Dave Alvin family

Most people have no idea that I am originally from Los Angeles, California. Although I did not know Dave Alvin or his brother or any of these associated bands in this pick from encounters in that area, it's hard to not cheer for that whole scene. I had a couple of times when I got to meet Dave Alvin (none in Southern California.) I did get to drink moonshine with him and a couple of the guys from X in Austin. That was probably the most fun, The other times were interviews. Anyway, this is not all of his projects and side projects, but it's a good sampling. And it does get the bulk of his most popular songs, if not always the version that was the most well known. It gives you something to search for. I put this in my Rockabilly section at home, but it's that and Roots and Americana all at once.

Dave Alvin family

01 Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women - California's Burning

02 Dave Alvin - King Of California

03 Dave Alvin & Peter Case - Monday Morning Blues

04 Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Downey To Lubbock

05 Dave Alvin - Harlan County Line

06 Canned Heat with Dave Alvin - Blind Owl

07 Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin - All By Myself

08 Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin - World's In A Bad Condition

09 The Third Mind - Journey In Satchidananda

10 The Blasters - Dark Night

11 Knitters - The Call Of The Wreckin Ball

12 The Blasters - I'm Shakin'

13 Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women - Marie Marie

14 X - 4th Of July

15 The Blasters - So Long Baby Goodbye

16 Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men - Out In California

17 Los Lobos featuring Dave Alvin - Somewhere In Time

18 The Pleasure Barons - Take A Letter Maria

19 The Blasters - American Music

What's The Connection? Holy 2

The word sounds different depending on who's singing it, and this volume has more range than it probably should. Rock, funk, art-pop, doom metal, and a Japanese all-female shred band all checked in, and the Connection holds up better than you'd expect from a word that's been claimed by everyone from the devout to the profane. The first holy one set a low bar, so this one had nowhere to go but up. It must be late or early, because I hate what I wrote here. Hopefully the music is better than what I came up with here.

What's The Connection? Holy 2

21 Bad Company - Holy Water

22 Scorpions - Unholy Alliance

23 David Axelrod - Holy Thursday

24 Dio - Holy Diver

25 Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper - His Holy Modal Majesty

26 Tom Tom Club - Holy Water

27 Amy Winehouse - Some Unholy War

28 Headswim - Holy Ghost

29 Kiss - Unholy

30 Madonna - Holy Water

31 Prince - The Holy River

32 Sam Smith & Kim Petras - Unholy

33 Death In June - Holy Water

34 Ian Gillan & Tony Iommi - Holy Water

35 Lovebites - Holy War

Almost Gosple 2

Gospel's a wide tent and this one parks right at the edge of it. Some of these artists would probably argue they don't belong here, but they do. There's enough choir, enough conviction, and enough of that feeling you can't quite name to hold it all together. I had fun with this pick. I was looking around for a specific feel and sound that is almost gospel. Well, some of it probably is. If I thought it might fit in a tent with Debra Winger and Steve Martin, it was probably okay. If you know, you know. Faith optional, good ears required. Happy Birthday Mom.

Almost Gosple 2

19 Michael Jackson - Will You Be There

20 U2 featuring New Voices of Freedom - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

21 Dottie Peoples & The Peoples Choice Chorale - He's An On Time God

22 Sounds Of Blackness - Hold On (Change Is Comin')

23 Fred Hammond - No Weapon

24 Hezekiah Walker - Grateful

25 Kirk Franklin - Brighter Day

26 Ai Factory Song - Many Men

27 Lamp House - Because I Got High 

28 Replayd Music - Words I Saved For You

29 BeBe & CeCe Winans - Addictive Love

30 Lauren Daigle - You Say

31 Tobymac - Feel It

32 Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis

33 Solomon Ray - Goodbye Temptation

34 Travis Greene - Intentional

What's The Connection? Flowers 1

The old house had rose bushes out front that people would lean over the fence and just take. Ask first and fine, but just grab them and three dogs get sent out. They sounded dangerous. But boxers are just wiggle butts in reality. Anyway, help yourself to these flowers. No fence, no dogs. My mother's birthday is tomorrow, and there is no real Connection between stolen roses and barking boxers and me, except she loved all three and I thought of her the moment I started typing.

What's The Connection? Flowers 1

01 Fishbone - Black Flowers

02 Big Daddy - You Don't Bring Me Flowers

03 Chris Isaak - Black Flowers

04 Tom Petty - Wildflowers

05 Earth, Wind & Fire - Where Have All The Flowers Gone

06 Shriekback - Faded Flowers

07 Miley Cyrus - Flowers

08 Plasticland - Wallflowers

09 Chocolate Watch Band - Flowers

10 Budgie - Flowers In The Attic

11 The Cure - A Chain Of Flowers

12 Talking Heads - (Nothing But) Flowers

13 Brad Paisley - Flowers

14 Knitters - Give Me My Flowers

15 Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers

16 Prince - Elephants & Flowers

17 The Move - Flowers In The Rain

18 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Feasting On The Flowers

19 Echo & The Bunnymen - Flowers

20 Drivin' N' Cryin' - Count The Flowers

What's The Connection? Operator

Good luck explaining the cover to anyone under forty. Human telephone operators are basically gone, and the kind who could work a room and talk a stranger into a drink are not far behind. Even operators in the picking up people in bars sense are not really a thing anymore, are they? The Connection we make nowadays is probably by text or swiping one direction or another. I am not out there, so I have no idea which direction. Maybe you can tell me. Nobody gets put on hold anymore? They're just ghosted?

What's The Connection? Operator

01 The The - Helpline Operator

02 Bryan Ferry - All Night Operator

03 The White Stripes - Hello Operator

04 Bleep - The Operator

05 Tony & Tyrone - Please Operator

06 Was (Not Was) - Hello Operator

07 Stan Ridgway - Operator Help Me

08 Sade - Smooth Operator

09 Grateful Dead - Operator

10 Mikey Dread - Operator's Choice

11 Buzzcocks - Operator's Manual

12 Talking Heads - Dream Operator

13 Midnight Star - Operator

14 Pete Shelley - Telephone Operator

15 Mary Wells - Operator

16 Jim Croce - Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)

17 Real McCoy - Operator

18 Manhattan Transfer - Operator

19 Buckethead - Stun Operator

20 Keith Hampshire - Big Time Operator

21 Zoot Money's Big Roll Band - Big Time Operator

Meat Loaf | Original Sin

Like yesterday this pick is imagining Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman actually made an album called Original Sin. In reality Steinman made it with a band he made that he called Pandora's Box. It was a decent album with a bunch of good songs. Several songs that Meat did later for his other albums. I left a couple of instrumentals and spoken word stuff that no one else did as Pandora's Box. There were a couple of covers, I put versions in that liked better. I remixed one of the covers. And Back To Hell. I put a couple of extra tracks in as a surprise and the ones I messed with in case you want the originals instead. You'll see. One extra track was the B-Side of a 12" (16 minutes long). Not for every day, but fun to listen to every now and then. I redid the cover. It's more in between styles of the original and what I imagine Meat Loaf would have used (Bat Out Of Hell influences).

Meat Loaf - Original Sin

01 Pandora's Box - The Invocation

02 Meat Loaf - Original Sin

03 Doors - Twentieth Century Fox (Original Sin Remix)

04 Love - My Little Red Book

04 Pandora's Box - Safe Sex

05 Meat Loaf - Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)

06 Meat Loaf - Back Into Hell-(Requiem Metal For) A Teenager In Love

07 Pandora's Box - I've Been Dreaming Up A Storm Lately

08 Meat Loaf & Marion Raven - It's All Coming Back To Me Now

09 Pandora's Box - The Opening Of The Box

10 Pandora's Box - The Want Ad

12 Meat Loaf - It Just Won't Quit

13 Pandora's Box - Pray Lewd

14 Meat Loaf - The Future Ain't What It Used To Be

Meat Loaf | Renegade Angel (Bad For Good)

In 1977 rock and roll was hit with a monster album by Meat Loaf (and Jim Steinman): Bat Out Of Hell. People wanted a followup album, but Meat Loaf was having issues (with his voice, his house, etc). Not important. But Steinman had an album pretty much written and was pressured to make the album. It took until 1981 to get released and he called it Bad For Good. It didn't do that badly, because people wanted it, but Steinman (and Rory Dodds and much of the same crew from Bat) wasn't Meat Loaf. Over the years after that album was released Meat recorded and released many of the songs on other albums. I always wondered what would the album sound like if they had released it together. This pick is as close as you will get. All the versions Meat did. Only two songs that he didn't quite do. One was The Storm (an instrumental) they did record an excerpt on Bat III. I put it here, but the Steinman album version is better, so it's here too. And the one song that never was redone: Dance In My Pants which kinda got panned and will remind you of another track in the first Bat. I put the Steinman version here. The Meat Loaf album was going to be called Renegade Angel, so that's what you get.

Meat Loaf | Renegade Angel (Bad For Good)

01 Meat Loaf - Seize The Night (The Storm Excerpt)

02 Jim Steinman - The Storm

03 Meat Loaf - Bad For Good

04 Meat Loaf - Wasted Youth

05 Meat Loaf - Lost Boys and Golden Girls

06 Meat Loaf featuring Jim Steinman - Stark Raving Love

07 Meat Loaf - Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)

08 Meat Loaf - Surf's Up

09 Jim Steinman with Karla DeVito - Dance In My Pants

10 Meat Loaf - Left In The Dark

11 Meat Loaf - Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through