Blue Moon Playlist Review Club - Season 2 - Episode 32 - threespires - Could have been a Contender (pg 472)

threespires said:
Not around for a chunk of this afternoon, so I'll post up the new theme now if that's ok..

As the last round's theme was Places, this round I've gone with how to get to them i.e. forms of Transport

No particularly genre focus to my initial five (plus one bonus for the childish amongst us), just songs I really like covering a variety of ways of getting about.


1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Richard Thompson

One of Thompson’s most beloved songs. Written because he felt all the road songs seemed to be American and he wanted there to be some British ones. Box Hill might not be Route 66 but that’s sort of the point. A tale of delinquency, love, red hair and black leather.

Donkey – Etta James

OK so not the most obvious form of transport in our part of the world but we are coming up to Christmas so… Hugely versatile, James was in her early 40’s when she recorded this but then spent the next decade or so battling various demons and illness. She then kicked on again in her 50’s and recorded as many albums again as she had in her earlier career, it was in that ‘second wind’ that she got the praise she had always deserved.

Shut Up and Get on the Plane – Drive By Truckers

DBT seem to have become a regular fixture since BB nominated the album this comes from. As someone who ultimately ‘cured’ my own quite pronounced fear of flying by taking a job that involved lots of long-haul air travel this track generates a range of emotions!

I Need a Truck - Warren Zevon

Only 40 odd seconds long. An outtake added to later versions of the Excitable Boy album. Very Zevon, I think.

Tank Park Salute – Billy Bragg

Again, not a conventional form of transport but a song I love. BB lost his Dad when he was 18, this is his song to him.


Bonus track for those of us who never quite managed to grown up

I should have grown up and stopped liking this 30+ years ago and I sort of have, but not really.

Time Flies By (When You’re the Driver of a rain) – Half Man Half Biscuit


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Another great choice, I was thinking of suggesting a similar theme
some of my faves in the initial playlist.

‘Cadillac Walk’. Mink Deville
 
RobMCFC said:
Good spot. I always thought it was a mythical place but didn't say anything because I love the track :)
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The Professor was no slouch when it came to lyrics, as any fan knows. ;-)

From an ancient book, I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and man alone
Searching for the lost, Xanadu
 
Tried to get this done last night, but ran outta time.

First off, let me also echo some other reviewers and note this was an exceptional playlist. Kudos to @stoneblue for the concept too. I very much enjoyed the songs I hadn’t heard before, which was many and varied on sound, genre, and mood. I’ll be playing this Playlist again, especially on road trips!

My Top (now 6) tracks in order, all new to me:
  1. "Harrisburg" (Live at The Iveagh Gardens version) - Josh Ritter, amazing performance, and bonus for a fantastic version of “Wicked Game”
  2. “Midnight in Harlem” - Tedeschi Trucks Band – blown away by this one
  3. "Ontario, Michigan" - NQ Arbuckle – great, another alt.country band I need to get into!
  4. "London" - Benjamin Clementine – wonderfully done, love the piano & vocals
  5. “Cold Missouri Waters” – Cry Cry Cry – captivating song and lyrics
  6. "Manchester" - The Beautiful South - quite humorous on the city and weather
Favorite originals I hadn't heard, but really liked: This list is long because the songs were great!
“London” – Sandy Denny, Thea Gilmore
“Edinburgh” – Adam Holmes
"Oxford Girl" – Oysterband
“Glasgow” – Press Club
“Sproston Green” – The Charlatans
“Going back to Harlan (live)” - Emmylou Harris
“Brighton Rock” – Queen – all hail Brian May indeed!
“Glasgow Mega-Snake” – Mogwai – mainly for the lyrics?
"The Derby Ram" - Erland and the Carnival
“Leaving Winslow” - Jackson Browne – somehow missed this one in recent years
"From Galway to Graceland" - Richard Thompson – added to my Memphis playlist
"Dublin Blues" - Guy Clark
“Glasgow” - Austin Plaine
“California” – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – unknown gem to me! Great groove.
"Lullaby of London" - The Pogues
“New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down” – LCD Soundsystem – the ending!
“Chicago” – The Delta Saints – nice bluesy tune
“From Austin” - Zach Bryan
"Iowa" - Dar Williams – nice find, never heard a song about Iowa either
“Athens, France” – Black Country, New Road – for some strange reason

Songs I already knew and still enjoy:
"Going to California" - Led Zeppelin
"Memphis in the Rain" - Justin Townes Earle
“Tennessee Plates” – John Hiatt
“New York State of Mind” – Billy Joel, memories listening while driving around NYC
“This is not America” – David Bowie, Pat Metheny – mid-80's gold standard
"Alabama Pines" - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
“Via Chicago” – Wilco
"Rio" - Duran Duran
“New York Groove” – Ace Frehley
“No Sleep 'til Brooklyn”- Beastie Boys
"New Birth in New England" - Phosphorescent
"Jacksonville Skyline" – Whiskeytown – not bad for a band from Raleigh, NC
"The Boys from Alabama" - Drive-By Truckers – DBT likely have no idea how many City fans they have
"Kashmir" - Led Zeppelin - still brilliant!

