The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and welcome to another excursion with the magical music time machine. As I’m putting together our itinerary for today, it’s sunny with a whopping 78F in central New Jersey, USA, where you can run into a deer, bunny, squirrel and other lovely animals in your front or backyard or anywhere else pretty much anytime. The leaves have started changing colors, which is accentuated by the sun and the blue sky. It has also impacted my pick for our first stop today.

B. Thompson/Autumn Colors

Let’s kick it off with some soothing contemporary pop jazz by Bryan Thompson, professionally known as B. Thompson, a 26-year-old pop and R&B instrumentalist from Indianapolis, Ind. I make no bones about it: I found him by searching my streaming music provider’s database for “autumn colors.” According to his website, Thompson became a child prodigy and multi-instrumentalist at age 9, even though he’s impacted by hearing loss in his right ear. Thompson’s debut single Irresistible came out in November 2019, followed by self-produced EP Isolated Sessions in May 2020 during the pandemic. To date, Thompson has garnered more than 100 million views on social media. Here’s the beautiful Autumn Colors, off what looks like his first full-length album, P.O.V., released in May 2022 – reminds me a bit of Kenny G.

The Valentinos/It’s All Over Now

Our next stop takes us back to May 1964 and a terrific single by The Valentinos, and a song you may have heard by that blues cover band called The Rolling Stones: It’s All Over Now – well, it certainly ain’t for the Stones who continue to rock on in their seventh decade! It’s All Over Now was co-written by Bobby Womack and his sister-in-law Shirley Womack. The original recording by The Valentinos peaked at no. 94 on the U.S. pop chart. The Stones took it to no. 1 in the UK, scoring their first chart-topper. The Valentinos, aka. The Womack Brothers, launched the careers of Bobby and Cecil Womack. Bobby went on as a successful solo artist, while Cecil formed Womack & Womack, a partnership with his wife Linda Womack, and they enjoyed a successful recording career, particularly in the ’80s.

Little Feat/Rad Gumbo

Let’s now head to March 1990 and some tasty music by Little Feat, a group blending blues, R&B, country and rock & roll into a tasty southern gumbo I was first introduced to by my longtime German music friend Gerd – I feel he’s becoming a regular on The Sunday Six! Little Feat were formed in 1969 and initially led by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George until their first breakup in 1979 and shortly before his untimely death at age 34 in June of the same year. In 1987, the band’s surviving former members reunited. Little Feat remain a touring act to this day but have seen many line-up changes, with keyboarder Bill Payne remaining as the only original member. Rad Gumbo, a specific listening suggestion by Gerd, is credited to Payne and his then-bandmates Paul Barrere (guitar, vocals), Sam Clayton (percussion, vocals) and Kenny Gradney (bass), along with Martin Kibbee and Neon Park. The song appeared on Little Feat’s ninth studio album Representing the Mambo, the second after reforming.

Orleans/Still the One

Time to pay a visit to the ’70s and some real ear candy by Orleans, an American pop and soft rock band formed in 1972. They had their heyday in the mid ’70s and are best known for their top 10 singles Dance With Me and Still the One. The latter was co-written by the group’s co-founder John Hall and his then-wife Johanna Hall, and recorded for the band’s fourth studio album Waking and Dreaming released in August 1976. Orleans are still around, and their most recent album New Star Shining appeared in 2021. Hall who also served as a Congressman from 2007-2011 remains the only original member. You could well imagine Still the One on a ’70s album by The Doobie Brothers.

Chuck Berry/Maybellene

Not having an old jazz tune on the itinerary doesn’t mean we couldn’t make a stopover in the ’50s. Let’s do that right now and have some fun with Chuck Berry and his first hit Maybellene, which was released as a single in July 1955. Partially adapted from a traditional Western swing called Ida Red, Maybellene was written by Berry and is considered a pioneering rock & roll song. The tale of a man in a V8 Ford pursuing his unfaithful girlfriend who is driving a Cadillac Coupe DeVille is a nice illustration of Berry’s great lyrics. Maybellene also ended up on his third studio album Chuck Berry Is on Top, which appeared in July 1959 and might as well have been titled the greatest hits of classic rock & roll!

R.E.M./Talk About the Passion

Our sixth destination means we need to wrap up another music time travel trip. In order to do that, let’s go to April 1983 and Murmur, the debut album by R.E.M. The alternative rock band had been formed three years earlier in Athens, Ga. Murmur featured all co-founding members Michael Stipe (lead vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass, piano, organ, vibraphone, backing vocals) and Bill Berry (drums, percussion, backing vocals, bass, piano). That lineup would remain stable for the next nine albums, including their most successful ones Out of Time (March 1991), Automatic For the People (October 1992), Monster (September 1994) and New Adventures in Hi-Fi (September 1996). Here’s Talk About the Passion, credited to all four members. The song also became the second single off the album. It’s classic R.E.M.!

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of all the above goodies. Hope you had a good time and will be back for more!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

New Music Musings

It’s Saturday and I’d like to welcome you to another installment of my weekly feature taking a look at developments on the new music front. All four picks are from albums that were released yesterday (October 27).

The Third Mind/Groovin’ Is Easy

The Third Mind are an experimental group blending rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz and improvisational music. Dave Alvin, co-founder of roots rock band The Blasters, envisaged a Miles Davis approach to “gather great musicians in a studio, pick a key and a groove and then record everything live over several days.” Davis and his producer Teo Macero subsequently edited and shaped the improvised material into compositions. After their eponymous debut album from February 2020, The Third Mind are now out with their follow-on, The Third Mind 2. Apart from Alvin (guitar), they include Jesse Sykes (vocals, acoustic guitar), David Immerglück (Counting Crows, Cracker, Monks of Doom) (guitar, keyboards, vocals) Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) (bass) and Michael Jerome (John Cale, Richard Thompson, Better Than Ezra) (drums, percussion). Here’s Groovin’ Is Easy – intriguing stuff!

Video Age/Better Than Ever

Video Age are a band from New Orleans formed by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli, who AllMusic notes make mellow synthesizer pop that touches on ’80s pop, new wave, AM pop, and other adjacent styles. Starting with their 2016 debut Living Alone, they have released four albums to date. Off their latest, Away From the Castle, here’s Better Than Ever, co-written by Farbe and Micarelli. The song’s upbeat vibe drew me in.

Black Pumas/Angel

Black Pumas, who I first featured in July 2020, are a partnership between producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada and singer-songwriter Eric Burton, who according to AllMusic fuse cinematic neo-soul, light psychedelia, and a touch of urban grit. Formed in 2018, they released their eponymous debit album in June 2019. They are now out with their second full-length album, Chronicles of a Diamond. Here’s Angel, a great-sounding song that gives me chills!

The Gaslight Anthem/Little Fires

The Gaslight Anthem are a rock band from New Brunswick, N.J., which is right in my neck of the woods. Currently featuring Brian Fallon (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Alex Rosamilia (lead guitar, backing vocals), Alex Levine (bass, backing vocals) and Benny Horowitz (drums, percussion), they have been together since 2006 and put out six studio albums to date. In 2015, the band went on an indefinite hiatus from which they emerged in March 2022. Off History Books, their latest and first new album in 9 years, here’s Little Fires. In the past, the group’s sound has often been compared to Bruce Springsteen, who apparently not only encouraged their reunion but also is featured on the album’s title track. I included it in the Spotify playlist below. Here’s a nice rocker called Little Fires.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; The Third Mind website; YouTube; Spotify

Song Musings

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of my weekly feature that takes a deeper dive into a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. I can’t believe it took 50-plus posts in this series before writing about one of my all-time favorite artists, Bruce Springsteen. Granted, I’ve covered The Boss on multiple occasions in the past and, yes, I’ve also briefly included today’s pick in a previous post. But I felt Jungleland deserves a dedicated take.

Written by Springsteen, Jungleland was first recorded as the epic closer of his breakthrough album Born to Run, which came out in August 1975. At a mighty nine-and-a-half minutes, obviously, it wasn’t well suited for mainstream radio. As such, not surprisingly, it wasn’t released separately as a single. Of course, they could have created a shorter edit, but it really would have been a shame to cut this masterpiece.

Jungleland started with its first recorded take in January 1974 and took until July 1975 to be completed. One of the song’s defining characteristics is a saxophone solo by the E Street Band’s Clarence Clemons, which starts at around 3:55 minutes and extends all the way until 6:05 minutes. In his 2016 Born to Run autobiography, Springsteen called it “Clarence’s greatest recorded moment”.

Evidently, capturing that greatest moment took some time. Wikipedia notes Clemons ended up spending up sixteen hours playing and replaying every note until Springsteen was completely satisfied – sounds like Donald Fagen and Walter Becker Steely Dan-like perfectionism on albums like Aja and Gaucho! “All we could do was hold on,” Clemons said. “Smoke a lot of pot and try to stay calm.” I’m glad the Big Man didn’t lose his cool. The outcome certainly is magnificent! Here’s a great live version, captured at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1975.

Speaking of live, Springsteen actually debuted Jungleland on stage long before its recording was finished. That moment happened on July 12, 1974 at prominent New York City venue The Bottomline. At the time, the song still sounded “like other jazzed-up mini-operas from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, influenced by David Sancious,” according to Wikipedia. A multi-instrumentalist, Sancious was an early member of the E Street Band, who shortly left thereafter and was replaced by Roy Bittan.

The studio recording of Jungleland also features Israeli violinist Suki Lahav who briefly joined the E Street Band from September 1974 until March 1975, becoming the group’s first female musician. She played a lovely 23-note violin introduction accompanied by Bittan on piano. Lahav subsequently returned to Israel and became successful there as a violinist, actress, lyricist and author of screenplays. Here’s another more recent live version of Jungleland from New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this year, featuring Jake Clemons, nephew of the Big Man – what an amazing performance!

Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:

This is a poetic tale of life on the streets of New Jersey. Beginning with a simple piano intro, Springsteen goes through a series of abstract images and introduces a series of characters in the song, including Magic Rat and Barefoot Girl. It’s a song that led to comparisons with Bob Dylan, notably Dylan’s “Desolation Row.”

Born To Run came with lyrics to the songs, so listeners could follow along. Reflecting on the album years later, Springsteen singled out the last verse of “Jungleland” as an example of his work that had “a lot of overblown romance, but still contained the seeds of realism.”

Running 9:33, this song takes a lot of unexpected musical turns. After a 45-second intro and two verses/chorus repetitions, a guitar solo comes in around the three-minute mark, but instead of following form with a chorus and outro, we get a vocal bridge (“In the parking lot the visionaries dress in the latest rage”) followed by a sax solo that doesn’t abate until six minutes in, taking the song to silence before it comes back to life with a piano section and another verse and some wordless wailing to close things out.

Note how little of the running time can be considered chorus, which is really just the line “down in Jungleland,” or at the end, “tonight in Jungleland.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band performed this live for over a year before they recorded it. It developed into a longer song with a grand sax solo when it was finally released.

This features the piano of Roy Bittan. He joined The E Street Band for Born To Run after playing in orchestra pits on Broadway.

This was a highlight of Springsteen’s 1999 reunion tour with The E Street Band. The tour went very well, and the band continued to play and record together.

Clarence Clemons played a long sax solo on this track. With his bright suits and large stature, he was the most notable and popular member of The E Street Band, and when it came to this song, he wasn’t demure. “That’s one of the classic saxophone solos in the history of the world, if I may say so myself,” he said. Clemons was disappointed when the song was not included on the 1995 Greatest Hits album.

As seen in the documentary Wings For Wheels on the 30th anniversary package of the album, one take of the song had a dramatic flamenco-style intro.

This song was a huge influence on Bob Seger, who completed “Night Moves” after hearing it. Seger had two verses of that song written, but struggled to finish it until he heard “Jungleland” and realized he could stretch out the song and explore different dynamics. “Night Moves” was released the following year (1976).

Melissa Etheridge said in Rolling Stone magazines 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time issue: “When Bruce Springsteen does those wordless wails, like at the end of ‘Jungleland,’ that’s the definition of rock & roll to me. He uses his whole body when he sings, and he puts out this enormous amount of force and emotion and passion.”

Springsteen didn’t play this song live for over a year after Clarence Clemons died on June 18, 2011. When he did finally put the song back in rotation, it was at a show in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 28, 2012, with Clemons’ nephew Jake playing the famous saxophone part. Springsteen dedicated it to “the big man” when he introduced it.

Stephen King quoted the final verse in the epigraph to his 1978 novel The Stand. In the book, a group of survivors prepare to confront an evil tyrant after a plague eradicates most of the US population, echoing Springsteen’s lyric “They reach for their moment, and try to make an honest stand.”

King also references Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and Bob Dylan’s “Shelter From the Storm.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Still Only Rock & Roll, Still Liking It

Unless you’ve lived under a rock, which I largely did in the ’90s when it came to music, by now, you’ve heard The Rolling Stones are out with their long-awaited new album. Hackney Diamonds dropped on Friday, October 20, and I’ve since spent some time with it. I guess you already figured out my overall sentiment is pretty positive. To me, Hackney Diamonds represents a late-stage highlight in the Stones’ remarkable 61-year career, which sounds surprisingly dynamic and fresh!

When I listened to the first single Angry about a month ago, I certainly wasn’t mad, thinking it sounds like the Stones but I wasn’t exactly floored either. The second upfront single Sweet Sounds of Heaven, which I covered here around the time it was released, definitely got my attention and raised expectations about the album. So did the punkish Bite My Head Off, featuring Paul McCartney on bass. I included that song in my latest weekly new music review.

The Rolling Stones are rocking on, 61 years into their career (from left): Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

Hackney Diamonds is the Stones’ first album with new material since A Bigger Bang, which dates back to September 2005 – that’s a whopping 18 years! They released a blues covers collection, Blue & Lonesome, in December 2016, after abandoning their initial plan to create new music. I immediately liked Blue & Lonesome for what it was and posted about it at the time. To me, it felt like the Stones had come full circle with their early days when they actually were a blues cover band.

When reading Hackney Diamonds features prominent guests, including Elton John, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Bill Wyman and Paul McCartney, you could be forgiven to think it’s a playbook we’ve seen before, especially by more mature artists. In this case, I don’t feel this had any negative impact on the overall outcome but will add you really wouldn’t know that Elton John, Stevie Wonder or Bill Wyman are on the album, if they wouldn’t be listed in the credits.

The Rolling Stones with some of the guests on their new album (from left): Lady Gaga, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and producer Andrew Watt, who also provided bass, guitar, percussion, keyboards and backing vocals

I wish these artists would be more noticeable, particularly John and Wonder with their distinct piano and harmonica sounds, respectively. By contrast, Lady Gaga provides compelling backing vocals on Sweet Sounds of Heaven, the same song on which Stevie Wonder plays keyboards and piano. If it wasn’t for Mick Jagger who says, ‘play me something, Steve,’ at around 5:30 minutes into the track, frankly, it would be easy to miss Wonder. McCartney, on the other hand, is way more noticeable with a short punkish fuzz bass solo on Bite My Head Off. As such, he and Gaga not only were able to showcase their chops but also added to what are two highlights on the album.

Another key player I’d like to call out is producer Andrew Watt. The 33-year-old, who McCartney suggested to Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, has produced for a remarkable variety of artists, including Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam and Iggy Pop, among many others. Watt also is a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar in the Earthlings, Eddie Vedder’s backing band for solo endeavors.

While Watt is a talented musician, I was surprised to see him listed in the credits as playing bass instead of the Stones’ longtime bassist Darryl Jones. Last year, American Songwriter reported the Stones including Jones and their current drummer Steve Jordan had laid down basic tracks for the album in New York. Evidently, whatever was recorded then with Jones didn’t make the final mix. I also like to call out two other individuals listed in the credits: Benmont Tench (Hammond organ), previously with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; and prominent producer Don Was who co-produced album track Live by the Sword.

Time for some music! I’m skipping Angry and go right to Get Close. It very much feels like a classic guitar riff-driven Stones song without coming across as dusty – kudos to Watt! Mick Jagger’s vocals sound outstanding, which also is the case on all of the other tracks. James King throws in a nice saxophone solo. Get Close is the first of two songs featuring Elton John on piano, except you can’t hear him. Perhaps the caveat here is I have some high-frequency hearing loss, so I cannot make out John’s piano, not even with headphones, but maybe others can when they get close! 🙂

On Dreamy Skies, the Stones remind us of their country chops, which they illustrated a long time ago on songs like Dear Doctor, Country Honk, Sweet Virginia and, of course, Dead Flowers. While the guitar work doesn’t reach the brilliance of the latter, Dreamy Skies still is a song I could well picture on my all-time favorite Stones album Sticky Fingers, released in April 1971.

Mess It Up is one of two tracks featuring drums by the late Charlie Watts thanks to modern technology. It’s great to hear the man again! The guitar work is pretty solid and resembles classic Stones. I also like the funky vibe of the song, which would fit well on Steel Wheels. Their August 1989 album saw the Stones return to a more classic style after they had embraced a commercial ’80s sound on their two previous albums.

Live By the Sword not only is the second track on Hackney Diamonds with drums by Watts, but it also pairs them with bass provided by Bill Wyman, thus recreating the Stones’ classic rhythm engine. The song, which as noted above was co-produced by Don Was, also is the second track to feature Elton John. Unlike Get Close, at least I can hear the piano man occasionally in the background. Once again, I feel it would have been even better to give Sir Elton at least a short solo or make his honky piano more prominent in the mix.

Next up is Tell Me Straight, another highlight on the album, featuring Keith Richards on lead vocals. I have to agree with various reviews I read that noted Richards hasn’t sounded as good in many years. I also think the song’s reflective lyrics are noteworthy:…I need an answer, how long can this last?/Just tell me straight/ Don’t make me wait/Is my future all in the past? Yeah, tell me straight, tell me straight…

This brings me to the final track I’d like to highlight, even though it’s “only a cover.” In fact, it’s the sole cover on the album, Rolling Stone Blues, an obvious nod to the past. Originally titled Rollin’ Stone, it was recorded by Muddy Waters in 1950, who in turn based it on Catfish Blues, a delta blues dating back to the 1920s. The Stones worshipped Muddy Waters, and it was that very song that inspired the name The Rolling Stones.

