Sweet Pea Sounds
- Patricia MacAulay
- Nov 20, 2022
- 1 min read
While I create, I love to listen to music.
I am too old not to think of music in terms of records or albums instead of playlists. These are the ones that keep me singing at Sweet Pea:
From Elvis in Memphis
My one and only celebrity crush was Late '60s Elvis. First, I found my aunt's 45 of ''Suspicious Minds.'' Then, one Saturday afternoon, I caught his last movie, ''A Change of Habit'' where he played a handsome doctor working in the ''ghetto.'' Mary Tyler Moore, an undercover nun, arrived to help, and a conflicted romance ensued. At the end of the movie, she is back in her habit and trying to decide between Elvis and a crucifix. I was only a kid then, but I couldn't help thinking, what is wrong with you, Mary? Did you not see him in his white pants?? And, let's not even get into the sideburns!! Elvis was really getting his shit together in this period. Finished the bad movies, had a hit TV special, opened a live show that critics called ''supernatural,'' and released this album which I think reveals his best work.
Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds (Live in Las Vegas) HD - YouTube
Letter to You - Bruce Springsteen
I love it when a superstar quietly releases something that is absolutely exquisite. In the first year of COVID, this album was the perfect exploration of identity, loss, joy, and togetherness. The lack of fanfare made it feel more personal. There is a short film too.
Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You (Official Video) - YouTube
C'mon C'mon - Mary Chapin Carpenter
One note from this album, and I am in my twenties again - driving my little red Toyota with the window down and the tape deck cranked. Floating through the evening with my whole life ahead of me while already feeling its losses.
Reload - Tom Jones
I know he's tacky, but I don't care!! Neither does he. This is an album of mostly duets and a couple of Tom Jones singing on his own. Try listening to ''Sex Bomb'' without getting a foolish grin on your face, I dare you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ32gSLNHfA
Secret Victory- The East Pointers
This CD got stuck in my car stereo system while I lived up north. After a tough day of trauma work, I would drive up and down the dark ice road and try to reconnect with myself before heading home. One song in particular, ''Cold,'' captured the mood. I was so sorry to hear about Kody Chaisson's sudden death. Glad to see his bandmates, Tim Chaisson and Jake Charron, continuing to make music.
Breakwater - Lennie Gallant
I first saw Lennie perform these songs at Jock's Lounge in Cardigan. (Anyone else remember the potato bags covering the ceiling there?) I recall that Leo Cheverie and Campbell Webster worked the door, and one of my friends met her future husband. Big night. When I lived off-Island, I kept an old cassette version of this album for my first morning back home. I would play the cassette and reclaim my ''Island-ness.'' You can feel the land, the sea, and the seasons in every song.
Echo in the Canyon - Jakob Dylan
Jakob Dylan's voice and his true love for the music created in mid-60s California grounds and re-enlivens the songs we have heard all our lives. He explores the era in a documentary, and this is the soundtrack for the film. It makes me feel young and optimistic again, like I am listening to CFCY on a summer morning, only better.
Go Where You Wanna Go - Jakob Dylan - Jade - The Mamas and the Papas - YouTube
Tonight Tonight - The Heartbroken
This group of experienced musicians just kind of appeared with a perfect album. Of course, they had already played together in other iterations, but something felt just right about this configuration and the songs they produced. It was heartbreak, all right, but also hopeful. I don't think they play together anymore, though. I am glad I got to see them on a small stage in Hunter River.
Seventeen (Radio Edit) - Single by The Heartbroken on Apple Music
Forget About the World - Jimmy Rankin
This recording got stuck in my rental car CD player when I was back visiting the east coast, so it became the soundtrack of that summer as I travelled around the Maritimes. Lots of loud singing around the Cabot Trail. Hope I didn't scare the moose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOyJkpc5bQI
Man Descending - Justin Rutledge
I spent my first Arctic winter in a little apartment that I called ''the bunker.'' It was tucked under the building, beside the boiler room. I would retreat there after a day of full-on learning about how colonialism had wracked the north. As I felt increasingly invisible and irrelevant in that environment, I would turn to this album for a sense of home and meaning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_4SpZqncc
Hymns of the 49th Parallel - k.d. lang
I have a lovely memory of driving through a grove of gum trees in Australia with k.d. lang's ode to Canadian songwriters filling the air, making me feel so far from home but also so in love with my new, strange surroundings and happy to be there. Later, we got to see her in concert - a big voice from home.
You Want it Darker - Leonard Cohen
Imagine leaving something like this in the world just before your death? I first listened to this recording while driving through the Icefields Parkway in the Rockies. The atmosphere was perfect as the sky darkened and a snowstorm started. Shivers.
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker (Audio) - YouTube
All the Roadrunning - Mark Knopler and Emmylou Harris
I saw Mark Knopler perform in Australia and understood his role in the guitar-god imagination of middle-aged men. I wondered if this collaboration with Emmylou Harris resonated as strongly, their voices blending together in an exploration of the realities of long-term love amid multiple commitments.
