KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Sept. 29th, 2019

Quotation Of The Week ~ Grace Slick: "'White Rabbit' was mostly done in about two days, the music in about half an hour. The music is a 'Bolero' rip-off and the lyrics a rearrangement of 'Alice in Wonderland.' You take two spectacular hits and throw them together, and it's hard to miss."

[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 back in Cheney, Kansas.]

To get the important commentary out of the way first (the ads), my gosh, doesn't Tom Shane of Shane Company (“the official jeweller of the St Louis Cardinals,” apparently) have a monotonous voice? Dreadful. I wouldn't buy any jewellery at his shop – he might try to talk to me! The spots for Doctor John's Lingerie And Novelty Boutique (a shop specialising in sex aids, with branches in St Peters, Kirkwood and Farmington) are pretty raunchy, almost crossing the line for what i want to listen to on a Sunday morning. And where, oh where, is Bart Inman? Jerry Kelly, who seems to have taken over from Bart as heating and air conditioning sponsor, has a really obnoxious jingle....

As for the music.... I'm giving the show a grade of A, in spite of the dreadful start with one of the most obnoxious musicians in the history of Western Civilisation, Ted Nugent. Once that was out of the way, though, there's was lots to love. Here's the playlist, along with a picture of the world-famous Cheney Reservoir:

Ted Nugent – Wang Dang Sweet Poontang

Foghat – Stone Blue

The Allman Brothers Band – In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed

Saga – Wind Him Up

The Babys – The Golden Mile

Queen – '39

David And David – Welcome To The Boomtown

The J. Geils Band – Love-Itis

Santana – Well All Right

Batdorf & Rodney – Can You See Him

GTR – When The Heart Rules The Mind

Hammersmith – Late Night Lovin' Man

The Doors – When The Music's Over

Jefferson Starship – Layin' It On The Line

The Rolling Stones – When The Whip Comes Down

Kingfish w. Bob Weir – Hypnotize

Starship – Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight

Elton John – Where To Now St Peter

Pat Travers – Off Beat Ride

Steve Winwood – While You See A Chance

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

Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit

Santana – Transcendance

Free – Wishing Well

Manfred Mann's Earthband – You Angel You

The Steve Miller Band – Wide River

Robin Trower – Long Misty Days

Jimmy Barnes – Working Class Man

Peter Frampton – Baby (Something's Happening)

Firefall – You Are The Woman

Painter – Goin' Down The Road

The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows

Ironhorse – You Gotta Let Go

Phil Collins – I Missed Again

Sammy Hagar – You Make Me Crazy

Le Roux – Let Me Be Your Fantasy

For my own personal playlist this week, i was on my own, my team of therapists all seeming to have fled. I was forced to self-medicate, and here's what i came up with:

Amazing Blondel – England

Ray Davies – Our Country: Americana Act ii

Donna Summer – Live And More

Marc Jordan – Mannequin

Paul Simon – In The Blue Light

Eagles – Desperado

The Beatles – The Beatles

Jon & Vangelis – Short Stories

Thin Lizzy – Live And Dangerous (DVD)

Yes – Close To The Edge

Marillion – Sounds That Can't Be Made

Carbon Leaf – Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

Jethro Tull – Stormwatch

Runrig – The Ones That Got Away

Rory Gallagher – Blues

Natalie Maines – Mother

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall

Marvin Gaye – 15 Greatest Hits

Dick Gaughan – Gaughan

Roy Wood – Exotic Mixture

Chicago – Chicago II

Genesis – Duke

Nik Kershaw – To Be Frank

Fairport Convention – Myths And Heroes

Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane – East Wind

Lisa Gerrard – Lisa Gerrard

Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas

Paula Cole – Raven

Phil Collins – Both Sides

Talk Talk – Live At Montreux 1986 (DVD)

King Crimson – The Power To Believe

June Tabor – Ashore

Pink – I'm Not Dead

Mark Knopfler – Sailing To Philadelphia

Hothouse Flowers – Born

John Lennon – Mind Games

T. Rex – Electric Warrior

Eagles – On The Border

Various Artists – Big Blue Ball

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Sept. 22nd, 2019

Quotation Of The Week ~ Jimi Hendrix: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

[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 back in North Bergen, New Jersey for the first time in a few weeks.]

