Best of 2005

BRAD

Favorites of the year from a middle aged lefty.

New Releases:

Bowery Songs - Joan Baez

Solo Acoustic Volume 1 - Jackson Browne

The Dirty South Live at the 40 Watt - Drive-By Truckers (DVD)

Back to Me - Kathleen Edwards

Childish Things - James McMurtry

Fair & Square - John Prine

Okemah and the Melody of Riot - Son Volt

Devils and Dust - Bruce Springsteen

Front Parlour Ballads - Richard Thompson

Jim White Presents Music from Searching for a Wrong-Eyed Jesus

Prairie Wind - Neil Young

Reissues:

The BAND: A Musical History

The Concert for Bangla Desh

Donovan EMI Import Reissues

Bob Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962

The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home - Bob Dylan

The Complete Mercury Masters - Sir Douglas Quintet

A Retrospective: 1995-2000 - Son Volt

Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Edition - Bruce Springsteen

Songs of the Year:            

Devils and Dust - Bruce Springsteen
We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry

Event of the Year:            

September 24, 2005 protest against the war in Iraq.   There were 300,000 people in Washington D.C. with many different causes but united against the war and George Bush and his merry band of fascists.

Things I've learned this year:

1.   During 1965 and 1966, Bob Dylan made the greatest rock and roll ever.

2.   Music still has power!   A friend of mine told me a story about his son's first concert.   He took his son and some of his son's friends to see Green Day.   When the show was over, he said to his dad - "Dad, I've decided I'm a Democrat."   Billie Joe Armstrong knows an American Idiot when he sees one.   Kids learn from his songs.   Music still has power!

3.   George W. Bush through his skillful political and moral powers has become the WORST president in our history.   He has officially surpassed Andrew Jackson and Herbert Hoover.