“We had a lot of material recorded, but we weren’t very excited with the results,” Jagger told Spanish daily newspaper El País in a recent interview about the album. “Some of the songs were okay, but they weren’t great. We said, ‘We’re going to work harder and we’re going to set a deadline.’ And that’s when the magic started to happen. We recorded the whole thing in three or four weeks. We wanted to make the record fast and keep ourselves excited the whole time. And I think we achieved our goal.”

During the same interview, Jagger was also very complimentary about producer Andrew Watt. “Andy is fantastic because he’s young and he plays guitar, bass, he sings… He knows the history of music. When he talks to me, Keith, or Ronnie, you can tell he knows all of our records. He knows all the chords to Tumbling Dice or any song. He’s not someone who approaches recording from an intellectual or electronic point of view.”

Overall, Hackney Diamonds has been well received. Variety called it the best album by the Stones since 1981’s Tattoo You, which is widely considered their last great album. I would perhaps characterize it as their most compelling work since the aforementioned Steel Wheels, an album I’ve always enjoyed. Regardless which of the two albums you want to use, the Stones sound remarkably classic, vital and fresh on Hackney Diamonds.

Now perhaps to the obvious question: Is it the last time we will have heard new music by the greatest rock & rock band in the world? It goes without saying the Stones don’t have the luxury to wait for another 18 years; even another seven years (the time span between Blue & Lonesome and Hackney Diamonds) look like a stretch. Based on the speed Hackney Diamonds ultimately came together, there may be some reason to be optimistic. In case Hackney Diamonds should turn out to be their final studio album, it would mean The Rolling Stones certainly ended on a high note.

Sources: Wikipedia; American Songwriter; El País; Variety; The Rolling Stones website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

More rain in central New Jersey, U.S.A. as I’m writing this makes it an easy proposition to get out of this place for another magical tour with the music time travel machine. I don’t care whether it’s a bloody DeLorean. What’s the worst that could happen? Get stuck in the ’60s? And if it’s the ’90s, I would finally get a chance to enlighten myself about what essentially was a lost decade on the music front. Regardless, hope you gonna join me!

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers/Along Came Betty

Our first stop takes us back to January 1959 and American jazz drummer and band leader Art Blakey. That month saw the release of Moanin’, a studio album with The Jazz Messengers, a collective Blakey led or co-lead from the early 1950s until his death in 1990. Originally, Moanin’ was titled Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. In addition to Blakey, the line-up included Lee Morgan (trumpet), Benny Golson (tenor saxophone), Jymie Merritt (bass) and Bobby Timmons (piano). Let’s listen to Along Came Betty, a beautiful composition by Golson and Morgan.

Sopwith Camel/Fazon

Sopwith Camel, formed in late 1965, were the first San Francisco area psychedelic band to score a U.S. top 40 hit with Hello, Hello in 1967. Sadly, by the end of that year, it already was goodbye, goodbye, though they reformed in 1971 and released a second album in 1973 with the peculiar title The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon before breaking up again in 1974. In 1969, two of the group’s members, Martin Beard (bass) and Norman Mayell (drums), appeared on Norman Greenbaum’s album Spirit in the Sky. If all of this looks like another listening suggestion from my longtime German music friend Gerd, you’re spot on! From the short-lived group’s aforementioned sophomore album, here’s Fazon. This cool song is credited to band members Beard, Mayell, Peter Kraemer (vocals, saxophone) and Terry MacNeil (guitar).

Spencer Davis Group/Keep On Running

The other day, fellow blogger Dave who pens the excellent A Sound Day featured While You See a Chance by Steve Winwood. While he was only 32 at the time, the British vocalist, musician and songwriter already had an 18-year professional career under his belly! Keep On Running takes us back to 1965 and Winwood’s first professional recording band The Spencer Davis Group who he had joined the previous year at age 14 as lead vocalist and keyboarder. Over his 60-year-plus career, the man has done everything from blue-eyed soul, R&B, blues rock, pop rock to pop. Keep On Running, a song written and first recorded by Jackie Edwards, became the first big hit by Spencer Davis Group. It was also included on their January 1966 sophomore album Second Album.

The Waterboys/The Whole of the Moon

Time for a stop-over in the ’80s to visit British-Irish folk rock band The Waterboys. Formed in London in 1983 by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott, the group first entered my radar screen in 1985 with The Whole of the Moon, their first top 40 single (no. 26) in the UK, which also was popular in Australia (no. 12), New Zealand (no. 19) and The Netherlands (no. 19). Penned by Scott, they recorded the upbeat song for their third studio album This Is the Sea, released in September 1985. I’ve always liked it. BTW, The Waterboys are still around, with Scott remaining as their sole original member.

Little Steven/Blues Is My Business

Let’s jump back to the current century to pay a visit to Mr. Music Professor Steven Van Zandt, aka as Miami Steve or Little Steven. Over his 50-year-plus career, the man has worn many bandanas. Among others, this includes being a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, TV actor in The Sopranos and solo artist. The latter brings us to Soulfire, Little Steven’s versatile sixth album under his name, which came out in May 2017. He recorded with his mighty backing band Disciples of Soul. One of my favorite tracks is their cool rendition of Blues Is My Business, which was co-written by Kevin Bowe and Todd Cerney. Etta James first recorded it for her 2003 studio album Let’s Roll. When you see her name and that title you just know it’s gotta be a helluva record! I would say Herr Steven passed the audition as well!

Paul McCartney/Run Devil Run

We’re reaching our sixth destination, which of course means it’s time to wrap up. My proposition is some nice rock & roll delivered by Paul McCartney. For this, we shall travel back to October 1999 and the title track of his eleventh solo album Run Devil Run. Not only does it kick ass, but it’s also one of just a handful of tracks he wrote on what otherwise is largely a covers collection. Now an octogenarian, Macca is fearlessly rockin’ on, both in the studio where he can be heard playing fuzz bass on The Rolling Stones’ just-released Hackney Diamonds, and on the road in Australia as part of his ongoing Got Back Tour. His vocals nowadays may sound a bit more weathered than Mick Jagger, the dude in that “blues cover band”, but to me, McCartney continues to be one of my music heroes!

