Music In, 2023, Batch 2

Apparently I was slacking this quarter, only 7 albums. Getting old ...

• Werkha, "All Werk Is Play", 2022, 14 tracks, bandcamp. Werkha is apparently 1 guy, out of Manchester, UK. A lot of good music out of Manchester, UK, now. Really catchy grooves, catchy tracks. Kudos! 4 stars! I actually would like to include 3-4 tracks from this album, here's the 1 that was on the sampler I found them on.

• Beach House, "Become", 2023, 5 tracks, bandcamp. Their Wikipedia page sez they (2 members out of Baltimore) are dream pop. I concur. Good tunes, but maybe too dreamy? I might have gone down to 3 stars, but it is only 5 tracks, so they get the benefit of a doubt. 4 stars. Here's "Black Magic".

• Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi, "Wildflowers", 2022, 4 tracks, bandcamp. Perth, OZ. Really laid back stuff, "Celtic" popped to mind listening to it. So tentative, but pretty voices & harmonies. Ha ha, like the last 1, I'd prolly go 3 stars, but, it's only 4 tracks, so I'll listen to it some more. 4 stars. Here's "Disguise".

• Half Moon Run, "Salt", 2023, 11 tracks, bandcamp. This is a great album. Out of Montreal, this band is killing it. So many great songs. 4 stars. Here's "Alco".

• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, "Weathervanes", 2023, 13 tracks, bandcamp. Isbell is completely an inspiration to me. He is our Bard of the South. Steve & Chris performed "White Man's World", "Something More Than Free", and "Hudson Commodore".

  This latest album, what great tunes! Maybe he will figure out a way to bring the rednecks back to ... Reality? Joy? 4 stars. Here's "King of Oklahoma". What great vocal harmonies! Southern rock / Americana seems to totally rule in that regard.

• Guy Clark, "The Essential Guy Clark", 1997, 20 tracks. Steve & Chris performed "Hemingway's Whiskey". Nice song. I'd been meaning to check out more Guy Clark, so I asked my friend & fellow music buff Josh Brown (also since its opening GM of J. Render's Southern Table & Bar) for a recommendation. He suggested this album. "Hemingway's Whiskey" is not on it, but there are a whole bunch of other great tunes.

  Clark was a great songwriter. Born 1941, died 2016, age 74. And, revisiting what was said for the last album, the vocal harmonies on this album are outstanding. I play lead, rhythm, & bass guitar, sing lead, harmony, & backup, have led up to a 12 pc band, my favorite thing of all is singing harmony. 4 stars. Here's "Desperados Waiting For a Train".

• Ella Fitzgerald, "Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook", 1964, 13 tracks. I've gotten to be kind of a Johnny Mercer fanboy lately. I ordered this biography in paper from Carmichael's. I am a bit daunted by the font size. I looked for it as an ebook, no go. Actually a couple of other bios are available as ebooks, but the 1 I bought is looking like the definitive 1 - the author is a history professor at Georgia State U, which holds Mercer's papers, and it came out in 2016.

  So, of course, I greatly enjoy my favorite vocalist doing these songs.

  Already in the Jaz Dumoz songbook:

  • "Too Marvelous For Words"
  • "Day In Day Out"
  • "Skylark"
  • "I Remember You"

  "Midnight Sun" is in the work list. Most of these are with Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra, so fairly heavy orchestration. 4 stars. Here's "I Remember You", which Mercer wrote about Judy Garland after they had a love affair.

_unrated songlist is currently 10 albums, 117 tracks.