August music soothes the soul

The port city of Gladstone is a busy hub for shipping and transportation. Many oil and gas pipelines from up to nearly 500 kms away, snake their way through the vast brushlands and timber, plains and ranges, grazing and pasture lands, of inland Central Queensland all the way to this bustling centre on the coast. China’s hunger for Queensland’s mineral resources as well as for coal and oil and gas, makes for a boom in those industries. India, Singapore and a few other countries are also in the market for these resources.

And so it is that I got the call to head north again and attend to some urgent business at railway coalyards in Gladstone. I had been looking forward to this trip, especially to try some port wine. This expectation was soon dashed when i found out that the ‘port city' of Gladstone is because it’s a seaport. This city on the central queensland coast had nothing to do with port as in sweet wine. Drats, foiled again :-).
Oh well i’m going anyway so i might as well go, if that makes sense. (no? I didn’t think so too).

In the days before traveling to Central Queensland, I cobbled a couple of music magazines, a couple of cds, a couple of dvds, and a couple of fast-food fiction (a few couples there eh?).

Music CDs

Johnny Cash American VI: Ain't No Grave, the sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings album series. This follows on from American V, both released posthumously. Cash recorded these songs three months before his death. The songs are rooted in folk and country and gospel, with excellent covers of songs by Tom Paxton, Kristofferson, etal.The album also includes the last song that Cash wrote. There are other familiar tunes, and the album like the other previous five in the American Recordings series, does not disappoint.

The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac is a compilation album released in 2002. It was certified platinum in early 2003. It contains the Californian era of Fleetwood Mac's work and also features previously unreleased songs and several rare single remixes of key tracks.

Adam Harvey ‘Both Sides Now’ features some duets of popular covers. Tracks include: Move It On Over, Both Sides Now, Down On The Corner, King Of The Road, Seven Spanish Angels, In The Jailhouse Now, Have I Told You Lately, Jackson, and Mr Bojangles.

James Blundell is an Aussie country singer. He’s got a couple of good tunes on his ninth studio album, Portrait Of A Man, a representation of his more than two decades as a singer/songwriter.

John Williamson made his first public musical appearance on a television talent quest program in 1970. Since those days he has won 24 Golden Guitar awards and three ARIA awards, his albums have gone Platinum and Gold, and sold in excess of four million copies. 'The Absolute Best of John Williamson: 40 Years True Blue', includes his most popular hits, a selection of Williamson’s uniquely Aussie songs performed by some of the cream of Australia’s musicians.

Rosanne Cash’s latest album takes its name from a list of 100 essential songs her father Johnny Cash prepared to provide his daughter an education in country music. The List are standard songs tracing her father's lineage rooted in country and folk. Cash has chosen an initial 12 songs and offers them as 'The List'. The album features some fine versions e.g. Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country”, which of course her father duetted on in 'Nashville Skyline'. She gives the classic “500 Miles” a poignant rebirth. This is similar with the Carter Family song “Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow”. Bruce Springsteen helps out on “Sea of Heartbreak”, and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy does the same on "Long Black Veil." This is just another album you won't hear on contemporary country radio.

Music DVDs
The Ray Charles dvd is a tribute concert, with performances the man himself and from a meld of performers and contemporary artists influenced by Ray's music including Al Green, B.B. King, Billy Preston, Norah Jones, Stevie Wonder.

The Kenny Rogers DVD traces his successful career.

Reads
Patterson and Lustbader provide the fast food while listening or viewing. The reading menu also has two magazines. Uncut has the latest in pop music, but nothing for me except to copy the free cd from it. Mojo features Judy Collins and reviews some albums.

See previous post for more reading suggestions.