Bonnie "Prince" Billy live in Santa Cruz, September 16, 2022

Bonnie "Prince" Billy, live, Santa Cruz, Sept. 16, 2022

Encore: "Just Little Boy Blue", George Jones cover.

You may also be interested in: Cool, New Music Playlist September 2022

Elizabeth Cotten To Be Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

                                                                               

Elizabeth Cotten (1893 - 1987), guitar pioneer, is being inducted this year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That's fantastic news! If you haven't heard Libby Cotten sing "Freight Train", here's your chance to correct that oversight:

You may also be interested in: Cool, New Music Playlist September 2022

Highly Anticipated Music Releases Fall/Winter 2022-2023

Highly Anticipated Music Releases September, October, November, 2022

The Afghan Whigs. How Do You Burn? [Royal Cream/BMG] September 9

Built to Spill. When the Wind Forgets Your Name [Sub Pop] September 9

The Kinks. Everybody’s in Show-Biz (Deluxe Version) [BMG] September 9

The Kinks. Muswell Hillbillies (Deluxe Version) [BMG] September 9

Joe Strummer. Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years [Dark Horse] September 16

Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin. Ali [Dead Oceans] September 23

OFF!. Free LSD [Fat Possum] September 30

Pixies. Doggerel [BMG] September 30

Titus Andronicus. The Will to Live [Merge] September 30

Wilco. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Deluxe Edition) [Nonesuch] September 30

Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Cool It Down [Secretly Canadian] September 30

Plains. I Walked With You a Ways [Anti-] October 14

Arctic Monkeys. The Car [Domino] October 21

Dry Cleaning. Stumpwork [4AD]  October 21

Tinariwen. Kel Tinariwen [Wedge] November 4

PJ Harvey. B-Sides, Demos, & Rarities [UMe/Island] November 4

Bright Eyes. Digital Ash in a Digital Urn: A Companion EP [Dead Oceans] November 11

Bright Eyes. I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning: A Companion EP [Dead Oceans] November 11

Bright Eyes. Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground: A Companion EP [Dead Oceans] November 11

Weyes Blood. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow [Sub Pop] November 18

David Bowie. Divine Symmetry [Parlophone] November 25

Idles. Five Years of Brutalism [Partisan] December 9

Nathan Salsburg. Landwerk No. 3 [No Quarter] December 9

Iggy Pop. Every Loser. [Gold Tooth] January 6, 2023

The C.I.A. (feat Ty Segall) Surgery Channel [In the Red] January 20, 2023

John Cale. Mercy [Domino] January 20, 2023

King Tuff.Smalltown Stardust [Sub Pop] January 27, 2023

Bob Dylan.Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 (Deluxe Edition) [Columbia/Legacy] January 27, 2023

Ellie Goulding. Higher Than Heaven. [Polydor] February 3

Yo La Tengo. This Stupid World. [Matador] February 10

Caroline Polachek. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You [Perpetual Novice] February 14

Shame. Food For Worms [Rough Trade] February 24

Iris DeMent. Workin’ on a World [Flariella] February 24

Gorillaz. Cracker Island [Warner] February 24

Lana Del Rey. Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. [Polydor] March 24

Baaba Maal. Being [Marathon Artists] March 31

boygenius (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker). the record. [Interscope] March 31

You may also be interested in: Cool, New Music Playlist September 2022

Cool, New Music Playlist September 2022

 

ALBUMS

BEST NEW ALBUM (TIE): Gently Tender. Take Hold Of Your Promise! Sam from Palma Violets has a new band and a new album and it is killer.

BEST NEW ALBUM (TIE): The Chieftains. Bear’s Sonic Journals: The Foxhunt, The Chieftains, San Francisco 1973 & 1976. Classic Irish music recorded by The Grateful Dead's Owsley "Bear" Stanley on their first American tour in 1973, opening for Jerry Garcia's bluegrass band Old And In The Way, as well as a 1976 performance. A fitting tribute to The Chieftain's Paddy Maloney, who passed away last October.

Oneida. Success.

Gogol Bordello. Solidaritine.

Jesca Hoop. Order Of Romance.

Iron & Wine. Lori. (EP).

David Bowie. Moonage Daydream documentary soundtrack

Joe Strummer. Joe Strummer 002.

The Mars Volta. The Mars Volta.

Valerie June. Under Cover.

The Afghan Whigs. How Do You Burn?

Built to Spill. When The Wind Forgets Your Name

Julian Lennon. Jude.

The Kinks. Everybody's In Show-Biz (Deluxe Version) and Muswell Hillbillies (Deluxe Version)

Anna Tivel. Outsiders.

Stella Donnelly. Flood.

