What Are You Listening To? March 2020

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Irish Rovers - The Unicorn
The Best of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

Truncated Irish music listening so apologies to groups like Solas, Aslan, The Bothy Band, and Planxty (I've played them enough over the years). The Pogues also get plenty of listens from me outside the season. But my father - about 20 in NYC during the folk revival where the Clancy's hit Greenwich Village - always fancied traditional Irish folk and passed that on to me. I could never let a St. Patrick's Day go buy without hearing the Clancy's or the Irish Rovers - the latter group, it's true, is lighter fare and more Americanized (they actually got their start in Toronto of all places) but was an LP I remember from my youth so I have a soft spot

You may certainly know the Rover's song "The Unicorn" his the U.S. top ten in 1968 (the album topped the charts) and probably that the lyrics were written by Shel Silberstein (one year before his lyrics of "A Boy Named Sue"), but did you know Glen Campbell played lead guitar on the single? You did? Oh...well then never mind.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Aufheben (2012)

 

[axolotl]

Larval ~ 2 (1998)



Avant-Prog, Experimental Rock, Chamber Music

 

[Ojai Sam]

Moondog - Moondog (1969)

AMG sez:

Moondog's second self-titled album (the first one came out in 1956 on the independent jazz label Prestige) was the idiosyncratic composer's first release in 12 years, and it shows how much Moondog's already rich music had matured since 1957's The Story of Moondog. Where Moondog's '50s records were jazz-based, Moondog showcases the composer's orchestral side; producer James William Guercio assembled an orchestra of over 40 musicians from the classical and jazz worlds (including flutist Hubert Laws and bassist Ron Carter), and although the pieces are quite compact -- ranging from the expansive three-part ballet suite "Witch of Endor" to the eight-second spoken poem "Cuplet" -- Moondog uses the expanded range of tonal colors and dynamics impressively. For someone who spent most of his career performing solo on a street corner in Manhattan, Moondog's arrangements on pieces like the jazz-canon's "Stamping Ground" are not only admirably complex, but also richly melodic. Although Moondog is often thought of as a mere exotica novelty, thanks to the composer's eccentricities, it is, in fact, one of the finest third stream jazz albums of its era. The best-known track on this album, "Bird's Lament," was the uncredited basis for dance DJ Mr. Scruff's "Get a Move On," which was used in an extended series of minivan commercials in 2002.

Is it a hit or a miss? I'm pretty open minded but this music with sing song choruses and coy orchestration does nothing for me. As Lloyd Bentsen might say: I listened to Third Stream. I knew Third Stream. Third Stream was a friend of mine. Moondog, you're not Third Stream.

on the Sam-O-Meter.

 

[Mattafett]

JJ Cale - Naturally (1972)

 

[Mattafett]

Cactus - One Way...Or Another (1971)

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[Unsomnambulist]

Roger Eno And Brian Eno - Mixing Colours (2020)

 

[axolotl]

Roger Eno And Brian Eno - Mixing Colours (2020)

A collaboration, you say?

Imma gunna hafta listenta this.

 

[Nickyboy]

Lonker See- Hamza (2020)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Lonker See- Hamza (2020)

As they say, Lonker See, Lonker Do

 

[axolotl]

As they say, Lonker See, Lonker Do

That was a Bing Crosby classic! :nunja:

 

[Ojai Sam]

Jason Isbell - Southeastern (2013)

I haven't paid much attention to Jason but an in depth profile in No Depression magazine piqued my curiosity. His whole story of addiction to alcohol and subsequent redemption through marriage to the marvelous Amanda Shires is played out in this album. Highly recommended listening for tough times.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

The Garden - Kiss My Super Bowl Ring (2020)

 

[Mattafett]

The Marshall Tucker Band (1973)

 

[axolotl]

The Marshall Tucker Band (1973)
View attachment 3612

I can't see.

P. S. But I'm sure that I heard it in a love song.

 

[Mattafett]

Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride (1971)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Bing Crosby - Some Fine Old Chestnuts [60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition] (1954, 2014)

Bing didn't often record with just a trio but he does himself proud with these songs, delivered with the deep, rich tone he developed later in his career. The Deluxe Edition is garnished with 10 bonus track culled from his radio show plus one from a TV special.

 

[axolotl]

Moussa Kanoute ~ Dance of the Kora (1996)

West African harpist Moussa Kanoute welcomes guest guitarist Alex De Grassi and vocalist Rhiannon for Dance of the Kora.

 

[axolotl]

Jack Gates ~ Earth Messenger (2005)



World Fusion, Jazz Guitar

 

[axolotl]

If Thousands ~ I Have Nothing (2005)



Post-Rock, Ambient, Drone