What Are You Listening To? November 2025

[Unsomnambulist]

Cold Sun - Dark Shadows (recorded 1970, released 1989)

 

[axolotl]

Cold Sun - Dark Shadows (recorded 1970, released 1989)

Flisten. Ne'er heard this before. It's quite good.

Definite 13th Floor Elevators/Roky Erickson vibe.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Kyle Eastwood - From There To Here (1998)

If you're Clint Eastwood's kid and decide to play jazz bass, you land a contract with Columbia and have Joni Mitchell warble Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" with you. First call guys like Mark Isham and David Sanchez line up to contribute their highly skilled chops to your debut album. None of this would amount to a hill of beans but for the fact that the kid is actually very good. His work as a film composer gives him an ear for the cinematic noir inflections that drift through the ten tunes here like the chilly fog of a Monterey night. I bought this on a whim after hearing Joni's song on the terrific new Joni's Jazz box and I'm very glad that I did.



on the Sam-O-Meter.

 

[axolotl]

Aphex Twin ~ Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994)



I could listen to this 150 minute minimalist, ambient set straight-through. I don't do that often enough.

One RYM reviewer wrote:

As one of the guinea pigs for a huge and powerful pharmaceutical company, I´m currently locked up for a few days in one of the largest hospitals in Sweden.

The rules here are very simple. Drink the vicous brew that they serve you. Don´t leave the ward. Stay in bed as much as possible. Give the nurses whatever they want - measurements or samples, blood or urine. Don´t be cheap. And do the strange tests that they want you to do, when you have to watch flashing letters and numbers and pictures, while you, dazed and confused, are hysterically pressing buttons on a computer. Do all this, and whatever else they tell you to do, and you will receive an assload of money.

The days here are surreal. I´m comatozed and cozy. I´m all warm inside. Fuzzy. And everybody here is so nice to me, and they show a seldomly seen interest in my urine. Tall white coats are standing next to my bed, telling me that I´m being good when I´m doing absolutely nothing but lying down.

It´s not the first time I´m participating in one of these experiments, and no experiment is exactly like the one before. But one thing remains exactly the same. I always, always listen to Selected Ambient Works Vol. II while in here. It´s just the perfect soundtrack for experimenting with pharmaceutical drugs, while white coats are patting you, and strange machines and weird looking medical equipment are beeping and hissing in the background. It all becomes one. All becomes one. And I´m connected with wires to the heart of a computer. Or. Maybe it´s just the drug.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

White Stripes - De Stijl (2000)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

White Stripes - De Stijl (2000)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame!

 

[Ojai Sam]

Jeannie Seely - I'll Love You More (1968)

Vinyl Spin of the Day.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Just:
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)

Now:
Three Dog Night - Complete Hit Singles

 

[Ojai Sam]

The Rolling Stones - Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (1966)

Vinyl Spin of the Day.

I bought the stereo version of this album at Tower Records on the Sunset Strip when it came out

but stupidly traded it out at Aron Records at the dawn of the CD era.

For most of the other albums in my ongoing Selective Vinyl Reacquisition Project, I look for stereo but in this case, only mono would do. The early Stones singles always sounded the best on my original 45's but this, their first greatest hits collection, comes very close. My stylus glides smoothly through the same punchy single mixes at a leisurely 33-1/3 rpm on pristine vinyl. The colorful gatefold photo gallery is a nice bonus but even in its absence BH (HT+GG) would be one of my two or three favorite comps.

on the Sam-O-Meter.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Norma Jean - Jackson Ain't A Very Big Town (1967)

Vinyl Spin of the Day.

Moral relativism, country style:

Tonight at nine, we get married
My friends all say it's a shame and disgrace
That he's loved every woman in Jackson
Oh, but Jackson ain't a very big place

Tomorrow, we'll go walkin'
I count each one with a tear on her face
Then I'll know just how many think I'm lucky
'Cause Jackson ain't a very big place

Jackson is a mighty small town
Where the gossip and the rumors go round
But the gossips are the ones he turned down
And Jackson ain't a very big town

 

[Ojai Sam]

Nick Lowe - Party Of One (1990)

Thank you, MusicBoomerang!

 

[Unsomnambulist]

The Rolling Stones - Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (1966)

Vinyl Spin of the Day.

I bought the stereo version of this album at Tower Records on the Sunset Strip when it came out

but stupidly traded it out at Aron Records at the dawn of the CD era.

For most of the other albums in my ongoing Selective Vinyl Reacquisition Project, I look for stereo but in this case, only mono would do. The early Stones singles always sounded the best on my original 45's but this, their first greatest hits collection, comes very close. My stylus glides smoothly through the same punchy single mixes at a leisurely 33-1/3 rpm on pristine vinyl. The colorful gatefold photo gallery is a nice bonus but even in its absence BH (HT+GG) would be one of my two or three favorite comps.

on the Sam-O-Meter.

Brian Jones looks like he's been up for 5 days.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Yesterday - the music of 1958 continuing my Thursday playlist tradition

Today:
Hall & Oates's greatest hits
Now - The Spinners Greatest Hits

 

[axolotl]

Yesterday - the music of 1958 continuing my Thursday playlist tradition

Today:
Hall & Oates's greatest hits
Now - The Spinners Greatest Hits

Wow! You are quite... (should I say it?) the rubberband man.

I'll be around, all week.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Grand Funk Railroad - Greatest Hits

 

[Ojai Sam]

Then...

Lionel Hampton - Golden Vibes (1959)

Vinyl Spin of Yesterday

Now...

Various Artists - Planet Mod: Brit Soul, R&B and Freakbeat From The Shel Talmy Vaults (rec. 1964-68, Big Beat comp. 2018)

We know all about Sonny Boy Williamson's work with The Yardbirds. But can you imagine John Lee Hooker and Screamin' Jay Hawkins rubbing shoulders in a London studio with The Pros & Cons and Goldie & The Gingerbreads?

Too bad Lionel Hampton wasn't in town at the time.

 

[axolotl]

But can you imagine John Lee Hooker and Screamin' Jay Hawkins rubbing shoulders in a London studio with The Pros & Cons and Goldie & The Gingerbreads?

Certainly not until you mentioned it.

<Quickly rushing to Wikipedia>

Too bad Lionel Hampton wasn't in town at the time.

Isn't he Freakbeat?

 

[Ojai Sam]

Etta James - The Right Time (1992)

Etta James just got better over the years. Any of her albums will brighten a gloomy day. But this one, her only release on Elektra, is something special. Recorded at Muscle Shoals with Jerry Wexler producing, Etta is backed by two legends, Steve Cropper and Hank Crawford, and offers a duet with a third, Steve Winwood. It simply doesn't get better than this.

On the Sam-O-Meter. Because Ninety Nine and a Half Won't Do.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Waxahatchee - Out In The Storm (2017)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Nice Biscuit - SOS (2024)