It used to be that going to Arizona or Vegas would meant stopping at the
Virgin Megastore which used to have a very good selection of harder to
find cds and even cutouts. It has been announced that all of the Virgin
music stores will be closed this year. Last year when I did go to
Phoenix to the Wholesale mall, that Virgin didn't have much of a
selection and they looked like they were going into the clothing
business as well. A very disappointing time and I didn't buy anything
from them for the first time. The Vegas Virgin store closed in 2005.
Yet another causality in the Great Depression 2. And Blockbuster is next
on the list.
Another sign of the depression 2, the Viola Post
Office is closing down, which means that we'll have to go to Springville
or Martelle to mail off sold CDs. Even though we don't have the box up
there anymore, I did go to the Viola PO to do my business and it was
easier just to get in and get out. I'm sure things will survive
somehow. But I can't help but wonder if I'm having the reverse Midas
touch of everyplace I visit and eat at goes out of business. If that's
the case The Great Dragon Buffett might want to consider to hang up
horseshoes for better luck.
Well, looks like the local
option tax passed so once again we'll have to pay more every time we go
into Cedar Rapids or Springville to get a pizza. Hopefully the tax will
go where it's supposed to go, to the flood victims but then again not a
damn thing has happened since the flood came through and wiped out Time
Check and Czech Village. Although Czech Village has had a few places
reopened since then but the landmarks such as the Ellis Blvd A and W is a
memory of better times ago. As for this AIG fiasco, since we're the
primary owners of that fucked up place, can't we relieve of the bozos
that run that joint? You can't keep pumping billions into the AIG
toilet and flushing it down. What really pisses me off is that if you
watch soccer across the pond, you'll see players wearing jerseys with
advertising on them. And most of them come from our good friends AIG.
Why don't somebody give me 20 billion bucks? I'm sure I'll put it to
better use than leasing airplanes and jets to AIG to get them to these
soccer games. Won't be long before we are all out in the streets while
Wall Street and AIG continue to do their coke parties and sponsoring
soccer teams.
But in the great tradition of things still in operation, The Top Ten Of The WeekTM.
1.
Double Trouble-Otis Rush 1957 Fifty years ago Chicago was the king of
the independent record labels. Vee Jay, Mercury, Chess, the list is
pretty big. Most of them didn't survive very long however but the ones
that did managed to make well known hits. Cobra Records was a
blues/rock label that most of the Chess session players moonlight after
hours and if you ever hear a Cobra Recording at that time, they have a
more looser feel. I'm sure a few beers and whiskeys had something to do
with that too. Otis Rush was not as well known as his Chess and Vee
Jay brothers but this song inspired Stevie Ray Vaughn to the point that
he named his band after this song. Another note about this song is that
whoever recorded the songs for Cobra Records didn't know how to record
very well, and perhaps that's the reason why this song sounds a lot more
doomy and cluttered. But that also might be the charm.
2.
Kentucky Woman-Deep Purple 1969 Before Ian Gillan, DP had a top twenty
hit with this Neil Diamond remake and probably is the most pop sounding
of all DP recordings. although Richie Blackmore would be a guitar god
in the 70s, it seems like most of his guitar leads seemed to be out of
tune and out of place (check out Hard Road, the B side for further
proof). Seemed like they got more backing vocals as well, even Jon Lord
sang background as well as ex Pirate Nick Simpler who'd be gone by the
time Gillan joined up. I seemed to recall that Rod Evans had a big ass
afro. He later formed Captain Beyond and made two good to so so albums
for Capricorn before disappearing from the music scene.
3.
Sister Lost Soul-Alejandro Escovedo 2008 I think I included this song
on the other top ten that I do for Multiply.com and why not, it's a
great and moving song from AE's Real Animal album. And I heard this
play in the background up at Taco Bell last week. If we had some kind
of AOR radio stations or real rock stations that played real rock and
roll you'd be hearing this every other hour and not get tired of it. So
what ever happened to all those great radio stations of long ago? They
all got killed off by the Telecommuncations Act Of 1996, one of the
reasons why Republicants don't have a majority in congress anymore. And
when your spokesman is Rush Dimbulb, the future doesn't look too bright
for you even in the Great Depression 2.
