What's The Guru Listening To? - June Edition

Welcome to the June Edition of What’s The Guru Listening To? I get asked this question a lot. What am I currently enjoying and what would I recommend? And since time is severely limited these days, it gets harder and harder to post a full review of the outstanding music that I am discovering (or re-discovering). Therefore, every month I will fill you in on the latest song, album, and/or band that I am obsessed with.  

Here’s what The Guru is listening to this month:

Badfinger – Baby Blue

Although I was late to the party, I recently made my way through all five seasons of Breaking Bad. What an amazing show! I now understand why everyone was obsessed with the program. At the end of the series finale, “Baby Blue” plays during the episode conclusion and then bleeds into the credits. Once I heard that song over the final scene, I started listening to it over and over and over again. It’s a great song that I haven’t paid attention to in years, but Breaking Bad brought it back and I was happy to rediscover this gem.

Son Volt – Notes of Blue

The latest record from Son Volt is another solid release of good music. Although it came out in February, I only started enjoying Notes of Blue recently. It wasn’t until this month that I listened to it to a few times and discovered all the great music contained within. Notes of Blue is another fantastic folk rock album from an extremely talented band that has a lot of great releases under their belt. And while it is no longer the original members, almost anything that involves Jay Farrar is worth paying attention to.

Undefeated – Incubus

Incubus recently released a new album, 8, and while the entire record is great, there is one song that stood above all others. “Undefeated” is a classic Incubus track filled with great hooks, fantastic rhythms, and powerful lyrics. It was the one song that rose above all others from the record and I found myself playing it several times over. I am sure that in the coming weeks I will go back and revisit the entire record, but for now I am content to just listen to “Undefeated” several times a week.

U2 – The Joshua Tree

I am fortunate enough to have good seats to see U2 at the end of the month. Since the band will be playing The Joshua Tree in its entirety, I thought it was appropriate to give the album a few spins. The Joshua Tree is probably my favorite U2 album, and could be one of my favorite albums ever. Every song on this record is a masterpiece. I am excited to see the band in concert, and I am more excited to hear The Joshua Tree in its entirety. To prepare myself for this magnificent show, I’ve been playing The Joshua Tree to re-familiarize myself with the lyrics to all the songs. After a couple of listens, I think I have all the words to every song down. Bring on the concert, my singing voice is ready!

The Clarks

There’s something to be said about the start of summer, a weekend drive, and The Clarks on the radio. The Clarks are a fantastic band from Pittsburgh that not enough people outside of that area know about. They’ve been around for over 30 years with all their original members, a very rare feat in music, and every album they release is a gem. And while I’ve been watching the NHL finals, I hear The Clarks being played in the Penguins arena. As most regular readers of The Rock And Roll Guru know, I am a huge Penguins fan. Thus, I’ve been listening to The Clarks a lot as I get ready to watch Penguins hockey and/or when I take a weekend drive. Their catalog is vast and wonderful and I encourage anyone who hasn’t heard of them to seek out their music and give them a try.

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