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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 1, 2021 16:12:35 GMT -5
Ten favorite albums of 2020.
#3 - Drive-By Truckers - The Unraveling
2020 gave us, not one, but two new albums from the Truckers. The second album, The New OK, came fairly late in the year and I still haven't fully digested it. But this album came out just over a year ago and it got a LOT of listening over the ensuing 11 months. I guess that with touring not being an option in 2020 the band opted for producing more music.
This is the Truckers at their most overtly political. If you don't want politics in your music you should avoid it like the plague. Though I guess we can see now that Americans aren't very good at avoiding the plague.
Two of the tracks from the song will be coming up on my top 100. So here's one for the sad little boys who profess to be so tough as they whine like little b****es before they lash out like toddlers.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 1, 2021 16:13:27 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#57 - Dallas - The Flatlanders
The Flatlanders definitely earned the sobriquet "more a legend than a band." They were only together for about a year. Their album had a super limited release only on 8-track. But the individual members went on to greatness and thus the legend was born.
I came to the flatlanders via Joe Ely. Through him I discovered Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock...and the legend of the Flatlanders. This is one of Jimmie Dale's songs. And it's a great one.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 2, 2021 11:02:03 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#56 - Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack
The title track of the 1972 film of the same name this song also was used across the opening credits of Jackie Brown. It was a modest hit at the time, but for me it's one of the great songs of black struggle from the early 70s. I'm sure it's helped by being tied to two quality films. It was a no-brainer for me to queue this up during the George Floyd protests.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 2, 2021 11:38:44 GMT -5
Ten favorite albums of 2020.
#2 - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Reunions
I've seen everything from overwhelming praise to massive disappointment about this album. The truth lies in between. Isbell is easily the King of Americana. Nobody sells like he does. Nobody charts like he does. Nobody sells out venues (back when we had live music) like he does. When you're the King someone is going to try to knock you down and someone is going to tout you as the second coming.
The truth lies firmly in between. This is a fine album with some great songs. It is also an album with some songs that become self-indulgent. For all that I like it, "What've I Done to Help" is at least a minute and a half too long. On the other hand, "Dreamsicle" is as good as almost anything Isbell has done.
This album isn't "The Nashville Sessions." And it surely isn't "Southeastern," which is likely a once in a lifetime album. But it is a fine, strong album that stands with anything but the absolute best of Isbell's work.
I think four or five songs from this one made my "100 most listened to" list. I'll thrown on "St. Peter's Autograph" because I know it didn't and it feels like a song that Isbell may have written for his good friend John Prine.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 3, 2021 11:17:23 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#55 - L.A. Freeway - Jerry Jeff Walker
I think this song will be on here twice. Once by the songwriter, Guy Clark, and this one by the guy who made it famous and thus helped Clark's career, Jerry Jeff Walker.
It was a great loss when Walker passed away last year. And his work was on heavy rotation as a result. He did a great version of this song. I tried to find a good live version on the YubTubs. But I struggled to find a good combo of sound with not too much extraneous crap.
Remember; WWJJWD.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 3, 2021 13:18:20 GMT -5
Ten favorite albums of 2020.
#1 - Zephaniah OHora - Listening to the Music
I really loved OHora's last album, 2017s "This Highway," and a number of songs from that album showed up again this year. But this album is, I think, next level good. I'm not sure there's a false note anywhere on this album. Every song is crafted with consummate care. The music, the lyrics, the tone.
This album absolutely evokes the BEST of late 60s/early 70s country without the excesses. Best of all it avoids the trap of being a tribute...it is simply legit. And it's country. It isn't Americana or Alt-Country or even neo-honky-tonk. This is just country music of the type that we would have listened too in Dad's pick-up in 1972 heading out to cut wood or go fishing.
I've heard that OHora doesn't like being compared to Merle Haggard. And I can understand that. Every good artist wants to stand on their own merit. But the comparison is inevitable, both because of the his voice and because of the way he crafts his songs. Yet he never comes off as a tribute act. And honestly, being compared to one of the very best country acts of all time, particularly at that acts pinnacle, can't be a bad thing.
There have been a couple of his songs on my 2020 song list. And there will be more. But seek out his work. It's that good. This song did not make my list. But it absolutely feels like it could have been lifted from a Hagg album circa 1968. And I mean that in the very best way.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 4, 2021 10:34:33 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#54 - Molotov - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
This was likely my first favorite song from "The Nashville Sessions." It's still a fabulous song about growing up and growing older and recognizing the things we promised ourselves when we were young may not have been what we really wanted. Unfortunately sometimes it takes a long time to figure that out. Just fabulous lyrics as usual.