Ezra Furman. All Of Us Flames

Robert Earl Keen. Western Chill.

Jim Lauderdale. Game Changer.

Marcus King. Young Blood. Da Blues.

You may also be interested in: 

Cool, New Music Playlist: August 2022 

Highly Anticipated Music Releases September, October, November, 2022

Elizabeth Cotten To Be Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Bonnie "Prince" Billy live in Santa Cruz, September 16, 2022

                                                                      Elizabeth Cotten

Rest In Peace, friend.... Clayton Gross, gone four years now...

The Clash's Joe Strummer died at 50 in 2002. He would have turned 70 this August 21st. Celebrate with a Cool, New Eddie Vedder Cover of Joe's "Long Shadow" + Strummer's Previously Unreleased Song "Fantastic"

Hard to believe The Clash's Joe Strummer has been gone 20 years... and mind blowing to think he would only be 70 (on August 21) if he were still alive!

"Long Shadow" is a song Joe wrote for Johnny Cash but Cash died before he had the chance to record it. Joe later recorded it, and Eddie Vedder has just released this cool cover.

It's all part of the celebrations for what would have been Joe's 70th, as is a new compilation from Joe's Hellcat Records years. Hellcat, founded by Tim Armstrong (Operation Ivy, Rancid) provided a warm home for Strummer and the Mescaleros in the 90s.

Joe's post-Clash catalogue is now administered by Dark Horse Records, a label founded by George Harrison (The Beatles) and recently relaunched by his son Dhani Harrison. The collection, called Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years, contains selections from the Mescalero three studio albums, as well as several outtakes and alternate takes, such as this previously unreleased song, "Fantastic":

Cool, New Song from Bonnie "Prince" Billy: "Outsider" (Dee Dee Ramone/The Ramones cover feat the late, great David Berman)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy just released a cool cover he recorded in 2016.

It's "Outsider" by Dee Dee Ramone, and it originally appeared on The Ramones 1983 album Subterranean Jungle:

Green Day covered the song in 2002 on Shenanigans:

I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
Everything you know
Everything you know
It disturbs me so

I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
Everything you know
Everything you know
It disturbs me so

Everybody tried to push me
Push me around
Everybody tried to put me
Try to put me down

All messed up, hey everyone
I've already had all my fun
More troubles are gonna come
I've already had all my fun
Ooh yeah, yeah, yeah

Everybody tried to push me
Push me around
Everybody tried to put me
Try to put me down

I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
I'm an outsider
Outside of everything
Everything you know
Everything you know
It disturbs me so

---------------------------------------------------

It's a cool song and the Bonnie "Prince" Billy version, available here on Bandcamp, takes it to a whole other place, complete with petal steel guitar and an Americana feel. Dee Dee Ramone might have been surprised at the result but probably would have liked it. I do. Nice to hear the late great David Berman (Silver Jews, Purple Mountains) on the bridge. Damned shame he suffered so and didn't hang out with us a bit longer. Have you heard this song by him?

It's a beautiful song, but makes me cry, because of what happened to him shortly after. I'm dying to hear a mash up of this song with the 1982 Modern English love song about nuclear war "I Melt With You": 

And speaking of "Stop The World And Melt With You", towards the end, is it a tribute to Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side", a rip-off, or just a coincidence?

Subterranean Jungle is a cool album. It contains an interesting cover of the 1966 Chambers Brothers classic "Time Has Come":

 

You may also be interested in: Cool, New Music Playlist: August 2022

Cool, New Music Playlist: August 2022

Cool, New Music Playlist: August 2022 

ALBUMS

BEST NEW ALBUM (TIE): Ty Segall. "Hello, Hi". A welcome departure for Ty. Less psycho-delic, more introspective. A little quieter than most of his records. A triumph.

BEST NEW ALBUM (TIE): Ben Harper. Bloodline Maintenance. Funkier than usual, reminds me of the vibe of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Going On". Great stuff!

Jack White. Entering Heaven Alive. The lighter folky Americana acoustic side of Jack White.

Dawes. Misadventures Of Doomscroller.

Interpol. The Other Side Of Make-Believe.

Danger Mouse & Black Thought. Cheat Codes.

Osees. A Foul Form.

King Princess. Hold On Baby.

Anna Tivel. Outsiders. Indie Folk

Oneida. Success.

CLAMM. Care. Aussie Punk Explosion.

The Chats. Get Fucked. Aussie Punk Explosion.

Ben Lee. I'm Fun. A favorite Aussie singer-songwriter who's become a welcome, sane political voice online.

Cass McCombs. Heartland.

Pussy Riot. Matriarchy Now. We like their activism more than their music. Hats off to some brave comrades fighting Putin's authoritarianism with art! This is mostIy Euro dance/club music. I liked their early punk classic "Putin Has Pissed Himself" (download here).

