Songs Covered by WSP - Spotify Playlist

I have seen/heard Panic live over 100 times, dating back to February 1993.  They have some great songs of their own, but it is always a treat to hear them cover their favorites by other artists.  Part of the attraction to them for me has always been their accessibility.  I have seen them in lots of small venues and I even ran into D.S. at a Dead show in Atlanta once.  Listening to the original versions of these songs, their faves, adds to the feeling that they are as much old friends as one of my favorite rock bands.  The songs they have covered over the years have also turned me onto many of my now favorite artists (including JJ Cale, The Meters, and Vic Chesnutt).     

Since I signed on to Spotify, I have thought of all kinds of reasons to create playlists.  It is not a perfect tool, but I like the idea of a place to share music with friends in a mostly open and mostly free/inexpensive way.  After hearing Panic cover "Just Kissed My Baby" in Cincinnati last month, I went to Spotify to listen to some different Meters albums than the ones I own.  This set me on a path to hear original versions of other covers too.  I started with some others they covered in Cincy, "None of Us Are Free" and "Four Cornered Room".  I couldn't stop.  I added them to the playlist as I thought of them and only mixed them up a little for an easier listen.  You have to have Spotify to listen, but it is easy and free to sign up and you won't be sorry you did.

I'm not sure if there's a difference between these links, but one of them should work for you.
Four Cornered Room

Four Cornered Room

56 Tracks, 4 hours

This playlist is not meant to be comprehensive.  It is a great listen.  Here are some of the gems that show up

Four Cornered Room - War
Slippin' Into Darkness - War

It Ain't No Use - The Meters
Just Kissed My Baby - The Meters

Walk On - Neil Young
Vampire Blues - Neil Young

Papa Legba - Talking Heads (Pops Staples vocal version from film as well)
City of Dreams - Talking Heads
Heaven - Talking Heads (from Fear of Music)








Here are some of my personal favorites.....
Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave - Traffic
Down On The Farm - Little Feat
Dirty Business - New Riders of the Purple Sage (featuring an extended jam with Jerry on pedal steel)
Maggot Brain - Funkadelic
Time is Free - Johnson / Hammer (cover of a cover by Col. Bruce & ARU)
Protein Drink / Sewing Machine - brute
She Caught the Katy - Taj Mahal

Songs you thought were theirs;
Send Your Mind - Van Morrison
Travelin Light - J.J. Cale
Blight - Vic Chesnutt

And it's great to find the originals of a few that I've never heard, like
Weak Brain, Narrow Mind - Willie Dixon
Bowlegged Woman - Hot Tuna
Stop Breaking Down - Sonny Boy Williamson (I love the Stones version)
None of Us Are Free - Solomon Burke
And especially "Flat Foot Flewzy - NRBQ!

One last note: "Don't Be Denied" is a great Neil Young song from a legendary unreleased and until now unspotified album called "Time Fades Away".  This album also includes "Last Dance", another Panic cover which I love.  On the playlist, I reluctantly included a version of "DBD" by Nils Lofgren.  It's not the original and it's not great, but definitely one of my favorite songs so I kept it.

Also, there were a few others that I really wanted to add which I couldn't find on Spotify (mostly "Knockin' Around the Zoo" - James Taylor).

Sometimes So Much

Sometimes I feel like all there is is the same old shit.  But sometimes there's so much to listen to, I don't know where to start or where to stay.  Right now, Spotify is rocking my world.  Whatever it is about how it is set up, I find it easy to find new stuff and to dig really deep into catalogs.

That and, yesterday Joplin sent me a stack of cds.

Ryan Adams - Destroyer (unreleased)
Ryan Adams - Suicide Handbook (unreleased)
Ryan Adams w/ Gillian Welch - 10/28/99 Encores 
Gillian and Dave - 05/18/96
Sweet Pickle Salad - Chris Robinson and company????
Jimi Hendrix - 03/17/68
last but not least
Joplin Rice - Deadpan Romantic

... and there's still Spinner and Napster and all that, plus I have a few fairly new cds I have yet to completely wear out.
Gillian Welch - Harvest and Harrow
Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking It Easy
John Prine - Sweet Revenge
Various Artists (John Prine songs) - Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
My Morning Jacket - Circuital

Oh my shit! CPA may be in jeopardy.....

I can virtually sit in a room with my friends (or strangers if I must) and take turns playing songs for each other.

I'm glad I didn't pay for that Pandora plus subscription.

What would be a good song to follow Shakti? I'm thinking ....... "Sweet Revenge" by John Prine. I don't know why but I think Isaiah and Brett will appreciate it.

If you're looking for me, I'll probably be down at the "flat bottom juke joint".

These Tough Economic Times

Dropbox

The box is online. Drop it in the box and pick it up at your next stop (like on the AT).

The best thing about it is sharing a box with a friend. "Check this out."

Now: Great Week on Spinner

Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis

Seems fitting enough considering the flooding in Memphis this week. I always find it easy to listen to his music but am rarely taken by it. I like the addition of guest vocalists here including Jim James.

Ben Sollee - Inclusion

At first listen I threw out the names Paul Simon and Brett Dennen. I believe the quality of the songs and the soul of the sound are on par with Simon. I use Dennen as the low end measuring stick. I know he is really pretty good but I've had problems appreciating his ilk of singer over the last 10 years. There are several "soulful" white boys who feel the need to use their own brand of annunciation that really kills it for me. Sollee is not there, but he can edge on it at times. I like him because of his Kentucky roots and community fueled shows and songs. I will always give him some bonus points for that and I will always want to listen to what he has to say. Hopefully this one will grow on me. Here is a link for a good review by Silas House.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

I would say this one is at the same level as the first. They came onto "the scene" pretty hard a couple of years ago and garnered lots of critical and popular praise. I listened then and I liked what I heard although I never jumped in deep. I doubt I'll jump here either but I will always welcome such sweet sounds and maybe one of these days, I'll get to know these songs well enough to feel steeped.

The Felice Brothers - Celebration, Florida

Warren Haynes - Man in Motion

Man Man - Life Fantastic

Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

Lee Scratch Perry - Rise Again

El Obo - Oxford Basement

UNIFORM CPA EXAMINATION PASSING RATES

2011

Section First Quarter Cumulative

AUD 43.88% 43.88%

BEC 42.32% 42.32%

FAR 42.43% 42.43%

REG 41.28% 41.28%

Evolution: Sock Hop

I don't remember exactly how it happened but when I was about 11 I became fascinated with the 1950's and my parent's school days. They pulled a huge stack of 45's out of the attic and I dug through them and I dug them.

I don't remember what all was in that stack but I think my favorites were Tequila, Purple People Eater and (My Baby Does) the Hanky Panky. Really, Hanky Panky is pretty punk rock for that era. I got pretty fired up about The Four Seasons feat. Frankie Valli and anything by the Coasters. I mean, Yakety Yak, Poison Ivy and Love Potion # 9 ruled my brain.

It became clear that those records weren't going to satisfy my thirst. A year or so into this obsession, my Dad recognized that I need to dive in. He had a friend at work who had purchased a huge collection from Time Life????? of music of this era. There were different years represented and some focus on things like Doo Wop and Elvis. His friend made tapes and he brought one or two home every week or so. The biggies that I remember were;

Chuck Berry

Buddy Holly

Little Richard

Jerry Lee Lewis

Everly Brothers

Fats Domino

I liked it all, including the cheese;

Rockin' Robin, At the Hop, Peggy Sue, Be-Bop a Lula, Tutti Fruity, Book of Love, Duke of Earl, You Send Me, ..........

I loved Sea of Love and I loved loved Runaway by Del Shannon. That song got me pumped.

Evolution: my walkman keeps falling out of my pocket

When I was between the ages of 11 and 18, I was the manager of grounds maintenance at 263 McCullough. In other words, I mowed the yard all summer. Funny thing is, I don't remember a riding mower... Anyway, my parents have way too much yard. We lived in the country at the top of a hill with a long driveway, a big front yard and like 3 back yards.

It was just the right size so that if I mowed every chance I got in the early spring, by the time I was finishing up the back yard(s), the front yard had grown back, so I never had to worry about where to store the mower.

From ages 13 - 15 or so, I remember having a cassette walkman and I burned through an outrageous amount of batteries with that thing. I have a distinct memory of the tapes that spent most of their time in there and I know every word, musical phrase and breathe from those recordings. There's something about listening on headphones (regardless of the hum and vibration of the mower).

U2 - Joshua Tree

Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers - Conscious Party

INXS - Kick

John Mellencamp - Lonesome Jubilee

Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust

Terrence Trent D'Arby - Introducing the Hardline According to TTD

Beastie Boys - License to Ill

..... many of which I had bought bootleg versions at Court Days. The tapes were white and the writing wore off.

The best thing happening, right about now

the bad revue (link)

Kentucky songwriters making songs based on a weekly (so far) theme.

This weeks theme:

answer songs

write a song in response to an already written song that asks a question - such as:

"what's love got to do with it?"

"do you know the way to san jose?"

"who let the dogs out?"