Sunday morning music

 

As a child, I had several favorites among my parents' long-playing records, including two albums with martial songs by the Merrill Staton Choir (who also produced many other albums).  I believe they were active in the post-war years up until the 1960's, but I haven't been able to find out any biographical details.  I was reminded of those old memories by a couple of chance encounters while browsing the Web, and I thought I'd share them with any other old fogeys veterans who might remember them too.

First, from the album "Sound Off!", here's a medley:  "This Is The Army, Mr. Jones", "Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer", and "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition".

Next, from the album "Up Anchor!", here's a favorite from the Civil War, "Shenandoah".

And finally, from the same album, another medley:  a World War II ballad about "Torpedo Jim", followed by "Your Boy Is On The Coal Pile Now".

Those brought back many memories of my childhood.  I reckon I wore out those long-playing records until they were more scratch than song!  I wish someone would bring out the Merrill Staton Choir's albums in digital form.  I'd buy them all.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

I had no idea that one of my favorite Jethro Tull songs - "Wond'ring Aloud", from their 1971 album "Aqualung" - had an extended version.  I'd only heard the abbreviated version from the album.  However, there was a longer edit, on the 40th anniversary re-issue of the album.

That made my week to hear that.  After 55 years, an old favorite lives again!

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Joe Satriani needs no introduction to electric guitar aficionados.  He's had a long and extraordinarily talented career, and is one of the top performers in his field.  Go read his bio at Wikipedia to get some idea of how creative he's been, and how many others he's taught and/or influenced along the way.

I couldn't possibly list all his hits and noteworthy performances;  a blog post containing them would take days to write and probably break Blogger's download bandwidth.  Instead, I'm going to take the simple approach and play just one:  "The Forgotten (Part 2)" from his third studio album, 1989's  "Flying In A Blue Dream".

There's an enormous number of his tracks recorded on his YouTube channel and elsewhere.  Go enjoy them all!

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Just one brief instrumental track this morning, from the British progressive rock group Audience.  It was recorded in 1971 on their album "The House On The Hill".

I'm not a major fan of the group, but I like a few of their pieces.  You'll find more at their YouTube channel.  I don't know why the group called that track "Raviole" . . . perhaps to pasta the time?

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

A freezing good morning to you!  We're in Day 3 of the Snowmageddon and Icemageddon storm, and so far we've come off relatively lightly:  iced-up roads, but not much precipitation (yet!).  The nearest big city, Wichita Falls, has had it rather worse than we have.  North Texas weather is funny that way - you can have one set of conditions in this place, but a rather different set in another place no more than five to ten miles away.  Living on or near the Texas dry line does that (it often goes right over our heads as it moves from west to east), and also puts us in the lower end of Tornado Alley.

Anyway, let's turn to music.  Seeing as it's very cold at present, here's a fun musical look at how Greenland would stop a US takeover, if it ever happened.  Someone has a fertile imagination!

Of course, you should listen to that music while reading this social media message:

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

A recent post at 357 Magnum reminded me of Eric Johnson and his smash hit instrumental from 1990, "Cliffs Of Dover".  How many of you remember it, too?

I remember when that track first came out.  It feels strange to think that it's now about 36 years old - more than half as long as I've lived.  How time slips away . . .

I looked through YouTube to see what other versions of the piece might have been recorded.  There were plenty of electric guitar look-alikes, but this bluegrass acoustic guitar version by Aaron Jaxon was spectacular.

Definitely a country flavor to a modern piece - and fantastic finger work.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Let's have a little more classical guitar.  Miguel Rincón is a multi-talented performer on baroque and Renaissance instruments, including "Renaissance lute, Baroque lute, Baroque guitar, Vihuela, Chitarrone and Archlute".  He's one of my favorite performers.

Let's start with his performance of Santiago de Murcia's Fandangos, from the composer's 1730 collection Codex Saldívar.  The guitar is a modern reproduction of a 5th century original.

