A Sentimental Journey (SNS 4/5/2015)

MAN ABOUT TOWN:   He was born in the hills of North Carolina, and even though he spent over sixty of his eighty-six years up in the mid-Hudson valley of New York state, James Joyce will always be a country boy at heart.

On an Easter Sunday afternoon, Jim, my father-in-law, was surrounded by his children, niece, brother, as he bade farewell.     His wife, Naomi, and himself were married for 58 years until she passed in 2007.   He carried on however, and was the "man about down", had so many friends, and he was well known for walking his pug, "Keiko" around the village of Staatsburg every day.    But heart problems, surgery and complications there of, finally caught up to him.

Every time Barb and I would come up and visit him, he would have the television on.  Not to any one program, but his Sirius XM channels he subscribed to as part of his Dish Network membership.   We'd walk in and he'd either have the "40's at 4" channel on, comprising much of the big band/swing era he grew up with.   Other times he'd have classic country tunes on it; an homage to his growing up in the western hills of Carolina.    There was always a "down-home" feel to him, and not surprisingly his favorite restaurant chain was Cracker Barrel, where one and just walk through the doors and get a slice of the Americana of years gone by.     Rest in peace, Jim!


PHOTO FINISH:   My SNS 100 this week shows a sixth week on top for "Weight of Love" by The Black Keys, but it's a close three way race now as Alabama Shakes' "Don't Wanna Fight" and the ubiquitous "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars, at 2 and 3 respectively.    What will hit the top next week?    Well, "Funk" just logged its 14th week on the Billboard Hot 100, making it tied for the second longest run at the top.  The record is 16 by "One Sweet Day", Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men.    My wish would be for the Shakes, but if "Funk" logs yet another week on top, I may have to eat crow and place the one at the top.    Definitely to be continued!

JACKET TIME:   The highest debut this week belongs to "Big Decisions" by Louisville KY based My Morning Jacket.  The band, which has been around since 1999 but just hit paydirt in 2011 with their Circuital set, had a #7 hit that year with "Holdin' On to Black Metal".    "Big Decisions" is good, solid rock with emotion, with a touch of piano and strings to augment thinks.    A nice aural sound to this one.  It comes in at #73 this week.

Next up, in kind of the same situation, a follow-up to a break though is "Believe" by Mumford & Sons, a band that put indie-folk on the map a few years back.   "I Will Wait" was a #5 SNS hit and also hit the top 15 on Billboard's Hot 100.    This one, from their new album Wilder Mind due next time, combined their signature sound, but with more of a rock guitar presence this go-round.   I nice progression from their last one. 

Finally, Jessica Lea Mayfield, had a sort of a left-field hit on my blog with "I Wanna Love You".   It lasted 24 weeks on my list, and the album, Make My Head Sing was on many best-of lists for 2004.   It definitely had a blues sound to it.    I couldn't just leave well enough along, so I plucked another song from that set, "Standing in the Sun".  This one has less of a bluesy sound to it.  This time, it has a Lana Del Rey-ish sound to it, but with bone-chilling surroundings to it.   Also a big more folky and perhaps dreamy sound to it.  So although it's a bit different from "Wanna Love You", I would definitely recommend, as the track shows her diversity in style. 


CLICK ON IT:   Last week, I could a couple of recommendations from friends to put links on songs I review or on my chart.    Wouldn't be nice to put your cursor or finger over the song and have it play?   The thing is, I put a lot of time into this blog as it is, but perhaps I may try to do this with a few selected songs to start.   Another friend showed me how to tie some URL links to one of the online digital stores.   So perhaps that is an option as well.     For this week, I have set them up for the four "spotlight" songs (Number one, Top 20 impact, Mover of the Week, and Top Debut)'.   Click on the song title and a video will come up.   Any feedback is appreciated, and perhaps we can elaborate in future weeks.

Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100

April 5, 2015

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	1	NUMBER ONE: THE BLACK KEYS "Weight of Love" Album: Turn Blue (6 weeks at #1)	9
2	2	Alabama Shakes - Don't Wanna Fight	7
3	3	Mark Ronson f. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk	11
4	4	Belle and Sebastian - The Party Line	9
5	5	Florence + the Machine - What Kind of Man	8
6	6	White Arrows - We Can't Ever Die	11
7	10	Omnia Hegazy - Dust	5
8	9	Ariana Grande - Love Me Harder	12
9	11	Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You)	10
10	7	Calvin Harris f. John Newman - Blame	11
11	12	Hozier - Angel of Small  Death and the Codiene Scene	8
12	15	Corinne Bailey Rae - Bluebird	7
13	8	The Raveonettes - Killer in the Streets	13
14	13	Waters - I Feel Everything	14
15	18	Jungle - Busy Earnin'	5
16	17	Phoebe Ryan - Mine	9
17	22	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK LAUNDERETTES "Red River" Album: Getaway	10
18	21	Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire	9
19	20	Taylor Centers - Wild	9
20	23	Sir Sly - You Haunt Me	9

