by wheland » Mon Jun 13, 2016 8:38 am
Some great new cds I just got recently-
Monkees- Good Times. Yes you read that correctly the Monkees (all 3 surviving members participated). It actually includes some tunes originally recorded in part back in the 60's. One has Harry Nillson along with mickey Dolenz on it. another actually includes Davy Jones so all the original members are actually part of the cd. Very well done- a number of songs were written by modern music artists inspired by the Monkees.
Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger. One of his best solo efforts ever. A nice mix of different sonic effects and genres.
Shawn Colvin ^ Steve Earle- Colvin & Earle. I'm more a fan of Shawn's music but like both artists separately and they combine forces very well indeed. a mix of songs they co-wrote and covers they each picked to perform. Tony Geoggler just saw them live and wrote a very good review of a great show over on FB.
"Friday night saw Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin at the Winery. Good solid show that never felt great. They have a new album and I liked the originals they wrote together especially Come What May and the gospelly Go Down Moses. They each played 3 of their solo songs and Earle did his usual predictable (but real good) 3 cuts: Copperville Road, Galway Girl and Someday which he introduced with a long cool story about when he had just about given up on getting a recording contract and a friend got him a ticket to see Springsteen's Born In The USA tour and three and a half hours later he knew what he had to do and went home and wrote Guitar Town and then he talked about his real dark times when he didn't make a record for four years and how little light got in except it lifted him when Emmylou Harris covered Guitar Town and Shawn Colvin covered Someday...Colvin sang Sonny Came Home, Diamond In the Rough, a highlight, and one other petty song from her own records that I didn't recognize. They sounded good together but didn't do much with their voices other than sing constantly together.
I was a little disappointed in the covers in that they brought nothing new to Ruby Tuesday (maybe check out Melanie's) or Wake Up Little Susie. They did cover that one hit wonder You Were On My Mind from the We Five that I hadn't probably heard since I stopped playing 45s many years ago and man did it sound real good and their first encore was what I correctly guessed to be an early Beatles cut and it's always good to hear one of their songs that wash't over played and they did this one last song which they wrote with Julie Miller that was a beauty called Still Gone and yes I plan on buying their record...An added treat was the opener, Emily Duff, who did a strong short set. Looking a little like the half sister of Michelle Shocked her songs had lingering melodies and sharp lyrics and yes I will pick up some of her music. "
Tony Geoggler