Song Musings

It’s Wednesday and this means time again to take a closer look at a tune I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. Today’s pick falls into the latter category, and when I came across the song for the first time not too long ago, I loved it right away: Ridgetop by Jesse Colin Young.

Jesse Colin Young (born Perry Miller) is best known as a co-founder and lead vocalist of ’60s American folk-rock group The Youngbloods. During their original run from 1965 until 1972, they only scored one true hit with the beautiful Get Together, which peeked at no. 5 on the U.S. pop chart Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 after it had been re-released.

Following The Youngbloods’ dissolution in 1972, Young launched a solo career that led to a series of fairly successful albums, especially between 1973 (Song for Juli) and 1977 (Love On the Wing). Young, who on November 22 is turning 81, released his most recent solo album Dreamers in February 2019.

This brings me to Ridgetop, a track from the above-mentioned Song for Juli, Young’s fourth solo album that appeared in September 1973. The smooth and groovy tune was penned by him. In addition to his warm tenor voice, I love the saxophone work, which gives the track a jazzy flavor.

Sadly, Ridgetop wasn’t released as a single, though it’s fair to say that at just over 7 minutes, it wouldn’t have been ideal for radio. Peaking at no. 51, Song for Juli just missed the top 50 on the Billboard 200. It also became Young’s first album to chart in Canada.

Here’s a nice live version of Ridgetop, which apparently was captured in June 2017. In this case, young instrumentalist Jack Sheehan played the saxophone. According to his website, the now 26-year-old “has become a growing force on the alto saxophone, having already performed alongside artists such as Terence Blanchard and John Clayton, to name a few.” He certainly did an outstanding job here. Young’s singing is still pretty cool!

Following are some additional tidbits on Ridgetop from Songfacts:

Jesse Colin Young wrote this song about his home in Point Reyes, California (north of San Francisco) that he called “Ridgetop.” He bought it after moving to the area from New York with his band, The Youngbloods, in 1967 when their song “Get Together” caught on in the region (two years later, the song became a national hit).

Young gives rather specific details when describing the home, singing about the pine needles on the lawn and the ruts in the road. It’s the kind of place that appeals to those looking to keep in touch with nature at the cost of convenience.

In 1995, Young’s Ridgetop home burned to the ground, torched by wildfires that swept through the area. In a Songfacts interview, he talked about losing the home and what it was like performing the song after it was destroyed. “It was difficult when it first happened,” he said. “It was hell. I had to go out on the road right after the house burned down. We were in papers all over the country when that happened, so maybe audiences wanted to reminisce about it too. I still have the property and my recording studio, one of them, is there. It was built down in a gully and that fire was so hot and the trees so tall – big, 100-foot pines – that the firemen said it just sucked all the oxygen out from down low, and way down there in the gully was the recording studio.

There were five scorched boards on the deck and our four-story house was burnt down to like a foot of ash. So, what a blessing that was to save the studio. I guess as time goes on you let pain go and concentrate on the blessings.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Jack Sheehan website; Songfacts; YouTube

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

Best of What’s New

This latest selection of newly released music marks a bit of a milestone: It’s the 50th installment of Best of What’s New. With one exception, the recurring feature has appeared each week since I started it on March 21, 2020. While I doubt any new releases can truly reach my favorite artists and songs from the ’60s and ’70s, it’s still encouraging to me that I keep finding new music I like. My picks for this week include contemporary jazz, indie folk rock, rock and a form of post-rock called math rock, a genre I had never heard of before! All tunes came out yesterday (March 5).

Gretchen Parlato/É Preciso Perdoar

Gretchen Parlato is a contemporary jazz vocalist. Her profile on Apple Music describes her as a forward-thinking jazz singer with an emotive, languid style and a bent toward mixing various musical influences into a modern creative jazz aesthetic. A California native, Parlato grew up listening to a variety of musical genres before focusing on jazz. In 2001, Parlato became the first vocalist ever admitted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. Three years later, she won first place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. Subsequently, she has appeared on a bevy of other artists’ albums, including recordings by bassist Esperanza Spalding, pianist Kenny Barron, and trumpeter Terence Blanchard, among others. Since her independent eponymous 2005 debut, Parlato has released five additional albums including the latest, Flor (Portuguese for flower). According to her website, Flor is a gorgeous synthesis of original material, American popular music, European classical music, and Brazilian standards. It exemplifies the many ways in which motherhood has reconnected Parlato to her own inner child, revisiting the enchantment of falling in love with music for the first time, particularly the various Brazilian genres she became enamored with as a young teenager. Here’s the opener É Preciso Perdoar, credited to Brazilian composers Alcyvando Luz and Carlos Coqueijo, and Parlato. Check out her beautiful vocals and the laid back groove of this tune. I love this!

