I very nearly bought a Greatest Hits by Bill Withers the other day but I'm glad to say I didn't .
The reason?I already have a Best Of subtitled Lovely Day (a song I can live without) which I bought for buttons in a sale at Clarkston Library a few years back.
It is a bit of a misnomer to call them Greatest Hits or Best Of given that neither feature I Can't Write Left Handed.
I am prepared to allow a bit of kudos however for Who Is He (And What Is He To You?)
We finally got there. The likes of Honeyblood, T-Model Ford, Dave Edmunds & the Stray Cats, The Rockingbirds and Little Milton had to be dismissed as they and the songs attributed to them before have already featured.
Oh, and spare a thought for Nella Dodds with the Supremes song Come See About Me. I couldn't find her version on the hard drive.
Worry not however as some very able substitutes stepped up to the plate.
First up was Carla J. Easton with Waves That Fall (ft Solareye) from her 2020 (gosh that far back!) album Weirdo.
Then we have today's cover starsthe Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Maps.
Finally from their 1989 album Scarlet we have The Motorcycle Boy and the song World Falls Into Place, It passed me by at the time but I eagerly snapped up the re-issue LP in 2019.
Hopefully I will have enough new songs for SS166. I must get round to adding some more to the MP3 player.
I'm sure that most of you have worked it out by now. I've run out of interesting things to post and instead I am picking random things to write about. Yesterday kitchens and today books.
These days I get my books from the library rather than Waterstones or any bookshops. A - It's free and B - If we don't use them we'll lose them. The miners and Mr Carnegie knew what they were doing all those years ago.
I usually get through about 30 or so books a year, some random choices but mostly authors I'm familiar with . A significant amount are crime fiction and/or by Scottish authors. There are also the occasional music related books.
I keep a list and give them a score with the vast majority coming in at 7/10
You won't necessarily always find me in the kitchen at parties or otherwise, although I do like to sit on my wicker chair with a coffee and admire the view from the window.
It may not be a kitchen of distinction but I like it.
All of which is a preamble and an excuse to feature some kitchen related songs.
Let's start with a song which inspired a much sadly missed blog. Yes I'm talking about Drew and his blog Across the Kitchen Table which was also a song by the Pale Fountains
Stump are happy with the abbreviated Kitchen Table whereas Kevin McDermott and his Orchestra are more concerned with Mother Nature's Kitchen.
Finally Michael Marra beguiles us with the story of the Guernsey Kitchen Porter.
Yesterday's post featuring the late Justin Townes Earle with Harlem River Blues had me searching for more related songs from the Manhattan neighbourhood (or neighborhood given it is in the US) of Harlem.
The tenements are not that dissimilar to those in Glasgow except we don't have fire escapes which have featured in many a film or TV programme .
Ben E King sings of Spanish Harlem given the large number of Puerto Rican immigrants settling in the area.
Edwyn Starr plumps for plain and simple Harlem whereas The Drifters feature more on the Streets of Harlem.
Swamp Dogg is more adventurous given that he is partial to a bit of Surfin' in Harlem whereas Bob & Earl enjoy a Harlem Shuffle.
I used to be a huge fan of Steve Earle but have gradually reached the point where I don't play his music very often and/or seek out his new records. That's just the way it goes, sometimes you just move on.
I though about featuring him today and so I had a quick look in the music folder to see what was there
One that popped up was JT a studio album from Steve Earle & the Dukes released on 4th January 2021 and a tribute to his son Justin Townes Earle who died from an accidental drug overdose on 20th August 2020.
I've absolutely no recollection of having played it before but I suspect that I must have.
I saw him as a youngster playing as part of his dad's band. Too young, too soon here
Those of you of a certain age will recognise what the above picture is. Yes it's an actual printed concert ticket and not a bloody QR code! It has found a new home in my Ticket Tin
On Wednesday we went to see James McMurtry play at St Lukes. It was thoughtful for him to play to acknowledge our 18th wedding anniversary.
Put on by Kevin Morris' legendary Fallen Angels Club, who have been putting on Americana concerts in Edinburgh and more often Glasgow for about 20 years, it was pretty much a sell out .
It was a mature audience. I don't think I've ever seen so many bald men in the same place!
He was accompanied by Betty Soo. She opened the show with a set of song. Then James came on and played a couple. After the interval they primarily played as a duo.
They rattled of a number of his classic songs and yes they did include Choctaw Bingo. Unfortunately I only have the Ray Wylie Hubbard cover. They also performed a jaw dropping cover of Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) It became clear fairly quickly that they were no fans of the Orange Idiot something which met with the approval of the Glasgow audience.
For a variety of reasons I've hardly been at any gigs this year, indeed this was just my third. Fortunately they have all been terrific
It was a privilege to see him live although I was a bit surprised to find out that he is younger than me!
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