Playlist for 2006


I first heard Seu Jorge on the radio. He played a couple songs live and talked about his then current tour of America and the movie, The Life Aquatic. This CD has his Portuguese versions of 12 Ziggy-era David Bowie songs. Best Bowie covers I've ever heard!



Last year the Pat Metheny Group toured to support their new CD, The Way Up. I hadn't seen them live since 1997, so I bought the CD, loved it, and then bought tickets to their show at the Universal Amphitheater.

The tour and CD impressed me so much that I took a renewed interest in the PMG's 2002 CD, Speaking of Now.
I spent many hours of 2006 listening to Pat's "New Band," and I'm glad I did. The album is filled with wonderfully melodic songs and virtuoso playing. I'm now ready to go back to The Way Up.




I've been listening to Youssou N'Dour for a while. I first heard him sing on two albums from 1986, Paul Simon's Graceland and Peter Gabriel's So. Both records clearly bore Youssou's individual stamp, so I began searching for some of his solo stuff. This must have been around 1988 because CDs from everybody were available by then. Anyway, luckily for me, Nelson Mandela was there.

I like this CD very much. I guess I'd already been primed to the rhyme, but at first, I had to struggle not to to stumble with the rhythm. The power of this music both embraces and transcends politics.



When I'm writing estimates, I like a quiet, relaxed environment, but in our busy office that's almost impossible. One small alteration I can make is my choice of music.

As it turns out, Ambient music sounds especially good when I'm working. I'm not sure why, but I believe the lack of an active melody frees the pulse of my inner poet and draws the elusive muse from the shadows. Sometimes, anyway.

I usually listen to several ambient records together in random order. The Pearl, Ambient 1, Ambient 2, and a sampler from Eno's All Saints label called Compounds + Elements make for an especially productive soundtrack to my work day.



Ambient 2 is also a duet with Harold Budd. Actually, this one came out first, but I got it after The Pearl. There is a timelessness to this music that captivates me. Eno is the Jackson Pollack of Rock-n-Roll.










The Talking Heads have so much interesting music, but Remain In Light is my current favorite. Listening to this CD in the afternoon is like drinking a strong cup of coffee seconds before slipping into a mind-numbing food-coma. The funk keeps my head boppin' and the lyrics keep me sharp. I'll be sitting there, working away, and then suddenly I'll hear, "Falling bodies tumble 'cross the floor/Well, I'm a tumbler!" or I'll catch a bit of, "The wind in my heart/The dust in my head/Drive them away." Some other stinging lines are, "Sometimes the world has a lot of questions/Seems like the world knows nothing at all," and "Facts are simple and facts are straight/Facts are lazy and facts are late/Facts all come with a point of view/Facts don't do what I want them to." Right on Dave! The one change I make to the program is the set list. When the record first came out, it had a fast side and slow side; which is fine, but when I'm working, I like things a bit more balanced. Anyway, one day I hit the random button on my CD player and got what I feel is a much better running order to the songs. It starts with Once In A Lifetime, then Listening Wind, Born Under Punches, Great Curve, Seen And Not Seen, Crosseyed and Painless, Houses In Motion and The Overload. If you're able to program your CD player, try listening to the songs this way and tell me what you think.



I first started listening to Dylan in 1975, when he released Blood On The Tracks. From that starting point I worked my way backwards, investigating his classic 60s records one by one. It has taken a long while to chart that course, and the journey is still not complete; but Bob kept putting out records, didn't he. Lots and lots of records. Much of his 80s output remained largely unknown to me until the appearance of this CD. It's not that I didn't have the records: I kept collecting them. After all, I'm a hopeless record collector--I just hadn't listened to them. Then I got this one, and I listened to it. I've been listening to it a lot ever since. The best thing I can say about Greatest Hits Vol. 3 is this: it plays very well as a collection of songs, and it has drawn me back to an overlooked period in the maestro's career--just like any good retrospective should.