5/1/2020 Release of Note/Last Week's Surprises

Last Thursday/Friday had a pair of classic rock surprises with Lynyrd Skynyrd releasing a single that looked back on the band's career called "Last Of The Street Survivors," which is probably the best song Johnny Van Zant has written with the band since "Mad Hatter," the tribute to Leon Wilkeson, or "Homegrown" off the "Last of a Dyin' Breed" album. (My favorite from that album is actually "Life's Twisted," but that was written by the lead singer of Black Stone Cherry)  Joan Jett guested with all-woman group L7 on a cover of one of her own songs, "Fake Friends," which was a nice rendition of one of her songs.  It also seems with singles in back-to-back weeks, modern pop singer Charli XCX is gearing up for something.

There's one release I'm looking forward to this week on Spotify since I have seen this band perform live and they were quite fun to experience.

Jack Russell's Great White-Once Bitten Acoustic Bites: Jack Russell was the lead singer of 80s Hard Rock/Hair Metal band Great White and had to make his own after being replaced due to a neck injury (or so Wikipedia says).  He is a fan of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, since I heard them cover those acts during their live performance.  This album features acoustic renditions of Great White songs and also "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You," a Led Zeppelin song they reworked from a Joan Baez song which is the second song on their first album.  Great White's live performance of the song from the 1990s, released earlier this year, was very faithful to the Zeppelin version, so I imagine this will be fun.

Thoughts on last week and releases of note until May

There's not much to speak of being released tonight, a live album of Jerry Garcia from the September of the Year I was born with covers of The Beatles' "Dear Prudence" and The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend The Night Together" and an album by Pam Tillis, one of the women Dolly Parton had in "Romeo," which was about and featured Billy Ray Cyrus.

But last week had some really good releases beyond what I mentioned, most of the tracks from SAWAYAMA were nice blends of pop and hard rock and had a good sense of humor to them.  I'd like to see if I can get tickets when her show's rescheduled.  The blues album contained a lot of hits from the genre, I had even forgotten ZZ Top's "Jesus just left Chicago" was also on the album.  Jeff Beck, another bluesman, teamed with actor Johnny Depp for a cover of John Lennon's "Isolation," the second-best cover of that song I've heard after Ann Wilson's live take.  Hayley Williams had an excellent single called "Why We Ever" and I'm seriously looking forward to hearing it all come together on her full-length solo release on the 8th.  Whitesnake also released an outtake from last year that works well enough on its own and is planned to be released with a set of remixes, and fellow former Deep Purple member Glenn Hughes released his first commercially available single with The Dead Daisies called "Unspoken."  It's also a fantastic hard rock track, easily one of the best I've heard all year, and intros like The Who's "Bargain."  Last, but most certainly not least, is the arrival of BPMD, a supergroup made of members of Metal Allegiance who plan to release an album of 70's American Rock covers in mid-June.  They've started with Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic," and the tracklisting promises Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special," ZZ Top's "Beer Drinkers and Hellraisers," Blue Oyster Cult's "Tattoo Vampire," Van Halen's "DOA" and of course, Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band."

On April 28th, or April 27th, 9:00 PST, Cherie Currie, former lead singer of The Runaways will release an album courtesy of her former bandmate's label Blackheart Records.  Called "Blvds of Splendor," I can't tell you much because available information is limited.  What I can say is there's going to be a new version of Runaways track "Queens of Noise" with special guests Brody Dalle, Juliette Lewis and the Veronicas and the first track, "Mr. X," will reunite Guns N Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.  This second piece is especially exciting as I've seen YouTube videos of the three at Kings of Chaos shows, performing the backing to Glenn Hughes singing "Communication Breakdown" and Myles Kennedy singing "Immigrant Song," as well as joining with Steve Stevens, Glenn Hughes, Corey Taylor and Billy Ray Cyrus even for a rendition of "Tie Your Mother Down" by Queen.  This promises to be a fun rock album and I look forward to hearing it.