Fruit Bats/The Balcony

Fruit Bats are an indie folk rock band around singer-songwriter Eric D. Johnson. The group was initially founded in 1997 in Chicago as a side project for Johnson who also led space rock group I Rowboat and played guitar in several other bands. Fruit Bats evolved into a band in 2001 when I Rowboat members Dan Strack (guitar) and Brian Belval (drums) joined Johnson’s project. They released their debut album Echolocation in September that year. Since then, the group has had many lineup changes, with Johnson as the only constant member. The Balcony, written by Johnson, is from Fruit Bats’ new album The Pet Parade, their eighth. While according to the band’s website, many of the songs were written prior to the pandemic, Johnson and the other musicians had to self-record their parts separated from each other at their homes. Yet everything came together quite nicely. Here’s the official video for The Balcony. The footage may be a bit creepy, but the music is quite catchy.

Kings of Leon/The Bandit

While the name Kings of Leon immediately rang a bell, I believe this is the first time I’ve actually listened to any of their music. Formed in Nashville, Tenn. in 1999, this rock band has been a family affair for the past 20-plus years. The lineup includes brothers Caleb Followill (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jared Followill (bass, keyboards, backing vocals) and Nathan Followill (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and their cousin Matthew Followill (lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals). Initially, Kings of Leon enjoyed significant chart success in the UK before starting to gain similar traction in the U.S. with their fourth album Only by the Night. It peaked at no. 4 on the Billboard 200 and is their best-selling album to date. The Bandit, a tune from Kings of Leon’s new studio release When You See Yourself, is credited to all members of the band. “I really dug deep into my love of Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson and stuff like that,” Caleb told Apple Music. “I was like, ‘I’m going to write a song about a bandit, and then a bounty hunter who’s paid to find this man.’ In the meantime, they become such a part of each other’s life that they’re the two people that matter the most to them. The chase is more thrilling than the catch.” I have to say based on this great song, I’d like to further explore the band.

toe/The Latest Number

Let’s wrap things up with Japanese rock band toe, which were formed in Tokyo in 2000. According to their Apple Music profile, Toe are a primarily instrumental rock quartet…consisting of guitarists Mino Takaaki and Yamazaki Hirokazu, drummer Kashikura Takashi, and bassist Yamane Satoshi. Often categorized as post-rock or math rock, their free-flowing, highly melodic songs feature splashy yet tightly controlled drumming and dynamic guitar interplay, as well as occasional electronic elements and additional instruments such as vibraphone and Rhodes piano…Restless live performers, Toe have toured at home and abroad with bands such as the Album Leaf, Mogwai, and Envy, in addition to notable appearances at festivals such as Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival. Having established their jazz-influenced instrumental sound with several EPs and full-lengths such as 2005’s The Book About My Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety, Toe incorporated more vocals on later releases such as 2015’s Hear You. The Latest Number appears on the band’s new live album ‘DOKU-EN-KAI’ that captures a 2019 gig at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. The tune was first included on a 2018 EP titled Our Latest Number. As such, technically, it’s not exactly their latest number. But it’s on a newly released album, and that’s good enough for me. Plus, how often do I get to write about Japanese rock bands? And they’re not just some band from Tokyo; these guys are remarkable musicians!

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Gretchen Parlato website; Fruit Bats website; YouTube

Best of What’s New

This week’s installment of my recurring new music feature presents another combination of younger and older artists. I’ve kept it to four tunes. There’s some folk, jazz, space rock and indie pop. Let’s get to it!

