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I finished with the letter “A”, by sampling The Guess Who’s American Woman, The Black Crowes underrated (but interesting album cover) Amorica, The Grateful Dead’s twisted Anthem of the Sun and onto on of my favorite albums acquired in the last two years: Morcheeba’s The Antidote.

The best track for me, on The Antidote is “The People Carrier.” I was going through a particularly shitty time when I first heard it and wow, hear these lyrics:

I nearly broke my back
Trying to bring you happiness
I was way off track
Some crazy whore
Then i collapse
In a shabby mess
Fresh grounds for divorce
Fresh grounds for divorce

Then we move to a little AOL Session with Sheryl Crow, back to the Grateful Dead’s Aoxomoxoa (say that 10 time fast, sunshine) and Guns n’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. Only a few tracks stood the test of 19 years for me; “Mr. Brownstone”, “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. Yes, those were the hits. I could make the argument it was one of the last times when Rock Radio was relevant.

I passed through Jethro Tull’s Aqualung with little interest this time. Tull is cyclical, you really need to be in the mood.

Masterpiece live album time: Johnny Cash’s At San Quentin. Every track on here is incredible. Make sure you get the expanded version. Cash’s asides were brilliant, my favorite:

“…What’s that? Excuse me, I didn’t here you. I was busy talkin…”

Mocean Worker’s Aural & Hearty was a real treat on what was an odd week full of highs and extreme lows. Of course Bob Dylan’s B. Dylan Unplugged from 1994 is good for the soul.

Last night I took a long, ambling, almost full workday drive through the Garden State and Pennsylvania to clear my head. Along to help was: The Beatles‘ The Beatles (you may call it the White Album). Suzanne Vega’s new release, Beauty and Crime – which really hit me when I got to “New York is a Woman”:

And she’s every girl you’ve seen in every movie
Every dame you’ve ever known on late night TV
In her steam and steel is the passion you feel Endlessly
New York is a woman she’ll make you cry
And to her you’re just another guy

Tori Amos followed Suzanne with her Beekeeper effort and then it was onto the Polyphonic Spree’s The Beginning Stages of the Polyphonic Spree. This album is great when you have a project to do… not when driving on a dark country road. Thank God for Dunkin Donuts… I’m just sayin’.

Next up (somewhere in the back hills of eastern PA) were two albums with the title Beginnings. The first was 40’s Frank Sinatra which was a serendipitous blast because my late grandmother lived in PA and loved Frank. After Frank, was the Allman Brothers. Two great tastes that taste great together! Scratch that – better leave them in separate containers.

Elvis Costello’s Best of with the Attractions was a CD I had in high school. Damn if he doesn’t take you back and stand up two decades later!

More Best Of’: Bee Gees (don’t judge me, you try not walking taller to “Stayin’ Alive.”) and Leonard Cohen. Let me say this about the brilliance of Cohen. Do not use his music when you want to figure stuff out, at least not until you are feeling better.

Interestingly, I passed a Chelsea Hotel somewhere in the backwoods of PA (What? They have lots of woods ok?), when “Chelsea Hotel No. 2″ came on:

I don’t mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can’t keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that’s all, I don’t even think of you that often.

The Best Of’s picked up with Sam & Dave, Doobie Brothers, Sweet, Ted Nugent, Statler Brothers and the amazing Yvonne Elliman.

I got back to Jersey for Phish’s Billy Breathes, an album that made a lot of sense to me 10 years ago. I never got heavy into Phish. It’s the Dead for me, sorry guys. The final chords of Miles Davis‘ “Darn That Dream” from Birth of The Cool echoed through the car early this morning. Putting me in the right frame of mind to take a nap and get up for Church.

As I write this, I am starting with Neko Case’s Blacklisted.

That’s all for now. Happy Listening!

A) I am a huge Led Zeppelin fan.

B) I happen to get along with Verizon Wireless this month

They are pushing their V-Cast service and the fact that they landed the Zep catalogue.  What I love about this spot, is that a real Zep fan will catch these little easter eggs and the obvious one at the end.

The article in Ad Age isn’t too bad either.

http://adage.com/songsforsoap/article?article_id=122966

Every year I go through my music collection. I used to do it in the middle of the year, but have for the last four, done this exercise in January.

When I was younger, and in the days before iTunes, I would go through every CD and record album I had. Sometimes I would track the whole thing, or just pick a few highlights and move on. This was a great weaning project to see if some of the music I had acquired really was worthy of being collected.

Now, I go through my iTunes library. In the past the musical journey I would take would usually run about three weeks. Now I am on day six of what, according to my iTunes library should be about 20 days of music. The parameters are simple, a holdover to my days in rock radio I suppose. This year I sorted everything by album, starting with The Beatles‘ Abbey Road. At post time, I have just completed tracks from The Guess Who’s American Woman.

As I go through this massive musical sort, I will comment on some of the albums and songs. Things that stood out for me so far:

Abbey Road was the real swang song for The Beatles. Released before Let It Be, it shows the band really playing for and with each other. I really love the way the songs are woven into one and other. It also contains one of the greatest love songs of all time, George Harrison’s “Something.” Although I have heard the song for years, this listen held something different. George talks about the unknown and the known with respect to being in love with someone. McCartney’s love songs really feel saccharine to me after this and Lennon, I never really got. Love to George is universal and deeply personal. It could also be the point in life at which I find myself now, but I feel for the first time I understand on an emotional level what George wrote.

Achtung Baby by U2 still sounds as cool as it did over a decade ago. Sarah McLachlan did not get the propper respect for her Afterglow collection, released in 2003. You want to get heartbreak and hope on the same record? Listen to this, drink two belts of scotch and go over to Sheryl Crow’s Globe Sessions.

NYC artist, Brother Love’s Album of the Year is great at any time. Get your rock on! Fastball’s All The Pain Money Can Buy, is a great listen. Recommended by a dear friend when I was really trying to figure some deep stuff out in 2005, my favorite track is “Which Way To The Top.”

New addition to my collection this year was Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris‘ All The Road Running. Another dear one sent this my way and I fell after track three.

The standout for this session has been All Things Must Pass by George Harrison. Released in 1970, this was George’s first post-Beatle record and it was a double album. George was not even 30 years old when this was released and he writes and sings with the wisdom of the ages. As I am on the doorstep of 35, this album really hits home. Standout tracks: “I’d Have You Anytime”, “What is Life”, “Beware of Darkness”, “All Things Must Pass” and “Awaiting for You All” (or “Awaiting on the Wall” from the 2000 remaster).

Deeply spiritual and a devout belief in God, “Awaiting for You All” has always captivated me. This listen it hit even deeper.

This verse keeps playing in my ears, long after I have moved down the list:
“You don’t need no church house / And you don’t need no Temple /
You don’t need no rosary beads or them books to read / To see that you have fallen/
If you open up your heart/You will know what I mean / We’ve been kept down so long
Someone’s thinking that we’re all green…”

The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty, still makes me smile, The Doors‘ American Prayer is in my opinion one of their best and Johnny Cash’s final effort, American V: A Hundred Highways is a fitting exit for a legend. You have to hear Cash’s take on Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.” You really believe that the hero failed. It’s sad and still hopefull. Just like Johnny was at the end of his life.

That’s all for now. Happy Listening!