My first Pop playlist in Spotify

Back when I started in Spotify, I made a few different playlists.  Some of these were based on genre, I made playlists entirely of LGBTQ+ musicians and I've already shown off one based around the music of Seattle.  Here's an early playlist based around the Pop genre, or at least, what I've defined as the Pop genre, so some of the songs are just synthesizer-heavy songs from rock bands.  It's also much longer than I tend to make these playlists these days because I was starting out and didn't really know what I was doing yet.

1.)    Chillin’ With You-Britney Spears, Jamie-Lynn Spears

2.)    See You Again-Miley Cyrus

3.)    Start All Over-Miley Cyrus

4.)    S.L.U.T.-Bea Miller

5.)    GNO-Miley Cyrus

6.)    The Bitch is Back-Miley Cyrus

7.)    These Four Walls-Miley Cyrus

8.)    Kicking and Screaming-Miley Cyrus

9.)    When I Look At You-Miley Cyrus

10.) Adore You-Miley Cyrus

11.) On My Own-Miley Cyrus

12.) She’s Not Him-Miley Cyrus

13.) Week Without You-Miley Cyrus

14.) Yes girl-Bea Miller

15.) Androgynous-Joan Jett, Miley Cyrus and Laura Jane Grace

16.) Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me-Miley Cyrus

17.) Wrecking Ball-Miley Cyrus

18.) The Climb-Miley Cyrus

19.) Nothing Breaks Like a Heart-Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus

20.) Malibu-Miley Cyrus

21.) Ruin the Friendship-Demi Lovato

22.) Body Say-Demi Lovato

23.) U Got Nothin’ On Me-Demi Lovato

24.) Sorry Not Sorry-Demi Lovato

25.) Skyscraper-Demi Lovato

26.) Stone Cold-Demi Lovato

27.) Confident-Demi Lovato

28.) Fast in my Car-Paramore

29.) Monster-Paramore

30.) Brick by Boring Brick-Paramore

31.) Crushcrushcrush-Paramore

32.) Ignorance-Paramore

33.) Ain’t it Fun-Paramore

34.) Topanga-Noah Cyrus

35.) Sadness-Noah Cyrus

36.) Mad At You-Noah Cyrus, Gallant

37.) Punches-Noah Cyrus, LP

38.) BWU-Tegan and Sara

39.) U-turn-Tegan and Sara

40.) Boyfriend-Tegan and Sara

41.) Goodbye, Goodbye-Tegan and Sara

42.) Part of Me-Katy Perry

43.) Rise-Katy Perry

44.) Roar-Katy Perry

45.) International Smile-Katy Perry

46.) Do Somethin’-Britney Spears

47.) Crazy (The Stop Remix)-Britney Spears

48.) Stronger-Britney Spears

49.) Hold it Against Me-Britney Spears

50.) Bmblb-Jeff and Casey Lee Williams

51.) Love Myself-Hailee Steinfeld

52.) Most Girls-Hailee-Steinfeld

53.) The Distance-Aly & AJ

54.) Starving-Hailee Steinfeld, Grey, Zedd

55.) Old Flames (Can’t Hold A Candle To You)-Kesha and Dolly Parton

56.) Potential Breakup Song-Aly & AJ

57.) One Love-Jordan Pruitt

58.) I Wanna Go Back-Jordan Pruitt

59.) Over It-Jordan Pruitt

60.) We Are Family-Jordan Pruitt

61.) Take Me (Live)-Aly & AJ

62.) Church-Aly & AJ

63.) Party-Demi Lovato

64.) Good Love-Aly & AJ

65.) Walking with a Ghost-Tegan and Sara

66.) I Miss You-Miley Cyrus

67.) Heart of Glass-Blondie

68.) Heart of Glass (Live)-Blondie

69.) Rock Bottom-Hailee Steinfeld, DNCE

70.) Before the Storm (Live)-Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers

71.) Roulette-Katy Perry

72.) Hungry Heart-Bruce Springsteen

73.) The Hardest Part-Blondie

74.) One Day At A Time-Joe Walsh

75.) Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy-Sammy Hagar

76.) I’ll Fall In Love Again-Sammy Hagar

77.) Why Can’t This Be Love-Sammy Hagar and the Circle

78.) Why Can’t This Be Love-Van Halen

79.) Don’t Go Changing-Aly & AJ

80.) Make You Feel My Love-Adele

81.) You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go-Miley Cyrus

82.) Call Me-Blondie

83.) Dreaming-Blondie

84.) How Could I Want More-Jamie-Lynn Spears

85.) One Way Or Another-Blondie

86.) Big Bad World-Jamie-Lynn Spears

87.) Fragments-Blondie

88.) Born This Way-Lady Gaga

89.) Poker Face (Cherrytree Sessions)-Lady Gaga

90.) Say Something-A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera

91.) Girlfriend-Icona Pop

92.) Then We Kiss-Icona Pop

93.) On a Roll-Icona Pop

94.) I Love It-Icona Pop, Charli XCX

95.) Hanging On The Telephone-Blondie

96.) We Got The Beat-The Go-Go’s

97.) Once Upon A Dream-Emily Osment

98.) Part of Your World-Miley Cyrus

99.) Let’s Get Together-The Go-Go’s

100.)                  Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Theme Song-Puffy AmiYumi

101.)                  Me & The Rhythm-Selena Gomez

102.)                  I Don’t Think About It-Emily Osment

103.)                  Me & My Girls-Selena Gomez

104.)                  One and the Same-Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato

105.)                  Yumi no Naka e-Yuki Saitou

106.)                  Keep Your Mind Wide Open-AnnaSophia Robb

107.)                  Inspired-Miley Cyrus

108.)                  Cruella De Vil-Hayden Panettiere

109.)                  Cruella De Vil-Selena Gomez

110.)                  Superwoman-Minzy

4/17/2020 Releases of Note

Another week and more music releases tonight at 9:00 pm PDT/Midnight EDT.  There are three I can confirm I know about right now I'm interested in and can give some information on.

Rina Sawayama-SAWAYAMA: The biggest new artist I've heard about this year, Sawayama was going to play the Crocodile Café in Seattle this month before COVID hit (I didn't have tickets anyway, but I thought it was cool a local city was going to be one of her first performance venues after her first full-length album).  Like her name suggests, she was born in Japan, however, she was raised in London.  Amazon.com classifies her album as Alternative Rock, but it comes across as a blend of Modern Pop and Hard Rock, with Sawayama citing Evanescence as an inspiration.

Shelby Lynne-Shelby Lynne: Though the album is self-titled, Lynne is not a new artist, she has had a career over the last two decades and ended up on my radar by dueting with Billy Ray Cyrus on the Thin Line album.  She's a good country singer with a real honest-sounding voice and I look forward to hearing what she does on her own.

Various-Ain't Nothing But The Blues: A themed MP3 album Warner Music has pieced together as they do from time to time (a few years ago they released a hard rock album that featured Deep Purple's "Stormbringer" and Dokken's "Kiss of Death"), this one focusing on blues music and rock music influenced by blues music.  Tracks from Johnny (brother of Edgar) Winter, Taj Mahal, James Gang, Foghat, the Blues Brothers, Albert Collins, Blackfoot, Black Stone Cherry, Leon Russell and The Yardbirds are all here.  For a brief rundown of each;

Johnny Winter is Edgar Winter's brother and the two performed at Woodstock.  Edgar is famous for "Free Ride" and the instrumental "Frankenstein" while Johnny focused on Blues music.

Taj Mahal is a long-running Blues Musician who even dueted with Sammy Hagar on his "Sammy Hagar and Friends" album.

James Gang was a 1970s Cleveland-based rock band that created the career of Joe Walsh and this track is from when Tommy Bolin, who would later work for Deep Purple, was their guitarist.

Foghat is a British Blues-Rock band most famous for "Slow Ride."

The Blues Brothers are characters from a movie of the same name who perform several oldies through the film while trying to save the orphanage they grew up in.  "[They're] on a mission from God."

Albert Collins is a blues musician from Texas, he, Johnny Winter and ZZ Top created the "Lone Star Blues" sound.

Blackfoot is a rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, whose lead singer/guitarist Rickey Medlocke would later join Lynyrd Skynyrd and worked on their early demos as their drummer.

Black Stone Cherry is a hard rock band from Kentucky who has worked with Billy Ray Cyrus, Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and Lzzy Hale of Halestorm.  They produce some of the best original rock and roll these days.

