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

KSHE Klassics Show, Nov. 18th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Ian Fleming ~ Never say "no" to adventures. Always say "yes," otherwise you'll lead a very dull life.

[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, a long way from the terrible wildfires.]

It doesn't get any better than this! I have never, ever, awarded an installment of The Klassics Show an A++ before, but just look at that list. Jeepers. Appropriate superlatives elude me, i'm still floating above my chair thinking about it. A++ it is, then, and out of a possible five stars, i give it seven. Vexillological supersaturation (or something) this week and no mistake.

("What?!" i hear you ask. "How can it receive seven stars out of a possible five?" To which i reply, somewhat testily, that it's my blog and my rating system, i can do whatever the heck i want.)

Right from the top. "Blind Eye," a Wishbone Ash fave, followed by lots of other much-loved music. The inclusion of Rory Gallagher and Dan Fogelberg guarantees an A+ of course, but then there was Mama's Pride, there was Jeff Beck - if there'd been any Richard Thompson (unlikely) my three all-time favourite guitarists would have been represented). There were, to be sure, songs that i wasn't wild about, but at least there was nothing dreadful. Try listening to any other radio show for four hours without hearing something you hate.

Wishbone Ash – Blind Eye

The Grateful Dead – Sugar Magnolia

Harry Nilsson – Without You

The Electric Light Orchestra – So Fine

Pat Travers – Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) (live)

Uriah Heep – July Morning

Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

Loverboy – Lucky Ones

Gary Wright – Love Is A Rose

Touch – When The Spirit Moves You

Journey – La Raza Del Sol

Kansas – Can I Tell You

Rare Bird – Peace Of Mind

Genesis – Eleventh Earl Of Mar

Blue Öyster Cult – In Thee

John Mellencamp – Night Dancin'

Jimi Hendrix – Stone Free

Rory Gallagher – Brute Force And Ignorance

Dave Mason – Show Me Some Affection

Trooper – Cold, Cold Toronto

Strawbs – Little Sleepy

Dan Fogelberg – Part Of The Plan

Long John Baldry – Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie (On The King Of Rock 'N' Roll)

Henry Gross – One More Tomorrow

Mama's Pride – Ole St Lou

Asia – Only Time Will Tell

The Michael Stanley Band – My Town (Saint Louis!)

Michael Murphy – Renegade

Bob Seger – Heavy Music

The J. Geils Band – Looking For A Love

Gamma – I'm Alive

Jeff Beck – Freeway Jam

April Wine – Just Between You And Me

Unicorn – Ooh Mother

The Animals – It's My Life

Nick Gilder – (You Really) Rock Me

Rusty Wier – Don't It Make You Wanna Dance

This was the week's musical medication here at Spriggs Towers:

Poco – A Good Feelin' To Know

Loggins & Messina – Sittin' In Again

Happy Rhodes – Ectotrophia

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall

Donna Summer – The Ultimate Collection

Afro-Celt Sound System – Anatomic

Happy Rhodes – The Keep

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

Renaissance – Novella

Tori Amos – Boys For Pele

Bonnie Raitt – Sweet Forgiveness

Fairport Convention – Rosie

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

Linda Ronstadt – Heart Like A Wheel

Kula Shaker – Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts

The Flock – The Flock

Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers

Home – The Alchemist

Pink – Greatest Hits … So Far!!!

Keane – Night Train

Rory Gallagher – Deuce

Cheryl Dilcher – Special Songs

Florence + The Machine – Lungs

Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail

Mike Oldfield – Platinum

Lovemongers – The Battle Of Evermore

Imogen Heap – I Megaphone

Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas

Planxty – The Well Below The Valley

Dick Gaughan – Definitive Collection

Van der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts

KSHE Klassics Show, Nov. 11th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Milton Friedman ~ If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand.

[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 somewhere in East Hampshire, England.]

I must confess I was a tad underwhelmed by the first half hour of today's show. There was nothing wrong with it, it was fine, but there were no “Holy Meow!” moments. But then I heard the opening notes of Chicago's “Dialogue (Pts. I & II)” and I was in aural paradise.