The burning question of the week is, where is Bart Inman? He's the owner of a heating and air-conditioning company in St Louis and i enjoy his ads on The Klassics Show, but he's been missing for about three weeks now. Come home, Bart, all is forgiven! (https://inmanair.com/)

(I think that, as advertising takes up about a quarter of the show every week, i may have to start including it in my assessments – it's obviously important....)

I'm grading this week's show as an A, even though the Ted Nugent track was so awful (appalling, deplorable, repulsive, dreadful, ghastly – thank you, Dr Roget) i wanted to take a hammer to my speakers ... but then i would have had to listen to the rest of the show on my iPad using earbuds and those things keep falling out. It wouldn't have been all that enjoyable, really. And the rest of the show was d*mned good!

Sure, there were a few songs i wasn't crazy about – the Mason Profitt number comes to mind – and, to be honest, there weren't that many tracks that i would include in my favourite 1000 songs list, but almost every track was perfectly delightful.

It's always wonderful to hear Cheryl Dilcher (R.I.P.) on the radio. She and i have (had?) three degrees of separation but, Luther Grosvenor and i are two degrees apart, as i am with all of The Police, so i guess three degrees isn't all that impressive....

Here's Cheryl, and the playlist:

Journey – Of A Lifetime

Kenny Loggins – Swear Your Love

Cheryl Dilcher – Together

Jefferson Starship – St Charles

Graham Nash – Chicago / We Can Change The World

Gypsy – Gypsy Queen (Part One)

The Police – Walking On The Moon

Uriah Heep – That's The Way That It Is

The Beatles – All I've Got To Do

Novo Combo – Too Long Gone

Huey Lewis & The News – Tell Me A Little Lie

James Taylor – Traffic Jam

Robin Trower – Too Rolling Stoned

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes – Papa's Will (embarrassingly bad)

The Clash – Train In Vain (Stand By Me)

The J. Geils Band – Hard Drivin' Man

The Allman Brothers Band – Trouble No More

Cat Stevens – The Hurt

The Steve Miller Band – True Fine Love

The Moody Blues – Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)

Max Gronenthal – Get It Straight

Brewer & Shipley – Witchi Tai To

Z.Z. Top – TV Dinners

Dwight Twilley – Girls

The Firm – Satisfaction Guaranteed

Mason Profitt – Two Hangmen

Trooper – Two For The Show

The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Tuff Enuff

Michael Stanley Band – Don't Stop The Music

Luther Grosvenor – Under Open Skies

The Doobie Brothers – Without You

Steve Winwood – Valerie

Ian Hunter – Just Another Night

Golden Earring – Vanilla Queen

Bandit – Visions Of You

Cheap Trick -- Voices

And here's my own personal playlist for the week. It's not as long as usual – i came dangerously close to having a social life. Nipped it in the bud, though!

Susan Tedeschi – Live From Austin, TX.

Kate Bush – The Sensual World

Roxy Music – The Early Years

The Cars – The Essentials

Kim Mitchell – Aural Fixations

Dan Fogelberg – Full Circle

Caro Emerald – Emerald Island

Steeleye Span – Ten Man Mop, Or, Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again

The Albion Dance Band – The Prospect Before Us

Lorin Maazel & The Berlin Philharmonic -- “The Ring” Without Words

Renaissance – Ashes Are Burning

Sparks – Kimono My House

Camel – I Can See Your House From Here

Various Artists – This Is Where I Belong: The Songs Of Ray Davies + The Kinks

Martin & Eliza Carthy – The Moral Of The Elephant

Patti Smith – Outside Society

Steeleye Span – Commoner's Crown

Renaissance – Novella

Counting Crows – August And Everything After

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

Afro Celt Sound System – Volume 2: Release

Donal Lunny – Coolfin

Happy Rhodes – Warpaint

Allan Holdsworth – Metal Fatigue

Amelita – Court Yard Hounds

The Beatles – Please Please Me

Bjőrk – Homogenic

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Sept. 15th, 2019

Quotation Of The Week ~ Bob Newhart: I don't like country music, but i don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means “put down.”

[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 back in Cheney, Kansas.]

Listening to The Klassics Show this morning, i was reminded of a station i used to listen to quite often, stlouisclassicrock[dot]com. That station prided itself on how long they could go without repeating a song (it was +5000 songs the last time i looked) (most rock stations have a playlist of 200 – 300 songs) and, by necessity, this meant that they had to play a lot of music that was pretty obscure – and a lot of it was deservedly obscure.

I was thinking of this as i listened to The Blend, Gulliver, Faith Band, Denim, Earthquake and Rockets. Who were these guys?!? And i swear, in each case, if you removed the vocal track, they'd be indistinguishable. There was nothing wrong with these songs, i hasten to add, but they were what you might call generic.

There were a couple of songs today that there was a lot wrong with. I'm on record as stating that i can't stand R.E.O. Speedwagon; i know they're extremely popular in St Louis but i just don't get it. And Uman, the host, seems to be a fan of Harry Chapin and he's another one i can't abide. The song today, The Sniper, was awful!

Now, to explain why i'm giving this instalment a grade of A+ ...

First of all, he played Rory, which pretty much means that A+ is automatic. Further, the above moaning and groaning notwithstanding, there was a lot of great music this morning. It's impossible to choose one favourite, but The Beatles, Todd Rundgren and Rory (of course!) would be well in there.

Also, thank you, Uman, for the two songs by, and the reminiscences about, Eddie Money, who passed away last week. R.I.P., Eddie.

Blue Cheer – I'm The Light

Yes – Time And A Word

The Clash – Police On My Back

Flash And The Pan – Down Among The Dead Men

Joe Walsh – The Confessor

The Who – The Kids Are Alright

Rush – The Analog Kid

The Band – The Weight

Firefall – Sweet And Sour

The Blend – The Prize

The Alan Parsons Project – The Raven

Neal Schon & Jan Hammer – The Ride

The Doors – The End

Gulliver – Ridin' The Wind

Faith Band – Touchy Situation

Jackson Browne – The Road And The Sky

R.E.O. Speedwagon – Music Man

Eric Clapton – She's Waiting

Eddie Money – Rock And Roll The Place

Todd Rundgren – I Saw The Light

The Beatles – And Your Bird Can Sing

Harry Chapin – Sniper

Bob Dylan – All Along The Watchtower

Rory Gallagher – They Don't Make Them Like You Anymore

The Marshall Tucker Band – Blue Ridge Mountain Sky

George Harrison – Got My Mind Set On You

Morning Star – Sad Lady

Buddy Miles – Them Changes

Eddie Money – Trinidad

Denim – Throw Away

Earth Quake – Things

Leon Russell – Delta Lady

Steve Winwood – Still In The Game

Rockets – Desire

And my own, personal stress-relieving playlist for the week consisted of these albums:

A Fine Frenzy – Pines

Carbon Leaf – Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel 2

Highly Strung – Bagatelles And Belgian Lace

Peter Hammill – Skin

The Art Of Noise – Close To The Edit (EP)

The Yardbirds – Greatest Hits

Max Webster – Mutiny Up My Sleeve

Genesis – Wind And Wuthering

Terje Rypdal – Descendre

Kate Bush – Never For Ever

Strawbs – A Choice Collection Of Strawbs

Rory Gallagher – Defender

Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn

Propaganda – A Secret Wish

Cat Stevens – Buddha And The Chocolate Box

Runrig – Heartland

Chicago – Chicago V

London Grammar – Truth Is A Beautiful Thing

Kate Bush – Director's Cut

Nick Drake – Way To Blue

The Rolling Stones – The Rolling Stones, Now!

The Keef Hartley Band – The Battle Of North West Six

Crowded House – The Very Best Of Crowded House

P.J. Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

Keane – Under The Iron Sea

Jackson Browne – Lives In The Balance

Eric Clapton – Behind The Sun

The Beatles – Beatles For Sale

Paul Simon – The Rhythm Of The Saints

Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Sept. 8th, 2019

Quotation Of The Week ~ Johannes Brahms: It is a real pleasure to see music so bright and spontaneous expressed with corresponding ease and grace.

[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 in Santa Clara, California.]

I must be in a good mood or something today: i'm grading this week's instalment an A. The first hour was, in fact, almost tedious but things turned around and, although there was an unusual amount of obscure schtuff, it was mostly good obscure schtuff and there were also a lot of songs i can honestly say i love. (In fact, i ordered Cat Stevens' CD “Buddah And The Chocolate Box” after hearing the song Oh Very Young for the first time in a while – i used to have the vinyl and there is some gorgeous music on it, IIRC.)

So, yes, an A, but with reservations. The Animals' song was a good one, but the lyrics are moronic: Eric Burdon wanted so badly to be a flower child / hippie when he was really just a Geordie bruiser; David Surkamp, the singer with Pavlov's Dog, has a voice that's so egregious that their albums were banned in Guantanamo Bay as being cruel and unusual punishment after a multitude of complaints from the ISIS terrorists imprisoned there (although my feelings aren't shared by the majority of KSHE listeners, according to The Klassics Show's Facebook fan group).

Towering above such dross, though, we had the magic of Tales Of Brave Ulysses, Telephone Line, Say Goodbye To Hollywood, Another Girl, Oh Very Young of course, The Last Resort and, what i would consider the highlight of the show, You Wear It Well. I loved Rod Stewart's music once.

As usual, the program ended far too soon. Here's the playlist:

Spys – Don't Run My Life

Peter Frampton – (I'll Give You) Money

Rare Bird – Sympathy

The Allman Brothers Band – Soulshine

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Take You Tonight

Mistress – China Lake

Cream – Tales Of Brave Ulysses

Loverboy – Take Me To The Top

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – The Criminal Kind

Elton John – Teacher I Need You

The Electric Light Orchestra – Telephone Line

Peter Gabriel – That Voice Again

Nektar – Show Me The Way

Foreigner – That Was Yesterday

The Beatles – Another Girl

Billy Joel – Say Goodbye To Hollywood

Rod Stewart – You Wear It Well

Pavlov's Dog – Song Dance

Stir – Nothing's Wrong

Eric Burdon & The Animals – Monterey

Mark - Almond – The City

The Souther, Hillman, Furay Band – Fallin' In Love

Eric Clapton – The Core

Foghat – Take It Or Leave It

The Marshall Tucker Band – Never Trust A Stranger

Jackson Browne – The Fuse

Sea Level – That's Your Secret

Mott The Hoople – The Golden Age Of Rock 'N' Roll

Cat Stevens – Oh Very Young

Sammy Hagar – The Ice Man

Dio – The Last In Line

Nazareth – Star

Eagles – The Last Resort

Journey – Kohoutek

The Band – Life Is A Carnival

Adriana, my therapist (a.k.a., bartender at Bentley's) has disappeared again. This playlist – of albums for me to play this week to soothe my savage breast, soften rocks and bend my knotted oak, was provided by my back-up therapist Melissa (a.k.a., bartender at Montana's). Not a bad job, Mel!

Paul McCartney – Ram

Natalie Maines – Mother

Jackson Browne – Lives In The Balance

The Kinks – Soap Opera

Jeff Beck – Loud Hailer

London Grammar – If You Want

Kendírví – Pied-à-Terre

Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure

Jethro Tull – A

George Harrison – Brainwashed

Eliza Gilkyson – Paradise Hotel

Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces

Eagles – Desperado

Mama's Pride – Uptown And Lowdown

Runrig – The Last Dance

David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars

Maddy Prior – Woman In The Wings

Outback – Baka

The Doobie Brothers – Best Of The Doobies

Renaissance – A Song For All Seasons

Kim Mitchell – Shakin' Like A Human Being

Jack Bruce – Silver Rails

The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It

Paula Cole – Ballads

Jane Siberry – Bound By The Beauty

Pete Townshend – Psychoderelict

Florence + The Machine – High As Hope

Sheryl Crow – Threads

The Allman Brothers Band – Brothers And Sisters

The Home Service – A New Ground

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Sept. 1st, 2019

Quotation Of The Week ~ Robert Crumb: When i listen to old music, that's one of the few times i actually have a kind of love for humanity.

[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, https://whatismyipaddress.com/ was once more unable to locate me precisely, apart from my being somewhere in Kansas again. However, i think i was able to pin in down: Cheney, Kansas, about 20 miles west of Wichita and about 460 miles west of St Louis – which means i was close to home!]

Now that's more like it! After a couple of Sundays where the show was “merely” very good, this week we were back to the excellence that we've come to expect. It gets a grade of A+, no question. Of course, the inclusion of Dan Fogelberg guarantees that grade, but i think it would have merited it anyway.

Even the Ted Nugent song, a man i think is responsible for some of the worst music in the history of Western culture, was bearable. The low point – and it wasn't that low – was Eric Burdon & War. War was a fine band, but i'm on record as saying that, after the first success of The Animals, Eric Burdon became a total and utter wanker. He was ... in character on this song, and his lyrics were just plain embarrassing.

The highlight for me was probably James Taylor (old wuss that i can be sometimes), but the Deep Purple and The Who tracks were right up there, and it was also brilliant to hear one of my favourite female singers, Maddy Prior, singing backing vocals on the Jethro Tull song: she's not someone who ever appears on KSHE.

There were a few technical glitches, although they didn't detract from the music. The Chilliwack song was mis-identified as being by Thin Lizzy and the Mike Harrison track was certainly not Manfred Mann!

And here's Cheney, Kansas. In 1907.

Santana – Lightning In The Sky

John Mellencamp – Wild Night

Albert Hammond – Smokey Factory Blues

Flash – Small Beginnings

Ted Nugent – Dog Eat Dog

Chilliwack – Something Better

James Taylor – Something In The Way She Moves

Jethro Tull – Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die

Montrose – Space Station #5

Deep Purple – Woman From Tokyo

Journey – Somethin' To Hide

Eric Burdon & War – Spill The Wine

Mike Harrison – Smokestack Lightning

Steve Winwood – Holding On

Michael Murphey – Geronimo's Cadillac

Skip Battin – St Louis Browns

The Band – Stage Fright

The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Stand Back

Lucifer's Friend – Spanish Galleon

Black Sabbath – The Wizard

Slade – How Does It Feel

The Fixx – Red Skies

Foreigner – Starrider

Carolyne Mas – Still Sane

Dan Fogelberg – Man In The Mirror / Below The Surface

38 Special – Stone Cold Believer

Randy Pie – Back To The Universe

Steppenwolf – Monster

The Who – Substitute

Captain Beyond – Sufficiently Breathless

The Beat – Don't Wait Up For Me Tonight

David Crosby & Graham Nash – Immigration Man

My therapist at Bentley's Bar & Inn, the cute-as-a-button Adriana, who i thought had fled to Bali with my registered psychotherapist, didn't flee at all, and was here all along. Our paths finally crossed and here's the list of cds she told me to play this week, to ease my worried mind:

Blodwyn Pig – Getting To This

Peter Hammill – pH7

Steeleye Span – Hark! The Village Wait

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall

Terje Rypdal – Chaser

Three Dog Night – Joy To The World: Their Greatest Hits

Joan Osborne – Relish

The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies

Amelita – Court Yard Hounds

Max Webster – Max Webster

James Taylor – Greatest Hits

ABBA – The Visitors

The Hollies – 20 Golden Greats

Highly Strung – When The Winds Begin To Sing

Chelsea Williams – Boomerang

Nazareth – Loud 'N' Proud

Rod Stewart – Smiler

Dick Gaughan – The Definitive Collection

Carbon Leaf – Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

Dead Can Dance – Dionysus

Wendy Carlos – Clockwork Orange

Amazing Blondel – Fantasia Lindum

Pyewackett – The Man In The Moon Drinks Claret

Steve Earle – Essential Steve Earle

Outback – Baka

A Fine Frenzy – Bomb In A Birdcage

Marc Jordan – Mannequin

The Who – Tommy

The Beatles – Help!

Sheryl Crow – Threads

London Grammar – Truth Is A Beautiful Thing