Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment of my weekly new music revue. All featured tracks appear on albums, which were released yesterday (February 24).

Westing/Back in the Twenties

Kicking things off are Westing, a rock band from Visalia, Calif., who until late 2021 were known as Slow Season. Together with the name change came the addition of Ben McLeod as lead guitarist, who also is a member of All Them Witches, a rock group from Nashville. Additionally, Westing include Daniel Story Rice (vocals, keyboards), Hayden Doyel (bass) and Cody Tarbell (drums). Slow Season had emerged about 10 years ago and released three albums. The reincarnated group’s first new release as Westing is titled Future. Here’s the album’s opener Back in the Twenties, which first appeared as the second upfront single about two weeks ago. It’s got a bit of a Led Zeppelin swagger. A bio that accompanies the clip of the song’s official video below notes the tune’s “message comes through clear (and loud) that however much Westing’s foundations might be in ‘70s styles, the moment that matters is now.”

Death Valley Girls/What Are the Odds

Death Valley Girls, who have been around since 2013, are a Los Angeles-based group blending garage rock, psychedelic pop and proto-metal. From their AllMusic bio: Evoking names like the Cramps, Black Sabbath, and Bikini Kill, the band was founded by drummer Patty Schemel (Hole), her six-string-wielding brother Larry Schemel, vocalist Bonnie Bloomgarden, and bass player Rachel Orosco. The group released their debut album, Street Venom, on cassette via Burger Records in 2014. Patty left the group shortly thereafter and was replaced by Laura Kelsey (the Flytraps). In 2016, Death Valley Girls issued their sophomore studio long-player, Glow in the Dark. The band moved to Suicide Squeeze Records for 2018’s Darkness Rains, and in 2020 they released their fourth full-length effort, Under the Spell of Joy. Now Death Valley Girls are out with their new album Islands in the Sky. Let’s listen to What Are the Odds, a tune co-written by Bloomgarden and Larry Schemel. I would call this song charmingly weird. It certainly rocks!

Iris DeMent/Goin’ Down to Sing in Texas

My next pick is by singer-songwriter Iris DeMent, who blends elements of Americana, country, folk and gospel. Born in Paragould, Ark. as the youngest of 14 children, DeArment was exposed to country and gospel music early on, but a bad experience during her first performance as a 5-year-old put a pause on additional such efforts. It wasn’t until the age of 25 in 1986 that she penned her first song Our Town, which changed her trajectory to becoming a songwriter. DeMent’s debut album Infamous Angel appeared six years later in October 1992. She has since released six additional albums including her latest Workin’ on a World. According to her website, it addresses the modern world — as it is right now — with its climate catastrophe, pandemic illness, and epidemic of violence and social injustice — and not only asks us how we can keep working towards a better world, but implores us to love each other, despite our very different ways of seeing. Here’s Goin’ Down to Sing in Texas, a tune her website characterizes as an ode not only to gun control, but also to the brave folks who speak out against tyranny and endure the consequences in an unjust world. Undoubtedly, DeMent won’t endear herself to everybody with her outspoken lyrics.

Philip Selway/Check For Signs of Life

Wrapping up this week is Philip Selway, who is best known as the drummer of Radiohead, the English alternative rock band he co-founded in 1985. While Selway had written songs as a teenager, he decided to focus on playing the drums for the group. Eventually, he changed his mind and released his debut solo album Familial in August 2010. It was an immediate success in the U.S. where it reached no. 7 and no. 8 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers and Americana/ Folk Albums charts. It also made the UK’s Official Albums Chart (no. 185). This brings me to Strange Dance, Selway’s third and latest solo effort. From his Bandcamp page: When Philip Selway approached some of his favourite musicians to play on his third solo record he said he imagined it as a Carole King record if she collaborated with the pioneering electronic composer Daphne Oram and invited him to drum on it. Unsurprisingly they were all sold, and so began the bringing together of an extraordinary number of gifted people, including Hannah Peel, Adrian Utley, Quinta, Marta Salogni, Valentina Magaletti and Laura Moody. Here’s Check For Signs of Life. Written by Selway, this geat-sounding tune was first released as a single in October 2022.

As usual, here’s a Spotify playlist featuring the above tracks and a few additional songs by all highlighted artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Iris DeMent website; Philip Selway Bandcamp page; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday Six. I can’t believe we’ve already made it through the first month of 2023. I hope you’re feeling groovy and are in the mood for some time travel into the magic world of music. As always, the trip includes six stops in different decades. Fasten your seatbelt and let’s go!

Barney Kessel/A Foggy Day

Our journey today starts in 1956 with American jazz guitarist Barney Kessel, a name I first heard from my brother-in-law in the late ’70s or early ’80s, then still my sister’s boyfriend. Kessel, who was active from the early ’40s until the early ’90s when a stroke put an end to his career, was particularly known for chord-based melodies. He was a sought-after session guitarist who worked with many other jazz greats, such as Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown. During the ’60s, Kessel was a member of the prominent LA-based session group The Wrecking Crew, playing on recordings by The Monkees, The Beach Boys and others. Eventually, he left studio work to focus on his jazz career, both as a solo artist and sideman. In 1973, Kessel also co-founded Great Guitars, a jazz supergroup with fellow jazz guitarists Charlie Byrd and Herb Ellis. A Foggy Day, composed by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, is a track from Kessel’s 1956 album Kessel Plays Standards. Check out this amazing guitar tone!

