On TV, we’re halfway through the latest season of “Endeavour.”
Always thumbs up for all the various Morse shows. No movies, alas, but I’ll be
catching up come the new year. On the audio front, listening to More Tales of
the City. I thought I liked the books (and the old TV show from the 90s), but
listening to Cynthia Nixon read this, and the first volume, is even more pure
joy. I’ve got the whole series queued up in my Audible account. And if you’re
looking for a freebie, John Waters was recently on Fresh Air. If you don’t like
John Waters, please stop reading my blog. That’s almost worse than liking
Donald Trump.
On to music. Spotify has a “Discover” page that
theoretically points you to music you don’t know and will probably like, based
on your previous listening. Needless to say, it’s hit and miss. Occasionally it’s
listed nothing but pop-ish country albums that I wouldn’t cross the street for.
Other times, if I’ve been listening to, say, Haydn string quartets, it thinks
that I’ve never heard of Mozart and recommends a lot of him (whoever he was).
Ditto jazz, very hit and miss. Most of the recommendations in any genre are either
obvious or unwarranted, but occasionally something interesting pops us. Like
Blondie Chaplin.
Who, you may ask, as I did, is Blondie Chaplin? Essentially
he’s a perennial sideman. Most famously he sang lead on the Beach Boys’ “Sail
on Sailor.” I know this because after listening to his album, I looked him up
on Wikipedia. My friend Peter, who knows every obscure thing imaginable about
old rock (except what’s good as background for a poker game), knew him
immediately. His album (there’s only one on Spotify) is quite polished, and
stands out as a result. This time out I grabbed one song, but then I put it
back into the rotation for more listening. I might continue to grow on me.
Be My Love, Blondie
Chaplin, Blondie Chapman — If he has any other albums, they aren’t there.
Nothing by the Dave
Clark 5 — This group, which was phenomenally popular in the
60s, was plagued by rights bickering in the following years, and because their
albums were no longer available in new media, and because their songs weren’t
even on various compilations of British hits and the like, they faded into
obscurity. It’s a shame. Fortunately I do have a good Greatest Hits CD. But
come on, Spotify. This is a really big gap.
In the Sun, Blondie,
Blondie – Obviously, Blondie Chaplin inspired me to seek out Blondie. I
grabbed two versions of this song, which I already knew from a summer song compilation.
(The better of the two is the Original Private Stock Single, whatever that
means.) Otherwise the music left me cold. I’ve never actually listened to one
of their albums all the way through before. The only musician in the group
worth a damn seems to be the drummer. I’ll try a greatest hits album next,
because I know that they have a couple of hits I wouldn’t mind adding to the
playlist, but otherwise I’m not terribly sanguine.
1941, Cuddly Toy, You
Can’t Do That, Sleep Late My Lady Friend, Without Her, River Deep Mountain
High, from Pandemonium Shadow Show, Nilsson — As I said earlier, I’m amazed
that there was no Nilsson in the playlist. We begin to correct that oversight.
Stranded in the
Jungle by the Jayhawks, Cinnamon Cinder (It’s a Very Nice Dance) — A couple
of novelty items from some random collection, Ace’s Golden Age of American Hits
Vol 1. There seems to be no Volume 2. Nor should there be. How many times do
you need to hear “Percolator”? Then again, “She’s Neat” is a nice find, but I’d
already found it.
Nothing from a
collection called Doo Wop Heaven — These weren’t big hits, and I wasn’t
surprised that any of them didn’t make it. What made a good popular hit in the
50s and 60s? Who knows?
As a reminder, this is the link to the playlist: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__open.spotify.com_user_jimmenick_playlist_1CzrLTz52lXBVAGs4GNG1p&d=DwMFaQ&c=RXj-bKe4qwF6L5km6h5eOA&r=7ono9pIehFG2-IRAl8TvLoCG4QwpghOgSalVRDSvN8s&m=vE3HBVLKCUBHW_kl5b9KC8rfrPExtaDJt2X8Nd3rE1I&s=2cHYaxlCj9MkBbJYmrWSRgX1WNNZlX4VXmjPVfg6GYE&e=
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