Songs I'm Loving Lately

Just for fun, as part of the last days of February posts, I thought I'd throw in some of my top loves-- today in music, tomorrow in film~*
I am a genuine lover of music.  I love everything, with the notable exception of hardcore twang country, which grates my nerves to no end.  What I listen to at any given time is a reflection of whatever kick I'm on at the moment, so, my top favorites change repeatedly.  There are artists who would always make the list of top favorites, but the specific songs rotate according to my mood.

I dig change and am not overly loyal to any particular sound, in other words~*

Right now I'm in a retro mood, listening to albums that I have a deep connection with.  Meaning, we go back a long way, me & them.  I was born in 1970, making me a teen in the mid eighties.  And I hated mid eighties music with a passion.  I listened to the classic station, & played cassette tapes burned from the radio in a little boombox that sat in the front seat of my 1960 Ford Falcon, which looked almost exactly like this one:

.
My senior year, I believe it was, my parents got me a 1980 Z28 T-Top, like this:

in which I wreaked all manner of havoc.  But that is a story for another day.

Back to music.

So here are the top 4 albums I'm re-loving lately from artists I always love.  I'm using 4 instead of 5 to symbolize the last 4 days of February this week cos I'm deep like that yo.  If you don't own the albums do yourself a favor and buy them now.  I've even provided links.  They will make you a better person~*

 A lesser known track off Don McLean's epic American Pie album.  Didja know that Roberta Flack wrote Killing Me Softly about McLean?  She did, and he did, and he deserves to be thus immortalized.    

When introducing someone to Dylan, I always start with Blood on the Tracks.  I know, he's done more recent stuff that everyone loves but no one has listened to.  But this album, its perfect.  Its a story from beginning to end, with some of the most epic songs ever written.  I've been lucky enough to see him in concert a few times {once at the Berkeley Amphitheater, with surprise guest Neil Young-- best musical moment of my life}.  He changes the lyrics to his song to suit him, making each performance memorable.  Really cool.

No record collection is complete without Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.  It was ground breaking.  It is poetry set to music.  Don't believe me?  Johnny Depp credits it with inspiring his love of music.  It is sublime.

I've already spoken of my love of Billy Joel, in other posts.  I stand by it.  He is awesome.  I'm a lyrics person, and The Stranger is a lyrics album.  I love the sound too, don't misunderstand, but the poetry of it is the backbone of his music-- all the albums I'm posting today, actually.  This song in particular meant a lot to me-- it was my teenage self.  As a side note, to prove my Joel devotion, I wrote the lyrics to Say Goodbye to Hollywood in everyone's yearbook senior year, except my best friend's, where I wrote the lyrics to I've Loved These Days.  Yup.  I'm a fan.  I'm throwing in those songs to this list too...as secondary songs so to speak~*

So there you have it.   There are many more albums, of course.  As I said, my musical taste runs the gamut.  But these are some albums you may not have considered, but really should.  If you love music, that is. 

Happy 2 post 2sday!  See what I did there?  Gosh, I'm clever~*