David Gilmour/Yes, I Have Ghosts

At first, I was a bit lukewarm about David Gilmour’s new single, which appeared on July 3. I really dig him as a guitarist and think his solo in Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb is one of the most epic rock guitar solos I know. To be clear, Yes, I Have Ghosts is no Comfortably Numb; but the more often I listen to it, the more I like this tune. The lyrics were written by Gilmour’s wife and long time collaborator, English novelist, lyricist and journalist Polly Samson. Gilmour composed the music, which to me is pretty obvious, based on the chord changes. The track was inspired by Samson’s the new novel A Theatre for Dreamers. Interestingly, the song features Gilmour’s 18-year-old daughter Romany on harmony vocals and harp. While that had not been his initial plan and he ended up working with her because of the COVID-19 lockdown, I think the two of them really sound great together. This largely explains why I dig Yes, I Have Ghosts. There is also beautiful violin work by John McCusker. As reported by Rolling Stone, Gilmour’s single is his first new song in five years. Perhaps the beginning of another solo album? Who knows… Meanwhile, I’d be curious how you feel about this tune. Perhaps, give it more than one listen.

Aaron Parks/Solace

According to his website, Aaron Parks is a forward-thinking jazz musician who came to the public’s attention during his time with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Born in Seattle, Washington, Parks began playing piano at a young age and by the time he was 14 had enrolled in an early entrance degree program at the University of Washington. Originally, Parks pursued both science and music degrees; however, his prodigious talent won out and by age 16 he had transferred to the Manhattan School of Music. While there, he studied with noted pianist Kenny Barron…At age 18 he joined Blanchard’s ensemble and subsequently recorded four albums with the veteran trumpeter…Besides playing with Blanchard, Parks has performed with a variety of artists including trumpeter Christian Scott, drummer Kendrick Scott, vocalist Gretchen Parlato, and others. In 1999, Parks released his debut album The Promise as a band leader. Solace, composed by him, is a relaxing instrumental from his most recent album Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man, which appeared on May 8. It has a bit of a late night bar background music flair.

Hawklords/Aerospaceage Inferno

Going from a relaxing jazz instrumental to a full-blown space rock attack may be a bit of a leap, but why not? Hawklords initially were formed in 1978 as a spin-off from Hawkwind, a British space rock band fellow blogger Vinyl Connections featured in a recent post. Hawklords’ former Hawkwind members were Robert Calvert (vocals), Dave Brock (guitar) and Simon King (drums), who teamed up with Harvey Bainbridge (bass), Martin Griffin (drums) and Steve Swindells (keyboards). The first active phase of Hawklords only lasted until 1979. In 2008, a new version of the band emerged around Bainbridge, together with Dave Pearce (drums), Jerry Richards (guitar, keyboards), Tom Ashurst (bass) and ex-Hawkwind vocalist Ron Tree. Aerospaceage Inferno is from the band’s latest album Hawklords Alive released on May 29. Written by Calvert, the tune first appeared on his second solo album Lucky Leif and the Longships from September 1975. Calvert died from a heart attack in August 1988 at the age of 43. As reported by Louder, Hawklords’ new live album was recorded during a concert at Live Rooms in Chester, England in May 2019 during the band’s Hawklords Generations Tour.

Alice Phoebe Lou/Touch

Alice Phoebe Lou is a soon-to-be 27-year-old singer-songwriter hailing from Kommetjie, South Africa. According to her website, Lou grew up on a mountainside in South Africa, attending a local Waldorf school that cultivated her innate love of music and the arts. She made her first visit to Europe at 16, a life-changing journey that first saw her taking her songs to the streets. Lou returned home to finish school but as soon as she was able made her way back to Europe, specifically Berlin. Armed with just her guitar, a small amp, a passel of distinctive original songs, and an utterly intoxicating voice and charm, she soon built a devoted fan following, not just in Berlin but around the world as tourists and passers-by from faraway places were so captivated by her music that they began sharing it amongst friends and social media. Lou self-released her debut EP, MOMENTUM, in 2014, followed two years later by her acclaimed first full-length, ORBIT. She has since released two additional albums and two EPs. Touch is Lou’s new single, which I don’t believe is associated with an album (yet).

Sources: Wikipedia; Rolling Stone; Aaron Parks website; Louder; Alice Phoebe Lou website; YouTube