Next, a twofer for the theorbo, a member of the lute family with a greatly extended neck and two pegboxes.  First is Robert de Visée's Passacaille from 1699, and then Giovanni Kapsberger's Passacaglia from 1640.  This theorbo is a modern reproduction, based on a design from the 14th century.

Melchior Neusidler was born in Nuremberg in 1531.  He was a famous lutist of his day, composing many pieces as well as performing.  Here's his Ricercare Terzo, performed on a modern reproduction of a 7th century lute.

And finally, two of my favorite pieces for classical baroque guitar.  Here's Santiago de Murcia's Tarantelas, also from his 1630 Codex Saldívar, and Gaspar Sanz's Canarios from 1674.

A lovely way to start the day, no?

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Let's kick off 2026 with one of the most famous and most popular guitar concertos in the world.  Mauro Giuliani's Guitar Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 30 has become a staple on the classical music tour.  Here's my personal favorite recording of it, performed by Pepe Romero with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.

Musical mastery from all concerned.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Here's another musical parody/ripoff of The Lord Of The Rings movie cycle.  A few months ago we saw a parody set in Vietnam.  This one's set in the world of discotheque.  A tip o' the hat to the anonymous reader who sent me the link.

I'm not sure the Bee Gees or John Travolta would approve, but it's an original and interesting effort - even if you don't like disco much.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

'Tis the season for Christmas music - but not the ghastly commercialized muzak that bombards us from every direction.  Let's go back to 1912, and Vaughn Williams' "Fantasia on Christmas Carols".

Much more seasonal (not to mention spiritual!).

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Our Australian correspondent, Andrew, sent me the link to this delightful adaptation of the Bee Gees' disco trendsetter "Stayin' Alive", from the 1977 movie "Saturday Night Fever".  (To hear what the original sounded like, click here.)

Intrigued, I looked up Jonasquin's YouTube channel to see what other songs they'd covered in Renaissance and Baroque idiom.  There are several, like these two.

I don't think a Renaissance audience would approve, but I enjoyed them!  Thanks, Andrew, for a musical treat.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

The late Denis Norden, appearing on BBC Radio's "My Music" quiz program, famously quipped that his favorite instrument was "Bagpipes, receding into the distance".  Fortunately, not everybody shared his opinion!

The previous record for the number of bagpipers assembled in one place to play the same tune was set in Bulgaria in 2012 by 333 players.  Enthusiasts in Australia decided it was time to set a new record, and they chose AC/DC's current tour of that country to do it.  The Guardian reports:

On Wednesday afternoon (12 November 2025), 374 bagpipers gathered in Melbourne’s Federation Square to play AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’Roll), setting a new world record just up the road from where Bon Scott and the band famously played the song on the back of a flatbed truck riding up Swanston Street 50 years before.

There's more at the link.  Here's how the record attempt went.

Looks like a good time was had by all.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

I was looking through Daddybear's blog earlier this week when I came across this music video from British jazz/blues guitarist Danny Bryant.  It caught my imagination.

Intrigued, I looked over his YouTube channel.  Here are a couple more of his tracks.

I'm not all that much into jazz and blues music, but I think Danny Bryant will repay further listening.  My thanks to Daddybear for introducing me to his work.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

A fusion blast from the past this morning.  British group Colosseum were (and still are, in a new incarnation) what Wikipedia describes as "an English jazz rock band, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisation".  I've seldom heard all three of those musical genres combined successfully in a single piece of music, let alone an entire repertoire, but Colosseum were pretty good.  Their jazz rock rendition of Ravel's Bolero is a standout in the field of classical music adapted to modern electronic instruments.

For this morning, I've chosen one of their original compositions, the Valentyne Suite, released on the album of the same name in 1969.  It's attracted a cult following among the group's fans.  It's in three parts:

"Theme One: January's Search" (6:20)

"Theme Two: February's Valentyne" (3:37)

"Theme Three: The Grass is Always Greener" (6:52)

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

To pull together the threads of the past week's historic tragedies - the end of World War I in 1918, and the terrorist massacres in Paris, France in 2015 - here's a musical eyewitness to another tragedy.

