What are you listening to RIGHT NOW?

[Dagwan]

Music? What song? By whom?

Podcasts? Which ones? Who's on it?

The whir of your hard drive while you defrag?

Whatever you're listening to, share it with the Legion of Superfluous Heroes!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Wow. Here's a blast from the (recent) past that seems like forever ago. 

When I posted on "June-teenth" about a "somber day," it was 50 minutes before I got the news that I, myself, was to be furloughed. I knew it would have been somber in any case because, even if I had kept my job, our workforce (or rahter our payroll) was reduced by 30%. Now my (former) industry is in need of financial help to avoid further layoffs, and Congress is dragging its feet. And not just my industry! Everyone is in need of another assistance package, and our elected officials just can't get it done. Please VOTE.Not what I came here to discuss. I came her to discuss...

ULTRAMAN THEME MUSIC COLLECTION: When my wife bought this for me, I was familiar with only the original Ultraman series and Ultra Q (the first six tracks). I have since watched Ultra-Seven, Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace (the first 15 tracks). Just think! there are still 41 tracks to familiarize myself with!*

*NOTE: This collection goes through Ultraman Mebius** (2006), stopping well short of the "2K-teen" Ultramans.

**I think; the liner notes are in Japanese.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DOOM & GLOOM by the Rolling Stones

I had a dream last night

That I was piloting a plane

And all the passengers were drunk and insane

I crash landed in a Louisiana swamp

Shot up a horde of zombies

But I come out on top

What's it all about?

Guess it just reflects my mood

Sitting in the dirt

Feeling kind of hurt

When all I hear is doom and gloom

And all is darkness in my room

Through the light your face I see

Baby take a chance

Baby won't you dance with me

Lost all that treasure in an overseas war

It just goes to show you, don't get what you paid for

Battle to the rich and you worry about the poor

Put my feet up on the couch

And lock all the doors

Hear a funky noise

That's the tightening of the screws

I'm feeling kind of hurt

Sitting in the dirt

All I hear is doom and gloom

But when those drums go boom boom boom

And through the night your face I see

Baby take a chance

Baby won't you dance with me

Yeah Baby won't you dance with me

Ah yeah

Fracking deep for oil

But there's nothing in the sump

There's kids all picking

At the garbage dumb

I'm running out of water

So I better prime the pump

I'm trying to stay sober

But I end up drunk

We'll be eating dirt

Living on the side of the road

There's some food for thought

Kinda makes your head explode

Feeling kind of hurt

Yeah

But all I hear is doom and gloom

And all is darkness in my room

Through the night your face I see

Baby come on

Baby won't you dance with me

Yeah

Yeah

Baby won't you dance with me

I'm feeling kind of hurt

Baby won't you dance with me

Yeah

Come on

Baby won't you dance with me

I'm sitting in the dirt

Baby won't you dance with me!

[David Warren]

Stoop Down #39 - J Geils Band

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DIALOGUE by Chicago.

[The Baron]

Batman!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

VOTE FOR ME by Chicago

[David Warren]

I Believe - Chicago 18

[Jeff of Earth-J]

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ELECTED! by Alice Cooper

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SPRINGSTEEN: Back when I bought the his latest last month I realized two things: 1) I missed an album in 2014, and 2) I am for more familiar with his 20th century albums than I am his 2K ones. To that end, I set about re-familiarizing myself with his more "recent" ones and, now that I'm caught up to 2014, I bought High Hopes today.

EAGLES: While I was in my LRS (local record shop) I discovered a new Eagles album, Live from the Forum - MMXVIII, which I bought as well. 

PREACHING THE BLUES: Back in pre-pandemic days, Tracy and I made the rounds of all the Half Price Books in the area (19 of them) and bought up a ton of CDs on clearance. I haven't listened to most of them yet because I've been listening to mostly Doctor Who in the car (where I listen to stuff exclusively) for the past several months, this past week, though, I've been listening to this collection, 75 songs on the CDs. It's a good collection of good songs, but very little of it is the blues. It's mostly doo-wop, rhythm & blues, jazz, novelty, even some rock and roll. Could it be that the producers of this collection don't know that it's not the blues? Not likely; most of the musicians pictured on the cover are blues artists. Could it be they are underestimating their audience, assuming they wouldn't know any better? Or is it the ol' "bait and switch"? I'm happy with the collection, but I hate to think that they think they're taking advantage of me.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I'M A LOSER

[Jeff of Earth-J]

It is time once again for the latest calendar and CD from Blues Images. for those of you who don't know, the calendar/CD matches rare blues songs from the 20s/30s with the original sleeve cover art. Cover featured for 2021 is "Pneumonia Blues" by Blind Lemon Jefferson, which seems appropriate. Over the years, some of the CDs have featured one-of-a-kind songs from the only known surviving pressings. Notable this years is "Witchcraft Blues" by Victoria Spivey from a test pressing which was never available to the public. Many of these Blues musicians were also preachers, and sometimes they'd release a 78 with a song on one side and a sermon on the other. "The Angels Rolled the Stone Away" by the Rev. D.C. Rice and Congregation is a sermon and a song. 

In addition to the 12 calendar page songs, each year's disc also includes an additional dozen or so songs not matched with cover art. This year, for the first time ever, those songs are dedicated to a single artist, Lost John Hunter. As a matter of fact, these 11 songs constitute the entire 1950 recording session at the Memphis Recording Service (a.k.a. Sun Studios). 

The recordings have never sounded cleaner. This is the real stuff.