Leon Russell was a multi-instrumentalist who gained fame by playing the piano and singing a medley of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Young Blood" at the Concert for Bangladesh.  He also sang a verse of "Beware of Darkness" at the same show and has released Gospel albums and albums featuring covers of George Harrison and Bob Dylan.

Last but not least, The Yardbirds were a British psychedelic blues-rock band who had Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page all play for them throughout their career.  In fact, the first name of Led Zeppelin was simply "The New Yardbirds," and Page learned his "reverse echo" and "bowed guitar" techniques while working with them.

Sailor Moon S season Review

Sailor Moon S was another purchase I made with the SSI back payments back in March and I just finished it today.  Like my memories of the first season back when I watched it in High School, the series rides a nice balance of humor and drama, having hilarious interactions between the characters and also serious moments where it’s clear they truly love each other.  This season introduced Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who were a lesbian couple and were great additions to the cast.  Most of the humor in the first half of the season stems from people mistaken Haruka, Sailor Uranus’ civilian self, for a man due to her short hair and manner of dress.  Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune also have a “by any costs/sacrifices may be necessary” attitude during most of the season, which puts them at odds with Sailor Moon, who would rather no one die.  This becomes key during the last arc, when Hotaru Tomoe, the human form of Sailor Saturn appears.  She has a demon named Mistress 9 inside her who is seeking to bring a demonic force named Pharaoh 90 to Earth to destroy it, then the whole galaxy.  However, Hotaru is a sweet young girl who is friends with Sailor Moon’s future daughter, Chibi-Usa, and doesn’t want to hurt anyone.  Due to this, Sailor Moon actively tries to prevent the attempts to destroy Mistress 9.  This gambit works, and Hotaru overpowers Mistress 9 from within and becomes Sailor Saturn.  She decides to take on Pharaoh 90, stating that doing so will cost her her life.  It was heart-wrenching to watch Sailor Moon scream “Crisis, Make Up!” multiple times in vain, trying to transform without the necessary item in order to help Sailor Saturn.  Eventually, though, her will and the other Sailor Senshi’s faith in her does transform her and Sailor Saturn is just reduced to being a baby rather than dying and it’s hinted she still has all her good memories.  I thought it ended with Uranus and Neptune adopting her, but she actually goes back to her Dad, so maybe that happens at the end of the series finale in Sailor Stars.

I found this enjoyable and a good example of why I enjoy this show.  I seem to recall this was the last season that was easy to follow, so I doubt I’ll be picking up Super S or Sailor Stars.  I recommend it to anyone who’s wondering what this show was about.  There’s also some Christian imagery and Biblical terms used, such as “Messiah,” “Holy Grail” and one of the characters appears on a cross, Sailor Uranus wears a cross as a civilian and also comments “Adam and Eve were the first people to kiss,” which is nice to see in media, considering American media can be so crass when it comes to spiritual matters.  Also, Sailor Chibi-Moon was much less obnoxious than kid characters can be in these types of shows and was helpful to the plot without having the plot focus on her.

A different Sounds of Seattle Playlist

About a year ago, when I got Spotify, is when I had the idea to make a playlist around Seattle-based musicians.  I looked back on it this morning and while there were plenty of familiar artists and songs, there were some I had actually forgotten about a little over the past year.  The Gits were a woman-led grunge band whose lead singer was murdered after they recorded their second album.  In response, Joan Jett came to Seattle and performed a live set with the remaining members as her backing band, the set was recorded and released under the name "Evil Stig," "Live Gits" backwards.  I had also forgotten all-girl hard rock group Thunderpussy (please excuse the name, they do make good music) had released their first EP around this time and contributed a Bachman-Turner Overdrive cover to the "Fighting With My Family" movie, a biopic about WWE wrestler Paige.  Anyway, here's what I made about a year to ten months ago.

