btw – about one of my favourite American states), i was in the middle of addressing one to a friend in Illinois!



Yes – Wonderous Stories
The Atlanta Rhythm Section – I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight
The Michael Wynn Band – Don't Need Nobody
Sherbs – No Turning Back
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Fanfare For The Common Man
Rod Stewart – True Blue
Real Life – Send Me An Angel
The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver – Slipstream
Kenny Loggins – Keep The Fire
The Tubes – Don't Touch Me There
Lake – Angel In Disguise
Rare Earth – Get Ready
Steely Dan – My Old School
Triumvirat – March To The Eternal City
U2 – Gloria
Mott The Hoople – The Golden Age Of Rock And Roll
Rare Bird – Turn Your Head
Eric Clapton – Motherless Child
The Electric Light Orchestra – Telephone Line
Prism – Hello
The Grateful Dead – Hell In A Bucket
The Who – Substitute
Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail
Dust – From A Dry Camel
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Tank
Supertramp – Even In The Quietest Moments
Fleetwood Mac – Shake Your Moneymaker
Loggins & Messina – Peace Of Mind
Dan Fogelberg – Illinois
Nils Lofgren – No Mercy, No Quarter
Journey – Look Into The Future
The Charlie Daniels Band – Caballo Diablo
The James Gang – Must Be Love
The Kinks – Do It Again
The Sons Of Champlin – Saved By The Grace Of Your Love

Self-medicating, as usual, with these CDs:

Pyewackett – Pyewackett
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Live At The Hollywood Bowl
Sandy Denny – Like An Old Fashioned Waltz
The Bee Gees – Odessa
Maddy Prior – Woman In The Wings
The Albion Band – Lark Rise To Candleford
Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree
Steve Rothery – The Ghosts Of Pripyat
King Crimson – Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Radiohead – The Bends
Colin James – Miles To Go
The Kinks – Soap Opera
Pink Floyd – Animals
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James
Runrig – The Ones That Got Away
The Soft Machine – Third
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Works, Vol. 2
Kate Bush – The Sensual World
Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane – East Wind
Steeleye Span – Tempted And Tried
Procol Harum – Home
Joe Jackson – Stepping Out: The Very Best Of Joe Jackson
Rory Gallagher – Defender
The Beatles – Let It Be
Fairport Convention – Gladys' Leap
Bluehorses – Thirteen Fires
Eagles – One Of These Nights
Pink Floyd – The Endless River
Capercaillie – Sidewaulk
Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield Again
Joan Osborne – Love And Hate
John Lennon – Wonsaponatime
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Nocturne
Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Angel Station
Dick Gaughan – Handful Of Earth

Monday 3 December 2018

KSHE Klassics Show, Dec. 2nd, 2018


Quotation du jour: Bob Marley ~ One thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here. I have to connect via a VPN to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/, i was listening from Clifton, New Jersey.]

As i mentioned last week, apart from this program, i don't listen to commercial radio, and this week's show's ads seemed to be mostly Christmassy. It was quite a revelation: i know that the First World is virtually 100% about money, but this was ridiculous. They have no shame anymore (if they ever did). There wasn't even the faintest suggestion in any of them that Christmas might just possibly be a time of spiritual uplift. Maybe i'm just more näive than i supposed.... So, go ahead, spend all your money giving things they don't want to people you don't like. Consumerism gone mad.

Reluctantly, an A- is all i can award this week's installment. There was certainly nothing wrong with it – A- is still pretty darned good, right? -- and there were certainly a few songs i can well and truly say that i love. Further, there was nothing that pissed me off (although i could have lived without the Black Oak Arkansas track). But ... there was nothing extraordinary. Well, maybe the Jeff Beck....

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the host, John Ulett (a.k.a. Uman) was going on holidays. It was either on his blog or his Twitter feed. Anyway, he had absolutely zero presence on the microphone this week. He must have pre-programmed it, though – after all these years, i recognise his style and his faves. Too bad, i really enjoy his commentaries and i like the sound of his voice. Plus he's a nice man – i met him once.

The one problem i had with this week's show (apart from the fact that it ended way too early) was that, while KSHE's home page usually shows what's playing now, there were a few times it didn't, and i wasn't always sure what the song was. I did eventually identify each one, but it was a bit like work. Rest assured, i have 'em all right, but, working on a Sunday? It just goes against the grain.

It's been a long time since i inserted my own ugly mug into one of my posts. I'm not going to horrify anyone with it today, but there down there are my feet, listening to the Klassics show, along with the rest of me (mostly out-of shot). Yes, that's the St Louis city flag on my socks.



The Band – Up On Cripple Creek
Santana – Winning
The Grateful Dead – Friend Of The Devil
Gary Wright – Love Is Alive
Wet Willie – Everything That You Do (Will Come Back To You)
Jethro Tull – Bungle In The Jungle
Trapeze – Midnight Flyer
Traffic – Freedom Rider
Status Quo – Down Down
Van Morrison – Into The Mystic
Couchois – Roll The Dice
April Wine – All Over Town
Toby Beau – Westbound Train
Rare Bird – As Your Mind Flies
The Climax Blues Band – I Am Constant
The Babys – California
Roger Daltrey – Say It Ain't So Joe
Stillwater – I Reserve The Right
Graham Parker – White Honey
The Allman Brothers Band – Wasted Words
Badfinger – Day After Day
Billy Joel – Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
UFO – Doctor Doctor
Billy Rankin – Baby Come Back
Dr John – Right Place Wrong Time
Charlie – Don't Look Back
The Hooters – All You Zombies
George Harrison – Bangla Desh
Horslips – Sure The Boy Was Green
Dave Mason – Takin' The Time To Find
Black Oak Arkansas – Jim Dandy
Hall And Oates – Good Night And Good Morning
Rocky Burnette – Tired Of Toein' The Line
James Taylor – Shower The People
Jeff Beck – Rice Pudding
John Lennon -- #9 Dream
Rare Earth – I Just Want To Celebrate
John O'Banion – Love Is Blind
Arlo Guthrie – Coming Into Los Angeles
Todd Rundgren – Hello It's Me
Queen – More Of That Jazz

And here are the albums that helped with the pain this week:

Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield Again
Juicy Lucy – Lie Back And Enjoy It
James Taylor – October Road
Runrig – Heartland
Planxty – The Well Below The Valley
Genesis – Invisible Touch
Wolfscote – Turn The Glass
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?
Brand X – Unorthodox Behaviour
Jethro Tull – A Passion Play
Fish – Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors
Steely Dan – Aja
Dick Gaughan – Gaughan
Peter Hammill – The Future Now
Rod Stewart – Camouflage
Silly Wizard – A Glint Of Silver
Florence + The Machine – High As Hope
Blodwyn Pig – Getting To This
The Nice – Nice
Dead Can Dance – Dionysus
The Byrds – Free Flyte
Mari Boine Persen – Gula Gula
Lorin Maazel & The Berlin Philharmoniker – The “Ring” Without Words
Van Halen – 5150
Free – All Right Now: The Very Best Of Free
Ofra Haza – Fifty Gates Of Wisdom
Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth
The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies
Various Artists – Heart & Soul
Chantal Kreviazuk – Colour Moving And Still
Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
Garfield – Out There Tonight
Dan Fogelberg – Nether Lands
Sparks – Kimono My House
Tyrannosaurus Rex – A Beard Of Stars

Monday 26 November 2018

KSHE Klassics Show, Nov. 25th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Michelle Obama ~ The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here. I have to connect via a VPN to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/, i was listening from North Bergen, New Jersey. I've listened from there before; it's an easy commmute to NYC.]

Oh, this is very bad: today's show included the very first Christmas ads i've heard this season. Of course, I rarely listen to commercial radio apart from on Sunday mornings and I never watch television so maybe i've been missing out. Still, they came as a bit of a shock....

As for the music, werrl, it would have been difficult to top last week's extraordinary edition and Uman didn't. In fact i fear I can only rate the show an A- (which is still pretty darned good). Sure, there was a lot that I loved: the standout track was probably “Starship Trooper,” but there was also Traffic, The Who, the Cheryl Dilcher classic, ELO, George of course (pictured below) although it wasn't his best song. One or two others. There was nothing that pissed me off but there was a lot that I would call “merely” very good rather than great. And I doubt if i'll ever love Ted Nugent's music, but Uman generally finds some that don't make me squirm; today's selection wasn't too embarrassing.


George Harrison – This Song
Trapeze – Medusa
The New Riders Of The Purple Sage – Panama Red
Les Dudek – City Magic
Traffic – The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
Eric Clapton – Mainline Florida
Gypsy – Don't Get Mad (Get Even)
The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Homesick
Rod Stewart – You're In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)
The Charlie Daniels Band – Birmingham Blues
Kenny Loggins-- Celebrate Me Home
Ray Gomez – Make Your Move
The Who – Dr Jimmy
The Electric Light Orchestra – Turn To Stone
Ambrosia – Life Beyond L.A.
Wet Willie – Street Corner Serenade
Heart – Even It Up
The Grateful Dead – Alabama Getaway
Cheryl Dilcher – Who's The Captain
Supertramp – Lady
Danny Spanos – Hot Cherie
Yes – Starship Trooper
Steppenwolf – The Pusher
Jefferson Starship – Play On Love
Chilliwack – Roll On
Ted Nugent – Call Of The Wild
Lake – Key To The Rhyme
Santana – Everything's Coming Our Way
Journey – Stay Awhile
Kansas – What's On My Mind
Neil Young – Like A Hurricane
Todd Rundgren – We Gotta Get You A Woman
Jackson Browne – The Fuse
Joe Walsh – Meadows
Little Feat – Rocket In My Pocket

And this was my personal musical medication for this past (insanely busy) week:

Steeleye Span – Please To See The King
Sandy Denny – Sandy
The Allman Brothers Band – Beginnings
Peter Gabriel et al. – Big Blue Ball
Davy Spillane Band – Out Of The Air
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – The Very Best Of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Fish – Internal Exile
Steve Hackett – Metamorpheus
The Kinks – Sleepwalker
Dan Fogelberg – Captured Angel
Melissa Etheridge – Yes I Am
Rory Gallagher – Blueprint
Wolfscote – Turn The Glass
The Waterboys – Room To Roam
Gryphon – Kings & Beggars
Renaissance – Novella
The Beatles – Help!
Highly Strung – When The Winds Begin To Sing
Paul Simon – In The Blue Light
The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It
Poco – Crazy Eyes
Jethro Tull – Heavy Horses
Lucinda Williams – World Without Tears
Rick Wakeman – The Six Wives Of Henry VIII
Graham Nash & David Crosby – Graham Nash David Crosby
Paula Cole – Ballads
FM – Black Noise
Happy Rhodes – Ectotrophia
King Crimson – Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Tangerine Dream – Phaedra
Don Henley – The End Of The Innocence
Jon & Vangelis – The Friends Of Mr Cairo
Garfield – Out There Tonight
Mark Knopfler – Shangri-La
Linda Ronstadt – Greatest Hits, Vol. 2