January is well underway (once again, how quickly!) and it’s very easy to fall into a midwinter depression. We’re around the day when someone worked out (or made up) that it’s the most depressing day of the year. That is one way to look at it- the days are dark, the weather can be bad, we’ve finished a holiday season and it all makes life a bit hard to swallow, especially if there are many things day to day are hard to tolerate. This week I was talking about the positive elements of this time of year- the days are slowly getting longer, some the weather can be enjoyable (snow!) and during the cold weeks, it’s so lovely to be indoors, cuddled up in the warm. Particularly if there are projects that can be worked on indoors, to get ready for launch in the warmer months when more time will be spent outdoors having fun!
I attempted to help provide some musical entertainment to help any winter blues. I celebrated an upcoming gig by The Cortège at the Boston music room in Tufnell Park on 24th January by playing Bewitched Betwixt from their E.P. they played when they visited me in the studio in 2012. I also played a song by Trivium after a brief recent look at their catalogue, dove into some Allman Brothers and Chris Robinson and remembered how long it was since I saw Nicole Atkins on Jools Holland, amongst other delights.
You can listen to it all again here:
Here’s the playlist for 14th January 2014 (Albums in brackets)
1. W.A.S.P. – I Wanna Be Somebody (W.A.S.P. – 1984)
2. Stone Temple Pilots – Hollywood Bitch (Shangri-la Dee Da – 2001)
3. The Cortège – Bewitched Betwixt (The Cortège E.P. – 2012)
4. Trivium – To Believe (Vengeance Falls – 2013)
5. Rage Against The Machine – Testify (The Battle Of Los Angeles – 1999)
6. Public Enemy – Brothers Gonna Work It Out (Fear Of A Black Planet – 1990)
7. Cypress Hill – I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That (Black Sunday – 1993)
8. Fugazi – Ex-Spectator (The Argument – 2001)
9. Wolfmother – White Unicorn (Wolfmother – 2005)
10. Foo Fighters – Halo (One By One – 2002)
11. Black Crowes – Ballad In Urgency (Amorica – 1994)
12. Chris Robinson – Safe In The Arms Of Love (New Earth Mud – 2002)
13. Allman Brothers Band – Trouble No More (Live at A&R Studios, NY 8-26-1971)
14. Joan Armatrading – I could have been better (Whatever’s for us – 1972)
15. Low – Broadway (so many people) (The Great Destroyer – 2005)
16. Nicole Atkins – Kill the Headlights (Neptune City – 2007)
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Darker With The Day (No More Shall We Part – 2001)
18. Paul Simon – Graceland (Graceland – 1986)
19. Crystal Gayle (Tom Waits) – Take Me Home (One From The Heart – 1982)
20. Tom Waits – New Coat of Paint (The Heart Of Saturday Night – 1974)
21. Cocteau Twins – The Itchy Glowbo Blow (Blue Bell Knoll – 1988)
22. Deva Premal – Om Namo Bhagavate (Embrace – 2002)
