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"Adore" by Smashing Pumpkins is a controversial album. Coming after the success of two highly regarded efforts ("Siamese Dreams" and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), it marked a shift into alternative electronica. The mood is dark as befits a band buffeted by divorce, drug addition and line up changes. It is also one of my very favorite Smashing Pumpkins efforts. With heavy musical textures . . . and a heart breaking libretto . . . it is not to be missed.

Velvet Underground Alumni John Cale dazzles with this requiem for the dead of the Falklands War. Alternative Classical with a Dylan Thomas Libretto ? Yeah. Got it here. "Words for the Dying" is de rigueur for the Living.

There are many great bands from the 1970's. Unfortunately a lot of their songs are over played. Check out lesser known but sensation tracks from Graham Nash & David Crosby, T Rex, The Rolling Stones, Brian Ferry, Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens, The Clash, The Dead Boys, David Bowie, Dolly Parton, Brian Eno and Blue Oyster Cult.

Melancholy alternative songs for a cold & snowy Ohio Sunday. Go back to bed with some hot chocolate and this podcast. Stay there till spring. Pearl Jam - Jeremy (Live Version), Lana Del Ray - Music to Watch Boys By, Layla - Smokestack, LimpBizKit - Home Sweet Home / Bittersweet Symphony, Lynyrd Skynyrd - That Smell, Lissie - Bad Romance, MGMT - Electric Feel, Michael Andrews and Gary Jules - Mad World, New Order - Age of Consent, Nick Cave - Jubilee Street, Paul Cole - Where have all the Cowboys gone ?

Great alternative bands exist all around the world. The Carsick Cars are from China but their sound would be equally at home on the Lower East Side of Manhatten. They've opened for Sonic Youth in Prague and Vienna and also performed at "South by Southwest" (SXSW) in Austin Texas as well as the Modern Sky Festival in Beijing. "You Can Listen, You Can Talk" is their second album. Songs are in both English and Mandarin. Great stuff. Check it out.

"Kind of Blue" is generally recognized as one of greatest jazz albums of all time. Quadruple Platinum ? Not sure I can count that high. Listen to this sublime set as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb and Bill Evans experiment with modal Jazz.

Bad Religion - O come, o come Emmanuel, Bad Religion - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Bad Religion - What Child is This, Bad Religion - Angels we have heard on high, Bad Religion - American Jesus, Smash Mouth - Snoopy’s Christmas, Bankrupt - I want you to want me . . . for Christmas, Batfoot! - All I want for Christmas is you, Hoist the Colors - O Holy Night, Blink 182 - I won’t be home for Christmas

Ray Charles and Betty Carter - Baby It’s Cold Outside, Mary Wilson - All I want for Christmas is you, James Brown - Sweet Little Baby Boy, Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Miles Davis and Friends - Blue Xmas, Ray Charles - The Christmas Song, Tony Braxton and Babyface - Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Russian Emo Angst Electronica Ballads. Kinda like Grimes meets Bjork then Pussy Riot crashes the party. "Underground Fairy Tale" was released by IC3Peak on September 29, 2018. It is a must listen. Unless you are Czar Putin. Then you'll hate 'em. "Once you felt the pain – you will feel it again. I don’t cry over you. Only cold can burn out tears on my face. I wish I could never see . . . What’s hidden ahead . . . My heart is so heavy – I’m falling into abyss . . . While it’s turning in stone from the inside . . .   I come from a Russian horror fairy tale. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. I am not afraid of daylight. There is enough darkness here. This world gives you everything you ask for. But it takes it all away when you least expect." Exactly what Fyodor Dostoevsky would have written had he played club dates in Russia in 2018 . . .