New Music Musings

Happy Saturday and welcome to my latest picks on the new music front. Except for the final track, which is a single that came out on Thursday (May 9), all highlighted songs are included on albums that were released yesterday (May 10).

Pokey LaFarge/So Long Chicago

Pokey LaFarge (born Andrew Heissler) is a singer-songwriter currently based in Maine. AllMusic describes his style as Americana, blending blues, country, and Western swing into his own unique style. LaFarge independently released his debut album Marmalade in 2006. His eighth and latest album Rhumba Country was inspired by his recent experience of working 12-hour days on a local farm. The songs came to him while farming, his Bandcamp page notes, as well as the kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far-ranging eras and corners of the globe, including mambo, tropicália, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. Here’s So Long Chicago, co-written by Addie Hamilton, Elliott Bergman and LaFarge. Something about this song drew me in right away – not exactly sure why, I just find it cool!

Hot Water Music/Chewing On Broken Glass

Hot Water Music are a post-hardcore group from Florida, formed in 1994. During their initial run until late 2005, they released six albums. For the next six years, they were largely on hiatus before reforming in 2012. Since 2017, Hot Water Music’s line-up has included their four original members Chuck Ragan (guitar, vocals), Chris Wollard (guitar, vocals), Jason Black (bass) and George Rebelo (drums), as well as Chris Creswell (guitar, vocals). Their latest album Vows coincides with the group’s 30th anniversary. Here’s Chewing On Broken Glass, credited to the entire band. Nice melodic rock!

Villagers/I Want What I Don’t Need

Villagers are an Irish indie folk band and music project by Dublin-based singer-songwriter Conor J O’Brien who has been their sole constant member. He formed the group in 2008 after his previous band The Immediate had disbanded. Starting with their May 2010 debut album Becoming a Jackal, Villagers enjoyed immediate chart success in their home country, where their first three albums topped the charts. They also have charted in Belgium, France, Germany and The Netherlands. Off Villagers‘ sixth and latest studio album That Golden Time, here’s the pleasant I Want What I Don’t Need.

Jackie West/End of the World

Jackie West who was born in Boston and grew in St. Louis is a singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. Her debut single Amelia appeared in January 2022, followed by EP Find Indigo the following month. West is now out with her first full-length album Close to the Mystery, which her Bandcamp page overall characterizes as baroque pop. Here’s the opener End of the World. West’s vocals sound intriguing, which is what caught my attention initially.

The Sonic Dawn/Nothing Can Live Here

The Sonic Dawn are a Danish acid rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2013 by childhood friends Emil Bureau (guitar, vocals), Niels ‘Bird’ Fuglede (bass) and Jonas Waaben (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Since their 2015 debut Perception, they have fused genres from sitar pop to heavy psych. On their fifth and new album Phantom they are joined by long-time collaborator Erik ‘Errka’ Petersson on organ and keyboards. Here’s Nothing Can Live Here, with both lyrics and the music credited to Bureau, Fuglede and Waaben. Alternating between fairly melodic, mellow parts and full-blown psychedelic rock, I think the song makes for an interesting listening experience!

The Cold Stares/Coming Home

Wrapping up this weekly new music review are blues and roots rock-oriented The Cold Stares. Formed as a duo in 2010 by guitarist and vocalist Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins, starting with 2014’s A Cold Wet Night, they released five albums in that configuration. In 2022, they added bassist Bryce Klueh and released their first album as a trio, Voices, in 2023. Here’s their new single Coming Home, which appeared on May 9. It’s the second upfront track released this year from their next album The Southern, slated for September 6.

Sources: Wikipedia; Consequence; AllMusic; Pokey LaFrage Bandcamp page; Jackie West Bandcamp page; The Sonic Dawn website; The Cold Stares website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

It’s Sunday and hard to believe another week has flown by. On the upside, this means the time has come again to embark on a little imaginary music time travel excursion. As always, the itinerary includes six stops in six different decades with music in different flavors.

Lester Young/I Can’t Get Started

This first pick, which takes us back to 1956, was inspired by fellow blogger and jazz connoisseur Cincinnati Babyhead, aka. CB, who the other reminded me of Lester Young. Nicknamed The President, the tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist was active between 1933 and 1959. Young first gained prominence as a member of Count Basie’s orchestra. I Can’t Get Started, initially a 1936 composition by Vernon Duke with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, was included on Young’s 1956 album The President Plays With the Oscar Peterson Trio. This smooth music is perfect to ease us into the trip!

Ramones/Blitzkrieg Bop

Hey! Ho! Let’s go! To April 1976, which saw the eponymous debut album by New York punk rockers Ramones. They had formed two years earlier in the Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. The band originally featured lead vocalist Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone), guitarist and backing vocalist John Cummings (Johnny Ramone), bassist and backing vocalist Douglas Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone) and drummer Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone). Blitzkrieg Bop, co-written by Tommy and Dee Dee, was the band’s debut single. This fun music is my kind of punk rock. One, two, three, four!

Gary Moore/Story of the Blues

Time for some blistering electric blues with a nice soul touch by Gary Moore. Prior to releasing his solo debut Back on the Streets in 1978, the Northern Irish guitarist played with Irish bands Skid Row and Thin Lizzy. By the time he released his ninth solo album After Hours in March 1992, Moore had comfortably settled on blues and blues rock, which remained his main musical focus until his untimely death from a heart attack at age 58 in February 2011. Here’s Story of the Blues, a song he wrote.

Gregg Allman/Black Muddy River

Our next stop takes us down south and to the present century. In March 2016, Gregg Allman recorded what would become his final album Southern Blood. Initially, the Allman Brothers co-founder had planned a sequel to his 2011 solo album Low Country Blues with original songs. But Allman who had been diagnosed with liver cancer in 2012 was running short of time, so he worked with his manager Michael Lehman to pick “meaningful” songs to cover. Southern Blood was recorded over just nine days at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. The album was released in September 2017, four months after his death. Speaking of the Allmans, on Thursday, Dickey Betts passed away from cancer and COPD, leaving drummer Jaimoe (John Lee Johnson) as the former group’s only surviving co-founding member. Here’s Allman’s incredible rendition of the Grateful Dead’s Black Muddy River, co-written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.

The Hollies/Bus Stop

I always get weirdly emotional when listening to music from Southern Blood, so my next proposition is more upbeat. Enter a catchy ’60s song with sweet harmony vocals: Bus Stop by The Hollies. Initially formed in the late ’50s as duo comprised of Allan Clarke (vocals, guitar) and Graham Nash (vocals, guitar), they became The Hollies in December 1962, together with Vic Steele (lead guitar), Eric Haydock (bass) and Don Rathbone (drums). Bus Stop, released in June 1966 and penned by future 10cc member Graham Gouldman, was one of the group’s biggest hit singles and was also the title track of their fourth U.S. album. The Hollies exist to this day as a touring act and most recently were on the road in the UK last year. Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott, who played guitar and drums, respectively, on Bus Stop, are part of the current line-up.

Scorpions/Bad Boys Running Wild

And just as this trip is in full swing, we need to wrap up again. Let’s push the pedal to the metal with Scorpions and the great opener of March 1984’s Love at First Sting. The German metal band’s ninth studio album cemented their status as an internationally popular act. With approximately 3.5 million sold units worldwide, Love at First Sting became their second-highest seller after Crazy World (November 1990). Initially were formed in 1965, Scorpiona continue to rock on and are currently on the road. Here’s Bad Boys Running Wild, with music composed by guitarist and co-founder Rudolf Schenker and lyrics written by lead vocalist Klaus Meine and then-drummer Herman Rarebell.

Of course, I wouldn’t leave you without a Spotify playlist of the above track. Hope sometimes tickles your fancy and that you’ll be back for more!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

Catching Up: Short Takes On New Music I Missed

I realize I’m starting to sound like a broken record. While I’m taking a fresh look each week, there’s way more decent new music coming out than I can track. Once again, Spotify’s Release Radar comes to the rescue. Following is some good stuff that appeared over the past four weeks I missed.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples/What’s Going On With Ordinary People

The Reds, Pinks & Purples is an indie pop project launched in 2015 by San Francisco-based musician, singer-songwriter and producer Glenn Donaldson, who I first featured in March 2023. Their Bandcamp page notes six albums, several EPs and many singles they have released over the past five years, citing The Go-Betweens, The Smiths, Magnetic Fields and Felt as inspirations. Off their latest album Unwishing Well, which dropped on April 12, here’s the great-sounding What’s Going On With Ordinary People.

