On The Right Side of 2022

It's the end of another year and, alas, I'm mostly filled with unfocused thoughts about the past year and the future.  But it's been another grand year for music and I'd particularly recommend the recent releases by The Volebeats, Sessa, The Sadies, CMAT, Sudan Archives, Sharon Van Etten, and Angel Olsen

As usual, I tried to only includes who weren't on the two previous years compilations.  But I did make an exception for Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Andrew Bird since they were all dueting on last year's compilation.  All of the previous year end compilations are also available (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).

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Disc 1

Lydia Margo Price

Haunted Satellite Beth Orton

Whisper to Me The Volebeats

Vault of Heaven Pixies

Tchingolene Etran de L'AÏr

Palm Sunday Papercuts

Golden State The Delines

Georgia On A Fast Train Willie Nelson

Red Moon Big Thief

Roman Holiday Fontaines D.C.

Blackleg Miner Freakons

Faithless Ghost Andrew Bird

Heat Lightning Mitski

Canção da Cura Sessa

Astral Jacket Spoon

Unhate Cat Power

Meridian, MS Phosphorescent

Blank Page The War and Treaty

Disc 2

Fly On Karen Elson

Goodbye Mr. Blue Father John Misty

Outta Time Orville Peck

Stop and Start The Sadies

Righteous Lazarus 4 Days Dead (Reprise) The William Loveday Intention

Somebody Else Sarah Shook

The Whole Of The Law Johanna Samuels

We Let It In Brian Eno

Saudade Ana Frango Elétrico

Cumbia del Polvo Calexico

No More Virgos CMAT

Good Enough Nikki Lane

Saturdays Broken Bells

Home Maker Sudan Archives

Tom Verlaine Alvvays

Speech Bubbles The Smile

Grapevine Weyes Blood

Come Back Sharon Van Etten

Disc 3

River Aaron Kyle

Cruel Country Wilco

No Me Llames (Versión Acústica) Carla Morrison

Strange Diamonds Jessie Baylin

Everyone's Stranger Than Me The Senior Service feat. Rachel Lowrie

Wet Dream Wet Leg

Training Montage The Mountain Goats

Tom Barrett Ian Noe

When It Comes To You Sturgill Simpson

All The Good Times Angel Olsen

Queen Of Spades Julianna Riolino

Nothing Santigold

Realities.com T Bone Burnett

Sudden Light Jesca Hoop

Meus 26 Tim Bernardes

He'll Make a Way (Trust in the Lord) Pastor Champion

You Don't Go Away Lykke Li

This Woman's Work Caroline Spence, Erin Rae, Michaela Anne, Tristen

On the Right Side of Christmas

 I apologize for the delay, but this last week has been a bear (and I was still recovering from a cold up until 2 days ago).  Anyway, I don't know if people really need another one, but there's still a lot of great old and new releases, so it's time for another Christmas compilation (and all of the the previous Christmas compilations are also available).  Hope everyone enjoys it!

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What Month Was Jesus Born In?	Odetta
Christmas Time (Keep It Together)	Annie Booth
Nativity	Paul Kelly
Jane Jane	Bonny Light Horseman
Holiday Road	Matt Pond PA
Ol' Fatso	Augie Rios
God Rest Ye Gnarly Gentlemen	Underwater Bosses
I Love Christmastime	Sunshine Boys
Say "Merry Christmas" for Me	Donna Hightower
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas	Lucinda Williams
Lonesome Christmas	Lowell Fulson
Christmas In Vietnam	Johnny And Jon
Christmas Time is Here	Lucius
Bells Of St. Mary's	Lee Andrews & The Hearts
Slick Nick, You Devil You	Fishbone
Bluebells of Christmas (Chip !! Chip !!)	Jimmy McGriff
Cold Christmas	The Aislers Set
Christmas Time's A Comin'	Marty Stuart
Sleigh Bell Rock	Three Aces & A Joker
Jingle Bells	Urbie Green
Christmas Coming	Alton Ellis
Cross You Off My List	Lola Kirke
Pretty Paper [*]	Roy Orbison
Auld Lang Syne	Anne Buckle

Mandy Barnett: Voice of a Generation

      I've never quite understood why Mandy Barnett didn't become a huge star, especially after her amazing sophomore release I've Got a Right to Cry, but, as Mae West famously declaimed, goodness had nothing to do with it.  Now I must confess, I stopped following her career in the late 2000s (as she seemed to have stopped recording)  a while and only recently had the pleasure to listen to her dandy 2013 collection of Don Gibson Covers, I Can't Stop Loving You.  And after listening to last year's Billie Holiday homage, Every Star Above, I decided a Mandy Barnett retrospective was long overdue.  As for the title of the collection, I forget who described her that way and I think they may have characterized as a once in a generation voice.  At any rate, hope folks like it (though I can't imagine anyone wouldn't. :)

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Planet of Love

Dream Too Real to Hold

Slowly

Look Who's Blue

If You'll Be The Teacher

Jackson

Anytime

Searching (For Someone Like You)

Lock Stock and Teardrops

The Whispering Wind (Blows on By)

How’s The World Treating You

My Tears

Walking After Midnight

Life's Railway To Heaven

Dark Moon

For All We Know

Town Without Pity

Help Me Make It Through the Night

Sally Timms: It Says Here and To the Land of Milk and Honey

I've been extremely dismayed about the Dobbs Supreme Court decision allowing states to ban abortion

without any exceptions.  And since I don't know of any charity albums centered around the issue of abortion that have come out in wake of the Dobbs decision, I thought it necessary to post Sally  Timms' out of print ep "It Says Here" as it features a great live cover of Dolly Parton's Down from Dover.  And while I was it, I also though I might as well also post her out of print album To the Land of Milk and Honey.  Enjoy!

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It Says Here

It Says Here

US Foreign Policy

Welsh Girl

Down From Dover

Reason To Believe

To the Land of Milk & Honey

Round Up

Half Past France

Everytime She Walks In the Room

It Says Here

Junk Barge

King Ludwig

No More Rides

Homburg

Painted Girl

Longing, Madness And Lust

Deep

Good Music to Chill out to: Steve Gunn and Kurt Vile

     I've always loved the scene in 24 Hour Party People where Tony Wilson gets very high and imagines that he meets God (who looks exactly like Tony Wilson).  God reassures him about the choices he's made and also tells him that he should release a Vini Reilly greatest hits compilation as it's "good music to chill out to".  Well, this isn't a Vini Reilly compilation, but I've increasingly found both Kurt Vile and Steve Gunn (who was/sometimes still is Kurt Vile's guitarist) excellent music to, well, chill out to.  For those wanting more Vile or Gunn, I'd recommend Kurt Vile's Childish Prodigy and Steve Gunn's The Unseen in Between.

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Clay Pigeons	Shannon Lay & Steve Gunn
Red Apples	Kurt Vile
New Moon	Steve Gunn
It's Alright	Kurt Vile
Goodbye, Freaks	Kurt Vile
Conditions Wild	Steve Gunn
I'm an Outlaw	Kurt Vile
Trailways Ramble	Steve Gunn
Over Everything	Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile
Way Out Weather	Steve Gunn
Dive for the Pearl	Steve Gunn
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness	Kurt Vile
Other You	Steve Gunn
Wakin' on a Pretty Day	Kurt Vile

 

Isaac Hayes: A Tribute and a Retrospective

Isaac Hayes would have turned 80 on 

August 20 (and died on August 10, 2008) so I thought I though it appropriate to post both a 

retrospective of his solo work as well as a set of covers of Isaac Hayes' songs.  In addition to being a truly iconic figure in American popular culture, he really had one of the greatest ten year runs in pop music - from the mid to late 1960s, he was an incredibly prolific songwriter (though one must give ample credit as well to his songwriting partner, David Porter) and then he released a string of great solo albums from 1969 to 1974.   

Doing His Thing: An Isaac Hayes Retrospective

I'll Never Fall In Love Again
It's Too Late (She's Gone)
(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right
Bumpy's Lament
You Never Cross My Mind
The Feeling Keeps On Coming
Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic
Theme From "The Men"
You're In My Arms Again
Blue Groove
Soulsville
Your Loving Is Much Too Strong
I Stand Accused
Runnin' Out Of Fools
Songs from the Book of Isaac
I Had A Dream	Johnnie Taylor
As Long As I've Got You	The Charmels
Let Me Be Good To You	Carla Thomas
Sister's Got A Boyfriend	Rufus Thomas
In The Twilight Zone	The Astors
I Take What I Want	Aretha Franklin
You Got Me Hummin'	Reigning Sound
You Don’t Know Like I Know	Sam & Dave
Weak Spot	The Detroit Cobras
I'm A Big Girl Now	Mable John
Soul Girl	Jeanne & The Darlings
Boot-Leg	Booker T. & The MG's
It's Happening All Over	William Bell
Do Your Thing	Lyn Collins
B-A-B-Y	Rachel Sweet
Shaft	El Michels Affair
Make It Me	The Premiers
The Sweeter He Is (Pt. 1 & 2)	The Soul Children
I'll Run Your Heart Away	Lisa Miller
If I Ever Needed Love (I Sure Do Need It Now)	Ruby Johnson

The Texas Legends Series: Volume Six - Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock

 I know this was a rather obvious choice for the Texas Legends series, but that doesn't mean it isn't sorely needed (especially when I discovered that most of Butch Hancock's solo stuff is out of print).  I also like to do homages to artists that are still making music, so it's worth mentioning that the Flatlanders 2021 release, Treasure of Love, was very good, albeit a little inconsistent.  Hope everyone likes it.  I also re-upped the previous five Texas Legends series compilations. 

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Hello, Stranger (live)	Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Way Downtown	Jimmie Dale Gilmore with The Wronglers
Row Of Dominoes	Joe Ely
Queen Of Heaven	Joe Ely
Perfection In The Mud	Butch Hancock
Chase the Wind	Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Going Away	The Flatlanders
Just a Wave, Not the Water	Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Roll Around	Butch Hancock
Goodbye Old Missoula	Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Ranches and Rivers	Joe Ely
Braver Newer World	Jimmie Dale Gilmore
West Texas Waltz	Joe Ely
Mobile Blue	The Flatlanders
South Wind Of Summer	The Flatlanders
Pumpkineater	Butch Hancock
Keeper Of The Mountain	The Flatlanders
Another Colorado	Jimmie Dale Gilmore

Thirty Odes to Los Angeles

       In putting together this Los Angeles themed compilation, I decided to exclude songs that were really songs about California or were primarily focused on Hollywood related themes.  Instead, I tried to only use songs that were about Los Angeles or a particular landmark or street in Los Angeles.  It's nowhere as noirish as I though it would turn out to be, but maybe it's partly about the fact that a lot of of folks who are singing about Los Angeles aren't from there.  Anyway, hope both Angelenos and non-Angelenos enjoy it.  (I also re-upped the compilation "L.A. is the Place For Me" which features mid and late 1960s acts that recorded in Los Angeles.)

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  Disc 1

A Night in LA	Ry Cooder
East L.A.	War
Ode to L.A.	The Raveonettes
Drinking in L.A.	Bran Van 3000
Los Angeles	HAIM
This Town	The Go-Go's
Los Angeles	X
Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham	Bobby Whitlock
Coming into Los Angeles	Arlo Guthrie
Old L.A.	New Multitudes
Electrolite	R.E.M.
Whittier Blvd.	Thee Midniters
Funky L.A.	Paul Hemphrey & His Cool Aid Chemists
The Recipe	Kendrick Lamar
Leaving LA	Father John Misty
Disc 2
Let Me Back In	Rilo Kiley
Come A Long Way	Michelle Shocked
Went Looking for Warren Zevon's Los Angeles	Lucero
L.A. Blues	Tom T. Hall
Los Angeles	Margot & The Nuclear So & So's
Screenwriter's Blues	Soul Coughing
Back In L.A.	B.B. King
I Left My Wallet in El Segundo	A Tribe Called Quest
Blues for Los Angeles	Bill Frisell
Angeles	Elliott Smith
Los Angeles	Phosphorescent
Los Angeles Mood (Chromium Descensions)	Tom Waits
Los Angeles Blues	Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
Angeles Crest	Chelsea Williams
Los Angeles	Joe Williams