World Wide Woozle episode # 518

Hello enormous listening world,

There's a lot of music this time as I've been busily writing stuff down in my notebook all week. Onwards!

DJ Macca reminded me to listen to Joe Henry. Joe recently recorded an album with Billy Bragg but he's very much his own man. I heard this version of the classic, You Are My Sunshine, and I'm undecided about it. See what you think but to my current way of thinking it doesn't quite work.

Joe Henry - You Are My Sunshine - https://youtu.be/CzMgj2HPxd4

Lime Cordiale are an Australian band with a new album now out. I've had a couple of listens right through and it's great. An eclectic mix of pop, funk, reggae and electronica. I was turned onto the band after seeing live footage from them and I certainly plan to keep listening.

Lime Cordiale - Money (live in the studio) - https://youtu.be/hSho0gV-uDU

SBS TV showed a documentary about the life of Kenny Rogers last night. It's funny how much the young Rogers looks like film star Chris Hemsworth; maybe it's the beard. The doco was very interesting and I was particularly interested in Kenny's early years and how he got to be such a huge star. How many of you knew that Johnny Cash recorded The Gambler before Kenny? Not me. Here's Kenny's first major hit as a solo artist. I remember this well as it's the first song I ever learned that had a barre chord in it!

Kenny Rogers - Lucille - https://youtu.be/Wvr5Z0NsDm8

I also took a look at the Queen & Adam Lambert biopic available on Netflix. It's a good look at the band as a whole and at Adam as a performer. I like Roger Taylor's sentiments when he says something like, if you want to moan about Adam not being Freddie then just don't ****** come to the show. Also very evident was how in awe Lambert is of Freddie Mercury and the pressure he feels to perform at his best. If you like Queen and you aren't stuck in 1985 then you'll probably enjoy watching this.

Queen + Adam Lambert - Don't Stop Me Now (live) - https://youtu.be/uJO3-W1xsGs

The Chicks have now released their new album, Gaslighter, which is their first studio album since 2006's Taking The Long Way. I took some time to listen to the whole thing this week. It wasn't a chore as I've been a fan of the band since I bought a live DVD of theirs in 2005. Well, Gaslighter is a hell of an album. Even if you don't know the backstory of singer Natalie Maines' fairly messy divorce, you can feel her pain and hurt in almost every song. At times it's simply gut wrenching. That artists like Natalie can channel that much distress into an album is amazing. Not a happy album by any measure but an important one I think. Musically it's a bit like The Chicks and Taylor Swift have been on a collision course. They've dialed back their country and western sound a little and are including sounds that you might remember from some 80s records. It works really well. It's emotionally heavy but it's well worth your time.

The Chicks - My Best Friend's Wedding - https://youtu.be/dMU0Pfn65lU

The Chicks - Tights On My Boat - https://youtu.be/ZLXZpQbO1mA

Nick Cave turned me onto the next recording. He writes a fairly regular email where he answers questions from his fans and he mentioned Nina Simone and this song recently. You can read what Nick wrote here about a protest song that he liked. Here it is. I thought it was 18 minutes that went by far too quickly and there's plenty going on to immerse yourself in.

Nina Simone - My Sweet Lord / Today Is A Killer (Live) - https://youtu.be/9NFfOB7a-Ak

Sometimes I listen to a band purely on the strength of a song or artist's name. That was the case with the next track. As a result, I've got a reminder in my notebook to go back and delve into A Formal Horse's back catalogue. The song name is what got me on this occasion and the band describe themselves as "avant-rock awkward".

A Formal Horse - Here Comes A Man From The Council With A Flamethrower - https://youtu.be/LdWKULgyC2I

In a few days now, AC/DC's album Back In Black will turn 40 years old. The band's social media accounts have come to life with the promise of some history and unreleased videos as well as the predictable merchandise. Regardless of any cynicism, this is an album to be celebrated. Only months after singer Bon Scott's untimely death, AC/DC recruited another singer, wrote an album, recorded it and it turned out to be the second biggest selling long player of all time. Healthy debate remains about whether any of the lyrics came from Bon Scott. Certainly a lot of them have his cheeky signature all over them in a way that the band have rarely replicated since. I'll probably spring for some kind of special edition merchandise because, hey, they're my favourite band.

AC/DC - Shake A Leg - https://youtu.be/ww40RmFNsNo

I'm still in a bit of a rock and roll mood so I'm going to finish with a great slab of rock from Lenny Kravitz. At times Lenny gets a bit quiet and I don't really enjoy that side of him but when he decides to play it loud then it's rip roaring! This is also a really well put together video clip. And for the guitarists out there, I really dig the flanged rhythm bit that Lenny plays just before and during the guitar solo.

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way - https://youtu.be/8LhCd1W2V0Q

That's all folks. Rock on at home.

Rob

"Turn the tables with our unity,

They're neither moral nor majority.
Wake up and smell the coffee
Or just say no to individuality..." Pretend We're Dead, L7, 1992.