Summertime, and the listening is easy. Nothing to heavy or involved - it is way too hot to have to concentrate. Here’s what I’ve been listening to:
Dynamic Duo - Wes Montgomery/Jimmy Smith
Getz for Lovers - Stan Getz
Anita Baker - Rapture
George Frederik Handel - Water Music
Southbound - Doc Watson
How 'bout you? What’s playing?
That big wet kiss of an article on the cover of last Sunday’s NY Times Arts & Entertainment section has got Dylan in my head (Saturday tickets for the Newport Folk Festival are sold out, #&#%$#%!!), so right now it’s his 1992 retro folkie album, Good as I Been to You.
The kitchen stereo upstairs has a collection of Mozart’s wind quintets still in it from when I was washing dishes last night. Clarinet, oboe, and horn. Performed by Collegium Aureum for Harmonia Mundi.
The big stereo in the living room has Ernst Krenek’s Symphony No. 2, op. 12; Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, under the baton of Lothar Zagrosek.
Also lying out are Heart’s Desire, the 1990 album from the Henry Kaiser Band, an eclectic-guitar-rock outfit from northern California.
And Soul Meeting, a bunch of 1960 sessions put together by tenor saxophone honker King Curtis to prove he had jazz chops, too, accompanied by an all-star group of Nat Adderley on cornet, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and some guy on the drums.
Current Favorites:
Wilco - Being There
Funkadelic - The Original Cosmic Funk Crew
Antonio Carlos Jobim - Tide
The Saw Doctors - Villians?
The Kinks - Arthur
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Roland Kirk’s Finest Hour
Skip Spence - Oar
and a mix CD a friend made with lots of Os Mutantes on it.
A lot of Royksopp, Air, Ladytron and Soulwax.
Try as I might, I can’t seem to get excited about Dylan anymore. The man is just too much of a chameleon. I don’t believe I’ve consistently listened to anything he’s done since Blood on the Tracks (which I’ve listened to over and over and over again. Good music to go along with the collapse of your marriage. I’ve got “Idiot Wind” down pat.)
I’ve been listening to an oboe concerto by Mozart as well. Anything that is light and not too taxing.
I’ve seen quite a few references to Henry Kaiser Band - I wonder if he’s related to Henry J. Kaiser of The Henry J. Kaiser Coliseum (which I think is located in Oakland) and Kaiser aluminum fame? Sort of a incredibly rich kid gone bad?
I’m not familiar with King Curtis, but I recognize Nat Adderley and Paul Chambers (who, IIRC, played with Brubeck?).
And if, by some miracle of regenerative urology, I ever have a son I’m going to name him LOTHAR.
Crystal Planet Joe Satriani
Purpendicular Deep Purple
Roll the Bones Rush
plnnr: I LIKE the “chameleon” thing. Remember how freaked out everyone got in 1964 when he jerked away from protest songs and got all poetical and introspective on Another Side of Bob Dylan? And then went electric on Bringing it all Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited? And then went rootsy on John Wesley Harding? And then did a country-by-God album in 1968, of all years?
The two solo acoustic folk/blues albums Bob did in the early '90s…Good as I Been to You and World Gone Wrong…get lots of play in my house; he’s in fine voice, the song choices are great, and he proves to be an unexpectedly talented acoustic guitarist. I have a couple of favorites on Time Out of Mind, too, but Love and Theft didn’t do much for me. I can’t figure out how it got all those critical stroke-jobs.
I don’t know much about Kaiser’s background, but I’d heard fine things about his guitar-playing, and I had to buy this disc when I saw the set selections…“Dark Star,” “Are You Experienced,” “King Harvest (Has Surely Come),” Capt. Beefheart’s “Flavor Bud Living,” Stockhausen’s “Nr. 2 Klavierstuck III,” Burt Bacharach’s “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” and the theme from the Andy Griffith Show.
King Curtis was better known as a pop/rock n’ roll saxophonist than as a jazz guy; he did most of the tenor work on The Coasters’ hits from the 1950s. Nat Adderley was Cannonball Adderley’s less famous brother. Chambers was one of the top bassists of the 50s/60s, did a lot of work with Miles Davis and other first-rate combo leaders.
And yeah, I thought the same thing as I was typing “Lothar Zagrosek.”
I’m currently listening to a collection of George M. Cohan tunes, “Give my Regards to Broadway”, “Over There”, “Yankee Doodle Boy”, “Mary’s a Grand Old Name”, etc etc.
When done, I’ll likely pop in some Marvin Gaye.
