My Current Rotation

I'm not a big fan of Love and Rockets, but my wife and saw them the other night and I loved the show. Good old 80s and 90s alt-rock that kicks ass.

Apparently, the record company didn't want to release this under "Wings" because the previous Wings album sold so poorly, so they strong-armed Paul into adding his name: Paul McCartney and Wings. Thanks to the number one hit "My Love," the album sold very well, and even though it seemed to be a bit of a hodgepodge collection of songs, it came out when I was a late teenager and I played the hell out of it, etching its music into my brain forever. To me the highlight is "One More Kiss," a delightful little love song.

You could pick any of the material from the dubmaster known as Scientist and get lost in his chops and beats. But his work with Ted Sirota is especially striking.

David Bowie's "Blackstar," released two days before his death in 2016, was as forward-thinking and progressive, and mind-bending as any of his other material, and that's saying a lot. Track down the story of the band backing him up, it's worth it.

Ken Newman is a friend of mine from SF. One of the coolest dudes I know. A few years ago he got back to playing guitar in local clubs in the bay area and started writing and playing more stuff. He started to record this album during lockdown, taking nearly three years to finish. And he did it right: hired great players, and an insightful, challenging producer, and the result is a touching, lovely, rocking and relevant album.

Black Sabbath's "Paranoid." I was in high school when this came out, and it was in my periphery at the time. When I'd visit friends they'd be playing it and I thought it was great, but I didn't really get into Sabbath until years later.

John Lennon's most personal record ever. Still moving to this day.

Big reggae fan, I still do a weekly reggae show at a local community station, KMUZ, and this collection of unreleased and previously released music by Culture landed well a couple of years ago. Love it.

The first album from The Knack knocked my socks off. I was a music director in a small Oreogn station when "My Sharona" showed up on a package with the hand-written message "open now!" I ripped it open, put it on the turntable, played the opening notes (the news was on) and when the news finished, I put it on the air. Fresh!

The "Final" Beatles Record Album. Never grows old on me.