Well done by all for some great songs on a keeper playlist!
 
Mancitydoogle said:
As i mentioned when I posted RMNOR there was a lot of controversy attached to this song and its lyric,it topped the billboard 100 when it was realeased and the Far right got hold of it to use as an anthem against Biden, I think it was referenced at the first Republican GOP debate.Since then the writer has come out and explained its anti all governments.
Anyway our own BB suggested there was a better way of getting the message across
Heres his version
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At the risk of derailing us before we've started, one of BB's other songs on this subject (There Is Power in a Union) contains one of my favourite lyrics in the whole of protest music:

"Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone?"

Worthy of Guthrie himself.
 
Mancitydoogle said:
As i mentioned when I posted RMNOR there was a lot of controversy attached to this song and its lyric,it topped the billboard 100 when it was realeased and the Far right got hold of it to use as an anthem against Biden, I think it was referenced at the first Republican GOP debate.
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Did not make my list for those reasons. Heard it originally from the news in Aug 2023 when performed live in my home state.
Mancitydoogle said:
Since then the writer has come out and explained its anti all governments.
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Unfortunately, the train had already left the station on this one, to borrow this week's theme.
 
Thanks everyone for your contributions, hopefully there was something for everyone in there! Ideally I would have liked more listening time, particularly for the later entries, but the standouts for me were:-

Tracks I knew and enjoyed again

"Going to California” - Led Zeppelin
“Glasgow” - Jessie Buckley
“Rich Men North of Richmond” - Oliver Anthony
“Sailing to Philadelphia” - Mark Knopfler
“Angel from Montgomery” - John Prine & Bonnie Raitt
“Alabama Pines” - Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
“From Galway to Graceland” - Richard Thompson
“California" - Manfred Mann's Earthband
“Kashmir” - Led Zeppelin

The Jessie Buckley track is from a film “Wild Rose” - quite a good movie if I recall.
Oliver Anthony I first heard a few weeks before the nomination - that’s one angry man!

Tracks where I knew the artist, but not the song

"Tennessee Plates" - John Hiatt
“Cold Missouri Waters” - Cry Cry Cry
“Harrisburg” - Josh Ritter
“Glasgow” - Austin Plaine
“Canadian Railroad Trilogy” - Gordon Lightfoot

Best of list not previously heard

“Ohio Heat” - Super Furry Animals
“London Thunder” - Foals
“The Derby Ram” - Erland And The Carnival
“Time Spent In Los Angeles” - Dawes
"New York Groove” - Ace Frehley
“Messed Up in Memphis” - Texas Hammer
“Jacksonville Skyline” - Whiskeytown
“Edinburgh Man” - The Fall
“From Austin” - Zach Bryan
"Ontario, Michigan" - NQ Arbuckle
 
Something I only discovered only a couple of years ago: Jim Peterik, who co-wrote so many great Survivor songs in the 80s, was originally in this band who produced this fantastic track in 1970.

“Vehicle” - The Ides of March
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
The Professor was no slouch when it came to lyrics, as any fan knows. ;-)

From an ancient book, I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and man alone
Searching for the lost, Xanadu
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Just finished reading Geddy Lee’s autobiography, and there are some very sad chapters concerning Neil at the end. He was a great lyricist.
 
RobMCFC said:
Just finished reading Geddy Lee’s autobiography, and there are some very sad chapters concerning Neil at the end. He was a great lyricist.
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I have that book on my Christmas list, so I hopefully will soon be reading!

After Neil's daughter and then wife both passed, it almost was a miracle they got back together. Very personal songs on 2002's Vapor Trails with "Ghost Rider", etc.

In the fullness of time
A garden to nurture and protect
It's a measure of a life
 
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threespires said:
A bit of a controversial song these days but I'm not sure it wasn't misunderstood in the first place.
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Yes a song about slavery or a song about a poor southerner trying to understand the loss of his brother during the civil war. Not sure Robbie Robertson ever explained either way but no doubt a great song
 
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