Currently in my CD player:
The Bestiary of Flanders & Swann
Twin Sons of Different Mothers, Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg
The Best of the Little River Band
Pretzel Logic, Steely Dan
Animals, Pink Floyd
Ahhh, Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon is 42-0 in title bouts and remains undisputed champion of the CD Player, Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions is coming up fast, and Revolver is always a contender.
Well, since you asked:
The Charles Mingus Anthology (Rhino) Especially “Myself When I Am Real” and “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.”
“Not Just Another Pretty Bass” Jim Ferguson. Pretty surprising collection of straightahead vocals and some good bass playing from a guy better known as Reba McIntyre’s bass player.
Tangence J.J. Johnson and the Robert Farnon Orchestra (Verve/Gitanes) One of the last things J.J. did, god rest him. Still swinging and great.
Ralph Vaughan Williams The London Philharmonic Orchestra. (Musical Heritage Society) Too lush and beautiful for words.
Mahler 10th Symphony Radio Sinfonie Orchestra Frankfurt. (Denon) Heartbreakingly gorgeous.
The Real Thing Taj Mahal. Back out after 30 years. Taj, a rhythm section and 5 tubas. VERY recommended. You didn’t think you were going to get away without any tuba, did you?
your humble TubaDiva
How would you describe Ladytron? I’ve heard some clips but I can’t decide if I should take the plunge.
Oh, and in keeping with the thread, I’m not listening to anything right now, but Color Theory’s Here in My Heart is stuck in my head.
Dire Straits’ “On Every Street”
Dave Edmunds’ “I Hear You Rocking”
Bruce Springsteen’s “Tunnel of Love”
Van Halen II
The Flaming Groovies’ “Shake Some Action”
Songs I’m currently listening to obsessively:
Elliot Smith- Needle in the Hay
Cool For August- Hey You (well, the whole “grand world” cd, really)
Fastball- Slow Drag
Nullset- Smokewood
Howie Day- Sorry, so Sorry
And not quite as obsessively:
Face to Face- God is a Man (the devil you know)
Caviar- Sugerless
Sugar Cult- Bouncing off the Walls
Low- Half light
Not entire CD’s but selected cuts from various CD’s, which by the way, is the prime purpose behind the invention of the CD.
Sheryl Crow–Soak Up The Sun
Jimmy Eat World–The Middle
Mick Jagger–God Gave Me Everything
Vanessa Carleton—1000 Miles
Van Halen–Don’t Tell Me What Love Can Do
AC/DC-- Hells Bells
AC/DC–You Shook Me All Night Long
Gordon Lightfoot–Carefree Highway
Gordon Lightfoot–Sundown
Gordon Lightfoot–The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Fastball–The Real Me
Pete Townshend–Pinball Wizard
Pete Townshend–Bargain
Pete Townshend–Behind Blue Eyes
Pete Townshend–You Better You Bet
Pete Townshend–Love Reign O’er Me
The Road to Perdition soundtrack.
Both of Vast’s albums.
Reveal and Document by R.E.M.
Recipe for Hate by Bad Religion.
The Buffy musical episode.
The O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
Hope is Important by Idlewild.
I love these threads…I always wonder if anyone is padding their songs to make themselves seem more interesting 
I’ve been on a mid-90’s kick lately. Some highlights from my mix CD in the car are:
Better Than Ezra
Seven Mary Three
Hole
Heather Nova
Chalk Farm
Patti Rothberg
Gin Blossoms
Pucker
Nothing too taxing on the 'ol brain…Just decent tunes to wake me up on the way to work.
I’ve liked Steely Dan since about 2000; since then i’ve been listening to random albums, the latest being Pretzel Logic, (too bad about Jim Gordon and Jeff Porcaro, google those for more info.) and Katy Lied. I discovered Bill Withers the other week, I like maybe three-five of his songs…I’ve got a Dave Brubeck disc based on the contraversial Jazz documentary, fine quartet he had…and what else have I been listening to lately…Guess Who hits, various country discs, including the Wilkinsons, who hit it big in '98 and then were hosed into virtual non-existance by various actions including the shutting down of their record label…hope they come back with a bang…Well, that’s what I’ve been listening to lately.
Bunch of stuff by Interpol Do you miss joy division but find most of the “post JD crowd” to be too melodramatic and gothy? have i got a band for you…(holy hell this guys are good)
Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Wayne Coyne is god)
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Being There, Mermaid avenues 1 and 2, and Summerteeth (in prepartation for the shows here this weekend)
Songs: Ohia- Axxes and Ace, and a bunch of other random tracks…
And some Stevie Wonder tracks too…
i love summer