Happy Monday, and a warm welcome to everyone that joined us over the weekend. It’s great to have you here! Below is some of what I’ve been spinning over the last week.
What’s everyone else been listening to? Got something we should all be checking out? Find something new on a "Best Of” list? A band we have to hear? Share it below!
I'm being served a lot of Muna lately on various playlists. I was always a big fan of "I know a place" and the new album is fun. Kinda all sounds the same, but I enjoy it.
Also really bopping to Betty Who's "Blow out my candle" -- seems it's from June, but I'm not always so quick to pick up on things. Look how long it took me to hear about Fitz and the Tantrums.
Greetings, Eric, and Merry Christmas! HERE'S all the Christmas songs! We're working like elves over at FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE creating a mammoth 30-song Christmas Playlist, coming soon to FR&B! In the meantime, here's a sneak peak 5-song Playlist to whet your appetite! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1tdEv1m5FyR9WNbGwFiJo2?si=273c8cb40af24c1e
It's got the Wombles, with "A Wombling Merry Christmas," Jethro Tull's "Ring Out, Solstice Bells," Roy Wood's Wizzard, with "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day," the Band of Merrymakers, with "Holiday in L.A.," and Hall & Oates, with Robbie Robertson's "Christmas Must Be Tonight"!
On the full Playlist yet to come, artists as disparate as Willie Nelson, Patti Page, the Partridge Family, Barry Manilow, the Hollyberries, the Beach Boys, and Spinal Tap will be featured! Stay tuned, and Merry Christmas, Eric!
Loved your classics, wing! A dizzying array, but sans guitar shredding, it was great to hear a Playlist that was right up my Christmas alley! I saved it to my Library! Thanks for the effort!🎼🎶😁👍
I love being reminded of bands to put on my listening today “to do” list...love some Lucious Jackson.
Purchased some more Everything yesterday on Bandcamp. I only listen to the live recordings mostly since it reminds me of the zillion shows of theirs I went to.
Two very different live sets that were just released online only. First are the four shows from "Elvis on Tour," the 1972 documentary. Elvis was a big part of my life as a kid — I think you may have ready my essay — and this is likely the last of the officially unreleased stuff that is out there. Plus 1972 was the last year he was in consistently decent form before the tragic slide.
Second is one of my favorite shows: Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at Acton Town Hall. Recorded less than a month before he died, it is a smoking live set and features the first on-stage reunion (during the encore) with Mick Jones since The Clash days. I've had the set on bootleg and then vinyl-only for several years, but the remastered version with George Harrison's Dark Horse label may be the best sound yet.
I still don't know why this wasn't released physically on the two Strummer boxes that Dark Horse has put out over the past couple of years, but I'm grateful for it.
Curious: While I'm enjoying the vinyl renaissance, I find that I have trouble listening to live albums in that format because flipping interrupts the flow. Wonder if you — and your readers — feel the same way.
Listening mostly to Christmas music! This year we added Andrew Bird's 2020 Hark! to the Christmas playlist, and the Spotify algorithm introduced me to The Oh Hellos Family Christmas album.
Today marks the first time I'm listening to Funeral since I heard all that uncomfortable info about Win Butler earlier this year. It's cold and snowy outside, and I needed to hear that first piano lick from "Neighborhood #1: Tunnels": _ _⎼—⎺⎻
That early Luscious is so good. Old friends of mine so I was beyond stoked when they began making music. But today I'm deep in my 2022 list-making...so it's been the latest from Brian Eno, Hollie Cook, Steve Lacy, Revelators Sound System, and now "Mystic What," one of four excellent Bandcamp-only live albums from Hiss Golden Messenger. Really killer performances! And while running errands/doing dishes accompanied by Danyel Smith reading her wonderful memoir Shine Bright.
Nice! would love to hear more about the old days at some point. I've been deep into list making as well. Tis the season, I suppose. I haven't heard the Eno record yet. On my list for later this afternoon!
bumping SZA this week like a lot of others here! love the newsletter format, subscribed :) i also write regular playlist and music recs on my newsletter, FRESH!
While I should have been concentrating on the next chapter of my novel - challenge69.substack.com - I've found myself (happily) prevaricating by finalising my 'top albums of 2022' list (going with fifteen for no apparent reason), only to find that exercise further distracted by playing 'Change' by Big Thief on virtual repeat. Def one of my songs of the year!
I bought an old CD player at a yard sale at the end of autumn. I am borrowing CDs from the public library and listening to them at my desk while I type. Right now, I have Led Zeppelin IV on CD and "Stairway to Heaven" on repeat. I meditate on the line "To be a rock and not to roll" and I am amazed how much possibility those 8 words contain.
I'm being served a lot of Muna lately on various playlists. I was always a big fan of "I know a place" and the new album is fun. Kinda all sounds the same, but I enjoy it.
Also really bopping to Betty Who's "Blow out my candle" -- seems it's from June, but I'm not always so quick to pick up on things. Look how long it took me to hear about Fitz and the Tantrums.
You're not alone. I have a long track record of being late to parties... :)
Where's all the Christmas songs!? That's pretty much all I'm listening to at the moment.. :)
John Denver and the Muppets forever!
Greetings, Eric, and Merry Christmas! HERE'S all the Christmas songs! We're working like elves over at FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE creating a mammoth 30-song Christmas Playlist, coming soon to FR&B! In the meantime, here's a sneak peak 5-song Playlist to whet your appetite! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1tdEv1m5FyR9WNbGwFiJo2?si=273c8cb40af24c1e
It's got the Wombles, with "A Wombling Merry Christmas," Jethro Tull's "Ring Out, Solstice Bells," Roy Wood's Wizzard, with "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day," the Band of Merrymakers, with "Holiday in L.A.," and Hall & Oates, with Robbie Robertson's "Christmas Must Be Tonight"!
