Tuesday 31 December 2019

MY YEAR IN BOOKS, 2019


I'm a list freak. I keep lists of everything, except maybe of the groceries i need, which explains why i have to go to the supermarket five or six times a week. Of course, i keep a list of every book i read, and the date i finished reading it.

There was a time when i would read at least a book a week. Then i bought my first PC (it ran Windows 95 and had an impressive 2 GB hard drive) and now i read maybe a book a month. I read a lot on the Internet – news sites like CNN, the St Louis Post-Dispatch and The Register, various music blogs, etc., none of that Kindle stuff, but this post will be about the dead tree versions of books, and books are my friends.

All but a couple of these were new (to me). You'll notice that an unusually large number were Americana, too, and there may be a reason for this: i love the U.S.A., so i've been looking back into their history trying to make sense of the mess they're in these days – a desperately divided country full of hate, corruption and corporate greed. I still haven't figured it out, though.... (I may be looking too far back: i'm not finding a real answer in the 18th and 19th centuries – i think maybe i should be looking at the post-WWII years, when America decided to take over the world.)

There were also three books about Josephine Baker, a woman whose extraordinary life fascinates me.

But enough of that, i'm sure you're all anxious to know what my favourites were, so here goes.

In non-fiction, Ron Chernow's biography of George Washington from 2011 gets the nod. It won a Pulitzer Prize for biography and it was well-deserved. Washington truly was the father of his country, and without his efforts during the War Of Independence, there would be no America today (although his ideals were diametrically opposed to what the place has become). Runner-up is Christopher Skaife's book about his experiences with ravens. I love birds and my favourite birds are corvids and my favourite corvids are crows – but ravens are basically just big crows, so this was a real treat. I would also give a tip of the Hatlo hat to Anderson Cooper's memoirs and Catherine Clinton's biography of the amazing Harriet Tubman.



In fiction, it's an easy one: Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels," an absolutely riveting drama about the Battle Of Gettysburg – the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil (51,000 dead!). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1975 but, hey, i've never claimed to be au courant. It was the basis for the amazing film "Gettysburg," but i'll deal with that in "My Year In Movies" (coming soon to a blog near you). It's a compelling novel, told from both sides, each chapter alternating between viewpoints, the Union army's and the Confederate army's.



The runner-up, though, has to be Haruki Murakami's "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997)." This is a work of genius and Murakami's approach to fiction – kind of a cross between Lewis Carroll, Mikhail Bulgakov and Franz Kafka – dream landscapes with nightmares popping in from time to time – is mind blowing. I haven't read anything else of his – yet – but i shall soon be rectifying that. A major discovery, for sure.



Anyway, here's the complete list:



Jan. 15: Sherry Jones – Josephine Baker's Last Dance: A Novel
Jan. 29: Catel Muller & José-Louis Bocquet -- Josephine Baker
Feb. 8: Elmore Leonard -- Out Of Sight
Feb. 19: Christopher Skaife – The Ravenmaster: My Life With The Ravens At The Tower Of London
Mar. 8: Ian Rankin – In A House Of Lies
Apr. 28: Ron Chernow – Washington: A Life
May 6: Elmore Leonard – Road Dogs
May 12: Anderson Cooper – Dispatches From The Edge: A Memoir Of War, Disasters, And Survival
May 25: John M. Allegro – The Sacred Mushroom And The Cross
June 4: Maria Semple – Where'd You Go, Bernadette
June 13: Ben Edward Akerley – The X-Rated Bible: An Irreverent Survey Of Sex In The Scriptures
June 23: Peggy Caravantes – The Many Faces Of Josephine Baker
July 3: John M. Marzluff & Tony Angell – In The Company Of Crows And Ravens
July 10: Ryan Schuessler, ed. -- The St Louis Anthology
July 15: Elmore Leonard – The Switch
July 30: Michael Shaara – The Killer Angels
Aug. 6: Anderson Cooper & Gloria Vanderbilt – The Rainbow Comes And Goes
Aug. 29: Elmore Leonard – The Complete Western Stories
Sept. 22: Haruki Murakami – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Oct. 9: Nicolas Freeling – Wolfnight
Oct. 22: David Lagercrantz – The Girl Who Lived Twice
Nov. 14: Salman Rushdie – Quichotte
Nov. 29: Catherine Clinton – Harriet Tubman: The Road To Freedom
Dec. 13: Daniel Tate & Rob Bowman – The Flyer Vault: 150 Years Of Toronto Concert History
Dec. 28: Nicolas Freeling – Flanders Sky

Monday 30 December 2019

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, December 29th, 2019


[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 once again listening from Cheney, Kansas. It's only a four-hour drive from there to St Louis, so i was almost home!]