Ringo Starr/February Sky

Bless Ringo Starr who continues to release new music and keeps touring! February Sky, which came out on April 12, is the first single off his upcoming EP Crooked Boy scheduled for April 26. It comes six months after his previous EP Rewind Forward and is his fifth in a row since March 2021. Like the remaining three tracks on Crooked Boy, February Sky was written and produced by Linda Perry. “February Sky is great – very moody,” Starr said. “But since Linda wrote these specifically for me – it of course has to have a positive peace & love element.” Pretty decent pop rock song!

Lions in the Street/Down in the Hole

Lions in the Street are a cool ’70s style rock & roll band from Vancouver, Canada, who only entered my radar screen a few months ago when I featured them in another Catching Up post. Formed in 2000 as The Years, they changed their name to Lions in the Street in 2006 after a label deal to release an album had gone sour. With their latest single Down in the Hole, released on April 8, they deliver more of that kickass style rock & roll. Check out that neat b-b-b-b-bad to the bone slide guitar action!

James Bone/Left Side Right Side

Speaking of bone, here’s the new single by James Bone, a British singer-songwriter who strangely has a website and an online store but no posted bio! According to this review I found in Louder Than War, Bone released his debut album in April 2023. “I played in bands for years but they all fell by the wayside as is often the case,” he’s quoted in the review. “Then I wrote/directed a short film about a boxer which kept the creativity bubbling, but I knew I had to get my ass in gear and make a record, then Covid happened and it seemed like the time was ripe!” Here’s Bone’s new single Left Side Right Side – neat song! The next step I’d humbly suggest is to throw us a bone and post a bio.

Stewart Forgey/Look For the Truth

Stewart Forgey is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and member of Pacific Range, a country-oriented jam band formed in 2013. Look For the Truth appeared on March 26 as an upfront single to Forgey’s solo debut album Nature of the Universe, set to drop on April 24. This is a gorgeous song with a neat West Coast vibe that reminds me a bit of America. It follows Starry Dream, another nice-sounding track from the forthcoming album. Looking forward to hearing the rest of it!

Anders Osborne/Reckless Heart

I’m thrilled to wrap up this post with new music by Anders Osborne, a versatile singer-songwriter and guitarist who my longtime German music buddy Gerd first brought to my attention many years ago. Osborne was born in 1966 in Uddevalla, Sweden and has lived in New Orleans since 1990. He blends multiple genres, such as funk, soul, rock, blues and R&B, into a tasty gumbo. Since his 1989 debut Doin’ Fine, Osborne has released more than 20 studio and live albums. The great roots rock-flavored Reckless Heart is from his upcoming album Picasso’s Villa scheduled for April 26. The song first appeared as an upfront single on March 21.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; The Reds, Pinks & Purples Bandcamp page; Ringo Starr website; Lions in the Street website; Louder Than War; YouTube; Spotify

Song Musings

Happy hump day and I hope everyone’s feeling groovy. Wednesday means it’s time to take a deep dive into another song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. In this case, it’s the latter. And it’s also a wonderful one-thing-leads-to-another situation: 4th of July, by Los Angeles group X who blend punk rock with other genres like blues, country and rockabilly.

Before I go any further, I need to give a shoutout to fellow blogger CB, aka Cincinnati Babyhead, who listens to a ton of great music and recently suggested that I check out Dave Alvin’s Boss of the Blues. All I needed to hear were the first two lines of the song, and I knew I loved it. Then I wondered what songs by Alvin may be on Songfacts, my go-to source for this feature. I was somewhat surprised to see only one track showed up: 4th of July, but it was another song that immediately spoke to me!

What do X and Dave Alvin have to do with each other? After Alvin quit The Blasters in October 1985, the result of repeated fights with his 2-year-older brother and bandmate Phil Alvin, Dave had a short stint with X. It lasted long enough for one album, See How We Are, released in 1987. One of the 11 tracks is 4th of July, the only song on the album written by Dave Alvin, though like with songs he wrote when he was in The Blasters he didn’t get to sing 4th of July.

According to Wikipedia, 4th of July was also released separately as a single in 1987. Like almost all of X’s other singles, it missed the charts. That’s a shame! See How We Are did make the U.S. pop albums chart Billboard 200. Peaking at no. 107, it became the band’s second-lowest charting album – not exactly overwhelming either. Here’s a great live version of Fourth of July by Dave Alvin, captured in January 1999 on live TV music program Austin City Limits in Austin, Texas, and released on CD and DVD in May 2007. And here, Alvin also gets to sing his song!

For the remainder of this post, let’s hear it directly from Dave Alvin’s mouth, as captured by Songfacts:*

“What I’ve always tried to do is be a combination of my musical and my literary heroes. When I started writing songs for the Blasters, I felt the music I really love and listen to was slowly disappearing as far as being a cultural force. I felt there were a lot of bar bands or even some national acts that were playing, we’ll call it traditional electric roots music, whether it was blues or rockabilly or R&B. But the one thing I always felt was lacking in a lot of them was the Dylan influence. And one of the things Dylan was great at, and still is, is basically taking Elmore James and making “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat” out of it. So my feeling was to take, say, Little Junior Parker or Howlin’ Wolf or Jimmy Reed or Carl Perkins or Chuck Berry and write my own lyrics.”

“In college, one of my poetry teachers was a guy by the name of Gerald Lockland, who really enlightened me as to the beauty of the mundane. You drive through a neighborhood of tract homes and all the houses look the same and you can just see there’s nothing going on there. But inside all of those friggin’ houses is a poem, maybe a short story, maybe a novel, maybe a song. A lot of my songs in those days came out of free verse prose poems, which I would shape into songs if I found a good image.”

“‘4th Of July’ started as a three page prose poem. It was written about a year or two before the song. There’s only one or two lines from the prose poem that are actually in the song. “Mexican kids are shooting fireworks below,” and “She turns out the lights and lays in the dark.” It also had 4th of July in it, but it wasn’t a chorus.”

“I think the poem was called 4th of July in the Dark. It was about a previous girlfriend and I living in a neighborhood in our hometown in South Downey. We were living in a little duplex apartment and both working day jobs and I considered myself old and done at the age of 21. There’s a line in the song, ‘On the lost side of town.’ When I sing it what I’m thinking about is where I come from. It’s a part of town where great things don’t come out of it. It’s the kind of place where your job in life is just to work, eat something, sleep, and pay your bills. I think any relationship in that kind of situation has its difficulties, where you’re sort of transitioning from your youthful dreams into possible adult disappointments. That can put a lot of stress onto a relationship.”

Texas folk and country singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen covered Fourth of July on his April 1997 studio album Picnic

“When X wanted to record the song and we recorded a couple of demos for Elektra, one of the producers, who is a notable musician who shall remain nameless, said, ‘I’m not getting enough. It needs more.’ So, I thought, well, maybe I should pull that third verse back into it? But then I thought, no, it’s getting the point across. They’re either breaking up or they’re staying together.'”

“So Nick Lowe [who The Blasters’ label at the time ca. 1985 wanted to produce their next album that never materialized- CMM] flies over from England and we get together. I’d written “4th Of July” and I’d written another song. I sat down with Nick, played him the one and then played him “4th of July.” And then he said something that changed my life, which was, “Your brother can’t sing this.” I said, “What are you talking about?” Although I knew kind of what he was talking about, because structurally it was different from anything the Blasters had ever done. He said, “It doesn’t fit his voice. Melodically, it’s not what your brother does.””

“Then Nick said, “You should sing it.” I said, “Well, I can’t sing.” Then he gave me my motto for the rest of my career, when he said, “I can’t sing either, but I’ve somehow made a living doing it.” And that registered. Because in those days there was still enough of a sort of do-it-yourself punk rock underground that I was attached to. So I go, “Yeah, that’s right. That guy can’t sing and that guy can’t sing, and she can’t sing, and that other guy can’t sing either.””

“Once I played X the demo, I was really high on the idea of me singing. I just thought the song was frigging great. It was one of those things that as soon as I heard it coming back through the speakers of the studio, I was like, “That could be a hit.” I played it for Exene and John Doe and John was instantly: “I want to sing that song.” And I was like, “Oh, fine.” Because I knew that he could. So that’s how it eventually wound up on an X record called See How We Are.”

* The above select quotes by Dave Alvin were taken from a Songfacts column, They’re Paying My Song, written by music writer and published book author Bruce Pollock.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Song Musings

It’s Wednesday and I hope this week has been kind to you thus far. Time to take a closer look at another song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all. My pick is Night Moves by Bob Seger.

Night Moves, written by Seger, is the title track of his nineth studio album that came out in October 1976, the first to credit the Silver Bullet Band. The song also became the album’s first single. Both helped transform Seger from a regionally prominent music artist to a national star.

The single became Seger’s highest-charting in the U.S. at the time, climbing to no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Up north in Canada, it reached no. 5. Elsewhere, it peaked at no. 25 in Australia and no. 45 in the UK. The album got to no. 8 on the Billboard 200 and reached no. 13 in Australia. It became one of Seger’s best-selling, reaching Gold certification in the U.S. (500,000 certified sold units) in just three months and, as of September 2003, 6xPlatinum (6 million units). In Canada, it was certified Triple Platinum (300,000 units) as of October 1979.

Night Moves is a largely autobiographical song inspired by a young woman Seger met when he was 19 and fell in love with. But she had a boyfriend who was away in the military, and when he returned she married him, leaving Seger heart-broken. While as such it wasn’t a happy ending in the romantic department, I guess it’s a consolidation it provided lyrical content for Seger’s breakthrough single. Here’s a great version from the Nine Tonight live album released in September 1981.

Songfacts notes Night Moves became the last song recorded for the album. It came together at Nimbus Nine Studios in Toronto, were Seger’s manager had booked three days with Canadian producer Jack Richardson. He brought in local guitarist Joe Miquelon and organist Doug Riley for the recording who joined Seger and Silver Bullet Band members Chris Campbell (bass) and Charlie Allen Martin (drums). Backing vocals were provided by Laurel Ward, Rhonda Silver and Sharon Dee Williams, a trio from Montreal.

Even though it’s a great song, Night Moves has not had many covers, which Songfacts attributes to the personal nature of the lyrics. They note Garth Brooks and The Killers have performed it live. Checking out SecondHandSongs revealed 17 covers, including the following cool version by Dolly Parton and Chris Stapleton, included on her most recent album Rockstar released in November 2023, a collaborative collection of mostly rock-oriented covers Parton recorded following her 2022 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Following are select additional insights from Songfacts:

The phrase “night moves” has a number of meanings, which made it an intriguing song title. It could mean “putting the moves on” a girl in the back seat of a car, but Seger says it also relates to the impromptu parties he and his buddies threw in the fields of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they would turn on the headlights and dance their “night moves.” They called these gatherings “grassers.”

Seger was inspired by the movie American Graffiti, which was released in 1973 but set in 1962. He said, “I came out of the theater thinking, Hey, I’ve a story to tell too. Nobody has ever told about how it was to grow up in my neck of the woods.”

The famous bridge in this song, where Seger strips it down and sings “I woke last night to the sound of thunder,” is something he and producer Jack Richardson came up with on the fly in the studio.

Seger wrote this song over a period of about six months. Along with “Turn The Page,” this was one of just two songs Seger ever wrote on the road.

This reflective track was a change of pace for Seger, whose songs tended to be rockers with lot of live energy. It wasn’t his first slower song though: “Turn The Page” was released in 1972 but got little attention. After “Night Moves” and the next single, “Mainstreet,” took off, many radio stations added “Turn The Page” to their playlists.

Like many of Seger’s songs, there is a touch of nostalgia in the lyrics. When he sings, “And it was summertime, sweet summertime, summertime,” he’s not only referring to the time of the year, but to that season of his life as well. In the last verse of the song, when he is reminiscing, he says, “With autumn closing in” and is referring to the autumn of his life, getting older.

The tempo changes were inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland.” Seger wrote the song in pieces; he had the first two verses written but was having trouble finishing the song. After hearing “Jungleland,” he realized he could connect the song with two distinct bridges.

“Night Moves” didn’t get a video when it was first released (it was five years before MTV), but when Seger’s Greatest Hits album was released in 1994, a video was made to promote it. The video borrows heavily from American Graffiti, showing young people at a ’60s drive-in, intercut with shots of Seger singing the song in the projection room.

According to Seger, he and the girl really made it in the backseat of a ’62 Chevy, but it didn’t fit lyrically, so he changed the line to “my ’60 Chevy.”

Seger revealed in a radio interview that in the line, “Started humming a song from 1962,” the song he had in mind was “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes (which was actually released in 1963).

Seger credits the Kris Kristofferson-written song “Me And Bobby McGee” for inspiring the narrative songwriting style he employed on this track.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

The Sunday Six

It’s Sunday morning, at least in my neck of the woods in New Jersey, U.S.A., and I’d like to welcome you to another imaginary music time travel experience. In my book, escaping into the beautiful world of music works any time of the day or night, so I hope you’ll join me!

