As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

LP #23 Joni Mitchell – Hejira (1976)


I had a lot of trouble settling on a favorite Joni album, among this one, Ladies of the Canyon, and Court and Spark. I finally settled on Hejira despite the lack of radio hits due to the jazzy feel, most notably the bass work of Jaco Pastorius on a couple of the cuts. It hangs together nicely as a whole, without any weak songs in the bunch.
 
Favorite tracks:
Hejira
Song For Sharon

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Strathmore, 1/30/2015


Really enjoyed the show at Strathmore last Friday night – good seats, which was fortunate because the performance was much more visual than we expected (you have to be able to do more than sing to join this ensemble!). Wondered whether or not they would do anything from Graceland – they didn’t in their first set, but started off after intermission with the first part of “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” and later did all of “Homeless”. Other highlights included “Long Walk To Freedom” and “Rain Rain Beautiful Rain”. We decided to arrive early and eat at the Strathmore cafĂ©; the prime rib was quite good.