KSHE Klassics Show, Oct. 28th, 2018

Quotation du jour: P.J. O'Rourke ~ My working hypothesis is that stupidity in popular culture is a constant. Popular culture cannot get more stupid.

[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 Fǿrde, Norway, a town of some 13,000 souls in the southwestern part of the country. Wow, neat, i've never been there before.]

Well, i was certainly glad to be in Fǿrde this morning for this week's excellent program. I almost wasn't. You may not be aware of it, but this blog isn't my only source of income – i also, for my sins, work in a restaurant kitchen. Like probably most restaurants these days, mine is desperately short-staffed, and also desperately short of good staff. Partly as a result of this, i almost had to work this morning. They were reluctant to ask me (i need special permission from the Archbishop Of Canterbury to work Sundays, which is difficult to get at short notice) and i was reluctant to accept; i agreed to do it if no possible alternative could be found. Fortunately, one was. I'm very glad.

This installment definitely scored an A. Five out of five stars. Lots of music that i love and that is a part of my own album collection, and one song – Renaissance's "Midas Man" -- that had me almost weeping with joy, it's so beautiful. (Big boys don't cry, of course.) (Why did my cat just snort derisively?) On top of that, though, everything was good, nothing that made me want to throw up. I was a bit surprised to hear Huey Lewis & The News as i didn't think that KSHE ever played them and i'm not a fan, but there was certainly nothing wrong with the song. And Ted Nugent, well, i don't like him as a person or as a musician, but his song was listenable enough, although probably the worst song of the morning.

(Speaking of Chicago, though – as we weren't – is there anything on their debut album, when they were still called Chicago Transit Authority (until the real C.T.A. stepped in with a writ), apart from the lengthy instrumental wank that took up over half of side 3 of the original vinyl, that isn't magic?)

As usual, though, the end of the show took me by surprise – i could have sworn we still had an hour to go, but, wrong again, it was all over. Absotively and posilutely the highlight of my week.

Incidentally, this week's was a much easier blogging experience than last week's. My regular reader will recall that, last Sunday, KSHE's home page's "What's Playing Now" feature wasn't operative. If i didn't know what a song was i had to go scrambling around AllMusic [dot] com trying to find the title, or Googling the lyrics, or checking the KSHE app on my phone (which sometimes shows what's playing, not always). It was a little too much like work and of course it distracted me from my enjoyment of the music. There was no such trouble this week. "What's Playing Now" was on the job.

The photo down there (ↆ) shows the town of Fǿrde. The first song today was "Seven Bridges Road." The photo shows two bridges. The other five must be out of shot ...

Ian Matthews – Seven Bridges Road

The Michael Stanley Band – Let's Get The Show On The Road

Novo Combo – Tattoo

Yes – Heart Of The Sunrise (live)

Zebra – Who's Behind The Door?

Cat Stevens – Bitterblue

The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Angel (What In The World's Come Over Us)

Robin Trower – Bridge Of Sighs

Huey Lewis And The News – Walkin' On A Thin Line

April Wine – I Like To Rock

Genesis – Firth Of Fifth

Breathless – Takin' It Back

Status Quo – Is There A Better Way

Rod Stewart – Handbags And Gladrags

Strawbs – Keep On Trying

Them – Gloria

Cream – Tales Of Brave Ulysses

The Marshall Tucker Band – Last Of The Singing Cowboys

Billy Joel – Rootbeer Rag

Charlie – She Loves To Be In Love

Kerry Livgren – Mask Of The Great Deceiver

Ambrosia – Time Waits For No One

Couchois – Do It In Darkness

Detective – Recognition

John Kay – Easy Evil

Santana – I'll Be Waiting

John Miles – Do It All Again

Renaissance – Midas Man

The Pure Prairie League – Two Lane Highway

Chicago – Beginnings

Jefferson Starship – Girl With The Hungry Eyes

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes – Great White Buffalo

Bruce Springsteen – Cadillac Ranch

The Grateful Dead – I Need A Miracle

America – Don't Cross The River

These are the CDs we played at home this week, to help ease the intellectual angst and / or just because we like 'em:

Planxty – One Night in Bremen

Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells III

Saga – So Far So Good: Live At Rock Of Ages

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall

The Albion Dance Band – The Prospect Before Us

Marc Bonilla – American Matador

Florence + The Machine – High As Hope

The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It

Quintessence – In Blissful Company

Colin James – Miles To Go

Happy Rhodes – Ectotrophia

Blues Traveler – Four

The Beatles – Beatles For Sale

John Lennon – The John Lennon Collection

King Crimson – Beat

Jefferson Airplane – The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane

The Band From Rockall – The Band From Rockall

James Taylor – James Taylor

John Hiatt – Anthology

Yes – The Yes Album

Poco – Pickin' Up The Pieces

Al Stewart – The Best Of Al Stewart

Alphaville – Forever Young

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Nocturne

Kathryn Tickell – The Gathering

Annie Haslam – Annie Haslam

The Tragically Hip – In Violet Light

Roxy Music – The Early Years

Afrocelt Sound System – Vol. 3: Further In Time

The Albion Band – Lark Rise To Candleford

KSHE Klassics Show, Oct. 21st, 2018

Quotation du jour: Sid Vicious ~ You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you've got music.

[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 Santa Clara, California. I haven't listened from there in a while. It's the birthplace of one of my favourite porn actresses, Bobbi Starr. (Unfortunately she seems to have retired.)]

For the second week in a row, writing this blog was almost like work: KSHE's home page, which normally has a "what's playing now" feature, didn't this morning (unless you want to believe that they were playing John Mellencamp's "I Need A Lover" for four hours; i mean, i like the song, but really). So, if i didn't know what a song was, i had to try to make out the lyrics and Google them. If that was unsuccessful, i have the KSHE app on both my Android phone and on my iPad and sometimes – sometimes – i could find what the song was that way. This week, no, i couldn't identify one song. The chorus went something like "ride the highway with me" but that search string resulted in nothing that would have been appropriate.

So i did what any normal blogger would do: i Tweeted to John Ulett (the show's host), and asked him. As yet, he hasn't responded.

I think the show merits an A this week. I can't say that there was a whole lot that i loved, mind you, but it was mostly wonderful music with the possible exception of the Bloodrock track.

As the first song dealt with fantasy, here's a pic of Bobbi Starr (mentioned above). This is one of the few pics i have of her that's SFW. So lovely....

LeRoux – Let Me Be Your Fantasy

Cream – Strange Brew

Lake – Paradise Way

Survivor – Poor Man's Son

Bloodrock – D.O.A.

Ten Years After – I'd Love To Change The World

Chilliwack – Arms Of Mary

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Runner

The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Georgia Rhythm

Strawbs – Hero And Heroine

Asia – Wildest Dreams

Paul McCartney & Wings – Medicine Jar

Chris Ledoux – Round And Round She Goes

The Marshall Tucker Band – Twenty Four Hours At A Time

Traffic – Light Up Or Leave Me Alone

Gypsy – Gypsy Queen

City Boy – Cigarettes

String Driven Thing – Starving In The Tropics

????????

The Moody Blues – Tuesday Afternoon / (Evening) Time To Get Away

Robin Trower – I'm Out To Get You

Santana – She's Not There

The Babys – Isn't It Time

The Charlie Daniels Band – Reflections

Molly Hatchet – Outlaws On The Loose

The Outlaws – Breaker Breaker

The Outfield – Say It Isn't So

Heartsfield – Racin' The Sun

The Blue Jays – Saved By The Music

Jimmy Barnes – Working Class Man

Fleetwood Mac – Sunny Side Of Heaven

Shoes – She's Satisfied

Trooper – Round Round We Go

Budgie – I Ain't No Mountain

These are the CDs that my cat played this week, mostly to try to annoy me Well, har-de-har, Cate-cat, i enjoyed them all, bitch.

Jon Anderson – Change We Must

Steeleye Span – Hark! The Village Wait

Genesis – Nursery Cryme

Van der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts

The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver – The Beat Of The Street

Davy Spillane Band – Out Of The Air

Caro Emerald – Acoustic Sessions

Jack Bruce – Harmony Row

David Gilmour – About Time

Dan Fogelberg – Phoenix

Yes – The Yes Album

The Who – The Who Sings My Generation

Jane Siberry – The Speckless Sky

Graham Nash David Crosby – Graham Nash David Crosby

The Kinks – Sleepwalker

Birth Control – Backdoor Possibilities

Ashley MacIsaac – Hi How Are You Today?

