KSHE Klassics Show, June 24th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Frank Zappa ~ Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.

[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 to a VPN to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/, i was listening not from somewhere in the USA as usual, but from Assam, India. Gosh, it was hot there, and the curry was excellent. But, what, really? They stream their audio to India but not to Canada? That's curious.]

It's difficult to know what to say about this week's program. It was definitely the highlight of my week (especially as i've been unable to get to my favourite pub in a while) and it remains the best radio show that i'm aware of, but, after last Sunday's brilliant edition, this was just the slightliest teeniest bit of a disappointment. It was all great music to be sure, and there was nothing whatsoever that made me want to adjust my speakers' settings with a hammer, and quite a few songs that i loved, but, far fewer than last week. Never mind. I still want to have its babies.

Ian McLagan – Little Troublemaker

Bob Dylan – Tangled Up In Blue

Santana – Dance Sister Dance

Fleetwood Mac – Oh Well (live)

Tom Petty – Listen To Her Heart

Nantucket – California

The Stabilizers – One Simple Thing

Jackson Browne – Fountain Of Sorrow

Eric Clapton – Blues Power

Pink Floyd – Free Four

Little Feat – Feets Don't Fail Me Now

The Band – The Weight

Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Knife Edge

Krokus – Screaming In The Night

Steely Dan – Kid Charlemagne

David Bowie – The Jean Genie

The Steve Miller Band – The Stake

The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays

Steve Winwood – Arc Of A Diver

Leon Russell – Tightrope

Genesis – I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

Robin Trower – Little Bit Of Sympathy

Climax Blues Band – Mighty Fire

Mason Proffit – Two Hangmen

Frank Zappa – Joe's Garage

Chris Rea – Working On It

Touch – Don't You Know What Love Is

George Harrison – What Is Life

Rare Bird – Beautiful Scarlet

UFO – Lights Out

Chuck Francour – Under The Boulevard Lights

Van Morrison – Wild Night

Triumvirat – Spartacus

The Allman Brothers Band – Wasted Words

The Grateful Dead – Uncle John's Band

The James Gang – Alexis

As i mentioned above, i haven't been able to get to my favourite pub in a while. This is what we played here at World Headquarters as the aural equivalent of a few pints:

Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden

Davy Spillane – Atlantic Bridge

Brand X – Unorthodox Behaviour

The Bee Gees – Odessa

Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Superstition

Camel – I Can See Your House From Here

Bruce Hornsby & The Range – The Way It Is

Sparks – Kimono My House

The Beatles – Past Masters, Volume 1

Rory Gallagher – Fresh Evidence

Pyewackett – Pyewackett

Ashley Hutchings et al. – Son Of Morris On

Runrig – Heartland

Robin Trower – Truce

Fairport Convention – Full House

Genesis – Abacab

Joan Osborne – How Sweet It Is

Peter Hammill – In Camera

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

Mike Oldfield – Music Of The Spheres

Roxy Music – The Best Of Roxy Music

Dick Gaughan – Gaughan

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe – Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe

Hothouse Flowers –Songs From The Rain

Ashley Hutchings et al. – Rattlebone And Ploughjack

The Kinks – Low Budget

Mott The Hoople – Mott

Yes – Fragile

Marillion – Somewhere Else

Dan Fogelberg – Live At Carnegie Hall

Capercaillie – Sidewaulk

KSHE Klassics Show, June 17th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Abraham Lincoln ~ All it takes for evil men to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.

[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 to a VPN to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/, i was listening from San Francisco. I haven't listened from there very often.]

O, wow, o, WOW! What an exceptionally good show today. So much music that i love and only one thing that i hated: the REO Speedwagon. It was almost like listening to my own record collection, without the hassle of having to get up and go over to the turntable to change the record every four minutes (and, at my age, getting up from my desk at all, is becoming a bit of an exertion....).

It's very difficult to choose a highlight – just look at that list! -- but i think i'll go with the Rockpile track.

Elton John – Grey Seal

J. Geils Band – First I Look At The Purse

Canned Heat – Going Up The Country

Journey – The Girl Can't Help It

Strawbs – Autumn

Jethro Tull – Nothing Is Easy

Robin Trower – Day Of The Eagle

Alice Cooper – Under My Wheels

Marillion – Kayleigh

Steve Winwood – While You See A Chance

Brownsville Station – Smokin' In The Boys' Room

Shoot – Sepia Sister

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Sweet Hitch-Hiker

Uriah Heep – Stealin'

David Bowie – Golden Years

Jackson Browne – In The Shape Of A Heart

Marshall Tucker Band – Searchin' For A Rainbow

Icehouse – Electric Blue

Andy Pratt – Avenging Annie

Mama's Pride – She's A Stranger To Me Now

Loverboy – Hot Girls In Love

Rainbow – Stone Cold

Jefferson Starship – Miracles

Marshall Tucker Band – Blue Ridge Mountain Sky

Crosby, Stills & Nash – Marrakesh Express

Roger Daltrey – One Man Band

Rockpile – Teacher Teacher

The Steve Miller Band – Space Cowboy

Dire Straits – Skateaway

Fleetwood Mac – Heroes Are Hard To Find

The Tubes – Talk To Ya Later

REO Speedwagon – Only The Strong Survive

Martin Briley – Salt In My Tears

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Don't Ask Me No Questions

The Doors – The Wasp (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)