On the full Playlist yet to come, artists as disparate as Willie Nelson, Patti Page, the Partridge Family, Barry Manilow, the Hollyberries, the Beach Boys, and Spinal Tap will be featured! Stay tuned, and Merry Christmas, Eric!
This is great!
Ever seen an elf smile?😁🎅
Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing it!
great picks! chiming in here too with my dedicated christmas playlist full of new finds and classics: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2VAdnxChdwEuVp9WEGnDtM?si=38287b1d77ca4b6b
Can't go wrong with Dean Martin! :)
Loved your classics, wing! A dizzying array, but sans guitar shredding, it was great to hear a Playlist that was right up my Christmas alley! I saved it to my Library! Thanks for the effort!🎼🎶😁👍
glad its floating your festive boat, thanks for giving it a spin brad!
And, thank YOU for subscribing, wing! Welcome past the velvet rope line, FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE!🎼🎵
happy to be here!
I got you!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4m7smgGUNmEp9Th5k65cFb?si=4b499a0c454a4abf
Not for nothing, I have that John Denver/Muppets record! It was in a box I brought back from my mom's house earlier this year.
I love being reminded of bands to put on my listening today “to do” list...love some Lucious Jackson.
Purchased some more Everything yesterday on Bandcamp. I only listen to the live recordings mostly since it reminds me of the zillion shows of theirs I went to.
Same here! That Luscious Jackson may or may not have popped in my head while grocery shopping. Not very rock & roll, but here we are. lol.
Just like Reptile does in mine.😊
Two very different live sets that were just released online only. First are the four shows from "Elvis on Tour," the 1972 documentary. Elvis was a big part of my life as a kid — I think you may have ready my essay — and this is likely the last of the officially unreleased stuff that is out there. Plus 1972 was the last year he was in consistently decent form before the tragic slide.
Second is one of my favorite shows: Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at Acton Town Hall. Recorded less than a month before he died, it is a smoking live set and features the first on-stage reunion (during the encore) with Mick Jones since The Clash days. I've had the set on bootleg and then vinyl-only for several years, but the remastered version with George Harrison's Dark Horse label may be the best sound yet.
I still don't know why this wasn't released physically on the two Strummer boxes that Dark Horse has put out over the past couple of years, but I'm grateful for it.
Curious: While I'm enjoying the vinyl renaissance, I find that I have trouble listening to live albums in that format because flipping interrupts the flow. Wonder if you — and your readers — feel the same way.
I absolutely feel the same way. I have a copy of PJ's "Let's Play Two," but rarely-if ever- listen to it for that very reason.
P.S. I'm off to find that Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros record. That sounds amazing!
It really w
Is.
Besides listening to my favorites from SZA's new album, I keep rewatching her live performance of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8qEkaXbwlM
That was really good! Was not what I was expecting at all.
Listening mostly to Christmas music! This year we added Andrew Bird's 2020 Hark! to the Christmas playlist, and the Spotify algorithm introduced me to The Oh Hellos Family Christmas album.
Cecile Mclorin Salvant: https://youtu.be/luIa4rd_wV0
Today marks the first time I'm listening to Funeral since I heard all that uncomfortable info about Win Butler earlier this year. It's cold and snowy outside, and I needed to hear that first piano lick from "Neighborhood #1: Tunnels": _ _⎼—⎺⎻
It's still beautiful, even if butler is now... less so.
Lana del Rey, Neko Case, The 1975, and Nation of Language
That early Luscious is so good. Old friends of mine so I was beyond stoked when they began making music. But today I'm deep in my 2022 list-making...so it's been the latest from Brian Eno, Hollie Cook, Steve Lacy, Revelators Sound System, and now "Mystic What," one of four excellent Bandcamp-only live albums from Hiss Golden Messenger. Really killer performances! And while running errands/doing dishes accompanied by Danyel Smith reading her wonderful memoir Shine Bright.
Nice! would love to hear more about the old days at some point. I've been deep into list making as well. Tis the season, I suppose. I haven't heard the Eno record yet. On my list for later this afternoon!
SZA's album has been on repeat for me lately! love how she experimented with her sound
seconded! well worth the wait for her second album
bumping SZA this week like a lot of others here! love the newsletter format, subscribed :) i also write regular playlist and music recs on my newsletter, FRESH!
https://www.freshbywing.com/
Thanks for joining us!
I'm always on the hunt for music recs, and I'll have to check your newsletter out.
While I should have been concentrating on the next chapter of my novel - challenge69.substack.com - I've found myself (happily) prevaricating by finalising my 'top albums of 2022' list (going with fifteen for no apparent reason), only to find that exercise further distracted by playing 'Change' by Big Thief on virtual repeat. Def one of my songs of the year!
I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
"Yamaha" by Aleksandir - the best house track I've heard so far
https://open.spotify.com/track/11lbXJg7UJGxZrJnEMLlHL?si=qQqeokZKRba243x22gKZMw&utm_source=native-share-menu
I'll take all the house music you got! :)
I bought an old CD player at a yard sale at the end of autumn. I am borrowing CDs from the public library and listening to them at my desk while I type. Right now, I have Led Zeppelin IV on CD and "Stairway to Heaven" on repeat. I meditate on the line "To be a rock and not to roll" and I am amazed how much possibility those 8 words contain.
Gang of Four's Entertainment!
Nice!