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

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!

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

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

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

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

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