Donald Fagen/The Nightfly

Let’s next jump to October 1982 and The Nightfly by Donald Fagen. His solo debut and first release without his longtime Steely Dan collaborator Walter Becker remains my favorite Fagen album. The Nightfly came 16 months after Fagen and Becker had dissolved Steely Dan in the wake of the Gaucho album, whose recording had been hampered by numerous creative, personal and professional setbacks. Fagen’s first solo album touches on topics from his childhood in the late ’50s and early ’60s, including late-night jazz disc jockeys, fallout shelters and tropical vacations. As such, it is very autobiographical, unlike his earlier compositions for the Dan. Notably, due to writer’s block, it would take Fagen 10 years to release his second solo album Kamakiriad, which was produced by Walter Becker who also contributed guitar and bass. It also led to a supporting tour of Fagen and Becker, their first as Steely Dan since 1974. Coming back to The Nightfly, here’s the great title track.

Etta James/At Last

Time to pay a visit to the ’60s and the debut album by Etta James, an amazing vocalist who over a nearly 60-year career performed in multiple genres, such as gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll and soul. James had an eventful life and career, which included heroin addiction, severe physical abuse and incarceration. In spite of her struggles, except for an eight-year gap in the ’80s, James released albums at a pretty steady pace. Following her 1988 comeback album Seven Year Itch, James received multiple recognitions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993), Grammy Hall of Fame (1999) and Blues Hall of Fame (2001), as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2003). Sadly, James passed away from leukemia in January 2012, five days prior to what would have been her 74th birthday. Let’s celebrate this outstanding artist with the title track of her very first album At Last! Co-written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the 1941 musical film Sun Valley Serenade, the tune was first recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, becoming a no. 2 on the U.S. pop chart in 1942. James’ beautiful rendition, one of her best-known songs, reached no. 47 on the U.S. pop chart and no. 2 on the R&B chart. What a voice!

Ry Cooder/Little Sister

Our next stop is July 1979, which saw the release of Bop Till You Drop, the eighth studio album by Ry Cooder. If I recall it correctly, the first time I heard about him was in connection with the 1984 Wim Wenders picture Paris, Texas, for which Cooder wrote the score – one of the best acoustic slide guitar-playing I know. Cooder is a versatile artist who in addition to 17 film scores has released a similar amount of solo albums since his 1970 eponymous debut. Over his 55-year-and-counting career, Cooder has also collaborated with numerous other artists like John Lee Hooker, The Rolling Stones, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt and David Lindley. Bop Till You Drop, yet another album to which my then-bandmate and longtime music buddy from Germany introduced me, mostly is a collection of R&B and rock & roll covers. This includes the opener Little Sister, penned by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and first recorded by Elvis Presley in 1961. While I dig that version, especially Hank Garland’s lead guitar, I like Ray Cooder’s soulful rendition even more!

Matthew Sweet/I Belong to You

I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood for some sweet power pop. This takes us to the current century, more specifically May 2018 and Tomorrow’s Daughter, the 13th studio album by Matthew Sweet. I first came across the singer-songwriter in January 2021 when his most recent studio album Catspaw appeared, and featured one of the tunes in a Best of What’s New installment. After playing in various bands in the ’80s and releasing two unrecognized solo records (Inside, 1986; and Earth 1989), Sweet achieved commercial breakthrough with his third studio album Girlfriend, which came out in October 1991 and to date is one of two records that reached Gold certification in the U.S. Between 2006 and 2013, Sweet collaborated on a series of cover albums (Under the Covers Vol. 1 – Vol. 3) with Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles. I featured two of their great renditions in previous Sunday Six installments here and here. From the above-noted Tomorrow’s Daughter, here’s I Belong to You, a lovely pop rock tune.

Mudhoney/Blinding Sun

Before yet another musical journey comes to an end, let’s visit one more tune. The year is 1992 and the month is October. That’s when American band Mudhoney came out with their fourth studio album Piece of Cake. Formed in Seattle in 1988, the group is viewed as instrumental in creating grunge and an inspiration for many other bands who embraced that genre, as well as alternative rock. Mudhoney are still active and have released 10 studio albums to date. A new one, Plastic Eternity, is in the can and scheduled for April 7. At the time they recorded Piece of Cake, their only charting album in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 to date, Mudhoney featured Mark Arm (vocals, guitar, organ, piano), Steve Turner (guitar, harmonica, banjo, vocals) and Dan Peters (drums, percussion, vocals), who remain part of the current lineup, and Matt Lutkin (bass, vocals) who was replaced by Guy Maddison in 2001. Here’s Blinding Sun, credited to all members of the band at the time. I like their garage sound.

Last but not least, below is a Spotify playlist of the above goodies. As always, I hope there’s something here you enjoy!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

Yearend Musings Part 1

Happy Saturday and I hope everybody has been enjoying the holiday season. As 2022 is beginning to wind down, it’s time to revisit new music released this year. I decided to do this in two parts. Part 1, which draws on my weekly Best of What’s New feature, looks back at some of the new songs I like. Part 2 focuses on new albums that speak to me. To avoid overlap between the two parts, I won’t feature any tunes in part 1 that are on albums highlighted in part 2.