Rob Hyman et al. – Largo

Paul Simon – In The Blue Light

B.B. King – Blues Summit

Louis Armstrong – The Best Of The Decca Years, Vol. 1: The Singer

Wolfscote – Turn The Glass

Miroslav Vitous, Terje Rypdal & Jack DeJohnette – Vitous / Rypdal / DeJohnette

Andy Irvine & Paul Brady – Andy Irvine & Paul Brady

The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It

Son Volt – Notes Of Blue

The Doobie Brothers – Best Of The Doobies

Kate Bush – The Sensual World

Peter Hammill – Thin Air

Oysterband – Holy Bandits

Marillion – This Strange Engine

Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth

The Electric Light Orchestra – No Answer

The Kinks – Misfits

KSHE Klassics Show, Oct.14th, 2018

Quotation du jour: E.M. Forster ~ He had a theory that musicians are incredibly complex, and know far less than other artists what they want and what they are; that they puzzle themselves as well as their friends; that their psychology is a modern development, and has not yet been understood.

[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 haven't listened from there in a while.]

I fear I can only give a B+ to this week's installment. It almost earned an A but a combination of things sank it (if a B+ can be considered a wreck – probably not, really). There was a lot of much-loved (by me) music this morning for sure and hearing all sixteen minutes plus of “Salisbury” was wonderful. (Uman, the host, promised to dig out more lengthy tracks in the future, which could go either way: if you love the track, terrific; if you hate it, it would be painful.) One big problem was Eric Burdon's re-make of The Animals' great song “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” (originally recorded by Nina Simone). I'm on record as stating that “Eggs” Burdon is (IMFFHO) a wanker. His vocal performance on this re-make is so over the top it's painful.

Heck, though: a B+ is far from a failure and look at some of the fab schtuff here: Atlanta Rhythm Section (who, according to Uman, have more KSHE Klassics than any other performer), Al Stewart, The Byrds, Elton John, Mama's Pride.... As usual, the show was over far sooner than I expected.

On a personal note, it wasn't a great blogging experience. Normally, when a song comes on that I don't recognise, I can go to KSHE's home page and see what's playing. Whenever this happened today, though, the page said they were playing Bryan Adams' “Cuts Like A Knife” – for four hours. This is the second time this has happened in three weeks, and it makes it too much like work: I can Google the lyrics, or I can look at the KSHE app on my 'phone. This isn't guaranteed. The app doesn't always show the title, and Googling for lyrics is obviously futile when there's an instrumental number – as there was, right after Loggins & Messina. But that was the only selection I was unable, by hook or by crook, to identify.

Oh, and there are the Klassic Rock heroes Atlanta Rhythm Section, just down there.

The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Jukin'

Jefferson Starship – Layin' It On The Line

Hammersmith – Daybreak

Ian Gomm – Hold On

Uriah Heep – Salisbury (all 16' 20" of it!)

Montrose – Rock The Nation

Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat

Little Feat – All That You Dream

Jo Jo Gunne – Ready Freddie

The Little River Band – It's Not A Wonder

Derek & The Dominos – Bell Bottom Blues

Eric Burdon – Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Dave Mason – Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave

The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!

Loggins & Messina – Back To Georgia

????????????????

Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

UFO – Just Another Suicide

New England – Don't Ever Want To Lose Ya

Graeme Edge w. Adrian Gurvitz – Paradise Ballroom

Elton John – Burn Down The Mission

Mama's Pride – Merry-Go-Round

Kenny Loggins – Lady Luck

Triumph – Fight The Good Fight

Phil Collins – I Missed Again

Billy Joel – Say Goodbye To Hollywood

Journey – Topaz

Pink Floyd – San Tropez

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – You Angel You

Emerson. Lake & Palmer – Still ... You Turn Me On

Robin Trower – Long Misty Days

Not an especially lengthy playlist from Spriggs Central this week, which is a shame – well, for me, anyway. I've been working late almost every day and busy after work almost every day, too, moan, groan. I'm looking forward to the introduction of the 36-hour day, for the added twelve hours of music-listening time.

