A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the joy and value of easy listening, as opposed to loud listening, or nervy listening, or sad and painful listening, or background listening, and here’s an accompanying ninety-minute playlist. Obviously it could go on for hours, and I will certainly make another one soon.
It’s meant to have the same effect as a Radox bath, if Radox is still a thing. You will feel the muscles in your body relax. You will feel as though honey is being poured into your ears, without the subsequent blockages or stickiness. You will feel as though you are being given a massage by a muscular butterfly. Or at least, this is what these songs do to me.
There is no intended insult to any of the musicians here. Rather, I mean to praise them, and tell them what a great and difficult job they have done. And everyone on here is deeply cool, in my humble opinion, unlike some artists whose work you might have found in the Easy Listening section of HMV or Sam Goody’s. (Yes, Karen Carpenter is cool). And if you don’t already know
’s version of ‘Under The Boardwalk’, then you are approximately one hundred thousand plays behind me, but you will catch up, if you are under forty. (I couldn’t choose between ‘Under The Boardwalk’ and her version of Tom Waits’s ‘Rainbow Sleeves’ from Girl At Her Volcano, but I rather fear that ‘Rainbow Sleeves’ might have made me weep at some stage, and we are avoiding weepage here.) Enjoy.
Radox is still a thing, although their fragrances have moved on from blue bottle, green bottle, red bottle - ha ha! I intend to have a bath after work, so I will indulge in the list at the same time. Thank you.
May I complain, Nick? Actually, I want to ask: why didn't you choose Harry Nilson's version of Everybody's Talkin'? That one is just perfect.