What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PAUL McCARTNEY "Egypt Station"  cd,  2018:

release date: September 7th:

Chart Highs:  UK #3,  US #1,  AU  #4,  CAN  #3

Macca's thirty seventh studio set including collaborations and classic works Post-Beatle....
was very apprehensive about this one because his last three did nothing for me at all...
this one gets back to what he does best...straightforward soft rock/pop...
has the usual suspects on here, piano ballads, acoustic ballads, love songs, soft rock, pop,
an anthem or two, one with a Latino feel (back in Brazil), and Anti-Trump rant (despite repeated warnings),
and hey, it seems everyone is recording Anti-Trump songs nowadays so why not Macca if he sees fit also!...
he is also changing the tempo of his songs once again, something he mastered back in the day and just about
every artist has also done since the Beatles...
so lots of catchy tunes on here, even one with a tongue-in-cheek play on words "fuh you" which is really "for you"
but its the way he sings it, and it created a music media frenzy thinking he was really singing an F-Bomb,
Macca drums up free publicity and the music world is in overdrive...LOL!
anyway, all up a pretty decent album for a guy into his sixth decade in the biz...

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: Back In Brazil
best track:  Despite Repeated Warnings





tracks:

…...opening station (intro)
1....I Don't Know **
2....come on to me **
3....happy with you ***
4....who cares ***
5....fuh you **
6....confidante **
7....people want peace **
8....hand in hand **
9....dominoes **
10..back in brazil *
11..do it now *
12..Caesar rock *
13..despite repeated warnings ***
…...station II (outro)
14..hunt you down/naked/C-Link **

3s - 3
2s - 8
1s - 3

rating: 2.0

[CRAZY-HORSE]

MARLON WILLIAMS "make way for love" 

release date: 16th February

chart placings: NZ #1,  AU #8

New Zealand artist...
second album, first ive heard...
Easy Listening to me but the experts call him 'alt country/folk'...
sounds like a cross between Chris Isaak and Bryan Ferry for the most part...
hearing touches of Morrissey, Lloyd Cole and Edwyn Collins in places also...
lovely melodic songs here...
music is a bit sparse at times, not as sparse as Lorde though...

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst track: nobody gets what they want anymore
favourite track: what's chasing you

stupid video but great song:





tracks:

1....come to me ***
2....whats chasing you ***
3....beautiful dress **
4....party boy ***
5....can I call you **
6....love is a terrible thing **
7....I know a jeweller ***
8....I didn't make a plan **
9....the fire of love **
10..nobody gets what they want anymore *
11..make way for love ***

3s - 5
2s - 5
1s - 1

rating: 2.4

[Music Head]

lol
seriously
did not read your post before I listened
first two artists that came to mind were Isaac and Ferry

very nice track mate

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PAUL WELLER "true meanings"

release date: 14th Sept, 2018

chart high:  #2 UK

"easy listening" for this one...
fourteenth solo album...
its Weller with acoustic guitar accompanied with strings...
he's recorded songs like this previously, but never a whole album...
much better than the experimental crap he has released over his last three albums...
some lovely melodic tunes on here, some not so melodic also....
lyrically, its his best effort in a decade IMO....

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: Bowie
best track: the soul searchers





tracks:

1....the soul searchers ***
2....glide **
3....Mayfly ***
4....gravity **
5....old castles **
6....what would he say? **
7....aspects ***
8....Bowie *
9....wishing well **
10..come along *
11..books *
12..movin' on **
13..may love travel with you **
14..white horses *

3s - 3
2s - 7
1s - 4

rating: 1.9

[CRAZY-HORSE]

MARK KNOPFLER "down the road wherever"

release date: November 16th 2018

chart highs:  UK #17,  AU #14,  CAN  #6, US #15

the twenty-eighth album of his career (including collaborations and OST's)…
still got the folky sound we expect from his solo material but he is now
heading back towards a soft Dire Straits sound on some tracks here...
some jazzy/bluesy overtones here also....
lots of his trademark finger picking guitar sounds and solos also...
in short, another classy affair from Mr K

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst track: floating away
favourite track:  nobody's child





tracks:

1....trapper man ***
2....back on the dance floor ***
3....nobody's child ***
4....just a boy away from home ***
5....when you leave **
6....good on you son ***
7....my bacon roll **
8....nobody does that **
9....drovers road ***
10..one song at a time ***
11..floating away **
12..slow learner ***
13..heavy up ***
14..every heart in the room **
15..rear view mirror **
16..match stick man ***

3s - 10
2s - 6
1s - 0

rating: 2.6

[CRAZY-HORSE]

GLEN HANSARD  "between two shores"

release date:  19th January 2018

chart highs: no chart info available

Irishman...
thirteenth career album, third under his own name...
been part of a couple of folk/soft rock groups over the years...
album opens up with a blues rock track, but that's the only one of its kind
on the album,
we then get into some soft rock, a touch of R+B and tinges of jazz through the folkier
tunes towards the end...
a very good album, well worth  listen if you haven't done so already...

