What Are You Listening To?

[Ruby]

^"A Better Moon" comes to mind. 

Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season 

Undemanding listening. Is that the same as easy I wonder?? It's a go to album when I don't want to concentrate on anything too much but it's also not sonic wallpaper. Good songwriter. 

"She's Becoming Gold" - Messrs Crosby and Nash on harmony vocals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJDsB_BnCL4

and some different sounds on this one ...

[Jerome]

Busy working on some new music through the night. Decided to go to the local all-night store to pick up some cigarettes and a cuppaccino and to break the routine and get away from the synths for a while and this came on the radio in the car - now I can't get it out of my head!!! Lovely track - https://youtu.be/liGRChNyvdU

[CRAZY-HORSE]

time to go through the Lennon studio albums collection...



JOHN LENNON "plastic ono band"  cd,  1970.

his fourth of eleven,
my first of eight, dont own the first three avant-garde experimental ones for obvious reasons...
his Primal Scream  'masterpiece' IMO...
in fact, its the best solo album by any of the Beatles without a doubt!...
a sparse,dour, austere album dealing with his personal issues, life, religion, love and his standing after the demise of the Beatles...
songs could well have fitted on "the white album".
if there is one Lennon album everyone should hear it is this one IMO.
album is his third biggest seller selling around 4 million copies in total...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

i dont have a favorite but i do love this one but IMO this album should be listened to in its entirety and not track by track!
just really love the part where when he mentions "Beatles" the music stops then he says "i just believe in me, Yoko and me", its spine chillingly good IMO.






God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I'll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain

I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-Ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dream weaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over

[Jerome]

This morning's pick - https://youtu.be/1wLrLhJqong

---

Now this takes some skill - https://youtu.be/HvAe2miZIoo

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHN LENNON  "imagine" cd, 1971

his second real album...
more commercially sounding than the previous release....
two scathing tunes aimed at Paul after Paul's little snide songs about him over his previous two albums..
the difference being John's were direct and left little to the imagination, Paul stopped the feud after this, couldnt outdo John on that score, LOL!...
also, probably John's happiest joyous moment as a solo artist, Oh Yoko, was on this one along with the obvious title track..
so ten tracks, i love eight of them, cannot stand the title track and "i dont wanna be a soldier" which just doesnt fit musically with the rest...
his second best seller at just over eleven million sales...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

his blistering lyrical attack on Paul McCartney:





So sgt. pepper took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother's eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your head
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?

You live with straights who tell you "you was king"
Jump when your mamma tell you anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you've gone you're just another day
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?

A pretty face may last a year or two
But pretty soon they'll see what you can do
The sound you make is muzak to my ears
You must have learned something all those years
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHN & YOKO/PLASTIC ONO BAND with ELEPHANTS MEMORY  "some time in NYC"  vinyl  1972.

double vinyl set...
first album is studio recordings, the second with Zappa/Mothers Of Invention live...
first album, ten tracks, Yoko vocalizes on four, then they duet on another three, that really leaves three Lennon songs...
i dont care for Zappa or Yoko so we're off to a bad start at the get-go...
his most political album...
the songs are just too lame, sounds like a sixteen year old ranting and raving about the world in which he has barely lived or seen.
Lennon is totally out of his depth with political commentary here as he tries to appease the pre-Antifa but radical Left fringe of American society, 
its one thing singing "give peace a chance' which is really a generic themed song to writing and singing more specific ones, especially on subjects you know little about...
some folkie type tunes, the melodies arent bad but in comes the wailing squawking Japanese woman and it all goes to crap...
a big letdown after the first two albums and the buying public thought so also with the album failing to make the top 10 just about everywhere back in the day, it still remains his lowest selling album scraping the barrel at a paltry one million sales in total to date...
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

best song is a loose term here,
nice lyrics but an average tune by Lennon's standards.






Woman is the nigger of the world
Yes she is, think about it
Woman is the nigger of the world
Think about it, do something about it

We make her paint her face and dance
If she won't be aslave, we say that she don't love us
If she's real, we say she's trying to be a man
While putting her down we pretend that she is above us

Woman is the nigger of the world, yes she is
If you don't believe me take a look to the one you're with
Woman is the slave to the slaves
Ah yeah, better scream about it

We make her bear and raise our children
And then we leave her flat for being a fat old mother hen
We tell her home is the only place she should be
Then we complain that she's too unworldly to be our friend

Woman is the nigger of the world, yes she is
If you don't believe me take a look to the one you're with
Oh woman is the slave to the slaves
Yeah, alright

We insult her everyday on TV
And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
When she's young we kill her will to be free
While telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumb

Woman is the nigger of the world, yes she is
If you don't believe me take a look to the one you're with
Woman is the slave to the slaves
Yes she is, if you believe me, you better scream about it

We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHN LENNON  "rock & roll"  cd/vinyl  1975

his sixth real album, ninth  overall counting the avant-garde crap...
album came about because Lennon was sued by the publishers/owners of Chuck Berry's "you cant catch me" being plagiarized for his "come together" song...
part of the out of court settlement was recording three of the publishers songs, thus the reason to release a covers set...
cover art was taken in Hamburg around 1960, the blurry figures in the image were then fellow Beatles, Stu Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney and George Harrison...
ok, so the songs, all 1950s and early 60s covers that Lennon loved..
theres nothing i dont like on here as Lennon has a great 'rock and roll' voice but only to i genuinely love, the obvious one is "stand my me" which is the best thing on here but Little Richard's "slippin and slidin" is a close second...
album was a top ten chart album just about everywhere and the fans were returning with 3.5 million sales...
next up, a five year hiatus to be a stay at home Dad and help bring up new born son Sean...
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

not posting "stand by me" as we all know it, heres my second favorite track:

[Ruby]

Joe Jackson - Fast Forward



The man has many faces, that's for sure. There are four sections to this album, "New York", "Amsterdam", "Berlin" and "New Orleans", and each section was arranged and recorded in that city with a different set of musicians. 

I remain perpetually ambivalent about Joe Jackson. I will say this - he is a damn good songwriter, a complex and restless individual - always exploring new territory while retaining his distinctive essence. I find him a brave performer - far from perfect but he always goes out there with all he's got. Not crazy about everything on here, but can get along quite well with most of it. 

Now, what am I gonna post?? Decisions, decisions ... 

The title track ... not much of a dilemma after all! Most of the clips are blocked in my country ... 





And this uncharacteristic song which also plays for me ... "Far Away" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5RPo81jTJo

Found another one - more pop oriented "A Little Smile" ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeeVP4a10vE

[CRAZY-HORSE]

^^
JJ is one of those ambivalent artists for me also Ruby.
just something about his music i guess.

[Jerome]

Today's pick - as Willie Nelson once said - there are two types of men in the world - those that love Emmylou Harris and those that have not met her yet. https://youtu.be/KwwckZbrXck