Live at Last - Matt Minglewood
When I play these songs, I am back at the Dalhousie SUB. Matt Minglewood is in his orange shorts playing guitar on top of the piano, and the whole place is soaked in beer and hormones. The Cape Bretoners are going nuts. Who knew what the night might bring?
matt minglewood live at last - Google Search
Movin' Out - Broadway Cast
I was never a big Billy Joel fan (although I used to like to listen to ''Uptown Girl'' after a night at the pub), and I was kind of embarrassed about being into Broadway musicals in the '90s, but I was really taken by this show I saw in Boston. Choreographed by Twyla Thorp and led by Michael Cavanaugh, the show pulled Joel's songs together in a story of trauma and recovery, a topic I was growing more and more interested in at the time. Cavanaugh's stage performance was full-on.
Darren Holden - Shameless - Live from Movin' Out - YouTube
This is the Story - The Proclaimers
This is as ''punk'' as I got in the '80s. I am still struck by the gritty wisdom of these young guys and how they blended their time and place with Scotland's difficult history in everything they wrote and sang. You must sing loudly and poorly when you accompany.
the proclaimers sky takes the soul - Google Search
Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Kraus
Don't we all love unlikely combinations and cherish the beauty that contrasting elements can generate? I listened to ''Raising Sand'' as I tried to connect an old way of living with a new one. Isn't it wonderful when artists who are already perfect on their own are willing to see what a new collaboration will bring? Robert Plant and Alison Krauss released a new album, ''Raising the Roof,'' last year. I am listening to them again to see what I may learn, but I haven't reached singing status yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG_rArV84iY
Cryer's Paradise - Ron Hynes
I once caught Ron Hynes picking his nose backstage in Charlottetown. We both pretended that it didn't happen. Did not diminish my respect for his artistry one bit. We have all been there. But few of us have been able to convey pain and longing as beautifully as this man. Of course, he is remembered best for ''Sonny's Dream.'' (Did a night out in the 80s even happen if you didn't sing it at least once?) Ron Hynes left that and so much more.
Maybe She Went Crazy - YouTube
The List - Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash has been frank about her father's failings as a parent. He pretty much abandoned her and her sisters when his career was taking off. But he still contributed. (Her talent, artistry, and intelligence came from somewhere!) He also gave her an actual list of what he considered to be the top 100 country songs when she was a young artist. Further along in her life and career, she revisited the list and made this amazing album. I listened to "The List'' as I embarked on my career in the Arctic, hoping to fulfill my own father's legacy of kindness and community in my way. Taking what is offered, however inadequate and misunderstood at the time, allows us to become ourselves.
Rosanne Cash: 500 miles - YouTube
Ashes and File - Ryan Adams
I guess it's okay to enjoy the music of Ryan Adams, although there have been concerns raised about his sexual conduct. Not sure what's the right thing here. But I do know that this album helps me reflect on how we want to treat others and the quiet space we often need in order to find kindness and understanding. Reminds me of a Christmas spent in New York City, roaming around the lighted streets. It was a beautiful experience of solitude and care.
Ryan Adams - Lucky Now - YouTube
If Your Memory Serves You Well - Serena Ryder
I remember winding through the Rockies with my good friend, Marijan, singing and marveling at the mountains. I also marvel at this artist's capacity for vulnerability. Goals.
Separate Ways - Teddy Thompson
I was really drawn to this album as a window into understanding someone else's perspective and way of being. Someone who I was not, but someone worth knowing. His voice aches with reality of living with high sensitivity in a world that cannot hold him in the way that he needs.
teddy thompson i should get up - Google Search
New Beginning - Tracy Chapman
I have been singing this one for so long you would think I would get good at it. This is Tracy Chapman from 1991. As Tracy says, ''There ain't no more to say.''
Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason (Official Music Video) - YouTube
Just Tell Me What You Want - Fleetwood Mac Tribute
I love tribute albums. You get to experience the songs in new ways. ''Rumours'' was my first album. I got it for Christmas in 1977 and played it so often, it had lost all meaning. But this album reinvigorates the songs. Big plus? I know all the words.
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - Various Artists
Here is another tribute album that works perfectly. Leonard Cohen and people who love Leonard Cohen singing Leonard Cohen. There is a film too. I wasn't sure about an upbeat verson of ''The Future,'' but it's just right.
Southeastern - Jason Isbell
We are never finished finding artists who speak to us. I was listening to a podcast called ''A Slight Change of Plans'' where I heard Jason Isbell show up as a kind and conscientious human being who thinks deeply about how to be in the world. He takes actions too. Refused to play at venues without mask mandates. Showcases artists with greater barriers to acceptance in the music world. Does it all with sincerity and purpose. I am slowly learning the words.
jason isbell southeastern - Google Search
Comments