Part of my yearlong series celebrating 25 of my favorite musical people, places, and things from the last 25 years.

This was tougher than I thought it would be. But it’s been a good problem to have.

Pick 25 artists and musicians I love. Write a couple of paragraphs about them. I’ll burn through this in a heartbeat.

Not.

I guess I didn’t really think about how much music I’ve heard in the last quarter century. Even as I look at my list, I’m already griping at myself about the lack of jazz. But that’s a “later” problem for which I think I have a solution.

This list is very much “in the moment,” but I knew that before I started. Twenty-five favorites is really more like 75 picks that rotate in and out depending on what day it is. All I can do is make my choices and move on.

No regrets.

So, here we are with Part 3 of my list. If you haven’t checked out Part 1 and/or Part 2 yet, I recommend you do that first. Thanks in advance.

SPECTRUM ROAD. They only made one eponymous album, but did it ever make an impact! A true supergroup with Jack Bruce (bass and vocals), Vernon Reid (guitar), John Medeski (keyboards), and Cindy Blackman-Santana (drums and vocals) paying tribute to jazz legend Tony Williams and his fusion band Lifetime. It can be argued (successfully, I think) that Williams was the true creator of fusion, Jazz-Rock, or whatever you choose to call it. The credit is often given to Miles Davis, though Williams was in Davis’s band around the time of Lifetime’s records.

In 2012, Spectrum Road released an album that positively exploded out of the speakers. I often play this album along with the two Lifetime’s two recordings. It’s almost night and day. Think of it as Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin being credited as the creators of Metal. Sure, their music is plenty heavy. But compared to today’s Metal, Zeppelin and Sabbath seem almost … quaint.

Spectrum Road takes a tune like “Where” and blasts it into the stratosphere. It never fails to stop me in my tracks. Blackman-Santana’s ethereal vocal and drum solo; Bruce’s hard-charging bass line; Reid’s paint-peeling guitar solo; and Medeski pushing his Hammond B-3 to its limit as though his life depended upon it. The song runs nearly 13 minutes, yet I have to play it twice nearly every time.

The rest of the album is every bit as good. I love this album so much, I hoped with all my heart there would be a follow-up. Reid felt the same way. Unfortunately, Bruce passed away while the idea was still being bandied about.

Those who haven’t heard Spectrum Road really should take the time and give it a go. It is one-hundred percent worth it. Just be sure to take the breakables off the shelf first.

THE PINEAPPLE THIEF. I’ve heard more than one prog fan call The Pineapple Thief something along the lines of “the lighter side of Porcupine Tree.” I prefer to see the two bands as, at most, two sides of the same coin.

Bruce Soord’s songs may not seem as heavy as those Steven Wilson writes for Porcupine Tree, but it really helps The Pineapple Thief carve its on niche in the prog/prog-metal world.

In fact, The Pineapple really doesn’t spend much time in the “metal” realm at all. Hard rock from time to time, yes. But Soord writes songs that border on ambient that can feel pretty heavy. Also, they’re usually quite a bit shorter.

My personal favorite album is Magnolia, but there’s little wrong to be found in any Pineapple Thief album. Or grab hold of the live Where We Stood (In Concert) to get a nice overview of the band’s catalog before diving into the studio albums.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE. I had no idea I liked “stoner rock,” but these guys help me get there. Yes, they formed in the nineties. But like so many others, the album Songs for the Deaf — released in 2001 — is what brought me onboard. It’s just one banger after another. Queens of the Stone Age are a full-time part of my musical world.

It was a friend of mine playing a “deeper” cut from the record, “Song for the Dead,” that kicked the door open. Josh Homme’s vocals and guitar hooked me instantly. Dave Grohl’s drumming was insane! You don’t know how much you need a certain record in your life until you hear it. And now it had happened again.

Yeah, Deaf is my favorite album, but there’s plenty of other good music to choose from. Dive in, turn up, and let it loose!

HAKEN. Herein lies the true prog metal. Along with Dream Theater, Opeth and Riverside, Haken absolutely takes my breath away with some of the most melodic long-form music (many tunes top ten minutes) I’ve had the joy of hearing. The other bands are plenty cool, but Haken has that “thing” — which is completely undefinable — that reaches me the most.

Oddly, it was their in concert album L1VE that trapped me in Haken’s web. The opening track, “Initiate,” ranks as one of my all-time favorite musical first impressions. How could I not be a fan after hearing something like this?

I was positively stunned when Haken came to St. Louis. Normally, my hometown didn’t rate a gig like that. (It’s one of a few reasons I now live in Chicago.) The show was unreal musically and photographically. I got one of my favorite shots ever (shown above) at this gig.

Pick an album. Any album. It’s hard to go wrong. Based on that whole “first impression” thing, L1VE remains nearest and dearest to me. But I’m more than happy to spend a fair amount of time with the studio works.

SHABAKA HUTCHINGS and company. Not a band name, but a movement. I actually wrote a piece on saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings quite recently. He represents a new wave of 21st century jazz that incorporates elements of hip-hop, soul, World music, and electeonica to its mix. His work with bands like Sons of Kemet, Shabaka and the Ancestors, and the Comet is Coming serve as prime examples.

Out of this same musical family come artists like drummer Makaya McCraven, bassist Junius Paul, and tuba player Theon Cross. Any and all of them are worth looking into, and they often appear on each other’s records. The interplay on display is second to none.

This musical wave has been, resides in, and is heading to some fascinating musical places. Hop aboard and take the ride!

KENDRICK LAMAR. I like to call the late eighties to the mid-nineties my “Golden Age” of hip-hop. Then I put it aside for other things. But in the last five or so years, I’ve felt the need to dip a toe back in hip-hop’s water to find out what I’ve been missing. Turns out it was quite a bit!

My searches seemed to revolve around three artists: Common (very deep and socially conscious, and a good actor to boot), Kanye West (an artist and producer capable of moments of absolute brilliance but with serious ego-driven and diversity issues that make him toxic), and Kendrick Lamar, who has absolutely blown me away.

I didn’t know what I was in for the first time I played DAMN, but it was nothing short of a revelation. I hadn’t fully recovered from that moment when the steamroller that is To Pimp A Butterfly bowled me over. Lamar has a lot to say and brilliant ways to put it across.

The icing on the cake was Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance, which I rate among the best I’ve ever seen. Okay … no one tops Prince’s performance, but Lamar was unbelievably good!

It was 15 minutes of pride, consciousness, celebration, and a touch of beef. We’re still taking that performance apart even as Bad Bunny’s show is now being celebrated as the next big thing. Kendrick Lamar is definitely one of those artists you should be paying attention to.

LUNG. I also wrote a recent piece on this hard-charging Cincinnati-based duo. I’d direct you there for more details. It’s worth it.

In this space, I’ll simply say that I’ve never been more fired up for an electrified cello, opera-worthy vocals, and hardcore brutal drumming. You will be, too.

That makes 25. And yeah, I have at least ten more in my head (not including the artists who will be getting their own features). I’m sure I’ll be chatting up one or more of them on this site down the road.

But this is a good start.

It has been one helluva quarter century.

#cirdecsongs

If you would like to have your music reviewed or have your band photographed while in Chicago, contact me at cirdecsongs@gmail.com