With little rhyme or reason to the selection, here are several more artists I’d like to share from my Last.fm lists.
Katharine McPhee – Had It All
Let’s start off Mike’s Music Mix this week with an American Idol alum who finished her season in second place. She was my number one choice in Season 5, once Stevie Scott was eliminated. Katharine started out with a bluesy quality to her voice that apparently was holding her back from being more popular, and as I understand it, she undertook training to make her voice less bluesy. I like bluesy, so I didn’t mind it, but I like her voice after the training, too.
Santana – Game of Love
There’s been some controversy around Carlos Santana. I’m not entirely up on what was said or done most recently, but I believe he apologized for some statements he made that certain people took offense to, so hopefully no one will find it offensive of me to post some of his music in my mix here. I’m one of those people who can enjoy the artistry despite the good or bad behavior of the artist.
Santana was told at one point that he wasn’t relevant anymore. That was a while back. As of this writing, he’s still playing and touring. He likes to find guest vocalists for his releases, as in this video.
Jordin Sparks – Call My Name
The youngest contestant (so far) to win American Idol, Jordin Sparks has blossomed into an R&B vocalist with a vocal range and controlled vibrato of which any R&B singer could be jealous.
Billy Joel – The Stranger
Billy Joel writes great lyrics and is great at singing them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t always good at picking the right person to manage his finances, and at least one such person he hired was good at hiding behind the mask. I trust Billy is doing fine now.
I never learned how to whistle myself, but respect those who can do it well. Billy Joel does it well.
Kylie Minogue – Come Into My World
Kylie Minogue has been around for a while, but her voice still has that sweet, young sound. You can hear it in her latest videos, but for this mix, I wanted to go back to my favorite Kylie album, Fever. I owned Fever on CD, and played it a ton. Hearing reports of her health issues saddened me, and I hoped she wasn’t out of commission for good. She wasn’t, and continues to make music to dance to… or you could walk in well-choreographed circles to the beat, if you like.
Alabama – Born Country
I was born in the city, but raised in the country, and most of my early memories are of country living. The songs of the band Alabama were released after I left home, but they always took me back, and I can get emotional and nostalgic listening to them. I saw Alabama in concert a few years ago, and while they looked different than when they started out, their live set still moved me. My wife doesn’t enjoy country music much, so she didn’t sit through the concert, but I wasn’t going anywhere until it was over. The concert was at Sea World, and she went and looked at the fishes while I listened and reminisced.
K. Flay – High Enough
Blood in the Cut is my favorite K. Flay song, but I’ve posted it on the site before. High Enough is a favorite, too. Going from Alabama to K. Flay is quite the transition, but serves to highlight how varied my tastes in music are.
Atlanta Rhythm Section – Imaginary Lover
Atlanta Rhythm Section have lost some of their founding members since releasing their first album just over 50 years ago, but they’re still a band and are still making music for their fans. I’m not sure which of their songs I like the best, and maybe that depends on my mood at any given time, but this hit is among my favorites. The song is as fresh in my mind as it was back then, and I’ve not gone totally mental yet.
Listening to this track reminds me of Nick’s lady ghost in my GameLit/LitRPG Head Hoppers series. I won’t say the song directly inspired me to include a lady ghost lover in the series, but we are all a collection of our experiences, so there might have been some indirect inspiration happening here.
Carrie Underwood – Undo It
The fourth season of American Idol aired all the way back in 2005, when Carrie Underwood was 22 years old. She won her season, as I hoped she would after hearing her story and hearing her sing. At the age of 40 now, she’s still singing her heart out and releasing new music, with a voice that remains distinctly hers. She was still in her twenties when she released her first four albums, the third of which was Play On, one of my favorites. Undo It was a number one country hit from that album that also ranked high on the overall Billboard Top 200. According to Wikipedia, in the US, Carrie is the best-selling artist from the American Idol franchise, selling over 16 million albums, but more than that, is one of the best-selling country artists in the US, period. It just proves that the dream can be yours, if you have talent, set your sights on the goal, and work hard. My problem has always been setting my sights on a single goal. There are too many things I want to do creatively.
David Allan Coe – The Ride
Once upon a time, there was a subgenre of country music referred to as outlaw country. The artists playing outlaw country music were referred to as outlaws, not because they had been to prison in real life, though some of them had been. They were outlaws because they didn’t adhere to the paradigms set forth for country music by the Nashville establishment. I never went to prison myself, but never caring much for arbitrary requirements made by those who deemed themselves in power, I connected with these outlaw country musicians on an aesthetic level. David Allan Coe’s lyrics often amused me, and I’d wonder sometimes if other people were as amused by them as I was.
Carly Rae Jepsen – Now That I Found You
I was almost thirty when Carly Rae Jepsen was born in Canada. I was around fifty when she auditioned for Canadian Idol. A little later, she released Call Me Maybe, which became her signature hit. It’s a catchy tune, and I love it, but I suspected Carly would be like Martika from the 80s – release one or two major US hits, and then some other stuff only a few diehard fans would remember. But Carly has had staying power, and I’m appreciating some of her later songs more than her signature hit. Her album, Dedicated, is one of my favorite albums now, and one of the few albums I can on occasion listen to all the way through three or four times on repeat. Here’s one of my favorite tracks from Dedicated.
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son
I was born to a poor white family, but I don’t think anyone in the area considered us as “white trash.” If they did, I was oblivious to it. But I certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, as the saying goes. I did respect the red, white, and blue flag of the USA, and have often felt fortunate to have been born in the country I call home. And yet, there have been times of late when I find myself not feeling so lucky to be living in the US. At one point, I seriously considered trying to get a work visa for New Zealand, and took the initial step of contacting the appropriate office in New Zealand for more information. We put our house on the market… but we couldn’t get a price we thought was fair, so that put an end to the process.
I still don’t like many of those in power in the US, not only at a federal level, but also at the state level. I despise how Ron DeSantis redrew the voting districts map in Florida so that I’m now in a district that is represented by a politician in the House of Representatives who doesn’t share my views. Before DeSantis redrew the map, I had at least one representative in the federal legislative branch of government who truly represented me. Now I have none. It makes me sick when those in power take advantage of the system to create more power for themselves while oppressing those who don’t agree with their views. Am I truly a fortunate one anyway for living in the US? If those in power don’t strip everything away from me, then maybe I am, but it certainly feels at times like… it ain’t me.
Miley Cyrus – Used To Be Young
I share a special connection with Miley Cyrus that she doesn’t know about, but I think it’s cool. It got me listening to her music, and I’ve continued listening since. When younger, my kid would pretend to be Hannah Montana, wearing a blond wig whenever we went out. I didn’t encourage or discourage the behavior, but let my kid wear the wig whenever she wanted. This was before she came out as a transgender female, and I didn’t read anything into her desire to imitate a fake pop star named Hanna. Whoever my kid is, it’s for her to know and be, and I love her just the same regardless. I do hope she stays out of trouble. She’s a few years older than Miley. We all used to be young, including me. 🙂
David Bowie – Fame
A lot of songs are remixed or remastered and then re-released. David Bowie released Fame in the 70s, and then remixed a version of it, released in 1990, and hence the 90 in its name. I’m not interested in tracking two versions of the same song separately, and tracked both Fame and Fame 90 as Fame on Last.fm. Purists would be shocked. I’ve never been accused of being a purist about anything. I tried to be one once, discovered it was beyond my capabilities and sensibilities, and haven’t tried again.
What better note to end things on than one from David Bowie? Thanks for the visit, and I hope you come back again.