Been a while… again. Without further mumbling, it feels like a good ‘get over the mid-week slump’ exercise to share half a dozen of those things that’ve been getting into my ears this last week or so.

Wilco – Either Way

I’ve been slowly but shortly putting together and whittling down a list of what I would consider to be 100 albums that are essential to me – in a way revisiting a list I put together some sixteen years ago. I haven’t mentioned them much here, if it all, but Wilco are a wonderful band and their Sky Blue Sky is definitely on that list. It’s easily their finest album and I love this tune especially.

Gary Clark Jr – Bright Lights

Listening to the iPod on shuffle in the car can often mean a few tracks get skipped but whenever a tune from Gary Clark Jr’s Live comes on I’ll end up turning shuffle off and lining up the full album. I’ve been spending more time with his studio discography lately and his 2011 Bright Lights EP is a favourite and this is a hell of an earworm.

Larkin Poe – Preachin’ Blues

Across the summer, the park behind my house hosts a number of festivals and concerts. This weekend past was the ‘Maid in Stone’ festival which veered towards the hard rock / metal crowd. On our usual evening walk on Sunday, the cub and I were lucky enough to get there just as Larkin Poe kicked off their set and so sat under a tree a few yards from the stage – while not within the festival grounds – and got to enjoy a solid slab of the great stuff.

The National – Fake Empire

I added Boxer to the vinyl shelves this weekend (in a nice yellow hue) and hearing this made me harken back to a time that – while not all that long ago – seems like a lifetime ago in terms of political news from a former colony.

Bruce Springsteen – Rockaway the Days

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Springsteen’s monster Born In The USA. Understandably, given how he’s since shared his dissatisfaction with the grab-bag nature of it, if not sadly, we’re not getting anything to celebrate the milestone beyond a coloured version of the record with a few extra photos in the liner. No The Promise or Ties That Bind revisit. Which is a shame for, as I’ve already covered in a three-parter, there were multiple versions of the album and a bounty of songs that were recorded and discarded before the final album emerged. While getting those out into the air wouldn’t necessarily cause a reevaluation of the album, it would certainly be great to get them all collected into one place and show that the scale of Springsteen’s vision at the time went far beyond the twelve tracks that kickstarted his Rambo era of stadium domination.

Pearl Jam – Wishing Well

They may have cancelled their London show at the last minute but I’m still spinning Pearl Jam on any day ending in ‘y’. This cover – from 2015’s Christmas single – has cropped up a few times lately and is still worth a listen.