Monday, 16 November 2020

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, Nov. 15th, 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 an American address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from North Bergen, New Jersey. I hadn't been there in a while.]

Quotation Of The Week ~ Plato: Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.

Yay! Bart was back today. Twice. Bart Inman, that is: the owner of Inman Air. I really like his laconic Midwestern drawl and his self-deprecating sense of humour and his ads are always enjoyable and if i lived in St Louis or southern Illinois, i'd be sure to use him for all of my heating and air conditioning needs. But, enough about the ads.

This week's program came within a whisker of being graded A-minus. There was a lot of fabulous music, starting with the first track, but there was also a lot of okay-but-not-great schtuff (Jimmie Spheeris, The Babys, et al.) and one extremely annoying number, which i'll remark on in a minute. (I was also somewhat disturbed when KSHE's website announced that the next song would be by Meatloaf. You can believe my heart sank! But what they actually played was Bullseye Bill by Unicorn, whew....) What kicked it up to a grade of A was one song: the eighteen-plus minutes of Close To The Edge, one of Yes's greatest songs from one of their greatest albums. Other wonderful moments included Robin Trower, The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, ARS, Humble Pie and Alice Cooper.

Speaking of dear old Alice, though, back in his shock-rock days, he recorded The Ballad Of Dwight Fry (which he would perform live wearing a strait jacket, ultimately escaping from it and strangling his nurse) and it is truly dreadful. It was his tribute to the horror film actor Dwight Frye (he dropped the “e” fearing legal repercussions, although as Frye died in 1943 he'd hardly be likely to sue). Fortunately i love the other song of his that was played this morning.

In the “what i learned today” segment of this post, what i didn't appreciate was that Walter Becker (of Steely Dan) did not play most of their superb guitar solos. He was primarily the bass player. This was news to me, as a non-reader of album credits (especially with CDs, the print is just too damn small for my old eyes). Jeff “Skunk” Baxter was their lead guitarist until 1974, after which they used a variety of “guests” such as Denny Dias, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, and even Mark Knopfler once.

Here's the list, and a picture of Dwight Frye:



Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story

Black Sabbath – The Wizard

The Steve Miller Band – True Fine Love

Santana – Open Invitation

Alice Cooper – Hello Hurray

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Midnight Special

Jimmie Spheeris – I Am The Mercury

Robin Trower – Too Rolling Stoned

Elton John – Where To Now St Peter

Rush – Jacob's Ladder

Steely Dan – Don't Take Me Alive

Little Feat – Spanish Moon

Alice Cooper – The Ballad Of Dwight Fry

The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver – Arms Of Mary

Journey – Be Good To Yourself

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Change Of Heart

Rhythm Corps – Common Ground

The Babys – You (Got It)

The Band – Life Is A Carnival

Neil Young – Rockin' In The Free World

Butts Band – Be With Me

Runner – Run For Your Life

Yes – Close To The Edge

Atlanta Rhythm Section – Angel (What In The World's Come Over Us)

Bob Welch – Sentimental Lady

Buckwheat – I Just Can't Turn My Habit Into Love

Asia – Don't Cry

The Poussette-Dart Band – County Line

Styx – Jennifer

Humble Pie – I Don't Need No Doctor

Poco – Legend

Unicorn – Bullseye Bill

Bob Dylan – Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

The Inmates – Dirty Water

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Our House

Jefferson Starship -- Cruisin'

My own personal playlist this week is kind of a lengthy one, considering that there were three double discs and a CD/DVD combo on top of the fact that i'd spent far more time at my other job than i wanted to. Here 'tis:

The Bee Gees – Odessa

Frida Lyngstad – Something's Going On

The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Fire

Terje Rypdal – After The Rain

Soft Machine – Land Of Cockayne

Fairport Convention – Gladys' Leap

The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out

Various Artists – A Little On The CD Side, Vol. 11

Rory Gallagher – Check Shirt Wizard: Live in '77

Nik Kershaw – To Be Frank

Van der Graaf Generator – Present

Eagles – The Long Run

Electric Light Orchestra – Out Of The Blue

Fairport Convention – 50:50 @ 50

Chris Leslie – Origins

Eliza Carthy – Heat, Light & Sound

Dick Gaughan – Handful Of Earth

Maddy Prior & June Tabor – No More To The Dance

Tony Banks – A Curious Feeling (CD + DVD)

Chicago – Chicago III

Yes – The Yes Album

Bob Seger – Beautiful Loser

Roy Wood – Mustard

Annie Haslam – Annie In Wonderland

The Fixx – One Thing Leads To Another: Greatest Hits

Sixpence None The Richer -- Sixpence None The Richer

Sequentia – Ancient Music For A Modern Age

Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Real Deal: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

Joan Osborne – Trouble And Strife

Various Artists – A Little On The CD Side, Vol. 12

The Alan Parsons Project – I Robot

No comments: