Songs Of The Week, 2023: 2/18-2/24

 

Billy Jack Bitch- Prince
Out In The Street- Galactic w/Cyril Neville
Sitting In The Midday Sun- The Kinks
Where Is the Moon- Southern Culture On The Skids
The Ark- Gerry Rafferty
Hold Out Your Hand- Chris Squire
All I Gave- World Party

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Billy Jack Bitch- Prince
From 1995's "The Gold Experience," an album I considered one of Prince's best. It is certainly more consistent than anything that followed.

Out In The Street- Galactic w/Cyril Neville
It's Carnival Time! "I listened to Galactic's "Carnivale Electricos" a couple of times this week. It really is an ideal Mardi Gras soundtrack. Joe Jackson loves it, too.

Sitting In The Midday Sun- The Kinks
I was writing something up about the drum sound on records and how important a good drum sound is to make a record successful, and The Kinks RCA years came to mind. With the exception of "Muswell Hillbillies," these records get little love and I really believe it has less to do with Ray Davies brilliant songwriting and more to do with the fact that they all sound like garbage. The drums sound like Mick Avory is hitting a stack of laundry. That said, here's one of the many brilliant Ray songs from the RCA years.

Where Is the Moon- Southern Culture On The Skids
Just a coincidence that I followed a "sun" song with a "moon" song.  I think they go well together, even by accident.

The Ark- Gerry Rafferty
This last Record Store Day saw the release of a half-speed remaster of Gerry Rafferty's "City To City," speaking of bad drum sounds. This new edition greatly improves on that original and this opening track sounds better than ever.

Hold Out Your Hand- Chris Squire
There is a new special edition of Uncut devoted to Yes, with new reviews of their entire catalogue, including solo albums. Even if you are not a fan of the band I recommend this issue. The writing is brilliant, and often hilarious. Even when the writers are saying good things, they never fail to mention the absurdities of prog rock, and some of it is laugh out loud material, like pointing out the cover of Rick Wakeman's "Six Wives of Henry The VIII" was created in such a hurry, they failed to notice that the wax statue of Richard Nixon in Madame Tussaud's museum was never cropped out of the photo. They really like Chris Squire's solo album "Fish Out Of Water" and so do I, especially this track.

All I Gave- World Party
Karl Wallinger is threatening to release a new album again. That makes 15 years in a row. Come on Karl. We ain't getting any younger.

One last thing-

 

Jesse Gress, a brilliant guitar player and Todd Rundgren's right hand man for 30 years, lost his battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 67. Sad news of course, but this one hurt a bit more than usual, having seen Jesse perform nearly 100 times. Here is Todd's tribute:

Our family has lost a brother.
A player, a jester, an inventor, an epicure and more than anything, a musical mystic who heard things the rest of us barely grasped.
Though his departure is a painful loss now, we had more of him than we imagined a few years ago, and we have the blessing of fresh memories playing together this past year.
His space will never be filled. He has taken it with him.
We love you still, Jesse.
TR