Five Songs, 3/30/2022

Vince Guaraldi, “Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)”

We’re not the most distant from Christmas on the calendar, but I think early spring is spiritually as far as you can get. So, nice timing, Plexasaurus!

Young Hunter, “After Death”

Desert-inspired heavy rock, this is from their self-released and self-titled 2016 release, which is full of psychedelic semi-doom. Overall, I kind of wish they were just purely instrumental, as that’s the most interesting part of this whole thing.

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Five Songs Special, 12/25/2021

CHRISTMAS DAY! TIME FOR A SPECIAL!

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “My Little Drum”

Oh yeah, Christmas music baby! This is from A Charlie Brown Christmas, a perennial favorite. What makes it such a lasting record is that it’s not insulting to its listeners. It doesn’t lean on treacle or anything to get the point across, and so you don’t get tired of hearing it.

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

Even when it’s going super traditional, it just turns in a lovely rendition of the song and doesn’t drag it out or anything. It’s pleasant!

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Five Songs, 11/13/2021

Jurassic 5, “Gotta Understand”

Feedback is one of the most disappointing albums I can remember buying. I adored the first couple LPs from J5, and then this album just kind of thudded to the ground. It seemed so leaden and joyless at the time that I just listened to it a few times and shelved it. Honestly, it’s due for a re-visit, and this track is pretty good. Maybe I’m just a dope?

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Five Songs, 10/18/2020

The Pietasters, “Without You”

You know, for a dude who claims to not like live albums, I sure have a lot of live albums. The Pietasters only have one good studio album, Oolooloo, but it’s tremendous. I bought this album because it was the next thing they put out, and I wanted more. This live album captured them at about the same time as their studio masterpiece, and it finds the band in roughly the same form. As a result, it’s probalby their second best album, which doesn’t say a ton about the rest of their career.

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