´MUSICAL SIDETRACKS & DETOURS´ 2020

´MUSICAL SIDETRACKS & DETOURS´ 2020

imagined Big Boxed Set Of Boxed Sets, unless marked thus *

collated by Norman Warwick

We were inspired by some of the wonderful boxed sets of music that are actually on sale for this Christmas, but even so, our passion for music had us compiling some ´virtual´ sets of our own, so that however we categorised our music there would be a perfect boxed set to play through on any given day. Our first set, one we have rather unimaginatively title Boxed In British, shapes up that way ,has top with British acts like Wes McGhee and Gary Hall tilting massive tips of their hats to Americana music, with Kate Rusby, Kirsty Almeida and Maisie Peters all flirting with folk music. John Ellis gives us some authentic sounding jazz blues and Lendanear seek to create a wider audience. for their own music

BOXED IN BRITISH                             7 CD SET

Wes  McGhee                                           Bead Mountain*

Gary Hall                                                  The Roundtower Years

Kate Rusby                                               greatest hits

John Ellis                                                  Irk Valley*         

Kirsty Almeida                                        recordings to date

Perhaps They´ll Listen Now          Lendanear

Maisie Peters                                             eponymous

Shirley Bassey says she owes it all to us, and has repaid us with an album entitled I Owe It All You, so let´s drop that into our boxed set. We place the diva with the boy band in this imagined two album collection the puts South Korean superstars, BTS, in a box with Shirley Bassey.

DIVAS AND BOY BANDS                   2 CD SET

Shirley Bassey                                          I Owe it All To You*

BTS                                                           Dynamite

The Kanneh Masons are the new kids on the block, of course, whilst Beethoven has been around a while. We were fortunate enough at the start of the year to see a wonderful and soulful performance by Natalia Nicoleava and Iya Zmaeva in a delightful piano and violin duo as well as Maximum Ensemble giving a concert in the caves on our shorelines here on Lanzarote, and Graham Marshall reported for us on Luca Okras on piano and The Victoria String Quartet playing for the Rochdale Music Society at Heywood Civic Hall.

CLASSICAL COLLECTION               7 CD SET

Kanneh Mason Family                             Carnival of the Animals*

Beethoven                                                 A Life In Nine Pieces

Maximum Ensemble                                Enquiry

Natalia Nicoleava                                     At The Piano

Iya Zmaeva                                                Souvenires Romantica

Luca Okras                                                celebrating the piano

Victoria String Quartet                            Live At Heywood Civic Hall

We celebrate strong female artists lost with a collection titled Ladies Allowed. Helen Reddy, who died last month, gained fame, really, as a singer of iconic and anthemic songs. Kate Wolf died many years ago now: an early death that curtailed what was already a prolific output of lovely, introspective but accessible songs, delivered in the most fabulous voice. We include Anne Murray, one of the loudest ladies with the softest of voices.

LADIES ALLOWED                    3 CD SET

Helen Reddy                                             Greatest Hits*

Anne Murray                                            Greatest Hits*

Kate Wolf                                                  Songs of

Now, what I call jazz and what Steve Bewick, our correspondent in that genre, calls jazz are two very different things. so in this set we have music from Spain, Indian and the UK.

JAZZ                                                         5 CD SET

Kiko Perdomo                                          Her Kind Of Jazz

Barb Yungr                                               In My Troubled Days*

Helena J Summerfiled                             She Wasn´t Bad For A Girl

Beverley Beirne                                        Fell Out In Conversation

Olivia Moore                                            Indian Raga & Jazz Violin

Whatever genre this is, country or Americana, it pretty much emanates from singer-songwriterly attitudes and in Paul Simon Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton and the wonderful Bill Morrissey we have leading exponents of that art all boxed up for you here.

KIND OF AMERICANA                      6 CD SET

Miranda Lambert                                      Greatest Hits

Paul Simon                                               Greatest Hits*

Molly Tuttle                                              Eponymous

Dolly Parton                                             Greatest hits*

First Aid Kit                                              The Best Of

Bill Morrisey                                            The Collection*

Bob Dylan                                                 2020 recordings

Our Spanish folk lore boxed set actually also includes authentic music from Portugal and Cuba and if you  blissfully played sounds then this is the boxed set for you,

SPANISH AND FOLK LORE             6 CD SET

Pablo & Humberto                                   Spanish Folk Lore & More

Antonio Lizana                                         A Different Reality*

Fado Music                                               The Full Story

Seike Eberhard                                         for our fans

Lanzarote Gospel Choir                           rolling in the aisles

Sereo de Jesus                                           Cuban music

So, if you have the cash, splash out on the boxed sets by Sade, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Elton John, Amy Winehouse and John Prine, Joni Mitchell, Dire Straits, The Divine Comedy and Prince, as reviewed in the first half of this post.

Remember, though, that the six boxed sets listed above have not yet been compiled by anyone and neither, sadly, are they ever likely to be. They give evidence, though, as to how many artists we have met on our walks down Sidetracks & Detours, and you could have endless hours of fun starting up search engines, visiting you tube and other sites and collecting together recordings by all the artists mentioned in our Sidetracks & Detours 2020 Big Boxed Set. if you know of any musicians we haven´t yet featured please feel free to drop an article to normanwarwick55@gmail.com

Anything published will be fully attributed.