Gems #3 | 29/09/2023
More classics and buried treasure
If you prefer, the same playlist album is on Apple Music
Welcome to ‘Gems’, a Friday playlist, roughly the length of a vinyl album, featuring rock(ish) tracks I’m enjoying at the moment. These may be new, or they may go back years. One of the tracks will usually be from the album or artist I’ll be writing about in the next dive into an album, which goes out every Monday evening.
This one coincides with the Harvest Moon. To mark this, it would be remiss not to include a video of Neil Young’s song … er … ‘Harvest Moon’ which you can find after the track notes.
On every full moon in 2023 Peter Gabriel has released a new track from ‘i/o’ (I’ve compiled them all, updating as released, in Apple Music). Perhaps the album will be released on the October full moon?
On Monday I’ll be writing about Gabriel’s ‘Us’, which is 31 years old this week.
Each playlist includes track notes, giving the source of the track, the context, and why I believe you should give it some of your precious listening time.
‘Gems’. Albums not algorithms. Created on Spotify and never by spotify. 1
Side 1
Paul Rodgers ‘Coming Home‘ (from ‘Midnight Rose’, out now)
One of our best rock/blues singers returns with his first album in nearly 25 years. Classic upbeat rock to get us started.
Dhani Harrison ‘Damn That Frequency‘ (from ‘Innerstanding’, out 20/10/23)
Son of George and with a music career of his own; contributing to bands such as Thenewno2 and Fistful of Mercy, as well as collaborating widely. His sound here is distinctively psychedelically, experimental, and features Graham Coxon from Blur on sax.
Emma Anderson ‘Clusters‘ (from ‘Pearlies’, out 20/10/23)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Anderson
Former guitarist/singer with Lush. This is a gorgeous slice of upbeat pop, but one of those upbeat songs with a dark story buried in the lyrics. Possibly not typical of the album, and it bodes well anyway.
Sufjan Stevens ‘Will Anybody Ever Love Me?‘ (from ‘Javelin’ out 06/10/23)
www.sufjan.com (on Tumblr)
American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist with an exceptionally varied career both musically and thematically. His discography includes a five-volume album of meditation music, folk, soundtracks … so much. His new album is a return to the singer/songwriter format, and this a beautiful new song.
Jill Sobule ‘Nostalgia Kills‘ (from ‘Nostalgia Kills’, 2018)
Sobule was recommended to me by
, after I wrote about ‘The Red Shoes’ by Kate Bush, and I’m so pleased to have found her. Sobule has made some great records over three decades. She’s got a rich stock of great, often satirical songs, of which this is one.Side 2
Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate ‘imtiredandeverythinghurts‘ (from ‘The Light of Ancient Mistakes’, out now)
Their new prog album has been very well received. Epic tracks (of course, I did say prog) mixed with shorter, punchier songs such as this example. Planning for a future concept album is already under way, and this is another band worthy of further investigation.
The National (feat. Phobe Bridges)- ‘Laugh Track‘ (from ‘Laugh Track’, out now)
Described as “one of the pivotal bands of the last 20 years” in The Guardian, they have somehow passed me by. It’s clear I have a lot of catching up to do with The National; even though my appreciation of this track was born in a Substack discussion about grief, I’m looking forward to diving in.
Yes ‘And You And I‘ (Part 1 - Promo Radio Edit) (from ‘Yessingles’ out 06/10/23)
Back to prog (this doesn’t have the same ring to it as ‘back to mono’, but we are where we are). Two giants of the genre to close this playlist album. First up, Yes, who are releasing an album of singles. This edit keeps the essence of the much longer track, including the haunting synth part that always catches me by surprise. I once had the full length version of this on a 7” single, playing at 33⅓. Yes, it was cut at low volume and had as much crackle as you might expect.
Peter Gabriel ‘This is Home’ Dark-Side Mix) (from ‘i/o’, TBC)
The latest of Gabriel’s full moon releases of new tracks, eventually to form the ‘i/o’ album. It’s been an unusual release strategy, with a new track every month across 2023, and with two different mixes (Dark or Bright side). It’s not clear which versions will make the album. It was previewed at WOMAD. I wasn’t fortunate to be there, so the link is to a review by Michael Palmer, who was.
‘This is Home’ is a return to Gabriel’s Tamla Motown influences (it surprises some to learn the extent to which Genesis loved soul music). He’s in fine voice, singing over a funky opening and resolving into a rhythmic, dramatic string arrangement. For mood and singing style, think ‘Lovetown’.
Are you currently enjoying music that needs to be shared more widely? Please let us all know in the comments.
Bonus Video
Neil Young ‘Harvest Moon’
If you’ve enjoyed this playlist album, sharing it with your friends and colleagues really helps grow ‘LP’. Thank you!
Wow that’s a fantastic event to have been at! Weirdly, was thinking earlier I should write something about Richard Thompson soon. Another underrated genius.
I'm always glad to introduce someone else to Jill Sobule. She's amazing. Was probably at least 10 years ahead of her time which is why she's not a mega star.
Saying hi from Liverpool where I just got back from a glorious night at the Cavern, where they did not play any Jill Sobule at all. 😎🎸