When I am Revealing My Heart: A Clem Snide/Eef Barzelay Compilation

     I bought Clem Snide’s Ghost of Fashion when it was released in 2001.  I think I gave it a couple of cursory listens, and then ignored it for about 15 years.  When I listened to it again, several of the songs really resonated, and it made me a lot more receptive to the truly sublime Forever Just Beyond, maybe my favorite album from 2020.  But it was only in 2025 that I truly went down the rabbit hole.  In particular, the lead singer and main songwriter of Clem Snide, Eef Barzelay, has an enormous repertoire of covers available on Bandcamp. So even though there are thirty songs here, there’s a lot more Clem/Eef to enjoy.  In addition to Forever Just Beyond, I particularly recommend Fan Chosen Covers 5, We Leave Only Ashes, and You Were a Diamond.  And if Clem/Eef grows on you like they grew on me, Eef does play house concerts. 

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           Volume 1

I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire

All Green

The Ballad Of Ice Cube Boy And Snowflake Girl

Denise

Song For Bob Crane

Me No

Love The Unknown

Let's Explode

The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. One

Those Spanish Ladies of the Night

Now The Moment's Gone

Escape Artist Blues

Avalanche

Flake

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

         Volume 2

From The Morning

Sea Legs

Sam Spirals

Jews for Jesus Blues

Teenage Existentialist

The Open Road

Free

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

Lost On The River

Don't Bring No Ladder

Free

Grace

My Drug Buddy

Saturday Sun

Find Love

On the Right Side of 2025

Even though I'm at an age where the years are supposed to get (i.e. seem) shorter, I swear 2025
felt like a decade.  Sigh....... But at least there was a lot of good music.  I'm not sure if artists were just making great downbeat music or I gravitated more (than usual) to downbeat music.  Maybe it's both.

In particular, I would recommend the 2025 releases by Folk Bitch Trio, the Sinners soundtrack, Antibalas, De La Soul, Neko Case, Ken Pomeroy, Sessa, and Tobacco City. 

Once again, I only included artists that were not on the 2023 or 2024 best of volumes.  Also, all of the previous year-end compilations are available (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).

Wishing everyone a much less gruesome 2026!

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Disc 1
Morning on K Road	Steve Gunn
Wake	SYML
Bright Yellow Sun	West Texas Exiles
Leads Me Home	The War And Treaty
Last Hard Bible	Sunny Sweeney
The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)	Car Seat Headrest
Sweet Danger	Obongjayar
Dearest Darling	Thee Headcoats
Summer Of Love	Throwing Muses
Nowhere Now	Eve Adams
Praga	Tim Bernardes
Fallen Leaves	Mekons
Afterlife	Sharon Van Etten
Lo Life	Antibalas
Into Nothing	Lera Lynn
That There's a Strategy	Shrunken Elvis
Town Lights Fade	Chris Eckman
Into My Arms	Lykke Li
Disc 2
Cathode Ray	Folk Bitch Trio
Estou Pensando Em Você (feat. Johanna)	Nyron Higor
Nearsight [SID]	Miguel
Cabin In The Sky	De La Soul
The Third Door	Vanishing Twin
Bienvenue à la maison	Amadou & Mariam
Wang Dang Doodle	Cedric Burnside, Shardé Thomas, & Tierinii Jackson
NOIRE	Sudan Archives
Winchester Mansion of Sound	Neko Case
Better Deal Blues	Daniel Donato
Workin' Man Blues	Willie Nelson
Hush	Jessie Baylin
Lifetime	Erika de Casier
Flannel Cowboy	Ken Pomeroy
Coronation Street	CMAT
God Knows	Tunde Adebimpe
Heart of Gold	Fiona Apple
Love Me Like You Used To Do	Margo Price
Disc 3
Everybody Hurts	Lucius
Snow Camping	Laura Veirs and the Choir Who Couldn't Say
Survival Mode	Lilliana Villines
El Techno	Geckøs
My Get Back	Holly Golightly
Glencoe	Paul Burch
Dead Or Gone To Dallas	Steve Earle & Reckless Kelly
Time Ain't Nothin'	GARRETT T. CAPPS
I Don't Care	Kelly Willis
Let Me Dream	Julianna Riolino
Dodói	Sessa
Here Comes The Sun	anaiis
Pale, Through the Window	Ruston Kelly
Big Deal	Lucy Dacus
Don't Miss Your Bus Lorraine	The Delines
Colorado	Tobacco City
Bullfighter	Joleen Brown
The Mouth	Anna von Hausswolff

 

On the Right Side of Christmas 2025

    I really wanted to get this posted on the weekend so folks could play it while putting up their trees, but I just can't seem to get anything done in a timely fashion these days. Plus, I'm having an issue with my file sharing service.  Alas.   Regardless, I've got another Christmas compilation (and I should note all sixteen of the previous Christmas compilations are available for download).  It's not quite as mellow as last year's, but still family-friendly, I think. Hope everyone has a very Happy Holidays!

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O Holy Night	Irma Thomas
Merry Christmas Baby	Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers
Christmas In Jail	The Youngsters
It's Christmas Time Once Again	Brian Hyland
Foggy Xmas Breakdown	Xmas Balls
Run Rudolph Run	Dave Edmunds
Marshmallow March	The Surfrajettes
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)	Blue Skies for Black Hearts
Christmas Time's a Comin'	Ranch Girls & Hillbilly Boogiemen
Purple Snowflakes	Weeping Willows
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas	First Aid Kit
Christmas Is Holy	Jimmy Silva's Goat 5
Falalalalove Ya	Nikki Lane
I Believe In St. Nick	The Cashmeres
Christmas Will Be Just Another Day	Jenni Muldaur and BV's
White Winter Hymnal	Piney Gir (Feat. Roxys)
White Christmas	Charlie Parker
I Want You With Me At Christmas	Jesse Belvin
We Three Kings	Steve Hunter
Time For Love	The Yuletime Lifters
Adeste Fideles	The Mills Brothers
Noche De Paz	Carla Morrison
Cruel World	Concrete Blonde
Auld Lang Syne	Platters

Give Me Coffee Every Time

    I forgot what impelled me to create this coffee-themed compilation, but in doing so, I realized that there are a LOT more songs about alcohol than coffee.  I completely understand, even as an older person who drinks very little alcohol and a lot of coffee these days.  And, judging by the songs below, I would say that coffee does provide some excellent inspiration. 

         I kinda cheated a little bit by including two songs written by Tom T. Hall and two written by Gwil Owen, but  the cover versions were just too good to overlook.  Enjoy!!

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Coffee	Miguel
One More Cup Of Coffee	Bob Dylan
Don't Forget the Coffee Billy Joe	Tom T. Hall
Hot Black Coffee	Gwil Owen
Five Cups Of Coffee	The Jayhawks
Coffee Monkey	The Bottle Rockets
Clown’s Coffee	The Coctails
Coffee Grindin' Blues	Asylum Street Spankers
One Cup Of Coffee	Bob Marley
Coffee Stain	Sarah Harmer
Scalding Hot Coffee Rag	Craig Ventresco
The Coffee Song	Sam Cooke
Cup of Coffee	Johnny Cash
Too Much Coffee	Toni Price
Cigarettes and Coffee Blues	Jean Shepard
Salt in Your Coffee	Betty James
Coffee & Acker Cake	Acker Bilk
Black Coffee In Bed	Squeeze
Black Coffee and Lifesavers	Randy Weeks
Cigarettes And Coffee	Otis Redding
Black Coffee	Julie London
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee	Freedy Johnston

Covered in Beatles: Country Covers

     Several months ago, I was listening to the compilation of Brazilian and Reggae covers of Beatles songs I put together ten years ago.  I know one shouldn't need any reminders of how impressive their song catalog is, but I dunno, there's something about listening to Charlotte Dada's version of "Don't Bring Me Down" that, well, explains their enduring popularity (and why so many people watched that eight-hour Apple documentary of them making Let it Be. :) 

        As I'd already made a Brazilian and Reggae covers compilation and Soul covers compilation, I figured I'd make it a trilogy and put together a compilation of country covers.  There were no songs that appeared on both of the previous compilations, but I couldn't resist including Johnny Litrell's version of "A Hard Day's Night" despite including the Bar-Kays version on the Soul compilation. Hope folks enjoy it. (The Brazilian/Reggae and Soul compilations are also available for download.)

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In My Life	Johnny Cash
Yellow Submarine	Wilco
Can't Buy Me Love	Chet Atkins
I've Just Seen a Face	The Dillards
Hard Days Night	Johnny Littrell
Help!	Dolly Parton
Strawberry Fields Forever	Hayseed Dixie
I Feel Fine	Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
Things We Said Today	Dwight Yoakam
One After 909	Willie Nelson
Paperback Writer	The Nashville Superpickers
I Saw Her Standing There	The Charles River Valley Boys
I'm Looking Through You	Steve Earle
I'll Follow The Sun	David Ball
I'm Only Sleeping	Rosanne Cash
This Boy	The Cactus Blossoms

Miles and Fela

Apologies for the delay in posting as I was away last weekend.  I was about halfway through putting the compilation together when I finally thought of googling Miles Davis and Fela Kuti just to see if there was any connection between the two that I should know about.  Of course, it turns out that Miles Davis proclaimed that Fela, along with Prince and a French band named Kassav, in his autobiography, as the "future of music".  Upon reading it, I kinda realized that I only started to appreciate Miles' late 60s and early 70s recordings after imbibing a great deal of Fela.  

In compiling these two volumes, I avoided any cuts that were more than 15 minutes long.   I dig a lot of their 20-30 minute jams, but I think they detract from the flow of a compilation as they're kind of like fully realized albums in their own right. 

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Volume 1
Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus)	Miles Davis
Water No Get Enemy	Fela Kuti
Teo's Bag	Miles Davis
Two Bass Hit	Miles Davis
Lady	Fela Kuti
One And One	Miles Davis
Sorrow Tears & Blood	Fela Kuti
Volume 2
Go Slow	Fela Kuti
Madness	Miles Davis
Fogo Fogo	Fela Ransom Kuti & the Africa 70
Honky Tonk	Miles Davis
John McLaughlin	Miles Davis
Roforofo Fight	Fela Kuti
Willie Nelson	Miles Davis