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:
“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.
“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.
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.
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?”
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
