April
2026 Album Challenge (Home Link)
Johnny Blue Skies (aka Sturgill Simpson) - Passage du Desir
Format: CD
Stereo
Notes: An easy listening album. A definite departure from "Sound & Fury" with a laid back vibe that sort of reminisces on past love and embracing the present. A lot of Gordon Lightfoot and Jimmy Buffett weaved in.
March
2026 Album Challenge (Home Link)
Johnny Blue Skies (aka Sturgill Simpson) - Mutiny After Midnight
Format: YouTube
Stereo
Notes: I was expecting to listen to this in March, but not as early as the 2nd. The release date is officially the 13th, but Sturgill did his usual wildcard thing and put it up on YouTube for the masses. It's an easy score for Simpson (or Johnny Blue Skies by his alter ego) with me as I haven't heard anything yet from him that I didn't care for. This one is a kind of a mix of Sound & Fury and his last record Passage du Desir. You will find the occasional "country" note here and there but this is mostly a mixture of pop, soul, and disco. Not quite a jam record, but it does take the opportunity at times to cut loose. On my first couple of listens, I really like it. Early favorites are "Don't Let Go", "Stay On That" and "Ain't That a Bitch".
FEBRUARY
2026 Album Challenge (Home Link)
The Eagles - One of These Nights
Format: CD
Fiio FT-1 Headphones
Notes: Probably my favorite Eagles album, with apologies to the great Hotel California. They were transitioning on the spectrum from near country to near pop. Nominated for four Grammy's and winning one, it was another in a succession of top notch albums. Favorite tracks are "Lyin' Eyes" and "After The Thrill Is Gone".
JANUARY
2026 Album Challenge (Home Link)
Kicking off the challenge with a few favorites that I grew up listening to through my dad and his vinyl collection, which I have inherited. I have taken recommendations from friends, and I will definitely be getting to those as I move along throughout the year. Any photos I include will be plucked from the web unless I signal otherwise.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Format: Vinyl (original)
Stereo
Notes: One of my favorite albums ever and I inherited this record from my dad. He played it a lot when I was a child, but the record has been taken care of and still sounds fantastic after all the decades that have passed. I have this on several formats including Atmos/5.1, so it's an album I go back to frequently.