The Musicians Of The Nile – Luxor To Isna

Terje Rypdal & David Darling – Eos

Mott The Hoople – Mott

The Kinks – Soap Opera

Fairport Convention – Jewel In The Crown

Talking Heads – Fear Of Music

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Superstition

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Nocturne

Loggins & Messina – Sittin' In Again

Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth

Florence + The Machine – High As Hope

Tríona Ni Dhomhnaill – Tríona

Planxty – The Well Below The Valley

The Chieftains – 4

Jethro Tull – The Minstrel In The Gallery

Eagles – One Of These Nights

Colin James – Miles To Go

The Kinks – Lola vs Powerman And The Money-Go-Round

Brand X – Unorthodox Behaviour

Stan Rogers – Fogarty's Cove

Genesis – Invisible Touch

Renaissance – Scheherazade And Other Stories

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

Klaatu – Hope

Ray Davies – Our Country: Americana Act ii

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déjà Vu

Tori Amos – From The Choirgirl Hotel

KSHE Klassics Show, Oct. 7th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Edgar Allen Poe ~ There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.

[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 San Francisco. Although i've listened from there before, i've never actually been to the left coast of the U.S.A. Western Canada, yes, but the furthest west i've ever been in the States is St Clair, Missouri.]

The Klassics Show scores an automatic A+ today for including the brilliant but now mostly forgotten Rory Gallagher. My regular reader will know who Rory was, of course, but very few radio stations play him any more and millennials certainly have no clue who he was, even those who love classic rock. Thank you KSHE!

The truth is, today's program would have veered very close to an A+ anyway. (Or, "anyways," as they say here.) There were a couple of deservedly obscure tracks (The Pine Valley Cosmonauts???) but nothing that was painful, and a shedload of songs that i love.

The Alan Parsons Project – The Raven

Atlanta Rhythm Section – Spooky

Rory Gallagher – Edged In Blue

Golden Earring – Vanilla Queen

The Moody Blues – New Horizons

Alexis – Fly By Night

Kansas – Hold On

Pat Travers – Off Beat Ride

The Kingbees – My Mistake

The Greg Kihn Band – Rendezvous

Batdorf & Rodney – Can You See Him

Grinderswitch – Kill The Pain

Al Stewart – Nostradamus

Supertramp – Sister Moonshine

Kingfish & Bob Weir – Hypnotize

Janis Joplin – Me & Bobby McGee

Angel – Rock And Rollers

The Michael Stanley Band – Don't Stop The Music

John Lennon – Mind Games

Moon Martin – Rolene

Gypsy – As Far As You Can See

Yes – Time And A Word

The Yardbirds – For Your Love

Rose Tattoo – Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw

Peter Frampton – (Baby) Something's Happening

Wishbone Ash – Persephone

Lake – Time Bomb

Nektar – Show Me The Way

The Pine Valley Cosmonauts – Goin' Down The Road

The Allman Brothers Band – Melissa

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Country Girl

Spirit – Nothin' To Hide

Hammersmith – Late Night Lovin' Man

Here at Spriggs Towers, it's been a kinda crazy week. I wonder if i can submit the price of these albums to my health insurance company? They really were my medicine. (Prob'ly not: i didn't save the receipts.)

Paul Simon – In The Blue Light

Ian Anderson – The Secret Language Of Birds

Pink Floyd – A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Joan Osborne – Bring It On Home

Chris Squire – Fish Out Of Water

Youssou N'Dour – Set

Johnny Clegg & Savuka – Heat, Dust & Dreams

Kate Bush – The Red Shoes

The Kinks – Sleepwalker

Rory Gallagher – Deuce

Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth

Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run

Waterson : Carthy – Common Tongue

Colin James – Miles To Go

Emerson, Lake & Powell – Emerson, Lake & Powell

Runrig – The Ones That Got Away

Andy M. Stewart & Mánus Lunny – At It Again

Afro-Celt Sound System – Anatomic

Fish – Internal Exile

Spirit – Clear

Peter Gabriel et al. – Big Blue Ball

The Beatles – Rubber Soul

Dan Fogelberg – Nether Lands

Jethro Tull – Minstrel In The Gallery

Various Artists – British Invasion: The History Of British Rock, Vol. 5

Silly Wizard – A Glint Of Silver

Jack Bruce – Somethinels

Bruce Guthro – Guthro

Genesis – Nursery Cryme

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

Joni Mitchell – Hejira

Siouxsie & The Banshees – The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Siouxsie & The Banshees

Dire Straits – Money For Nothing

King Crimson – Starless And Bible Black

KSHE Klassics Show, Sept. 30th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Kate Bush ~ I think it's almost a law of nature that there are only certain things that hit an emotive space, and that's what was always special for me about music: it made me feel something.

