Last week gave me the surprise of a well-timed release of
Bettye LaVette’s cover of “Strange Fruit” and an also-well-timed release of
Natalie Grant’s cover of “Praise You In This Storm,” originally by Casting
Crowns. Both of their albums are
ironically scheduled to be released on August 28th. There was also the discovery of a Live EP by
Blondie recorded in Dallas in 1979 which was nice to hear, Debbie Harry is a
great rock/pop singer. There was also a
beautifully poignant song called “Dear Mr. President” by Kiana Lede that
captures what I and a lot of other people are thinking right now and I feel
everyone who feels that the promise of Freedom should apply to all Americans
should check this song out. Today is
also Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday and tomorrow is the birthday of one of his
biggest fans, Ann Wilson of Heart. There
are 5 releases on Spotify I have my eye on right now.
Phoebe Bridgers-Punisher: No, that’s not a misspelling. Phoebe Bridgers is a lesbian
singer-songwriter who didn’t get picked for the 30 bios of Pride Month
Musicians, but does have a connection to one, as she, Julien Baker and another
woman named Lucy Dacus made a trio called boygenius during this last
decade. Phoebe and Julien are probably
still reasonably close, one of Julien’s songs last year was called Tokyo, and a
single for this album is called Kyoto, which was the original capital of
Japan. Bridgers, like Baker, is
releasing some soothing acoustic music, only accompanied with keyboards and
possibly a horn arrangement, and I look forward to hearing it.
Whitesnake-The Rock Album: On the other side from soothing
and acoustic comes a collection of Remixed Hits from Whitesnake and a new song
just for this release, “Always the Same,” which was recorded during the “Flesh
and Blood” sessions (that being the album they released last year). The other singles show they’ve increased the
bass volume on “Still of the Night” and this album also features such hits as
“Judgment Day.” It’s always nice to hear
David Coverdale and the roaring guitars of Whitesnake, so this should be good.
Shirley King-Blues for a King: B.B. King’s daughter is
teaming up with various blues/blues-rock musicians, such as Joe Louis Walker
and Pat Travers, for what looks like her first full-length album. Shirley certainly has the blues pedigree and
Joe Louis Walker’s track should be good, he does good arrangements that fit the
blues well, I recall that I bought six of the ten tracks on his album. Pat Travers is another big name I recognize,
I heard of him on Spotify and found that in addition to originals like “Boom
Boom (Out Go The Lights)” and “Snortin’ Whiskey” (Drinking Cocaine), he covered
a lot of 70s Rock Bands like Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cactus and Aerosmith
(in fact, he’s one of the few artists to release his covers of both Zeppelin
and Skynyrd). This looks to be a good
album and I’d like to buy some tracks from it after I get paid again.
Switchfoot-Covers EP: I must confess, I don’t know who
Switchfoot’s covering on this release.
Whoever these guys are, they stayed out of my music window for 31 years,
or at least, these releases of theirs have.
But, Switchfoot is one of my favorite bands for a reason, and they take
these unheard songs and make them comforting and relaxing. Believe me when I say, if things go further south
in the rest of this year, find a Switchfoot album, you’ll be able to feel loved
no matter who you are.
Chubby Checker-Dancing Party: This is a compilation album of
Chubby Checker’s best-known releases from 1960-1966. This means this is a new way to get classics
like “The Twist” and its sequel, “Let’s Twist Again.” These were fun songs to listen and dance to
when I was a kid and I enjoy that I get a new chance to collect these old songs
and revisit my youth.
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