Music Streaming (is killing me)

I started streaming music about a year ago. I bought a Bluesound Node, hired an electrician to run an ethernet line from my router to my living/music room, and subscribed to Qobuz. I don't use the DAC in the Bluesound Node, I use the DAC in my Benchmark DAC3 HGC.

Why Qobuz? Well, Qobuz streams everything in the highest resolution available. I think high resolution audio sounds better than CD, and I find mp3 to be unlistenable. I can check something out with mp3, but it sounds like crap to me on the music room kit. I know that Tidal and some others also offer high resolution streams, but Qobuz is also the service that pays artists the highest royalty rate, although it is still too low. If you want to support artists, listen on a streamer, and then buy what you like on Bandcamp, which actually pays artists reasonably well.

But streaming is killing me because I can no longer keep up with all the music I want to hear. New music listed on Qobuz, old music by artists I've liked but not fully explored, recommendations from music blogs I read, and music reviewed in magazines (I've also started using Libby, a library app which lets me read a ton of magazines).

I have 86 records saved in Favorites in BlueOS, the software interface from Bluesound. A while back I put four that I'd like to get back to on a list on my iPad just to get them out of Favorites. That's 90 records I want to hear again, or which I haven't gotten to yet. Many of them get one listen and are then removed, but if I want to hear them again, I leave them in favorites. There might be a better way to save things or file them to a different list in Roon, I'm not sure. I tried Roon for a while but the BlueOS coupled with iTunes Remote (to listen from my iTunes library on my computer) seemed to do most of the Roon functions, and the additional info in Roon didn't seem all that much better than in BlueOS, especially given the cost of Roon, which is even more than Qobuz. If I want credits or more info, Discogs and Wikipedia do a good job with that. Liner notes would be nice, but I guess I'll get over it.

I have over 1100 vinyl records and over 1300 CDs. Over the years, and with recent purges, I have sold off at least as many vinyl records as I now own and a whole bunch of CDs. I am currently working on putting all the CDs on a hard drive accessible through iTunes. I'm about 1/4 of the way through that tedious job. I still buy vinyl occasionally. I used to take a lot of music out from our local library system to hear it, but streaming has replaced that function almost entirely.

When I want to listen to music I love in the best sound, I listen to vinyl. I know the technical arguments regarding digital music's superiority, but those arguments by themselves don't make music sound better. Maybe it's because I grew up with and never left vinyl. CDs generally sound fine to me unless they were transferred to CD in the mid-late eighties, before record companies and mastering facilities got their act together. I very rarely have bought the vinyl version after I bought the CD. For casual listening or background music (music is never really background music to me), I like the playlists I can find on Qobuz, or ones I have generated myself either in iTunes or Qobuz. Everything in my iTunes is lossless digital. I bluetooth music directly to my hearing aides from my phone at the gym. In my car, I have music on a USB flash drive.

Now I have to go work on catching up on my list of Favorites. I've never used the word "work" when discussing listening to music before now. It's killing me.

Rick Nelson Garden Party 1972

Two things made me think of this record. The first was the country rock sounds on the Peterson/Cowsill record I just reviewed, and the other was Bob Dylan's recent cover of Garden Party on YouTube. Rick Nelson was a huge hit in the late 50 and early 60s, recording a string of top 10 pop singles (several with rockabilly stylings) and successful albums. Around 1966 he began his exploration of country rock, and he made solid, if less successful records in the genre. His later sixties success was hampered by his difficulty overcoming his teen idol image. In 1969 he formed the Stone Canyon Band with Randy Meisner (bass guitarist of Poco and The Eagles), Tom Brumley (steel guitar player from Buck Owen's Buckaroos), Allen Kemp (guitar) and Patrick Shanahan (drums). They were a very talented group, and in 1972 they released Garden Party, his last chart success.

Nelson wrote six of the songs on the record, and they are all solid. The title track is the star, documenting his disappointing experience at an oldies concert at Madison Square Garden. But there isn't a weak song on the record. Rockers Let It Bring You Along, I Wanna Be With You, Chuck Berry's I'm Talking About You (with a jazz middle section!), and the honky-tonking So Long Mama all cook. The ballads are good, too, especially Nelson's Night Time Lady and the closer Palace Guard.

Most of Nelson's work is well worth exploring and available for streaming. As the pinnacle of his country rock records, Garden Party is a fine example of the genre, and just an excellent record by any standard.

Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill Long After The Fire 2025

Vicki Peterson was in the Bangles, Psycho Sisters and Continental Drifters (the last two with Susan Cowsill). She played lead guitar, wrote songs and sang with the all three bands. John Cowsill played drums in the Cowsills starting when he was ten years old. Later he played in Dwight Twilley's band (also with Susan Cowsill), and toured for twenty years with the Beach Boys, contributing vocals, keyboards and drums. The couple married in 2003.