[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 NYC again, which was fine with me. When you're tired of New York, you're tired of life, to paraphrase Dr Johnson. ]

Because it included a song by Dan Fogelberg – for the fourth time in five weeks! -- today's installment is automatically given and A+ in my book (or, on my blog). (John Ulett, a.k.a. "Uman," the host, spoke about Dan briefly, and remarked upon what an extraordinary talent we lost when he passed. No argument here!)

The fact is, this episode was tumbling towards a B+ until Dan came on. There was certainly nothing i disliked, but not much that i loved, either.

I also had a minor technical problem. Some of the schtuff that gets played here is pretty obscure and sometimes i can't immediately identify it. When that happens, i go to KSHE's home page and it will show what's playing. Not today, though. For the entire four hours, it indicated that they were playing "Learning To Fly" by Pink Floyd, which was the song that they played right before the Klassics Show began. The fourth song? I have no idea who performed that, even after some frantic Googling.

However! All was not lost. I have the Tune In Radio app on my phone (where i have KSHE as a favourite), and i discovered after the first hour of desperate Googling, that Tune In was showing the artists and titles. This was life saver. I mean, who's ever heard of Max Gronenthal before? (Turns out he was in Grand Funk Railroad under the name Max Carl.) (Whatever went wrong on KSHE's home page has now been fixed, it would seem. I'm not listening but apparently they're playing The Beatles' "Dig A Pony" as i type.

Oh, and here's Doraville, Georgia: the stuff that dreams are made on.

The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Doraville

Steve Miller Band – Your Saving Grace

The Police – Walking On The Moon

??? -- Riding The Wind

Brewer And Shipley – Witchi Tai To

Spirit – 1984

Santana – Flor D'Luna – Moonflower

America – Sandman

The Angels – Out Of The Blue

Outlaws – Hurry Sundown

J. Geils Band – Love-itis

Ambrosia – Ready

Iron Butterfly – Scorching Beauty

Buffalo Springfield – Broken Arrow

Albert Hammond – Smokey Factory Blues

Roy Buchanan – Can I Change My Mind

Max Gronenthal – Get It Straight

Michael Martin Murphey – Geronimo's Cadillac

Sammy Hagar – Crack In The World

Dan Fogelberg – Man In The Mirror/Below The Surface

Nazz – Open My Eyes

Eumir Deodato – Super Strut

Ian Hunter – Just Another Night

Dave Mason – Pearly Queen (live)

The Rockets – Desire

Icehouse – Crazy

The Allman Brothers Band – Trouble No More

Dwight Twilley – Girls

Saga – Wind Him Up

Elton John – All The Young Girls Love Alice

Flash – Small Beginnings

The Firm -- Satisfaction Guaranteed

Triumph – Just A Game

My own personal playlist. Yes, I know it's a long one this time. I had the week off, for medical reasons (because a few of the people I work with make me sick). A lot of music was listened to, a lot of beer was imbibed.... Here's what found its way onto the corporate optical drive:

Fairport Convention – Rosie

Dick Gaughan – Handful Of Earth

Yes – Close To The Edge

Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstasy

Kate Bush – Never For Ever

Capercaillie – Sidewaulk

Cheryl Dilcher – Special Songs

Colin James – Miles To Go

James Taylor – Covers

The Trews – Hope And Ruin

Donna Summer – Live And More

Art – Supernatural Fairy Tales

Paula Cole – Ballads

Dick Gaughan – The Definitive Collection

Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers

Runrig – In Search Of Angels

Graham Nash David Crosby – Graham Nash David Crosby

The Mothers Of Invention – Freak Out!

Steve Rothery – The Ghosts Of Pripyat

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall

The Albion Band – An Evening With The Albion Band

Paul Simon – The Rhythm Of The Saints

Oysterband – The Big Session Vol. 1

Martin & Eliza Carthy – The Moral Of The Elephant

The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies

Thin Lizzy – Live From Derby

Marillion – All One Tonight

The Beatles – Abbey Road

Christine McVie – In The Meantime

Kensington Market – Avenue Road

Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans

Peter Gabriel et al. – Big Blue Ball

Donovan – A Gift From A Flower To A Garden

Wolfscote – Turn The Glass

Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense (DVD)

Bluehorses – Ten Leagues Beyond The Wild World's End

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk

Loggins & Messina – Sittin' In Again

Coldplay – Parachutes

Big Wreck – In Loving Memory Of...

Sharon Shannon – Each Little Thing

Linda Thompson – Dreams Fly Away: A History Of Linda Thompson