Silversun Pickups. Physical Thrills.

Kasabian. The Alchemist's Euphoria.

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom. Reset.

Julien Baker. B-Sides (EP).

Maggie Rogers. Surrender. 

Billie Eilish. Guitar Songs. Just two songs, "TV"/"The 30th".

SINGLES: TWO SONGS FOR A FREE UKRAINE

Dropkick Murphys & The O'Hamsters. "We Shall Overcome (Ukrainian Version)"

Pink Floyd. "Hey Hey Rise Up (feat. Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox)"

SINGLES

Off! "War Above Los Angeles".

Plains. "Problem With It".

Dry Cleaning. "Anna Calls From The Arctic".

Valerie June. "Look At Miss Ohio" (Gillian Welch cover).

               Bonnie "Prince" Billy. "Outsider" (Dee Ramone/The Ramones cover)

Eddie Vedder. "Long Shadow" (Joe Strummer cover, Strummer would be 70 this year!)

Joe Strummer. "Fantastic". Previously unreleased gem from the late, great singer for The Clash. From a new forthcoming late-career Strummer compilation from Dhani Harrison's Dark Horse Records.

ARCHIVAL

Mike Bloomfield. Live At The Bottom Line (Live 1974)

Kate Bush. Essentials. We're all in on the Kate Bush revival, courtesy of the Netflix series Stranger Things. Loved her in the 80s, love her even more now. Of course, "Running Up That Hill" is essential, but so are "Wuthering Heights", "Babooshka", and "Them Heavy People" (which refers to spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff, who Bush's family followed; she grew up with his teachings).

Gordon Lightfoot. PBS Soundstage 1979 (live).

John Coltrane. Jazz Showcase 1962 (Live) & Birdland 1962 (Live). Two live albums, recently re-released.

Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, James Cotton. King Biscuit Flower Hour 1977 (live).

Muddy Waters. Folk Singer (Expanded Edition).

Louis Armstrong. Pale Moon (Live).

Billie Holiday. Last Recording 1959 (Remastered).

The Ramones. City Hall Plaza Live.

Tom Rush. Classic Rush.

Johnny Cash. Capitol Music Hall 1976.

Dead Kennedys. KALX 1979 (Live).

Thin Lizzy. Live in Japan 1980.

Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Live At Newport 1965.

Doc Watson. Pickin' The Favorites.

Bob Dylan. Early FM Radio Broadcast.

Victoria Spivey. Three Kings And The Queen. This 1964 recording features Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, and Big Joe Williams, who invited a young Bob Dylan to play harmonica on "Sittin' On Top Of The World" and "Wichita".

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:

Cool, New Music July 2022

Cool, New Music June 2022

Cool, New Music May/June Spring Into Summer

Will Music in Adverts Save Music? Kevin Morby's "Parade" in New Delta Air Ad Joins Songs by Bob Dylan, Queen & Wreckless Eric as the Latest Cool Song in a Post-COVID Travel Industry Commercial

Late, great folk king Fred Neil featured in new "Better Call Saul" Teaser: "Little Bit of Rain"

                Original Photos by MD & JB for ThisSmallPlanet.com. All rights reserved. 

Will Music in Adverts Save Music? Kevin Morby's "Parade" in New Delta Air Ad Joins Songs by Bob Dylan, Queen & Wreckless Eric as the Latest Cool Song in a Post-COVID Travel Industry Commercial

 

Artists no longer sell routinely millions of CDs, so many have been looking for other revenue streams - touring (though often delayed during COVID) and merchandise being chief amongst them. More and more artists now seem to be licensing their songs for commercials as a sure way to make money and get their name and music out there. 

Kevin Morby's 2014 song "Parade" is now being used in 2022 for a Delta Airlines commercial.

 

Kevin's 2016 song "Beautiful Strangers" was recently used by Airbnb. Airbnb suffered an enormous loss of business during the COVID crisis. This ad was part of a campaign to encourage people to rent out their homes to those, who, as the ad shows, may be monsters, but they are kindly monsters...."beautiful strangers", as it were.

 

Airbnb followed up that ad with another called "Camping" featuring Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm", again offering Airbnb services for those wanting to escape and seek "shelter from the storm", this time in their "camping" category, in order to explore the great outdoors but with a comfortable base camp.

During the Super Bowl, we saw an ad for the travel website Expedia that we would see many times in the coming months called "Stuff" featuring Ewan McGregor. It encouraged people sick of COVID isolation to stop sitting at home buying "stuff" on Amazon and instead book a trip on Expedia to some exotic beach or something... just get out of the dammed house!