Following are 12 tunes released this year, one from each month. I’m doing this in chronological order. There’s also a Spotify playlist at the end, which includes all highlighted and some additional 2022 tunes.

John Mayall/Can’t Take No More (feat. Marcus King)

I’d like to kick off this post with the amazing John Mayall, who on November 29 turned 89. On January 28, the Godfather of the British Blues released The Sun is Shining Down, a true late-stage career gem I reviewed here. The soulful blues rocker Can’t Take No More, penned by Mayall, features Marcus King on guitar.

Gregor Barnett/Driving Through the Night

On February 19, Gregor Barnett released his debut solo album Don’t Throw Roses in My Grave during COVID downtime for The Menzingers, the Philadelphia-based punk band he co-founded in 2006. Driving Through the Night was written by Barnett like all other tracks on the Americana rock-focused album, a departure from his more punk-leaning music with The Menzingers.

Young Guv/Couldn’t Leave U If I Tried

Young Guv is a solo project of Toronto-based guitarist and vocalist Ben Cook. After playing in two Canadian hardcore punk bands, Cook launched a solo career in 2015 and has since released five power pop-oriented albums under the Young Guv moniker. I immediately loved the beautiful Byrdsy-sounding Couldn’t Leave U If I Tried, included on Guv III, his fourth album that came out on March 11.

The Linda Lindas/Talking to Myself

When I first came across The Linda Lindas in early March, I was struck by the energy of this Los Angeles-based all-female punk pop and garage band. The four-piece was founded in 2018 when their members were still young teenagers. Talking to Myself is a tune from the group’s first full-length album Growing Up, which appeared on April 8.

49 Winchester/All I Need

Va.-based 49 Winchester describe their music as “tear-in-your-beer alt-country, sticky barroom floor rock-n-roll, and high-octane Appalachian folk.” Formed in the mid-2010’s, the group has put out four albums to date. Lynyrd Skynyrd-flavored country rocker All I Need appears on their most recent Fortune Favors the Bold, released on May 13.

Lettuce/RV Dance

American jazz and funk band Lettuce were formed in Boston in the summer of 1992 when all of their founding members attended Berklee College of Music as teenagers. Initially a short-lived venture for just one summer, the group reunited in 1994 and released their debut in 2002. RV Dance is a groovy track from their latest album Unify, which came out on June 3. As I said at the time, you could picture James Brown singing to this great tune!

Dawes/Ghost in the Machine

Los Angeles-based folk rock band Dawes emerged from Simon Dawes in 2009 after that rock group’s co-songwriter Blake Mills had left. His departure did not only result in a new name but also in a change of music style from post-punk to folk rock. Here’s Ghost in the Machine, a cool tune from the group’s eighth and most recent studio album Misadventure of Doomscroller, out since July 22.

Marcus King/Blood On the Tracks

Guitarist and songwriter Marcus King is one of the most exciting young contemporary artists in my book. The 26-year-old has been on stage since he was 8 when he started performing alongside his family. Here’s the soulful rocker Blood On the Tracks from King’s second solo album Young Blood released on August 26.

Ringo Starr/Free Your Soul (feat. Dave Koz and José Antonio Rodriguez)

“Every band deserves a Ringo.” Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I read that great quote, which perfectly describes Ringo Starr. The ex-Beatles drummer always has been all about the music, never about himself. A perfect illustration is the All-Starr Band, his touring rock supergroup Ringo formed in 1989. Now 82 years young, he’s still rocking – and recording! Free Your Soul is the smooth closer of Starr’s most recent release, an EP titled EP 3 that appeared on September 16.

The Star Crumbles/Desperately Wanting

The Star Crumbles is a cool music project by fellow blogger Marc Schuster from Abnominations and his friend Brian Lambert. After meeting on Twitter and working together on one of Lambert’s songs earlier this year, they hit it off and decided to form The Star Crumbles. Both are into ’80s music and bands like The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, New Order and Ultravox, which is noticeable on their first album The Ghost of Dancing Slow released on October 7. Here’s one of my favorites, Desperately Wanting.

Larkin Poe/Southern Comfort

Sister act Larkin Poe have been among my favorite contemporary artists since they entered my radar screen a few years ago. Not only are Rebecca Lovell and her slightly older sister Megan Lovell great songwriters, but they are also really talented musicians and sing together in perfect harmony. Southern Comfort is a sizzling southern blues rocker from their sixth full-length album Blood Harmony, which came out on November 11 and which I reviewed here.

Mthunzi Mvubu/Mom vs the Bad Man

The final pick I’d like to highlight is by South African-based saxophonist, flute player and composer Mthunzi Mvubu. Playing professionally since he was 14, Mvubu has traveled globally with jazz luminaries since he was 18. Mom vs the Bad Man is a track from The 1st Gospel, Mvubu’s debut album as a leader, released on December 2.

Last but not least, here’s the above-mentioned Spotify playlist. While finding new music I sufficiently like can be quite time-consuming, I feel it’s been another rewarding year. Hope there’s something here that speaks to you as well!

Sources: Wikipedia; 49 Winchester website; YouTube; Spotify

Time Again for Another Thanksgiving Music Tradition

It’s hard to believe that here in the U.S. Thanksgiving is upon us again. This is also the time of the year when New York classic rock radio station Q104.3 does its annual countdown of the Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs Of All Time. The following borrows from two related posts I published last year.

The countdown is based on submissions from listeners who each can select 10 songs. All picks are then tabulated to create the big list. The countdown starts at 9:00 am EST the day before Thanksgiving (Wednesday) and stretches all the way to sometime Sunday evening after the holiday. That’s how long it takes to get through all 1,043 songs. Obviously, they are all different tunes, as opposed to the much smaller rotation of songs most radio stations play over and over again.

The only interruption of the countdown happens at noon on Thanksgiving when Q104.3 plays Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant, all 18 and a half minutes of it – just wonderful! Officially titled Alice’s Restaurant Massacree and released in October 1967, Alice’s Restaurant is also the title track of Guthrie’s debut album.

The tune is a largely spoken satirical protest song against the Vietnam War draft. It’s based on a true though exaggerated story that started on Thanksgiving 1965 when Guthrie and his friend Ray Brock were arrested by the local police of Stockbridge, Mass. for illegally dumping trash. Guthrie’s resulting criminal record from the incident later contributed to his rejection by the draft board.

Perhaps not surprisingly given Guthrie’s cinematic story-telling, Alice’s Restaurant also inspired a 1969 comedy film of the same name, starring Guthrie as himself. It was directed by Arthur Penn who among others is known as the director of the 1967 classic biographical crime picture Bonnie and Clyde.

Coming back to the countdown, this year, I didn’t get to submit any picks. After having taken a look at what I did last year, I still stand behind these tunes and shaking up things a little with four artists I had not selected in previous years: California Dreamin’ (Dirty Honey) and Side Street Shakedown (The Wild Feathers), both songs from 2021, as well as I Don’t Understand (The Chesterfield Kings) and Cinderella (The Fuzztones), tunes released in 2003 and 1985, respectively.

Following are the songs I probably would have submitted again this year, if I had had the opportunity. They are in no particular order.

Dirty Honey/California Dreamin’ – Dirty Honey, April 2021

The Wild Feathers/Side Street Shakedown – Alvarado, October 2021

The Black Crowes/Twice As Hard – Shake Your Money Maker, February 1990

AC/DC/It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll) – High Voltage, April 1976

The Beatles/Helter Skelter – The Beatles, November 1968

David Bowie/Suffragette City – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, June 1972

Queen/Tie Your Mother Down – A Day at the Races, December 1976

The Who/The Real Me – Quadrophenia, October 1973

The Chesterfield Kings/I Don’t Understand – The Mindbending Sounds Of…The Chesterfield Kings, August 2003

The Fuzztones/Cinderella – Lysergic Emanations, 1985

I’m sure I’ll be listening on and off to the countdown over the coming days. Will Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven once again come in at no. 1, which it has every year since Q104.3 began their countdown? While I think that’s a foregone conclusion, I still enjoy listening to the countdown. It’s not all rock, but there is lots of great music with no repetition while it lasts!

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the above tunes.

Last but not least, if you celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving! If you don’t, hope you have a rockin’ and rollin’ great time anyway!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday and welcome to another installment of my weekly new music revue. Once again, I found myself with more songs than I was able to accommodate, a nice problem to have. Following are four I decided to feature, all from albums that came out yesterday (October 7).

Disq/This Time

My first pick are Wisconsin indie rock band Disq, who according to Apple Music were founded by two teenage childhood friends. Here’s more from their profile: The roots of Disq go back to the friendship of Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock. The two grew up together, and both were surrounded by creative, artistic families. After learning several instruments and exploring pop music foundations laid by bands like the Beatles and alternative rock starting points like Weezer, the two budding songwriters formed Disq when they were still in their early teens. With Bock on bass and backing vocals and deBroux-Slone on guitar and lead vocals, the duo self-produced and released the Disq I EP in 2016. Over the next several years, the band expanded to include additional guitarist Logan Severson, drummer Brendan Manley, and guitarist/keyboardist Shannon Connor. After signing with indie label Saddle Creek, Disq released their full-length debut album Collector in March 2020. This Time, written by DeBroux-Slone, is a track from the group’s sophomore album Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet. Great song!

Indigo Sparke/Pluto

This is the second time I’m including singer-songwriter Indigo Sparke in Best of What’s New after this installment from February 2021. According to a profile on the website of her record label Sacred Bones Records, Sparke writes with a rare and reflective power, creating music that builds and bursts as she examines love, loss, grief, and a newly realized rage. Born in Australia and now based in New York, Indigo worked as an actress before establishing herself in the Sydney music scene with her EP Night Bloom (2016). Over the next few years, she toured and collaborated extensively with Big Thief, released her single, “The Day I Drove the Car Around the Block,” to critical acclaim, had a song featured on the TV show Cloudy River, and performed across Australia and the U.S. Indigo signed with Sacred Bones in early 2021, and made her label debut shortly after with Echo [I previously featured the opener – CMM], which she co-produced with Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief), and Andrew Sarlo (producer of Big Thief, Nick Hakim, Bon Iver, and Hand Habits). This brings me to Hysteria, Sparke’s sophomore release, and Pluto, a beautiful song she wrote together with Aaron Dessner.

