An apology and the music releases of 6/4/2021

                I’d like to apologize for sharing yesterday’s post on Facebook, I was very angry and needed to blow off some steam.  I don’t actually want this country to die, but I get so frustrated by my lack of results in trying to make things better through social media.

 

               That said, last week was quite eventful on the music front, the “Still Wish You Were Here” album was quite great, as was the new live version of “Carry On Wayward Son.”  I also bought Katy Perry’s new single “Electric,” partially because the music video (and possibly the song itself) were a celebration of Pokémon’s 25^th anniversary, with Pikachu and Pichu both playing prominent roles (it may be inferred that the longer-haired Perry with the Pikachu is helping her past self, the shorter-haired Perry with the Pichu, but, to my knowledge, it’s not been outright stated).  Lee Aaron, a Canadian metal woman, had a good single with “C’mon,” and so did Melissa Etheridge, an American lesbian, with “One Way Out.”  I also discovered a song called “Happy Tale” from the Japanese Fairy Tail anime soundtrack which featured the actresses who play Lucy Heartfilia, Erza Scarlet and Wendy Marvell singing in their character’s voices and a song called “Warriors” by AJ Michalka of Aly and AJ fame for the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power soundtrack, a show she voice acts on in the role of Catra, a villainess for the first three seasons who is She-Ra’s childhood best friend and ends up as her girlfriend.  She even ends the song by saying “Hey, Adora,” which is what Catra says when running into She-Ra as Adora is the name of her alter ego.  The Lucy, Erza and Wendy song is not on Spotify, but rather, I found it through iTunes store suggestions.

 

 This week has four main releases I’m interested in listening to.

 

Billy F Gibbons-Hardware: A new solo album from the master of blues-rock who plays guitar and usually sings for ZZ Top.  This one has had two great singles thus far and I’m really looking forward to the collaboration with Blues women duo Larkin Poe called “Stackin’ Bones.”  It also should be a fun listen overall, Billy Gibbons rarely disappoints and has made a wide variety of friends in the music business such as Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler and Billy Ray Cyrus.

 

Rod Stewart-1975-1978: A collection of recordings spanning one of my Dad’s favorite 1970s artists, who also sang on the 1968 album “Truth” by Jeff Beck.  This features 5 discs, “Do You Think I’m Sexy” (co-written with Carmine Appice) and a cover of Get Back produced by Tom Dowd, the producer behind “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” by Derek and the Dominos and “Gimme Back My Bullets” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

 

Mark Collie-Book of My Blues: You probably don’t know his name, but Mark Collie is a musician who collaborated with Billy Ray Cyrus in the mid-90s, co-writing and singing “Redneck Heaven” on the “Storm in the Heartland” album and also co-writing “Tenntucky” on the “Trail off Tears” album, one of the songs Billy Ray played in concert when I saw him in 2017.  I sampled the singles released from this and they do sound like Billy Ray’s modern work, so this should be fun.

 

Alicia Keys-Songs In A Minor (20^th Anniversary Edition): I really like Alicia Keys’ album last year and her duet with Brandi Carlile, so I’m excited to hear more from this deluxe re-release of an album from back in the day.  Back then, I lacked the funds and means to enjoy popular music and those seeds didn’t really start to grow until around 2003 when my cousin would play the radio while driving me to Middle School and I’d see Alternative Rock/Metal songs played with Godzilla and other Kaiju movie clips online, which is how I got introduced to Evanescence and Switchfoot.