What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

BOB DYLAN "world gone wrong" cd, 1993

his twenty-ninth studio album.
a set of covers, traditional folk songs, just Bob, guitar and harmonica.
should have been brilliant but...
other peoples lyrics arent conducive to Dylan's way of warbling, phrasing etc.
album did receive the Grammy for "folk album" but despite that the album is the lowest charting one of his career in his homeland and second lowest charting album in the UK (#70/#35 respectively).
i just dont have the patience nor tolerance for substandard Dylan anymore and half this album is sub-par IMO
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM 

the single, one of only half this album that makes the grade for me:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

FATHER JOHN MISTY "pure comedy"  cd,  2017

his third of four as a solo artist.
former vocals for Fleet Foxes.
album has those same lush sounds as his previous band.
is it folk, Americana, alternative, i cant decide, sort of fits in all of those IMO.
another classy album from Mr. Tillman.
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

title track and lead off single:





At six
For some reason when I go to the app.


The comedy of man starts like this
Our brains are way too big for our mother's hips
And so Nature, she divines this alternative
We emerged half-formed and hope that whoever greets us on the other end
Is kind enough to fill us in
And, babies, that's pretty much how it's been ever since.

Now the miracle of birth leaves a few issues to address
Like, say, that half of us are periodically iron deficient
So somebody's got to go kill something while I look after the kids
I'd do it myself, but what, are you going to get this thing its milk?
He says as soon as he gets back from the hunt, we can switch
It's hard not to fall in love with something so helpless
Ladies, I hope we don't end up regretting this.

Comedy, now that's what I call pure comedy
Just waiting until the part where they start to believe
They're at the center of everything
And some all-powerful being endowed this horror show with meaning.

Oh, their religions are the best
They worship themselves yet they're totally obsessed
With risen zombies, celestial virgins, magic tricks, these unbelievable outfits
And they get terribly upset
When you question their sacred texts
Written by woman-hating epileptics.

Their languages just serve to confuse them
Their confusion somehow makes them more sure
They build fortunes poisoning their offspring
And hand out prizes when someone patents the cure
Where did they find these goons they elected to rule them?
What makes these clowns they idolize so remarkable?
These mammals are hell-bent on fashioning new gods
So they can go on being godless animals.

Oh comedy, their illusions they have no choice but to believe
Their horizons that just forever recede
And how's this for irony, their idea of being free is a prison of beliefs
That they never ever have to leave.

Oh comedy
Oh it's like something that a madman would conceive!
The only thing that seems to make them feel alive is the struggle to survive
But the only thing that they request is something to numb the pain with
Until there's nothing human left
Just random matter suspended in the dark
I hate to say it, but each other's all we got

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ALAN JACKSON  "high mileage"  cd,  1998

Alan's seventh of twenty.
up there with his best for me.
real country.
songs about the common man, the land and hardship, possibly his "scarecrow" album?
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

favorite:





I remember walk'in round the court square sidewalk
Lookin' in windows at things I couldn't want
There's johnson's hardware and morgans jewelry
And the ol' Lee king's apothecary
They ware the little man
The little man.


I go back now and the stores are empty
Except for an old coke sign dated 1950
Boarded up like they never existed
Or renovated and called historic districts
There goes the little man
There goes the little man.

Now the court square's just a set of streets
That the people go round but they seldom think
Bout the little man that built this town
Before the big money shut em down
And killed the little man
Oh the little man.

He pumped your gas and he cleaned your glass
And one cold rainy night he fixed your flat
The new stores came where you do it yourself
You buy a lotto ticket and food off the shelf
Forget the little man
Forget about that little man.

He hung on there for a few more years
But he couldn't sell slurpees
And he wouldn't sell beer
Now the bank rents the station
To a man down the road
And they sell velvet Elvis and
Second-hand clothes
There goes little man
There goes another little man.

Now the court square's just a set of streets
That the people go round but they seldom think
Bout the little man that built this town
Before the big money shut em down
And killed the little man
Oh the little man.

Now the stores are lined up in a concrete strip
You can buy the whole world in just one trip
And save a penny cause it's jumbo size
They don't even realize
They'er killin' the little man
Oh the little man.

