Gary Beatrice Discography #8

 Wait, what, school is starting tomorrow? That means, using my Hoosier-corrupted math, that the year is two-thirds over. There were pumpkins on sale at Shaw's today, although it's Vermont and it will probably be snowing in two weeks so that's not too surprising. Still, it's another reminder of the passing of time. I'm not too certain of how I feel about this upcoming school year, my twenty-second at Champlain, and now the third at least partially destroyed by COVID (someone pointed out the other day that this year's seniors will be the only class on campus who will be able to remember a normal year, which is a sobering thought). 

Bill Farrington

 

Southern Cross - Jimmy Buffet

 

The first song is generally responsive to the prompt of a song in unexpected circumstances that made me smile (or something  like that).  Two thoughts to set a frame of reference.  I have been a more than casual fan of CSN (and sometimes Y) for a long time, and  I am not a Parrot Head (or even remotely resemble someone who is a ParrotHead).  Kathy and I received an invitation, we could not turn down, for lawn seats  for a Jimmy Buffet concert in the early 90's.  We went to the concert and I was very much a stranger in a strange land.  Buffet played Southern Cross (Stephen Stills composition) as an encore. I did smile and I did enjoy that song.  

 

https://open.spotify.com/track/0qmawdRliiO39sdaxUIl2e?si=58a4ca68e4494f02

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9CgMAT2ybc&ab_channel=JimmyBuffett-Topic

 

 

My Generation - The Who

 

Pete Townsend has been answering questions in response to "I hope I die before I get old" since the release of My Generation.  This medley was the response for a tour in 2006 / 2007.  The medley is My Generation / new lyrics appended / and Cry if you Want. I couldn't find  a version of this on youtube.  Two substitute youtube versions follow.  The first site has Townshend on vocals, and it is from the 06 / 07 tour.  I don't like it as well, but it does give a visual sense of the song.  The second site is from a concert in Hyde Park (circa 2015).  It does not have the full medley, but it is a quality rendition - of a song written by an angry young man - by aging rockers.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI4hC0xjcZs&ab_channel=nakedeye515

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_4QrPPPcBw&ab_channel=MercuryStudios

 

As with all things "The Who", if your eardrums are still able to sustain the strain, it is better loud.

 

If there is any interest in the version taken from a CD of the concert Kathy and I attended in Indianapolis in March 2007(Daltry in good form on vocals), I believe I can share the MP3 file on a google doc.

 

 

Lynette Vought

 

Heartbreak Hotel

Paul McCartney

Elvis Presley

 

   This song has been in my ears nearly all month, first in the form of the Paul McCartney clip that popped up on my newsfeed, and then in a recording of a live performance by Elvis, because I wanted to see the bass in Bill Black’s hands as well.

     It is catching me because a good blues song seems to be the proper fit for heading back into the classroom next week during yet another year of a pandemic and all the heartbreak it is causing.

    It is fun to see Paul McCartney be a true fan, and in his short version of Heartbreak Hotel, he is characteristically charming as he puts on a fine display of musicianship. I’ve heard it said that it is very difficult to sing while playing bass. McCartney not only achieves it, he pulls his first note out of thin air before he starts playing the bass.

   Seeing Elvis in action is a joy.  Also, I think it is Chet Atkins on guitar, and while Elvis is shaking his legs, he is playing a solo with his teeth! You don’t see that every day.  And being able to watch Bill Black play that dashing bass on its first time around is a satisfying music history moment for me. Here is a link to the studio recording with much better sound quality, if you can do without looking at Elvis and the band.

    Good tunes can be good companions if you are on Lonely Street. At the end of all this, at least we will have a tale to tell if we end up at The Heartbreak Hotel.

 

Be safe.

 

 

David Kelley

 

I have been trying to post about newly released music in the third installment of the Music Blog.  I am deviating this month because fuck!!!!  "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye is a perfect song.  Sadly it will always be relevant too.  If I could be as cool as a James Jamerson bass line just once in my life.

 

Gary Scudder

Basia Bulat, Once More, for the Dollhouse

This is definitely one of those instances where I went down a rabbit hole, with Spotify proposing that if I like Sarah Harmer, which I do, then I'd also like Basia Bulat, which I do. I mean, seriously, who wouldn't like an alt-country singer from Ontario who plays the auto-harp? This song, Once More, for the Dollhouse, is drawn from her first album, Heart of My Own. It's a beautiful, elegiac song about love, loss, and alienation. Early in the song she asks, "Your dreams are so quiet, don't you need them anymore?" and then, by the end, her question has been rephrased as,"Your dreams are so quiet, don't you need me anymore?" The question becomes, if our friends/lovers dreams have been fulfilled, or simply died, do they even need us anymore? It's been my experience that the answer is no.