On the Right Side of 2016

   I'd rather not focus on the non-musical events of 2016 for this post since, strictly judging the year based on the musical releases, 2016 was a pretty good year.  With the exceptions of the dearly departed Leonard Cohen and Sharon Jones, I only included acts who hadn't appeared on my best of 2014 and 2015 compilations.  This was kinda tough as I had to leave out Angel Olsen's My Woman, but one must abide by some rules.  In the spirit of honoring those who died during the year, I've also re-upped the Bowie tributes, the Leonard Cohen-Patsy Cline-Cat Power compilations, and the Sharon Jones-Detroit Cobras compilation.

   Update: So only 24 hours after posting this, I found out that Bap Kennedy died in early November.  I'll just say he was an underappreciated singer-songwriter from Dublin and let my post on him from five years ago provide a little more depth about him.  RIP Bap.


Disc One

You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen Thousand Mile Night Jonah Tolchin The Soul Of A Man Tom Waits Fast Fuse Blues Paul Burch Two Kids Laura Gibson Snowflake Carl Broemel Days Spent Floating (In The Halfbetween) Okkervil River Dusty Trails (Demo) Lucius Faint Mystery Trixie Whitley Red Moon Whitney Royalty Capes De La Soul Trouble in Here The Frightnrs Put Me Thru  Anderson .Paak Chicken Picken Circuit Des Yeux O Mistress Mine (Clown's Song From Twelfth Night) Paul Kelly Stanley Park Aoife O'Donovan Desperate and Depressed Margo Price Fickle Sun (iii) I'm Set Free Brian Eno

Disc Two

22 Bon Iver Dyin' Bed Maker Kacy & Clayton Light in the House The Cave Singers Temptation M. Ward Okoroba Family Atlantica Firmeza (feat. Rodrigo Campos) Elza Soares I'm Still Here Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Roadside Memorial Allah-Las My Darling, Blue Skies John Doe Georgia Stars case/lang/veirs Lullaby Dori Freeman Number One with a Bullet Freakwater Let Me Get There Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions Squash Squash Blood Orange Clementine Jam Orchestra Baobab Good to Be Back Home Charles Bradley One Way to Pray Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop Tea, Milk & Honey Oh Pep!

On the Right Side of Christmas 2016

          I might be a day or two early, but with the cold spell we've had the last 4 days in the Northeast, it definitely feels like the holiday season so here's my annual compilation of Christmas music.  I've also uploaded all the previous Xmas comps for any newcomers to the blog.

   Late update: I fixed the problem with Al Green's Silent Night.  You do have to download the whole thing to get the working version of the file.

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Christmas Rappin'	Kurtis Blow
Must Be Santa	Bob Dylan
Christmas With Bazooka Joe	Fleshtones
Carol	Cleaners From Venus
On Chrismas Eve	Field Report
Silent Night	Al Green
Blue Snowfall	Kelly Hogan
He's Stuck in the Chimney Again	Rachel Flotard & Jon Rauhouse Orchestra
White Christmas	Esquivel
Christmas Will be Just Another Day	Brenda Lee
Honky Tonk Christmas	Dale Watson
Christmas Date Boogie	Big Joe Turner
Shouldn't Have Given Him A Gun For Christmas	Wall Of Voodoo
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer	The Ventures
Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy	Buck Owens & the Buckaroos
Christmas Eve With You	Lindi Ortega
The Blizzard	Camera Obscura
Christmas Eve Can Kill You	The Everly Brothers
It's Christmas And You're Boring Me	Slow Club
We Three Kings	The Gaylads
Christmas Ain't Christmas	The O'Jays
Skating	Hot Club of Detroit
Presents For Christmas	Solomon Burke
Auld Lang Syne	Aretha Franklin & Billy Preston

With His Hands: An Alejandro Escovedo Retrospective

Back in the early 90's, I was a bit confounded by all the rock critic love for Alejandro Escovedo.  The strength of his late 1990s releases - Bourbinitis Blues, the live More Miles Than Money, and especially, A Man Under the Influence (still my favorite) converted me.  Still, I hadn't really listened that much to him the past couple of years, so it was a real pleasure to go back and listen to his old stuff and dive into his last 2-3 releases.   Hope folks enjoy the career retrospective.

(Like last month's post on the Drive-By Truckers, I was completely unaware that Alejandro was coming out with a new album, Burn Something Beautiful til yesterday.  Haven't heard anything about it and haven't listened to it yet, but will definitely do so this weekend.) 