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst track:  wheels on fire
favourite track: setting forth   (brilliant live version below!)





tracks:

1....roll on show **
2....why woman **
3....wheels on fire **
4....wreckless heart ***
5....movin' on **
6....setting forth ***
7....lucky man **
8....one of us must love ***
9....your hearts not in it **
10..time will be the healer ***

3s - 4
2s - 6

rating: 2.4

[CRAZY-HORSE]

STING  "mercury falling"  cd,  1996

fifth solo set from the former Police front man...
has released thirteen solo albums in total, I own five plus all the Police albums...
last album of his I bought for twenty years until  "57th & 9th" a couple of years ago...
had a bit of a resurgence with me as I love his latest collaboration with Shaggy also....
album contains some Reggae pop, folk, soft rock, jazz and straight pop tunes...
not as classy as "dream of the blue turtles" album or "syncronicity" but still pretty good...
contains the original version of "I hung my head", which John Cash made his own on his
Rubin American albums late in his career...
album reached top ten in most countries but only managed top twenty here in Australia...

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: La Belle Dame Sano Regrets
favourite track:  let your soul be your pilot






tracks:

1....the hounds of winter **
2....I hung my head **
3....let your soul be your pilot ***
4....I was brought to my senses **
5....you still touch me ***
6....im so happy I cant stop crying **
7....all four seasons *
8....twenty five to midnight ***
9....La Belle Dame Sans Regrets *
10..valporaiso *
11..lithium sunset ***

3s - 4
2s - 4
1s - 3

rating: 2.0

[CRAZY-HORSE]

LINDA RONSTADT  "silk purse" vinyl, 1970

chart high: #103 US, #59 CAN,  #34 AU

not sure about the rest of the world but "silk purse" is a slang word
here in Australia for a certain part of the female anatomy....
Linda's second solo effort outside Stone Poneys...
mostly covers on here, some "traditional" country tunes also...
album is almost country but not quite so easy listening it is...
she is one of those artists who can make any song into her own...
must be the energy and soul she puts into it, Presley was another one who
could consistently do that IMO...
love all these as good as, if not better than the originals so I guess that means that, 
I love Linda's silk purse....

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst song: he dark the sun
favourite song: long long time






tracks:

1....lovesick blues ***
2....are my thoughts with you? ***
3....will you love me tomorrow ***
4....nobodys **
5....Louise **
6....long long time ***
7....mental revenge **
8....im leaving it all up to you ***
9....he dark the sun **
10..life is like a mountain railway ***

3s - 6
2s - 4
1s - 0

rating: 2.6

[Ruby]

^There goes the neighbourhood.  

BÉLA FLECK - Tales From The Acoustic Planet



Difficult to know where to put this album but I've decided it's a crossover of jazz, easy rock and bluegrass with folk and progressive leanings. Mr Fleck is so talented - the banjo sounds absolutely great in his hands. Chick Corea makes an appearance along with various other familiar names, Victor Wooten, Edgar Meyer, Branford Marsalis, Paul Mccandless, etc. This one has those lovely textures that I missed from Chaquico's Acoustic Planet album although it's probably not fair to compare them. 

"Great Circle Route" with Bruce Hornsby on keys, fab fiddle too courtesy of Stuart Duncan ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucc4SODRjbQ

"In Your Eyes" with Chick Corea ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmk_u0FAv0M

and "The Landing" which is particularly catching my ear today ... that fiddle again ... 

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ELTON JOHN "ice on fire" vinyl, 1985:

chart high: UK #3,  AU #6,  CAN #49, , US #48

in hindsight,
the '80s were a bad/below average period for a lot of established artists,
and IMO, Elton's 80s catalogue suffered more than most...
has to be "soft rock" because this was not 'easy listening', in fact, it was
bloody painful to say the least....
I was hard pressed to really enjoy the ones that did make the grade here...
George Michael appears on two tracks, backing vocals on "Nikita" and vocals
on "wrap her up"...
album was universally panned by the critics but his devoted Aussie and British 
fanbase stood by him (as they always have)…

I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: cry to heaven
favourite track: shoot down the moon





tracks:

1....this town *
2....cry to heaven *
3....soul glove *
4....Nikita **
5....too young **
6....wrap her up *
7....satellite *
8....tell me what the papers say *
9....candy by the pound **
10..shoot down the moon **

3s - 0
2s - 4
1s - 6

rating: 1.4