Musical Balance, Spring 2021

Forgive me, Father; it has been five months (November 11, 2020) since my last confession about my musical purchasing balance.

Perhaps I was holding off because my musical purchases were unbalanced. Perhaps I held off because I’m not sure that anyone reads these posts. Perhaps I was being lazy because I really have been buying a lot from individuals’ Web sites, so it’s not like I can just roll down my Amazon ordered list (strangely, my Amazon orders have really dropped of a cliff this year).

However, we shall see as we go here if I bought more than the 18 albums I bought in the summer and autumn of 2020. Spoiler alert: The album I mentioned I was thinking about buying? I bought it. Perhaps you did not need a spoiler alert for that; you probably expected that non-twist.

At the end of my November post, I mentioned I was thinking about buying Amber “Flutienastiness” Underwood’s This Is Me. I did; it’s a digital download on Bandcamp, and it explains how I happened to download a sexy picture like this to my personal computer:

Well. That’s certainly a cover to draw one’s attention.

She is more Herbie Mann that Tim Weisberg or Jean-Pierre Rampal. A bit jazz blended with R&B at times.

But I digress.

So how is my balance, aligned in bullets?

I have recently bought new:

• This Is Me by Amber Underwood
• Obscura by Semblant
• Offerings by Larry Baker, Charles Glenn, and Friends
• Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione
• Honey-Colored by Nyah Grace; more R&B than jazz, but still featured on WSIE.
• Manifest by Amaranthe
• “Trouble’s Coming” by Royal Blood (single) (also, note not Royal Bliss)
• Worlds Apart by Andrea Silverstein. Actually, I ordered this earlier in the year, but I had to follow up with the artist to get it sent out. She sent me two copies in recompense. So if you’re interested in one, let me know in the comments.
• “Reviens-Moi” by Sacha Boutros (single)
• Don’t Forget Me by COLE, a local artist I saw profiled in the local news
• Independence Road and Christmas Time Is Here by The Triplets as I mentioned previously
• This Bitter Earth and Confessions by Veronica Swift (as suggested by Jane Monheit)
• The Best of Mindi Abair by Mindi Abair
• Come What May and The Season by Jane Monheit

I think I am missing something as my order records are now scattered. I don’t know where the records of the Monheit purchases are; all I know is I have autographed copies. The Adair CD is also signed, and I have thank you notes from Jane Monheit, Andrea Superstein, and the Triplets. Which, I remind you, you don’t get from buying digital copies or from Amazon.

So: I got two metal albums (Obscura and Manifest). I bought only a few purely jazz albums: Confessions and maybe This Bitter Earth, Come What May, Feels So Good (right after I could not find it at the record store, I ordered it on CD, and then bought it on record twice since). I’ve also purchased some straight forward pop, some R&B, and two Christmas albums (The Season and Christmas Time Is Here) and one single (“Reviens-Moi” which is “Last Christmas” in French–it sounds better when you don’t know the words. Also, when Sacha Boutros sings it.) to reload for the next Christmas season’s streaming.

So that’s two metal records, more jazz, and a lot of other stuff. Does it mean my musical changes are evolving, or that the variety of genres that WSIE plays heavily influences what I buy? Likely the latter given that selections from most of this list has appeared on that station.

So: It’s fifteen albums and two singles. Or, as I like to call it, restraint.

Note, of course, this does not include vinyl records which gets their own posts (and probably deserve a category.

Also, note that “restraint” goes out the window next Saturday, which is the Friends of the Springfield-Greene County Library book sale’s half-price day. And the newsletter informs me that this spring, they have a lot of records….