Listening...

I am by no means an audiophile or music expert. But I do like music. And thankfully so does our little bird. I have a habit of listening to something over and over again until I can't listen anymore and Anita seems to have inherited that habit as well. Our current fave on repeat rotation is the new Black Keys album. I have read criticism for this album that it is "too polished" or "too studio". As I said, I am no expert but I did not notice this and/or it did not bother me. Also, I read a criticism saying that they sounded too different from their early albums. To that I can only say that I like when a band evolves and I certainly don't want them to sound exactly the same on every album. I don't think it is so different really, certainly not in a bad way. My non-expert criteria for liking this album and any album is do I want to cook/bake to this and do I want to listen to this on my 2 hour weekly drive to visit my Grandma? I can say with certainty that this album passes both tests. I would say that a new criteria would be will I mind when Anita picks her favorite song (track 14 on this album) and she asks me to repeat it again and again.? No, I didn't mind at all. :)

april come she will

Welcome back april.
Song by Simon and Garfunkel.

April Come She Wil...

where the action isn't

Oh, Hi! Long time no write.
I haven't been feeling my best lately and with trips to the dentist and the doctor's last week I was in no mood to make your guys' dreams come true with some awesome bloggin'.

Major hat tip to good friend YK for turning me on to this, the latest Nuggets release. Coincidentally, I was planning to do a minor review of the Children of the Nuggets boxed set which covered the 1976-1996 era of Psychadelic music. It took a while for the Children of the Nuggets to grow on me, but now I love it. Highlights from that boxed set include:
    The Lime Spiders - Slave Girl
    The Inmates - Mr. Unreliable
    Last - She Don't Know Why I'm Here
    The Godfathers - This Damn Nation
    The Prisoners - Whenever I'm Gone
    The Green Telescopes - Make Me Stay
    The Church - The Unguarded Moment
    Julian Cope - Sunspots

And now, for those of you Southern Californians who enjoyed any of the previous Nuggets comps, there is Where the Action Is!, a compilation of psychedelic, pop, rock and folk hits created in . . . Los Angeles.

WHERE THE ACTION IS! encompasses four discs arranged thematically to cover different aspects of the pop, rock, club and Top 40 sounds of the era. The first covers some of the most notable bands that performed in the clubs of Hollywood's Sunset Strip. Disc two features a sampling of the musicians who began life in South L.A., East L.A. and such far-flung suburbs as Riverside and Bakersfield. The third delves into the artistry of L.A.'s producers, arrangers and Wrecking Crew of studio players. The final disc takes us from the nascent seeds of folk rock to the first blooms of canyon rock, country rock and full-blown psychedelia in the region. It also shows how rock pioneers such as Del Shannon and Rick Nelson took their own stabs at fitting in with “the kids.”

I have placed a moratorium on spending, otherwise this would be mine already. However, this is certainly my next purchase.

mississippi records

Fairly short post (and quickly written) so I am adding extra photos for you to go ga-ga over.
Recently, a great friend to this blog, Jesse G, introduced me to a fantastic album entitled Love is Love, a compilation of African R&B and folk songs. As I tried to track the album down at the local record stores, I kept encountering the same problem: "Sold out. Don't know when we'll get another order from the label." The only answer was to track it down through the label. I had barely done any research when I got lucky. Local record store M Theory Music happened to have two copies that had not yet made it to the shelves! So I purchased them both and passed one on to my brother-in-law. But what about this label? Mississippi Records is a label and record store based out of Portland, Oregon. They have no website. All that is available is their Wikipedia site and a discography from librarian Bryan Sinclair. The artwork alone is enough to get me to buy another album. The musical genres sampled are also very intriguing. However, Love is Love is certainly good enough to get me to buy more (at a time when I should be buying less).

As I wrote this blurb, I discovered that the blog Big States has catalogued a few of their Mississippi Records purchases and even posted some sounds to check out. Of course, make sure to support Mississippi Records through your purchases as well. They are a small company and can use the support.

If I ever figure out how to post a few songs from Love is Love I will be sure to do so and update this post.

R.I.P. Ellie

Ellie Greenwich passed away last week. So many songs that I hold dear, that I have sung since I was a little girl and now sing to my little girl, were written by Miss Ellie. In fact, I think the first song I sang to my little bird was, "Be My Baby". R.I.P. Ellie