2009 was an interesting year musically for me as I plunged much deeper into the Jazz pool, beyond the getting my feet wet stage.  Venturing past the basics by Miles Davis, John Coltrane and others and reaching out for more Horace Silver, Stan Getz and others. 

Many of these artists seminal work was released 0ver 40 years ago, so writing reviews of old Jazz records when I don't know much about the field in general smacks of being a dilettante...Of course, that's never stopped me before!   Let's take at look at some of the best new music in my not so humble, pedestrian opinion then, shall we?

5. Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream What more can I say about an album that is easily his best since his last one, right?  I have to admit, that the sequencing made little sense to me, and for somebody as meticulous as Springsteen is, 'Outlaw Pete' struck me as an odd choice for the opening track.  That aside, one thing that continues to draw me to Springsteen's music is that he writes from where he is.  I have been particularly taken with the chorus of the song, 'This Life'

This life, this life and then the next
With you I have been blessed
What more can you expect

His singing voice has aged well.  The vocal tonalities for this particular track suit it perfectly.  An older man, who has traveled some miles in life, reflecting on the bounty around him.  Of course, the fabulous sax line from The Big Man doesn't hurt this song either.  Just another solid entry into the Springsteen catalog.


4. The Bird and the Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future The follow-up to the stunning debut from this duo shows tremendous growth and a slick sense of humor.  The "love letter" to David Lee Roth, titled 'Diamond Dave' is a hoot.  'Love Letter to Japan' is another stellar song from the album.  My only complaint is the inclusion of 'Polite Dance Song' which is also on the still available and in print EP, 'Please Clap Your Hands.' 

3. Brian Setzer Orchestra - Songs from Lonely Avenue The Orchestra's first release of all new, non-holiday material since 'Va-Voom' a few years back, has them in fine form.  Setzer had the concept of a soundtrack for a noir film and by and large, he succeeds on this outing.  From the opening track, 'Trouble Train' to the elegant and acoustic 'Elena' the album pulses with feeling and mood.  It is the moodiest of the releases from the BSO and that works in its favor, given the intent.

2. Norah Jones - The Fall The cover of the album to me is a real turn off.  Ugly dress, huge dog and top hat?  I don't like it, even though others do.  But, the contents...oh the album itself is terrific.  I found her last album to be a let-down, a holding pattern sort of.  There was some looking back, some looking ahead and just some looking around.  Jones steps out from behind the piano, no more Jazz Chanteuse for her, she moves into much more pop material and does so quite effectively.  The opening track, 'Chasing Pirates' starts things off and she never really lets go from there.  There isn't a weak track on this album. 

1. Melody Gardot - My One And Only Thrill Shut off the lights, put the album on and listen.  This sounds like it was recorded in those circumstances.  Very personal, very close and quiet.  Yet, this isn't a wimpy album by any stretch.  With the sole exception of a cover of 'Over the Rainbow' Gardot shows a song selection well suited to her talents.  Her reading of that song isn't bad, but it left me wondering why did she do it?    This album, really was my personal favorite of the year.  I know I've played it more than just about anything else I've bought this year.

Vault Issue:  Thin Lizzy - Still Dangerous Back in the 70's, everybody and their dog released a live album.   Most of them were cleaned up in the studio with flubbed parts fixed and the like.  It was called 'Sweetening'.  And for years, Thin Lizzy's 'Live and Dangerous' was the poster child as one of the worst offenders of his practice and that it wasn't really a solid document of their live shows.

This album should help to dispell that right now.  No overdubs, and you can't fix any of the late Phil Lynott's parts.  This is just a raw, and mixed recording of Thin Lizzy at the peak of the powers and popularity in the US.  Recorded live in Philly in 78 or so, they hammer their way through a ferocious set of prime Lizzy tunes.  It's not perfect, but live shows aren't meant to be.  They were a terrific live act, and now they have two examples to point to.

Re-issue of the Year:  The Beatles - The Whole Catalog This is a gimme, it's easy, no thought required and it was long overdue. 

This is an easy one. So many popular songs have been played to absolute death. Just pummeled into our heads by too many plays on the radio, car stereo's or iPods, that to hear them just "One More Time" is enough to make projectile vomiting look like a great try out sport in the next Olympiad...

I could listen to most any song by Led Zeppelin over and over again. At one point in time I had made a point of listening to 'Stairway to Heaven' on an almost daily basis. It was a great stress reducer, and that idea came from one of my friends from Michigan, lo those many moons ago.

