Perusing recently bought CDs...

Had a $50 gift certificate from Amazon.com and decided to buy some CDs with it. Picked up an interesting collection of stuff. Nothing brand new, though.

I picked up Vertical Horizon's "Live Stages" CD which is a live performance before they made it big with their more rocking/electrified sound. They were a bit more of a folky duo before they broke out into the mainstream. It's an interesting collection, and their opening track ("The Man Who Would Be Santa") is an awesome tribute to Dad's everywhere. Other tunes of note are "On the Sea," "Falling Down," "Heart in Hand" and a 12-minute jam of "Wash Away."

I also bought Duncan Sheik's "Daylight" CD. It's really grown on me. I've always liked parts of his debut CD with the hit "Barely Breathing", and this one (his third release) is well done. "Good Morning," "Half Life," "Such Reveries," "Start Again" and "What's On Her Mind" are all great tracks. He does tend to be a bit too maudlin and self-absorbed with his occasional sparseness, though. Plus, politically he's an idiot (a frelling Noam Chomsky-ite fer cryin' out loud). But I'm able to overlook those shortcomings in order to enjoy some nice tunes.

Got Better Than Ezra's latest, "Before The Robots." I still need to listen to this one a few more times to make a judgement, but so far I'm a tad disappointed. They had two great first CDs ("Deluxe" and "Friction Baby"), but then somehow went off the rails. This fifth release gets them back on course, but barely so. I think they've lost their touch.

Art Garfunkle's "Everything Waits To Be Noticed" (from 2003) is a surprise. It's kinda like a long-lost Simon & Garfunkle record, and Art wrote some of the material (a first for him). His voice is angelic as ever, though his vocals sometimes get lost in the mix with two other singers. Perfect for those quite moments to relax and to dream.

I also had to get Steve Winwood's 1980 classic, "Arc of a Diver." Four great slices of music are on the CD: "Arc of a Diver," "Slowdown Sundown," "While You See A Chance," and "Night Train." Still holds up after 25 years, though that classic early-80s Prophet-5 keyboard sound is now a bit dated.

My brother sent me a copy of Burton Cummings' "Up Close and Alone" - a live CD from 1996, with just Burton and a piano. INCREDIBLE! This guy still has his chops, vocally. He performs some of his popular and a few obscure solo tunes, as well as the main hits from his former band, "The Guess Who." "Laughing," "Undo," "These Eyes," "Stand Tall," "Timeless Love"... it's a treasure-trove of one of the great rock voices of the 60s and 70s.