The song Expedia used to re-invite us to the world of travel is the delightful 1977 punk anthem "(I'd Go The) Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric. Flawless.

And then there was this Norwegian Cruise Lines ad:

The Cruise industry was one of the hardest hit during COVID. So the choice of Queen's "I Want To Break Free" (Free yourself from home confinement and hit the open sea!) was near perfect.

Late, great folk king Fred Neil featured in new "Better Call Saul" Teaser: "Little Bit of Rain"

Better Call Saul is gearing up for its highly anticipated final six episodes. They just released a teaser featuring "Little Bit of Rain" by the late, great Fred Neil (1936-2001). Neil was every guitarist's favorite guitarist in Greenwich Village in the early 60s. 

Cool, New Music: July 2022 Playlist

 

ALBUMS

Arthur Brown. Long Long Road

Joan Shelley. The Spur.

Al Stewart. Sparks Of Ancient Light.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Once Again In The World (Selected Songs, 1998-2020)

Black Midi. Hellfire.

Spiral Stairs. Medley Attack.

Tim Heidecker. High School. 

Ben Harper. Bloodline Maintenance

Soccer Mommy. Sometimes, Forever

Jeff Beck. 18 (EP). (feat. Johnny Depp)

DIVV. Sometime/Human/Geist (EP)

Various Artists. Minions: The Rise of Gru (Soundtrack) (feat Brittany Howard, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Weyes Blood, Gary Clark, Jr., Thundercat, et al).

Muna. Muna

Zola Jesus. Arkcon

The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Fire Doesn't Grow On Trees.

Peter Rowan. Calling You From My Mountain.

SINGLES

Julian Lennon. "Save Me"/"Breathe"

Test Subjects, 1986, New Method Warehouse, Emeryville (photo by the late, great Murray Bowles)

ARCHIVAL

T-Model Ford. I Was Born In A Swamp.

Sonny Boy Williamson II. Don't Send Me No Flowers (feat. Jimmy Page & Brian Auger)

Cool New Music June 2022 Playlist

 

Cool New Music June 2022 Playlist

BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Tie - John Doe and Dave Stewart

John Doe. Fables In A Foreign Land.

Dave Stewart. Ebony McQueen.

Victims of Gun Violence in Uvalde, Texas

"Kids Who Die” by Langston Hughes (1938)

ALBUMS

Grant-Lee Phillips. All That You Can Dream.

Wilco. Cruel Country.

Andrew Bird. Inside Problems.

Angel Olsen. Big Time.

Charlie Musselwhite. Mississippi Son.

Bryan Ferry. Love Letters (EP).

Kelley Stoltz. The Stylist.

Joyce Manor. 40 oz. to Fresno.

Vieux Farka Touré. Les Racines.

Elvis Costello. The Resurrection of Rust. 

We were horrified by the slaughter of small children in Uvalde, Texas this week, then found out Don McLean was performing this weekend at an NRA concert in Texas! I loved Don McLean when I was ten and was profoundly saddened to hear this. Many fans let Don know they weren't happy about the concert, especially the timing, and we were very relieved when it was announced that Don had dropped out of the concert! (The concert itself was ultimately cancelled due to the outcry.)

SINGLES

Valerie June. "Fade Into You" (Mazzy Star cover).

Lou Barlow. "Only Fading" / "Sacrifice".

Waxahatchee & Wynonna Judd. "Other Side".

Lord Huron. "Your Other Life"/"Ton Autre Vie"

Titus Andronicus. "We're Coming Back".

Been doing a deep dive into the blues-rock of The Jeff Beck Group (circa 1967 feat Rod Stewart, Aynsley Dunbar and Ron Wood). I'd rather listen to this than many of today's tunes. Lots of interactions with these players and people like Ronnie Lane, Nicky Hopkins, Ian McLagan, and various members of The Small Faces, The Faces, The Who, The Stones, and Led Zeppelin.

ARCHIVAL

The Clash. The People's Hall. Just found out Combat Rock was supposed to be a double album and this is the other disc! Amazing! Frankly, there were reasons these songs weren't chosen to be on the single disc version of Combat Rock. None of these songs are any kind of Rosetta Stone key to deciphering the band or lost masterpieces, but still pretty cool to hear "new" Clash in 2022!

John Coltrane. My Favorite Things.

Norma Tanega. I'm the Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964–1971

Warren Zevon. Preludes.

Gene Clark. Solo Flight (Live In Westboro, 10/16/1988). The Byrds co-founder solo.

Mavis Staples. Carry Me Home. (feat Levon Helm)

Palace Music. Time From Work To Go (1992-1998). (feat. Bonnie "Prince" Billy)

Kris Kristofferson. Sausalito 1973 Set Two - Live American Radio Broadcast.