Top Ten Of The Week-Life Goes On

After Bob Lefsetz's 10, time for me to take y'all back into the semi obscure and other hits.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger they say.  If we were only cool as Sun Ra!  (more about him later)

1.   Silver Star-The Four Seasons 1976  Never liked their music all that much got OD'd on Sherry or Big Girls Don't Cry and of course December 1963 (Oh What A Night) to which the fast forward button got hit.  This was the third and final single taken off Who Loves You and it remains my favorite track off that album.  I actually followed The Four Seasons more in the 70s but Who Loves You still holds up to this day, the followup Helicon sucked and Hope + Glory was even worse.  I'm guessing radio doesn't play this simply of the fact that Frankie Valli doesn't sing on it.  The words are kinda goofy though and there's not many songs that start out with a french horn solo but this does bring back memories.

2.  Yellow Van-Ronnie And The Dirt Riders  1976  Ronnie being of Ron Dante of The Archies fame actually does  a fairly bubblegum Beach Boys like melody on this song which I played to death in the Bi Centennial year and KLWW played it a lot as well, KCRG not much so.  Maybe Q103 played it at times too.  Surprised I haven't seen it on You Tube yet.  Produced by Barry Manilow of all people but don't laugh, Barry has been known to be a pretty good producer, just ask Bette Midler.


3.   Got What I Wanted-The Bottle Rockets 1993  They been around for 20 years now, Brian Henneman leaving Uncle Tupelo to return back to Festus Missouri to make his own Americana rock and roll.  Their first album remains their best and this contains some of the hardest hitting lyrics ever penned.  Got what I wanted but lost what I had.   Truth to that.

4.  Sic Em Pigs-Canned Heat 1969  Basically juvenile now but it's a public service announcement from Bob Hite Jr that if you big and stupid you too can join the LAPD.  Or a nicer version of Cop Killer.  Apparently, somebody liked this song enough on the Canned Heat Cookbook that they reprised it at the end of Fried Hockey Boogie another song that hasn't really aged very well either.

5.  Situation Infatuation-Eve 6 2012   You know you're getting old when the bands of the 90s that had a big hit or two then break up and then reformed as a second go round and like their more punk poppier cousin MXPX, Eve 6 broke up and then gradually got back together in the later stages of the 00's.  Eve 6 was more Green Day lite although radio still plays Inside Out and Here's To The Night although it's hard to believe that it's been 12 years since Horrorscope.  We'll forgive them for It's All In Your Head that was produced by that guy who produced Train or Five For Fighting but Don Gilmore seems to get more out of Max Collins and Company.  Their new album Speak In Code is a good album, in the tradition of Horrorscope although modern rock radio ignores it.  But then again I don't think the internet killed off music as much as the Cumulus/Clear Channel monopoly that tends to favor Inside Out to which Max Collins will live off the royalties for the next twenty years. http://www.upworthy.com/who-controls-90-of-everything-americans-watch-hear-and-read?c=la2#

6.  Quirk, Strangeness & Charm-Hawkwind  1978  When Lemmy got canned, Hawkwind made their best albums, this one came out on Sire (Charisma elsewhere) and even old crank Bob Christgau gave it a B plus which was unheard of.  Bob Calvert when he controlled his depression was very expressive and a good front man  and this does fit in better with punk rock new wave better than the 2 note prog rock freakouts that they did when Lemmy was in band.   I love Hawkwind's output through the 70s but after that I really didn't pay much attention except for 1988's drab Xexon Codex or the bizarre Space Bandits to by that time Dave Brock was trying to be something like Prodigy.  Their 2010 album returned them to 70s sound and from what I heard was okay but not something I play every day.   After all, Space Ritual isn't for everybody (Right TAD?) ;)

7.  Rag Mama Rag-The Band 1972   How come nothing is said till the artist is dead?  Because that's the way life goes and we take advantage of our rock stars, ignoring them when they are alive but when they die, that's when all the praise comes out.  For me that does ring true, I didn't revisit Levon Helm's album till his passing and started relistening to The Band's albums, still can't get into Big Pink, and the S/T Band album I still have to be in the mood to listen to it.  Which leaves Rock Of Ages, an live album that's worthy of the press although Capitol shrunk it down to 11 songs on a budget Greatest Hits Live which got 2 stars and scorn from All Music.  In reality, the budget album is 50 minutes long (unheard of for budget comps) and most of the highlights from Rock Of Ages have been taken (except for Cripple Creek).  Although I have the 45 of this song, I like the more ragged live version.  And Levon Helm was the best singer out of the Band too.

8.  I Just Don't Know If I Can-Lesley Gore 1965  I've been on a Gore kick since buying a couple of her forty fives (I Don't Wanna Be A Loser and Off And Running) to the point that I overpaid on a scratched up copy of It's My Copy (A BMG Club Copy mind you) and the GD jewel case was cracked.  Now really Newberry Comics, I think you for getting the CD here in a couple days but shit, 2 CD jewel cases are hard to come by.  This was the B side to Young Love to which never appeared on a album till Polygram tacked it on It's My Party and for the most part Lesley Gore was a damn fine singer and got lots of help from Quincy Jones although the late Shelby Singleton Jr (Better known for his country work than pop) produced this Phil Spectorian type of song.  Had this on 45 too, way back in those 12 for 2 dollar specials that you buy for one big artist and the rest were unknown or failed hits or never was hits.

9.  Wake Up-The Muckrakers 2005  I knew these guys way back then when they followed me on My Space years ago, they came from Kentucky and they made one album for Universal which sounded a bit like The Gin Blossoms or a more melodic Matchbox 20.  Rob Carpenter used to a blog a lot on My Space and we kept in touch although he never did respond to any of my comments or questions to which I shelved their album but never did pawn it off.  Took a listen to it at work and it holds up very well.   Carpenter ended the band around 2007 and haven't been heard of since.  But then again I'm not on My Space, last time I was on My Space, I couldn't believe how fucked up that site has become nowadays.  Hell, can't access my archives without a GD roadmap and set of instructions.  My Space sucks.

10.  Purple Night Blues-Sun Ra  1990  He's way out there and sometimes his avant garde space jazz can drive the normal out of the living room in record time but get him alone at the piano and like Monk, Sun Ra becomes a whole different persona.   And somehow he managed to get A & M to record two of his albums, one Blue Delight a great comeback of sort and the followup Purple Night a little more cluttered and way out there.  Sun Ra could play the blues as well as anybody, just as Phil Alvin who recorded with his Arkstra. But then after a hard day and weekend, the only thing that remains is you and the blues.  And a perfect way to end this top ten which may have not happened if I been in a different frame of mind.    Gotta keep on keepin on and not try to go insane or wallow in despair.  I'm sure Boone (or Mr. Pusateri) would have wanted it that way.

This top ten dedicated to the memory of Boone Novy. (see picture above)

Link of the day.  This is not me but somebody else.  A fun blog to read http://www.rlcrabb.com/