4. I'll Be Standing
By-Lizzy Williams 2005 Still the best album that I have heard on My
Space. She should come out here in the springtime. She would sound
great at CSPS.
5. All Fired Up-Fastway 1984 This was supposed
to be the supergroup of the 80s. Fast Eddie Clarke from Motorhead,
Jerry Shirley from Humble Pie, Pete Way of UFO and Robert Plant
soundalike David King. They made a great debut album and the followup
to which I raved about when I heard it. At least on Side 1. Thought
that the first two songs on Side 2 rocked out too but the rest of the
album fell apart after that. 25 years later, the album doesn't hold up
as well as it did when I first heard it. But in the cd age it was one
of the first cds that i did buy to replaced the album.
6. It's
All In The Game-Jimmie Spheeris 1976 A remake of the Tommy Edwards
classic, Spheeris has a big cult following out there that fought long
and hard to get his albums reissued on CD and they did come out in 1998
for a limited time only. I guess there's not too many fans in Waterloo,
for somebody did bring their collection in and they all sat around
gathering dust for a good year and a half till I picked up Ports Of The
Heart and Isle Of View. I'd considered him more MOR and lite rock than
New Age. The CDs have gone out of print except for Isle Of View which
can be found as a import but the MP3 albums are availble. And cheaper
that way. Still perfer CDs though.
7. Under Five-Batdorf And
Rodney 1972 John Batdorf has his own website and sometimes he writes to
say that he does get together with Mark Rodney for reunion gigs. I
have him as a friend but I don't think he follows the top ten all that
much, not too many do. B n R did make three albums for various labels,
didn't care much for the Atlantic album, never heard the Arista album
and the Asylum album I considered their best. Produced with Bill
Halverson who produced CSNY's Deja Vu, The B & R self titled does
sound like CSNY if Graham Nash was the main songwriter. Collector's
Choice Music reissued this and the Atlantic album in 2005.
8.
Needles/Ride Down-Handsome 1997 The 90s are full of albums that could
have been classic had they got promoted right. This band fell through
the cracks because they were not nu metal but metal rock thanks to ex
Helmet Peter Mengele and Cro Mags' Tom Capone. In fact their sheets of
metal guitar blew the Helmet album out of the water but Helmet bombed as
well. A victim of poor timing, the Handsome album remains one of the
best unheard albums of the 1990s and is worth searching out.
9.
Even In The Quietest Moments-Supertramp 1977 This is one band that I
always have trouble listening to. For every good moment such as Bloody
Well Right or Give A Little Bit, we would get Babaji and The Logical
Song which to me the former was a rewrite of the latter and I always
hated The Logical SOng which means that I never would get Breakfast In
America or Supertramp Greatest Hits even if I would see the CDs in the
dollar bins. Perhaps my favorite Supertramp album is the tragic Brother
Where Are You Bound, recorded after Roger Hodgson left for an ill fated
solo career. Second favorite is the much maligned Crisis? What
Crisis?!? Not that anybody really cares.
10. Square Dance Rock
Part One-Magic Sam 1960 Like Otis Rush, Magic Sam recorded for Cobra
Records but by 1960 with Cobra out of business, Sam moved down to Chief
Records (formed by Mel London) and recorded a few singles. Magic Sam
Meggett was considered to be a blues player but he could also do rock
and roll as he did with this number. Didn't chart at all, but it was a
departure from the blues based songs he did with All Night Long and
Everything Gonna Be Alright which as basically the same song rewritten a
tad different. Magic Sam would later move on to Delmark, yet another
Chicago indee label and make a couple classic blues albums but would
pass away young. The Pirate CD label Charly Records did issued a CD
that combined most of his Chief 45s with all of his Cobra hits. Later
Stan Lewis would purchase most of the independent Chicago labels (JOB,
Parrott, Cobra, Chief) and compile a good Magic Sam comp for Paula/Jewel
in the late 1990s, likewise Otis Rush and others. And could be found
in Best Buy's cut outs in the late 1990s. I'm thinking that Fuel 2000,
has reissued the Jewel/Paula comps earlier in this decade but remain
hard to find even if they are in print.