Surf Curse/Cathy

Next up is new music by Surf Curse, a music project by Nick Rattigan (drums, vocals) and Jacob Rubeck (guitar). From their AllMusic bio: A gritty and melodic Nevada-bred guitar-and-drum duo who later became a fixture of Los Angeles’ D.I.Y. garage and punk scenes, Surf Curse aligned themselves with the artist-run Danger Collective label where they released albums like 2017’s Nothing Yet and 2019’s Heaven Surrounds You. The sudden viral success of “Freaks,” a song they’d released years earlier, earned them a deal with Atlantic. That label has now issued Surf Curse’s fourth and new album Magic Hour. Here’s Cathy. I like their sound!

The Star Crumbles/Desperately Wanting

Before getting to the last pick, I have to call out fellow bloggers Jeff from Eclectic Music Lover and Marc Schuster from Abnominations, who brought the music project The Star Crumbles on my radar screen with recent posts here and here, respectively. The following is informed by these posts. Marc who is based in Philadelphia is actually a member of the project, which also includes his friend, Denton, Texas-based Brian Lambert. Both are longtime singer-songwriters and musicians. After they had met on Twitter, Lambert reached out to Schuster for some help with one of his songs earlier this year. Recognizing how well they worked with each other, they decided to form The Star Crumbles. Schuster and Lambert, among others, are both into ’80s music and bands like The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, New Order and Ultravox, which you can clearly hear on their first album The Ghost of Dancing Slow. They also came up with a fictitious story behind the band, which they captured in a hilarious mini-documentary. Here’s the remarkable thing from my perspective: While I used to dig much of ’80s music at the time, nowadays, I tend to be lukewarm about it. I definitely can’t say the same about The Star Crumbles and their tune Desperately Wanting, which pretty much grabbed me right away. Once again, this goes to show that at the end of the day, there are only types of music: Music you dig and music that doesn’t speak to you. Check this out!

The following Spotify playlist includes the above and a few additional tracks by the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Sacred Bones Records website; AllMusic; Eclectic Music Lover blog; Abnominations blog; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Good morning (in my part of the woods, New Jersey, USA), good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are – welcome to another Sunday Six! If you’re a frequent traveler, you know what’s about to unfold. For first-time visitors, I hope you stick around to join me and others on a new excursion into the great world of music, six tunes at a time. Off we go!

Nat Adderley/Work Song

Today, our trip starts in 1960 with music by jazz musician Nat Adderley, who became best known for playing the cornet, a brass instrument similar to a trumpet. After starting to play the trumpet in 1946 as a 15-year-old, Adderley switched to the cornet in 1950. Together with his older brother, saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, he co-founded Cannonball Adderley Quintet in 1956 and frequently worked with the group until its dissolution in 1975, following the death of his older brother. In addition to playing bebop, Cannonball Adderley Quintet became known for starting the soul jazz genre. Adderly also worked with Kenny Clarke, Wes Montgomery, Walter Booker, Ron Carter and Sonny Fortune, among others. Nat Adderley passed away in January 2000 at the age of 68 due to complications from diabetes. Work Song, composed by Adderley and Oscar Brown Jr., is the title track of an album Adderley released in 1960. The tune features Adderley (cornet), Montgomery (guitar), Bobby Timmons (piano), Percy Heath (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums). Groovy stuff but not too aggressive – perfect music to start a Sunday morning!

John Hiatt/Shredding the Document

The more I listen to John Hiatt, the more I dig the man! While Hiatt has written songs for 50-plus years and recorded close to 30 albums, his tunes oftentimes became hits for other artists. Perhaps the most prominent examples are Thing Called Love and Have a Little Faith in Me, which became hits for Bonnie Raitt and Joe Cocker, respectively. Hiatt’s songs have also been covered by an impressive and diverse array of other artists like B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Buddy Guy, Emmylou Harris, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band  and Willy DeVille. Shredding the Document, penned by Hiatt, is from Walk On, an album released in October 1995. Peaking at no. 48 on the Billboard 200, it ranks among his better performing records on the U.S. mainstream chart. Walk On did best in Belgium and Sweden, where it climbed to no. 10 and no. 13, respectively.

James Brown/The Boss

Next, let’s get funky with James Brown and The Boss, a tune from Black Cesar, the soundtrack album for the blaxploitation crime drama motion picture of the same name. The Boss was co-written by Brown, Charles Bobbit and Fred Wesley. The album and the film were released in February 1973. While reactions were mixed among music critics, Black Cesar peaked at no. 31 on the Billboard 200, making it Brown’s second highest-charting album on the U.S. pop chart in the ’70s. I love the guitar work on this tune. The lush horns give it a true ’70s feel.