Quotation Of The Week ~ Dave Edmunds: Rock 'n' roll will never die. There'll always be some arrogant little brat who wants to make music with a guitar.

This week's edition just barely scrapes by with a grade of “A” i'm afraid, and if not for two songs (the Yes – all 18 minutes of it! -- and the James Taylor) i think it might only have merited a “B+”. There was nothing wrong with it, exactly, pretty much everything was good, but it wasn't as extraordinary as i know it can be. Didn't we just hear The Tubes' “Sushi Girl” last week? Why two songs by The Grateful Dead? Wouldn't it have been better to play Tull's “Ring Out, Solstice Bells” the week before Christmas? Maybe i'm just quibbling – 'tis the season to be grumpy, after all, and it was the musical highlight of my week. I have never understood the appeal of REO Speedwagon – i know that they are very popular in St Louis but this baffles me. At least this morning's selection featured a vocalist other than the egregious Kevin Cronin, but it was still a little annoying. Everything else was fine, though, and i certainly enjoyed hearing Steely Dan, ELO, Genesis, ELP, Poco, B.B. King and Billy Joel.

Here's a pic of the only REO Speed Wagon that even remotely interests me, followed by the playlist.



Roger Daltrey – Say It Ain't So Joe
Steely Dan – Don't Take Me Alive
The Marshall Tucker Band – Searchin' For A Rainbow
Kansas – Song For America
Graham Parker – Don't Ask Me Questions
Iron Butterfly – Scorching Beauty
The Electric Light Orchestra – Tightrope
Arc Angels – Sent By Angels
Jackson Browne – Fountain Of Sorrow
Fleetwood Mac – Shake Your Moneymaker
Bruce Springsteen – Badlands
The Grateful Dead – Shakedown Street
James Taylor – Carolina In My Mind
Charlie – She Loves To Be In Love
The Climax Blues Band – Using The Power
April Wine – Sign Of The Gypsy Queen
Genesis – Your Own Special Way
REO Speedwagon – Son Of A Poor Man
Jethro Tull – Ring Out, Solstice Bells
Montrose – Space Age Sacrifice
Yes – Close To The Edge
Harry Nilsson – Spaceman
Todd Rundgren – The Want Of A Nail
Randy Pie – Stand Up
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Fanfare For The Common Man
Poco – Crazy Love
Uriah Heep – Stealin'
The Groundhogs – Split, Part 2
B.B. King – The Thrill Is Gone
The Tubes – Sushi Girl
Barclay James Harvest – Titles
Billy Joel – The Entertainer
The Grateful Dead – U.S. Blues

Well, look at this! My therapists chose mostly Christmas music for me to listen to right up until Wednesday, and then it abruptly ended. Odd, that. Here's the (rather long) list of what i listened to at home this week:

