Late Night EIP

A lot of new music has made its way into El Casa Móvil De Pennington in the past month or so. Most of it isn’t necessarily new but rather falls into the category of “new to me” and/or CDs to replace an album in my long-lost (not really lost; just in storage) and greatly lamented vinyl collection. The one exception is Carlos Santana’s "All That I Am," which is a misnomer if I’ve ever seen one. I’m a BIG fan of Carlos; both "Supernatural" and "Shaman" seem to reside permanently in the car Green Hornet…and that is a high compliment, indeed. “All That I Am” is destined to go up on the shelf and rarely, if ever, come down. There’s just one track that I’d call “catchy” ("My Man"), and that’s due more to Mary J. Blige than Carlos. A major disappointment, this. "All That I Am" isn’t, in a word.

But…it gets better. “A Twist of Motown” is a bunch of…you guessed it…Motown covers by Big Name soft-jazz artists like Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, and Bob James, just to name three. Deliciously smooth and wonderfully arranged jazz takes on Motown standards such as “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” and “Just My Imagination.” Which is not to say these arrangements would ever, could ever, supersede the originals. Nope, far from it. It’s just a very pleasing album. In the “for what it’s worth” department… there are only four customer reviews on Amazon, but every single one is a five out of five. Amazing, that. On the other hand, I’m half-way expecting to hear one of these tunes as background music for “Your Local on the Eights” any day now.

Two other recent acquisitions include “Martin Scorsese presents The Best of the Blues” and “The Rolling Stones Project,” another collection of jazz covers, all Stones this time. The former is quite good (I’ve rarely, if ever, met a blues album I didn’t like), the latter a (minor) disappointment. One saving grace on “The Rolling Stones Project” is Norah Jones’ breathtaking reading of “Wild Horses.” Nothing… repeat, nothing… will ever eclipse the Stones’ version of “Wild Horses,” but Jones comes as close as one could ever get. As I said, breathtaking. I’ve loaded this CD into the player and put “Wild Horses” on repeat and listened to it six times in a row. It’s that good. “Waiting For A Friend” also deserves favorable mention, as well.

But…I saved the best for last. The new addition getting the most airplay is “Echoes,” a two-disc, 26-song best-of collection of Pink Floyd. While the collection is heavy on cuts from “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall,” there’s enough variety from the other albums to make this collection more than worthwhile. What’s MOST impressive, though, are the seamless segues between cuts from disparate albums. As an example, the last four cuts on disc one are arranged into one flowing piece reminiscent of Abbey Road’s second side (An obvious vinyl LP reference. If you only own the CD you won’t “get it.”). The segue goes like this:

“Money” (from Dark Side – 1973)
“Keep Talking” (from Division Bell – 1994)
“Sheep’ (from Animals – 1977)
“Sorrow” (from Momentary Lapse of Reason – 1987)

That’s a time span of 21 freakin’ years…and the songs all fit together like one piece. Of course, that could be taken as a left-handed compliment…i.e., “I like PF, but the songs all sound the same”… but it’s certainly NOT intended as such. And the songs do NOT sound the same. As if I had to say that… The customer reviews at Amazon are worth a read, if you have a mind to go there.

There’s one drawback to listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, much like listening to a lot of Led Zep: it makes me one want to do drugs. And lots of ‘em. (Insert smiley-face here)

Anyway. Radio Paradise has taken a back seat in my listening habits of late. For good reason. (Note: you can click each album cover for the larger version)

A Harley I could see myself on…favorably reviewed. Unless your name is Buck, Sam, or (perhaps) Dan, you don’t…can’t… understand the magnitude of the statement I just made. Buells are an exception. Those bikes are better described as “powered by Harley-Davidson.” Along with “lust object.”

Ah, Spring! And an Ol’ Geezer’s thoughts turn to…motorcycles!