Playlist #80

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Good afternoon, guys, gals, and enby pals! It’s another week, so here’s another playlist.

  1. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “That’s All”: The woman who really ought to receive more credit for creating rock and roll.
  2. Spoon, “My Mathematical Mind”: Anyone who knows me knows my mind is not mathematical at all.
  3. Uncle Tupelo, “Moonshiner”: Never was a song about bootlegging and making your own whiskey up in a still in the woods so melancholy.
  4. Joe Walsh, “Rocky Mountain Way”: “And we don’t need the ladies/Crying ’cause the story’s sad.”
  5. Jesse Malin, “Addicted”: You gotta be real careful listening to this song while driving, or you’ll find yourself doing 90.
  6. Robert Johnson, “Cross Road Blues”: Does it get any better than Robert Johnson? No, it does not. This man was taken far too young.
  7. Chris Isaak, “We Let Her Down”: I played a song for my wife that I wrote and recorded the other day. “It sounds like Chris Isaak,” she said. And I agreed and was happy about that.
  8. The Minus 5, “Dear My Inspiration”: Had this song stuck in my head all morning. That’s not a bad thing. Scott McCaughey writes a damn catchy tune.
  9. T. Rex, “20th Century Boy”: C’mon, guys, it’s the 21st century now. Aren’t we due for an update?
  10. Townes Van Zandt, “Pancho And Lefty”: Is there a better story song about desperados trying their damnedest to escape their own sins, only to fail because of human frailty and the desire to get out a little bit ahead and yet still find yourself isolated and alone and incapable of feeling anything?

Playlist #79: George Harrisongs

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Over the weekend, I listened (and re-listened) to the new reissue of the Beatles’ Revolver, and damn if that isn’t a great album. That sent me down a little Beatles rabbit hole, leading me to re-listen to the reissue of Let It Be and even some other, random Beatles albums (like the Yellow Submarine soundtrack). And it got me thinking about my favorite Beatle, George Harrison, and how John Lennon (and Paul McCartney, to a lesser extent) used to shit all over his songs. And that annoys me, because George wrote some bangers. Here’s a list of some of them, minus all the really obvious songs.

  1. The Beatles, “It’s All Too Much”: The real impetus behind this playlist. This song is crazy in all the best ways. It’s got feedback and a bizarre keyboard/organ track, weird vocal chants, and those hand claps . . . it’s as weird and noisy as the Beatles ever got, honestly, and I don’t understand why more folks don’t talk about this song and how great it is.
  2. The Beatles, “For You Blue”: I do rather love Lennon’s lap steel in this one.
  3. The Beatles, “Long, Long, Long”: Such a melancholy, downbeat song. So beautiful, though.
  4. The Beatles, “Blue Jay Way”: “There’s a fog upon LA,” this song begins, and it just gets weirder from there. Everyone always talks about how experimental Lennon was, but let’s not forget that George did stuff like this and introducing the western pop music world to the sitar.
  5. The Beatles, “I Want To Tell You”: One of George’s Revolver offerings (the other being the obviously great “Taxman”); I feel this one gets overshadowed by its better-known brother.
  6. The Beatles, “Old Brown Shoe”: Only officially released as a single and on the Hey Jude album here in the US. I always loved this song; the old vinyl record my dad had of the album had a scratch in this particular track and so it always skipped at one point in the song.
  7. George Harrison, “Bangla Desh”: Okay, so without this song, we wouldn’t have stuff like “We Are the World” and “Don’t They Know It’s Christmas?” and yeah, the world would be better off without those sanctimonious circle jerks, but this song is pretty great and spawned the equally awesome Concert for Bangladesh.
  8. George Harrison, “Not Guilty”: Low-key and mellow, and I love that keyboard part. The little between-line riff that he plays on the guitar is pretty great, too.
  9. George Harrison, “Sue Me, Sue You Blues”: Originally written for Jesse Ed Davis, George released his version in ’73 and it’s a sarcastic, sardonic “fuck you” to Paul McCartney in particular and the rest of the Beatles in general (except for Ringo. Everyone loved Ringo).
  10. George Harrison, “Crackerbox Palace”: Everyone always talks about how funny the Beatles were. John had the zany wit, McCartney had your dad’s sense of humor, and Ringo was a loveable goofball. But George? George was the dry, sarcastic, sardonic one, the one with the gallows humor, the guy who would have been great to watch a political debate with and spend the whole time slagging off on the candidates and their obviously hollow promises and posturing. And this song is a great example of all that.