Kate & Anna McGarrigle – The McGarrigle Christmas Album
A Fine Frenzy – Oh Blue Christmas
Dan Fogelberg – The First Christmas Morning
Kathy Mattea – Good News
Sneak's Noyse – Christmas Now Is Drawing Near
The Baltimore Consort – Bright Day Star
The Moody Blues – Gold
The Albion Christmas Band – Snow On Snow
Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band – Carols And Capers
Phil Pickett w. Richard Thompson – The Bones Of All Men
The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
John Kirkpatrick – Going Spare
Various Artists – Rockin' Little Christmas
Enya – The Christmas EP
Loreena McKennitt – A Winter Garden
The Chieftains – The Bells Of Dublin
Amy Grant – A Christmas Album
The Albion Band – Another Christmas Present From The Albion Band
Steeleye Span – Wintersmith
Various Artists – Christmas Classics
Ofra Harnoy – Silent Woods
Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band – No Roses
Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces
The John Renbourn Group – Live In America
Eliza Gilkyson – Land Of Milk And Honey
Marc Cohn – Burning The Daze
Natalie Maines – Mother
The Brothers Johnson – The Best Of The Brothers Johnson
John Kirkpatrick et al. -- Plain Capers
Kate & Anna McGarrigle -- Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman
Richard Thompson – Watching The Dark: The History Of Richard Thompson
Nik Kershaw – To Be Frank
Annie Haslam – Annie Haslam
Pete Townshend – White City: A Novel
This Mortal Coil – It'll End In Tears
Art Garfunkel – Angel Clare
James Taylor – Before This World
Son Volt – Notes Of Blue
Wendy Carlos – Clockwork Orange

Monday 23 December 2019

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, December 22nd, 2019


[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 once again listening from Cheney, Kansas – home of the world-famous Willowleaf Bakery.]

Quotation Of The Week ~ Hugh Martin: Have yourself a merry little Christmas / Let your heart be light / From now on, our troubles will be out of sight.

Well, gosh, didn't i need this edition today. It was a brutally busy week at work – the last full week before Christmas, moan, groan – and this morning's show was unquestionably the highlight of it. As usual, it was over long before i expected it to be.

It earns a grade of “A+” based on its merits alone, disregarding its curative benefits. In fact, to a large degree, it was like listening to items from my own record collection. I did the math (worked it out in my head, too* – calculators are for wusses): fully two-thirds of the songs played today, i own in one format or another.

And so many great songs! Twice i was almost in tears – of joy, of course. “Rose Of Cimarron” must be one of my top ten favourite songs of all time, and “Ashes Are Burning” isn't far behind it (plus the latter has the added attraction of a gorgeous guitar outro by Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash). Other favourites included Yes, ELO, Steely Dan, Thin Lizzy, Slade. 10 c.c., The Beatles and James Taylor and, and.... There was hardly anything annoying, although i could very easily lived without Sting's caterwauling on his live solo version of “Roxanne.” I'm not a huge fan of his anyway – i like a lot of his work with The Police but, after they split, he released a few decent solo albums and then decided that he was a Serious Artiste and started writing symphonies and operas and re-workings of 17th century lute music (!). No fank you.

Anyway, here's this week's playlist, and a photo of Rose Dunn – the original Rose of Cimarron. Although the photo's authenticity has been questioned, i found it on the Internet, so it must be right!






















Jackson Browne – The Pretender
Jefferson Starship – Ride The Tiger
Boz Scaggs – Loan Me A Dime
Traffic – Rock And Roll Stew
Steely Dan – The Fez
The Electric Light Orchestra – Rockaria
Bruce Springsteen – The Promised Land
Moon Martin – Rolene
Yes – And You And I
The Beatles – Fool On The Hill
Couchois – Roll The Dice
Thin Lizzy – Romeo And The Lonely Girl
Kenny Loggins – Love Has Come Of Age
Poco – Rose Of Cimarron
The Tubes – Sushi Girl
Pete Townshend – Rough Boys
The Charlie Daniels Band – Birmingham Blues
The Edgar Winter Group – Round And Round
Sting – Roxanne (live)
Queen – I'm In Love With My Car
10 c.c. -- Rubber Bullets
Camel – Lady Fantasy
Runner – Run For Your Life
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Standin' On The Rock
Slade – Run Runaway
Atlanta Rhythm Section – Sky High
Stillwater – Women (Beautiful Women)
Jefferson Starship – Runaway
Procol Harum – Simple Sister
Martin Briley – The Salt In My Tears
Renaissance – Ashes Are Burning
Pink Floyd – San Tropez
James Taylor – Up On The Roof
America -- Sandman