21	24	Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do	8
22	14	The Kooks - Bad Habit	10
23	29	The Big Takeover - Dolphins	7
24	31	Maroon 5 - Sugar	6
25	16	Foster the People - Are You What You Want To Be	17
26	30	Kjband - Man of Few Words	11
27	19	Lucius - Hey, Doreen	15
28	38	Tennis - I'm Callin'	3
29	25	Alvvays - Archie Marry Me	12
30	28	Fitz and the Tantrums - Fools Gold●	20
31	32	Kelly Clarkson - Heartbreak Song	8
32	34	Catfish & the Bottlemen - Kathleen	12
33	33	TV on the Radio - Happy Idiot	12
34	26	St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Call Me●	19
35	40	Kongos - I Want to Know	4
36	27	Meghan Trainor - Lips are Movin'	12
37	44	Alice Russell - Breakdown	6
38	39	Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM●	29
39	35	Foxygen - Cosmic Vibrations	12
40	36	Fall Out Boy - Centuries	11
41	37	Fremont - All That I Needed	13
42	47	Django Django - First Light	6
43	48	Glass Animals - Gooey	7
44	46	The Drums - I Can't Pretend	7
45	41	Interpol - My Desire	11
46	52	Avi Buffalo - Think It's Gonna Happen Again	4
47	49	The Mowglis - Through the Dark	6
48	42	Stater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends	14
49	50	Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney - FourFive Seconds	5
50	56	Zella Day - Hypnotic	5
51	45	The Big Takeover - Children of the Rhythm●	23
52	54	Madonna - Living For Love	5
53	80	MOVER OF THE WEEK: THE DECEMBERISTS "Calvary Captain" Album: What A Terrible World, What  a Beautiful World	2
54	43	Cage the Elephant - Cigarette Daydreams	17
55	55	Lana Del Rey - Shades of Cool	17
56	60	George Ezra - Budapest	9
57	73	Tame Impala - Let It Happen	2
58	53	Yelawolf- Till It's Gone	11
59	51	Hozier - Take Me To Church●	31
60	58	The Griswolds - If You Wanna Stay	6
61	57	Death Cab for Cutie - Black Sun	6
62	61	The Wombats - Greek Tragedy	6
63	77	Mark Ronson f. Kevin Parker - Daffodils	3
64	62	Blondfire - Waves	8
65	78	Awolnation - Hollow Moon	2
66	64	Ed Sheeran - Think Out Loud	7
67	72	Best Coast - California Nights	3
68	74	Locksley - Let It Ride	4
69	90	Real Estate - Talking Backwards	2
70	69	Jungle - Time	27
71	75	Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian At Best	4
72	66	Deers - Bamboo	11
73	---	TOP DEBUT: MY MORNING JACKET "Big Decisions" Album: The Waterfall	1
74	71	SomeKindaWonderful - Reverse●	35
75	85	In the Valley Below - Peaches	3
76	65	The Fresh & Onlys - Animal of One●	27
77	94	Taylor Swift - Style	2
78	---	Mumford & Sons - Believe	1
79	67	Vivian Girls - Take It As It Comes●	29
80	81	Christina Perri - The Words	4
81	84	Matt & Kim - Get It	5
82	---	Jessica Lea Mayfield - Standing In the Sun	1
83	95	Kid Rock - First Kiss	2
84	101	Elel - 40 Watt	1
85	59	Cold War Kids - All This Could Be Yours	16
86	83	The New Basement Tapes - Kansas City	5
87	100	Houndmouth - Sedona	4
88	82	Vance Joy - Mess Is Mine	5
89	---	Life In Film - Get Closer	1
90	102	Linus Young - Fun In the Sun	2
91	79	Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed	14
92	93	Walk the Moon - Shut Up & Dance	4
93	105	Robert LeLong - Long Way Down	1
94	63	The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away	16
95	68	Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine●	28
96	76	The Orwells - The Righteous One	16
97	103	Offspring - Coming For You	1
98	104	Harts - Red & Blue	1
99	---	Rival Sons - Open My Eyes	1
100	70	The Decemberists - Make You Better	19

Tremors:

101

Genevieve - Colors

102	106	Matthew E. White - Rock and Roll Is Cold
103		Sam Smith - Lay Me Down
104		Sleater-Kinney - A New Wave

Songs with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.

●    Songs with 25 or more plays on my iPod.

▲       Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.