One JemTunes 23 #9

9 of 12 in a monthly music diatribe from a 64-year old hippy

OneJemTunes is a monthly foray into my world of music. Published monthly throughout 2023, there’s everything here including downloads, gigs I’ve been to, JemJams listings, birthdays and passings and much more.

And as 2023 is the year I could finally sing the line ‘…when I’m 64…’ and be there, the music world is my proverbial oyster (not that it’s not always been of course – because it has). And still is. Music is one of my passions and as writing is another – it’s a no-brainer to combine the two.

OneJemTunes 23 #9 is mostly about August 2023 (although there’s a bit of looking into and forward to September as well).

Comings and goings – a regular feature throughout the year. On the one hand sadly recording those we’ve lost, but on the other – looking forward to birthdays of those we still have.

On 24th August we lost Bernie Marsden aged 72 (sic. cover pic). An English rock and blues guitarist, he is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with singer David Coverdale many of the group’s hit songs, including “Fool for your loving”, “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues”, “She’s A Woman”, “Lovehunter”, “Trouble”, “Child of Babylon”, “Rough and Ready”, and the multi-million selling chart-topper “Here I go again”

Nine birthdays for the 9th month of the year already gone or coming up are – Gloria Estafan (singer) [1st/66], Bruce Foxton (Jam bassist) [1st/68], Barry Gibb (The Bee Gees) [1st/77], Steve Jones (Sex Pistols guitarist) [3rd/68], Beyonce Knowles (singer/songwriter) [4th/42], Martin Chamber (Pretenders drummer) [4th/72], Roger Waters (Pink Floyd bassist) [6th/80], Joe Perry (Aerosmith guitarist) [10th/72] and Jarvis Cocker (Pulp singer) [10th/59].

August downloads and other additions added to the JemTunes collection:

Collective Soul – Afterwords (2008) Standout track – Persuasion of you
Skindred – Smile (2023) Standout track – Gimme that boom [There’ll be a review of the Brighton leg of their 2023 ‘Smile’ tour in One JemTunes #11 as we’ll be at the Chalk gig on 27th October]
Dave Fields – Force of Will (2020) Standout track – Best I can
Beaux Gris Gris & the Apocalypse – Live in the UK (2023) Standout track – What’s my name
Ally Venable – Pearl Gone (2023) Standout track – Don’t lose me
Michel Katon – Hard On (the Boogie) (2012) Standout track – Watermelon and black coffee
Laurence Jones – Bad luck and the blues (2023) Standout track – Woman

Jem’s daily music lists of 10 – is something I’ve been doing since around the start of the 2019 pandemic and the first UK lockdown. So grateful those dark days are behind us now – but I took a liking to the idea, so haven’t yet stopped. I’m currently on list No. 1260. Quite simply it’s a list of 10 songs (or other music-related things) on different themes published daily on my main FaceBook page. During August 2023, those were…

Classic Albums (1950s to 2020s) [b/f from July] (1st to 11th)
Weekend songs (12th)
Songs with ‘Charlie’ in the title (13th) [for my brother Charlie’s birthday]
Top 10 most weeks in the top 20 UK singles charts (14th)
Top 10 longest UK top 20 span (15th)
Top 10 most top 20 UK singles charts entries (16th)
Top 10 acts of the 1990s (17th)
Top 10 singles (by sales) of the 1990s (18th)
Top 10 European Acts with most weeks in the 1990s UK charts (19th)
20 Guitarists (20th & 21st)
20 Drummers (22nd & 23rd)
20 Bassists (24th & 25th)
20 Pink Floyd albums (26th & 27th)
100 rock albums that defined the 1980s (28th to 31st) [c/f to September]

JemJams (one of my FaceBook pages) is about posting a new jam every 6 days. JemJams has its roots in something called ‘This is my jam.com’; a website/blogsite to which contributors worldwide added a track of their choosing once every 6 days. No words – no dialogue – no comments. Just the music. ‘This is my jam’ went offline in September 2015. But – as it was such a good idea and something which means a lot to me, JemJams has carried on the task (albeit from just one person) ever since. Here are JemJams 439 to 443.

439: Tigerclub – Until I forget [posted on 6th August]
440: Rival Sons – Nobody wants to die [posted in 12th August]
441: Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton – Down in the mud [posted on 18th August]
442: Buckcherry – Good time [posted on 24th August] and
443: Gov’t Mule – Peace I need [posted on 30th August]

’23 Tunes’ is the thematic I’ve given to the periodic playlists I’m putting together this year. Here’s the track-by-track lowdown for No.5…