My partner Diane, of all people, turned me onto an aspect of our Spotify subscription that is dynamite.
Based upon the listeners likes, the system picks out other like artists the brainchild of the system thinks will fall in line with said taste. I know all the music streams, like Slacker and Pandora, have variations of this, but what Spotify does is simply assemble a weekly list of 30 songs that might pique the listener.
If is funny that Diane found this, since she was skeptical about Spotify, and has very specific musical taste, which means she likes what she likes and there is no explaining it or rationale and that means she likes “I Want to be a Millionaire,” “Thrift Shop,” “Purple Rain,” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top (if You Wanna Rock’n’Roll).” So, don’t ask me to try to connect the dots.
Diane found Weekly Playlist while looking for one to stream while she was at the gym, and said it was really fun. so I plugged in three weeks ago and it knocked me out.
As in I am not sure how they profile us, but they got me nailed based upon my favorite artists listed of The Kinks, Richard Thompson, Mick Ronson, The Who, Yo La Tengo, Bill Frisell, Joe Jackson, Pink Floyd, and Wilco.
So, here is the list of 30 songs for this week (Spotify seems to change the list every Monday) I streamed on my way to and from the links the past couple of days, some of which I know and love, others which are new and I dig, all of which are great.
- The Ballad of El Goodo-Big Star
- Cocaine-Jackson Browne
- When the Circus Comes-Los Lobos
- LA Freeway-Guy Clark
- Heroes and Villains-Brian Wilson
- Grass-XTC
- The Sky Children-Kaleidoscope (whom I saw open for Buffalo Springfield in 1968)
- Things-Paul Westerberg
- Lover of the Bayou-Mudcrutch (Tom Petty’s first band)
- Season of the Witch-Al Kooper
- Dominance and Submission-Blue Oyster Cult
- Girls Talk-Dave Edmunds
- Heaps of Sheeps-Robert Wyatt (which I did not know, really liked, and posted below)
- Space Cowboy-Steve Miller (and a coincidence Gene linked to it a few days back)
- Showdown at Big Sky-Robbie Robertson (from a killer album)
- Nothing but the Wheel-Peter Wolf
- Funky But Chic-David Johanson
- Next-The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
- Go Down Gamblin’-Blood, Sweat, and Tears
- Voodoo Chile-Jimi Hendrix
- I Ain’t Superstitious-Jeff Beck
- Dirty Water-The Standells
- I Fought the Law-Bobby Fuller Four
- Black Cat Moan-Beck, Boggart, Appice
- Turn it On-The Flaming Lips
- Big Sky Country-Chris Whitley
- Hush-Deep Purple
- Sweet Dreams-Roy Buchanan
- East-West-Paul Butterfield Blues Band
- Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel-Townes Van Zandt
Perfect, huh? All over the map, and totally satisfying. And, give Heaps of Sheeps a listen!
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