And now we get their debut as a duo. The songs were written by Bill and Barry Cowsill, two of John's older brothers and Cowsills members, both deceased. The record was produced in Nashville by multi-instrumentalist Paul Allen, who plays guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums. Dave Pearlman adds pedal steel guitar, and Jimmy Calaire adds keyboards to two songs. Cowsill sings, plays drums, keyboards, and harmonica, and Peterson sings and plays guitar and mandolin. 

Fool Is The Last One To Know is classic country rock featuring hot lead guitar, great harmonies, and Cowsill's country twang of a voice (which he doesn't use on all songs). Vagabond is more solid country/rock with nice pedal steel guitar and verging-on-cliche lyrics that's a solid song. Peterson takes the lead and most of the glorious harmonies on Come To Me, a sweet keyboard driven rocking mid-tempo ballad. Is Anybody Here has another fine vocal from Cowsill. They actually rock out on the driving Sound On Sound with big loud guitars and a hot lead courtesy of Peterson. Peterson provides fine lead and harmony vocals on the folky acoustic Don't Look Back.

Peterson sings lead on You In My Mind, a power-pop gem that sounds like it could have a been a Bangles hit. Country sounds return for the two-step A Thousand Times with more pedal steel, a fine lyric, Cowsill's twangy lead vocal and great harmonies from Peterson. Embers is a slow country heartbreak waltz that gives the album it's title, and Cowsill blows some skillful harmonica. Downtown is a solid rocker that almost sounds like a Tom Petty song. The record ends with two ballads. When Hearts Collide sees the duo trade lead vocals, and Peterson wraps things up with the gentle acoustic of Ol' Timeless.

Cowsill gets 7 lead vocals, Peterson 4, and they share one. John Cowsill has an excellent voice, but then so does Vickie Peterson. They sound great in harmony. Some of the songs have almost cringy lyrical cliches (not many), but the melodies are strong, the musicianship is good, and the pleasure that Peterson and Cowsill share together is infectious. They're having fun and honoring John's brothers at the same time, and it works. 

The Proclaimers Live at the Belly Up 2017

 

One of the best live shows I ever enjoyed was the Proclaimers in 2008 at the 500 person capacity Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. They were great. Hard Stop. It was one of the times that they toured America with the full band, and it was a blast. 

The Proclaimers play to huge stadiums and festivals in the UK and Europe, but they end up in much smaller venues here in the states. On this 2017 tour, they were supporting their latest, Let's Hear It For The Dogs from 2015, but they did songs from throughout their career. It is an excellent way to get to know a top-tier pop/rock band. Great songs, tight band, and those perfect harmonies that always seem best by siblings, let alone twin brothers. 

Once you realize what you've been missing, you should pick up one or two of their fine records. Persevere 2001 is my favorite, Sunshine On Leith 1988 was their biggest hit and includes their international hit single I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and I'm On My Way, which was featured on the Shrek soundtrack. Dentures Out 2022, their latest, is excellent. You can't go wrong with any of them as they haven't made any weak records. The Very Best Of: 25 Years 1987–2012 2013 is a solid two-disc overview. 

This live set from 2017 wasn't released in any physical formats, but is available for streaming, and the entire show is also on YouTube.

Elton John and Bradi Carlile Who Believes In Angels? 2025

I originally intended to post this along with the previous Irma Thomas and Galactic record as a comparison between two legacy artists both working in tandem with younger artists, but I decided the Irma Thomas deserved it's own feature. More people are going to hear/buy this one, and that's a real shame. In the last 25 years Elton has made five really solid studio records that restored his work to his seventies high standards. This isn't the sixth.

Not that it's all bad. In fact some of it is pretty darn good and some of it is, well, less exciting. If you're a Brandi Carlile fan it will be more exciting than it is to Elton John fans, because it mostly sounds like a Brandi Carlile recording of John/Taupin songs. Carlile performs the acoustic You Without Me essentially solo, while John finishes the record with the fine ballad When This Old World Is Done With Me solo at the piano, and is featured prominently on Little Richard's Bible. The rest of the record is duets sorta. On a few songs Elton and Brandi sing separate verses and then duet the choruses, but on most they duet the entire song. And there's the rub. When they sing together, Elton's voice is swamped in the mix by Brandi's big brassy voice. That's probably on producer Andrew Watt, but it makes Elton a background vocalist for most of the record.

The record opens with homages to Laura Nyro and Little Richard. The Rose of Laura Nyro opens with a too long overblown intro reminiscent of of Funeral For A Friend while Little Richard's Bible is another version of Crocodile Rock that's not bad, and Elton gets to sing it without Carlile drowning him out. The title track twists the piano figure from Amoreena to decent effect, but it's another duet with too much Carlile in the mix. And that's really the story of the whole rest of the record. 

There's a bunch of good songs. The production by Watt is a bit too overblown-big-pop-production on some songs, but it's mostly OK, and the band is talented. Elton's recent records have managed an organic sound that this record eschews for modern glossy pop. I can almost see why the critics have been gushing over it. Almost, but not really.

Galactic and Irma Thomas Audience With The Queen 2025

New Orleans funksters Galactic have written an entire record (there's one cover song) for the amazing, still great Irma Thomas. At 84, Thomas can still sing like she sang 40 years ago, if not better. Of course if you heard her at the Jazz and Heritage Fest or on After the Rain 2006, Simply Grand 2008, or Love Is The Foundation 2020, you already knew that. Here, her classic soul/blues/gospel style is updated both stylistically and lyrically, and she storms into 2025 backed by the members of Galactic that both revere her and refuse to take a single step back from their funky march forward.

There's new/old school soul Piece In My Heart, Be Your Lady, and People, all of them sounding a tad like the best of Sharon Jones and the Daptones. Funk oozes out of Where I Belong, Love's Gonna Find A Way, and the social message of the great first single, Lady Liberty. Over You is bluesy, and How Glad I Am and Puppet On Your String have gospel overtones. Gang backup vocals, full choir on a few, and frequently super horn charts spruce up the sound. There's hot guitar and keyboards, and the always fabulous drumming of Staton Moore. The arrangements are darn near perfect every time.

And Irma Thomas sings everything to the ground. She had her first hit in 1959, and she's as great as ever right now. She inhabits, indeed embodies, every lyric in a way only a few singers can. She is magnificent.

I thought After The Rain was her late career pinnacle. Then came Love Is The Foundation, and that raised the bar again. This time a rare, beautiful legacy artist charges into the present and gives us something so wonderful it's just hard to even believe. But here it is. Anyone Who Knows What Soul Is (Will Understand).

Van Morrison Live At Orangefield 2024, New Arrangements and Duets 2024

I'm having a real problem keeping up with Van Morrison. Every decade since the 70s, he has released 9 or 10 (that's not guessing, it's accurate) new records. Now in the 2020s, only five years in, he's released 8 records already, and another is due in June 2025. The guy is 79 years old, and clearly won't slow down. I have managed to write about each of them in my Van Morrison series, which you can read here. 

Van Morrison has made several rock solid live records. Live at Austin City Limits Festival 2006 was good, and his live reimagining of Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009 was a blast. It's Too Late to Stop Now 1974 is just one of the best live records ever, and A Night In San Francisco 1994 was a brilliant reworking of his sleepy 80s catalog into funky R&B, and great.

So now comes Live At Orangefield 2024, documenting his live performance at his old secondary school just before it closed in 2014. It is a good selection of songs, and Van certainly seems motivated to perform in the place he gave his first live performance ever as a young school lad in a skiffle group. He can still sing today, so he certainly could do so in 2014. The band is the solid group he'd been touring with for a while, and Dave Keary shines on guitar throughout as do Paul Moran on keys and Alistair White and Chris White on horns. 

There's no surprises, but it is enjoyable almost throughout. Cleaning Windows, Moondance, Precious Time, Real Real Gone, Rough God Goes Riding, they all sound very good. The record ends by fading out during In The Garden as the "no guru, no method, no teacher" chorus is still going on. Why? Maybe he was about to walk off and let the band finish, well then lets hear that. It's not that big of a deal, but it's irritating. They could have left out the spoken word On Hyndford Street, which the crowd loves because he name checks locations throughout Belfast, but for the rest of us, it's the least interesting thing here. So it's a good one but not great one. More on that later.

Also in 2024, we get New Arrangements and Duets, an oddball mix of nine older songs rearranged and six duets, all of which were recorded between 2014 and 2019. About half of it is quite good, some is good enough, and two songs are particularly wrong. So it's a good one but not great one. More on that later.

The highlights: Kurt Elling duetting on Ain't Gonna Moan No More (scatting plus a great trumpet solo), a swinging version of Only A Dream, The Beauty of Days Gone By done up hot and jazzy with more great solos on sax and organ, a funky version of So Complicated that isn't much of a rearrangement from the original, and two fine duets with Willie Nelson(!) on What's Wrong With This Picture? and the lovely Steal My Heart Away, where Willie also contributes with his idiosyncratic guitar playing. 

The only real disappointments are a big band version of I'll Be Your Lover Too, which bulldozes the gentle original, and a duet with Joss Stone on Someone Like You that makes you want to hear Stone do the song without Van crowding her mostly out. The remaining unmentioned songs are all just fine, and some of the new arrangements are improvements, or at least interesting variations, on the originals. 

If you're a fan, both of these are well worth your time. I suppose thinking he's going to come up with one that matches his work in the seventies is a bit like thinking the Rolling Stones will give us another Sticky Fingers.

As for the "it's a good one but not a great one" line, I'll give a fellow blogger the last word. Wardo, an excellent music reviewer who blogs at Everybody's Dummy, left a comment on my most recent Van Morrison entry. He wrote "He keeps making competent, "not-bad" albums...  I will be very surprised if he gives us a modern masterpiece."