The Listening Club - 27th March 2022

Hey folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Sun is still shining here in Amsterdam, so a Sunday dinner and a stroll around the neighbourhood has been the order of the day, back slightly later than planned, so let's get on with things and get this posted...

Last Sunday chez #LC we had @corin_ja in the chair, sailing a classic follow on to the previous week with his pick of Lou Reed's "New York" from 1989, which went down pretty good with everyone, I reckon. Thanks to Corin for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @nessiest, who has an extra week to ponder because...

...Yep, end of the month means #vortex time, and a quick vote last week resulted in a #peaceandlovevortex, so here it is, groovy folks, a whole bunch of stuff to "mellow your harsh", as collator, compiler and general vortex mensch @JimMcCauley tells it.

Download's here, stream's below:

THE CLOCK'S HAVE GONE FORWARD HERE, so we are now GMT+1 = See you 8pm BST tonight.

The Listening Club - 20th March 2022

Greetings folks, hope you're all doing okay.

Ten years. Blimey. Well then. I'm resisting temptation to go back and look at what I wrote five years ago, so if I duplicate it, well, at least I'm consistent in thought and deed, eh?

But still, ten years is quite a while. My life has almost completely changed in that time, and quite a few of you may well say similar, but in that time the old #LC has been a constant, a rarity in these times. I've suffered some wobbles over the years, wondering if it had run its course, but have always been pepped back up again by enthusiastic participants, bless 'em, and,well, here we are.

So, to every single person over the past 10 years who's participated, whether for a week, a year or the duration, I raise my glass. Thanks for coming to hang out, I'm really glad you did. Music is the best, eh?

(And don't forget you can do it in person too if you can make it over to Amsterdam around the 27th April, heh...)

Last Sunday, @zensolo was in the chair, dealing out a slice of late period Iggy Pop in the shape of "Avenue B", which went down very well indeed. Thanks to David for the pick, and for sailing thr frisb across to @corin_ja who's here with tonight's intro...

"Looking back through the hundreds of selections over ten years worth of this, officially the Best Thing on Twitter, there are some seriously obscure albums in the early days - WTF is “The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation” and who are or were "The Vilebillies”? The less said about something spoken of in whispers as “the Lana incident” apparently the better.

So anyway, like most people I have a short list of things I’d think of to share with you all, and then whenever the frisbaton comes my way I think “will they like this, is it weird enough, is it _unexpected_ enough”? So in that vein I was thinking of subjecting you to a 2+ hour psychedelic epic tonight but I’ll reserve that for another time.

Instead I’ve chosen another on my list that’s much less obscure but maybe seems to work well as a companion piece to last week’s choice by @zensolo

This record taught me something, or at least helped form a particular perspective on life, the universe and my views on certain things. It was a staple of my teenage turntable (well, cassette deck) but very different to its fellows on my music shelf. I haven’t listened to it for well over 10 years mind, and when I gave it a quick spin the other day to re-check its suitability for tonight’s festivities I did notice some turns of phrase, some choices of word that seem, let’s say, a little less than progressive to our 2022 ears. So sorry about that.

That aside, it remains a belter. Not sure what the #drinkingClub suggestion should be. Maybe something in a whiskey-and-chaser. And a pack of strong cigarettes."

Okaydoke, download's here, stream's below:

See you 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 13th March 2022

Greetings folks,

Yes, @kleptones here, back from a brief sojourn to Prague, which, elephant-memoried readers will recall, was the last place we visited back in 2020 just before everything went to shit. So, a return visit, by way of "picking up where we left off", both physically and spiritually, seemed the order of the day. And so it was, Prague remains a beautiful city (and is as quiet on the tourist front currently as Amsterdam), the people remain friendly, the food great and the beer, oh the beer... still the best in the world, in my humble opinion. Therefore we are rejuvinated and feeling more able to face the "on y va", at least temporarily, if you know what I mean....

Last Sunday, @JimMcCauley was running things, thanks extended, whilst @Brainspiritus sailed forth with Bonnie Raitt's "Streetlights" from 1974, which tickled the assembled, it says here. Thanks extended again for the pick and for the selection of @zensolo as this week's willing participant, speaking of whom...

"Argh. My first choice was mysteriously missing the first track, an orchestral overture that really tied the whole (aural) room together...

Dove down any number of musical rabbit holes-- contemporaneous late 60's albums, New York mood analogues, collaborations...which is how I arrived at this selection.

From a cursory browse around the web, it seems quite a few of this artist's fans-- and critics-- were let down by this album-- 'wild man has lost his edge' type lamentations.

It may be that its tone fits my current mood-- melancholy tinged with some irony?--although I also played it a lot two years ago, during a week alone in a house further up the coast, oblivious to the building health crisis & approaching lockdown...

In any case, it seems to me that while said edge may with time have been honed down a little finer-- narrower, smoother, thinner?-- it's certainly not absent. 

Some of you are likely much more familiar with the man's extensive catalog than I am, so I look forward to your thoughts and opinions.

You could do worse than mix yourself a Manhattan to drink along-- with rye rather than bourbon, please!"

Very well. Download is here, stream is below:

See you 8pm GMT tonight!

 

The Listening Club - 6th March 2022

Hey there, listening chums! It's @JimMcCauley here, doing my first bit of caretaker hosting in a good few months while @kleptones and @nessiest are away for the weekend. Lots has happened since I was last running ting - Christmas, panto, covid, new kitchen, and yesterday I was out performing on the streets of Bath with the Natural Theatre Company - but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. So let's crack on.

Last week, then, it was the #coversororiginalsvortex, an oddball mix of great cover versions and lesser-known (but still great) originals, which all went down very nicely and taught us, if nothing else, that Dylan's brilliant at writing songs that other people subsequently do better. So thanks to everyone for all the picks and to @akx for putting it all together, and we now resume normal service with @brainspiritus, who will address you forthwith.

"Bearable ListeningClub, everybody! 

"I hope you are all doing as well as possible in a time that has upgraded our morning routine from "coffee, incidence rates, VPN, hello coworkers" to now include Schwerpunkts and dosimeters. 

"So usually, given you are all more musically-inclined than I am, my picks are one of "here's somebody you've never heard, now find out why you should" or "here's somebody you've never heard, now find out why that was probably for a reason" and I don't know myself which one it is. This does not feel like a week for that. This feels like a week for safety and comfort and no surprise metal guitars. 

"This week's artist is in the Hall of Fame, on the Walk of Fame, on not one, but two "Rolling Stone 100 GOAT" lists, has more Grammies than I have fingers, and you'll need about fifteen seconds to recognize who it is. 

"So, grab your comfort blanket, wrap yourself, your favourite person or persons and all your pets in it, have your hot chocolate ready (the good stuff, made with single cream and possibly a shot of something) and let's float away on mid-seventies bluesfolk until reality catches up with us again."

I'll skip the pets in the blanket bit because that would, at best, result in lacerations all round. Download's here, or simply stream away below:

See you at 8PM! (GMT!)