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Dear John,

Sitting at home in our living room with the record player going… driving
from McKinney to Brazos to the rhythm of the radio… putting on my
headphones on a late night flight back from Houston… there’s always music.

It might be a record I bought when I was 15… a tune that my friend Mike
burned to a mix 10 years ago… something I caught on the radio in San
Antonio last year… or a song Molly played me as we were driving to the
barn this morning.

But on the off chance it’s interesting to you, here are five songs that
stood out to me this year:

[ [link removed] ]“Glad and Sorry” - Faces: This one’s off of their final studio record
Ooh La La, whose title track, masterfully sung by Ronnie Wood, you’ve
surely heard. But “Glad and Sorry”—this sweet, casual, seemingly
effortless gem—shows the quiet strength of the band, especially the
songwriting from Ronnie Lane. The rest of the album, and the rest of the
Faces’ catalog, is more barroom rock n roll. It’s all good.

[ [link removed] ]“Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)” - The Clash: “Up in Heaven” is a Mick
Jones classic, anthemic guitars soaring over his pleading, plaintive
vocals about the misery of London’s public housing (“the wives hate their
husbands and their husbands don’t care / their children daub slogans to
prove they lived there”). Catchy, righteous indignation follows. But it’s
just one outstanding track on the triple-album Sandinista!, which itself
is a jumble of musical styles, a buzzing spinning laboratory of innovation
and experiment. If you don’t like the song you’re listening to, just wait
till the next.

[ [link removed] ]The Wizard - Black Sabbath: Off their first album, the one that broke
heavy metal into the mainstream. Who knew a harmonica could sound so
menacing, so catchy and so metal? I’ve always been a fan, but Ozzy’s death
this year brought me back to this album with renewed focus. It amazes me
to think of how young they were, how much ground they were breaking, and
the legion of music that would follow in their wake.

[ [link removed] ]Sleeping - The Band: Richard Manuel’s mournful voice, Levon Helm’s
skipping, waltzy drums, and just the majesty of The Band in their prime. A
great Sunday tune, when you’re ready to stay checked out all day. “To a
land of wonder when you go under / why would we want to come back at all?”

[ [link removed] ]Texas Me - Sir Douglas Quintet: Singing about the Texas he loves and
misses—“It's rainin' in Port Arthur / Snowin' in Fort Worth town /
Standin' in front of Farmer’s Pool Hall / In San Antone, in my
hometown”—Doug Sahm belts out this beauty which, with the rest of the
album, makes the case for the real Texas. Which is not any one thing or
place. But all of it. Country, conjunto, garage, psychedelia, rock n roll…
all of this beauty from all over coming together in this one wonderful
place.

Yes. This is all pretty old stuff. It seems the older I get, the older my
music gets. I won’t pretend otherwise! I’m sure there’s good stuff coming
out these days, but this is what I’ve been playing, and I’m sticking by
it.

Happy listening,

Beto




 


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