Jimmy Smith/Back At the Chicken Shack

Our journey today starts in February 1963 with groovy Hammond-driven jazz by Jimmy Smith who helped popularize the mighty B3 by blending jazz and ’60s soul music. As a young child, Smith began teaching himself to play the piano and at the age of 9 won a boogie-woogie piano talent context conducted by a Philadelphia radio station. After attending Royal Hamilton College of Music in Canada and Philly’s Leo Ornstein School of Music in the late ’40s, he played piano and organ in local R&B bands before permanently switching to organ in 1954. Soon thereafter, Smith purchased his first Hammond and was signed by Blue Note. His March 1956 sophomore album The Champ made him a jazz star. The amazing title track of Back At the Chicken Shack was written by Smith. He was joined by Stanley Turrentine (tenor saxophone), Kenny Burrell (guitar) and Donald Bailey (drums). Feel free to groove along!

AC/DC/Back in Black

This next pick was inspired by fun AC/DC tribute band Stiff Upper Lip who I saw last Saturday. The title track of the Back in Black album takes us to July 1980. It was the hard-charging Aussie rock & rollers’ first to feature Brian Johnson following the death of original lead vocalist Bon Scott in February 1980 at the age of 33. Fast forward 36 years to April 2016 when AC/DC announced Johnson’s departure during the Rock or Bust World Tour due to hearing loss. He was replaced by Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose to finish the dates. But AC/DC hang on and returned in November 2020 with their 17th studio album Power Up, which featured Johnson, along with Angus Young (lead guitar), Stevie Young (rhythm guitar), Cliff Williams (bass) and Phil Rudd (drums). Against long odds, AC/DC recently announced The Power Up Tour Europe 2024, which will feature Johnson. No word yet whether the tour will have an American leg! Meanwhile, here’s Back in Black, a rock song with one of the coolest guitar riffs I can think of.

Alejandro Escovedo/Sister Lost Soul

Let’s dial it down a bit with some great melodic roots rock by Alejandro Escovedo. The son of a Mexican immigrant to Texas and a Texas native and, according to his website, one of 12 children, is an eclectic rock musician and singer-songwriter who has been recording and touring since the late ’70s. He played in various bands, such as punk groups The Nuns and Judy Nylon’s band, as well as country rock formation Rank and File, before releasing his 1992 solo debut Gravity, an alternative country and heartland rock-oriented outing. Sister Lost Soul, written by Escovedo, is a great-sounding song from his June 2008 studio album Real Animal.

Bobby Womack/Across 110th Street

Time to pay a visit to the ’70s with some cool and groovy music by the versatile Bobby Womack, another great suggestion from my longtime German music buddy Gerd. Across 11oth Street (credited to Bobby Womack and Peace) was the title cut from the soundtrack for the 1972 action crime picture of the same name. Starring Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa and Paul Benjamin, the film was inspired by ’70s blaxploitation pictures and the film noir genre. Over a more than 60-year career from 1952 until his death in 2014, Womack recorded and performed music in multiple genres, including R&B, jazz, soul, rock & roll, doo-wop and gospel. Across 11oth Street is one of Womack’s best-known songs, and it’s easy to see why!

Big Joe Turner/Shake, Rattle and Roll

For our next stop, let’s set the time controls to April 1954 to visit a rock & roll classic by Big Joe Turner. Shake, Rattle and Roll was penned by R&B and blues musician and songwriter Jesse Stone. By the time Turner recorded what became his best-known song that topped the U.S. R&B charts, he already was some 30 years into his career. Four months later, Bill Haley & His Comets released a cover of Shake, Rattle and Roll, which took the song to mainstream success, reaching no. 7 on the U.S. pop chart – the version I first knew. Turner performed until the ’80s and passed away from heart failure in November 1985 at the age of 74.

The Mavericks/Here Comes the Rain

Once again we’re reaching our final destination, which takes us to September 1995 and The Mavericks – shoutout to Randy from Mostly Music Covers, who with a recent post brought the Florida group on my radar screen. Founded in Miami in 1989, The Mavericks blend country with rock, pop and Latin flavors. Here Comes the Rain is from their fourth studio album Music For All Occasions and also became the album’s lead single in August of the same year. Co-written by the group’s Raúl Malo (vocals, guitar) and Greek-born American country songwriter Kostas Lazarides, Here Comes the Rain peaked at no. 22 on the U.S. country charts. It also climbed to no. 4 on the Canadian country charts, becoming The Mavericks’ highest-charting single there. It’s got a bit of a Roy Orbison vibe.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of all the above goodies. Hope there’s something you dig. So long for now!

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and hope you’re feeling groovy! I can’t believe it’s December, and we’re well into the year-end holiday season – seems unreal to me. Regardless of how you feel about it, I hope you’ll join me on another trip with the magical music time machine, which starts right now!

Sonny Stitt/The Nearness of You

For our first stop today, let’s set the time controls to 1956 and hope we have enough runway for this baby to 88 miles an hour! American bebop/hard bop jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, known for his warm tone, recorded more than 100 albums during his active close-to-40-year career. Sometimes viewed as mimicking sax genius Charlie Parker, eventually, Stitt developed his own sound and style. After struggling with heroin and alcoholism through much of his life, Stitt passed away from cancer in 1982 at the age of 58. The Nearness of You, a beautiful composition by Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington, appeared on a 1956 album titled Sonny Stitt Plays. Hank Jones’ piano and Shadow Wilson’s “soft” drums give the tune a bar feel. The recording also features Freddie Green (rhythm guitar) and Wendell Marshall (bass) – my kind of Sunday morning music!

4 Non Blondes/Superfly

Let’s kick it up a few notches with this next pick that takes us to October 1992. About four months later, you couldn’t switch on any mainstream radio station without hearing What’s Up, the major international and only hit for San Francisco-based rock band 4 Non Blondes. The song first appeared on their sole studio album Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, as did Superfly – and, no, it’s not a cover of the Curtis Mayfield gem you may know. The song was co-written by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Linda Perry who also penned What’s Up. Unlike the latter, Superfly missed the charts altogether when it appeared in March 1994 as the album’s fourth and final single. During recording sessions for what was supposed to become 4 Non Blondes’ next album, Perry left to launch a solo career, and the group dissolved shortly thereafter.

The Pointer Sisters/Lay It On the Line

I’m in the mood to keep up the intensity, and my proposition is a smoking hot rocker performed by a music act who you may find surprising in this context: The Pointer Sisters. While the American girl group from California may be best known for R&B and pop hits like Jump (For My Love) and I’m So Excited, over their 50-plus-year-and-counting career, they have touched many other genres, including jazz, blues, soul, funk, country, dance and – yes- rock! Lay It On the Line, co-written by Patrick Henderson and Wornell Jones, is the kickass opener of the group’s fifth studio album released in October 1978 and appropriately titled Energy – the very same that included their excellent rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s Fire, which became one of their biggest hits. BTW, the ladies were backed by top notch musicians, which for Lay It On the Line included Waddy Wachtel (lead guitar), Danny Kortchmar (rhythm guitar), as well as Toto’s David Paich (piano), David Hungate (bass) and Jeff Porcaro (drums).

Joe Firstman/Slave or Siren

Time to pay a visit to the current century and the sophomore solo album by Joe Firstman, released in July 2003. The singer-songwriter gained national prominence as bandleader on American late-night TV program Last Call with Carson Daly. After his tenure on the now-defunct NBC show from 2005 to 2009, Firstman founded Americana and roots rock group Cordovas, who over the past five years have become one of my favorite contemporary bands. Here’s Slave or Siren, a great-sounding song off Firstman’s second solo album The War of Women.

The Beatles/A Day In the Life

After nearly five months, I think a visit to my favorite band of all time, who are back in the charts more than 50 years after their breakup, is in order. This shall take us back to May 1967 and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which I continue to think is the best studio album by The Beatles and, frankly, one of the best ever recorded. And while throwing out attributes, why not picking the magnificent closer, which on most days also happens to be my all-time song by the Fab Four: A Day In the Life. While credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as usual, this gem was mostly written by John, with Paul mainly contributing the middle section. As on most Beatles songs, all four members helped shape this masterpiece.

Rush/The Spirit of Radio

Once again, we’re reaching the final destination of yet another Sunday Six. Let’s end it in January 1980 with a great song by Canadian rock band Rush: The Spirit of Radio, off their seventh studio album Permanent Waves. It marked the group’s shift toward more concise arrangements and songs that were more radio-friendly. Evidently, music listeners liked what they heard, propelling the single to no. 22, no. 51 and no. 13 on the mainstream charts in Canada, the US and the UK, respectively. Admittedly, Rush were acquired taste for me, especially their early work featuring very high vocals by Geddy Lee. While Lee doesn’t exactly sound like Hank Marvin on The Spirit of Radio either, I simply have to acknowledge it’s a helluva song!

As usual, I’m going to leave you with a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above stops during this music time travel excursion. It turned out to be pretty rock-oriented, and I hope there’s something you dig and I will see you again soon!

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

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

New Music Musings

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest installment of my weekly new music review. All picks in this post are from albums and one EP, which dropped yesterday (October 13). Not a bad catch for a Friday the 13th – let’s get to it!

Terra Lightfoot/Come Back Around

Kicking off is Canadian singer-songwriter Terra Lightfoot. Her last name begs an obvious question – no, she’s not related to the late Gordon Lightfoot but actually toured with him! The folk and roots rock-oriented artist released her self-titled debut album in 2011. In the early 2010, she also was a member of country folk group Dinner Belles and played on their 2011 and 2014 albums West Simcoe County and The River and the Willow, respectively. Lightfoot whose multi-octave mezzo-soprano singing voice has bee compared with Joan Jett and Dusty Springfield is now out with her fifth studio album Healing Power. Here’s Come Back Around, a song with less than upbeat lyrics but a bouncy vibe that drew me in.

Tex Crick/Silly Little Things

Tex Crick is an Australian singer-songwriter. From his AllMusic bio: Much like singer/songwriter forebears Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, Australia’s Tex Crick writes melodic piano pop with a soft heart and wry intelligence. Rising from small town roots on the country’s south coast, he cut his teeth in the mid-2010s as a touring keyboardist for artists like Kirin J. Callinan, Iggy Pop, and Weyes Blood before a chance encounter with Mac DeMarco in New York led to the release of his solo debut. Off Crick’s sophomore and latest album Sweet Dreamin’, here’s Silly Little Things, which like all other tracks was solely written by him. I love his smooth delivery!

A Beacon School/Alone

A Beacon School is a dream pop project of New York-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Patrick J. Smith, which he started in 2009. His music has included uptempo jangly pop, lush shoegaze and intricately-arranged electronic soundscapes. In addition to his solo efforts, Smith has played with bands like Modern Rivals and Bluffing, and currently is a member of Maxband, which also features Max Savage of Parquet Courts, both rocks bands from New York. Off Yoyo, Smith’s first full-length album in five years, here’s Alone. I find the song’s dreamy sound pretty soothing.

Anna Hillburg/How Do You Make Believe

Anna Hillburg is a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has spent several decades making music in the Bay Area. Here’s more from her bio: As a singer, songwriter, trumpet, guitar, drum, and bass player she has contributed to acts such as Shannon and The Clams, The Dodos, The Moore Brothers, Will Sprott, Dream Date, Greg Ashley, Shannon Shaw and her All Star Buddy Band, and more. Hillburg’s eponymous debut album from 2013 was followed by her 2018 sophomore release Really Real. From her third and latest album Tired Girls, here’s How Do You Make Believe. Neat song!

The Menzingers/Take It to Heart

The Menzingers are a punk rock band from Scranton, Pa. who have been around since 2006. I first came across them in February 2022 when co-founding vocalist and guitarist Greg Barnett released his debut solo album. Since their first full length album A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology came out in July 2007, The Menzingers have released seven additional studio albums, including their latest, Some of It Was True. Here’s the great sounding Take It to Heart, credited to all four members of the group who apart from Barnett include Tom May (guitar, vocals), Eric Keen (bass) and Joe Godino (drums).

Ringo Starr/Rewind Forward

I’m thrilled to wrap up this post with new music by Ringo Starr, who at 83 years young keeps rockin’, on the road with his All-Starr Band, and in the studio with a little help from great friends. He just released Rewind Forward, his fourth EP since Zoom In (March 2021). The title track was written with his engineer, and oft co-writer, Bruce Sugar, notes Starr’s website. “We’ve been writing a song now for every EP,” said Ringo. “Rewind Forward was just one of those things I say and it made sense in the moment. Like a Hard Days Night – I thought, why don’t we just Rewind Forward? To make sense of it, sometimes it is good to go back and move forward from a place you left off, you don’t ever have to live in the past but it is good to check it occasionally.” And, yes, I wasn’t kidding, Ringo just wrapped up a fall tour with his All-Starr Band. I just love this man!

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; A Beacon School Bandcamp page; Anna Hillburg website; Ringo Starr website; YouTube; Spotify