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