NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
BOB DYLAN . . . . . Visions Of Johanna . . . . . Blonde on Blonde
LEONARD COHEN . . . . . Sisters Of Mercy . . . . . Live In London
THE ROLLING STONES . . . . . Backstreet Girl . . . . . Flowers (DSD Remastered)
IAN HUNTER . . . . . Girl From The Office . . . . . Man Overboard
JOSH ROUSE . . . . . Carolina . . . . . Nashville
ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE VENUS 3 . . . . . Up To Our Necks . . . . . Goodnight Oslo
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS . . . . . I Can’t Quit Her . . . . . Child Is Father to the Man

DAVID BOWIE . . . . . All The Young Dudes . . . . . Aladdin Sane - 30th Anniversary Edition
GIRLS . . . . . Hellhole Ratrace . . . . . Hellhole Ratrace
BIG STAR . . . . . Daisy Glaze . . . . . #1 Record/Radio City
THE SHINS . . . . . Turn On Me . . . . . Wincing the Night Away
ST. VINCENT . . . . . The Strangers . . . . . Actor
ARTHUR ALEXANDER . . . . . Lover Please . . . . . Rainbow Road: The Warner Bros. Recordings
DAVE EDMUNDS . . . . . I Hear You Knocking . . . . . The Anthology (1968-1990)

LOU REED . . . . . Kicks . . . . . Coney Island Baby
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS . . . . . Today’s Lesson . . . . . Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
WILCO . . . . . Bull Black Nova . . . . . Wilco (The Album)
BRASSTRONAUT . . . . . Requiem For A Scene . . . . . Old World Lies
DENNIS WILSON . . . . . Time . . . . . Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
THE BEATLES . . . . . Helter Skelter . . . . . The White Album (Remastered)

PRINCE . . . . . Raspberry Beret . . . . . Around the World in a Day
THE BANGLES . . . . . Manic Monday . . . . . A New Devotion
THE POSTMARKS . . . . . Go Jetsetter . . . . . Memoirs at the End of the World (Dig)
THE SILENT LEAGUE . . . . . Victim Of Aeroplanes . . . . .
DESTROYER . . . . . My Favourite Year . . . . . Trouble in Dreams
BRIAN ENO . . . . . Sombre Reptiles . . . . . Another Green World
KNIGHT BERMAN, JR. . . . . . The Good One & The Real One . . . . . A Score For Tesla: Music from the film Megahertz
VAN MORRISON . . . . . Wavelength . . . . . Wavelength

I've been jonesing for the Bob Dylan tune that opened the show, and his own desire for the elusive Johanna set up all that followed in this opening section. So we heard Leonard Cohen finding succor in a song that touches on Old English folk styles, which led to the Rolling Stones working more directly in that sound with a song that appears to be about keeping a mistress in her place. A much sweeter tune from Ian Hunter's excellent new disc has a similar feel, and then we heard Josh Rouse with a more basic folk-rock number, although it opens and closes with a guitar bit that hits my ears with a bit of that Old English sound. Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 pushed us into what could be considered virgin territory by merging the Bo Diddley beat with some psychedelic embellishments, and the horns on that one fed nicely into Blood, Sweat & Tears summing up the the prevailing mood rather well.

Ian Hunter and the rest of Mott the Hoople will have a one-time reunion in London this fall; it started as two shows, grew to five due to demand, and then a sixth was added in Wales as a warmup the week before. Their biggest hit came from a David Bowie song, and this set began with Bowie's version, with him on tracked saxophones that I find particularly appealing. Then we heard a bittersweet new track from Girls that slowly builds over seven mesmerizing minutes to an echoy climax, which led us to Big Star in a devastated place after a breakup and on to the Shins attempting to move on after the same. St. Vincent wrathfully wrestling with her relationship gave way to Arthur Alexander pleading for another chance before the set closed with Dave Edmunds unwilling to offer a second chance.

This program was available during the 40th anniversary of the Manson-Lo Bianca murders, and we heard a set of songs that came to mind after I read an interview with Vincent Bugliosi, who was the lead prosecutor on the case. Lou Reed's claustrophobic collage on drugs and death was followed by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds fractured tale of Little Janey and how she's violated in her dreams by Mr. Sandman. Then it was the new one from Wilco that Jeff Tweedy has described as being about a guy's who's just murdered his girlfriend, which was followed by Brasstronaut from their new EP and a tune that certainly could be applied to LA in the years after the Manson murders. Dennis Wilson from his only solo disc was next; in 1968 he picked up two female hitchikers who happened to be members of the Manson family, and as a result spent months with Charles Manson and assorted other people living in his house. The Beatles closed with the tune that Manson's unhinged mind believed was a coded message about the upcoming race war he hoped would begin after the murders he instigated took place.

After all of that a mood change was necessary, so we heard Prince at his most paisley followed by the Bangles doing a Prince song that he wrote under a pseudonym. The first single from the very pleasing new Postmarks disc brought on a favorite from the last Silent League album, and the somewhat disjointed lyrics of that one conjured up a track with even more inscrutable words from Destroyer. There's also a prominent lead guitar on that one that brings to mind early Brian Eno, which was followed by a track from Knight Berman, Jr.'s soundtrack to a new film called Megahertz that features Nikola Tesla as a main character. Among Tesla's many scientific accomplishments was gaining the first basic radio patent, which is how we ended up with Van Morrison to bring this one home.

Here's another one from Ian Hunter