My bartenders – oops, i mean occupational therapists – must have been feeling festive this week. Look at all that Christmas music they had me play (especially towards the end of the week)! Just call me Ebenezer, but don't misunderstand. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are my two favourite days of the year. It's the run-up to it that i hate: the rampant consumerism, the crowds everywhere, the stress for those of us unfortunate to be a part of the “hospitality” industry (where our customers take “'tis the season to be grumpy” to new heights). Anyway, here's the list:

Enya – Dark Sky Island
Various Artists – Christmas Celebration
Dick Gaughan – Gaughan
Rhiannon Giddens – Tomorrow Is My Turn
Poco – Crazy Loving: The Best Of Poco 1975-1982
Yes – Fragile
Jethro Tull – The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown
Country Joe & The Fish – Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall
Katrina & The Waves – Walking On Sunshine: The Greatest Hits Of Katrina & The Waves
Jonathan Edwards – Jonathan Edwards
London Grammar – Truth Is A Beautiful Thing
Stone The Crows – Teenage Licks
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bayou Country
Planxty – Cold Blow And The Rainy Night
The Albion Chrstmas Band – Winter Songs
James Taylor – October Road
Chrissie Hynde – Stockholm
Jane Siberry – Shushan The Palace (Hymns Of Earth)
Afro-Celt Sound System –Anatomic
Loggins & Messina – Sittin' In Again
Roy Wood – Mustard
Mike Heron – Smiling Men With Bad Reputations
Joan Osborne – Christmas Means Love
John Kirkpatrick, Rosie Cross et al. -- Wassail!
George Harrison – The Best Of George Harrison
Amy Grant – Home For Christmas
Various Artists – Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas
Colin James & The Little Big Band – Christmas
Various Artists – Blue Christmas
Chris Leslie – Dancing Days

*my cats adds, “no you bloody didn't!”

Monday 16 December 2019

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, December 15th, 2019

[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 Cheney, Kansas. I've listened from there several times before.]

Quotation Of The Week ~ Jay Leno: The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin.

Definitely a grade of “A+” this week, brothers and sisters. That grade is automatic when Uman plays Dan Fogelberg, but even without dear Dan this morning's edition would have merited it. The first hour alone consisted of seven songs that i have in my own collection, and four of those i would include in my list of top 200 favourite songs (Nazz, Yes, Steely Dan & Dan). (I'm a huge fan of Fogelberg's, but i discovered his music late: five or six years after his death. Although i'd heard of him, as far as i can recall the first time i ever actually heard his music was when i heard “Part Of The Plan” on ... the KSHE Klassics Show!) (This station has literally changed my life in more ways than one.)

The remaining three hours – or 2.25 hours, excluding the ads – was almost as exciting. We had some of the best guitar playing this side of Rory Gallagher with Jeff Beck and Wishbone Ash; sheer poetry from Bob Dylan and John Lennon; a track from my second favourite Jethro Tull album; superb music from Billy Joel, Pink Floyd and The Doobie Brothers.... There were too many highlights to mention, really, and nothing at all that irritated me (apart from the Christmas ads, but they're pretty unavoidable everywhere right now). I could have lived without The New Riders Of The Purple Sage and Ray Manzarek, but there was nothing bad about their songs, they just weren't all that inspiring.

As usual, the time zoomed by and the show was over long before i was expecting it. Definitely the high point of my week (in spite of the ongoing and mysterious absence of Bart Inman!).

Here's a pic of Christmas lights in St Louis, followed by the playlist:



The Allman Brothers Band – One Way Out
Babys – Looking For Love
Nazz – Open My Eyes
Yes – Heart Of The Sunrise (live)
The New Riders Of The Purple Sage – Panama Red
Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic
Dan Fogelberg – Part Of The Plan
Buffalo Springfield – Rock And Roll Woman
The Doors – Spanish Caravan
Badfinger – Perfection
Z.Z. Top – Arrested For Driving While Blind
Jackson Browne – Boulevard
Grinderswitch – Pickin' The Blues
Joe Walsh – Mother Says
Ray Manzarek – Perfumed Garden
Big Brother & The Holding Company – Piece Of My Heart
The Beatles – In My Life
Pink Floyd – Pigs (Three Different Ones)
The Climax Blues Band – Mighty Fire
Brian Protheroe – Pinball
Fleetwood Mac – Spare Me A Little Of Your Love
Batdorf & Rodney – Poor Man's Dream
Wishbone Ash – Persephone
Supertramp – Rudy
Bob Dylan – Positively 4th Street
Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Gimme Your Money Please
Billy Joel – Travelin' Prayer
The Alarm – Rain In The Summertime
David Bowie – Rebel Rebel
Uriah Heep – The Wizard
Paice-Ashton-Lord – Remember The Good Times
The Doobie Brothers – Ukiah / The Captain And Me
The Jeff Beck Group – Rice Pudding
Jethro Tull – Cross-Eyed Mary
The Little River Band – Red-headed Wild Flower
Stingray – The Man In My Shoes

