Best of What’s New

It’s Saturday again, which means time to take a fresh look at newly released music. All picks appear on brand-new albums that came out yesterday (October 14). Let’s get to it without further ado!

Miko Marks & The Resurrectors/Feel Like Going Home

How many Americana and country artists can you name who are women of color? I’m thrilled to feature for the second time in Best of What’s New Miko Marks, an African-American singer drawing from both genres, as well as blues, soul and gospel. Born in Flint, Mich., she currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2005, Marks released her debut single Freeway Bound, which also was the title track of her first studio album that appeared in September of the same year. In 2006, she was named Best New Country Artist by U.S. trade magazine New Music Weekly. Marks has also won various music awards and was included in this year’s Country Music Television’s “Next Women of Country 2022” class. Feel Like Going Home is the excellent title track of her fourth and latest studio album. Initially, the tune appeared as a single back in March. As was the case for her previous album, Marks is backed by The Resurrectors, the house band of Redtone Records. I absolutely love her soulful sound and want to further explore this artist!

Souad Massi/Dessine-moi un Pays

Souad Massi is an Algerian Berber singer-songwriter and guitarist, my first such artist on the blog. From her Apple Music profile: Displaying influences as disparate as birdsong, American folk rock, Spanish flamenco, tablas from Pakistan, and Arabic lutes, all held together by a cool, sad-edged voice, Algerian singer-songwriter Souad Massi possesses one of the most unusual stories and sounds in the pop universe. Born amidst civil-war-torn Algers, her penchant for Westerns, particularly of the Sergio Leoni variety, prompted a specific interest in country music and cowboy culture. Massi joined Atakor, a rock band named after an Algerian mountain range, and in 1997 released a cassette of her own songs backed by Atakor entitled simply Souad. The cassette’s popularity brought death threats in her home country and when invited to play a festival in Paris, she chose to remain in France, where she released critically-favored records like Raoui and Deb. This brings me to Massi’s new album Sequana and the opener Dessine-moi un Pays (“draw a country for me”). While I admittedly don’t understand the lyrics, I find Massi’s music and singing really beautiful.

Enumclaw/Jimmy Neutron

Enumclaw are an indie rock band from Tacoma, Wash., named after a city located about 30 miles east of Tacoma. According to a profile on the website of their record label Luminelle Recordings, the group includes Aramis Johnson (lead vocals, guitar), Nathan Cornell (guitar), Johnson’s younger brother Eli Edwards (bass) and Ladaniel Gipson (drums). Here’s a bit more from their profile: Even though they hail from the home of grunge, their influences stretch a bit further; the group is already well on their way to becoming “the best band since Oasis,” their earliest motto. Aramis says the band led by the Gallagher brothers is a clear inspiration, given their rise from a working-class background, and not just because his own brother is in the group as well. Enumclaw are now out with their full-length debut album Save the Baby. Here’s Jimmy Neutron penned by Johnson. I like the rawness in their sound.

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Tippa My Tongue

Only six months after Unlimited Love, their international chart-topper, Red Hot Chili Peppers are back with a new album, their 13th. Just like its predecessor, Return of the Dream Canteen was produced by Rick Rubin, who also had also served in that capacity for six albums in a row released between 1991 and 2011. The current members of the Chili Peppers, who have been around since 1983, include co-founders Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals) and Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals), along with John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals) and Chad Smith (drums, percussion). Here’s Tippa My Tongue, the cool funky opener. Apart from Flea’s bass-playing, I dig the guitar work on this tune. Check it out!

As usual, following is a Spotify playlist with the above and a few additional tracks by the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Luminelle Recordings website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday morning/afternoon/evening, wherever you are when reading this. It’s time to resume some music time travel. Today’s six-stop journey starts in the ’60s with stop-overs in the ’90s, ’70s, ’10s and ’80s before coming to an end in the ’00s. Fasten your seatbelts and off we go!

Sonny Rollins/Where Are You?

