31 July 2025 - Hole - Violet

You know, I haven't posted much Hole on here.  

And the only other time I posted Hole, I remarked that I had not posted more Hole. 

Well, as part of my 1000 albums in a year project, I listened to their 1994 ill-timed breakthrough Live Through This.  I say ill-timed because it was released less than a week after Kurt Cobain a.k.a. Courtney Love's husband killed himself.

No, I don't think Courtney did it.

Anyway this song - reportedly about Love's pre-Cobain relationship with Billy Corgan - opens the album.  It is dark and bombastic and beautiful. 

This song was one of the first written for the album, and the band first started performing in live in 1991, a full three years before its official release.  I thought about sharing the 1991 Peel Session recording of this song, but I felt this 1993 live version better captured the raw energy of this song.

I actually saw Hole while they were touring in support of this album.  

July 26, 1995, Lollapalooza, Hartford, CT. 

I desperately looked for video from that performance (Courtney was CLEARLY grieving hard, so I remember the show fondly), but could not find it. I did find Lollapalooza footage from three days later..... and yeah, it absolutely kicked ass.

This song followed their cover of "Pennyroyal Tea" during the set, so if you want to rewind a bit to hear that, be my guest.

30 July 2025 - The Wanton Bishops - Sleep With The Lights On

As many of you know, I am presently going through a project where I am listening to 1000 albums in a year.  I'm past the 300 mark at this point, and I have discovered a LOT of music I would have never otherwise heard.  

One such band is The Wanton Bishops.  And, before you read any further, listen to this song.  

Great Delta Blues sound, right?

The Wanton Bishops is a band, but really, it's one guy - Nader Mansour - from Lebanon.  

The country.  Not Lebanon, Mississippi.  Which, to be fair, is a place that exists. But no.  He's from Beirut.  Mansour, however, DID travel to Mississippi to learn more about the sound - and he executes it perfectly.  

This song is from his/their debut album of the same name, released in 2015.  However, in 2025, he's still performing this song. And it sounds fantastic.  I really hope they tour the US soon, because I *need* to see this live myself.  

25 July 2025 (Special Edition) - Golden Earring - Twilight Zone

It's been a tough week.  

Adding to the body count this week, George Kooymans of Golden Earring passed away.  He wasn't a household name in the United States - Golden Earring were Dutch - but you know his voice and his work.  In the US, they were a one hit wonder.  This absolute classic, from 1982, is that one hit.   To let you know just the kind of band they were, this song was from their 16th album, Cut. 

Kooymans passed away from complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which forced his retirement in 2021.   He will be missed.

His energy live is really really gonna be missed.

24 July 2025 (Special Edition) - Chuck Mangione - Give It All You Got

Our last THREE posts are special editions.  What a terrible time. 

The most famous fluegelhorn player is best known for the megahit "Feels So Good", but the native Rochesterarian did a lot more than that.  For instance, he wrote the official theme for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, held in Lake Placid, just a few hours from Rochester. 

And he performed it there, too.  But the poster won't let us embed that, so here's his performance of "Give It All You Got" from that Games's closing ceremonies. 

Mangione passed away this week, and he will be missed. 

22 July 2025 (Special Edition) - Ozzy Osbourne - Mama, I'm Coming Home

I was having a nice few days off.

And what did I choose to celebrate the life of the now-late Ozzy Osbourne?  

His only solo Top 40 hit, which reached #28 on the Hot 100 in 1991.  It's a power ballad that I ABSOLUTELY hated when it was new.... and I have come to appreciate. Co-written by Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, and Lemmy Kilmester of Motörhead, it was originally written on piano, but moving it to guitar really amped up the power. 

It is rare that we get such a soon final performance of a song like this.   But we have it here.

July 5, 2025.

It was to be his and Black Sabbath's final performance, and... well, you can tell he's weak, and he threw EVERYTHING he had into this performance.   

 

Ozzy Osborne has passed.  His voice will be missed. 

17 July 2025 (Special Edition) - Connie Francis - Where The Boys Are

Connie Francis - born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in a time when Italians weren't exactly beloved in this country (hence the stage name), actress and singer, passed away yesterday at age 87 - and news has broken on this today.  

Now, modern music fans probably don't think much of this, but in 1960, when she first hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 - her first of three #1 hits - she was the FIRST woman to do that. She was also the first woman to have three #1 hits and that record held until 1979 (Donna Summer, for the record) .

She was a big deal, guys.   

This song was not her biggest hit - but it is an enduring one, from the movie of the same name (that she also starred in).  This song hit #4 in early 1961. 

By the way, in 1989, 29 years after the song's release, Connie Francis performed it on Today. 