Of course, this trip really ain’t over until I’m leaving you with a Spotify playlist featuring all the songs we visited today. Hope y’all had a good time and will get back!

Sources: Wikipedia; Paul McCartney website; YouTube; Spotify

New Music Musings

Lately, the weeks seem to be flying by ever-faster. I can’t believe it’s Saturday again! Welcome to my weekly new music review. This time, the first four of the six featured artists/bands are entirely new to me. All picks are from albums that dropped yesterday (October 20).

Billy Raffoul/Tangerine

First up is Canadian singer-songwriter Billy Raffoul from Leamington, Ontario. A previous announcement of Raffoul’s latest full-length album For All Those Years notes his father Jody Raffoul was a regionally prominent and prolific performer introducing his son to music at an early age. After signing with Interscope Records in 2017 and a few singles and EPs, he released his full-length debut album A Few More Hours at YYZ in 2020. AllMusic characterizes Raffoul’s music as recalling a mixture of Jeff Buckley, Joe Cocker and Bruce Springsteen. From For All These Years, his third album, here’s Tangerine. His ragged vocals and his soulful delivery drew me in.

Sun June/Mixed Bag

Sun June are an indie pop band from Austin, Texas. Starting with their 2018 debut album Years, they have released three albums to date. Their latest it titled Bad Dream Jaguar. Here’s Mixed Bag, which is credited to all six members of the band: Laura Colwell (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Michael Bain (lead guitar), Stephen Salisbury and Santiago Dietche (guitar, vocals each), Justin Harris (bass) and Sarah Schultz (drums). This song has a pleasant laidback feel to it.

Skinny Lister/Company of the Bar

Skinny Lister are a British folk band blending elements of folk punk and folk pop. AllMusic notes The Pogues and Mumford & Sons. I’m also bit reminded Boston’s Dropkick Murphys. Skinny Lister were formed in London in 2009 and have released six albums to date. Their new one is titled Shanty Punk. Here’s the upbeat Company of the Bar. I like this!

Dirt Buyer/Gathering Logs

Dirt Byer are an Emo folk group around singer-songwriter and guitarist Joe Sutkowski who hails from New Jersey is now based in Brooklyn, New York. He started as a duo in 2018 with drummer Ruben Radlauer when both were students at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. After the release of Dirt Buyer’s eponymous debut album in January 2019, Radlauer left. Dirt Buyer subsequently became a trio who in addition from Sutkowksi includes Tristan Allen (bass) and Mike Costa (drums). Gathering Logs is a song off the second album appearing under the Dirt Buyer name, Dirt Buyer II.

Blues Traveler/Qualified

If the name Blues Traveler doesn’t ring a bell, chances are you know the blues rock and alternative rock band’s catchy 1995 hit Run-Around. They were formed eight years earlier in Princeton, New Jersey and put out their eponymous debut album in May 1990. Led by John Popper (lead vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar), Blues Traveler have since released 13 additional albums. Apart from Popper and co-founders Chan Kinchla (guitar) and Brendan Hill (drums), the group’s current line-up features Tad Kinchla (bass) and Ben Wilson (keyboards), who each have been members for more than 20 years. Off their new album Traveler’s Blues, here’s Qualified a great tune with a soulful vibe

The Rolling Stones/Bite My Head Off

The Rolling Stones are finally out with Hackney Diamonds, their long-awaited first album of new music in 18 years. I previously covered the second upfront single Sweet Sounds of Heaven, a great soulful ballad featuring Lady Gaga on backing vocals and Stevie Wonder on Fender Rhodes. There are other prominent guests on the album, including Elton John, Bill Wyman and Paul McCartney. The late Charlie Watts can be heard on two tracks as well. The other drum parts are handled by the Stones’ current drummer Steve Jordan. Based on scanning some reviews, Hackney Diamonds appears to have been well received. Variety called it the best album by the Stones since 1981’s Tattoo You. Here’s Bite My Head Off, featuring Macca on fuzz bass, who even throws in a short solo. While unfortunately I haven’t had the time yet to give the album the attention it deserves, I know this: Bite My Head Off rocks!

Sources: Wikipedia; Nettwerk Music Group website; AllMusic; Dirt Buyer Bandcamp page; You Tube, Spotify

The Farther One Travels, The Less One Knows

This post originally appeared last week on fellow blogger Dave’s A Sound Day, a destination I always enjoy visiting and can highly recommend. More specifically, it was a contributed piece his fun monthly feature Turntable Talk.

Once again, it’s Turntable Talk time, and I appreciate yet another opportunity to take part in the Dave’s series that after 18 rounds continues to go strong! This time, our dear fellow blogger asked us to “highlight a song that explains how to live better.” He called it “A Design For Life.”

When I think about wise music artists the first who comes to my mind is George Harrison. By the mid-‘60s, the “quiet Beatle” embraced Indian culture and mysticism. This led to his lifelong support of the teachings of Hindu gurus, which shaped his personality and influenced his music.

One of the most compelling artistic outcomes I can think of is The Inner Light. I love both the song’s music and the lyrics. Let’s be honest, traditional Indian music can be an acquired taste. In this case, I find it truly beautiful. Moreover, the words of wisdom “the farther one travels, the less one knows” are one of my all-time favorite lyrical lines.

The fact that once you start exploring a complex topic you quickly realize how much more there is and how little you actually know rings true. To me, music blogging is the perfect illustration. When I started this blog in June 2016, I thought I knew a good deal about music. It quickly turned out I had barely scratched the surface.

Without meaning to get overly philosophical here, I also feel The Inner Light reminds us to be humble when it comes to knowledge. And to realize that while humans have made impressive progress in many areas, so many questions remain unresolved. We still need to figure out how we can reverse the gradual destruction of the planet, so our children and their children have a viable future.

The Inner Light Lyrical Sheet. Source: The Beatles Bible

The Inner Light first appeared in March 1968 as the B-side of The Beatles non-album single Lady Madonna. I’ve always liked the latter but feel The Inner Light should have been the A-side. For such placement Harrison had to wait until October 1969 and the double A single of Come Together and Something. Still, The Inner Light holds the distinction of having been his first song released on a Beatles single.