I’d like to ease us into today’s musical trip with some relaxing jazz by Sonny Rollins. Jazz connoisseurs need no introduction to the American tenor saxophone great. For more casual jazz listeners like me, Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians who over an incredible 70-year-plus career has recorded more than 60 albums as a leader and appeared on many additional records as a sideman. Rollins has played with the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie,  Thelonious Monk, Max Roach and Modern Jazz Quartet. Where Are You? appeared on his 1962 studio album The Bridge, which Wikipedia notes was Rollins’ first release after a three-year sabbatical. Composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Harold Adamson, the track was written for the 1937 American comedy film Top of the Town and originally performed by Gertrude Niesen. On his rendition, Rollins was joined by Jim Hall (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (double bass) and Ben Riley (drums). I don’t have to be a jazz expert to love this track and neither do you. Just listen to that smooth saxophone sound! Rollins who celebrated his 91st birthday last September is still alive – bless the man!

Blue Rodeo/5 Days in May

Our next stop is the ’90s and beautiful music by Blue Rodeo, which is right up my alley. I’ve featured the Canadian country rock band on the blog before. They were formed in 1984 in Toronto by high school friends Jim Cuddy (vocals, guitar) and Greg Keelor (vocals, guitar), who had played together in various bands before, along with Bob Wiseman (keyboards).  Cleave Anderson (drums) and Bazil Donovan (bass) completed the band’s initial lineup. After gaining a local following in Toronto and signing with Canadian independent record label Risque Disque, the group released their debut album Outskirts in March 1987. 5 Days in May is the opener of the band’s fifth studio album Five Days in July, which appeared in October 1993 in Canada and September 1994 in the U.S. With 6X Platinum certification in Canada, it remains their best-selling album to date. Like most other tunes on the record, 5 Days in May was co-written by Cuddy and Keelor. The harmonica and guitar action are very reminiscent of Neil Young. I also love that keyboard sound. It’s just a great song all around!

The Jaggerz/The Rapper

When I came across The Rapper by The Jaggerz the other day, I earmarked it immediately for an upcoming Sunday Six. The American rock band from Pittsburgh, Pa. was initially active from 1964 until 1977. During that period, they only released three albums. After the third, Come Again from 1975, they broke up in 1977. By that time, frontman and co-founder Dominic Ierace had already left the group and joined American funk rock band Wild Cherry, best known for Play That Funky Music, their only major single success. In 1989, The Jaggerz reunited sans Ierace with three other original founders and three new members. They have since released three additional albums, the most recent of which came out in 2014 – not an exactly overwhelming catalog! The group’s current formation, a six-piece, includes founding members Jimmie Ross (lead vocals, bass) and Benny Faiella (guitar). The Rapper became the band’s breakthrough single and only hit in January 1970, surging to no. 2 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100. Written by Ierace, it was included on their sophomore studio album We Went to Different Schools Together, released that same year.

Alison Krauss & Union Station/Miles to Go

For this next pick, let’s go to the current century. Miles To Go is a song from Paper Airplane, released in April 2011 by Alison Krauss & Union Station. The bluegrass and country artist, who is also a talented fiddle player, has been active since 1984. She made her recording debut in 1986 with Different Strokes, a collaboration with Jim Hoiles & Friends and Swamp Weiss. To date, Krauss has released 14 albums, most frequently together with bluegrass and country band Union Station. I’m mostly aware of Krauss because of her two collaboration records with Robert Plant. Miles to Go was co-written by Union Station bassist Barry Bales and Chris Stapleton. Krauss is a great vocalist and I also dig the band’s sound. Yesterday, in addition to further checking out Paper Airplane, I sampled Lonely Runs Both Ways, her preceding album with Union Station from November 2004. Lots of great music only between these two records!

John Hiatt/Memphis in the Meantime

Memphis, Tenn. and its amazing music history are on my bucket list. Graceland, Sun Studio and the Stax Museum surely sound like worthy sites to visit. In the meantime, I’m picking a tune about the city by John Hiatt, a great artist I’ve started to explore in greater detail over the past few years. The singer-songwriter who has been active for 50 years is best known for tunes that have been covered by the likes of B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe. While Hiatt’s albums received positive reviews from critics, it took eight records and more than 10 years until he finally had an album that made the Billboard 200: Bring the Family, from May 1987, which reached no. 107. Memphis in the Meantime is the opener of that great record. It also includes two tunes popularized by two of the aforementioned artists: Thing Called Love, by Bonnie Raitt; and Have a Little Faith in Me, by Joe Cocker.

