John Prine

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/john-prine-obit-253684/

 

One of the greatest debut albums of all time – and quite a few noteworthy songs after that, as well. I saw him perform at Wolf Trap on August 27, 2004, with Kris Kristofferson opening.

 

Favorite songs:

Paradise 

Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore

Angel From Montgomery

Sam Stone

Please Don’t Bury Me

Dear Abby

Illegal Smile

Jesus The Missing Years

Hello In There

It’s A Big Old Goofy World

Bill Withers

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bill-withers-obituary-977929/

 

I love Questlove’s comment that “Bill Withers is the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen.”

 

Favorite songs:

The Same Love That Made Me Laugh 

Ain’t No Sunshine

Lovely Day

Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?

Use Me

Kissing My Love

Lean On Me

Harlem

Grandma’s Hands

I Can't Write Left Handed

A short playlist for April 1

Fools Fall In Love – The Drifters 

Why Do Fools Fall In Love – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers 

Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) – Martha & The Vandellas 

I Fooled You This Time – Gene Chandler 

Only A Fool Would Say That – Steely Dan 

A few songs for our time

Splendid Isolation – Warren Zevon 

Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police 

No Particular Place To Go – Chuck Berry 

Keep Your Distance – Richard Thompson 

In My Room – The Beach Boys 

Paradise For One – James Hunter Six 

Lyric Of The Day #6 (March 29, 2020)

I'm a man of means by no means

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHtoayjVLAY

 

A classic line from Roger Miller’s best-known song (and biggest hit). Also one of the greatest songs of all time with finger-snapping.

Lyric Of The Day #5 (March 29, 2020)

I get slandered, libeled,

I hear words I never heard in the Bible

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFOi0pfroiU

 

Nice pair of lines from the great Paul Simon.

LP #30 Indigo Girls – All That We Let In (2004)

Prior to writing up the Indigo Girls last November, I went back and listened to the dozen (!) studio albums of theirs that I own, as well as the double-disc live album 1200 Curfews. This mid-career effort emerged as my particular favorite. I’ve always loved “Fill It Up Again”, but I came to realize that the whole thing actually works from beginning to end.

 

Favorite tracks:

 

Fill It Up Again 

Rise Up

All That We Let In

Perfect World

Dairy Queen

Heartache For Everyone

Lyric Of The Day #4 (March 22, 2020)

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV5_LQArLa0

 

Although it got very little notice on this side of the Atlantic, this past Friday morning, at the suggestion of a Dutch radio host, stations in over 20 European countries simultaneously (7:45 a.m. U.K. time/8:45 C.E.T.) interrupted their usual programming to play this song to boost morale during the coronavirus outbreak.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/03/20/youll-never-walk-alone-europes-radio-stations-create-heartwarming-show-of-solidarity-amid-coronavirus-lockdowns/#6449f81c530b

LP #29 Iain Matthews – Stealin’ Home (1978)

Since I actually discussed this album in an earlier post, I thought I’d use this entry to include some later thoughts on it from Iain himself, borrowed from an interview he did in conjunction with the 2014 re-release of the CD:

 

This album was very much a conscious attempt at something a little more AOR, without deserting my roots. … For me, it served a purpose. … In hindsight, I like the album. It has some very special moments, and it did precisely what it was supposed to do. It raised my profile, without lowering my credibility.

  

Favorite Tracks:

 

Don’t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes

Stealin’ Home

Shake It

Gimme An Inch

Man In The Station

LP #28 The Dells – There Is (1968)

Although Chicago R&B group the Dells had a million-seller in 1956 with “Oh What A Nite”, additional chart appearances proved elusive until this album came out 12 years later, kick-starting a run of commercial success that would last into the mid-1970s. In his liner notes for the CD version of There Is, Robert Pruter of Goldmine Magazine suggests that “had Chess Records been prescient enough they could have put out a single hit on every one of the 12 cuts”; that may have been a slight exaggeration, but each of the album’s four singles did reach the top 30 on Billboard’s R&B chart. More importantly, there’s really not a weak song in the bunch, with a fine mix of ballads (one of which ranks as my all-time favorite) and more up-tempo tracks.

 

Favorite Tracks:

 

Stay In My Corner

There Is

Please Don’t Change Me Now

Wear It On Our Face

Run For Cover

The Change You Go Thru (For Love)