In Fort Lauderdale, where the movie was set.

And she sounded great.

She would return to Fort Lauderdale Beach in 2010 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie. 

And yeah, she sang it again.

Connie Francis will be missed. 

17 July 2025 - Baby Nova — Too Pretty For Buffalo

I sincerely thought she was going to be from Buffalo.  I mean, she co-wrote and performed a song that makes you think she's from middle America.

Hell, the song even SAYS "....hotel middle America, you can never leave here."

Nope.  

Nova Scotia.    

Still, this artist - real name Kayleigh O'Connor (at the end of this video, you hear an older woman reference her by name) who is very much up-and-coming, is worth your listen.  The video is a combination of Baby Nova standing in an empty room posing and what look like old home videos.   It's kind of cool.

16 July 2025 - Angèle - Bruxelles je t'aime

Let's just not bury the lede.  

Angèle is from Brussels, Belgium.  This song is a love letter to her hometown and her home country.  Written during the pandemic, when she was forced to be away from Brussels, she wrote what will undoubtably become their tourism anthem..... and an anthem for a unified Belgium (yes, the country splitting apart on language lines is a real possibility). 

This was the lead single off her 2022 album Nonante-Cinq, or, as we say in numbers, 95.  She was born in 1995, so... well, title makes sense.  

Anyway, the song was a hit in all of Belgium, and elsewhere in Europe.  And it's delightful. 

By the way, not joking about it being a tourism anthem.  This is unofficial but, still.

Also, used in a LOT of TikToks about Brussels.

@lisasloodts Lights in Bright Brussels ✨#bruxelles#bxl#brusselsbynight#brightbrussels#lightfestival#brussel#travelbelgium#visitbrussels#traveltiktok#travellife#fyp ♬ Bruxelles je t’aime - Angèle

But you didn't come here for the TikToks.  You came for the cool live performances.  

And the first is from French television, and it's not the electro-pop version, but rather a quiet, piano-driven one. Her voice pairs so well with the piano, which she is playing. 

Worry not, friends.  She also does the original version live - extending this version in Montreal to north of eight minutes that do NOT seem wasted. It's high energy, even when it's a love letter for a different city - and listen to all the Quebecois singing along about Brussels. 

15 July 2025 - Ribbon Skirt - Wrong Planet

Last week, the Polaris Prize committee announced their short list.  

Ten great Canadian albums.  

Which I like to think of as ten great albums that happen to be Canadian.  

I listened to all ten of them.  In a day.  Which is insane.  (Full disclosure - I had previously listened to one of the nominees - Nemhasis - and posted about her during Maple Leaf March). 

All of them were good.  

One of them was a lot better than the rest.

Bite Down, by Ribbon Skirt.  

Previously known as Love Language, this Montreal, QC band is amazing, with a rock sound - and this album is my favorite of 2025 so far.    Give them a listen. 

Got that down?  Good.  Now listen to their SXSW 2025 performance of the same song.   It's practically star-making. 

14 July 2025 - A "Bette Davis Eyes" Special

So I'm flipping through Spotify a couple of days ago and I hear THIS. 

JoJo Siwa covering a nearly-forgotten 80's classic song was NOT on my 2025 bingo card.  However, it's pretty solid - an electronic update of the Kim Carnes classic.  Her raspiness matches the song well.  

But let's talk about the 1981 Kim Carnes version - which adds a sultry breathiness to the raspiness.  THIS version - Carnes's biggest (but not only - she isn't a one-hit wonder) - spent nine weeks at number one on the US charts, and won the Grammys for Song and Record of the Year. 

The song also reached gold and platinum status, and Carnes sent gold and platinum records to Bette Davis herself - who was very appreciative of the song and of course hung those gifts up prominently. 

So the thing about the Grammy for Song of the Year - it's a songwriter award.  Kim Carnes did not write this song.   Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon wrote this song, so they won the Grammy. 

However, even though they won the Grammy in 1982, they WROTE the song in 1974, and DeShannon was the original artist.  Although her version is VERY different, I don't think she was terribly upset that her song was made into a hit by Carnes.  

I thought it would be a fun detour here to hear a man cover the song.  

So who better than Liga Joe, from Brazil? We've featured them before. This is straight-ahead rock and I don't really care where they're from - this is a great song. 

Other artists, however, have made this song into a hit.  Shockingly, Gwyneth Paltrow is one of them.

(Long time readers here are NOT surprised)

Anyway, this version - from the movie Duet - went platinum in Australia, and was a top five hit there. And, although not as raspy, it's still well done. 

Although Taylor freaking Swift performed the song live, and did so beautifully on an acoustic guitar, it did not become a hit from her. 

That does not mean it wasn't great. 

T-Swift isn't the only pop superstar to cover this song live.   Kylie Minogue did it, too, and did it a little less acoustically. 

And we come back full circle to JoJo, who performed it live before she went into a studio.

Not gonna lie - I like this version better. The raspiness is more natural. 

11 July 2025 - BLACKPINK - JUMP

BLACKPINK is back (in your area) and they have a new song.

I honestly thought they were done.Seriously.  These four women don't need each other anymore.  They've all got successful solo careers.  Heck, a couple of them are acting.   

Anyway, their new song is solid..... but also, this is one of the most messed-up videos I've ever seen. 

10 July 2025 - X - The Unheard Music

This post caused me to make an edit to X's Wikipedia page.

You see, it said that X WAS an American punk rock band.  I changed the WAS to IS.  Yes, they are on a farewell tour, but it is NOT over yet.  Hold off on the breakup, Wikipedia. 

This song, which also lent its title to a documentary about the band (and that's where this video comes from), is among my favorites by the band.  It's about not hearing anything but smooth chords and no hard chords (not hardcore, which a lot of people think it says).  

It's a GREAT song.   

Some of you may have heard the song in its live version in the movie The Decline of Western Civilization, a documentary about the LA punk scene.  This is THAT version.

Later live versions are slower and include the most punk instrument, a marimba.  

4 July 2025 - Sabrina Carpenter (& Dolly Parton) - Please Please Please

Today, we're featuring two national treasures.

The first is the #1 hit - and 2025 Grammy nominee song written by Sabrina Carpenter, Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen, and performed by Sabrina Carpenter.  The single following her enduring hit "Espresso", THIS song was her first #1 single in the US ("Espresso" only made it to #3).  It was, in fact, the 16th biggest US hit of 2024 by any artist (to be fair, "Espresso" was 7th). 

Anyway, this song - a country-tinged masterpiece (more on that performance in a moment) is delightful and fun, and the video gritty and somewhat hilarious, featuring Carpenter's then-boyfriend Barry Keoghan. 

I mentioned two national treasures.

The second is Dolly freaking Parton.

This version, a duet between Dolly and Sabrina, was released in early 2025 as part of a deluxe version of the Short 'n Sweet album - reached #17 on the US Country charts (Carpenter's first appearance on that chart, not surprisingly). 

Also, I have now learned that we can't swear in front of Dolly - but also, leaving out the word "motherfucker" was probably a concession to country music radio.

This twangier version is still delightful. 

TO be fair, Sabrina made the lyric change when performing it live in BCC's Live Lounge as well. 

She definitely did NOT change the lyric for NPR, though. However, she also talks about the song and how it came to be, and it's a great story (and a great performance).

3 July 2025 - The D.O.C. - The Formula

When The D.O.C. was new and the best bud of all the guys in N.W.A., I didn't give him a chance.  

I should have.  No One Can Do It Better is a classic album that absolutely serves as a preview for Straight Outta Compton.  This is where they honed their G-funk sound that combined funky beats with hardcore rap.  

This particular song was written by The D.O.C. and contains significant Marvin Gaye samples.   

Because of an accident, The D.O.C. lost his unique voice early on, but his songwriting lives on.  

Oh, he's not dead, people.  He literally had a car accident that damaged his voice box.  

2 July 2025 - They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng

The opening song and opening single from TMBG's 2nd album, Lincoln, is possibly less goofy than people were expecting.  

What I wasn't expecting was the gated guitar riff throughout, which ties the whole song together.   

The unusual title comes from a browse of the New York City White Pages.  There were literally four pages of "Ng"s.  A common Cantonese last name, it is properly pronounced like the end of the word "song", but I have heard it pronounced as they do - which isn't quite the same Ng - and I have heard it pronounced "En-Gee".  

There ya go.  

Yes, the band is still touring, and yes, they do still play this song.  Here they are, performing it two months ago.  

The guitar is maybe even more impressive when you see the whole band.

1 July 2025 - Lights - How to Sleep When You're on Fire (The Full Album)

I mentioned back in March that Lights made a nighttime instrumental synthwave record during the pandemic to benefit Black Lives Matter Vancouver.  For Canada Day, here is the entire album.

That desciption, by the way, is hers, not mine. 

Over the last couple weeks of sleeplessness and learning and darkness and processing I made a nighttime instrumental synthwave record, it’s up at https://t.co/MYSW9C0K4o and all of the proceeds will go to Black Lives Matter Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/UqkZ8FAfqR

— Lights (@lights) June 11, 2020

If you enjoy this album, please go to Lights's Bandcamp page and throw some money at it. The proceeds are now going to the Black In BC Community Support Fund.