I loved early Chicago. Such excellent musicianship. Their first four albums were magic, but then they kinda wimped out (thanks in good part due to Peter Cetera's wussy love songs). They were still excellent players, of course, but were lumbered with poor material. I think I finally gave up on them after album seven or eight. They've released 28 or 29 since then and they're unlistenable – to me, anyway. Maybe their mothers like them....

Anyway, after the Chicago song it was almost all fabulous! I could maybe have lived without the J.F. Murphy number, although there was nothing wrong with it, really: it just didn't do anything for me.

Here's the Chicago skyline, i've never been there apart from a couple of stopovers at O'Hare. It looks magnificent.

April Wine – Oowatanite

Humble Pie – Fool For A Pretty Face

Fleetwood Mac – Emerald Eyes

Santana – Samba Pa Ti

Chicago – Dialogue (Pts. I & II)

Nazareth – Holiday

Steely Dan – Time Out Of Mind

The Electric Light Orchestra – Showdown

The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Free Spirit

The Little River Band – Man On Your Mind

Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey

King Crimson – 21^st Century Schizoid Man

Eagles – Ol' 55

The Grateful Dead – U.S. Blues

Grand Funk Railroad – Footstompin' Music

The Police – Canary In A Coal Mine

Thin Lizzy – Cowboy Song

Cream – I'm So Glad

Poco – Legend

Santana – Open Invitation

Chilliwack – Baby Blue

Firefall – Livin' Ain't Livin'

Molly Hatchet – Fall Of The Peacemakers

Ambrosia – Holdin' On To Yesterday

Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself

Paul McCartney – Smile Away

Bad Company – Electric Land

Yes – Love Will Find A Way

Cheryl Dilcher – Together

UFO – Shoot Shoot

Canned Heat – On The Road Again

J.F. Murphy & Salt – Last Illusion

Crabby Appleton – Go Back

The Babys – Turn And Walk Away

Shooting Star – You've Got What I Need

James Taylor – Country Road

I'm not sure if this comes from The Book Of Revelation or from the writings of Confucius or Paracelsus, but I remember reading somewhere that three or four CDs a day keep the doctor away. It seems to work, too: i haven't even had a cold in over thirty years. These were this week's prophylactics (it's not a long list, i came dangerously close to having a social life this week):

Renaissance – Novella

Poco – From The Inside

The Bothy Band – The Bothy Band

Nightnoise – At The End Of The Evening

Martin & Eliza Carthy – The Moral Of The Elephant

Peter Gabriel et al. – Big Blue Ball

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

Dan Fogelberg – Live In Colorado 1977

The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It

Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives – Behind The Music

Ashley Hutchings et al. – Rattlebone & Ploughjack

Runrig – The Ones That Got Away

Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser

Jackson Browne – The Next Voice You Hear: The Best Of Jackson Browne

Buffalo Springfield – Last Time Around

The Bee Gees – Best Of Bee Gees, Vol. 1

Peter Hammill – Fireships

Florence + The Machine – High As Hope

Camel – Breathless

Propaganda – A Secret Wish

Various Artists – What's Shakin'

Dead Can Dance – Dionysus

King Crimson – Larks' Tongues In Aspic

Sheryl Crow – Sheryl Crow

Trίona Ní Dhomhnaill – Trίona

Wishbone Ash – The Best Of Wishbone Ash

The Albion Band – Lark Rise To Candleford

Annie Haslam – Annie Haslam

KSHE Klassics Show, Nov. 4th, 2018

Quotation du jour: Tom Waits ~ A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't.

[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. I didn't mind at all: it was 18º there, a fair bit warmer than home (-1º).]

Vote for Claire McCaskill on Tuesday, folks! If you're a registered voter in Missouri, that is. I'm not, but if i were, i would.