I only had two bartenders... i mean, occupational therapists, this week: Jess (twice) and Leah. Along with dispensing my medicine, they also recommended that i play these cds as stress-relievers. So i did, and they helped for sure:

John Lennon – Mind Games
Court Yard Hounds – Amelita
Caro Emerald – Acoustic Sessions Parts I & II
Roy Wood – Mustard
Eliza Gilkyson – Land Of Milk And Honey
The Kinks – Misfits
Wizzard – Wizzard Brew
Various Artists – Grandson Of “Morris On”
Planxty – The Well Below The Valley
John Lennon – Wonsaponatime
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra – The Lost Christmas Eve
James Taylor -- Hourglass
Eliza Gilkyson – Lost And Found
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Superstition
Paula Cole – Ballads
Pink – I'm Not Dead
Maddy Prior w. Hannah Jones & Giles Lewin – Shortwinger
The Beatles – Yellow Submarine
Joan Osborne – Relish
Marillion – A Collection Of Recycled Gifts
Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth
Various Artists – American Rock 'N' Roll Classics, Vol. 6
John Lennon – The John Lennon Collection
Mary-Chapin Carpenter – The Hard Way
Outback – Baka
Billy Joel – Turnstiles
Various Artists – Songs Of Our Native Daughters
Enya – When Winter Comes
Camel – I Can See Your House From Here
Jackson Browne – Lives In The Balance
Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
The Who – Odds & Sods
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Music From The Penguin Cafe
Amazing Blondel – Evensong
Jane Siberry – The Walking

Monday 9 December 2019

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, December 8th, 2019

Quotation Of The Week ~ John Lennon: The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is.

[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've listened from there a few times before.]

Before i get on to the music, i have a serious question: where's Bart?

Bart Inman, that is: owner of https://inmanair.com/ -- heating and cooling specialists serving Missouri and southern Illinois. He used to advertise regularly on The Klassics Show but i haven't heard him in weeks. I was listening to KSHE on my iPad at work on Saturday morning and he had an ad on there, i thought i might hear him this morning but no dice. Too bad! A lot of people find his voice annoying but i like listening to his laconic drawl plus i think he's quite funny. (If you want a really annoying voice, try Tom Shane of Shane Company [“your friend in the jewelry business”] -- i had to suffer his boring voice several times today.)

It was rather a lacklustre beginning to today's show, dear reader. In fact, in the entire first hour, there was hardly anything i even liked and one song i positively detested: the Ted Nugent paean to hunting and to blowing the heads off furry woodland creatures. There was one song i loved – The Allman Brothers' “Revival” -- but if the entire show had been like that, it would have just about merited a grade of “B.”

As we entered the second hour, though, it all turned around. There was the brilliant double whammy of Rory Gallagher and Yes (and the inclusion of Rory automatically means a grade of “A+”) followed closely by great songs by Billy Joel, Loggins & Messina and Traffic. After that, there was no looking back, and only one further annoyance – the egregious Harry Chapin's miserable excuse for existentialist philosophy (with the added detraction of trite sound effects) “WOLD.” (The singer is feeling old and is working at a radio station with the call letters WOLD. Wow, clever....)

There was nothing by The Beatles this morning, which was unusual, but there were solo tracks by George Harrison and John Lennon and the inclusion of the latter's wonderful “Mind Games” was particularly significant as December 8th is the anniversary of John's assassination. It was one of those days in history – like the Kennedy assassination, the first moon landing and the 9/11 attacks – where we'll never forget where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news.... Or. At least, i won't. I have the feeling i'll be playing a lot of Lennon's music at home this week: he was a personal hero and (IMO) a genius, although at times a misguided one, and i have quite a few of his solo albums – yes, even a few with Yoko, although those are virtually unlistenable; i don't know why i keep them.

Here's the playlist and R.I.P. John:



Nils Lofgren – No Mercy
Eric Clapton – Motherless Children
Neil Schon & Jan Hammer – No More Lies
Ted Nugent – Fred Bear
Wet Willie – No No No
Bruce Springsteen – No Surrender
The Allman Brothers Band – Revival
Sherbs – No Turning Back
Little Feat – Feets Don't Fail Me Now
Rory Gallagher – Country Mile
Yes – Siberian Khatru
Jefferson Starship – No Way Out
Billy Joel – Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Loggins & Messina – Nobody But You
Traffic – Freedom Rider
The Doobie Brothers – Nothin' But A Heartache
Supertramp – Even In The Quietest Moments
Journey – On A Saturday Night
The Butts Band – Be With Me
Eagles – On The Border
George Harrison – This Song
Canned Heat – On The Road Again
Harry Chapin – WOLD
Lake – On The Run
John Lennon – Mind Games
Roger Daltrey – One Man Band
The Who – Slip Kid
Joe Walsh – Indian Summer
The Grateful Dead – One More Saturday Night
Gary Wright – Silent Fury
Leon Russell – Stranger In A Strange Land
Henry Gross – One More Tomorrow
The Electric Light Orchestra – Sweet Talkin' Woman
Pink Floyd – One Of These Days
Rainbow – Stone Cold
Faces – Ooh La La
Phantom, Rocker & Slick – Men Without Shame
Santana – Open Invitation
The Blue Öyster Cult – Take Me Away
Brewer & Shipley – One Toke Over The Line

And here's my own personal playlist for the week, because i know you're fascinated:

The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour
Simon & Garfunkel – Old Friends
Dick Gaughan – Gaughan
The Kinks – Soap Opera
Runrig – Amazing Things
James Taylor – Greatest Hits
Amazing Blondel – Blondel
Tim Renwick – Privateer
London Grammar – Truth Is A Beautiful Thing
Cyndi Lauper – Twelve Deadly Cyns
Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits
Natalie Maines – Mother
Rory Gallagher – Deuce
The Quintet – Jazz At Massey Hall
Klaatu – Klaatu
Gordon Lightfoot – Over Sixty Minutes With Gordon Lightfoot
Stan Rogers – Fogerty's Cove
David Lindley – El Rayo-X
Phil Collins – Dance Into The Light
Joan Osborne – Bring It On Home
Rhiannon Giddens – Tomorrow Is My Turn
A Fine Frenzy – Oh, Blue Christmas
Max Webster – Max Webster
Curved Air – Air Conditioning
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
Melissa Etheridge – Yes I Am
The Albion Christmas Band – An Albion Christmas
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra – The Christmas Attic
Afrocelt Sound System – Anatomic
Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield Again
Dan Fogelberg – High Country Snows
Enya – Shepherd Moons
The Lovemongers – Battle Of Evermore

Monday 2 December 2019

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, December 1st, 2019


Quotation Of The Week ~ Frank Zappa: Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.

[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.]

It was a brilliant show today, brothers and sisters. In fact, i was thinking that it merited an A+ after the first hour (with the songs by The Move and Pete Townshend), and the second hour clinched it with the inclusion of Mama's Pride, the greatest band ever to come out of St Louis. If Uman had played nothing but annoying songs for the rest of the program, the grade would have remained, and what in fact happened was that he didn't play anything that i disliked at all – and that in itself is exceptional as i often have to suffer some crap like R.E.O. Speedwagon or Ted Nugent. Not this Sunday, though. Magic.