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Broken Bottle	Alejandro Escovedo
Slip Away	Alejandro Escovedo
Notes On Air	Alejandro Escovedo
With These Hands	Alejandro Escovedo
The Rain Won't Help You When It's Over	The True Believers
Bottom Of The World	Alejandro Escovedo
1968	Alejandro Escovedo
The Best	Alejandro Escovedo
About This Love	Alejandro Escovedo
Amsterdam	Alejandro Escovedo
Baby's Got New Plans	Alejandro Escovedo
Sister Lost Soul	Alejandro Escovedo
Country Honey	Buick MacKane
Anchor	Alejandro Escovedo
The End	Alejandro Escovedo

All in the Drive-By Truckers Family

           I only found out a couple of weeks ago that the Drive-By Truckers have a new cd coming out Sept 30 (i.e. in a few hours).  I'd pretty much finished making the two cd comp so let this serve as a little reminder to go out and get their new album and to go see them when they come to your town.  I presume most DBT fans have heard Jason Isbell's solo stuff, but  I would also encourage folks to get Shonna Tucker's (the former bassist) solo cd (I wasn't aware of it until a few months ago.)

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Disc One

The Southern Thing	Drive-By Truckers
Fifteen Days (Leaving Time Again)	Patterson Hood
24 Frames	Jason Isbell
Made Up English Oceans	Drive-By Truckers
Daddy's Little Pumpkin	Drive-By Truckers
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love	Drive-By Truckers
Pound It Out	Booker T.
Heavy and Hanging	Patterson Hood
Goddamn Lonely Love	Drive-By Truckers
The Devil Is My Running Mate	Jason Isbell
Everywhere with Helicopter	Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
Cottonseed	Mike Cooley
Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus)	Drive-By Truckers
Burning Hell (Live)	Patterson Hood
(It's Gonna Be) / I Told You So	Drive-By Truckers

Disc Two

Alabama Pines	Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
Gravity's Gone	Drive-By Truckers
My Sweet Annette	Drive-By Truckers
People Who Died	Drive-By Truckers
Hate This Town	Patterson Hood & The Downtown Rumblers
The Home Front	Drive-By Truckers
Lonely People	Shonna Tucker & Eye Candy
Elephant	Jason Isbell
Adam Raised A Cain	Patterson Hood
Moonlight Mile	Drive-By Truckers
Fire	Patterson Hood
Sunstroke	Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
Cartoon Gold	Drive-By Truckers
George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues	Drive-By Truckers
The Living Bubba	Drive-By Truckers

Saluting the 70's Singer Songwriters - Volume 3

     It's been a long day and I think I've kind of exhausted talking about the wonders of the music of the 1970's anyway.  But I will note that all of the "Sucking in the 1970s" comps have been re-upped along with the two previous "Saluting the 70's Singer Songwriters" comps.  Hope folks like this one as well.

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Biloxi	Jesse Winchester
Defying Gravity	Jesse Winchester
Dedication	Mary Perrin
Commencement	Chuck and Mary Perrin
Running Away (London Version)	Bob Marley
Waiting In Vain (Advert Mix)	Bob Marley
Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying	Labi Siffre
A Little More Line	Labi Siffre
Louisiana 1927	Randy Newman
God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)	Randy Newman
Shadow Of Her Mind	Kris Kristofferson
From The Bottle To The Bottom	Kris Kristofferson
I Miss A Lot Of Trains	Tom T. Hall
I Hope It Rains At My Funeral	Tom T. Hall
Buckets Of Rain	Bob Dylan
Oh Sister	Bob Dylan
The Future's Not What it Used to Be	Mickey Newbury
San Francisco Mabel Joy	Mickey Newbury

Those Irresistible Red Hots

    I confess to feeling a little bit ambivalent about posting a compilation of songs from the Red Hot collection since all the money from sales of the cds/mp3s/vinyl goes to fight AIDS.  I would, however, like to think that some folks will go and seek out some of the releases that the songs come from (I would especially recommend Dark Was the Night, Red Hot & Rio, and Red Hot & Riot.) Plus, I didn't include any cuts from the most recent Day of the Dead.  I'm not a deadhead so there's a fair amount of stuff which holds little appeal for me.  But there's a bunch of interesting stuff that I really like and I think most deadheads would appreciate the variety of ways that the Dead tunes are interpreted. So enjoy the comp below and then go buy one of the Red Hot releases that you don't already have.