Sorry to interject that rare political note into this week's post, but the Klassics Show for the past few weeks has been full of very malicious McCaskill vs Josh Hawley ads – they're candidates for the U.S. Senate and the campaign has turned quite nasty as election day approaches – nastier than usual for politics. I mean, most politicians are liars anyway, not interested in much other than getting re-elected. But Hawley's a wimp (and Trump is stumping for him, 'nuff said). Vote for Claire, she works for Missouri. I have spoken. The end. No more politics, at least until 2020, i promise. On to a more enlightening subject: the music.

This week's show definitely rates an A on the Jim Spriggs Scale Of Excellence: five stars out of five. There was nothing at all that i disliked. Probably the worst song this morning was that by Mark-Almond and it certainly wasn't bad, it just dragged a bit. I didn't even hate the Ted Nugent song, which was a surprise: it was all right. I certainly can't choose one song to name as the highlight, there was so much that i love. Eagles, Focus, Steely Dan, Buffalo Springfield, Humble Pie, The Allman Bros., Mott The Hoople.... All magic. I'm also delighted that Uman has played Renaissance a few times recently, i loved that band – and have a personally autographed photo of their singer, Annie Haslam, on my living room wall.

Here's the playlist, and that pic down there ↓ is Claire McCaskill. (My cat writes: no more politics, please!)

Eagles – On The Border

Eddie Money – Trinidad

The Moody Blues – Ride My See-Saw

Manfred Mann – Father Of Day, Father Of Night

Supertramp – Crime Of The Century

Focus – Hocus Pocus

Steely Dan – Any Major Dude Will Tell You

Ted Nugent – Hey Baby

UFO – Rock Bottom

Renaissance – Carpet Of The Sun

Humble Pie – Thirty Days In The Hole

Armageddon – Buzzard

Aldo Nova – Fantasy

Le Roux – Addicted

The Atlanta Rhythm Section – Champagne Jam

Dire Straits – Lady Writer

Mark-Almond – What Am I Living For

Ian Hunter – When The Daylight Comes

Strawbs – Heartbreaker

George Harrison – All Things Must Pass

Novo Combo – City Bound ("E" Train)

Rush – Here Again

Michael Martin Murphey – Carolina In The Pines

The Jon Butcher Axis – Don't Say Goodnight (this was the video of the week, a regular feature i think i'll start including: https://www.kshe95.com/kshe-klassics/jon-butcher-axis-dont-say-goodnight/)

Blackfoot – Highway Song

April Wine – Sign Of The Gypsy Queen

Bad Company – Live For The Music

Traffic – Rock & Roll Stew

Steve Walsh – Every Step Of The Way

Foghat – Stone Blue

Buffalo Springfield – Bluebird

The Allman Brothers Band – Revival

Mott The Hoople – Roll Away The Stone

Dwight Twilley – Twilley Don't Mind

These are the CDs we bothered the optical drive at headquarters with, this week:

Maddy Prior – Woman In The Wings

The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies

Oysterband – Deep Dark Ocean

Silly Wizard – A Glint Of Silver

Poco – Poco

Juicy Lucy – Lie Back And Enjoy It

John McLaughlin – The Promise

Peter Hammill – In A Foreign Town

Chicago Transit Authority – Chicago Transit Authority

Cheryl Dilcher – Special Songs

Renaissance – Novella

Pink – Greatest Hits … So Far!!!

Stan Rogers – The Very Best Of Stan Rogers

Highly Strung – Bagatelles And Belgian Lace

The Beatles – With The Beatles

Small Faces – Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake

Jethro Tull – Catfish Rising

Fairport Convention – Full House

Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser

Steve Earle – Jerusalem

Brass Monkey – Sound And Rumour

Happy Rhodes – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight

Emerson, Lake & Powell – Emerson, Lake & Powell

Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth

Kate Rusby – The Girl Who Couldn't Fly

Simon Nicol – Before Your Time

Paul Simon – In The Blue Light

Paula Cole – This Bright Red Feeling

T. Rex – Electric Warrior

The Doobie Brothers – Best Of The Doobies

Fernhill – Ca' Nôs

Yes – Keystudio