Alphabet Soup Week 20: The J Tracks

The first appearance from one of my desert island discs, one of my favorite songs of all-time, and an artist that forever changed my life. All that and more on week 20 of Alphabet Soup!

Welcome to Week 20 of Alphabet Soup! For those that are new here (welcome aboard if you are!), this alphabetic playlist series splits the year into 26 two-week segments and provides a collection of ten tracks accompanied by my notes, recollections, or observations. The first week of each two-week segment comprises songs by artists beginning with the letter; the following week does the same for song names beginning with the letter. All selections appeared on albums that I physically owned on CD prior to digitizing and disposing of my collection.

This week we’re on the back half of the J train, focusing on ten tracks that begin with the letter J. We start with four male-fronted acts: a couple selections from greatest hits albums and a track from one of my Desert Island Discs followed by one of my favorite songs of all-time. The playlist wraps up with six consecutive female-fronted acts, including two women who have sadly passed away relatively recently. We wrap up the week with an artist that I’ll forever associate with one of the most drastic alterations in the trajectory of my life (oooh, how mysterious!).

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ALPHABET SOUP WEEK 20: The J Tracks

This week’s selections:

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TRACK: "Jingo" from Greatest Hits (1974)

ARTIST: Santana

Santana was probably unique in my CD library in terms of the length of time between the two releases I had in my physical collection - a period spanning 25 years, during which the band released 12 studio albums. The most “current” of the two albums was 1999’s Supernatural, which I purchased upon release given the wealth of fantastic collaborations. The earlier album was the 1974 collection Santana’s Greatest Hits, which compiled ten hits from the band’s first three albums.

Santana is up there with the best live bands I’ve ever seen (sadly, only on video, never in person). Their performances are so tight and filled with such incredible energy, driven by the beats laid down by legendary drummer Mike Shrieve, who was only 20 years old when he pulled off an epic appearance at Woodstock.

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TRACK: "Jungle Love" from Greatest Hits 1974-78 (1978)

ARTIST: Steve Miller Band

This week’s second consecutive selection from a greatest hits album comes from The Steve Miller Band’s 1978 compilation Greatest Hits 1974-78. While they’d released eleven studio albums by the time this collection was released, all but one of the tracks appeared on prior two albums. Jungle Love, the second single from 1977’s Book of Dreams, peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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TRACK: "Just About 'The Only' Blues" from Shakespeare My Butt (1991)

ARTIST: The Lowest Of The Low

While I’ve not yet managed to compile a complete definitive list of Desert Island Discs, I do have four definites on the list, one of which is Lowest of the Low’s 1991 debut album Shakespeare My Butt. I first heard of the band via an incredible but disturbing song that appeared on a mixtape made by one of my college roommates in the summer of 1994. My frustration with the mixtape, filled as it was with amazing new-to-me music, was its lack of clear and consistent labeling, meaning I couldn’t readily identify songs and artists. I think I may have known the song name but not the artist's name. I was hell-bent on finding out who the artist was when I returned to Halifax the following fall.

My plans for a firm artist ID were scuppered when I found myself invited by my university to take a break from my studies due to my inability to make it out of academic probation; my search would have to wait until I returned to finish my degree in September 1995. I did ultimately discover the artist, the song and the album, 1994’s Hallucigenia.

In short order I picked up their debut release and fell in love with it instantly. I found myself connecting deeply with the album and it rapidly became a favorite, making it the third addition (chronologically by discovery date) to my list of Desert Island Discs.

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As you make your way through this week’s playlist, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do any of these tracks really stand out for you? What do you like? What don’t you like?

Please click the button below to leave a comment.

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TRACK: "Jokerman" from Infidels (1983)

ARTIST: Bob Dylan

This is the second track from my favorite Bob Dylan studio album, 1983’s Infidels, as I and I appeared on the week 18 playlist. Jokerman was the lead track from the album and the third single, released in December 1983 (UK) and April 1984 (US). Featuring Mark Knopfler on guitar, and legendary Jamaican producers Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar on bass and drums respectively, the single was critically (if not popularly) received and has been named by many musical outlets as one of Dylan’s best (The Telegraph named it his fourth best song, Rolling Stone readers named it as one of Dylan’s best post-1960’s songs, and Spectrum Culture included it on their list, “Bob Dylan’s 20 Best Songs of the 1980s”).

The song wormed its way into my heart the moment I heard it and has achieved exalted status via inclusion on My All-Time Favorite Songs Spotify playlist, numbering 34 tracks at last count.

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TRACK: "Jacob Marley's Chain" from Whatever (1993)

ARTIST: Aimee Mann

I’m a huge Aimee Mann fan and have been following her work since her first solo album, 1993’s Whatever on which Jacob Marley’s Chain appears. I recall seeing the video for Stupid Thing on The Box and that was likely the first track I heard from the album. This album, and all subsequent albums through 2005’s The Forgotten Arm, found their way into my physical CD collection. I lost touch with her for a couple albums but have thoroughly enjoyed her last two releases.

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TRACK: "Judas My Heart" from King (1995)

ARTIST: Belly

Tanya Donnelly is one of the most prolific artists in terms of unique artist appearances in my CD collection as she was represented in four separate iterations - as a solo artist and in the bands Throwing Muses, The Breeders, and Belly. Outside of Chris Cornell (solo, Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog), I can’t think of any other artists that appeared in as many guises in my collection, although they possibly exist.

Judas My Heart was the closing track on Belly’s second studio album, 1995’s King. Sadly, the album and its four singles didn’t gain much traction and the band broke up shortly after its release (they would later reunite for 2017’s Dove). Since its initial release, critics have come round to its charms and many now see it as an equal to their highly regarded debut album Star. In 2012, PopMatters listed King at number seven on their list of “15 Overlooked and Underrated Albums of the 1990s”

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TRACK: "Just Like U Said It Would B" from The Lion And The Cobra (1987)

ARTIST: Sinéad O'Connor

The time and place that Sinéad O’Connor exploded into my musical consciousness will forever be etched into my psyche. Somehow, I’d managed to go close to a year before hearing her anything of her debut album. As I wandered into the common room allocated to those in their senior year at my high school, the ethereal intro to Jackie, the opening track to O’Connor’s debut album, The Lion and The Cobra, caught my attention. I stood there transfixed as the song unfolded, the guitar inexorably increased in intensity while O’Connor’s voice travels from a plaintive wail to a full-throated roar of loneliness and rage. I was awestruck and it remains one of only a few albums over the years that so deeply affected me upon my first listen.

Just Like U Said It Would B, the fourth track on the album, is, for me, the most beautiful lyrically. I remain deeply saddened that she left us last year, far too early, and still get choked up when I hear it.

"When I've walked in the garden When I'm walking off stage When everything's quiet Will you stay? Will you be my lover? And will you be my mama? I said will you be my lover? I said will you be my babe? When I lay down my head At the end of my day Nothing would Nothing would please me better Than I find that you're there When I lay down my head At the end of my day Nothing would Nothing would please me better Than I find that you're there when I wake"

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TRACK: "Just My Imagination" from Bury The Hatchet (1999)

ARTIST: The Cranberries

From one gone-too-soon Irish singer to another in the form of Dolores O’Riordan, who tragically died in an accidental drowning in her hotel bathtub in January 2018 at the age of 47. O’Riordan was the driving force behind the success of The Cranberries, both in terms of her songwriting prowess and her angelic vocals. The band’s debut, 1993’s Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We, holds a place as one of the best albums of the decade for me. Throughout much of the album O’Riordan’s incredible voice is tracked as another instrument in the mix, with perhaps no better example than the ethereal backing vocals she lays down on the opener I Still Do.

Just My Imagination was the third single from the band’s fourth studio album, 1999’s Bury The Hatchet. After three consecutive multi-platinum albums, this effort would represent the last major chart success for the band. I lost touch with them after this album but after revisiting much of their earlier work over the last week, I’ve decided to give their final four albums a listen.

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TRACK: "Just A Girl She Said" from Disgraceful (1995)

ARTIST: Dubstar

This is the second appearance on Alphabet Soup for Dubstar as their track Stars appeared in Week 7 when covering the Artists Filed Under D. Just A Girl She Said also appeared on the duo’s 1995 debut Disgraceful.

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TRACK: "Jezebel" from The Best of Sade (1994)

ARTIST: Sade

Sade is an absolute legend. From the magic that was 1984’s Diamond Life through 2010’s Soldier Of Love, each of her six albums have produced a stunning batch of singles. It’s not just her music that has earned Sade a special place in my heart. Quite simply, she is and always will be inextricably tied to one of my greatest passions in life and to my upcoming plans for the next chapter of my life. A seemingly chance decision to travel to London in 2011 to watch Sade perform at the O2 Arena quite literally changed the trajectory of my life.

While looking for something fun to do in the UK before/after the concert, one of my colleagues suggested a visit to Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England. We could visit the remains of ancient forts and explore some of the remnants of the almost 2,000-year-old wall. Sounded like fun! In researching the wall, I discovered that it was possible to walk its entire length along one of the UK’s National Trails. Sounded “interesting”. The moment I mentioned the possibility to my wife, she was sold. I gotta be honest, I wasn’t sure that I’d be up for a week of hiking 10+ miles a day but I decided to give it a go.

During that week I fell in love with the great outdoors. Not just being in the outdoors, but moving in the outdoors and challenging myself physically, mentally and emotionally while surrounded by the glory of nature. It was a life-affirming and life-defining experience. We’ve gone on to hike dozens of trails over the last thirteen years and are set to embark on 1,400 miles of hiking in July before retiring from Bermuda to the UK in January to spend our days walking the hills and dales of northern England.

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Life in the key of J: Journaling

Unlike the composition of my playlists, which I’m trying to get entirely ahead of before heading out for our 5-month adventure at the end of June, I’m never sure from one week to the next what I’ll be covering in my “Life in the key of” outro. This week I’ve decided to touch briefly on the topic of journaling, one of the pieces of my daily ritual which has served me well since its introduction in January 2020.

While I’m not a believer in New Year’s resolutions, I did make a decision in early 2020 to establish a daily morning practice of prayer, meditation and self-examination through journaling. Rather than trying to launch into doing all three on January 1st, I gave myself a three-week period during which I’d add one new habit a week so as not to overwhelm myself and end up not starting or not continuing (a real possibility based on prior experience). By the end of January, I’d managed to establish a consistent daily practice, one that would serve me very well when the world completely changed in March 2020. My journaling practice has now become a foundational part of my life, one which I’ve now managed to engage in for 1,575 consecutive days.

I love the above quote from Anne Lister (learn more about her story in the HBO series Gentleman Jack or read Vol. 1 and Vol 2. of her diaries) as it resonates with my experience in several ways. This element of unburdening is indeed a powerful device. In keeping with the expression “A burden shared is a burden halved, a joy shared is a joy doubled,” I’ve found this to be true in my journaling practice; troubles are lessened, and joys are magnified.

When I began journaling, I decided I would do so digitally, using the Day One app on my iPhone, for two reasons: privacy and convenience. My personal thoughts and reflections are my own. In my digital journal I’m willing to make observations about myself, the world around me, and the people within it in ways that I wouldn’t if it wasn’t password protected; I’m free to write how I truly feel. Additionally, the convenience of having the journaling app on my phone, which is rarely out of reach, significantly increases the chances that I’ll get something in there every day.

But perhaps the most meaningful and revealing element of journaling for me, which the Lister quote captures in the last few lines, has been the ability to look back on prior entries and reflect on where I was and how far I’ve come (or not, as the case may be). Not only does the app not forget, but it also features the ability to look at prior entries from each day. At a glance I can see what I was going through one, two, three, or four years ago on this very day. In some cases, I’m encouraged by the progress I’ve made and some of my previous “dilemmas” can almost appear laughable. But I’m also able to see those areas in my life in which I continue to struggle, whether with other people, my habits, or dealing with certain situations.

Patterns reveal themselves, bringing with them the initial awareness, the lack of which is so often the biggest stumbling block to personal growth. With the awareness comes a choice on where and how I can change, and the decision on whether I’m willing to make that change. And finally, the action, the most important step of all. My emotional and spiritual growth, rarely linear, has so often been characterized by this pathway:

• pain » awareness » choice » decision » action

I’ve found no greater tool to activate this pathway than the daily maintenance of a personal journal, the willingness to revisit past entries, and the courage to take action.

Thanks for being here again this week, I look forward to seeing you back here next week as we tackle the Artists Filed Under K!

Until then, wishing you peace and serenity on your journey.

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Here’s the link to the running playlist which is updated on a weekly basis as each new installment is published:

ALPHABET SOUP RUNNING PLAYLIST

Tracks missing from the Spotify playlist:

• Allegory by Murray Attaway (Week 02)

• Face Me and Smile by The Lover Speaks (Week 12)

• From Your Mouth by God Lives Underwater (Week 13)

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Thank you for reading Joy in the Journey, I appreciate you being here! If there’s someone in your life you think may enjoy this post, feel free to share it.