The Chesterfield Kings/The Rise and Fall

Once again it’s time to wrap things up. For the final stop of our musical mini-excursion, let’s get a dose of psychedelic garage rock by The Chesterfield Kings. Founded in the late ’70s by Greg Prevost (lead vocals, multiple instruments), the band from Rochester, N.Y. was instrumental in sparking the 1980s garage band revival, according to Wikipedia. A partial discography there lists 11 albums by the group that was active until 2009. Rise and Fall, co-written by Provost and bandmate Andy Babiuk (bass and multiple other instruments), is a tune from a 2007 album titled Psychedelic Sunrise. The group’s line-up at that time also included Paul Morabito (guitars, mandolin, organ) and Mike Boise (drums, percussion). BTW, the album was produced by garage rock fan Steven Van Zandt. I could picture this tune played by The Rolling Stones during their psychedelic period.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above goodies!

Sources: Wikipedia; Discogs; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday Six, a celebration of music in different flavors of the past and the present, six tunes at a time. To those celebrating, Happy Easter! If you don’t observe the holiday, I still hope you’re enjoying the weekend. And just in case you’re looking for some great music, I have some humble suggestions. Hope on our magical time machine and let’s go!

Ahmad Jamal/For All We Know

Today’s journey starts in 1960 with relaxing jazz music by Ahmad Jamal. According to his website, he was born in July 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pa. and already began playing the piano at the age of 3. By the age of 10, Jamal was composing, orchestrating and performing works by Franz Liszt, exploring the music of Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Nat Cole, Erroll Garner and a host of music notables...At 17, he left home at the request of the George Hudson Orchestra and began touring the country...He formed his own group in 1951 and with the help of John Hammond started his recording career with Okeh Records. Today, more than 70 years later, the now-91-year-old Jamal still appears to be active. His most recent album Ballads appeared in September 2019 – what an amazing career! For All We Know, which initially had been published in 1934 with music by J. Fred Coots and lyrics by Sam M. Lewis, was included on Happy Moods, a 1960 album Jamal recorded with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums – my type of music to start a Sunday morning!

Big Star/September Gurls

Next, we turn to the ’70s and power-pop band Big Star, to which Max from PowerPop blog introduced me and safe to assume other readers a while ago. Formed in Memphis, Tenn. in 1971 by Alex Chilton (guitars, piano, vocals), Chris Bell (guitars, vocals), Andy Hummel (bass, vocals) and Jody Stephens (drums), the group was initially active until 1975, during which they recorded two albums. While each received excellent reviews, both records were “commercial failures” due to ineffective marketing and other record label issues. For more on the band’s unfortunate history, I’d encourage you to visit Max’s blog, who has written about them various times, most recently here. One of Big Star’s best-known tunes is September Gurls, written by Chilton, off their sophomore album Radio City that appeared in February 1974. It’s hard to believe this catchy power-pop gem didn’t become a hit at the time. Twelve years later, the Bangles included a great cover on their hugely successful second album Different Light, the version I had known and loved for many years. When I listened to the original first, I immediately dug it just as much!

Bonnie Raitt/Made Up Mind

I’m very excited about this next pick, which is the most recent single by one of my all-time favorite artists: Bonnie Raitt. If you’re a more frequent visitor of the blog, you’ve probably seen me rave about Raitt and her great musicianship as a slide guitarist before. I think she’s an exceptional artist who has battled and overcome significant challenges during her 50-year-plus career. Made Up Mind, released on February 25, is from Raitt’s upcoming new album Just Like That…, slated for April 22. The tune was co-written by David Landreth, Joseph Sydney Landreth and Jonathan Singleton. Damn, now I want to see Bonnie again even more than I did before! If you like her music and haven’t been to one of her shows, I’d encourage you to catch her if you can. Her current national tour kicked off last evening in Hampton, N.H. Here’s the schedule. This lady is just amazing!

John Mellencamp/Paper in Fire

As fellow blogger Dave from A Sound Day posted a few days ago, April 12, 2022, marked the 40th anniversary of American Fool, the fifth studio album by John Mellencamp who at the time was still known as John Cougar. The thought the little ditty about Jack and Diane was on the radio four decades ago is mind-boggling to me! In a comment, I noted that my favorite album by the heartland rocker from Indiana is The Lonesome Jubilee, which appeared in August 1997. Don’t get me wrong, I also still dig Mellencamp’s straight rock albums he put out during the first half of the ’80s. But I love his transition into roots rock even more. It started on The Lonesome Jubilee with the introduction of instruments like accordion, fiddle and banjo. Here’s Paper in Fire, which was also released separately as a lead single a week ahead of the album. Like all other tracks except one, the song was written by Mellencamp.

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Under the Bridge

Including two songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers off their latest album Unlimited Love in recent Best of What’s New posts here and here reminded me of a band I had known primarily by name for many years. One of the few songs I could name was Under the Bridge, a tune I’ve always liked. Credited to all four members of the band – Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals); Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals); John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals); and Chad Smith (drums, percussion) – Under the Bridge is from their fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, released in September 1991. Today, 21 years and seven albums later, the group from the city of angels is rocking on with the same line-up. One of the things I dig about Under the Bridge is Frusciante’s guitar part. That sound is just awesome!

Green Day/Wake Me Up When September Ends

Okey-doke, time to wrap up another Sunday Six. My final pick for this installment takes us back to the ’90s and one of the best-known tunes by Green Day: Wake Me Up When September Ends, off their seventh studio album American Idiot, released in September 2004. I’ve always liked how this band, which has been around since 1987, oftentimes combines grunge, punk and alternative rock with pop, especially on this album. Wake Me Up When September Ends was written by Green Day lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong about the death of his father when he was 10 years old. Bandmates Mike Dirnt (bass, backing vocals) and Tré Cool (drums, percussion, backing vocals) received co-writing credits for the music. The three of them still form Green Day’s current core line-up. Beware, this is a bloody catchy tune that might get stuck in your head! 🙂

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above tracks. Hope there’s something you like!

Sources: Wikipedia; Ahmad Jamal website; Bonnie Raitt website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Is it really Saturday again? Yep, the calendar doesn’t lie. I also can’t believe we’re already in April. March seemingly just flew by. Yesterday may have been April Fools’ Day, but it certainly was no joke when it came to newly released music. Following are my picks for this week, which are all on albums that came out on April 1st.

Eric Roberson/Start All Over Again

Kicking us off today is some smooth R&B and soul by Eric Roberson who hails from Rahway, N.J., about 20 miles from my house! From his website: As a GRAMMY Award-nominee, Singer, Songwriter, Producer and Howard University alum, Eric Roberson continues to break boundaries as an independent artist in an industry dominated by major labels, manufactured sounds and mainstream radio. Described as the original pioneer of the independent movement in R&B/Soul music, Eric has achieved major milestones in his career, from being a successful songwriter and producer for notable artists such as Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Vivian Green and countless others, to headlining sold out tours across the country. While I’m not familiar with any of the aforementioned artists, what I do know is I dig Start All Over Again, the opener of Roberson’s 13th and latest studio album Lessons. The tune was co-written by producer Daniel Crawford and Roberson who in addition to writing songs for others has been releasing his own music since 2001. Check out that neat smooth sound and groove!

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Aquatic Mouth Dance

Aquatic Mouth Dance is the second track in Best of What’s New from Unlimited Love, the now-released new album by Red Hot Chili Peppers, following the lead single Black Summer I had previously featured in this installment. The current members of the group, which has been around since 1983, include co-founders Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals) and Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals), along with John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals) and Chad Smith (drums, percussion). Unlimited Love is the Chili Peppers’ 12th studio album. It was produced by Rick Rubin, who previously had served as their producer for six albums in a row, released between 1991 and 2011. I’ve yet to hear a bad album this man touches! Credited to all members of the band, Aquatic Mouth Dance has an infectious funky groove driven by Flea’s great bass work.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway/Dooley’s Farm (feat. Billy Strings)

Molly Tuttle impressed me from the very first moment I came across her in July 2020. The now 29-year-old singer-songwriter, banjo player and guitarist is focused on bluegrass and Americana. Tuttle, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area in a musical family, is noted for her outstanding guitar skills. Her father Jack Tuttle is a bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and teacher. Her siblings Sullivan and Michael play guitar and mandolin, respectively. Molly started playing guitar as an 8-year-old and three years later already performed on stage with her dad. At age 13, she recorded her first album with Jack. In 2015, she joined the family band The Tuttles with AJ Lee, featuring her father and siblings, along with mandolist AJ Lee. Her debut EP Rise appeared in October 2017, followed by her first full-fledged album When You’re Ready in April 2019. Dooley’s Farm, co-written by Ketch Secor and Tuttle, is a track from Tuttle’s new album Crooked Tree, which was recorded live at Oceanway Studios in Nashville. It appears as Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, her band. In addition to guitarist Billy Strings, Dooley’s Farm, among others, features Dobro maestro Jerry Douglas who also served as the album’s co-producer.