The Fixx – Stand Or Fall

Good Rats – Injun Joe

The following albums found their way onto my personal playlist this week:

Fairport Convention – Gladys' Leap

The Albion Band – Demi Paradise

Rush – Power Windows

Billy Joel – The Essential Billy Joel

Santana – Supernatural

Siouxsie & The Banshees – A Kiss In The Dreamhouse

Mama's Pride – Mama's Pride

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

Poco – Crazy Loving: The Best Of Poco 1975-1982

Runrig – Heartland

Kim Mitchell – Aural Fixations

Richard Thompson – Acoustic Classics 2

Spirit – Clear

Linkin Park – Meteora

Tim Hart & Maddy Prior – Summer Solstice

Eliza Carthy – Heat, Light And Sound

Bruce Guthro – Guthro

The Rankin Family – Grey Dusk Of Eve

Mike Oldfield – Return To Ommadawn

Renaissance – Scheherazade And Other Stories

Kensington Market – Avenue Road

Jefferson Airplane – The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane

Alanis Morissette – Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

Dire Straits – Love Over Gold

Davy Spillane Band – Out Of The Air

The John Kirkpatrick Band – Welcome To Hell

Kiri Te Kanawa – French Opera Arias

The Who – Endless Wire

June Tabor – Against The Streams

Joni Mitchell – Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Patti Smith – Outside Society

KSHE Klassics Show, June 10th, 2018

Quotation du jour: P.G. Wodehouse ~ I can detach myself from the world. If there is a better world to detach oneself from than the one functioning at the moment I have yet to hear of it.

[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 to a VPN to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/, i was listening from Clifton, New Jersey. I've listened from there before!]

Oh, Jaysus, Ulett played REO Speedwagon today, a group i cannot abide. Their playing and their arrangements are a mess and their singer, Kevin Cronin is obnoxious. (Today's song, "157 Riverside Avenue," includes a lengthy spoken section and i just know that Mr Cronin is someone i would wind up punching in the throat should we ever spend any time together.) I understand that they are very popular in St Louis, and in The States in general, but rock radio in Canada generally derides them. Quite right, IMO! (Well, i love the USA but things are different there.) But that was the nadir of this morning's show. There was literally nothing else that i disliked and quite a lot that i love. It's difficult to choose one single highlight but i think i'll go for Buffalo Springfield.

I really have nothing else to add to this post. (My regular reader breathes a sigh of relief.) My Internet connection was solid; i had no BSODs; there were no fires, tornados or plagues of locusts to interrupt the listening experience. It was, as usual, the highlight of my week.

Look! Here's a photograph of a cute li'l bunny rabbit. Oh, no, wait, it's a hydra.... (Painting by Yoso.)

Hydra – Feel Like Running

The Who – The Kids Are Alright

Santana – All I Ever Wanted

Electric Light Orchestra – Mr Blue Sky

Dickie Betts – Hand Picked

The Greg Kihn Band – The Breakup Song

Sad Café – Black Rose

Utopia – Love In Action

Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

The Clash – Train In Vain (Stand By Me)

Robin Trower – Sweet Wine Of Love

Steve Winwood – Time Is Running Out

Rod Stewart – Mandolin Wind

Slade – Get Down, Get With It

Rare Bird – As Your Mind Flies

Tony Carey – A Fine, Fine Day

Elvin Bishop – Travelin' Shoes

Blue Öyster Cult – Godzilla

David & David – Welcome To The Boomtown

Buffalo Springfield – Rock 'N' Roll Woman

REO Speedwagon – 157 Riverside Avenue

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River

Heart – Dreamboat Annie

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Dark Star

Tommy Bolin – Post Toastee

Joe Cocker – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Fleetwood Mac – Bare Trees

Kenny Loggins – Love Has Come Of Age

Prism – Spaceship Superstar

The Kinks – Tired Of Waiting For You

Cheryl Dilcher – High

Marshall Tucker Band – This Ol' Cowboy

Sammy Hagar – (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

And this was my aural medication for the week:

Various Artists – “Patch Adams” (O.S.T.)

Afrocelt Sound System – Volume 3: Further In Time

Paul Simon – Songs From The Capeman

Zap Mama – Sabsylma

Wood • Wilson • Carthy – Wood • Wilson • Carthy

Skywhale – The World At Mind's End

T. Rex – The Slider

Spirit – Clear

Terje Rypdal – Q.E.D.

Bonnie Raitt – Fundamental

Pink Floyd – A Saucerful Of Secrets

Marillion – Brave

Melissa Etheridge – Your Little Secret

Donna Summer – Live And More

Garfield – Out There Tonight

The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour

The Allman Brothers Band – Beginnings

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River

Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album

Rory Gallagher – Fresh Evidence

Robert Plant – Dreamland

Oysterband – Deserters

James – Whiplash

Stéphane Grappelli – Afternoon In Paris

Highly Strung – When The Winds Begin To Sing

Caro Emerald – The Shocking Miss Emerald Acoustic Sessions (EP)

Fish – Raingods With Zippos

Joni Mitchell – Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Robin Trower – Truce

Van der Graaf Generator – Do Not Disturb

Yes – Relayer

Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat

KSHE Klassics Show, June 3rd, 2018

Quotation du jour: Kingsley Amis ~ Only a world without love strikes me as instantly and decisively more terrible than one without music.

I was listening from San Francisco this morning, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ -- cool, i've never been there before.

As my regular reader will have noticed, there was no blogpost last week – for the second time in the merry month of May. That's because there was no Klassics Show last week. It was the Memorial Day weekend in the States, and KSHE always pre-empts regular programming for a "Top 500" countdown.

I spend most of my free time online, so when my Internet connection goes down, it really leaves me at a loss to know what to do with myself. I do everything online: listen to the radio (obviously!), watch TV shows, do all of my banking, annoy all of my friends (via Facebook), etc. On Saturday, my Internet connection didn't just go down, it crashed magnificently. I did all i could think of at my end, to no avail, and then called tech support and a very harassed-sounding young man called Mark said that they were aware of the problem and were working on it, but he was unable to give me an E.T.A. for a resolution.

I was dead worried that i wouldn't be able to listen to the Klassics Show! And then there wasn't one. My connection was fine by Sunday but my Saturday afternoon was pretty much devastated.

Anyway, enough of that. This morning's show was ... disappointingly okay. It's usually great. Oh, of course there were more than a few songs i love and lots that i like, but a lot that didn't do anything for me and a few that bored the kecks off me. And isn't Clapton's "I've Got A Rock 'N' Roll Heart" one of the least rock 'n' roll songs he ever did (and he did some pretty wimpy schtuff in the seventies)? And there was one song, i couldn't figure out what it was, although i've heard it before. KSHE didn't post the artist & title to their web page (which happens occasionally). I think it was Jefferson Starship – Grace Slick was definitely one of the singers – but i was unable to Google the song by using its lyrics, as they were mostly incomprehensible. Sigh...

And here's Planet P. Pluto, that is. If Pluto is still considered a planet, i don't know – i'm behind on my reading of Astronomy Today.

Planet P – Why Me

It's A Beautiful Day – A Hot Summer Day

Bob Welch – Ebony Eyes

Jethro Tull – Bungle In The Jungle

Little Feat – Dixie Chicken

Bob Dylan – Just Like A Woman

Procol Harum – Conquistador

Eric Clapton – I've Got A Rock 'N' Roll Heart

Loggins & Messina – Vahevala

Foreigner – Starrider

The Good Rats – Back To My Music

Steely Dan – Doctor Wu

The Bliss Band – Doctor

The Grateful Dead – One More Saturday Night

Stanley Clarke – School Days

Jefferson Starship (?) -- ??????

Spooky Tooth – Cotton Growin' Man

Michael Murphey – Wildfire

Charlie – Killer Cut

Electric Light Orchestra – Roll Over Beethoven

Dr Hook & The Medicine Show – The Cover Of The Rolling Stone

Steve Hackett – Narnia

Mama's Pride – In The Morning

Chicago – Make Me Smile

Grinderswitch – Pickin' The Blues

Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill

Pete Townshend – Pure And Easy

Journey – Of A Lifetime

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – Fire

Head East – Love Me Tonight

Z.Z. Top – Arrested For Driving While Blind

Kansas – It Takes A Woman's Love (To Make A Man)

Elton John – Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters

Roxy Music – Love Is The Drug

Sammy Hagar – The Ice Man

Supertramp – Bloody Well Right

The Babys – Looking For Love

I had a pretty stressful week at work. I didn't have any bubblewrap, so I listened to these albums as my anxiety-relievers:

The Hollies – 20 Golden Greats

Dan Fogelberg – Home Free

Genesis – ...And Then There Were Three...

Pink Floyd – The Endless River

King Crimson – Thrak

Loggins & Messina – On Stage

Caro Emerald – Live From Emerald Island

Peter Gabriel – So

Jack Bruce – Harmony Row

Mark Knopfler – Sailing To Philadelphia

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV

The Beatles – Rubber Soul

The Tea Party – Seven Circles

Sandy Denny – The North Star Grassman And The Ravens

Runrig – Heartland

Dick Gaughan – The Definitive Collection

Emerson, Lake & Palmer – In The Hot Seat

The Rascals – Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits

Stone The Crows – Live In Montreux 1972

Maddy Prior – Arthur The King

Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Heartbeats Accelerating

Chicago – Chicago V

The Band From Rockall – The Band From Rockall

Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman

Various Artists – Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute To Carole King

Siouxsie & The Banshees – A Kiss In The Dreamhouse

Indigo Girls – Indigo Girls

Blodwyn Pig – Ahead Rings Out

Fairport Convention – A Fairport History

Donovan – A Gift From A Flower To A Garden

Jan Akkerman – Tabernakel

King Crimson – Islands

Joni Mitchell – Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

Jeff Beck – Who Else!

ABBA – The Visitors