Chad & Jeremy - A Summer Song

This one is even called "A Summer Song." When I was a kid I especially loved the chord at the end. Now I'm old and jaded and...not so much.

Jimi Hendrix - Long Hot Summer Night

Another summer song -- why not?

The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer in the City

Another summer song, and a fave of mine from way back. Like "Hot Fun in the Summertime," one of its distinguishing characteristics is that the opening few seconds contrast musically with what follows, but somehow set the mood for the rest of the song anyway.

Today's aural quiz: see if you can find the autoharp in this song.

Nada and the Imperial City

Nothing today, sorry. Time-loss spillover from an intense weekend.

Sly & The Family Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime

It's August and I haven't posted any summer songs, like this one. Have to fix that.

King and Herbert on Gates and Crowley

For all that has been written and said about the arrest of Professor Gates, there were some things I was expecting to hear that I did not. Now I have, thanks to Bob Herbert and Colbert King.

Sviatoslav Richter plays Liszt

The great Russian classical pianist Sviatoslav Richter (not to be confused with his contemporary, the great Russian classical pianist Karl Richter) died on this date in 1997. Here's a piece from a 1958 recital that he gave in Sofia, Bulgaria. The recording is a little rough, but the performance is excellent.

The entire recording (The Sofia Recital 1958) is worth seeking out. It begins with a complete "Pictures at an Exhibition," then continues with works from the nineteenth-century piano repertoire -- Schubert, Chopin, Liszt -- before finishing with a short piece by Rachmaninoff. The technique is magnificent but not flawless, which if you love this kind of stuff just makes it better, because then you know that the difficult passages that are perfectly executed were in fact actually executed, and not created by a recording engineer after the fact. And the passion that Richter brings to the entire performance -- no recording engineer could create that at all.