Another unique feature of the song is that none of The Beatles played any instruments on the recording. The Beatles Bible lists the following Indian musicians: Sharad Ghosh/Hanuman Jadev (shehnai), SR Kenkare (flute), Ashish Khan (sarod), Mahapurush Misra (tabla, pakavaj) and Rij Ram Desad (harmonium). Harrison sang lead while Paul McCartney and John Lennon supplied backing vocals.

For some additional insights regarding The Inner Light, I’m turning to Songfacts:

The lyrics are a translation of a section of the Tao Te Ching, a sacred Chinese text dating back 2000 years that was written by Lao Tsu, a contemporary of Confucius. The text is a rendering of Tsu’s accumulated wisdom; it forms the basis for much of Chinese thought and philosophy, focused on the spiritual aspect of life.

There are 81 short chapters of Tao Te Ching. “Inner Light” is the title of Chapter 47, which translates to:

Without going outside, you may know the whole world
Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven
The farther you go, the less you know
Thus the sage knows without traveling
He sees without looking
He works without doing

Harrison’s lyric tweaked the translation a bit for clarity and sound. The biggest change he made was repeating these lines to reinforce the central theme:

The farther one travels
The less one really knows

Harrison was introduced to the Tao Te Ching chapter that formed the lyric by Juan Mascaro, a Sanskrit teacher at Cambridge University. In October 1967, Harrison and John Lennon appeared on David Frost’s TV show, where they discussed Transcendental Meditation. Mascaro was also on the panel and sent Harrison a copy of his book Lamps Of Fire, a compilation of ancient religious texts translated into English. Mascaro noted the “Inner Light” section, suggesting it could be a good lyric.

The original release was in mono; a stereo version was mixed in 1970 and used on the Past Masters compilation. The mono mix features an extra Indian instrument in the intro that did not make it to the stereo version.

Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra performed this at George Harrison’s 2002 memorial show The Concert For George. Lynne was good friends with Harrison and played with him in The Traveling Wilburys.

In March 2020, George’s son Dhani Harrison posted a new version of The Inner Light on YouTube, along with the following announcement: “The Material World Foundation, created by George Harrison in 1973, is today donating $500,000 to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, Save the Children, and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) charities, which are providing much needed aid and care during this COVID-19 pandemic.”

The announcement also came with the foundation’s pledge to donate an additional $1, up to $100,000, for every fan performance of ‘The Inner Light’ posted on social media with the hashtag #innerlight2020. Various celebrities participated, such as sitar player Anoushka Shankar (daughter of Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar), record producer Daniel Lanois, ex-Doors drummer John Densmore, guitarist Mike Campbell and Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles.

I’m leaving you with the song’s lyrics.

Without going out of my door
I can know all things of earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
Without looking out of your window
You could know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible; Songfacts; YouTube

Song Musings

Another Wednesday is upon us, and I’d like to welcome you the latest installment of my weekly feature, which takes a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. My pick today is Jealous Guy, one of my all-time favorites by John Lennon.

If you’ve followed my blog for some time or know my music taste otherwise, you’re probably a bit in disbelief that after seven and a half years into my blogging adventure, I’m telling you I haven’t written about this gem. You’re not entirely wrong. I’ve included Jealous Guy in a couple of previous posts about Lennon, but I haven’t done a deep dive on it until now. It’s about time!

Jealous Guy first appeared in September 1971 on Lennon’s sophomore solo album Imagine. Incredibly, the song wasn’t released as a single at the time. Eventually, this happened postmortem in November 1985 in the UK and October 1988 in the U.S.

Lennon began work on the song in 1968. At that time, it was called Child of Nature and was one of many songs The Beatles demoed for their self-titled double LP, aka The White Album. Originally, the lyrics were inspired by a lecture Maharishi Mahesh Yogi gave in early 1968 while The Beatles were in India to attend his spiritual retreat in Rishikesh. That version was part of the so-called Esher demos that were released in November 2018 on The Beatles: 50th Anniversary Edition, which I covered here at the time.

According to The Beatles Bible, Lennon made another attempt to present the song to his bandmates. It happened in January 1969 during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Quoting from the Bible: Similarly, Lennon revived ‘Child Of Nature’ – here known as ‘On The Road To Marrakesh’ – although it was clear that the song wasn’t working for The Beatles. Wikipedia adds there’s no evidence Lennon ever visited the Moroccan city. I found this clip on YouTube, which seems to capture the aforementioned moment.

This finally brings me to Jealous Guy, the song that ended up on the Imagine album. Lennon recorded it in May 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios, a recording studio he and Yoko Ono had built in 1970 on the grounds of their home Tittenhurst Park, a Georgian country house in the English county of Berkshire. String overdubs were subsequently added at the Record Plant in New York City.

Lennon (vocals, acoustic guitar, whistling) had a little help from some friends: In addition to Mike Pinder (tambourine) of The Moody Blues and Badfinger’s Joey Molland and Tom Evans (acoustic guitar each), the recording featured Nicky Hopkins (piano), John Barham (harmonium), soon-to-be Yes drummer Alan White (vibraphone), Klaus Voormann (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums).

I would be amiss not to mention the first version of Jealous Guy I ever heard on the radio back in Germany in the wake of Lennon’s murder in December 1980: the beautiful rendition by Roxy Music they initially added to their touring setlist as a tribute to him and subsequently recorded and released as a single in February 1981.

Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:

John Lennon confronts the green-eyed monster in this song, where he sings about the fits of jealousy that controlled him. At the time, he was married to Yoko Ono, who believes the jealousy Lennon describes is not sexual, but more an unfounded feeling of inadequacy. “He was jealous about the fact that I had another language in my head, you know, Japanese, that he can’t share with me,” she told Uncut in 1998. “It was almost on a very conceptual, spiritual level. It wasn’t on a level of physical or anything ’cause I just would never give him a reason for that.

Doing press after this song was released, John Lennon explained: “When you’re in love with somebody, you tend to be jealous, and want to own them and possess them 100 percent, which I do. Intellectually, I thought owning a person is rubbish, but I love Yoko, I want to possess her completely. I don’t want to stifle her. You have so little as a child, I think once you find it, you want to hang onto it. You grab it so much, you tend to kill it.”

Paul McCartney stated in the February 1985 issue of Playgirl: “He (John) used to say, ‘Everyone is on the McCartney bandwagon.’ He wrote ‘I’m Just a Jealous Guy,’ and he said that the song was about me. So I think it was just some kind of jealousy.”

Speaking with Rolling Stone months after Lennon’s death, Yoko said that he made her write out a list of all the men she slept with before they met. “He wrote a song, ‘Jealous Guy,’ that should have told people how jealous he was,” she said. “After we started living together, it was John who wanted me there all the time. He made me go into the men’s room with him. He was scared that if I stayed out in the studio with a lot of other men, I might run off with one of them.”

Keltner shared his thoughts in the 2019 Above Us Only Sky documentary: “‘Jealous Guy’ was a beautiful piece of music, so typical of John Lennon: intuitive, like nothing to worry about. And Klaus, the way he hugged the beat. It was a gentle thing, but we weren’t being precious with it. It just was accommodating the lyric.”

Voorman added: “It was very personal. That was the moment when I got so much into what he was saying and what he was playing that I didn’t know what I was playing – it was like a trance. I didn’t know what key I was in – it just floated automatically.

Joey Molland recalled working with Lennon in an interview with Gibson.com, “It was great! He was just a plain-talking, regular guy. No b.s. at all. Now, of course, he was John Lennon, so he had that energy about him; he kind of lit up the room, you know? But he welcomed us, said he was thrilled to have us, and then he said, ‘The first song we’re going to do is something called ‘Jealous Guy.” It was pretty amazing, sitting there with your headphones on, hearing John Lennon singing this fantastic song. Totally remarkable.”

Yoko Ono contributed to the track’s lyrics. However, because of the public’s negative attitude towards her at the time, her role was downplayed. She told NME: “Well, if it was just John, [he] would have given me the right credit, but it was a difficult time. No famous songwriter would have thought of splitting the credit with his wife.”

Yoko added regarding her influence on the track: “I think it’s a good song from a women’s point of view as well. John was trying to create a fun song about going on a trip to Rishikesh. That might have been great too, but it ended up not being that.”

Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible; YouTube

My Playlist: Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan first entered my radar screen in 1986 shortly after I had joined a blues group as a bassist, marking the beginning of my short but intense three-year period as an active band musician. To get up to speed with our setlist, I was given a music cassette, which among others included Vaughan’s amazing rendition of Tin Pan Alley, off his second studio album Couldn’t Stand the Weather. The moment I heard his guitar sound, I fell in love with it. In this post, which is part of an irregular feature called My Playlist, I’d like to celebrate the music by who I think is one of the best blues guitarists of all time.

Vaughan’s web bio characterizes his guitar-playing as follows: With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the ’80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Albert Collins and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as jazz guitarists like Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. I feel they hit the nail right on the head!

Before getting to some music, I’d like to provide a bit of additional background on this extraordinary artist who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Vaughan picked up the guitar as a seven-year-old, initially inspired by his three-and-a-half-year-older brother Jimmie Vaughan. Five years later, he started playing in garage bands, followed by semi-professional groups. By the age of 17, Vaughan dropped out of high school to focus on music. In 1971, he formed his first own blues band, Blackbird.

Stevie Ray Vaughan with his older brother Jimmie Vaughan

Fast-forward to 1979 when Vaughan played in Triple Threat Revue, a band he had formed two years earlier. After the group’s vocalist Lou Ann Barton left, they became Double Trouble, named after an Otis Rush song. In addition to Vaughan, the initial line-up featured Jack Newhouse (bass) and Chris Layton (drums). In 1981, Newton was replaced by Tommy Shannon, putting in place the core line-up of the group that would back Vaughan for the rest of his short life.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble became regulars and gained popularity on the Texas club circuit in the early ’80s. In 1982, they played the Montreux Jazz Festival and came to the attention of David Bowie and Jackson Browne. Impressed with Vaughan’s guitar chops, Bowie offered him to play on his upcoming album Let’s Dance. Vaughan ended up contributing lead guitar for six of the tracks on what became Bowie’s commercially most successful album.

Stevie Ray Vaughan with Chris Layton (l) and Tommy Shannon (r) of Double Trouble in 1983

Meanwhile, Browne offered the fierce trio three free days at his Los Angeles studio, which they used to record a demo over the Thanksgiving weekend in November 1982. That tape found its way to record producer John Hammond who had worked with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He secured a contract for the band with Epic Records. The demo recordings were subsequently remixed and mastered in New York City and released in June 1983 as their debut Texas Flood.

Texas Flood was the first of five albums that were recorded and appeared during Vaughan’s lifetime. A sixth, The Sky Is Crying, was released in November 1991, three months after Vaughan and four others had been killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wis. following a gig. He was only 35 years old, a loss I think was comparable to Hendrix. Time for some music!

Let’s kick it off with Pride and Joy from the aforementioned Texas Flood, which Chris Layton noted Vaughan wrote for a new girlfriend he had at the time. Apparently, the same woman also inspired another song on the same album titled I’m Cryin’. As you can guess, the inspiration for that song was less cheerful, namely a fight between Vaughan and her. Pride and Joy has an infectious shuffle that makes you want to move!

Obviously, I can’t skip Tin Pan Alley, a great slow blues composed by Bob Geddins, a San Francisco Bay area blues and R&B artist and record producer. This song, off Couldn’t Stand the Weather, is a great illustration of Vaughan’s incredible sound. Check out his amazing tone, which still gives me chills!

Vaughan also composed some great instrumentals, including this one called Say What! The tune appeared on Soul to Soul, his third album with Double Trouble, which came out in September 1985. By the time of the recording, the band had grown into a four-piece and now also included Reese Wynans on keyboards.

The House Is Rockin’ – the title says it all! This is pure rock & roll that reminds me a bit of Chuck Berry. Stevie Ray Vaughan wrote this gem together with Austin blues musician Doyle Bramhall who as a high school student had played in a band with Jimmie Vaughan. It was included on June 1989’s In Step, the fourth and final studio album with Double Trouble, which appeared during Vaughan’s lifetime. Wikipedia notes that the album title can be viewed as an acknowledgment of Vaughan’s successful rehab from years of drug an alcohol addiction.

