New Releases Jan-Feb 2017 - My Favorite Cuts

Update Note for Monday, February 27th. I have added two songs from Rhiannon Giddens' new album called Freedom Highway.  Here is the entire Playlist (now 12 songs) if want continuous play.

I'd been waiting for the release of the new Ryan Adams album, Prisoner and thought I'd focus on that this week and then, literally got side-tracked after pouring through the past three issues of Rolling Stone Reviews. Anyway, I've been listening to all of these new albums just released and here's my favorite 10 that made this cut. If you click on the the album titles below, I have linked to their YouTube Playlist (if there is one for that album).

Prisoner, Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams gives me that sound that's just plugged into my DNA. Many boomers may have never heard of Ryan Adams as Prisoner is his 16th studio album, but once you hear him, you'll be hooked. Prisoner seems to have gotten the tag, "break up album" after his divorce last year from Mandy Moore.

To Be Without You, is a great song, I feel I'm listening to a new classic! I guess the best songs are always written from pain.

Near to the Wild Heart of Life, Japandroids. This is why I still read Rolling Stone, I would never have heard of these guys without the RS Review. If you like fast and loud, here you go.

Drunk, Thundercat. Stephen Bruner has that driving bass that I just love. Here he hooks up with a couple of the best for a little old school.

Highway Queen, Nikki Lane  Love the beat and her spunk!

Either/Or: Expanded Edition, Elliott Smith. First heard Elliott Smith through my daughter Shawna and her mix CD's she would make for me. The good die young.

Live in Paris, Sleater-Kinney. And now for a little Pacific Northwest sound.

Process, Sampha - The opening lyric "No one knows me like the piano in my mother's home" immediately got my attention to listen to this song a little deeper. Best line in a song I've heard for awhile.

Puxico, Natalie Hemby. Well, I'm leaving the best for last here if you are a faithful listener to what many would call,"Pure Country". Natalie Hemby is a singer-songwriter who has written many singles for many other country stars and Puxico is her first solo album and every track is a good story and ride.

As I was listening to the Puxico album playlist, This Town Still Talks About You came on and just kind of sent me over the edge. Tomorrow is February, 21st and marks the 14th anniversary passing of my hometown dear friend and buddy, Gary Hill. Since Gary's death in a small plane crash in 2003, another childhood friend, Steve Spencer also passed away this past January 8th, 2016. I spent many of my adolescence, teen years and early 20's with these two homies in my hometown of Santa Maria, California. A core nucleus of young lads formed a strong bond together from our Jr. High days, who were later joined by a host of young ladies and we all had a good time with these two characters. I say characters because they were loved by everyone for their personalities and love of life. You could say that Gary and Steve were often the light and sounds of any party. These two guys could just make you laugh and their spirit still lives within their friends and family who miss them dearly. Well, this song's timing is perfect for my soul and I hope it gives a little comfort and thought to my friends in our once little town.

New Releases Note - Here is the entire Playlist if want continuous play.

My Funny (unconventional) Valentine

The original 1937 My Funny Valentine song was staged in the Broadway musical, Babes in Arms as a woman singing to a man. However, many males from Frank Sinatra, Chet Baker to Sting have sung this song, but listen to the lyrics as I don't think it plays so well in 2017. If you're going to play a tune like this to your love, I would suggest, Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel.

In this next video, you'll see my point exactly from my comments above...

Dan Hicks, the master of satirical country swing. MK played me a couple of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks albums on our first dates together in 1973 and I guess from my positive reaction, we were meant to be. Dan, you are missed!

Stephen Stills gave us all permission to not be so faithful. I guess this one came to him based on his experience with drugs, sex and rock n' roll.

But Simon and Garfunkel gave the ladies an all is fair in love with this one.

Now for some wedding musical comedy.

And, from marriage often comes the babies in the carriage.

Hey, this Valentine's myth is just getting old and the pressure that we all have to be coupled to preserve some religious plan, screw that.

Can't have enough Dan Hicks today!

Don't got it all figured out? Kacey says you're in good company.

Here's a fun love story song.

and maybe this is how the whole thing goes down in time.

Damn it Paul McCartney, you made me hum this song until I finally caved over the years and liked it! I'll let Kurt Hummel and Glee take us out with this one.

Here's My Funny (unconventional) Valentine Playlist.
Note - For some reason my Playlist would not embed in my blog this week, so I have broken them out in individual videos today.

"Doug's Music Vault" Radio- February 6, 2017

In past blogs I've talked about my general avoidance of most FM radio. For me, the only radio stations worth listening to in San Diego are KSDS Jazz 88.3 (from San Diego City College) and NPR/KPBS (from San Diego State University). Just like the old days, college radio still rocks and now streams on all devices. So for radio in the car,  I have these two great options on the radio preset buttons. But, I also have my third and personalized option, Doug's Music Vault* that resides in my 128GB Micro-SD Memory Card inside my smart phone. With Bluetooth built-into the car audio system, I start my Amazon Music Player- set to- Music Offline- Shuffle All Songs and I'm ready to ease on down the road with Doug Radio.

With MK in the car, it's a completely different experience as she tells me, "skip, no, no, no, yes", as I hit the forward  > button on my steering wheel like a B.F. Skinner behavior modification experiment from the 1950's. With MK, it usually takes several skips before the shuffle comes up with something she likes and the world is again spinning in perfect harmony as we travel together in the car. (The picture above meets her approval as anything by the Eagles gets a play.) We are going on a road trip to Bishop, CA in the near future and I'm anticipating this rhythm as we hit the road with my, or should I say, our tunes. C'mon man, my left thumb is going to get a work out as I wear that button out.

Anyway, here are some of the songs this past week from listening to Doug Radio (solo) in the car and featured here for your listening enjoyment in this YouTube Playlist.

*Footnote - Doug's Music Vault name is inspired by Wolfgang's Vault - I started listening to 60's concerts from the Vault website until like some many sites, became a bait and switch to subscription service.

Wolfgang's Vault was started by William E. Sagan, who purchased a warehouse filled with Bill Graham Productions memoribilia in 2003, including taped concert recordings, for about $6 million. These materials had various owners after the death of Bill Graham, the concert promoter, in 1991. The name Wolfgang's Vault is inspired by Bill Graham's original name, Wolodia "Wolfgang" Grajonca.

The company launched its website in November 2003. Later that year, Wolfgang’s Vault released the BG Archive photography collection, and subsequently added collections called "vaults" for: vintage poster art, rock clothing, vintage audio concert recordings. The Video Vault was added in 2011. On August 7, 2012, Wolfgang's Vault announced to its free streaming service users, via email, that later converted to a subscription based model on August 8, 2012. - from Wikipedia