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The Hustle  De La Soul And Da Beatminerz The Giant Of Illinois Andrew Bird This Is How We Walk On The Moon Jose Gonzalez Effigy Uncle Tupelo Looking For The Jackalope Laika Sem Você Arto Lindsay/Arnaldo Antunes/Davi Moraes Baby Alice Smith Jardim do Amor Mia Doi Todd Love For Sale Fine Young Cannibals Mainland China Juicy When I Reach The Place I'm Going Patty Loveless Lady tUnE-yArDs, ?uestlove, Angelique Kidjo +Akua Naru Creole Love Call Art Baron Pepe & Irene Los Lobos & Money Mark Embraceable You Duncan Sheik Dancing Milton Nascimento Water No Get Enemy D'Angelo, Femi Kuti + Macy Gray Time Is Moving On Donald Byrd With Guru And Ronny Jordon

Tributes to Bruce Springsteen and Fred Eaglesmith

         With July 4th soon upon us, I thought it appropriate to put together a compilation of Bruce Springsteen covers.  After all, for folks of a certain age, he embodies a certain kind of ragged, authentic Americana.  In the spirit of comity with our neighbors to the North, I thought it only fair to also put together a compilation of Fred Eaglesmith covers as he seems to embody a similar version of Canadiana, if you will.  In doing so, I owe a debt of gratitude to blog reader KevinPat who sent me a great bunch of Fred Eaglesmith covers that make up the majority of the compilation.


Some Boss Covers

Dancing In The Dark	Tegan and Sara
Open All Night	Son Volt
Highway Patrolman	Johnny Cash
State Trooper	Deanna Carter
Badlands	Patterson Hood
Downbound Train	Kurt Vile
Atlantic City	Hank III
Tiger Rose	Sonny Burgess
Pink Cadillac	Graham Parker
The Price You Pay	Emmylou Harris
Wreck On The Highway	Nils Lofgren
Tougher Than The Rest	Everything But The Girl
I'm On Fire	Bat For Lashes
Brilliant Disguise	Elvis Costello
Valentine's Day	Hem

Wish I Was a Freight Train

He's a Good Dog	Audrey Auld
White Rose	Slaid Cleaves
Harold Wilson	John D. Hale Band
Freight Train	Heather Waters
Thirty Years of Farming	James King
Bell	Teddy Morgan
Pontiac	Rod Picott
Carmelita	Cowboy Junkies
A Pretty Good Guy	Chris Knight
Time to Get a Gun	Miranda Lambert
Gettin' to Me	Rod Picott
Spookin' the Horses	Tamara Williamson
Cigarette Machine	Mary Gauthier
Carter	Bill & Kasey Chambers
Flowers in the Dell	Robbie Fulks

We're All Fans of Uncle Walt's Band (and Walter Hyatt)

   It was 20 years ago this month (May 11, 1996) that Walter Hyatt died in a plane crash.  Hyatt was the founding member of Uncle Walt's Band in the 70s and 80s, then went on to a solo career in the 1990s. All three of his solo albums, including the posthumously released Some Unfinished Business, are still available, but both of his Uncle Walt's Band cd releases are out of print, so I thought I'd right that wrong and post them here tonight.  I should also mention just how sublime his first solo release King Tears is - still one of my top ten albums from the 90s.

An American in Texas Revisited

As The Crow Flies

Don't You Know, Can't You See

Walking Angel

Deeper Than Love

An America In Texas

Bluebird

Sad As It Seems

Too Far To Fall

The Last One To Know

Green Tree

Motor City Man

Love Has Laid Me Down

If I Don't Stop Crying

The More I See You

Desiree

Outside Looking Out

Mock, Mock, Mockingbird

The Girl on the Sunny Shore

Seat Of Logic

Don't You Think I Feel It Too

High Hill

Dish Wiped Clean

Playing The Fool

So Long Baby

Aloha

Stay With The One Who Loves You

Open Up Your Heart

For The First Time

Lean On Your Mind

At Least Two Ways

Shine On

You Keep Me Holding On

Hard To Bear

All I Need Is You

To Make You Believe

Riding in My Car With NRBQ

        While I always winced a little bit at those who would call NRBQ the greatest bar band ever as it seemed like damning them with faint praise, there's no denying they were a great live band, especially when Al Anderson was playing guitar. For those who need documentation of this, look no further than their official 1987 live release God Bless Us All.  But, hopefully, this two disc set does also does justice to their songwriting chops.  (And if you need any further demonstration of this, look no further than their 1989 release Wild Weekend.)