In 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan made an album with Jimmie Vaughan titled Family Affair. Released as The Vaughan Brothers in September of the same year, it was the only album Stevie recorded with his brother. It also was his last studio release prior to his fatal helicopter crash. Here’s the closer Brothers, which the two guitarists penned together.

The last track I’d like to call out is another great instrumental, which is on The Sky Is Crying, the above-mention post-mortem album. This compilation of songs Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded throughout their career was released in November 1991. Here’s their cool rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing, which originally appeared in December 1967 on the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s sophomore album Axis: Bold as Love. I think Jimi would have been proud of it!

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s impact on reviving blues and blues rock among mainstream audiences cannot be underestimated and perhaps is his biggest legacy. He also influenced many other guitarists like John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Albert Cummings and Chris Duarte.

Vaughan, who has sold over 15 million albums in the U.S. alone, is ranked at no. 20 in Rolling Stone’s just released eclectic 2023 list of The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time – probably too low, but these lists are highly subjective. Vaughan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, along with Double Trouble bandmates Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon and Reese Wynans. The Blues Hall of Fame was a bit faster in getting their act together, inducting him in 2000.

I’d like to leave you with a career-spanning Spotify playlist, which includes the above and 14 other tracks. Hope you dig Stevie Ray Vaughan as much as I do!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4EuqsRstm1AthevVWwXkj8?si=5e191c6d6d3b43dd

Sources: Wikipedia; Stevie Rau Vaughan website; Rolling Stone; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and I hope you’re all spending a lovely weekend. As I’m putting together this post, it’s a rainy day in my neck of the woods in central New Jersey, U.S.A. – in other words, a perfect opportunity to get of this place and embark on another imaginary trip through space and time to visit great music of the past and the present. It’ll be fun, so come and join me!

Oliver Nelson/Passion Flower

Let’s ease into our journey with soothing jazz by American saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer and bandleader Oliver Nelson. This takes us back to the beginning of Nelson’s recording career as a solo artist and his 1959 debut album Meet Oliver Nelson. It seems Nelson was destined for music. He began to learn the piano as a six-year-old, followed by the saxophone five years later. By 1947 at age 15, Nelson already performed in local bands in the St. Louis area. In the late ’40s and early ’50s, he played alto saxophone with the Louis Jordan Band. Over his 25-year-plus career, Nelson also worked with many other jazz greats, such as Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery and Buddy Rich. Sadly, Nelson’s life was cut short by a heart attack at age 43 in October 1975. Going back to his aforementioned solo debut, here’s Passion Flower, a beautiful composition by Milt Raskin and Billy Strayhorn.

Cordovas/Fallen Angels of Rock ‘n’ Roll

I know prior to embarking on this excursion I cheerfully declared leaving the present behind, but at the end of the day, these Sunday trips are all about great music. And to me, this next contemporary pick by Americana and roots rock band Cordovas perfectly fits that mold. Fallen Angeles of Rock ‘n’ Roll is off their latest album The Rose of Aces, which dropped on August 11. The East Nashville, Tenn. group around singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Firstman, who initially gained prominence as bandleader from 2005 to 2009 on NBC’s former late-night TV show Last Call with Carson Daly, has been together since 2011. Fallen Angeles of Rock ‘n’ Roll was co-written by Firstman and Cory Hanson, frontman of Los Angeles rock band Wand. I can hear The Band and The Wallflowers in this country rock gem!

Mighty Baby/Egyptian Tomb

It’s time for another out-of-left-field pick, which once again was suggested to me by my not-so-secret-anymore weapon, aka Gerd. My dear longtime buddy from Germany is a music encyclopedia, and I feel he should consider starting his own blog! I had never heard of British psychedelic band Mighty Baby who were born in early 1969. Among others, they included vocalist Reg King and keyboarder Ian Whiteman, both formerly with The Action, a London-based R&B group discovered by George Martin. According to AllMusic, they were “long considered one of Martin’s best discoveries this side of The Beatles.” Mighty Baby released two studio albums before breaking up in late 1971. Here’s Egyptian Tomb, a cool song from their eponymous November 1969 debut album. Or should we call it mighty?

Blur/No Distance Left to Run

Next the magical music time machine shall take us to March 1999 and 13, the sixth studio album by English alternative rock and Britpop band Blur. They only entered my radar screen in July this year when I featured a song from their ninth and latest album The Ballad of Darren, their first new release since an 8-year hiatus. Blur’s name perfectly reflects the black box that the ’90s largely are to me when it comes to what was then-contemporary music. I noticed some of the group’s most streamed songs on Spotify come from 13. Eventually, this led to my pick, No Distance Left to Run, credited to Damon Albarn (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Graham Coxon (guitar, saxophone, co-lead and backing vocals), Alex James (bass, backing vocals) and Dave Rowntree (drums, percussion), who remain Blur’s members to this day. I realize the lyrics aren’t particularly upbeat, but I still dig this song!

Thin Lizzy/The Boys Are Back in Town

Time to kick it up a notch, both in terms of tempo and the lyrics, with a classic by Irish rockers Thin Lizzy. For this stop we go back to March 1976 and the group’s sixth studio album Jailbreak, which overall became their most successful, both in terms of chart performance and sales. Undoubtedly, the single The Boys Are Back in Town had something to do with. It became the band’s biggest U.S. hit and won them the 1976 NME Award for Best Single. Yes, the song hasn’t exactly suffered from underexposure, but I still get a kick out of it, especially that neat dual lead guitar action. Like most of their songs, The Boys Are Back in Town was penned by the band’s frontman, lead vocalist and bassist Phil Lynott.

Peter Gabriel/Shock the Monkey

Once again, we’re reaching the final stop of yet another Sunday Six. To wrap up things, let’s jump into the next decade to September 1982. That’s when England’s Peter Gabriel released his fourth self-titled solo album, aka Security or Peter Gabriel 4: Security. My Peter Gabriel journey started with his next album So, released in May 1986. At the time, his only other song I knew outside his earlier work with Genesis was the catchy Solsbury Hill. As such, Shock the Monkey and other songs from Security were a bit of an acquired taste. But it didn’t take long for me to come around!

Last but not least, here’s a link to a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tracks. As always, I hope there’s something for you there and that you’ll be back for more music time travel next Sunday!

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify