I had a chance to see him in the mid 90s in Chicago when he played at The Blackstone Hotel. I passed on the tickets because, as a poor grad student, I had to work that night. He was dying of cancer but didn't tell anyone--it was one of his last shows. There are a whole lot of people I am kicking myself for never seeing perform while I had the chance.
Also here are three versions of the standard "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye": by Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and a vocal take by Ray Charles.
There's also a nice little mini-suite of songs I'm proud to say flow well together. After Digable Planets' sole hit "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" is the happy "Adeus Maria Fulo" by Os Mutantes. Remixes of old jazz or r&b tunes usually don't work, but on the Verve label remix series, Willie Bobo's "Fried Neckbones And Some Home Fries" gets an astounding treatment from De La Soul genius producer Dan The Automator. Next is Slave's deeply funky "Slide", followed by a live version of James Brown's "There Was A Time".
"State Of Confusion" is late period Kinks that is unfairly dismissed. I bought this album (on cassette!) soon after it came out when I was in 8th grade. It was, along with some Doors tapes, in heavy rotation on my Walkman as I rode my bike a few miles every morning to my little Catholic school. This was at the height of the video age, when we stayed up late to watch Friday Night Videos on NBC, where this video played among the Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and Men At Work videos. It was such an innocent time, sitting through a commercial break to see a "world premiere" video from Lionel Richie. While you wait for puberty to kick in.
"Asking Me Lies'"is The Replacements doing a bad, or more likely intentionally bad, Red Hot Chili Peppers impersonation. This awful white boy funk was all the rage in the late 80s, and even their worst song was better than the best of whoever they were making fun of.
I love the mid 70s Bob Dylan comback live album with The Band. He tears into old songs with vicious glee, like here on "It Ain't Me Babe." I stole this record from my parents' collection and in college this album was a go-to soundtrack for afternoon dart games over beer. The darts we had were metal and planted on our door. It was dangerous for visitors--Bob and The Band drowned out the loudest knocks on the door.
"Memory Motel" is an underrated mid 70s gem from The Rolling Stones. Halfway between an epic poem and a shaggy dog story. If songs like "Ruby Tuesday" are too overplayed for you, listen to this. I love Keith's little vocal contribution: "She's gotta mind of her own, and she use it well!"
For me, Jackson Browne's "Rock Me On The Water" is religious. Therefore, it would be impolite for me to talk about it further.
"Creeque Alley" by The Mamas & The Papas and "It's True That We Love Each Other" by The White Stripes sound like the same song from different eras.
"Wichita Lineman" was such a huge hit for Glen Campbell that it was covered by dozens of artists. On these mixes I have versions from artists as diverse as Ray Charles and Freddie Hubbard. I don't think anything can top Glen Campbell's version. It just knocks me on my ass. So spacey and wistful. Here, I follow it with Willie Nelson's quietly inspiring "Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way".
The last song to mention is Marvin Gaye's "Sparrow". It's off his jazz-inflected "divorce" album. The proceeds from this album comprised the major portion of his settlement with his soon to be ex-wife. He decided to punish her by tanking its commercial prospects with an unexpected jazz direction. But he couldn't help writing beautiful songs. This one, as far as bittersweet goodbye songs, is one of my favorites.
