What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

YUSUF  "roadsinger"  cd,  2009

the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens...
his thirteenth studio album, second under the name Yusuf...
dude still has the melodies and fine lyrics of his previous efforts...
a pleasant subdued listen...
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

favorite:

[JeromeD]

Not a section of the forum I really venture into often but I like this. Listen to that slide guitarist. Perfection.

https://youtu.be/AQ0vPGUS6DE

[CRAZY-HORSE]

^^
three gorgeous voices.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JONI MITCHELL "blue" cd, 1971

her fourth,
only one i own
purchased years ago for the simple reason it was ranked so high in the RS top albums of all time list...
i listened several times and i didnt like it initially...
listened again today and i still dont like it...
well actually, i like the lyrics and the melodies i just dont like Joni's vocals,
i find them irritating, must be the accent and the fact she just sounds so posh,
no 'posh' isnt the right word, im looking for 'pronunciation', she is just too 'how now brown cow'...
oh well, many people love her music, but....
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

favourite (and one of only a handful that are ok IMO)





My old man
He's a singer in the park
He's a walker in the rain
He's a dancer in the dark
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
No, my old man
Keeping away my blues.


He's my sunshine in the morning
He's my fireworks at the end of the day
He's the warmest chord I ever heard
Play that warm chord, play and stay baby
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
My old man
Keeping away my blues.

But when he's gone
Me and them lonesome blues collide
The bed's too big
The frying pan's too wide.

Then he comes home
And he takes me in his loving arms
And he tells me all his troubles
And he tells me all my charms
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
No, my old man
Keeping away my blues

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JEWEL  "goodbye alice in wonderland" cd, 2006

her sixth album of twelve...
one of the finest singer/songwriters ever IMO and totally underrated...
another excellent 'easy listening'/'folk' from the girl from Homer,Alaska...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

title track:






It's four in the afternoon
I'm on a flight leaving L.A.
Trying to think about my life
My youth scattered along the highway

Hotel rooms and headlights
I've made a living with a song
Guitar as my companion
Wanting desperately to belong

Fame is filled with spoiled children
We grow fat on fantasy
I guess that's why I'm leaving
I crave reality

So goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Goodbye yellow brick road
There is a difference between dreaming and pretending
I did not find paradise
It was only a reflection of my lonely mind wanting
What's been missing in my life

I'm embarrassed to say the rest is a rock and roll cliche
I hit the bottom when I reached the top
But I never knew it was you who was breaking my heart
I thought you had to love me
But you did not

Yes a heart can hallucinate
If it's completely starved for love
It can even turn monsters into
Angels from above

You forged my love just like a weapon
And you turned it against me like a knife
You broke my last heart string
You opened up my eyes

So goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Goodbye yellow brick road
There is a difference between dreaming and pretending
That was not love in your eyes
It was only a reflection of my lonely mind searching for what was missing in my life

Growing up is not an absence of dreaming
It's being able to understand the difference between the ones you can hold
And the ones that you've been sold
And dreaming is a good thing cause it brings new things to life
But pretending is an ending that perpetuates a lie
Forgetting what you are
Seeing for what you've been told

Oh truth is stranger than fiction
This is my chance to get it right
And life is much better without all of those pretty lies

Oh so goodbye Alice in Wonderland
And you can keep your yellow brick road
There is a difference between dreaming and pretending
These are not tears in my eyes
They are only a reflection of my lonely mind finding
They are only a reflection of my lonely mind finding
I found what's missing in my life

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ELVIS PRESLEY  "promised land" vinyl, 1975.

his twenty-first studio album...
tracks are either country or country/pop crossovers...
ten tracks, a couple of covers, the rest written for Presley...
i always call his seventies material "feel good songs" because theyre generally upbeat, happy and easy sing-a-long tunes and this album is no different...
most of his material from 1968 onwards would score near perfect ratings because it is my favourite era of his career...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

tracks:

side 1:
1:   promised land  ***
2:   theres a honky tonk angel ***
3:   help me  **
4:   mr songman  ***
5:   love song of the year  **

side 2:
1:   its midnight  ***
2:   your love's been a long time coming  ***
3:   if you talk in your sleep  ***
4:   thinking about you  **
5:   you asked me to  ***

3s - 7
2s - 3
1s - 0

rating:  2.7

favourite on this occasion:






Maybe it's too late
Sometimes even hate myself
For loving you

Trying to be strong
Then night time comes along
And I start loving you, wanting you

Where is all my self control?
I'm burning way down in my soul
And needing you

Wishing I could be the man I try to
Hating me for wanting to be with you
Knowing you don't love me like you used to
But it's midnight, oh, and I miss you

It's getting late and I know
That's when I am weak
Funny how things have a way
Of looking so much brighter in the daylight

I hope to go to bed
And try to straighten out my head
And just forget you
Oh, but it's midnight and I miss you

[CRAZY-HORSE]

THE BYRDS  "byrds"  online listen 1973

their twelfth and final studio album.
online listen several times to get a feel for it.
not in the box-set because it wasnt on the Columbia label...
a reunion of the original band for one last hurrah...
sounds like a collection of individual solo tracks put together and called an album.
doesnt sound cohesive in the slightest.
best tracks are the three Gene Clark written/sung tunes along with the two Neil Young covers (also sung by Clark),
the  two Roger McGuinn tunes arent bad, the Crosby and Hillman tunes are bloody awful IMO...
definitely the weakest of their albums IMO
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

best:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHNNY CASH "at San Quentin" cd, 1969.

one of the greatest live albums ever IMO....
filmed in front of an audience of the hardest of criminals in the American penal system and Cash had them in the palm of his hand with his banter, empathy, humour and humility.
he even wrote a song for the 'cons' titled "san quentin" mixed with hits and spiritual songs.
he even tells them at one point that he "is interested in how they feel about some things, its none of my business how your feel about other things and i dont give a damn how you feel about some things", i guess its his honesty that they admired.
anyway, there was a documentary made to accompany the album at the time which was shown on UK tv, it featured  interviews with Cash, the guards, some of the crims and the entire performance which is worth watching.
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

the title track:






San Quentin, you've been livin' hell to me
You've blistered me since nineteen sixty three
I've seen 'em come and go and I've seen them die
And long ago I stopped askin' why

San Quentin, I hate every inch of you.
You've cut me and you scarred me through and through.
And I'll walk out a wiser weaker man;
Mister Congressman you can't understand.

San Quentin, what good do you think you do?
Do you think I'll be different when you're through?
You bend my heart and mind and you warp my soul,
And your stone walls turn my blood a little cold.

San Quentin, may you rot and burn in hell.
May your walls fall and may I live to tell.
May all the world forget you ever stood.
And may all the world regret you did no good.

San Quentin, I hate every inch of you.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

GRATEFUL DEAD  "american beauty" cd, 1970

a revisit....
their fifth studio album....
folk, folk-rock, americana are genres to describe this one...
love just about every track on it...
not sure i would venture further into their catalogue as from what ive heard they really arent my thing but....
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

[CRAZY-HORSE]

WILLIE NELSON  "38 timeless classics" cd, 1995

a revisit...
lets put this in country for argument's sake....
double cd set with you guessed it, 38 songs...
this really is a great compilation even if i must say so myself, almost definitive in fact...
has all the usual suspects one would expect from a compilation plus a solid collection of other songs fans would also be impressed with.
loving just about everything on here and even the handful i do not love i still really like...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

a random pick: