There is a slew of new and upcoming music that I should be grooving to. There always is. Some albums are solid, others sublime, with a few eccentric affairs that captured my fancy upon both first and second listens, as well. But, today, I’m just not in the mood. Rather than hash my way through a review in half-hearted fashion, I’d rather do what I’m doing: marvel over an old favorite. I’m pining for times long past, in other words.
Let me explain: A week back, while Diane and a visiting friend were making cream cheese cupcakes in the kitchen, I fired up my favorite waste of time, YouTube, on the big-screen TV, with a video of Lone Justice Mach II (or was it Mach III?) on German TV in 1987 recommended to me on the welcome screen. That led to several VHS-quality clips of Maria McKee, the band’s mercurial lead singer, promoting her 1993 solo album, You Gotta Sin to Get Saved, on various late-night talk shows. I’ve watched the clips many times before, of course—and will again, I’m sure. But it was as if a switch flipped inside my brain. In the days that followed, I found myself digging through YouTube for more—and more—clips of Lone Justice and Maria, including one from The Old Grey Whistle Test in June 1985 that I’ve either never seen before or, more likely, misplaced in my memory banks. It doesn’t much matter which, really, because the gist of where I’m heading is this: Maria, who’s a mere 11 months older than me, looks like a baby—with the same being true for her bandmates.
I think the same when I see pictures of myself from that same year, which found me 19 at its start and 20 upon its end. It boggles my mind that I’m soon to turn 60.
And, with that, here’s today’s Top 5: Maria McKee with and without Lone Justice.
1) Lone Justice at the Palomino, “Working Late.”
2) Lone Justice on The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1985 – “Ways to Be Wicked” & “Sweet, Sweet Baby (I’m Falling).”
3) Lone Justice on Rock aus dem Alabama, 1987- “Shelter,” “I Found Love” & “Cotton Belt.”
4) Lone Justice at the Ritz, 1985 (Parts 1 & 2) – “Fortunate Son,” “Ways to Be Wicked,” “Sweet, Sweet Baby (I’m Falling),” “Don’t Toss Us Away,” & “Wait ’til We Get Home.”
5) Maria McKee on Hanging Out, 1996 – “Life Is Sweet” & “This Perfect Dress.”
The Old Grey Cat 