Sunday, 12 January 2020

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, January 12th, 2020


[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 Capstone Building Supply outlet.]

Quotation Of The Week ~ William Shakespeare: Most heavenly music! It nips me unto listening, and thick slumber hangs upon mine eyes.

Up until maybe fifteen or sixteen years ago, i was a devoted listener to a radio station from Oshawa, Ontario, called 94.9 The Rock. It was a fabulous station, they would regularly play really obscure music that no other rock radio stations that i knew of would even touch. (IIRC, the first time i ever listened, they were playing a track by Cheech & Chong.) In fact, one of their tag lines was “wow, i haven't heard that song since....” I don't know what happened, though: change of owner, change of management, but they took a nosedive into a puddle of mud. All of the best on-air personalities were either let go or quit and one, who had been on maternity leave, came back to work and lasted less than a week (many of them are still my friends on Facebook), to be replaced by amateurs and incompetents. Worse, their playlist shrank dramatically, so that the completion of their tag line would become “i haven't heard that song since ... an hour ago.” I stopped listening.

It took me a few months but, by a very circuitous route, i found KSHE 95 (it was my brother Dave who lives in St Clair, Missouri who told me about it when i was moaning one day about how awful the radio stations here had become) and i loved it and the station very literally changed my life. But nothing ever stays the same – KSHE has changed, too, to the point where i rarely listen anymore ... except to the Sunday Klassics Show, and it's the highlight of my week without a doubt.

Even when the installment, like this week's, isn't exceptional. I'm only grading it an “A-minus” -- there was nothing wrong with it at all, but i know that it can be so much better. I'm curious, too, about why there were two songs each by Yes and Asia – great as those songs were. Uman doesn't often play one artist twice per show. Sadly, i do understand why there were two songs by Rush, though: the tributes to Neil Peart are pouring in from everywhere, and i know that Rush was hugely popular in St Louis.

My favourite song of the morning was unquestionably Yes's “Starship Trooper,” but to be honest there was little else that i would include in my top 500 favourite songs list. Steely Dan, Paul McCartney, The Spencer Davis Group and Wet Willie, maybe. I hasten to add that there was nothing wrong with anything else played this morning – everything was fine and there was nothing annoying at all. 

R.I.P., Neil....



Neil Young – Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
Shoes – She Satisfies
Journey – Spaceman
Sammy Hagar – (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
The Moody Blues – The Actor
Yes – Starship Trooper
Steely Dan – Peg
The Marshall Tucker Band – Take The Highway
The Charlie Daniels Band – The South's Gonna Do It Again
Strawbs – To Be Free
Roger Daltrey – Under A Raging Moon
Toby Beau – Westbound Train
The Steve Miller Band – Your Saving Grace
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Workin' For MCA
Tony Carey – A Fine, Fine Day
Sad Café – Black Rose
City Boy – Cigarettes
Aphrodite's Child – Break
Rush – A Passage To Bangkok
Asia – Cutting It Fine
Asia – Time Again
The Little River Band – Emma
Hawks – It's All Right, It's OK
Rush – Vital Signs
Frank Zappa – Don't Eat The Yellow Snow / Cosmik Debris
Rod Stewart – Gasoline Alley
The Guess Who – Hand Me Down World
Rare Earth – I Know I'm Losing You
The Spencer Davis Group – I'm A Man
Wet Willie – Keep On Smilin'
The Electric Light Orchestra – In The Hall Of The Mountain King
Triumph – Say Goodbye
Paul McCartney – Listen To What The Man Said
Little Feat – Spanish Moon
UFO – Mystery Train
Yes – Parallels
Man – Rainbow Eyes
Jackson Browne – Hold Out
38 Special – Rock And Roll Strategy

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

The Beatles – Live At The Hollywood Bowl
Eagles – Desperado
Various Artists – Songs Of Our Native Daughters
Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers
C.K. Strong – C.K. Strong
Sandy Denny – Rendezvous
Alan Price – The Best Of Alan Price
The Keef Hartley Band – The Battle Of North West Six
Colin James – Miles To Go
Sheryl Crow – Threads
Various Artists – Hard Cash
Spirit – Clear
Max Webster – Max Webster
Roy Wood / Wizzard – Archive Series
Rory Gallagher – Blues
Sparks – Exotic Creatures Of The Deep
Dan Fogelberg – River Of Souls
Capercaillie – Sidewaulk
Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman
Elton John – Tumbleweed Connection
London Grammar – If You Want
Marc Jordan – Mannequin
Ella Fitzgerald – The Irving Berlin Songbook, Vol. 2
Big Country – The Best Of Big Country
Kim Mitchell – Shakin' Like A Human Being
Enya – Dark Sky Island
The White Stripes – Icky Thump
Rush – Retrospective II: 1981-1987
Bonnie Raitt – Silver Lining
Natalie Maines – Mother

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