Yes/Owner of a Lonely Heart

On to the ’80s and the biggest hit by English progressive rock band Yes: Owner of a Lonely Heart. After the group had disbanded in 1981, original co-founder Chris Squire (bass) and Alan White (drums) who had joined Yes in 1972 formed Cinema in January 1982, together with guitarist and singer-songwriter Trevor Rabin and original Yes keyboarder Tony Kaye. In November 1982, they started work on an album with a more pop-oriented sound. During the mixing stage, former Yes vocalist Jon Anderson joined Cinema, which subsequently became the new line-up of Yes. The album was titled 90125, after its catalog number of record label Atco. Owner of a Lonely Heart, written primarily by Rabin with contributions from Anderson, Squire and producer Trevor Horn, topped the Billboard Hot 100. Elsewhere, it climbed to no. 2 in The Netherlands, no. 14 in Australia, no. 28 in the UK and no. 30 in Ireland. 90125 became the group’s best-selling album, reaching 3x Platinum certification in the U.S., 2X Platinum in Canada, Platinum in Germany and Gold in the UK and France. Today, Yes (featuring longtime guitarist Steve Howe) are embarking on a U.S. tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their fifth studio album Close to the Edge. While Owner of a Lonely Heart has a commercial ’80s sound, it’s an awesome tune!

Pretenders/Alone

I trust the English-American rock band The Pretenders (known as Pretenders since 1990) don’t need much of an introduction. The group was formed in March 1978 and originally included Chrissie Hynde (lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass, backing vocals) and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). By the time the 10th album Alone was released in October 2016, Hynde was literally alone as the only remaining member. She relied on session musicians to record the album, essentially mirroring the same approach Hynde took once before, in 1990 for Packed!, the fifth album that appeared under the band’s name – the first released as Pretenders. Today, the group has a full line-up, with Chambers back in the fold. Here’s the defiant title track of Alone – I love Hynde’s feisty lyrics, which are a perfect match for the raw sound!

The Fuzztones/Barking Up the Wrong Tree

And once again we’ve arrived at our final destination, which takes us back to the present. This past April, American garage rock revival band The Fuzztones put out their latest studio release. Encore is “a collection of unreleased tracks packaged together as a way to say thank you to the faithful who have followed and supported the band through the years,” Tinnitist reported at the time. The Fuzztones were originally formed by singer and guitarist Rudi Protrudi in New York in 1982, who remains the only original member. Since their 1985 debut Lysergic Emanations, they have released eight additional albums including Encore. Barking Up The Wrong Tree, written by Protrudi, is the only original song. The other six tracks are covers of tunes by Rare Earth, The Wildwood and others. Fuzzy garage rock – I love that sound!

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete with a Spotify playlist of the above songs. Hope there’s something you dig.

Sources: Wikipedia; Yes website; Tinnitist; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another installment of The Sunday Six. After a two-week hiatus, it’s nice to get back into the blogging groove again. At the same time, taking a break wasn’t a bad thing, especially in this case where I used some of the time for a long-sought vacation in Germany to see some family and friends again. Following is a small collage of photos from my visit.

From top left clockwise: Karlsruhe Palace; village of Buschhoven, in which I grew up; Frankfurt/Main; and Königstein, a health spa in the Taunus region close to Frankfurt

Time to get to some music. Three of the picks are inspired by my recent visit to Germany.

Sonny Rollins/In a Sentimental Mood

Our journey today starts with beautiful music by American tenor saxophone great Sonny Rollins, who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. Over an incredible 70-year-plus career, Rollins has recorded more than 60 albums as a leader and appeared on many additional records as a sideman. He has played with the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie,  Thelonious Monk, Max Roach and Modern Jazz Quartet. In a Sentimental Mood, composed by Duke Ellington, Manny Kurtz and Irving Mills, is among Rollins’ earliest recordings as a leader. It appeared on a 1956 compilation album, Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet. On this particular tune, he was backed by John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy Heath (bass) and Kenny Clarke (drums). My kind of music to ease into a Sunday morning.

Wolf Maahn/Irgendwo in Deutschland

Next, we jump to 1984 and the first German-language song featured in The Sunday Six: Irgendwo in Deutschland (somewhere in Germany), the title track of the third studio album by German rock artist Wolf Maahn. The singer-songwriter, actor and producer, who was born in Berlin in 1955 and grew up in Munich, initially started his music career in 1976 as a founding member of the Food Band. Mixing soul, jazz, pop and rock, this group sang in English. Wolf Maahn’s “German language music career” kicked off in the early ’80s with the studio album Deserteure. He gained broad national popularity in the mid ’80s, starting with the Irgendwo in Deutschland album. I listened to that song in my rental car on the day I arrived in Germany. That’s when I decided I would feature it in a Sunday Six.

Arthur Conley/Sweet Soul Music

I’m in the mood for some soul and the other day I remembered a tune I’ve always loved, loved: Sweet Soul Music, a big U.S. hit for Arthur Conley in 1967, climbing to no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it peaked at no. 7 on the Official Singles Chart. The song, which also became the title track of an album Conley released the same year, was co-written by him and Otis Redding – and Sam Cooke. It’s a version of Cooke’s Yeah Man, a tune that appeared on Cooke’s first posthumous studio album Shake from January 1965. Initially, they didn’t give him any credit. Cooke’s estate eventually sued Conley and Redding and received songwriting credit and a settlement.

Del Amitri/Always the Last to Know

During my visit to Germany, I met my former bandmate and longtime music buddy who always gives me great trip listening tips. The next two picks are inspired by him. First, he reminded me of Scottish alternative rock band Del Amitri, who were formed in Glasgow in 1980. During their initial run until 2002, they released six studio albums and two compilations. Since the band reemerged from hiatus in 2013, it looks like they have mainly been a touring act. Only one live record, one compilation and one studio album have since appeared. Always the Last to Know takes us back to their third studio album Change Everything released in June 1992. Written by Justin Currie (vocals, guitar, piano), who remains with Del Amitri to this day, the tune also became the album’s lead single in April 1992 – a nice melodic pop rock tune!