Now the court square's just a set of streets
That the people go round but they seldom think
Bout the little man that built this town
Before the big money shut em down
And killed the little man
Oh the little man.

It wasn't long ago when I was a child
An old black man came with his mule and his plow
He broke the ground where we grew our garden
Back before we'd all forgoten
About the little man
The little man
Long live the little man
God bless the little man

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ALAN JACKSON "angels and alcohol" cd, 2015

his twentieth and most recent studio album...
so im listening to it for the first time and thinking this is crap.
sure its real country but it felt like something was missing,
i was going to play it again to see if i could hear what i was missing
but istead i checked some reviews of the album, they were mixed at best.
my impressions were correct.
so i liked several of the tracks, hated the others.
this is the first time a Jackson album ends up with....
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

favourite of a bad bunch:

[Ruby]

From the obscure annals. Fresh Maggots. Yup - that's what they called themselves. Didn't bode well, unsurprisingly! They made precisely one album, titled Hatched. Seriously. The mind boggles. If they were a metal band there may have been an excuse, but they're a gently wafty English folk duo, lol! 

The fact that they didn't last is probably not entirely the fault of their name, however, there is one very nice track on this album (the original of which is extremely rare, incidentally, and would set you back a vast sum) ... 

[CRAZY-HORSE]

lovely song Ruby,

yup, the last i want to think of when listening to that was Fresh Maggots,
the label PR people should have insisted on a name change for sure!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN "Nebraska" cd, 1982

his sixth of nineteen, i own eighteen, never bought "high hopes" from a couple of years ago.
his twentieth is due out in a few weeks time...
anyway.
Americana is where this one sits,
its as stark and bleak as how i imagine Nebraska to look.
acoustic album, just him with guitar.
pretty close to being as perfect as he ever got lyrically.
the third in what i call his "trio of perfection" after Darkness and The River.
sublime album loving just about every track here
I LOVE THIS ALBUM.

linked track is one of the saddest songs i think ive ever heard.





My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number 8
I always done an honest job as honest as I could
I got a brother named Franky and Franky ain't no good.


Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down
I get a call ON THE SHORT WAVE Franky's in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way.

Me and Franky laughin' and drinkin' nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good.

Well Franky went in the army back in 1965 I got a farm deferment settled down took Maria for my BRIDE
But them wheat prices kept on droppin' till it was like we were gettin' robbed
Franky came home in '68 and me I took this job.

YEA ME AND FRANKY LAUGHIN' AND DRINKIN' nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin', LIKE ANY BROTHER WOULD
Man turns his back on his family he ain't no friend of mine.

WELL The night was like any other, I got a call 'bout quarter to nine
There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
There was a kid lyin' on the floor lookin' bad, bleedin' hard from his head there was a girl cryin' at a table, it was Frank they said
Well I went out and I jumped in my car and THEN I hit the lights
I must of done 110 through Michigan county that night.

It was out at the crossroads HEAD down round Willow bank.
Seen a Buick with Ohio plates behind the wheel was Frank
Well I chased him through THOSE county roads till a sign said Canadian border 5 miles from here
I pulled over the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear.

YEA Me and Franky laughin' and drinkin' nothin' feels better than blood on blood.
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good

[CRAZY-HORSE]

NEIL YOUNG "American star 'n bars" cd, 1977

returning to an old favourite this morning...
mostly country and folk on here with a couple of rock tracks so this is where it fits...
pick a track, any track and i would probably say i love it...
NY perfection right here IMO...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

oh yeah, contains my favourite ever track of his:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ALAN JACKSON "freight train" cd, 2010.

his eleventh of sixteen.
i own eleven and a compilation, had no idea i owned so many.
album would probably rate somewhere in the middle of his albums on a rating scale at a high like if i rated it.
a couple of country rockers on here, the rest are basically acoustic tracks.
nothing to dislike here but only one or two i love.
a stalwart for keeping the flame burining for REAL country.
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

lead off single:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

NEIL YOUNG "harvest" cd, 1972

his fourth solo album...
jogged memory to be played after Jerome mentioned it last week...
yeah, its a solid album but i think he made better.
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

favourite: