KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Feb. 24, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ George Carlin: How is it possible to have a civil war?

[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 New York City, where i seem to have taken up permanent residence – on Sunday mornings, anyway.]

I don't know what to say about this week's instalment, other than “yawn.” Oh, for sure, there was some music i love – not a lot, though. There were also tracks by two performers i honestly can't abide: REO Speedwagon and Aerosmith. Most of it would fall into the category, good but not extraordinary, and i want extraordinary, gosh darn it!

It was great to hear “Visions Of Angels” by Genesis – not a song that gets played a lot anywhere – and although i'm not a huge fan of April Wine's, i love “Say Hello.” The show had its moments. But, it is with great reluctance that i am grading this week's program a B-minus, possibly its worst score ever. (Well, i'm not going to go back through umpteen years' worth of posts to confirm this; you can if you wish.) (Let me know.)

And remember: you can always run away from your problems, unless your problem is a cheetah....

                    

Jimmy Spheeris – I Am The Mercury

Butts Band – Be With Me

The Allman Brothers Band – Don't Want You No More/It's Not My Cross To Bear

Thunderclap Newman – Something In The Air

Giuffria – Call To The Heart

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Ohio

The J. Geils Band – Musta Got Lost

Gary Wright – Silent Fury

Aerosmith – Toys In The Attic

Strawbs – Lemon Pie

Widowmaker – Leave The Kids Alone

Bob Dylan – Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Bobby & The Midnites – Too Many Losers

Molly Hatchet – Dreams I'll Never See

Kansas – On The Other Side

Black Sabbath – Fairies Wear Boots

Jay Ferguson – Cinnamon City

Foreigner – Headknocker

April Wine – Say Hello

Ambrosia – Livin' On My Own

Todd Rundgren – Can We Still Be Friends

38 Special – Rock And Roll Strategy

Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Hey You

Randy Meisner – Deep Inside My Heart

John Mellencamp – Small Paradise

Bruce Cockburn – If I Had A Rocket Launcher

Steely Dan – Black Cow

The Who – The Song Is Over

REO Speedwagon – Keep The Fire Burning

Justin Hayward – I Dreamed Last Night

Todd Rundgren – Love Of The Common Man

Hudson Ford – Take A Little Word

The Police – Can't Stand Losing You

Janis Joplin – Move Over

Genesis – Visions Of Angels

Starz – She's Just A Fallen Angel

John Parr – Naughty, Naughty

Asia – Here Comes The Feeling

Judas Priest – The Ripper

Firefall – Mexico

Montrose – I Got The Fire

My psychiatrist told me to play these albums this week, so i did, and they helped, but even she (my shrink) admits that i'm basically incurable:

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

Procol Harum – Home

Ivie Anderson – I Got It Good And That Ain't Bad

Eddi Reader – Eddi Reader

Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick – Straws In The Wind

David Gilmour – On An Island

Ofra Haza – Fifty Gates Of Wisdom

Lisa Gerrard – Whalerider

Joan Osborne – Bring It On Home

Dan Fogelberg – Phoenix

The Beatles – Rubber Soul

Patti Smith – Outside Society

Crowded House – Recurring Dream: The Very Best Of Crowded House

The Honeydrippers – Volume One

Gryphon – Raindance

Eliza Gilkyson – Paradise Hotel

The Rolling Stones – Forty Licks

Afro-Celt Sound System – Flight

Renaissance – Ashes Are Burning

Richard Thompson – Strict Tempo!

Harry Nilsson – The Point

Iron & Wine – Woman King

Syd Barrett – The Madcap Laughs

Jeff Beck – Emotion And Commotion

Son Volt – Notes Of Blue

Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story

The Faces – Long Player

Judy Collins – In My Life

Dave Edmunds – Rockpile

Paula Cole – This Fire

Joan Armatrading – Joan Armatrading

Donald Fagen -- The Nightfly

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Feb. 17th, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ Richard Thompson: Well, first of all it's entertainment. That stops us becoming too pretentious or thinking we're great artists.

[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 New York City (Manhattan) again. I once thought of NYC as my spiritual home; then i went to St Louis, and the rest is history.]

Now that's more like it! After last week's rather lacklustre instalment, the Klassics Show was back on form today. The show is automatically graded an A+ because of the inclusion of Dan Fogelberg, but the truth is, it almost deserved it without Dan's contribution.

There was certainly a lot of much-loved music, and nothing awful (although the spoken introduction to the Grand Funk Railroad track was somewhat dubious and The Animals' song, which i actually like, featured some of Eric Burdon's most atrocious lyrics). Some of the songs were “merely” good (i.e., not great) and i really don't think Huey Lewis belongs on this show, although his track was listenable enough.

Highlights for me were ELO, Horslips, ELP (Uman incorrectly introduced “Knife Edge” as an instrumental number) and Rod Stewart – younger readers may not remember a time when Rod Stewart could actually rock.

Th-th-that's all, folks!

Bruce Springsteen – Fourth Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

Huey Lewis And The News – Walking On A Thin Line

Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg – The Power Of Gold

The Electric Light Orchestra – Roll Over Beethoven

Paul McCartney & Wings – Magneto And Titanium Man

Boz Scaggs – Dinah Flo

Robert Palmer – Every Kinda People

Hellfield – Too Long

Horslips – The Man Who Built America

David Bowie – Jean Genie

Hydra – Feel Like Running

Fleetwood Mac – Hypnotized

Utopia – Love In Action

Journey – Be Good To Yourself

Jay Ferguson – Snakes On The Run

Phil Collins – I Don't Wanna Know

Yes – Parallels

Gary Wright – Can't Find The Judge

Stephen Stills – Turn Back The Pages

Rod Stewart – (I Know I'm) Losing You

Loverboy – When It's Over

Foghat – Home In My Hand

Grand Funk Railroad – I Can Feel Him In The Morning

Sherbs – We Ride Tonight

Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Knife Edge

Jethro Tull – Nothing Is Easy

Tom Petty – Restless

Chris Rea – Working On It

Poco – Indian Summer

The Animals – San Franciscan Nights

Wiggy Bits – Oh Captain

Dave Mason – Look At You Look At Me

John Mellencamp – Hot Night In A Cold Town

The Marshall Tucker Band – Fly Like An Eagle

Jesse Colin Young – Ridgetop

Michael Fennelly – Touch My Soul

And these are the albums my veterinarian told me to play this week, to help curb my desire to scratch certain people's eyes out:

George Harrison – Cloud Nine

Judy Dunlop & Ashley Hutchings – Sway With Me

Lisa Gerrard w. Pieter Bourke – Duality

Percy Grainger – Percy Grainger Plays Grainger

Various Artists – Compil Folk 37

Richard Thompson – Rumor And Sigh

Mr Fox – Join Us In Our Game

Dan Fogelberg – River Of Souls

FM – Black Noise

Atlanta Rhythm Section – ARS: The Best Of Atlanta Rhythm Section

Kesha – Rainbow

Genesis – Foxtrot

Marillion – Clutching At Straws

Yes – The Yes Album

George Harrison – All Things Must Pass

Joan Osborne – Pretty Little Stranger

Propaganda – A Secret Wish

Neil Young – After The Gold Rush

Dixie Chicks – Fly

Weezer – Six Hits

Chicago – Chicago VII

Various Artists – Compil Folk 39

The Beatles – Past Masters, Vol. 2

Big Sugar – Revolutions Per Minute

Various Artists – Vision: The Music Of Hildegard Von Bingen

King Crimson – Larks' Tongues In Aspic

Enya – Shepherd Moons

The Move – Message From The Country

Stone The Crows – Teenage Licks

Rory Gallagher – Fresh Evidence

Saga – Silent Knight

Fantasia On A Theme Of Katlyn Alix

I'm sure that most of you will have heard the tragic story of Katlyn Alix, the St Louis police officer who was shot and killed by a fellow officer whilst playing a game akin to Russian Roulette (instead of firing a revolver with only one bullet in its barrel at their own temples, they were firing at each other). What the hell were they thinking?

I can't really say why – perhaps because there are so many unanswered questions, perhaps simply because she was so pretty – but i've become almost obsessed with this woman and her terrible death at the age of twenty-four.

The shooter – Nathaniel Hendren – and his partner, who were on duty, were at Hendren's house (when they were supposed to be patrolling two miles away). Katlyn (who was off-duty) joined them there.

OK, first questions: why were the two on-duty police officers there, and why did Katlyn meet them there? She was a married woman and it was 1 a.m.... Hendren had been drinking, his partner may or may not have been; there's no word about Katlyn, the toxicology reports haven't been made public yet.

Three times the gun (a non-service revolver) was fired: Hendren, once, into empty space, Katlyn, once, at Hendren, and then Hendren at Alix and – i have a vivid picture in my mind's eye – it went into her chest, knocked her head over heels and killed her.

The two officers rushed her to hospital but she was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Hendren, charged with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action, showed up in court the next day with a black eye, which he claims was the result of his head-butting a police SUV. Huh?!? I've never heard of anyone head-butting anyone (or anything) with their eye. What i suspect here, without any evidence whatsoever, is that his partner walloped him, saying something along the lines of, you stupid fuck, have you any idea how much shit you've landed us in? (The partner hasn't been charged with anything but is on paid administrative leave for now.)

But, poor Katlyn. I met her, you know. Twice.

When i was in St Louis, two years ago, she had just graduated from the police academy and was on foot patrol down by the Gateway Arch with an older officer, a mentor maybe. I went down there to the riverfront almost every day, i loved it there.

To be honest, i don't remember her face, although i thought she had a nice smile. What i remember is her name tag, and the unusual spelling of her surname: “ALIX.” For some reason that stayed in my mind. She was talking to people (tourists), asking where they were from and how were they enjoying St Louis, etc., and when she came to me she was fascinated to learn that i was from Canada. We spoke for a good four or five minutes, about the differences and similarities between the two countries. It was an extraordinarily pleasant interlude. She was very nice and i enjoyed chatting with her.

As i said, i was down at the riverfront almost every day, but it wasn't until a couple of days later that i saw her again and she greeted me almost like an old friend, asking all about my visit: what had i seen, what had i done, etc. She seemed genuinely interested, and she recommended a couple of other places of interest; frankly, i don't recall what they were but i'm pretty sure i didn't manage to visit them.

I never saw her again. Now, of course, i never will – and the fact is, that i never met her at all: meeting her is 100% fantasy. It baffles me why this poor woman's end has had such an effect on me, though. I need to remember her.

Her family started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay funeral expenses – there's the procession down there – and their goal was $5000. When i went to donate, they'd already raised almost twice that amount, so i didn't get my credit card out. Still, i'd like to do something in her memory. Any ideas?

I've been in touch (via Facebook) with someone who knew her, asking if Katlyn had a favourite charity or favourite cause: no response as yet, but maybe making a donation will help me to stop crying (although i doubt it).

R.I.P. Katlyn.

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Feb. 10th, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ Sid Vicious: You can't arrest me, I'm a rock star.

[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 New York City (Manhattan) again – area code 10011, to be precise.]

Today's show was, in the words of John Ulett (“the man whose right hand would rather not know what his left hand is doing”), a “deep show.” There were a lot of songs he hadn't played in a long time. I confess i was a trifle trepidatious: sometimes, there's a reason they've not been aired for a while: they're not very good. The Classic Rock era lasted, say, mid-sixties to early-eighties, and in that time, music exploded and a vast number of records were released ... and, along with the great schtuff, there was also a huge amount of crap.

And i'm sorry, i really can't give it a grade higher than B this week. Two songs that were so bad i wanted to change the station (i didn't, but they were painful): Jonathan Round and Trapeze, i'm looking at you.

There were a few songs that i love, for sure, and hearing The Beach Boys was a delightful surprise – i don't think i've ever heard them on KSHE before; it has been said that “God Only Knows” is the most beautiful song ever written. I wouldn't go that far but it's pretty damned gorgeous !

Otherwise, though, there was too much that was just plain ordinary. Listenable enough, certainly, but nothing that made me want to log in to amazon.ca and order everything i could find by, say, The Michael Stanley Band or Gypsy. And Donovan's song .... I love a lot of Donovan's music but that song is embarrassingly pretentious.

So, a B it is given. It can be so much better.

Dixon House Band – Sooner Or Later

Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Lookin' Out For #1

The Rockets – Oh Well

Jesse Colin Young – Grey Day Parts 1 & 2

Neil Young – Cinnamon Girl

Bruce Springsteen – Fade Away

Blue Cheer – Summertime Blues

Paul McCartney – Monkberry Moon Delight

Mastermind – Too Much To Ask For

Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin'

Spider – Change

Gypsy – Dead And Gone

Ted Nugent – Snakeskin Cowboys

Steel Breeze – You Don't Want Me Any More

10 c.c. -- Dreadlock Holiday

Jonathan Round – Sympathy For The Devil

The Michael Stanley Band – Strike Up The Band

Eagles – You Never Cry Like A Lover

The Alan Parsons Project – Damned If I Do

The Rolling Stones – All Down The Line

The Grateful Dead – Alabama Getaway

Santana – Hold On

Trapeze – Medusa

Brewer & Shipley – Tarkio Road

The Beach Boys – God Only Knows

Pretenders – Talk Of The Town

Eric Clapton – Promises

The Clash – Lost In The Supermarket

The Climax Blues Band – Hey Mama

Gregg Allman – Come And Go Blues

The Charlie Daniels Band – Passing Lane

Bruce Cockburn – Tokyo

Dirty Tricks – Too Much Wine

Donovan – Atlantis

Journey – Line Of Fire

The Outlaws – Ghost Riders In The Sky

Dave Edmunds – Slipping Away

Bad Company – Painted Face

Pavlov's Dog – Natchez Trace

And here are the albums my proctologist prescribed for me this week, to help me deal with the pains in the arse i have to suffer every day:

Paul McCartney – Run Devil Run

Yes – The Ladder

Neil Young – Are You Passionate?

Paul Simon – Songs From “The Capeman”

Annie Haslam – Annie In Wonderland

John Renbourn – The Hermit

Dave Swarbrick w. Martin Carthy & Diz Disley – Rags, Reels And Airs

Sharon Shannon – Out The Gap

The Albion Band – Acousticity

Terje Rypdal – Odyssey

Siouxsie And The Banshees – The Rapture

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Into The Great Wide Open

Joan Osborne – How Sweet It Is

Rush – Vapor Trails

Donovan –Neutronica

Filarfolket – Smuggel

Humble Pie –Classics, Vol. 14

Dead Can Dance – Dionysius

Dan Fogelberg – Souvenirs

Chris Leslie – Dancing Days

Joan Armatrading -- Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading – Show Some Emotion

Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Dancer With Bruised Knees

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – The Best Of Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Eliza Carthy – Heat, Light And Sound

Quintessence – In Blissful Company

Yes – Fragile

Roy Wood Wizzo Band – Super Active Wizzo

Dixie Chicks – Home

Stephen Duffy – Music In Colours

Pink – Try This

Gryphon – Red Queen To Gryphon Three

Jon Anderson – Olias Of Sunhillow

Weezer – Six Hits

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Feb. 3rd, 2019

Quotation du jour ~Aaron Copland: To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.

[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 New York City. Manhattan, to be precise. Suits me, i love it there.]

Today's edition would have been worthy of an A+ even without the Dan Fogelberg track – one of Dan's best. Oh, there were a couple of annoyances for sure: Sting and Harry Chapin, ugh, i can't stand either of those songs, and Sting's solo version of “Roxanne” is truly awful. But honestly, who can say they are able to listen to the radio for four hours and only suffer twice? Pretty much everything else was fab, and there was quite a lot that i can honestly say i love.

I should have known i was in for a treat when the show began with B.B. King – someone i haven't heard played on KSHE in a couple of years and have never heard on the Klassics Show.

There were a couple of minor technical boo-boos. KSHE's home page always shows what's playing, but Dan Fogelberg was labelled as The Rolling Stones and Gypsy was labelled as The Black Crowes. It makes me wonder how many times i have posted incorrect song titles – i don't always recognise everything, ya know!

Here's the King Of The Blues himself. See you next week.....

B.B. King – The Thrill Is Gone

Strawbs – To Be Free

Dire Straits – Skateaway

Crawler – Sail On

Jethro Tull – Teacher

The Electric Light Orchestra – The Hall Of The Mountain King

Billy Joel – The Entertainer

Blind Faith – Sea Of Joy

Dan Fogelberg – There's A Place In The World For A Gambler

Orion The Hunter – So You Ran

The Little River Band – Emma

Bill Quateman – Shot In The Dark

Wishbone Ash – Phoenix

Heartsfield – As I Look Into The Fire

Fleetwood Mac – She's Changing Me

Head, Hands And Feet – Country Boy

Gypsy – Tomorrow Is The Last To Be Heard

Sting – Roxanne (live)

The Steve Miller Band – The Stake

Foghat – My Babe

Neil Young – Don't Let It Bring You Down

The Marc Tanner Band – Hot And Cold

Steve Winwood – Time Is Running Out

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Crosstown Traffic

Toto – Ninety Nine

George Harrison – Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

Styx – This Old Man

Bruce Springsteen – I'm A Rocker

Rainbow – Street Of Dreams

The Who – Magic Bus

Russ Ballard – Voices

Nantucket – Quite Like You

Harry Chapin – Taxi

Supertramp – Ain't Nobody But Me

Martin Briley – Salt In My Tears

The Grateful Dead – Estimated Prophet

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Spirits In The Night

Santana – Everybody's Everything

These are the albums that my Nuru masseuse recommended that i play this week, to help me deal with pains in my neck (and lower) caused by idiot colleagues. Oh, “team-mates,” sorry.

The Chieftains – Chieftains 4

The Allman Brothers Band -- Brothers And Sisters

The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It

Camel – I Can See Your House From Here

Dead Can Dance – Aion

Nazareth – Hair Of The Dog

Bonnie Raitt – Road Tested

Les Paul & Friends – American Made, World Played

King Crimson – Red

Jack Bruce – A Question Of Time

Linda Ronstadt – Heart Like A Wheel

Renaissance – Renaissance

Marillion – Radiation

Kesha – Rainbow

Focus – Focus III

Caro Emerald – Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor

The Waterboys – Dream Harder

Steeleye Span – Dodgy Bastards

The Who – Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy

Linda Thompson – Versatile Heart

Van der Graaf Generator – Maida Vale

Weezer – Six Hits

Billy Squier – The Best Of Billy Squier: 16 Strokes

Joan Osborne – Pretty Little Things

Mike Oldfield – Five Miles Out

Renaissance – Azure d'Or

Mama's Pride – Uptown And Lowdown

The Electric Light Orchestra – Out Of The Blue

The Beatles – Please Please Me

The Kinks – Sleepwalker

Don Henley – Building The Perfect Beast

Various Artists – Evangeline Made: A Tribute To Cajun Music

Bob Dylan – Another Side Of Bob Dylan

Mary Chapin Carpenter – Shooting Straight From The Heart

Kensington Market -- Aardvark