Playlist #78

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Wednesday is the new Monday, am I right?

  1. Vaydra, “Talk To God”: The new single from the lady who sings with my brother, except it’s not the band they’re in together but a different band she formed that plays psychedelia. It’s pretty good. Check ’em out.
  2. Jake Blount, “The Downward Road”: Heard this guy on a Vox video talking about the importance of the banjo in historically black music. The song itself is pretty cool, drawing from traditional African American folk music and contemporary rap and hip-hop. I dig it.
  3. Glen Campbell, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”: Glen Campbell died in 2017 from Alzheimer’s, and he wrote and recorded this song just before that happened. It’s a stark look at what Alzheimer’s and dementia do to a person, erasing their personality and memories until there’s nothing left there. But it doesn’t really hurt them, it hurts the people around them who watch that person erode. It is one of my greatest fears that I’ll get dementia or Alzheimer’s and become a burden to those I love and not even know it.
  4. Rilo Kiley, “The Moneymaker”: I hadn’t listened to this album since the year it came out (which was . . . holy crap, 2007?!). This song holds up, I think, though the More Adventurous album is still my favorite of theirs.
  5. Stevie Ray Vaughn, “Pride and Joy”: Sometimes, you need some low-down, dirty, Texas blues (or “blooze”). This is one of those times.
  6. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Straight Into Darkness”: Tom Petty is one of those guys who, even when he put out a mediocre album, it still has great songs on it. ‘Cause a mediocre Tom Petty song is better than about 70% of everything that comes out.
  7. Aimee Mann, “Looking For Nothing”: If you told me the only musician I was allowed to listen to for the rest of my life was Aimee Mann, I would not be entirely disappointed with that. You could do much worse.
  8. Drive-By Truckers, “Everybody Needs Love”: They do.
  9. Brian Fallon, “If Your Prayers Don’t Get To Heaven”: This dude absolutely loves the early ’60s girl groups and doo-wop and I am freakin’ here for it, yo.
  10. Led Zeppelin, “Fool In The Rain”: I love the drumming on this one.

Playlist #77

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Happy Monday! Today brings with it ten fresh, exciting songs in the form of today’s playlist!

  1. Queen, “Face It Alone”: A “new” Queen song with previously-unreleased Freddie Mercury vocals? Count me in.
  2. HAIM, “Now I’m Into It”: Heard it in She-Hulk this weekend. Dig it.
  3. The Rolling Stones, “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”: How ballsy do you have to be to name a song “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo?” That’s not a song title (or a chorus), that’s the filler my father sings when he can’t remember the lyrics to the song.
  4. Langhorn Slim & the Law, “Put It Together”: I love the piano in this one. I wish I could play like that.
  5. M. Ward, “One Hundred Million Years”: “And this love, this love between you and I/Is older than that burning ball of fire up in the sky.”
  6. Pearl Jam, “Spin The Black Circle”: Sometimes, you just have to put on a loud, angry song, crank up the volume, and headbang. I do still have enough hair to headbang, right?
  7. The Wallflowers, “Some Flowers Bloom Dead”: And sometimes you need some rootsy rock and roll.
  8. Wilco, “Tried And True”: And sometimes you need to feel like you’re tripping out on shrooms while listening to the Beach Boys.
  9. Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”: “There is a crack, a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.”
  10. The National, “Fake Empire”: I’ve been reading a book about the making of the album this song is from, Boxer, and I really just want to sit and listen to the record on repeat.

Playlist #76

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Happy Indigenous People’s Day! This is your annual reminder that Christopher Columbus can suck it. I also have that neato Halloween story you can read available for the low, low price of $0.99! Anyway, on with the playlist!

  1. Adeem the Artist, “Going To Hell”: Just found out about this artist over the weekend, and I already love their work. They’re a non-binary pansexual folk musician, a combination of words that either piqued your interests or sent you running for the hills. This is their best song, if you ask me, though the one about Toby Keith is a close runner-up. Features the line, “Love ain’t just a feeling, it’s a god dang magic spell.”
  2. Counting Crows, “Hard Candy”: Sometimes, you just need some electric 12-string jangle in your music. This is a good song for that.
  3. Soul Asylum, “Runaway Train”: Did you know the album this song is off of, Grave Dancers Union, came out 30 years ago this past weekend? Doesn’t that make you feel old, especially since I’m pretty sure 1992 was actually only 10 years ago, if my brain is processing the passage of time correctly (spoiler: it isn’t).
  4. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Angel Dream”: I will always love the She’s the One Soundtrack. It’s so damn good, better than it has any business being.
  5. James Taylor, “Fire And Rain”: I mean, you can write some pretty songs about drug addiction, as it turns out.
  6. Green Day, “Hitchin’ A Ride”: Have I mentioned how much I enjoy the extreme tonal shift between songs on a playlist? Because I love it.
  7. U2, “Seconds”: Early U2 > Late U2. Fight me.
  8. The Who, “I Can See For Miles”: Sir, you’re farsighted. You cannot read a book right in front of your face. You probably need eye surgery.
  9. The Doubleclicks, “Oh, Mr. Darcy”: Everyone needs that one aloof asshole that you fall head over heels in love with but don’t want to admit it and then in the end you do admit it and they admit they love you and I think I’m starting to see the appeal of Jane Austen.
  10. Dan Auerbach, “Shine On Me”: I like this song, I really do, but I do not understand the wisdom of getting Mark fucking Knopfler to record a guitar track for your song and then not making it the most obvious part of said song. I just . . . how do you bury this at the bottom of the mix?!

Playlist #75

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It’s a dreary, rainy Monday, but that does not stop the rock! Here’s this week’s playlist, hot off the presses.

  1. John Fullbright, “Paranoid Heart”: Okie singer/songwriter who just released a new album last Friday. It’s pretty damn good. The man knows how to write a song, and his backing band is strong.
  2. Wilco, “Remember To Remember Me”: Speaking of new albums, Wilco released a 20th anniversary edition of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that contains loads of previously-unreleased stuff, including this early version of what later became “Hummingbird.”
  3. Jonathan Coulton, “Je Suis Rick Springfield”: Aren’t we all, just a little bit, Rick Springfield?
  4. David Gray, “Nemesis”: One of the more subdued songs from Draw the Line, but still a good one.
  5. Bon Iver, “Blood Bank”: Years ago, one of my coworkers asked me to help him record a little demo EP. We did it in my classroom at school. This was one of the songs we recorded (along with a Wilco tune and one by Trampled by Turtles. It was . . . eclectic).
  6. Modest Mouse, “Fire It Up”: Gotta get the blood pumping somehow.
  7. Moby, “Extreme Ways”: “Then it fell apart like it always does.”
  8. The Gaslight Anthem, “Placeholder”: This song is very evocative of the Anthem’s sound and style circa The ’59 Sound, and I am here for it.
  9. The Rolling Stones, “Play With Fire”: Maybe crotch fire. God only knows what venereal diseases Mick Jagger and the boys had back then.
  10. Peter Gabriel, “Intruder”: Hey, we hear you like gated reverb. Have a lot of it.

Playlist #74

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Happy Tuesday, folks. Got sick over the weekend, and took yesterday off to recover. Still feeling under the weather, but good news! It’s not Covid this time.

  1. Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”: We finally got around to starting Stranger Things season 4 over the weekend, and it’s quite good. The use of the Kate Bush song is perfect. I’m not ashamed to say I haven’t listened to much Kate Bush over the years; her stuff always struck me as too weird for my tastes. But this song slaps and deserves the attention it’s getting.
  2. Glen Phillips, “Held Up”: Sorta went through a Glen Phillips thing over the weekend, and this song especially spoke to me. Sung to me. Whatever.
  3. Bear Cub, “Hey B”: My brother used to play with this guy way back in the day (back when both of us had full heads of hair). He and his current singer, Kelly, did a cover of it about eight years ago. It’s quite good.
  4. Michael Penn, “No Myth”: Man, does this guy know how to write a bad song? No, no he does not.
  5. The Mountain Goats, “Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome”: Speaking of great songs, this one’s title tells you everything you need to know about it and then some.
  6. Paul McCartney, “Beautiful Night”: I rather liked McCartney’s Flaming Pie album, with its Beatles allusions and smooth early aughts production values and him obviously playing most every single instrument on the thing. Plus, it frequently featured Steve Miller (Mr. Space Cowboy himself), who is coincidentally still alive and still touring, God bless ‘im.
  7. Rhett Miller, “Terrible Vision”: I dig the Old 97s, and actually found them through the backdoor of lead singer Rhett Miller’s first solo album, The Instigator. This is the closer from that album, and it’s beautiful and flawed and wonderful.
  8. Jars of Clay, “Frail”: The re-recorded version of this song from the Furthermore collection. Their second album left me rather underwhelmed, compared with their debut and their third album, If I Left the Zoo.
  9. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Hope The High Road”: I don’t think anyone else out there writes songs like this right now, and that’s a shame. Isbell is great at the hopeful, rocking anthem, and we could use more of those in these dark days.
  10. Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Enough”: Sounds like a classic Toad song with modern production, which is exactly what new Toad the Wet Sprocket albums should sound like.

Playlist #73

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First, news! I published a new short story that you can buy, right now! It’s a Halloween-themed Eddie Hazzard short story where he hunts a werewolf and is generally a curmudgeon about things. Go check it out! Without further ado, here’s this week’s playlist.

  1. Donovan Woods, “Lonely People”: “Lonely people/Wrote every song you ever loved.”
  2. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Take My Hand”: Sometimes, you need a gospel-tinged get-down. This song won’t disappoint.
  3. The Black Keys, “Burn The Damn Thing Down”: “She said, ‘I hate my job, I’m gonna burn this place down!’ And I said, ‘You better not!'” “She said it was an electrical fire.” “Oh.”
  4. Radiohead, “Lotus Flower”: Included mostly because I find Thom Yorke’s dance in the video hilarious.
  5. Tom Waits, “Down, Down, Down”: Do I feel a certain way this week? I dunno, maybe. Music can be a reflection of one’s feelings at the time. That’s a disconcerting thought, if this song is any indication, thoguh.
  6. The Gaslight Anthem, “Mama’s Boys”: “‘Cause there’s no room in heaven/For New York girls or mama’s boys.”
  7. Neko Case, “Hold On, Hold On”: First Neko Case song I ever fell in love with, but far from the last.
  8. Parker Millsap, “Truck Stop Gospel”: Reminds me of home and I-40. Doesn’t hurt that Millsap is an Okie.
  9. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, “Man On Fire”: Please, if you see me caught on fire, put out the fire. I do not enjoy being on fire. No one should.
  10. Eklipse, “Cry Me A River”: For the life of me, I cannot remember where I originally heard this song, but I Shazam’d it and it downloaded onto my phone without me even knowing that’s what Shazam was doing (it’s not a big deal, but a heads up would’ve been nice, Shazam). It’s good. Has a dark edge to it that I don’t usually associate with orchestral music.

Book 7 First Draft Complete!

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While I haven’t been talking about it here lately, I’ve quietly been working away on Book 7 behind the scenes for a while now. There was a long period where I didn’t get anything written, sadly, but that has given way to a burst of activity over the past few weeks. And so, it is with great relief that I announce that Book 7, The Armageddon Seed, has a completed first draft!

Of course, now I have to set about getting it edited and having a cover made. I already know what I want the cover to look like, and I already have an editor, so it shouldn’t take too long to get those things knocked out once I have the cash to pay those fine folks. With luck, maybe I’ll be able to have this book ready for a Christmas release.

Anyway, I’ll keep folks updated as more things develop with this book. I’m really excited to get it out there for everyone to enjoy. I also still have the short story collection that’s just about ready to go (it just needs a cover), so I’ll probably try to get that released before this book.

Playlist #72

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The Queen is dead, long live the King.

  1. The Clash, “I Fought The Law”: Man, never fight the law. The law always wins, the jerk.
  2. Sex Pistols, “God Save The Queen”: Too soon?
  3. Oasis, “She’s Electric”: I swear, this sounds like a Bob Dylan song, I just don’t know what one.
  4. Queen, “Killer Queen”: Originally, this whole list was gonna be Queen songs, but even I felt bad about the fact that I’d have put “Another One Bites the Dust” on here if I did that, so you’re welcome.
  5. The Police, “Masoko Tanga”: Sting just mumbles gibberish for the entire runtime of the song. Good times.
  6. Pink Floyd, “Fearless”: I love this song for the use of the football fans singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at the end of the song, if nothing else.
  7. Jeff Lynne, “Lift Me Up”: Jeff Lynne at his Jeff Lynne-iest.
  8. The Who, “The Seeker”: “I asked Bobby Dylan/I asked the Beatles/I asked Timothy Leary, but he couldn’t help me, either.”
  9. The Animals, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”: One of the few riffs I can play on the guitar is the one from this song. Most of it, anyway.
  10. The Beatles, “And Your Bird Can Sing”: Mmm, harmonies.