Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers - "Can't Go For That"

Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers are a rock/country/soul band from San Francisco with a busy touring schedule. Between gigs they pass the time by playing cover songs in their van, recording them and posting them online for fun. This tune by Hall and Oates is one of my favorites maybe because De La Soul sampled it on "Say No Go". This one was recorded between gigs in Phoenix, AZ and Pioneertown, CA.

Cobblestone Jazz - Traffic Jam

Cobblestone Jazz are a 4-piece Canadian improvised electronic band, who create deep minimal house music. They remind me of the other excellent Canadian electronic improv band The New Deal. This track "Traffic Jam" came out back in 2007. I'm just digging into their new album "The Modern Deep Left Quartet" out on !K7 Records.

Cast of Cheers - "Family"

I haven't posted in too long ... and I best hurry because spring is here and we need some up-tempo tunes fast! I don't know what you would call this sound, 80's-alt meets math rock meets discordant-slacker-ska ... but it works! And well!!!

B.T. Express - "Express"

How's this for some funky Friday music? A gem from the Super Gold 36. Get on the Express!

Stampeders - "Playing in the Band"

Another great cut from 36 Super Gold Hits. The Stampeders are a 3-piece combo who formed in Calgary back in 1965. In 1966 they moved to Toronto to pursue rock and roll stardom. They achieved this in 1971 with their number 1 smash hit "Sweet City Woman", which won the Juno for best single of the year. They also won best group, best producer, and best composer Junos that year. Fast forward to 1975. These guys are living the life. They're "playing in the baaaand...all across the laaaand". It's a little slice of white prairie rock with a reggae vibe.

Check it out here on the new CBC Music website.

Faces - "Stay with Me"

Here's another gem from 36 Super Gold Hits. Who knew that Rod Stewart used to be cool, let alone badass? Here is his early band Faces, made up of members of The Small Faces, who added Ron Wood on guitar and Rod Stewart on vocals. On this track he gives Robert Plant a run for his money on vocals, and Mick Jagger a run on moves and general coked-up-ed-ness. Ron Wood went on to join the Rolling Stones, and Stewart settled into a solo career of mediocrity compared to this rocking-ness.

David Geddes - Blind Man in the Bleachers (Last Game of the Season)

Last night I dug out 36 Super Gold Hits for a listen. There were so many fantastic tracks on this double record K-Tel collection, that I kind of want to feature them all! I just might! Most I enjoyed unironically, however this one caught my ear for it's over the top melodrama. It takes so many movie-of-the-week plot lines and jams them into one heart-string plucking ballad.
Fair warning: This one might make you cry.



Just to review:
-The Blind Man is in the bleachers, as he is every game, hoping for his son to be a game winning hero
-Son is an underachieving benchwarmer
-It's the last game of the season, Friday night at home
-Kid gets called into the game, has the best game ever
-On the night his father died

Incredibly the world didn't call out for more songs like this one from David Geddes. The over the top schmaltz didn't propel him into a lenghty career. But it did chart into the top 20 in 1975. His biggest came just a few months earlier: another cheese-ballad about a shotgun wedding called "Run Joey Run", which was resurrected by Glee, for some melodramatic reason.