Disc One

It's A Wild Weekend

Don't She Look Good

Get That Gasoline Blues

It Comes to Me Naturally

Mule in the Corn

Java

Music, Music, Music

Tennessee

It's A Sin To Tell A Lie

Next Stop Brattleboro

All That's Left To Say Is Goodbye

I Don't Think of...

Ain't It Alright

Ain't No Horse

She Got the House

Disc Two

Over Your Head

Don't Talk About My Music

Music Goes 'Round And Around

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Rats in My Room

You Were The One

Tina

Ain't Nice to Talk Like That

Batman

Daddy-"O"

Green Lights

Little Rootie Tootie

Whistle While You Work

Captain Lou

Ridin' In My Car

My Heart Cries Oh: Volumes III and IV

         As promised, here's Volumes III and IV of rare 60s and 70s soul.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I used numerous selections from the great blog Soul-Sides.com.  I also used a bunch of tracks from the multi volume Numero Uno Eccentric Soul compilations - in particular, I recommend the Nickel and Penny and Way Out label compilations.



Volume III

We Have Love	Arrows
Oh What I'd Give	Tommy Collins
Forgive Then Forget	Jay Wiggins
A Lifetime	Brothers of Soul
Let Yourself Go	Syl Johnson
Deep Inside of You (12" Version)	Gloria Ann Taylor
Good Thing	Sweet Breeze
Gangster Of Love (Pts. 1 & 2)	Jimmy Norman
Lonely For You Baby	Sam Dees
Lunar Invasion	The Silhouettes
Really Really Love You	Ronnie Walker
Lonely Girl	Andrea Davis
There's Got To Be Rain In Your Life (To Appreciate The Sunshine)	Dorothy Norwood
Play with Fire	Rollers
Sad Shade Of Blue	Geater Davis
It Must Be Love	The Exceptions
Take This Hurt Off Me	Big John Hamilton
Tell Her	Fred Williams
Baby One More Time	Jimmy Garland
Cheaters Never Win	Tony Borders

Volume IV

I Wanna Know Who	The Keynoters
I Am A Member of the club	Titus Turner
I Got Everything I Need	The Soul Notes
It Must Be Love	Full Speed
Hard Times	Baby Huey & The Babysitters
Why Must Our Eyes Always Be Turned Backwards	Lou Bond
Go To Work (Alt.)	Revolution Compared To What
Can You Dig It?	Chico & Buddy
Strain On My Heart	Roscoe Shelton
Baby Baby Please	Timothy Wilson
You're My Everything	Joe King
I'm Tired Of What People Say Or Do	Bruce Griffith
Still My Life Through	Billy Young
Back Road Into Town	Willie Hightower
Fine Time	Genie Brooks
Save My Love	Billy Cee & The Freedom Express
This Heart Is Haunted	Lee Jones &The Sounds Of Soul (The Masqueraders)
My Faith in You	Eddie Billups & The Gigs
Powerful Love	Chuck & Mac
A Soldier's Sad Story	Tiny Watkins

My Heart Cries Oh: Rare Soul from the 60s and 70s

       In the liner notes to the cd (see my post from several years back)  that accompanied the publication of his sublime book Sweet Soul Music, Gurlanick talks about interviewing a dj named Skippy White who told Guralnick not to overlook all of the less well-know soul acts in his book, as they were an equally important part of the history of soul music.  Now, I realize there are a lot of folks who know are far more knowledgeable about soul music, especially the rare stuff.  But, that's never stopped me before and more importantly, there's so much great overlooked material from the 60s and 70s.   And even if some of the acts were just one hit (well non-hit), there's a lot more folks who were just victims of bad luck, bad deals, historical circumstances like Little Ben of Little Ben and the Cheers (pictured at the left) going to fight in Vietnam.   So here's the first two volumes of my four volume set.

Volume I

Beggar of Love	Little Ben and the Cheers
Too Late to Cry	The Commands
Love Don't Love Nobody	Ella Brown
I Am Controlled By Your Love	Helene Smith
Trying My Best To Find Her	The Notations
Sweatin'	Alvin Cash & The Crawlers
Go Go Train	Eddy G. Giles
Bui Bui	L. Hollis & the Mackadoos
Groove Me Mamma	Eddie Steele
Gotta Find My Man	Linda Mackey
Girls Girls Girls	The Young Disciples Co.
One Heart	The Emanons
A Woman's Love	Joe Valentine
Have Fun	Ann Cole
I've Lived The Life	Marva W. Taylor
Love Game (From A To Z)	The Royal Jokers
Can't See Myself Doing You Wrong	Milt Matthews Inc
I've Got To Cry	Chris Hamilton
Darling Please Do Not Take My Love	Moody Scott
Self Preservation	Bill Brandon

 Volume II

There's Gonna Be Some Crying	Small Paul
Count to Ten	Frankie & The Spindles
Smalltown Girl	Jimmy Tig &The Rounders
My Heart Cries Oh	Fred Hughes
A Lady's Man	The Volcanos
I'm Gone	Eddie Parker
Instrumental #1	Richard Terry & Company
The Funky Judge	Bull & the Matadors
Wait	Bobbie Smith
Caught Making Love	Roger Hatcher
Sam Stone	Swamp Dogg
I Paid For The Party	The Enchanters
Meet Me In Church	Don Varner
Wouldn't It Be A Pleasure	Jay Rhythm
Down In the Country	Tee Fletcher
Bold Soul Sister, Bold Soul Brother	Black On White Affair
That Thing Is Green	Bob Smith and the Boo-Koos
Say You Will	Willie Small
When a Boy Loves a Girl	The Vows
Dreamers Hall of Fame	Jeb Stuart

3 Parts Piss, 2 Parts Vinegar: The Mekons and The Pogues

        Seeing the Mekons (they were really awesome, btw) and watching The Wire again (and the several scenes where they play The Pogues' "The Body of an American" following the death of a police officer) last summer, I thought it only appropriate to make a compilation featuring the two legendary bands (and couldn't resist adding a solo track from Shane MacGowan.) 

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Authority	The Mekons
Mountain Dew	The Pogues with The Dubliners
Machine	Mekons
Rake At The Gates Of Hell	Shane MacGowan & The Popes
Boys From The County Hell	The Pogues
Wicked Midnight	Mekons
Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do	The Pogues
Memphis Egypt	Mekons
Sayonara	The Pogues
Space in Your Face	Mekons
Country	Mekons
I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day	The Pogues
Born To Choose	The Mekons
Down All The Days	The Pogues
Spit	The Mekons
The Body of an American	The Pogues

On the Right Side of 2015

     I meant to put this up on Wed night, but my itunes was playing up (after I had to reinstall Windows on my computer). Anyway, I'm still working my way through some of the albums that I got this year, so I can't really name my definitive top ten albums of 2015 yet, but right now, I really like the Father John Misty and Rayland Baxter albums.  Here's to a great 2016, musically and otherwise.

Disc One

Seven Wonders	Holly Golightly
Love Is Where It Is	Robert Forster
The Last Pharaoh	Dave Rawlings Machine
Boys Can Never Tell (feat. J. Roddy Walston)	Shovels & Rope
Something Soon	Car Seat Headrest
With Davey	La Luz
Can't Keep Checking My Phone	Unknown Mortal Orchestra
King Kunta	Kendrick Lamar
Head Over Heels	JD McPherson
Rio Grande	Eilen Jewell
Old Lady	Eleni Mandell
My Heart's Not In It	Yo La Tengo
Don't Make It Easy	Isobel Campbell
A Human Being	Ryan Sambol
what's normal anyway	Miguel
I Love You, Honeybear	Father John Misty

Disc Two

Just Like Blood	Sharon Van Etten
Grace	Patrick Watson
Cheap Extensions	Sonny and The Sunsets
Depreston	Courtney Barnett
Nobody Knows My Trouble	Ryan Bingham
Fond Farewell	Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield
The High Road	Ryley Walker
Lungs	Jessie Baylin
An Incident Off St. Kitt's	Mekons and Robbie Fulks
Malukayi (feat. Konono No. 1)	Mbongwana Star
My Armour	Kathryn Calder
Our Way Free	Mac McCaughan
Shoegaze	Alabama Shakes
Shine	Leon Bridges
Your Love	Rayland Baxter
Let Me Sleep (At The End Of A Dream)	Daniel Romano