"Time flies when you're making babies Do you miss your little black Mercedes Do you miss the girl you once had time to be When you said we had the same three wishes I hope you weren't being facetious And I hope you still see fire inside of me"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 5, 2021 10:30:38 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#53 - Trouble - Joshua Ray Walker
Walker's 2019 debut album, "Wish You Were Here," was easily a top five album for me that year. His 2020 follow-up, "Glad You Made It," didn't quite hit me the same way, though upon multiple re-listens it has grown on me. This is the second track off the 2019 debut.
This is just a good solid old-fashioned honky-tonk song. I suspect it's here as much because of the algorithm as anything else. It's a good song but probably only my fourth favorite from that album. Still, it's always worth a listen.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 8, 2021 12:15:21 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#52 - 21st Century USA - Drive-By Truckers
Strong track off the Truckers 2020 album "The Unraveling." Patterson Hood takes a hard look at the state of the Union. The Truckers have always been pretty political, but this album is the most overt political statement that I can remember.
"They say we have to hang on just a little bit longer And a savior will come our way We'll know Him by the neon sign And the opulence He maintains"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 9, 2021 11:14:21 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#51 - Black & Blue - Zephaniah OHora
Another cut off OHora's 2020 album "Listening to the Music." This is just an old-school country song about losing love. It's simply one of the things that OHora does best.
There's only one live version on YouTube and unfortunately the vocals are mixed way too low compared to the music. So we have the album version.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 10, 2021 10:48:18 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#50 - Be Afraid - Jason Isbell And the 400 Unit
Another one off the latest album. This is Isbell staking out his ground about politics and music and the omnipresent calls to "shut up and sing." Given that Isbell has pretty much always been a political singer those calls are ridiculous. He also is calling out other musicians for not staking out any ground. Which may not be completely fair, but whatcha gonna do?
"I don't think you even recognize the sound of your voice When it's blasting through the speakers in the sky And if your words add up to nothing, then you're making a choice To sing a cover when we need a battle cry"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 11, 2021 10:41:59 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#49 - Long Black Veil - Lefty Frizzell
This 1959 classic from Lefty is a fairly late example of a murder-ballad and has to be one of the later examples of that genre. This was one of Lefty's last hits (he'd only hit the top ten one more time) but it's a doozy of a song (written by Marijohn Wilkin and Danny Dill) that has been covered dozens of times.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 12, 2021 10:57:46 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#48 - Seven Nights in Eire - Reckless Kelly
The fact that Reckless Kelly is essentially a local band and I still haven't seen them is ridiculous. That out of the way...
This is kind of an algorithm song. It kept cropping up on playlists. Then it grew on me. Then it popped up more. But it's a fun song by a quality band. And I need to make it up to the Braun Bros. Reunion one of these years.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 16, 2021 10:52:42 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#47 - When You're Away - Robert Ellis
Ellis' 2019 album, Texas Piano Man, was the first time I really paid attention to him. It was also one of my favorite albums of 2019. It's also, apparently, a departure from the albums he'd done before. Whatever it is, it's a great album that walks a weird line between country and pop that is always infectiously clever.
This song veers perilously close to "yacht rock" territory. And it's not something that I'd want a steady diet of. But now and then it's pretty damn tasty. I think that comparisons to Leon Russell are probably inevitable here. And that's a perfectly good thing.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 23:51:42 GMT -5
My wife was feeling a little under the weather today and not up to concentrating on any kind of narrative viewing, so she spent a good chunk of the day scrolling youtube on the smartTV and discovered a series of reaction videos she was really enjoying. Since they were on while I was in the room, I ended up at least listening to a bunch of them. The channel is called Jamel a.k.a. Jamal and it features a 30/40ish African American dude who grew up listening to nothing but rap, hip hop & R&B exploring other genres, taking recommendations of artists/songs to try and filming his reactions as he experiences them for the first time (a not uncommon genre of vids on "the youtube" it seems), but we found this guy has a passion for music and a genuineness/sincerity in his reactions and is at least nominally charismatic to listen to/watch (unlike a lot of youtubers I have experienced). It was particularly enlightening to me to watch his reaction to Living Colour (starting with Cult of Personality) one of my favorite artists, as his reactions reminded me of me circa 1989 when I first discovered them and had the same feelings/reactions he was having. The vids succeeded in making me remember what I liked about a lot of songs/groups that had become a bit tired for me, and some just reminded how much I liked certain songs, like this one...
I am now off to spotify to make a new playlist and add some stuff I forgot how much I liked to it.
-M
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