Today we bring you the new record from Juliana Hatfield, first solo after her collaboration with Paul Westerberg and a playful album of Olivia Newton John covers last year. Matthew Sweet is also active, these days his new album Wicked System of Things is capturing attention of many music lovers. Legendary Long Ryders are back with a new single too. Nikki Hill, out in Durham, NC is back with the new album called Feline Roots. Jon S. Williams of City of Cool sent us one of his recent live sets. Dave Hill who we enjoyed last year as a part of Painted Doll duet is back with yet another interesting band Valley Lodge. We also introduce Italian band The Dirtiest and Teardrop City over in Oxford Mississippi, lead by Laurie Stirratt (ex Blue Mountain).
Juliana Hatfield – I Honestly Love You;
The Dirtiest – Cento Shot;
Teardrop City – I Felt It, Too;
The Dream Syndicate – Hero Takes a Fall;
The Bangles – Hero Takes A Fall;
Juliana Hatfield – Staying In;
Nikki Hill – Get Down, Crawl;
Nikki Hill – Oh My;
The Raincoats – Lola;
Goodchilde – Helpless;
Matthew Sweet – Flashback;
The Long Ryders – Greenville;
The Long Ryders – I Had A Dream;
Porcupine – Tell Me;
Painted Doll – Find Your Mind;
Valley Lodge – Home;
Jon S. Williams And The Recalcitrants – Goodnight Irene;
Juliana Hatfield – I Honestly Love You (Reprise).
Welcome to the first ‘regular’ edition of The Little Lighthouse in 2019. Today we play a tune from the new ESC Life album, out soon on Ill In The Head records in North America. ESC Life come from Croatia, and so does Tena Rak. She used to play drums in Vlasta Popić, but that band no longer plays together. So we check out her solo act dubbed Å ećer and quartet Mi Nerve with three other ladies, Ivana PuÅ¡nik , Tea OvniÄević, and Ivana LjubiÄić. Back in the USA, Terry Six and Louie Bankston (ex Exploding Hearts) are back with an excellent new album together. Eugene Chadbourne teamed up with The Sunwatchers and recorded an album tribute to Minutemen, Doug Sahm and Henry Flyn. Paisley Underground legends Bangles, Three O’Clock, Dream Syndicate and Rain Parade made a record together covering each other’s songs. It’s almost a follow up to the legendary Rainy Day album. John Petković and Dave James of Death of Samantha have a new synth pop duet, Metrolight and we check out one of the songs recorded live in Cleveland recently. Holly Golightly has a new English solo album out and lots of folks included it on their lists of best albums last year. Yes, it’s that good. Outrageous Cherry are back with their final album entitled Meet You In The Shadows completed before the passing of founding lead guitarist Larry Ray.
In our year end review (part 3) we hear exceprts from some really good albums that somehow didn’t make it to our top 25 list and we also hear samples from singles, 45s and downloads that did not end up on any album. Still, we enjoyed them a lot! Next week – new stuff!
We continue our countdown to the best albums in 2018 and in this episode we announce two albums which share the title of the best one at The Little Lighthouse in the past year. I Am The Polish Army debut album My Old Man struck us with its great enthusiasm, musicianship, songwriting and playful performance. Harlan T. Bobo finally put out his record The History of Violence out on Goner, which just might be his greatest yet. Chip Kinman, along with the help of his son on guitar and his brother behind the knobs created a post-modern patchwork of an album with an astonishing amount of historical and rock references under the Ford Madox Ford moniker. Two ladies, Bat Fangs brought us a quick and powerful rock’n’roll album with hits going steady. Tony Molina on his Kill The Light is even more brief, but the brevity just makes you play the album over and over again. Bad Sports brought an excellent barrage of love punk rock tunes worthy of the greatest examples in the past. Patsy Gelb and her Rats compiled all those perfect singles from their inception on a single record, seriously contending Singles Going Steady as one of the strongest compilation records in the history of rock music. Schizophonics with their amps turned to the max gave us an album that floats like a perfect MC5 tribute. Mama Rosin teamed up with Mick Collins on a collection of cajun and zydeco chants. Ty Segall is as active as ever, but his main release this year entitled Freedom’s Goblin is one of the deepest he recorded yet. Krist Novoselic is back with Giants In The Trees. And that’s our top 10 this year! Looking back at that top 10, this was a really good year and we can only wish 2019 can be at least as good as this one.
Every year around this time we look back. This year is again. We begin the new 2019 with a retrospective of best albums in last year. Next week I will present the lest top 12 albums last year. This week we focus on positions 25-12.