Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Hello everybody....and long time no hear (whatever that means). Though I've been incredibly lazy in updating the CD list, a few people still seem to be checking in occasionally. I've actually received a few e-mails from strangers who've surfed across this blog while searching for bands, and I also exchanged e-mails with a friend from college whom I hadn't had contact with for twenty years. This blog even shows up in Google searches nowadays, a fact that is strangely gratifying to me (as pathetic as that sounds). Keep those e-mails coming!!
I posted a few photos from my European vacation. Use the link on the right to check them out. Click on the photos to make them larger.
Alright, enough already. Here's what is currently loaded in my CD player:
1) Chris Smither - Drive You Home Again
I picked up this 1999 release to prep for the recent Smither show at Cave Creek Coffee Company, a great new music venue in the Phoenix area. Smither is a great folk/blues guitarist and singer-songwriter who has been doing it right for over 30 years now.
2) Neil Young - American Stars And Bars
I'm in the process of upgrading lots of old NY albums to CD. This 1977 album is more country flavored than most of his, but is essential listening nonetheless. Never trust anybody that doesn't like Neil Young.
3) Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
Though not the revelation that her multi-platinum debut was, Jones has avoided the sophomore slump quite nicely. For the new one she enlisted the help of a few big names (Dolly Pardon and The Bands' Garth Hudson) and recorded songs by some of her heroes (Townes Van Zandt and Duke Ellington), while maintaining the relaxed feel of the debut. Good stuff.
4) Phish - 12/31/1999 Bootleg (Disc 7 of 10)
I'm still in mourning over the announcement that Phish is breaking up after their summer tour. Fortunately, there is an abundance of live shows available for download (legally!) through the Internet. For the turn of the millennium, Phish held their own festival on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in Florida, and drew 80,000 hardcore Phishheads. The band played a set that lasted from midnight until dawn, as documented by discs 4 through 10 of this set. I'm going to miss these guys. Fortunately, my copy of their final studio album Undermind arrived this week.
5) Wilco - A Ghost is Born
While critics loved Wilcos' Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I found it a bit difficult to warm up to, and I really don't like the noisy feedback crescendos they're so fond of. Upon first listen, the new one sounds pretty much the same way. I think I preferred the simpler and twangier Wilco of the mid-nineties.
6) Nick Drake - Pink Moon
I only recently started listening to Nick Drake, a very talented but tortured singer/songwriter of the early 1970s. Knowing that he died (of an overdose of antidepressants) just two years after Pink Moon was released in 1972, this desolate acoustic final album sounds a little like a requiem. Drake was never fully appreciated in his short lifetime (he was just 26 when he died), but his stature has grown considerably in the three decades since his death. This bleak but beautiful album remains a testament to his influence and achievement.
TURNTABLE CORNER: Believe it or not, I still have a turntable. These are the most recent albums to cross it.
The Swimming Pool Q's - The Swimming Pool Q's
This was probably just the third time I've played this 1984 album since I bought it in 1985 or thereabouts. Seems it was a decent power pop album from this long since forgotten Atlanta band; it'll probably go back on the shelf for another ten years nonetheless.
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
Though it sounds dated now, this 1976 album was huge at the time and the pinnacle of Miller's career. The spacey keyboards of the title cut kill me.
Thanks to all of you that have e-mailed using the link at the top of this page. Keep the e-mails coming, as it makes me feel like this is somewhat less of a waste of time.
As you were.
I posted a few photos from my European vacation. Use the link on the right to check them out. Click on the photos to make them larger.
Alright, enough already. Here's what is currently loaded in my CD player:
1) Chris Smither - Drive You Home Again
I picked up this 1999 release to prep for the recent Smither show at Cave Creek Coffee Company, a great new music venue in the Phoenix area. Smither is a great folk/blues guitarist and singer-songwriter who has been doing it right for over 30 years now.
2) Neil Young - American Stars And Bars
I'm in the process of upgrading lots of old NY albums to CD. This 1977 album is more country flavored than most of his, but is essential listening nonetheless. Never trust anybody that doesn't like Neil Young.
3) Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
Though not the revelation that her multi-platinum debut was, Jones has avoided the sophomore slump quite nicely. For the new one she enlisted the help of a few big names (Dolly Pardon and The Bands' Garth Hudson) and recorded songs by some of her heroes (Townes Van Zandt and Duke Ellington), while maintaining the relaxed feel of the debut. Good stuff.
4) Phish - 12/31/1999 Bootleg (Disc 7 of 10)
I'm still in mourning over the announcement that Phish is breaking up after their summer tour. Fortunately, there is an abundance of live shows available for download (legally!) through the Internet. For the turn of the millennium, Phish held their own festival on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in Florida, and drew 80,000 hardcore Phishheads. The band played a set that lasted from midnight until dawn, as documented by discs 4 through 10 of this set. I'm going to miss these guys. Fortunately, my copy of their final studio album Undermind arrived this week.
5) Wilco - A Ghost is Born
While critics loved Wilcos' Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I found it a bit difficult to warm up to, and I really don't like the noisy feedback crescendos they're so fond of. Upon first listen, the new one sounds pretty much the same way. I think I preferred the simpler and twangier Wilco of the mid-nineties.
6) Nick Drake - Pink Moon
I only recently started listening to Nick Drake, a very talented but tortured singer/songwriter of the early 1970s. Knowing that he died (of an overdose of antidepressants) just two years after Pink Moon was released in 1972, this desolate acoustic final album sounds a little like a requiem. Drake was never fully appreciated in his short lifetime (he was just 26 when he died), but his stature has grown considerably in the three decades since his death. This bleak but beautiful album remains a testament to his influence and achievement.
TURNTABLE CORNER: Believe it or not, I still have a turntable. These are the most recent albums to cross it.
The Swimming Pool Q's - The Swimming Pool Q's
This was probably just the third time I've played this 1984 album since I bought it in 1985 or thereabouts. Seems it was a decent power pop album from this long since forgotten Atlanta band; it'll probably go back on the shelf for another ten years nonetheless.
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
Though it sounds dated now, this 1976 album was huge at the time and the pinnacle of Miller's career. The spacey keyboards of the title cut kill me.
Thanks to all of you that have e-mailed using the link at the top of this page. Keep the e-mails coming, as it makes me feel like this is somewhat less of a waste of time.
As you were.