The Hellacopters/Eyes of Oblivion

Wrapping up this week’s new music revue are The Hellacopters, a Swedish hard rock band that first came together in 1994. After releasing seven albums between June 1996 and April 2008, they split. In 2016, the group’s original lineup reunited for the 20th anniversary of their debut album Supershitty to the Max!, which had won a Grammis music award in Sweden. A performance at the 2016 Sweden Rock Festival led to other gigs that year and in 2017. “As we started playing more and more shows, we felt we needed a new album because we’re not old enough to be a nostalgia band,” Hellacopters co-founder, guitarist and vocalist Nicke Andersson told Apple Music. And the result is Eyes of Oblivion, the group’s first new album in 14 years. Here’s the title track, written by Andersson. Apparently, the tune first came out as an upfront single on December 17. Nice melodic hard rock!

Last but not least, following is a Spotify playlist featuring the above and some additional tunes. Hope there’s something you like!

Sources: Wikipedia; Eric Roberson website; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify

Happy New Year!

This is it – well, almost! As the remaining hours of 2020 are ticking away, the time has come for my final post of this year. Since I’ve already expressed my thoughts about this year in comments to posts by fellow bloggers, I’m keeping this short and sweet.

I’d like to wish all readers a happy and healthy new year and hope you come back for more. Also, please keep the comments coming. I always enjoy reading your thoughts, even though we may not agree all the time on the music we post about. Thank goodness! Can you imagine how boring it would be, if everybody always had the same taste? Reading different perspectives is a good thing!

I’d like to leave you with a few new year’s songs. They aren’t all happy, but I feel choices are limited to begin with. Plus, obviously, the following is based on what I could find. I’m sure there are other tunes that would have been worthwhile to include. Plus, I wanted to keep it to a handful only.

Death Cab For Cutie/The New Year

I only know this indie rock band from Bellington, Wa. by name. Credited to all four members of the band at the time, Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Chris Walla (guitar) and Jason McGerr (drums), The New Year is the opener of their fourth studio album Transatlanticism from October 2003.

Eagles/Funky New Year

Co-written by Don Henley and Glen Frey in 1978 but apparently not released at the time, Funky New Year was included in the Eagles’ box set Legacy, which appeared in 2018. Groovy!

Otis Redding & Carla Thomas/New Year’s Resolution

How about throwing in some sweet Stax soul music? My kind of music. Here’s New Year’s Resolution by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. Co-written by Randle Catron, Willie Dean “Deanie” Parker and Mary Frierson, the tune was included on a studio album titled King & Queen. It appeared in March 1967 and was Redding’s final album prior to his untimely death in an airplane crash on December 10, 1967.

U2/New Year’s Day

Let’s wrap it up with what’s perhaps my favorite tune related to the new year: New Year’s Day by U2. The Irish rock band recorded it for their third studio album War from February 1983. Like all other tracks on the record, it was credited to U2. Here’s the live version from Under a Bloody Red Sky, released in November 1983, which I’ve always preferred over the studio take.

Happy New Year and be well!

Sources: Google; Wikipedia; YouTube

Clips & Pix: Mother’s Finest/Baby Love

A New Music Review post by Music Enthusiast, which includes a cool “power funk” band called Turkuaz, provided the inspiration for the above clip: Funk rock group Mother’s Finest performing what must have been one of the biggest hits, Baby Love. That’s one smoking hot number!

Credited to all members of the band, the tune appeared on their third studio album Another Mother Further from 1977.  Mother’s Finest, which were founded in Atlanta in 1972, are still active and currently touring the U.S..

The band includes four of the original members: Joyce “Baby Jean” Kennedy (vocals), Glenn “Doc” Murdock (vocals), Jerry “Wyzard” Seay (bass) and Gary “Moses Mo” Moore (guitar). John “Red Devil” Hayes (guitar) and Dion Derek Murdock (drums) round out the presentt line-up.

Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube