Tony Bennett: CLOUD 7 (1955)*
It wasn’t too long ago in our culture that men could say that their favorite kind of music was “romantic” and they wouldn’t be considered odd, at all. Today, if you were to say that some portion of our population would be suspicious of that man.
We’ve diminished as a society in so many ways.
Collected Tracks
- I Fall in Love Too Easily
- Old Devil Moon
- Give Me the Simple Life
- I Can’t Believe that You’re in Love with Me
Tony Bennett: TONY (1957)*
With a catalog as big at Tony’s, I’m double-dipping.
Collected Tracks
- It Had to Be You
- You Can Depend on Me
- I Can’t Give You Anything but Love
- The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Gigilo and Gigilette)
Tori Amos: NIGHT OF THE HUNTERS (SIN PALABRAS) (2011)*
When I was in high school in the 90s and first obsessing over Tori Amos, my mother (in an effort to placate my enthusiasm) told me that if she ever released an instrumental album, that she’d listen to it. Well, as it turns out that record finally arrived in 2011 and I only recently found out about it. Think Mom will listen to this? Would she even remember? Seriously doubt both.
Collected Tracks
- Shattering Sea
- Cactus Practice
- Nautical Twilight
- Seven Sisters
Toto: TOTO (1978)*
The whole “yacht rock” thing is silly, but I genuinely like some of Toto’s work. Time for a deep dive.
This is a record, in which, had I heard it when it was new, I would be much more enthusiastic about it. It’s technically a good album, but 47 years past its release, it seems a little basic late-seventies prog rock. It sounds like lesser ELO. I wish I liked it more.
Collected Tracks
- Hold the Line
Tower of Power: BACK ON THE STREETS (1979)*
The “horn bands” (Tower of Power; Blood, Sweat and Tears; and early Chicago) have become a favorite sub-genre.
Collected Tracks
- Our Love
- And You Know It
- Nowhere to Run
- Just Make a Move (And Be Yourself)
What is The Rotation?
The primary way I build my digital music collection is by maintaining a playlist called, “The Rotation.” On this list, I load albums of artists I’m interested in hearing; mostly new-to-me artists or albums. Because I need some organizational principle to conduct this survey, I go by the alphabetical listing of the artist. I typically move from earlier records to later records, although there are exceptions. If I’m excited to hear a new album by a favorite artist I’ll add it in an apparent random placement to hear it sooner than later. From this list I’ll select tracks to add to my collection. It’s rare that I DNF a record, and uncommon for me to not select a single track from it. I’ve been doing this for a while and am currently on my 9th trip around the alphabet. Above are the albums heard in a given session and what thoughts, if any, I have about them. These are mostly first impressions, so don’t expect in-depth analysis.
Asterisks (*) after the album title indicate that it is a new-to-me record.
MusicHead 
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