In case you care, I am still without my own computer after last week’s adventure. About the time I wrote that I was waiting for the tech to call me back with an update, he was performing the last rites and pulling a sheet up over it. My new laptop is supposed to arrive later this week. On another matter, according to the music blog rankings at Wikio.com, we have somehow managed to leap from #246 in February to #146 in March. My thanks to all.
Here’s a random stroll (courtesy of The Mrs.’s laptop) through some Monday music:
“Love Song”/Elton John with Lesley Duncan. From Elton’s superb live album Here and There, this song originally appeared on Tumbleweed Connection, but in not nearly so satisfying a performance.
“The End of the Innocence”/Don Henley. Bruce Hornsby’s late-80s piano and percussion sound is pretty dated now, and the lyric, about the state of the Union at the end of the Reagan years, is a bit preachy, but this remains one of my favorite vocal performances by Henley.
“I Want You Back”/KT Tunstall. This song is so identified with the Jackson Five that nearly ever cover version you come across seems like a quirky choice.
“Day of the Eagle”/Robin Trower. Another one of the mysteries of classic rock radio is precisely why Robin Trower doesn’t get more play. “Day of the Eagle” is from the 1974 album Bridge of Sighs, which features the one Trower song my station plays now and then, “Too Rolling Stoned,” as well as an atmospheric ballad called “About to Begin,” which is just insanely great.
“A Brighter Day”/Ronny Jordan. Another guitarist, doing an entirely different thing, influenced by Grant Green and Wes Montgomery, on the title song from a 1999 album.
“I Fell in Love”/Susan Tedeschi. From Wait for Me, the album between Susan’s breakthrough, Just Won’t Burn, and her masterpiece, Hope and Desire. I sometimes lose it in that slot, although I shouldn’t. Among other pleasures, it contains a fine version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”
“Slippin’ Into Darkness”/War. Eric Burdon and War are reuniting for a one-shot gig in London later this spring, their first performance together since 1971. It should be a great show, provided Burdon can get War’s current lead vocalist, Lonnie Jordan, to shut the hell up. When I saw War a few years ago, he had the most obnoxious and overbearing stage presence I’ve ever had to endure.
“Sunshine (Come on Lady)”/Josh Rouse. From Rouse’s album 1972, a 2003 release that has its roots deep in the 1970s, with shades of Al Green, Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, and Carole King (who’s name-checked on the title song). It’s an album for those of us who are constantly bitching that they don’t make ‘em like they used to.
“We Shall Overcome” (live)/Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band. This version was recorded for a BBC radio concert in 2006. If ever there were a song that needed to become part of the American vernacular again, this is it.
“Instrumental (Your Gold Teeth II)”/Steely Dan. From a widely bootlegged 1974 performance recorded live in Los Angeles. It was featured on Bootleg Friday at A Deeper Shade of Soul a week or so ago. Hurry over and snag it while the link is still live.
“About to Begin”/Robin Trower (buy it here)
Filed under: Random Universe, Uncategorized
