KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, July 19th, 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 listening from New York City, where the big Black Lives Matter sign in front of Trump Tower – which the mayor helped to paint – coninues to piss off the Donald, he he.]

Quotation Of The Week ~ Winston Churchill: Americans always do the right thing – after they've tried everything else.

I learned today that our host, John Ulett, doesn't know how to pronounce the word “segue.” I've heard him mis-pronounce it before, but it wasn't until this morning that i went to dictionary dot com and confirmed that it is a two-syllable word. There is no shame, of course, in not knowing how pronounce something one has only ever read and never heard spoken. (I, personally, didn't know how to pronounce “tao” until i was corrected a few years ago. What hurt about that was that my informant was someone i can't stand....)

Enough sociolinguistics, though: on to the music. And it was going pretty well, too, until about three-quarters in and then, bam, a double-whammy of dreadful, Pavlov's Dog and REO Speedwagon. Double McYuck burgers. How did these guys ever make a living? It's also baffling how Uman can insist that Kenny Loggins' “Celebrate Me Home” is not a Christmas song. I like it and i'm perfectly happy to listen to it at any time of the year, but it seems pretty Yuletidal to me (quantum mechanics baffle me too, so maybe it's just me).

Just a few notes gleaned from our host's comments this morning and from my own feelings. Uman agrees with me that Steely Dan's “Aja” is just about a perfect album – along with “Sgt. Pepper” and “The Yes Album,” although nothing from the latter was played this morning. I had no idea that The Cars, at the start of their career, were so poorly-received that they were often booed off stage. They became such a great band. And there was an extrordinary amount of Canajun music this morning – especially if you include Heart, who were from Seattle but living in Vancouver when they got their big break, and Neil Young, who was born in Ontario but has spent most of his life in California. And The Band, of course, most of whose members were Canucks.

My personal favourite tracks today: The Doobie Brothers, ELO, The Cars, J. Geils and Poco. Pavlov's Dog and REO notwithstanding, i'm grading this morning's edition (drum roll, please) an “A.”

Here's the view from Rump, er, Trump Tower, and the playlist:

Crosby, Stills & Nash – Fair Game

Little Feat – Fat Man In The Bathtub

Elton John – Grey Seal

Steely Dan – Josie

The Electric Light Orchestra – So Fine / Livin' Thing

The Cars – Tonight She Comes

UFO – Only You Can Rock Me

Heart – Dreamboat Annie

April Wine – Roller

The Beatles – She's Leaving Home

Neil Young – Sugar Mountain

The Doobie Brothers – Natural Thing

The Little River Band – Take Me Home

Rush – Test For Echo

Triumph – I Can Survive

Michael Quatro – Rachmaninoff's Prelude

Prism – Julie

Stephen Stills – Love The One You're With

Giant – See You In My Dreams

Kansas – Two Cents' Worth

The J. Geils Band – Give It To Me

Lake – Between The Lines

Ian Matthews – Lonely Hunter

The Marshall Tucker Band – Windy City Blues

Supertramp – Fool's Overture

Pavlov's Dog – Late November

REO Speedwagon – That Ain't Love

Kenny Loggins – Celebrate Me Home

The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue

Poco – Good Feelin' To Know

Jackson Browne – In The Shape Of A Heart

Journey – Topaz

The Band – Ophelia

The Scorpions – Is There Anybody There

Michael Stanley – Rosewood Bitters

Queen – Stone Cold Crazy

The Charlie Daniels Band – Midnight Wind

Kayak – Keep The Change

As we have moved into Stage 3 of the re-opening here in this country's Tornado Alley, this week's personal playlist isn't as lengthy as those of the past five months, as i've been at work more and there has been the resultant reduction in music-listening time. I still managed one 4-CD box set, though: the Ashley Hutchings, which was a totally unnecessary acquisition: i have all of its great schtuff on other albums. Oh, well, more dollars than sense, that's me.

Joan Osborne – Relish

Renaissance – Novella

Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig

Court Yard Hounds – Court Yard Hounds

Ashley Hutchings – Burning Bright: The Life And Times Of Ashley Hutchings

Peter Gabriel – Rated PG

Free – Heartbreaker

The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East

Argent – In Deep

Cat Stevens – Buddha And The Chocolate Box

Television – Marquee Moon

The Mothers Of Invention – Uncle Meat

Trigger Hippy – Trigger Hippy

Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts -- Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts

David Lindley – El Rayo-X

Great Big Sea – Play

Nik Kershaw – To Be Frank

10,000 Maniacs – In My Tribe

Florence + The Machine – Unplugged

Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers

Wings – Band On The Run

James Taylor – Greatest Hits

Jerry Douglas – Traveler

Elbow – Little Fictions

Fairport Convention – Angel Delight

Dick Gaughan – Gaughan

Peter Hammill – Sonix

Talking Heads – Fear Of Music

Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Jefferson Airplane – Bless Its Pointed Little Head

Blodwyn Pig – Getting To This