In between gas price hikes, I decided to rock up to madison for a day
away from Chaos City. For the rare time, Madison had cheaper gas than
Dubuque (3.55 to Q's 3.57) but the winter was bad up there. Potholes
were three feet wide at the Westtowne Mall. Nevertheless, didn't find
much in terms of vinyl (except a couple Marti Jones LPs) and though Mad
City Music had lots of vinyl from the 50s and 60s, most of it was pretty
scratched up. For the first time, it didn't rain while I was up there
(first time since 05) but I'm sure had I stayed there a extra day, that
would have been extended. Found a bunch of dollar cds at HP Books East
Madison, which meant some country stars of yore (i always been a eddy
raven fan). Didn't find anything spectaular but I did find The
Rainmakers Tornado CD which will replace my old copy since this one has
no scratches. I do wish that Pre Played would quit buffering those cds
when you buy from them, even with a bit of dust and stuff, my way of
cleaning them are better suited then buff and run.
Didn't go downtown to State Street, didn't see the need to but did do
the annual walk alongside Lake Monona. And got to watch the college
chicks ride their bikes or rollerblade.
Total cost of driving up there and back: 44 dollars in gas money. Better than I thought.
The top ten of the week with the usual smart assed comments.
1. Wrong-Waylon Jennings 1990 The last top ten hit for the old
outlaw. I find it ironic that I can still find the Waylon CDs that I'm
looking for since most of them have fallen out of print. But then again
it seems like destiny for me to find certain cds. Too bad I can't
substain a career of making a living finding lost cds. But then again
CDs are going to be passe by 2010 anyway. What's a record store anyway?
2. Gotta Run-Tom Holland 1985 Known as Holland, this band was
fronted by the ex lead singer of the B'zzs, who had a regional hit with
Get Up, Get Angry. This album was reissued on Wounded Bird and it's a
time piece of dated 80s hair metal, with a whammy bar specialist ruining
the songs with his 4th rate Van Halen licks. There are good classic
rock and then there's dated 80s rock.
3. I Can Help-Billy Swan 1974 Number one back in the 70s, this song
you basically hear on the classic country charts more often than not.
The long version has a drawn out ending and can be annoying. Sometimes,
45 edits work wonders.
4. Lost Woman-The Greenhornes 2005 The hidden track off their V2
album to which I considered to be a retrospective of some sort. This
is a cover of the Yardbirds staple. I don't think much of hidden
tracks, they take forever to get to after the end of the album and most
hidden tracks suck. Donno if these guys are still going but the rhythm
section is part of The Racontuers whose latest album is great.
5. It's Because I Do-Becky Hobbs 1988 Good country songs speak from
the heart of life happenings. Most new country songs today are a pale
shell of the stuff that came out in the glory years up to the late 80s.
This song caught me off guard of the words, It's not that I love you
cuz I don't, it's because I do. When RCA reissued this album they left
it off but you can find it on the original MTM release. This song is
too country and too good for Carrie Underwood.
6. Most Of The Time-Bob Dylan 1989 Staying in the 1980s, this is off
the comeback album Oh Mercy and is featured in High Fidelity, that John
Cusack movie that came out in the late 90s. I thought the movie was a
tad bit overrated. But the soundtrack was classic.
7. If You Wanna Get To Heaven-Ozark Mountain Daredevils 1974 Damn
right Bob Lefsetz, this was the song that got me interested in the
OMDs. Freaking radio is so pussed over, they don't play this song on
the classic rock stations anymore.
8. Dirty City-Steve Winwood 2008 Do you believe that I heard this
on Mix 96 today while I was getting a haircut? Didn't Mix 96.5 have a
policy of not playing anything over 1988? Anyway, Eric Clapton puts in
one of his best guitar leads in thirty years and dammed if I heard this
song on triple M when I was up in Madison on monday. Comeback album of
the year? Maybe hadn't Whitesnake put out their new album Born To Be
Bad.
9. Magification-Yes 2001 I have no idea why my best friend Russ
thinks that I don't like this album. Sure it's a epic progessive album
and some of the songs run for like 10 minites but it's YES dammit. They
did hit a creative streak with 1999's The Ladder and this album but
unfortunly, their label went bellyup soon after the release of this
album. You can still find it for 3 bucks for a sealed copy at FYE, if
they're not sold out already.
10. Fifteen Days Under The Hood-New Riders Of The Purple Sage 1976
By then, these hippy dippys wore out their welcome at Columbia and moved
over to MCA for four uneven albums, the best was this album called New
Riders. And The New Riders may have been country's answer to Grand Funk
Railroad, the fans love them but critics poopooed them and they were
right some of the time. Robert Christgau hated Powerglide, I loved that
album, he like their first album, I thought it was overrated. But we
both hated Brujo, the second album which sounded like a bad attempt to
rewrite the Grateful Dead Anthem Of The Sun. As for the MCA albums, New
Riders is the best, Marin Country Line sucks and I'm not about to take a
listen to Who Are These Guys? And back at that time, the kiss of death
was when Skip Battin joined. And any band that Battin joined would
break up eventually, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and New
Riders, not that it was his fault. Just bad timing that's all. Skip
passed away two years ago due to Alzheimers. RIP Skip.