Vedran Smailović (born 11 November 1956), known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo", is a Bosnian musician. During the siege of Sarajevo, he played Albinoni's Adagio in G minor in ruined buildings, and, often under the threat of snipers, he played during funerals. His bravery inspired musical numbers and the novel The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

. . .

Smailović caught the imagination of people around the world by playing his cello, most notably performing Albinoni's Adagio in G minor for twenty-two days, in the ruined square of a downtown Sarajevo marketplace after a mortar round had killed twenty-two people waiting for food there. He managed to leave Sarajevo in 1993, during the second year of the siege that ultimately lasted 1,425 days, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996.

In Smailović's honour, composer David Wilde wrote a piece for solo cello, The Cellist of Sarajevo, which was recorded by Yo-Yo Ma. Paul O'Neill described Smailović's performances as the inspiration for "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" by Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

There's more at the link.

David Wilde died last month.  In his memory, and to honor Vedran Smailović's courage, here's Yo-Yo Ma performing "The Cellist of Sarajevo".

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

Back in 1988, the world was more than usually in turmoil.  The Soviet Union was in its death throes, with political instability the order of the day.  Economies all over the world weren't doing great, and a lot of people were very uncertain about the future.  Amid all that, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics organizing committee decreed that songs wanting to be considered for the anthem of the Games had to be published and submitted no later than 1988, so as to give adequate time for them to be compared and considered.

Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen (already dying of AIDS) and Montserrat Caballé (whom he regarded as the best soprano of the time) launched a bombshell hit into all that.  Their duet "Barcelona" was an instant hit, and would undoubtedly have been the primary anthem of the 1992 Olympics if Freddie had lived that long and been able to perform it live at the opening ceremony.  Sadly, his illness was too far advanced.  Nevertheless, it's remained a perennial favorite among his fans, and one of mine as well.

Here's an extended live version of "Barcelona".

I'm very sorry we lost Freddie Mercury when we did.  He might have brought us several decades more of his unique style in music.  However, this was a heck of a swan song for him.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

I tend to be rather old-fashioned in my music tastes.  I'm unlikely to enjoy most songs written this century (with a few notable exceptions when composed and/or performed by older artists and groups, who were brought up to know what music was, as opposed to a noise!).  As for alleged rap "music", I refuse to dignify it with the label "music" at all.

However, there are always exceptions to every rule, and I came across one this week.  Shaboozey has been writing and performing songs since 2014, when he was only 19 years old.  His music "combines hip-hop, country, rock, and Americana", and he appears to carry off the blend with aplomb.

The track I listened to is called simply "Good News".  The lyrics may be found here, if you need them.  Give it a listen, and see what you think.

You'll find more of his music at his YouTube channel.  I plan to listen to more of it, to see how his undoubted talent develops.  This young man may have a serious musical future.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

It's been a while since we've shared some classical guitar music here.  Let's enjoy Joaquín Rodrigo's 1967 Concierto Andaluz.  He composed it for four guitars, at the request of the world-famous Romero guitar quartet:  Celedonio, the paterfamilias, and three of his sons, Angel, Celin and Pepe, who were the soloists at its first performance in San Antonio, Texas.  It's one of my favorite classical guitar works.

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

A Polish animation studio, Egofilm, is producing some interesting short works that are . . . quirky, to say the least!  Here's their squirrel rendition of Queen's "We Will Rock You".

That's one way to wake up on Sundays!

Peter

Sunday morning music

 

We lost another big name from the 1960's last week.  John Lodge, guitarist and backup vocalist for the Moody Blues, passed away.  He had a pretty profound impact on the group, based partly on his poetic lyrical vision of music and partly on his unabashed Christian faith, which he refused to hide despite the rest of the group not sharing his views.

In memory of Mr. Lodge, here are three tracks that he composed and/or performed.  First up is "Blue Guitar", composed and recorded with Justin Hayward during a five-year hiatus for the Moody Blues.

Next is the short number "Send Me No Wine" from the Moody Blues album "On The Threshold Of A Dream".

And to close, one of the Moody Blues' most famous songs, co-written by John Lodge.

May he rest in peace.

Peter