Ten Thursday morning highlights:
KKBB (Bakersfield, CA)
- Upside Down-Diana Ross (Of Ross's uptempo hits, this strikes me as her most enduring and endearing. It's hard to believe 42 years have passed since it topped the charts.)
KMMS (Bozeman, MT)
- Waiting For The Sun-The Jayhawks (Eight years into this blog, it surprises me that I haven't reviewed this tune previously. Back when our former AAA station, WVRV, played this, I always used to let it play in its entirety. No matter how many times I heard it, the vocal harmony on the "waiting for" part of the chorus always got my attention. Even if singer-songwriter music isn't your genre, how could anyone not respect how well-structured and sung this tune is?)
KNCJ (Reno, NV)
- Ren Guang: Silver Clouds Chasing The Moon (Jie Chen, piano) (Chen conveys the hint of the chase and the chase itself effectively. Moments of trilling delicacy are interspersed with more assertive, energetic passages.)
WGMC (Rochester, NY)
- September Morn-Freddy Cole (Cole's voice, which resonates with life experience, shows how well this Neil Diamond hit works in a jazz combo arrangement. Kudos to WGMC for welcoming September this way.)
- September-Philippe Saisse Trio (I honored the dawn of September with my requisite playing of Earth, Wind & Fire's infectious hit a while ago. I'm impressed that Saisse and company honor the song's spirit so faithfully in their piano-centered instrumental cover.)
- Funky Girl-Akiko Tsuruga (Until this morning, I'd never heard this artist. Now that I've heard how much she sounds like Jimmy Smith playing the organ, I'm inclined to seek out more of her music.)
WRIR (Richmond, VA)
- Running Back-Cheekface (For indie rock singers, perfect intonation isn't always necessary. If you've got a strong enough rhythm section maintaining a strong enough groove, that sometimes suffices. I'd be curious to hear Field Music cover this.)
- Fortress-Thee Oh Sees (If the manic propulsion of the guitar and drums doesn't make you want to get on a bike and pedal furiously until at least one pedal falls off, maybe you're just indifferent to this tune.)
- Ghost Dance-Truett and George (How Santo & Johnny might have sounded doing some freewheeling guitar improv.)
WSUM (Madison, WI)
- Falling-Here We Go Magic (Sometimes, it pays to listen to just one more song. I was originally going to cap this review at nine selections but then thought, "Nah...Let's go for an even 10 and see what else is out there." I'm glad I did because I would have missed out on this life-affirming, jangly guitar-and-vocals track otherwise. Rhythmically, this reminds me of Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" and "Rotten World Blues" by Eels.)
