“Back in the Saddle Again” – Gene Autry
From the Sleeping in Seattle soundtrack

Though a bit of a cheesy romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle sports a very nice soundtrack consisting of great vocal jazz, old country, and classic standards. This Gene Autry number is the kind of country music I love. Before country music was bastardized by slick production and the anti-Christ named Shania Twain it was full of old cowboy songs and blues-inspired cheatin’ songs.

It is music with a heart. Everyone’s heard the old joke about what you get if you play a country song backward – you get your wife back, your house, back, your dog back… – but there is a sincerity and a joy to that music not felt in Nashville proper for years.

“You Don’t Miss Your Water” – Otis Redding
from Otis Blue

Nobody sings soul music like Otis Redding. There is so much heartache in his voice he could make a statue of Hitler cry. Yet he could jump out of his soul with some rhythm and blues.

He does a version of “Satisfaction” that even Keith Richards says sounds more like what he wanted than the Stones version.

This is a slow, soulful number with heartbreaking lyrics, but it’s not my favorite Otis tune. It’s just a tad too slow for my liking, without a great melody to back it.

It’s still powerful Otis soul, but if I was recommending Otis Redding sad songs, I’d head for “These Arms Of Mine” or “Pain in My Heart” before I led anyone to this song.

“When Doves Cry” – Prince
from Purple Rain

Ah, Prince when he was just Prince. They say his last album was pretty smokin’ but I have to admit I haven’t given it a spin. Judging from his appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple of years back, he’s still got it though.

This song reminds me of my sophomore year at college. There was a social club on campus that were nicknamed the Doves. Pledges had to sing this song at will, or maybe they had it on a t-shirt. Anyways this was their song.

A great freaking song it is. Killer guitar, a sweet backbeat, and Prince doing his Prince thing like no other.

“I’m the Man Who Loves You” – Jeff Tweedy
from 3/05/05

From a live acoustic solo gig, he did in Chicago. Well, later he was joined by most of Wilco, but the first set is nothing but Tweedy and his guitar. He does some old Tupelo numbers and lots of Wilco favorites.

This version suffers a little without the band, but it’s cool to hear these songs stripped down to just the basic melody and Tweedy’s oddball lyrics. He actually manages some pretty good fast picking on his little acoustic.

I keep expecting to hear the crowd really sing along since it must have been an intimate show, but I never do. I guess they had respect for the man and the song and didn’t want to disturb him.

“Paradise City” – Guns N Roses
from (10/2/87)

There has been a lot of brouhaha over Axl Rose and the new Guns N Roses album that has supposedly been coming out for several years now. This is the stuff that keeps people talking about a band that really hasn’t done anything since the early 1990s.

The sound quality on this live performance is a little muddled, but the blazing, explosion coming from the band is enough to blow out the speakers and make the neighbors call the cops.

Axl is all over the place screaming like a mad chimpanzee on fire. Slash tears the mutha up with his solo. The rest of the band blazes like a blind demon on Judgment Day. I just got this bootleg in the mail yesterday, so I can’t say much about the rest of the disk, but if this version is anything like the rest, then sign me up for the reunion tour.