This week's image is of The Move's album “Message From The Country” which is where their song (mentioned above) came from. Their final three albums (that one, “Shazam!” and “Looking On” are all wonderful – desert island discs for sure) (if i can take around 500 discs to my desert island), but they split up. Three members of The Move, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan, went on to form The Electric Light Orchestra (of whom i know you've heard) and released an album called “No Answer” in North America and simply “The Electric Light Orchestra” everywhere else thanks to a secretarial blunder at the American record company tra la. There is still debate to this day whether the first ELO album should more properly have been thought of as the last Move album. After its release, Roy Wood quit and Jeff Lynne took over and led them to well-deserved mega-stardom but darn it, i liked them when Roy was still co-leader of the band. They were very different then. Quirky. Eccentric. I liked that.

I've followed Roy Wood's post-ELO solo career pretty closely and he's released some brilliant schtuff, but, sadly, never attained the commercial success of his former band. I think he's doing all right, though: recent photographs show him looking pretty well-fed!

Here's the pic and the playlist:



Gary Wright – Love Is A Rose
The Michael Stanley Band – One Good Reason
Yes – Love Will Find A Way
Utopia – Love Is The Answer
The Move – Feel Too Good
The Who – Getting In Tune
Eric Clapton – Mainline Florida
Pete Townshend – Pure And Easy
Ray Gomez – Make Your Move
The Allman Brothers Band – Melissa
George Harrison – Bangla Desh
Traffic – The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
Mama's Pride – Merry-Go-Round
Atlanta Rhythm Section – Crazy
Trapeze – Midnight Flyer
Steve Winwood – Don't You Know What The Night Can Do
Bloodrock – Kool Aid Kids
Stillwater – Mind Bender
Bruce Springsteen – Cadillac Ranch
Triumvirat – March To The Eternal City
The Rolling Stones – Monkey Man
Detective – Recognition
The Doors – Moonlight Drive
Jefferson Starship – Play On Love
The Beatles – Within You, Without You
Sammy Hagar – Love Or Money
The James Gang – Must Be Love
The Kinks – Tired Of Waiting For You
Kerry Livgren – Mask Of The Great Deceiver
Steely Dan – Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Dark Star
Little Feat – Rocket In My Pocket
The Moody Blues – New Horizons
Eddie Money – No Control
Badfinger – No Matter What
The Electric Light Orchestra – Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle

As for my own personal playlist, after firing most of my therapists a.k.a. bartenders recently – because, primarily, they were lousy at their jobs -- i think i may have found a new one. Jess (possibly spelt “Jessyka” but that would be an affectation so maybe not.) Anyway, she is responsible for my personal stress-relief playlist this week. I think she did pretty well, in spite of the inclusion of a couple of Christmassy albums in November. What think you? It's a long list!

Various Artists – Songs Of Our Native Daughters
Kate Rusby – Hourglass
Terje Rypdal – Crime Scene
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
Maddy Prior – Woman In The Wings
Court Yard Hounds – Court Yard Hounds
The Beatles – With The Beatles
The Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig
Steeleye Span – Est'd. 1969
Lindisfarne – The Very Best Of Lindisfarne
Art Garfunkel – Angel Clare
Max Webster – Mutiny Up My Sleeve
The Doobie Brothers – Best Of The Doobies
Pete Townshend – White City: A Novel
Beth Gibbons – Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs
The Keef Hartley Band – The Battle Of North West Six
Peter Gabriel – Secret World Live
Steeleye Span – Ten Man Mop, Or, Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again
A Fine Frenzy – Oh, Blue Christmas
Jon & Vangelis – Short Stories
Garfield – Out There Tonight
Linda Ronstadt – Greatest Hits
Wizzard – Wizzard Brew
Saga – Saga
10 c.c. -- How Dare You!
Van der Graaf Generator – World Record
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James
Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway
June Tabor w. Martin Simpson – A Cut Above
A Fine Frenzy – Pines
Neil Young – After The Gold Rush
Al Stewart – The Year Of The Cat
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Christmas Eve And Other Stories
Lisa Gerrard & Patrick Cassidy – Immortal Memory
Garmarna – Hildegard Von Bingen
Buffalo Springfield – Last Time Around
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Isle Of Wight, 1970
Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces
Paul Simon – Graceland
Rick Wakeman – Christmas Portraits