Sunday, April 26, 2009

Music . . . For The Road . . .

Recently, I purchased an Elton John's Greatest Hits (1974) CD. So what surprises you more? The fact that I'm still buying CDs or that I happen to like Elton John? (smile)

Anyway, the CD contains lots of great driving music, classics like: Daniel; Honky Cat; Rocket Man; Bennie and the Jets; Crocodile Rock . . . I wish I'd purchased the CD before my family's recent tw0-hour car trip to neighboring Ashville. Sometimes it's hard to find music that the hubby and I enjoy enough to listen for hours on end. The kid, well, he either pulls out his own headset or puts up with his parents' old school choices. Actually, I think the boy is being treated and exposed to a fairly broad selection of music.

Of course, were it left to me, I'd jam to random selections from the likes of Aretha, India.Aire, Jill Scott, Lalah Hathaway, Cassandra Wilson, etc. And when I tired of the sister singers, I'd toss in some Marvin, Al Green, Maxwell, Prince, Eric Benet before switching over to a bit of Miles and 'Trane. Yeah, basically my tastes are all over the place.

On this most recent trip to Ashville, the three CDs the hubby and I both gave the thumbs up for on-going play were: Year of the Gentleman (Neyo); Pleasure Of The Night (Will Downing & Gerald Albright); and Acey Duecy (Anthony David).

Neyo's Year of The Gentleman was one of the hubby's recent purchases. He claims he snagged it for the kid. Yeah, right (smile). Anyway, I gave it a listen, not expecting too much, but found myself head-bobbing to several of the cuts: Closer; Nobody; Mad; Miss Independent; Fade Into The Background; and So You Can Cry in particular. Forget the kid, this one stays in mama's collection.

Will Downing & Gerald Albright's Pleasures of the Night is an oldie but goodie smooth jazz CD that I forgot I even owned. Brother Will handles the deep-throated vocals like a pro while Albright spins his special brand of magic on the sax.

I must admit to being shocked when both of my guys expressed their enjoyment of Anthony David's Acey Duecy. Typically, whatever I can't get enough of, music-wise, they can't stand. This one we all love! For me, David's style has this sort of southern neo-blues feel to it that soothes and moves me like a good home-cooked meal after church on Sunday. Very rarely do I enjoy just about every cut on a CD, but with the exception of two, I can honestly say that I could listen to the songs on Acey Ducey all day long. If I had pick a few favorites, I'd have to say--Something About You; Words; Spittin' Game; Kinfolk; GA Peach and Cheatin Man.

Well, those were some of our recent road trip music selections. Got any you'd like to share?

3 comments:

Sharon J said...

Thanks for the suggestions. I would recommend Israel Houghton's "The Power of One." I also picked up a Toni Braxton greatest hits CD at CVS. It's very good. She's such a talent and so is Israel Houghton. I believe he's Joel Osteen's music director.

Malcolm said...

Neither the fact that you listen to Elton John nor that you buy CDs surprises me. The former shows that you have excellent taste. As for the latter, I still listen to CDs too. Even though many people have gone digital, the reports of the CD's death are exaggerated.

During my weekday commutes, I've been listening to a variety of mixes like I normally do. One that's been in heavy rotation contains pop songs from the mid-late 1960s by artists like The Mamas and the Papas, The 5th Dimension, The Rascals, and The Turtles.

Lori said...

@ Sharon,
Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't think about Ms. Braxton. I'll see if I can't find a sample of Mr. Houghton's work on the internet.

@ Malcolm,
Oh, I figured you'd appreciate my old school habits and taste (smile). Thanks for stopping by.