Songs for troubling times.

I can be a bit of a miserable git at times, and this is definitely one of those times. Music has always been my main go to for overcoming the melancholy. So what am I listening to as the world goes down the tubes?

Elbow/Sarah Brightman  - One Day Like This

I am a fan of Elbow, but this song always seemed tailor made for Sarah. A bit of a shame it appeared on the album where she ditched her regular producer making Dreamchaser her weakest album for a long time. Far better live, although too short. Elbow still do it best. Sarah tackles Barclay James Harvest's Hymn on her most recent album, and while I'm not the least bit religious that has all the uplifting qualities this could have done. 

Samantha James - Send It Out To The Universe

I have finally tracked down the 2CD editions of both of her albums and this still stands out as one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite singers. My friend Angela describes this as woo, woo stuff. Guilty as charged.

Over The Rhine  - Latter Days

This may sound like me wallowing in the gloom, and who's to say I'm not good at that. The words have always spoken to me, listen to them it is in fact one of the most uplifting songs I know. There are some great live versions on Archive.org with extended piano intros by Linford. It ends up sounding like a Chopin piano étude.

Van Morrison - Bright Side Of The Road

I bought Into The Music when it came out and this song can still raise mood and start a smile whenever I hear it. If it doesn't do the same for you perhaps check your pulse. The version of Philosophers Stone is also worth hearing but not a patch on this.

The other thing that I listen to a lot is the radio, but frankly I can't do too much news at the moment so podcasts and old comedy are what I'm listening to currently. Recommendations to follow.

It's the end of the world as we know it... maybe Bandcamp can save us.

I'm not going to bang on about C*******s because much like everyone else I could do with hearing about something else at some point just to avoid worrying myself into a frenzy.

So as there are some generous musicians making music available for free I'm going to post some of those, while also encouraging you to support the portals that provide the best return to artists whose livlehood has simply gone.

So to start off John McLaughlin has offered his wonderful new album with Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain "Is That So?" for free until the end of April though his Bandcamp page. If you like that then take the time to look at some of his other albums.


Speaking of Bandcamp they are waiving all their revenue share for the 20th March from Midnight to Midnight Pacific Time, which is 7am in the UK. Bandcamp are the best way of giving the maximum amount of your money to the artists at any time. Today it's even better. Learn more about Bandcamp's support here.

 

Speaking of supporting the artist, there is also the labels. MoonJune Records are a one man label who describe themselves as exploring progressive, Jazz, Rock, Avant and Ethno music. This is not as scary as it sounds and they have some well known artists, Soft Machine, Gong and others as well as some great people you will never have heard of. Try Dwiki Dharmawan for instance. They offer some name your own price compilations, which are great value. The booking agency that keeps the label afloat has unsurprisingly no business, so consider buying a few things from them today

MoonJune's Bandcamp page here

More on their plight at Sonic Perspectives here

That's all for now I'll leave you with a fab version of The Creator Has A Masterplan from McLaughlin and Santana. I certainly hope he does...