I could also listen to 'Year of the Cat' or 'Song on the Radio' by Al Stewart everyday and it wouldn't strike me as often enough. Great songs both. Loved them both for years and years.

More recent songs that have seeped into my pores include 'The Way it Is' and 'Maybe Tonight' by Nicole Atkins. Or 'My Favorite Things' by John Coltrane. Songs that bear and improve to my mind with repeated listenings.

But the one song that really does it for me, always makes me reach for the volume knob to crank it up, is 'Born to Run' by Springsteen. I've loved it since I was a boy, when it came out in 1975 and rattled my little General Electric AM Clock Radio...it was the first song I remember playing 'air guitar' to. It was one of those first songs that got blasted out of my cheap car stereo speakers when I got my first car stereo, it is just one of those songs that have become more than just a song, but a valued friend.

To this day, hearing that song makes me feel like a 15 year old boy ready to take on the world...

I vividly remember hearing "Rapper's Delight" for the first time back at "World of Wheels" roller rink in Ann Arbor, MI. Having an avowed aversion to Disco at the time (at least publicly. Privately, I had 'Knock on Wood' and 'Ring My Bell' on 45 rpm record...), I totally missed the song 'Good Times' by Chic, so hearing the funky rhythm track and great groove on this new song with people Rhyming to the beat was totally new to me.

So, nothing to do I had to get a copy of it. Which I did. At Musicland in the Briarwood Mall. I rode my bike clean across town, and across a couple of majorly heavy traffic roads to get there. Heck, I-94 was nearby, couple that with a mall and other business in the area. It was about 4 miles or so from our house, which for a kid on a bike wasn't all that far.

I was surprised that there wasn't a 45 of the song, just a 12 Inch Single. Never was a 45, I found out years later. Over 14 minutes on one side and an edited version on the flip side. I paid something like $3.50 for the record, more than a 45, but less than an LP. With that record tucked under my arm, I road back home and learned the words to that song as fast as I could.

I used to know all the words, and could recite them without the record to prompt me. Sort of like reciting poetry, but with a beat you could bug out to...or just dance. We had no idea at the time that this sort of music would ultimately become so popular the world over and such an influence on popular culture. We just thought it was a cool record that was fun to listen to.

It sure looked out of place in my record collection amongst the BTO, Boston, Ted Nugent and Beatles. Who cared...I liked it.

Musicland is gone now, all of them. Closed down recently as the company went bankrupt and malls fell out of favor as the ultimate shopping destinations, and it's been years since most record stores actually sold records. Although, I was pleased to see familiar record bins with new records at the local shop...now, if only I had a turntable...

1	Al Stewart	259
2	Michael Jackson	177
3	REO Speedwagon	162
4	J. S. Bach	149
5	Melody Gardot	145
6	Charlie Parker	144
7	The Beatles	134
7	Material Issue	134
9	Camel	130
10	Miles Davis	127
11	Brian Wilson	114
12	Billy Joel	101
13	The Police	96
14	The Sounds	94
15	Chet Baker	89

Quite the variety of music the last three months.  This is the top 15 artists I've listened to over that time span and the total number of tracks/scrobbles by each artist.

Since Jacko died in June, this isn't much of a surprise to me.  Camel was a surprise, but a pleasant one.  They are one of the best groups you never heard of.

I hit 3,000 Al Stewart Scrobbles today! An amazing feat! A mind blowing feat! A feat which, with $1.50 will get me a coffee at McDonald's.

The song that put me over the epic milestone was "If It Don't Come Naturally, Leave It" from the Year of the Cat album.

I so love some of the Last.fm capabilities...

This has Pop Up Video beat three ways to next Thursday...



This is almost as funny....but not quite.

It's been well over a year now since I really started taking Jazz seriously.  Up until then, I fooled myself into thinking that I liked Jazz.  I had all the Diana Krall albums, a couple of Sinatra releases and some Glenn Miller.  A co-worker got me hooked on Al Di Meola, but that was pretty well the beginning and the end of my Jazz collection.

I'd bought a copy of Miles Davis Birth of the Cool a few years ago, listened to it a couple of times and thought it was swell.  Put it away and there it stayed.  On our trip to NYC last summer, I found a CD titiled simply, "This is Jazz" that had more big band/vocalists on it that other Jazz musicians.  Still, I liked it.  Then I grabbed some Charlie Parker, then out came the Miles Davis.  I was hooked.

The used bins, the old BMG Music group and the Jazz Heritage Society all became my friends.  I don't have a huge Jazz library by any stretch, but I do have one.  It's long on Coltrane, Miles and Duke Ellington.  There is a bit of Monk as well.  I've been quite fortunate to find a growing variety of Jazz that isn't all big band, Bop or experimental.

I must admit that I prefer more melodious Jazz to the experimental stuff.  For example, Coltrane's later work leaves me scratching my head.  Not because it is bad or anything, but it is hard for me to understand what he's trying to do.  A Love Supreme, for example is hailed as a masterpiece.  I don't get it. But that has more to do with me, I think than the album itself. 

Then there is Miles Davis.  He was always restless, and wanting to stay current.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.   Kind of Blue, Miles in the Sky and Bitches Brew were all high points of his career.  They have a timeless quality to them.  Then you come to his mid 80's release, You're Under Arrest and it is so terribly dated.  It sounds older than his material from the 50's and 60's. 

I'm digging deeper and finding more artists and albums to enjoy.  It's also one of those things I never thought I'd do when I was younger, you know?  Listening to Jazz wasn't cool or whatever when I was growing up.  You had to "rock out"  Did that...still do, but I also like musical challenges.

For me, today is the end of an era.  I got my last shipment from BMG Music Service as I am now no longer a member.  Well, technically I guess we still are, but for all intents and purposes our time with BMG is over.  We opted into the YourMusic.com subscription arrangement and our first item from the queue arrived today.

I understand that life is about change.  That trying to stop change is akin to a finger in the dyke to stop the flood.  Not gonna work.  Not only do I get it, but I welcome it.  Change usually represents better ideas or more efficiency.  Or a better deal.  And I think for me, the YourMusic.com deal will be a great way to get CD's at a reasonable price shipped to our home.

But I lament the passing of something that has been around as long as I can remember.  The Record Club.  Off and on for over 30 years, I've belonged to a record club.  They were a great way to jumpstart a collection.  When I was a kid, getting 11 cassettes for a penny, and only having to buy one more sounded like a better deal than the cut out bins at the mall.

The program was very simple.  Pick a bunch of releases, select your format (LP, Casette, 8-Track and for a while, Reel to Reel Tape), mail in the card with a penny attached, wait 6 weeks and voila!  Tuneage would arrive at your doorstep.  Whatta deal.

The biggest problem I had was sending back the selection of the month cards saying, "Thanks, but no" I don't want Zamfir's greatest hits.  And it would arrive in the mail, I'd be stuck with it, and have to pay for it.  Which I would, then cancel.  The the record club (in those days, Columbia House was THE club to join) would send you a pleading package and ask you to reconsider and offer you essentially the same initial offer to stay.  It became a case of Lather, Rinse and Repeat.

At 11 releases a pop, you could end up with 50+ records or cassttes for about the cost of 6, including their S&H costs (which have always been historically high).  Still, on a per unit basis, it was a great deal.

So, the idea of buying cheap (legitimate) releases in bulk for a few bucks, then getting a copy of Britney Spears latest CD shipped to the house because I forgot to send in the response card, is gone.  There are a few niche clubs in existence yet, but for the majority of people, this really is the end of an era.

I remember with bemusement, the off the wall cassette cases that you could immediately identify as Columbia House tapes.  They were white, with the Album Cover on the front, roughly the size of an oversized postage stamp, and the artist and album title on the spine between pink-ish lines.  Dead giveaway these tapes were licensed from another company.  To this day, when I think of the Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits, I see that cassette case in my mind.  Good Times.

Since we as a society have gotten over the habit of buying music, it's only natural that large companies no longer want to sell music via mail order.  There's also Digital Music to sell and download.  I understand this is just the natural order of things.  I'm just gonna miss it is all.

iTunes Genius has gotten a lot better since I whined about it sometime last year.  So much so that I took a fairly obscure song by 707 and created a 100 song playlist in mere moments!

MOMENTS, tell ya!  Beats laboring over what to put on a mix tape, that's for sure.

Here's the playlist, just because I know you wanna know!

• I Could Be Good For You    ||    707
• Hollywood    ||    Shooting Star
• You Don't Want Me Anymore    ||    Steel Breeze
• Full Moon Turn My Head Around    ||    Off Broadway
• The Salt In My Tears    ||    Martin Briley
• Slipping Away    ||    Dave Edmunds
• Turn And Walk Away    ||    The Babys
• Driver's Seat    ||    Sniff 'N' The Tears
• All Over Town    ||    April Wine
• He Can't Love You    ||    The Michael Stanley Band
• Only The Strong Survive    ||    REO Speedwagon
• Can't Keep A Good Man Down    ||    Eddie Money
• Do You Compute?    ||    Donnie Iris
• Stone Blue    ||    Foghat
• Sausalito Summernight    ||    Diesel
• It's Inevitable    ||    Charlie
• You Who Needs To Know    ||    707
• Last Chance    ||    Shooting Star
• Roller    ||    April Wine
• Stay in Time    ||    Off Broadway
• Head First    ||    The Babys
• Switchin' To Glide    ||    The Kings
• Stop This Game    ||    Cheap Trick
• People Of The South Wind    ||    Kansas
• Rosewood Bitters    ||    The Michael Stanley Band
• Say Goodbye    ||    Triumph
• Can't Get Loose    ||    Sammy Hagar
• Too Hot To Handle    ||    UFO
• Hang On For Your Life    ||    Shooting Star
• Drivin' Wheel    ||    Foghat
• Find Another Fool    ||    Quarterflash
• Sign Of The Gypsy Queen    ||    April Wine
• Whole Lot Better    ||    707
• When I Look In Your Eyes    ||    The Romantics
• Love's Got A Line On You    ||    Scandal
• City Of Angels    ||    Journey
• Love Is Like A Rock    ||    Donnie Iris
• I Love the Night    ||    Blue Oyster Cult
• Girl of my Dreams    ||    Bram Tchaikovsky
• Let's Get The Show On The Road    ||    The Michael Stanley Band
• Midnight
• Rendezvous    ||    The Babys
• Life Beyond L.A.    ||    Ambrosia
• Tomorrow Night    ||    Shoes
• Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight    ||    REO Speedwagon
• Touch Me Tonight    ||    Shooting Star
• Enough Is Enough    ||    April Wine
• Waste Of Time    ||    707
• "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)"    ||    Chilliwack
• La Do Da    ||    Journey
• What's On My Mind    ||    Kansas
• Trinidad    ||    Eddie Money
• Love Me Tonight    ||    Head East
• I'm A Loser    ||    UFO
• My Town    ||    The Michael Stanley Band
• Someday Soon    ||    Journey
• Borrowed Time    ||    Styx
• Variety Tonight    ||    REO Speedwagon
• Tonight    ||    Shooting Star
• "Baby, It's You"    ||    Sammy Hagar
• Feel The Way    ||    707
• Tellin' Me Lies    ||    April Wine
• Snortin' Whiskey    ||    Pat Travers
• Maybe I'm A Fool    ||    Eddie Money
• Too Late    ||    Shoes
• Sweet 17    ||    The Babys
• Look Into The Future    ||    Journey
• Clones (We're All)    ||    Alice Cooper
• Like You Do    ||    REO Speedwagon
• I Got The Fire    ||    Montrose
• Strange Way    ||    Firefall
• Flesh And Blood    ||    Shooting Star
• Where Were You    ||    Journey
• Screaming in the Night    ||    Krokus
• Slow Down    ||    707
• Only You Can Rock Me    ||    UFO
• Just Can't Wait    ||    The J. Geils Band
• It's Love    ||    King's X
• Back On The Road Again    ||    REO Speedwagon
• Live Now - Pay Later    ||    Foghat
• People And Places    ||    Journey
• Take The L    ||    The Motels
• Never Again    ||    Asia
• Back On My Feet Again    ||    The Babys
• Bring It On    ||    Shooting Star
• The Power Of Gold    ||    Dan Fogelberg
• Action    ||    Sweet
• Dixie Highway    ||    Journey
• Run Run Run    ||    Jo Jo Gunne
• One Way Highway    ||    707
• One Last Kiss    ||    The J. Geils Band
• Live It Up    ||    Ted Nugent
• Natural Thing    ||    UFO
• When You're Alone (It Ain't Easy)    ||    Journey
• I Do' Wanna Know    ||    REO Speedwagon
• Gonna Raise Hell    ||    Cheap Trick
• I Wish I Had A Girl    ||    Henry Lee Summer
• You've Got What I Need    ||    Shooting Star
• Breakdown    ||    Alan Parsons Project
• I La La La Love You    ||    Pat Travers
• Fight Dirty    ||    Charlie

•  

This is the most listened to tracks on my Last.fm account.  Outside of listening to the news on a somewhat regular basis, I'm not really sure what it means...



CLICK ABOVE IMAGE TO ENLARGE.  You'll need to in order to actually READ it...

There was a time in my life when I listened to Country music on an almost exclusive basis.  I was working at country radio stations at the time, and to be honest, I was tired of the small playlists and repetition offered by rock or pop radio.  I tired of the Eagles, most Steve Miller Band and CCR all by 1987 due to overkill on the radio.  Not much has changed, sadly.

Anyhow, I was working at a radio station in Boonville, MO (sa-Loot!) when Randy Travis appeared like a shot across the bow.  He sang stone country music, my friends.  That's all there was too it.  He was certainly a disciple of Merla Haggard, George Jones, and others.  None of the sheen of Countrypolitan that had crept into Country Music in the 60's and sort of hung around in one form or another since.  He was a breath of fresh air in 1986, I can assure you.  He quite literally took Country Music by storm.

His first album, "Storms of Life" had no clinkers on it.  It was a strong album from first track to last.  That warm, slightly nasal baritone weeping the anguish of the decision to cheat in "OnThe Other Hand" or the scars of carrying a torch in "Diggin' up Bones" carried the album in sales by being hit singles.   Yet, there was truth in the descriptions of honky tonks everywhere in "There'll Always Be A Honky Tonk Somewhere" and you know what?  There still is.  In small towns and big cities across the country.

Back in 1986, "1982" didn't seem that long ago, but it is now yet the song still resonates.  It's just a clear statement of country purity in music.  It was oft played by me years ago, and one of the few non hits country albums I own.  It's not something I listen to much anymore, yet I still know every word and love to sing along with it.  It's 32 minutes of fun.  If you like country music even a little bit, this album is worth seeking out.  Heck, it was reissued last year.  But, I have the original...

There are some bands or artists that are meant to be listened to in one fashion and one fashion only.

And that, Brothers and Sisters, is LOUD!

Ears bleeding, brain melting, eyes bulging and back shattering-ly LOUD!!!

This is nothing new, Boys and Girls.  However, the point has been driven home to me quite forcefully (or is that forcelessly?) as I listen to The Cult - Fire Woman at a socially acceptable level.  The song makes me want to jump up and break something.  Which is what a great Rock song is supposed to do...

Ok, I realize that middle aged fat guys shouldn't Squee.  That it is unseemly, and probably scary as hell to witness.  If it helps, try not to picture it actually happening but enjoy my happy space along with me.

So, if you've picked yourself up off the floor, onwards!

Elaine and I went out for an evening together.  Dinner, then we were headed to the movies but got sidetracked.  Which is okay fine.  The whole point of the evening was to hang out together and enjoy some smiles and laughs.  Which he did.  What sidetracked us?  Shopping...

We hit a heretofore unhit $1 store.  Great place, $1 stores.  This is also more than your usual $1 store, they also liquidate stuff as well.  Who knows, we could see all sorts of stuff from Circuit City stores from around the country in the coming weeks.  After that, we wandered down to the CD Outpost.  Kind of a hit or miss affair, this place.  There is a reason I don't buy a lot from them and that's because they take a lot of crap.  By crap I mean music I don't care for.  

But, I did find some unusual stuff.    The film score to 'L.A. Confidential,' 'The Ghost & Mrs. Muir,' 'Godzilla vs. Megaguirus' and a couple of Pat Benatar CD's.  The latter really sent me into the dizzies.  I had these on Cassette tape back in the day.  Damn near wore them out.  They bring back memories of younger days.  Car windows rolled down, because nobody had air conditioning in their cars, cassette deck hung under the dash because the car only had an AM radio.   FM convertors running through the AM radio, no cup holders, and cold beer on hot summer nights.

The reality is the music sounds better in my memory than to my ears.  And I'm okay with that.  Really.  The nice thing about having the CD's is now I can listen to the music with my ears, and my memory.  The audio is just better that way.

On a related note; I can tell that the record companies are getting desperate.  I know the new Springsteen album has already leaked.  I know sales are down and that they will continue to decline.  But when I go into a record store and they are selling the new Springsteen CD for $8.99 if you "pre-order" or pay now, get later...it makes me wonder just how over priced new CD's are.

I buy so few new CD's, I buy mostly used.  Which to me is just a wink and a nod to the RIAA, because the artist and record company doesn't get squat from those sales.  But...they have the benefit of being legal.  So, my thousand plus CD collection just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  It just does so on the budget plan.  Because I pre-paid for the Springsteen CD...

I am pretty tired this morning.  Staying up late watching election returns, and the wild celebration in Chicago last night.  I'm plumb tuckered this morning.

So, I decided that listening to cheesy hair metal for a while this morning.  I just hope it clears the cobwebs...if it doesn't work, then I may have to resort to the Partridge Family or something...

The 1970's saw a flood, nay more like a tsunami of Live records after the left field success of Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive."  Record companies fell all over themselves to get a live record out there by almost every artist on their rosters.

Most were unfortunate in that they sounded like the slap dash efforts they were.  Too often, the recordings were a mess and had to be 'sweetened' in the studio later.  In other words, they would use part of the live recording, and re-record other parts.  Making them less live in actuality.

The Michael Stanley Band was one of the hardest working bands in the midwest during this time period.  Rabid fans in their native Cleveland, Oh and environs helped them land a recording contract, and Epic/Columbia had them rush a live album out in response to the above mentioned album.  As MSB were in the midst of recording their next studio album, some five tracks made their debut on Stage Pass, a double live LP release that nicely fits onto a single CD.

The gentle ballad "Rosewood Bitters" sounds quite nice in a live setting.  The lead off track, "Midwest Midnight" is a angry attack on the music industry, and the first stanza is about Spanking the Monkey under the covers.  Took me a long time to really figure that out...and the rockin' 'Strike Up the Band' closes out the album.

This release shows what a tight, solid band MSB was at that time.  It shows why their stage show was justifiably popular and worth seeing.  MSB is one of those groups that commonly gets labled, "Should've made it bigger" and in this instance, I think it's a worthwhile lable.  Also, it's a worthwhile album to get.  Lots of fun, and some great playing by a great band.

I've had mixed success with the new 'Genius' function in iTunes 8.  Mainly because it is SO limited in what it will work with.  Pretty much has to be mainstream music in order to work. 

I used a song by April Wine as the 'seed' and had no trouble.  I've tried at least a dozen songs by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and get "Genius doesn't work with this song...blah, blah, blah..." Yet it works with Triumph, a middlin' band of minor note and a poor reflection of Rush.  Somebody, please explain this to me.  [EDIT:  All of this was done on my new iPod classic]

So, until 'Genius' gets smarter, let's just call it Pretty Smart/Limited

But, for some reason it does.  At least for me...



Give it listen all the way through, and I'll bet you'll be thinking "Why didn't I think of that?" same as I did first time I heard it...

The following is a list of artists/bands I have seen in concert.  I used to think my taste was pretty eclectic, but looking at this list, I need to get out more...

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
The Rockets (from Detroit)
Ted Nugent
Asia
Loverboy
Donnie Iris
Bryan Adams
Journey
REO Speedwagon
Moody Blues
Marshall Tucker Band
.38 Special
Outlaws
Black Sabbath
Pat Travers Band
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Shiny Toy Guns
Crowded House
Glenn Miller Band
B.B. King
L'il Ed & Dave Weld
Loretta Lynn
Conway Twitty
Randy Travis
Vern Gosdin
Alabama
Lee Greenwood
Eddy Raven
Ricky Van Shelton
Reba McEntire
Holly Dunn
Charlie Daniels Band
Kathy Mattea
Philip Glass
Bill Cosby
Billie Jo Spears
Asleep at the Wheel
The Bellamy Brothers
Joe Diffie
Highway 101
Patty Loveless
Statler Brothers
George Jones
Jerry Reed
Liam Finn
16 Frames

Amazing vocal skills, and this tune just cooks....

But I listened to better music.  I toted mine around while I delivered my newspapers on my paper route.  I think I had about 4 8 tracks at the time.  It was handy for that because I didn't have to set it down to change the track it was playing.  I just sort of held it out and snapped my wrist, sort of like a flick or something and the handle stayed put, but the player moved, activating the switch.

I was so damn cool, lemme tell ya...

I still think of this silly player when I listen to The Rolling Stones "Goats Head Soup" album.