Sounds of Seattle (Spotify):

1.)    My Oh My-Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

2.)    Walk in the Shadows (Live at the Moore Theater)-Queensryche

3.)    Jet City Woman-Queensryche

4.)    Barracuda (Live, December 2013)-Heart

5.)    No Quarter (Live at the Royal Albert Hall)-Heart

6.)    Fire-Jimi Hendrix

7.)    Outshined-Soundgarden

8.)    Say Hello 2 Heaven-Temple of the Dog

9.)    Into the Void (Sealth)-Soundgarden

10.) Even Flow-Pearl Jam

11.) Cochise-Audioslave

12.) Blood-Queensryche

13.) The Fight-Operation: Mindcrime

14.) Taking on the World-Operation: Mindcrime feat. Blaze Bayley and Tim “Ripper” Owens

15.) Same Love-Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert

16.) Fallen Ones-Heart

17.) Heart-Shaped Box-Nirvana

18.) Smells Like Teen Spirit-Nirvana

19.) Chip Away-Duff McKagan

20.) Eyes of a Stranger (Live at the Moore Theater)-Queensryche

21.) Come As You Are-Nirvana

22.) Crazy On You-Heart

23.) Once-Pearl Jam

24.) Lightning Bolt-Pearl Jam

25.) True Colors-Sweet Oblivion feat. Geoff Tate

26.) Again Today/Hiding My Heart-Brandi Carlile

27.) Setting Sun-Jerry Cantrell

28.) Negative Creep-Nirvana

29.) Smells Like Teen Spirit (Live at the Paramount, Halloween 1991)-Nirvana

30.) Voodoo Child (Slight Return)-Jimi Hendrix

31.) Another Shot of Whiskey-Evil Stig

32.) Ain’t Got No Right-The Gits

33.) All Your Lies-Soundgarden

34.) Another Shot of Whiskey-The Gits

35.) Second Skin-The Gits

36.) Don’t Look Behind You-Duff McKagan

37.) Little Wing-Jimi Hendrix

38.) Hollow-Alice in Chains

39.) School (Live at the Paramount, Halloween 1991)-Nirvana

40.) Outshined (Live at the Paramount 1992)-Soundgarden

41.) Again Today-Pearl Jam

42.) Your Savior-Temple of the Dog

43.) Be Yourself-Audioslave

44.) Holy Water-Soundgarden

45.) Manic Depression-Ann Wilson

46.) Pride and Joy-Brandi Carlile (Not a Stevie Ray Vaughan cover)

47.) Come Together-Soundgarden

48.) Like A Stone-Audioslave

49.) Good Old Days-Macklemore and Kesha

50.) Potential Breakup Song-Aly & AJ

51.) Drunks-Evil Stig

52.) Hallelujah (Live)-Brandi Carlile, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

53.) Lithium (Live at the Paramount, Halloween 1991)-Nirvana

54.) Take a Bullet-Geoff Tate

55.) Speed Queen-Thunderpussy

56.) Foxy Lady-Jimi Hendrix

57.) The Story (Live)-Brandi Carlile, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

58.) Spoonman-Soundgarden

59.) Church-Aly & AJ

60.) Sweet Oblivion-Sweet Oblivion feat. Geoff Tate

61.) Would? (Live in Atlantic City)-Heart feat. Alice in Chains

62.) Heart’s Content-Brandi Carlile

63.) Rooster (Live in Atlantic City)-Heart feat. Alice in Chains

64.) Taking Care of Business-Thunderpussy

65.) River of Deceit-Mad Season

66.) In Bloom-Nirvana

67.) Negative Creep (Live at the Paramount, Halloween 1991)-Nirvana

68.) Flower (Live at the Paramount 1992)-Soundgarden

69.) Fever-Thunderpussy

70.) Velvet Noose-Thunderpussy

71.) Folsom Prison Blues-Brandi Carlile

72.) Day Tripper-Jimi Hendrix

73.) Thunderpussy-Thunderpussy

74.) Rebel Girl-Bikini Kill

75.) Louie, Louie-The Kingsmen

76.) Nothing to Remember-Neko Case

77.) Last September-Duff McKagan

78.) Local Girl-Neko Case

79.) Bob-Cousin O-The Gits

80.) Manic Depression-Jimi Hendrix

81.) Reach Down (Live at the Paramount 2016)-Temple of the Dog

82.) Til the Sun Comes Back Around-Chris Cornell

83.) As Hope And Promise Fade-Chris Cornell