The Sadies/Stop and Start

This next pick is from the new album by Canadian band The Sadies, Colder Streams, released on July 22. From their AllMusic bio: One of the most accomplished bands to emerge from the North American indie and roots rock scene, the Sadies are an eclectic group founded by brothers Dallas Good and Travis Good, who crafted a distinctive sound, absorbing influences from traditional country, surf music, and garage rock, and blending them into something unique with their estimable instrumental skills. The band’s best work emphasized mood as much as melody, and they were open to collaboration with artists they respected, cutting albums with Neko Case, John Doe, Gord Downie, and Andre Williams. Here’s Stop and Start, credited to all four members of the band at the time of the recording. Sadly, Dallas Good died unexpectedly on February 17, 2022, at the age of 48 from a recently detected heart condition.

The Knack/My Sharona

And once again, we’ve reached the final stop of yet another Sunday Six. Let’s wrap up with a fun tune by Los Angeles power pop band The Knack: My Sharona, their first single that became an international sensation, topping the charts in the U.S., Canada and Australia, peaking at no. 3 in New Zealand and reaching the top 10 in the UK, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. The song’s huge popularity also propelled the band’s debut album Get the Knack to no. 1 in the U.S., Canada and Australia – a level of success the band never managed to replicate. After their third album, they split for the first time in mid-1982. The Knack had a few reunions thereafter until their permanent end in February 2010, following the death of the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist Doug Fieger from cancer at the age of 57.

Here’s a playlist of the above tunes. Hope there’s something there you like.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Man, it’s been a hot week in my neck of the woods, with daytime highs close to 100 °F. Of course, I realize it’s pretty much been the same across the U.S. and much of Europe. So what’s happening on the new music front this week? I’m happy to report I found plenty that sufficiently grabbed my attention. All of my picks are on albums that appeared yesterday (July 22).

Ty Segall/Looking at You

Kicking things off is versatile American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and record producer Ty Segall. From his AllMusic bio: One of the leaders of the new psych-influenced garage rock scene that erupted in California in the late 2000s, Ty Segall has produced a catalog as prolific as it is diverse. Working as a solo act and in a number of side projects, he has released literally dozens of albums since he left the Epsilons [California garage rock revivalist band where he served as lead vocalist and gained initial acclaim – CMM] and cut his first project on his own in 2008. Depending on the album, Segall can sound raw (2016’s Emotional Mugger) or refined (2013’s Sleeper), and he’s capable of focused one-man-band efforts (2009’s Lemons) as well as sprawling and eclectic releases with a range of collaborators (2018’s Freedom’s Goblin). He proves just as compelling when stripping back the noise and adding synths, as on 2021’s Harmonizer, or composing film music (2022’s Whirlybird). This brings me to Looking at You, a tune from Segall’s latest, 14th studio album Hello, Hi. I like what I’m hearing here!

John Moreland/Ugly Faces

John Moreland is a Tusla, Okla.-based Americana-oriented singer-songwriter. Originally hailing from Longview, Texas, Moreland started playing guitar as a child with the help of his father and already had his first gig when he was 13 or 14. While still in high school, he played in local punk and hardcore bands. His recording debut, Endless Oklahoma Sky, occurred in 2008 with the Black Gold Band, a group he had formed in 2005. Moreland has since released eight additional studio albums, a mix of solo and group efforts. Ugly Faces is the opener of his new solo album Birds in the Ceiling. While I’m not a fan of drum machines and other electronic percussions that Moreland uses in some of the tunes I’ve heard, I still find his music pretty compelling.

Beach Bunny/Gone

I first featured Chicago indie pop rock group Beach Bunny in a January 2021 Best of What’s New installment. Founded in 2015, Beach Bunny started as a solo project by vocalist and guitarist Lili Trifilio who released her debut EP  Animalism in 2015. Following the third EP Crybaby in 2017, Beach Bunny became a full-fledged four-piece group. In addition to Trifilio (vocals, guitar), their current lineup features Matt Henkels (guitar), Anthony Vaccaro (bass) and Jon Alvarado (drums). Beach Bunny’s first full-length studio album Honeymoon appeared in February 2020. Now they are back with their sophomore release Emotional Creature. Here’s Gone, which like most other tunes on the album is credited to all members of the group. The bouncy catchy music stands in contrast to the lyrics.

Jack White/A Tip From You to Me

Jack White is best known as the former lead vocalist and guitarist of The White Stripes, the rock duo he formed in 1997 with his then-wife Meg White (drums, vocals). In 2005, he also became a co-founder of rock group The Raconteurs. In addition, four years later, White co-founded The Dead Weather, a rock supergroup. The White Stripes came to an end in February 2011 after six albums. The Raconteurs went on hiatus in 2014 and became active again in 2018. White remains a member. The Dead Weather have been, well, I guess you could say dead since the release of their third album Dodge and Burn in September 2015. In addition to his band activity, White also found the time to launch a solo career. Since his debut Blunderbuss (April 2012), White has released four additional albums including his latest, Entering Heaven Alive. The more acoustic album comes only three months after his previous release, the rock-oriented Fear of the Dawn. Evidently, White is not only quite prolific but also pretty versatile. While I’m still entirely new to his solo work, I sure as heck know I like what I’ve heard thus far from his latest endeavor!

Dawes/Ghost in the Machine

Dawes are a folk rock band from Los Angeles. They emerged from Simon Dawes in 2009 after that rock group’s co-songwriter Blake Mills had left. His departure did not only result in a new name but also in a change of music style from post-punk to folk rock. The group consists of brothers Taylor Goldsmith (guitars, vocals) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums), as well as Wylie Gelber (bass) and Lee Pardini (keyboards). AllMusic characterizes their music as “influenced by the gentle acoustic style and rich vocal harmonies of the Laurel Canyon sound (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell) as well as the shambling, romanticized Americana of the Band.” To date, Dawes have released eight studio albums, including their latest project Misadventure of Doomscroller. Based on what I’ve heard thus far, it sounds very promising. Here’s a great sample, Ghost in the Machine, penned by Taylor Goldsmith.

Jenny Mitchell/If You Were a Bird

Let’s wrap up this Best of What’s New installment with Jenny Mitchell, a singer-songwriter from New Zealand. From her website: Multi award winning, alt-country Aotearoa artist, Jenny Mitchell is a storyteller with songs wrapped in wisdom and wit. Her music defies easy categorisation but if you admire music by genre-defying artists from Emmylou Harris to Kasey Chambers and Jason Isbell, you are going to love Jenny Mitchell...Her 2018 record Wildfires, produced by Sydney’s Matt Fell, was awarded the 2019 Tui for Recorded Music NZ Best Country Music Artist and became the first NZ album to receive a nomination for Alt-Country Album of the Year at the 2020 Australian Golden Guitar Awards. This brings me to Tug of War, Mitchell’s third and latest album and the pretty If You Were a Bird.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of all the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Jenny Mitchell 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

Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment of my weekly new music revue. This time, my picks include art pop, jangle pop, jazz and garage-oriented alternative rock. Once again, all artists are new to me. All tunes are included on albums that appeared yesterday (March 11).

Jenny Hval/Year of Love

Jenny Hval is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, record producer, musician and novelist. Before she released her solo debut EP Cigars in 2006, Hval was the vocalist in a gothic metal band called Shellyz Raven and subsequently studied at the University of Melbourne. During her time there, she sang in Australian groups iPanic and Folding For Air, and released an EP with the latter in 2004. To date, she has released 10 studio albums, two of which appeared under the name Rockettothesky. Hval’s solo music has been characterized as avant-garde, art pop and experimental folk. Her Apple Music profile notes she was inspired by Kate Bush, Jimmy Somerville, and the ambitious, androgynous feel of ’80s pop. This brings me to Classic Objects, Hval’s new album, and the opener Year of Love, written by her.

Young Guv/Good Time

Young Guv is a solo project of Toronto-based guitarist and vocalist Ben Cook, a co-founder of Canadian hardcore punk band No Warning that was initially formed in 1998 under the name As We Once Were. After the band’s break-up in late 2005, Cook joined another local hardcore punk cheerfully named Fucked Up. In 2015, Cook released his solo debut album Ripe 4 Luv, the first of four that have appeared to date under the Young Guv moniker. Cook’s Young Guv music is power pop-oriented and as such very different from his hardcore punk roots. His latest album Guv III has a nice jangle pop sound. Here’s Good Time, co-written by Cook and James Matthew DeLong.

Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens/Loping

What do you get when combining American jazz saxophonist Walter Smith III and Canadian jazz guitarist Matthew Stevens? Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens who just released their third collaboration album In Common III, which follows In Common II and In Common from 2020 and 2018, respectively. Smith began playing the saxophone at the age of seven and has performed with many other notable jazz artists like Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes and Christian McBride. His debut album as a leader, Casually Introducing, appeared in 2006. Matthew Stevens, who has been active since 2004, is regarded as one “most exciting up-and-coming jazz guitarists” in his generation, according to Wikipedia. His 2015 debut album as a leader, Woodwork, garnered rave reviews from critics. On In Common III, Smith and Stevens are backed by Kris Davis (piano), Dave Holland (bass) and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums). Here’s a track titled Loping composed by Stevens. I like it!

The Mysterines/Life’s a Bitch (But I Like it So Much)

Wrapping up this post is new music by The Mysterines, an alternative rock band from Liverpool, England. Their members are Lia Metcalfe (vocals, guitar), Callum Thompson (guitar), George Favager (bass) and Paul Crilly (drums). According to Apple Music, Metcalfe is a fan of The Doors with a passion for poetry like her hero Jim Morrison [who] started writing songs at the age of nine. Her teenage years provided more meaningful material to write about, much of which formed a basis for songs on Reeling [the group’s debut album]…The Mysterines specialize in an emotive brand of garage rock that takes inspiration from a variety of sources. Musically, the debut albums by The Strokes and Arcade Fire were the blueprint for youthful swagger and experimentalism, respectively; the films of directors Alejandro Jodorowsky and Terrence Malick provided canvases on which the quartet could imagine new soundtracks. Here’s the opener Life’s a Bitch (But I Like it So Much). I dig the tune’s raw sound.

As usual, following is a Spotify playlist with the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify