Top Ten Of The Week-The Great Experiment Continues

The great experiment we call the Crabb's Top Ten Of The Week.  To which I point out ten examples of music beyond the overplayed and cliche.  Don't know about you but my GF likes it just fine.

The question from one of you was if and when my GF moves down here if the top ten will alter or change that much and the answer is, no not really.  I pretty much dictate what is on my player and if she want's to throw a counterpoint she's always welcome to do so.

Diggy Kat has annouced his new album spidermilk is now out on downloadable files.  I'll wait for the cd myself but thought I give him a shoutout.

The songs of the week.

1.  MacArthur Park-The Ventures 1969  From their muzak album 10th Anniversity Edition to which one of the best guitar bands of the surf era try to do elevator versions of the hits of that particular time.  Mostly forgettible although I'm guessing somebody liked that rock part of the Jimmy Webb classic so much they decided to rock out till the end.  A good idea.

2.  Houston-REM 2009 From their Live At The Olympia 2 CD set that just came out this week.  And the loudness wars continue.

3.  In The Rain-The Dramatics 1971  Black music was so much better back in the 60s and the 70s.  Too damn bad that today's black folk would rather just rap or do autotune and sound like Alvin Chipmunk on steroids.   The computer and sample beats sure killed off soul music big time.  This is real soul music, with real instruments and real vocals.

4.  Highway 61 Revisited-Bob Dylan 1984  From Real Life, with Mick Taylor on guitar. The closest time Bobby ever came to sounding like The Rolling Stones.  Not that he really cared.

5.  Mr Soul-Buffalo Springfield 1966  The first time the world got to hear Neil Young.  Sounds like somebody took part of the riff off The Stones' Satisfaction and put it to good use.

6.  Just A Little Bit-Roy Head 1965  The guy that gave us Treat Her Right, had a minor hit with this Roscoe Gordon classic.  One of the funkiest songs ever done by white guys and that's a compliement.

7.  Jack The Ripper-The Raybeats 1983  A heavier remake of the Link Wray classic, first heard on the long forgotten Night Flight show that ran on USA in the early 80s and was synicated for about two weeks afterwards on KFXA before Sinclair bought them out and turn them into KGAN clones.

8.  Rocket Ride-KISS 1978  Goofy as hell but one of the more heavier numbers that Ace Frehley wrote for these masked marvels.  On the studio side of KISS Alive 2, and the most played side on my player.

9.  When The Sun Rose Again-Alice In Chains 2009  Layne who?

10.  Season Of The Witch-Donovan 1965  BTW It's Halloween.  BOO!

Some micro reviews of albums this month.

Some albums of note that have been reviewed.

ALICE IN CHAINS-Black Gives Way To Blue (Virgin) Further proof that this is more of Jerry Cantrell's band than Layne Staley. Trademark deadpanned vocals, lots of minor chord guitar; as if it's still 1993 all over again. Grade B plus

The Ventures-10th Anniversity Album (One Way) The Ventures attempt to go Muzak and although they do a spirited version of MacArthur Park most of this is elevator music. Bonus tracks are actually better than anything on the original album. At least they're doing guitar rock with a bit more balls. Grade C plus

Chad & Jeremy-I Don't Want To Lose You Baby (Scorpio) Reissue of their 1965 Columbia album, had a hit with the Van McCoy penned titled track, (yes that Van McCoy of Do The Hustle fame). And some credible versions of Baby Don't Go or Mr. Tamborine Man although they pale next to Sonny And Cher or The Byrds (or Dylan for that matter). Critics never cared much for Chad & Jeremy but they do harmonize great together. Sundazed reissued this with a bonus track and better liner notes and at least gave the right credits for songs. Scorpio half assed on the song credits. Grade B

Don Henley-Inside Job (WB) Whine to go with the cheese. Album goes on forever, some good tracks (Taking You Home, For My Wedding) but way too much filler and way too much bitch bitch bitching. No wonder you see this album for a cent at Amazon.com Grade C

Graham Nash-Wild Tales (Atlantic 1973) I think this rocks a bit more than Songs For Beginners although nothing really stands out. But the better moments are provided with David Crosby adding backing vocals. And a "Joe Yankee" adding some keyboard work. Grade B

Mac McAnally-Down By The River (Show Dog 2009) Journeyman singer songwriter latches on Toby Keith's label and makes a pretty good country album. Not as cliche as Jerry Steele or Bob Wiseman countrypolitan corn that you hear on the radio. Which is why you don't hear it on the radio. Grade B plus

Ray Stevens-Cornball (WB 1996) Somebody thought it would be great to start out the beginning and end of this album with chicken clucks to which Mr Funnyman had a minor hit with In The Mood. This was one of the 3 compliations that Warner Brothers stuck out in the mid 90s and taken from Ray's albums recorded for the WB. Very erratic although it gets a point for the bluegrass 1976 minor hit You Are So Beautiful Grade C plus

Johnny Thunders-Too Much Junkie Business (ROIR 1984) So So overview of odds and sods and bootleg recordings and of course the prize of this recording is hearing Johnny zoinked out on drugs doing better song banter. Guess you had to be there for the live performances. Grade B minus

Roots Of Led Zeppelin (Great American Music) A few original songs from the old blues masters and some lesser known live performances from Muddy Waters. I guess it was cost too much to license some of the Chess songs but you actually get to hear the Jake Holmes do Dazed And Confused although I doubt this is the Tower/EMI version. Must hear: Leadbelly's Gallis Pole.
Grade B plus

ON DVD
The TEXAN-My favorite western of all time, we get 10 episodes from the Rory Calhoun TV series for 8 bucks. But there is a 10 DVD set out there with a whopping 70 half hour shows (I guess 9 shows are lost and committed for the ages). The first season was brought to you by Viceroy Cigarettes. The end theme for The Texan sounds like heavy metal. Guest stars include Lon Chaney, Jack Elem and a young Mike Landon. The DVD sound is all over the place.

When The Love Is Gone

They were so much in love everytime I've seen them at the store. Or when I went to the company Christmas Party, they'd be on the dance floor, slow dancing kissing each other and making us pretty much uncomfortable. They got married about five years ago.

He was down when I came to work. I've seen that look before, it's never pretty. I asked him what's the long face and with a blank expression he said.

"she's gone".

Appently in the dead of night, she decided to run off into the night, down to arizona. She left her things behind, she joined some kind of cult down there.

I felt sorry for my co worker. You can't find the words to say, the words to comfort. You remember the times they were inseperate, how they couldn't wait to get back home. And then in the still of the night, she moves on, a one line note saying Goodbye I'm leaving, never saying why. That's cold.

Nothing colder than ice is after the fire is gone. That was a country hit years ago. When your in love, it's a feeling of euphoria, when you fall out of love, it's a long way down without a parachute and you hit the ground hard. Been there done that. Being with somebody that has been seeing somebody else for a few months and never found the right time to say that. And then your dividing up the things you bought together and trying to get your name off a loan. But never had anybody leaving me in the dead of night to go join up a cult promising a better life. Better life of what?

I told my co worker that there's nothing that i can say or do to ease the hurt but i was willing to listen to whatever is on his mind. He smiled and said "thanks" and then after the 3 o clock horn, he stumbled out of work with a look of indifference, bewilderment and a long lost look. The living dead. He's missing her bigtime.

Sometimes life is that way.

And then they come back.  She came back to him a year after this blog was written and they're still together.

A happy end.

On The Subject Of:Electrolux, Garth Brooks

I have been in a  rotten mood all day.  Usually three days of clouds and 30 straight hours of rain will put me in a rotten mood.  I've been playing this game called Bejeweled on Facebook and your supposed to mine as much gems as you can in a one minite and I managed to get up to 98,000, whereas my other half ballooned up to 188,000.  I should learn to quit playing video games for my weakness is that I have an addiction to keep playing these damn games and not doing my job at work.  And of course it brings great delight to Sonya and Steve and even Duwayne who just waltzed on by me over 100,000. But that's not the point tonight.

The big news is out of Webster City and the closing of Electrolux, the makers of vaccum cleaners and carpet cleaners as they take more business across the boulder to Mexico and paying them 50 pesos an hour to make vaccum cleaners.  Fucking bastards, so I will not buy any Electrolux, nor should you.  Recession is over eh?  Not where I'm at.

In terms of recession and music, ole Garth Brooks has come crawling out of retirement to play at Wynn's in Vegas at 125 bucks to see him and his guitar.  And he calls that a bargain.  I personally don't care about Garth, he ruined country music as we used to know it and put it as glitzy as a rock show.  And then reissues his albums all over again, on a "limited time only".   Now in a interview with CMT he has decided he's going to fight privacy and unauthorized downloading and Itunes for that matter.  Listen to Sir Garth tell it to you from this interview.


"The thing I haven't liked about the last 10 years is that we have allowed the creator and the owner of the content to bow down to the retailer. We've allowed them to stand by while piracy runs rampant without our government stepping in.

"Now, politics is a funny thing. If there are millions of illegal downloaders out there -- which is millions of voters -- and there's 50,000 people in the industry to protect that, it doesn't make it right to turn a blind eye because there's millions of them. They wouldn't do the same thing with McDonald's or whoever. They would have police, they would bust 'em. Our government has not stood up to protect us. I think film and music should join hand in hand and put the brakes on entertainment until ... all it would take is half a day of silence. And people would say, 'Well, what the hell is going on here?' Well, you didn't take care of it, and that's your job. We can create, but we need help protecting ourselves."

Crabby-Bow down to what retailer?!?  You took your damn masters to Wally World and Best Buy Fuckface.  People buy your cds, they can do what they want.  CD's are a problem since the major labels stuck them down our throats.  People are pissed at the Majors and the MPAA with all this sueing that they do, our government has got two fucking shit wars created by Bush/Cheney that we can't get out of, we got drug cartels from Mexico killing people for drugs and all your worried about is your cut in the music biz.  You are the best selling country artist in history for fuck's sake.  Where did all your money go? 

Now Garth tell us about Itunes then..
Brooks also pointedly referred to iTunes' policy of selling only singles as a huge mistake.

"They are nice guys and they love music," Brooks said. "But they are businessmen and they are not going to say, 'Yeah, we'll put albums out there at the price that you tell me.' Because they don't have to. Right now, they're running the music business. And I have told them this: They might not be the last guys that should be running the business, but they're close.

"But, to us, as music people, if you're just gonna stand there and bitch, nothing's going to happen. We need to start getting active. We need to find a way that music can unify. Unionize. And turn it off."


CRABBY-people want the singles since the albums of today suck.  One good songs, 10 songs of shit.  Music can unify, but if you decided to turn it off, people will turn you off.  Music today isn't the same as it was 20/30 years ago.  The major labels do not promote a band or artist anymore, they live for the single and the flavor of the moment.  Why do you think that people still listen to George Jones or John Cash or Waylon, or Led Zep or The Beatles?  The labels back then develop the acts and let them grow.   The Brad Paisleys and Keith Urbans of the world give their fans a good show and let them be part of the action.  Garth, charging folks 125 bucks for a hour show isn't the same thing at all.  Sad to be behind the times and sad to know that your time has past must suck to you.

Garth..."Somebody's got to step up and do it. I'm sticking my whole body back into the business again. Because I feel great that I am doing something to try to protect the songwriters. ...

"I'm not a record label fan, but on this one, I have to stand up for the record labels and say that they can't afford development anymore. Because if you think you can live on 99 cents a single, I can guarantee you one of two things: You're wrong, or you're working for Apple."

CRABBY-um Garth, Capitol made you what you are today.  Without Capitol and luck you'd be playing old George Strait covers in a Ada honky tonk.   Labels don't do development anymore dumbass.  It's one and done for the majority of stars and the lucky ones tour tour tour and keep in touch with their fans. Like Taylor Swift, Like Keith Urban, unlike you.  You're so fucking out of touch with music today it's ridiculous.

So, would he personally issue a call for a day or half-day of musical silence to make the point?

"I would hate to see it get that far," Brooks said. "What I would much rather do is see the government stand up for us and give us the right to make that happen if we're not happy. That would be enough, trust me, because the people that you have problems with can't make their living without music.

CRABBY-Well call for a day of musical silence and see if you get away with it.  Piss enuff people off Garth and you'll be nothing more than the greedy bastards who head these labels that got to be where they are today with endless mergers and less memorable music then.  As somebody said it's supply and demand Garth, and if you supply people with crappy cliche country music, there will not be any demand for it.  Unless you're the 5 of Hearts band.

In closing, the problem of CDs is that we don't get the old record format at around 38 to 40 minites of music, everything has ballooned up to over 50 minites.  The majority of Cds out there if you think about it amounts to a old two album set on one CD.  15 songs can be too much to sit through and if your a music collector like me, you not going to have all that time to sit and listen like we used to do years ago.  It's impossible, you can't do it, so people rely on the single which used to be called 45s in my younger days.  The days of making big ass money from records are over, one has to tour, unless your Garth Brooks and can book Vegas for a 125 bucks not including Ticketmaster's inflated service charges.  It's one thing to sell your CDs cheap at Wally World but if your going to rag on ITunes, then your doing your usual double standard Mr Brooks and that makes you a big assed greedy hypocrite.

You might be Country's best selling artist in history but Mr Brooks, your not a very likeable fellow.  And I never did care much for your Friends In Low Places anyway.

From Texas Singer....They should make the best albums they possibly can. With all the great writers here in Nashville there is no excuse for putting a bad song on a record. If things keep going the way they are, artists may stop making whole albums and just make singles. It's hard enough for us songwriters to get our songs cut when artists have to find 10 or 12 songs for an album, if they went to just singles they would only be looking for one song at a time, which would make it a whole lot harder to get a cut. And Garth makes another great point. If you had to buy the whole album, then the record labels would have more money for artist development. That means new artists trying to break into the business would have a better shot at getting a record deal because the labels would have the money to invest in them, which in turn would provide more great music for the public and make more money for the artists, songwriters, publishers and everybody else in the business. It's a win/win. Music fans get more great music and the industry makes more money. I don't care what anybody says, besides being an incredible singer, songwriter and entertainer, Garth is a marketing genius and he is good for the music business. He saved country music in the 90's and he's about to save it again.

CRABBY-More bullshit. Nobody has time to listen to more than 12 songs per cd dumbass.  Record Labels DO NOT care about artist Development.  As for buying the whole album, that didn't work every well with LEN who made a great song (steal my sunshine) but the rest of that album sucked.  You forgot a word about Garth, he's a great marketing manipulator but I don't think he saved country music in the 90s.  This is not the 90s anymore Texas Singer, learn to sing live or get a realtime job.

counterpoint
From Cyn...

It's called supply and demand, Garth. If every album was worth buying, this would have never been an issue. Perhaps you should start by asking the government to regulate sloppy intellectual work?

From Horsefuture.... Many people can not afford to buy album after album. Music helps so many get through their days and stressful (or happy) situations. We have purchased albums before that we have been very disappointed in. It was a pure waste of money. This all boils down to balance and not greed. I love Garth Brooks and will continue to love his music, however, he is going to make people very upset and he will lose support from the public who pay all the bills. Whether it is one song or a whole album... at least people are buying what they can afford. Taylor Swift never forgets to let her fans know how grateful she is... and maybe that is what more of the older artists need
to do! If it weren't for us, some artists wouldn't have the life they have.

And now a final thought from Hooder....Garth is a great singer and entertainer, but he needs to stick to music. He is playing both sides of the fence with his politics. Cheap at Wal-Mart is ok but not at Itunes. Uhoh. And being a fan of the corrupt Obama administration makes him totally unbelievable. Just sing music, Garth, not politics.

 

Bargain Hunts & The End Of It All

If I told you that if you buy three or four cds per week for the past 20 years that they would add up would you believe that? Ever since 1987 when I bought Lynyrd Skynyrd Nuthin Fancy and the Motown version Vee Jay Greatest Hits I have been on a long 2o plus year journey in terms of finding the ultimate CD. Even in this late in the game I still manage to find something out of print that have been on my wish list and that list is long. But sometimes getting that elusive cd I might not like and can't seem to get rid of it. Which is why bargain cds can be a waste of time if you think about it.

Ever since 2003 when moving up to Blogland and broadcasting the finds and the weekly top ten this has been a labor of love that doesn't earn me a paycheck but rather a loss leader. But the music industry is dying, good music is seldom heard on the radio and all we ever hear is the overplayed that at one time meant something but nowadays is a guaranteed headache. The pawnshops at the close of last decade yielded quite a bit of cds that you can get on the cheap but nowadays they don't offer much, I get better luck at Half Priced Books in town or in Madison. Madison, which still has plenty of places to find cheap cds although Pre Played have moved on to Play Station and DVDs and Blu Ray. The end is coming for the CD and I can see it in the shrinking bins at Best Buy and Wally World (Wal-mart for those who aren't familar with the term). There's never much in Waterloo or Iowa City anymore. I quit going to Waterloo simply of the fact that it's a wasted trip and even their Goodwill stores lack substance.

Things are changing in blogworld. The readers at the Roost hardly post anything anymore and even the readership in My Space is been non existant although a small dedicated following still read them. Nobody cares about the new music out there anymore, most of it shit or overrated to the point of disappointmen. You can't trust Pitchfork nor SPIN or Rolling Stone anymore. Even No Depression, that handy Americana site even tauts the new Avett Brothers album as classic although after a couple listens it never captured me all that much. This year I decided this was the last year of me reviewing new music, most of what I do review gets traded in the next week. But even the old reliables aren't catching my ear anymore. 12 years ago I was into John Coltraine and Monk, nowadays they're in the closest with the less played and probably will be donated since I grew out of my jazz mode. And basically I can do without Steve Miller or Fleetwood mac's Rumours, when you still listen to Go Your Own Way 33 years after the fact on a daily basis on Corporate Radio, you don't need the cd or 45 anymore.

Music has been my way of life for 45 years and damn it was a wild ride and lasted twice as long as it should have had. Hell my girlfriend wasn't even born when Go Your Own Way was on it's initial run up the charts. Yeh, I was narrow minded until 1992 and the open playlist was born and I paid more attention to more than just music of the 60s and 70s that I grew up with or listen from the jukebox at Ole's Ham & Egger. And then paid a quarter for the used jukebox records at the bookstore next door before a fire destroyed that business (it since has reopened and now is on the main drag in downtown Marion). Life was so simple then till around 1982 when the CD was created. And then the CD opened new doors but in the process shut down the old ways and the old record stores along the way thanks to the emergance of the internet.

I'm holding on the notion that there's still cds out there that need to be bought and need to be listened to but the options are lesser and less. Monday, I took a day off work, the highway was calling and pointing the way towards the Quad Cities, to the Mister Money in Moline to where there was 50 cent CDs on sale and I bought a bunch of Bobby Vee and The Ventures CDs. Spur of the moment thingy, wrote a note to my GF telling her of my plan. She knows she can't stop me when it comes to bargain hunts, she's so understanding of the things I do. And come to think of it, most of my past GFs were cool with that except of Clarice and her twenty questions and then thinking there was somebody in Davenport that I was seeing. Or Madison, Or Phoenix. If she did go, she was bored right off the start. And it was doomed to fail since she couldn't get over that. You can't tame a bargain hunter or change him, for in the end, you will be sent packing back to your side of town but then again she had some guy in the background. Usually the ones that are doing the accusing are the ones cheating on you instead. Better to have 3000 cds then bringing in children that you can't handle. A method to my madness that does work, hit the road and hit as many record/cd stores as you can in a day. And hope to God that you don't get back spams from walking too much or standing in one spot too long.

I see that gas prices are creeping back up to 2.69 a gallon, which has risen 40 cents from last week. Another sign that the long distance bargain hunts will be coming to an end and after this year anything will be in a 50 mile radius and Madison will be a once a year thingy and not two to three times as was the case this year. The 10 days of Arizona and St Louis came spur of the moment with 29 dollar airfares one way and back to Mesa and St Louis was a suggestion from Nicole. They just happened. I don't think there's much left out there on CD that i haven't listen to or know about. I'm usually 10 steps ahead of everybody when it comes to reissues and new music. I thought the perfect cut off point would be when I turn 50 but even Nicole knows that I will never ever quit buying anything that's a cd or vinyl album or a 45. She knows me better than myself. But I think I'm done with new music. The new bands I can't deal with and don't even know most of whats on the radio anymore. I'm sure I'll turn in my reviewer's card and become an oldies' reviewer. Reviewing bands of long ago and far away.

Bargain hunters never die...they just confined themselves in the clarence bins at Half Priced Books and wait for the next bargain....Which is where i found Prince's The Black Album CD for 2 bucks.

Somebody wasn't paying attention.

Top Ten Of The Week: etc etc etc etc

Here at Crabb's Top Ten of The Week Incorporated, we try to give you 10 songs of varying decades.  We leave no stone unturned, leave no pawnshop without picking it over or going to the thrift stores and feel bad that we can't buy that album since it didn't survive mold, mildew and overplayed grooves and scratches big as cracks in the road.

Again another week of songs all over the place and knows no genre.  Let's see what was in the player that might be of interest.


1.  Night Shift-Foghat 1976  B side to Drivin Wheel and the album that got me through my sophmore year in high school.  Their boogie I haven't listen to much of the past decade but I do pull Night Shift, the album out from time to time. 

2.  Do You Wonder-Joe Perry 2009  New Joe Perry and this song features a Steven Tyler soundalike named Hagen which to me thinks this would be a big hit if Aerosmith did cover it.  At least it's better than I Don't Want To Miss A Thing.

3.  Wargasm-L7 1992  Gurl rock from the early 90s, can't understand why Jerry Scott at Relics thought I wouldn't like this CD till I found a new copy in the cheap bins at Stuff Etc. L7 was a all female hard rock band that had a hit with Pretend We're Dead and later the bass player from Belly would join up but by then L7 became yet another footnote in the lost decade of the 90s.

4.  Little Liar-Miranda Lambert 2009  Third week in a row I included a song off her new album Revolution and this is the new single from that album.  The way I talk about it, you might think this is album of the year.  Too early to tell but I wouldn't bet against it not bein on the best of the year.

5.  Beautiful People-Bobby Vee 1967  Going to the Quad Cities, the Mister Money in Moline had CDs for 50 cents and I bought about four bucks worth.  Somebody got rid of their Ventures collection and a couple Bobby Vee CDs that I picked up for gas money should I didn't like them.  This song finally ends a debate of a song that I originally thought that The Buckinghams did.  Got this confused with Don't You Care.  Bobby Vee was one of those big teen idols of the early 60s and he was a Buddy Holly soundalike but Liberty Records stuck him with a lotta bubblegum tunes but later on, Vee went into a folk vibe for a couple albums before going back into Bubblegum although I think he was a step up from, say Fabian or Frankie Avalon.  Or Justin Timberlake.

6.  You Are So Beautiful-Ray Stevens 1976  Ray Stevens may have had the strangest and most dated career of my 45 years of buying music.  But his novelty songs haven't exactly aged and I quit caring after his I Need Your Help Barry Manilow.  Used to like Along Came Jones till I heard it earlier this year and couldn't believe how out of whack it really was.  Stevens was worse being serious (Mr Businessman, another song l like back in 68, and heard it at McDonalds and that was enough) but he did strike a chord with me with this bluegrass remake of the Billy Preston song that Joe Cocker took to number one. 

7.  Sweets For My Sweet-The Searchers 1963  Another 50 cent CD found at Mister Money was The Complete Collection by The Searchers on Castle, back when Castle UK would put out these cheap compliations of UK bands and I don't hear this song all that much anyway.  One of two singles that Mercury put out in 1963 through arrangement with UK Pye.  Rhino had a best of out on cd back in the 90s but dammed if i can find a copy.  So this will do.

8.  Jane Says-Jane's Addiction 1988  And the world was introduced to Perry Farrell.  For better or worse.

9.  Man Named Truth-Monsters Of Folk 2009  Indee super band of Connor Obest, Jim James (under an alias), M.Ward and Mike Mogis.  I think I like this better than the new Arvett Brothers album that came out on American and was overrecorded and stuck in a digipak.  The new Monsters Of folk is pretty good, i might listen to it a few more times before the year is out.

10.  Caravan-The Ventures 1963  And finally a instruemtal from the Bobby Vee Meets The Ventures album with two instrumentals by the beloved Ventures.  Duke Ellingtion never rocked this hard before.


COMMENTS:
From Diggy Kat: wow i haven't heard about Ray Stevens in forever!!! my fave song by him was from the 80s, gosh um... haha hang on let me think here lol "Sitting Up With The Dead" i think!

Top Ten Of The Week-Continous Search For Music

Glad to see TAD is back online and adding stuff to his back up plan site at Blogspot.  We missed your viewpoints and past hits of the 70s that I overlook.

Latest stuff found in the dollar bins at HP Books.  I Started Out As A Child-Bill Cosby, Boots and Country My Way by Nancy Sinatra.  Nancy was ahead of her time, especially when produced by Lee Hazelwood (RIP). Alas, The Country My Way album actually had the wrong record inside of it, it was Sugar and not the same thing at all.

RIP Al Martino, best known as the MOR singer of the 50s and 60s and best known for Spanish Eyes and playing a role in the first two Godfather Movies.  He was 82

And Mitch Miller is still alive although he's about 99 years old.
Happy Birthday John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach who is 99 years old.

And Best Buy still doesn't have Joe Perry's latest CD yet.

Top Ten Of The Week

1.  The Yip Song-Robyn Hitchcock 1993  Yip yip yip yip yip yip.  People think this is annoying but I think it's so much fun to listen to that I had to play it twice on the way to work.  BTW, on my physical, I have been given a clean bill of health.  Which means I'll be around for a while, longer than originally thought.

2.  Don't It Make You Wanna Dance-Rusty Weir 1975  This was the closest he ever got to the top thirty and I remember 100.7 (G100 at that time) playing this twice an hour one day.  I bought the album at Target during my early reviewing years which would be summertime 1977.  About a year before you were born Sassy ;) (had to throw that in).

3.  I Have Been In You/Flakes Frank Zappa 1979  More hijinx from the Zapster.  Frank had a funny way of writing love songs.  KUNI actually played these songs around the end of the 70s.  Back when radio wasn't repeating itself with a 40 year old playlist.  He had a great band backing him up Adrian Belew, Terry Bozzio, Patrick Ohearn, Peter Wolf (no not the J Geils lead singer).  Alas Frank is longer with us, he passed in 1993.  Good die young and the Stones roll on.

4.  Something Better Change-The Stranglers 1977  Three songs and we're still in the 70s for fuck's sakes, well that's how the songs are stacking up.  You want something to hear, write your own top ten people.  Anyway, this was a pub punk band that never broke big in the US but hung around to reinvent themselves as Goth Punk in the mid 80s.  Not for everybody especially for those who can't stand punk bands with a keyboardist that makes them sound like punk Doors.

5.  Dead Flowers-Miranda Lambert 2009  Second week in a row that I included a song from her new album Revolution.  I continue to say that Miranda is the best female country singer of this decade.  Sorry Elizabeth Cook.

6.  Price I Pay-Desert Rose Band 1991  Featuring Chris Hillman and Herb Petersen and a excellent guitarist named John Jorgensen.  Desert Rose Band did pop some songs on the country charts in the late 80s, early 90s before disappearing all together.  Another 2 dollar cd found at Half Priced Books, Celebrating four years in Cedar Rapids and me having a second home there on weekends.

7.  Never Enough-KISS 2009  New KISS or should I say KI$$?  Sonic Boom is by far the most KISS sounding since side four of KISS Alive 2, an album that I played the studio side more than I did the live sides.  We wanna rock Doood.

8.  Godlike-The Dylans 1991  I got into the alternative rock scene by finding this cd for a dollar at Best Buy back when Best Buy had cutouts and sometimes I could find something of value.  Always like those surreal vocals.  Like the Son I am Born Again.  That and a good love will get ya born again too dood.

9.  The Hatfield Side-Cheri Knight 1998  I'm surprised that she never crossed over to a bigger crowd.  She was part of The Blood Oranges, a Americana Band that made 2 albums and an EP for East Side Digital, a label that released americana before turning their attention to The Residents's back catalog.  Cheri recorded a great album for Steve Earle's E Squared before disappearing.  Supposely she's been working on a new album.

10.  Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey-Bobby Darin 1961  Don't ever question the brilliance of Bobby Darin, he could do it all back then.  And when he swinged he still rocked.  More so than the canned Elvis movie soundtracks of that time.  I suppose we can discuss that but maybe another time.

Passings

Longtime KIOA (Des Moines) DJ Richard "Dic" Youngs has died at 68. Youngs got his first shot at radio at the age of 16 when he won an amateur DJ contest at KSO/1460. He moved to KIOA, where he stayed for nearly 42 years as the station transitioned from a Top 40 format on 940 to an Oldies format on 93.3. Youngs also raised more than $500,000 for the Variety Club in a series of 50-hour radiothons, and hosted 26 Rock N' Roll Reunions at the Iowa State Fair. After leaving the KIOA afternoon slot in 2007, which he later alleged was a forced retirement, Youngs continued to host a Saturday night show on KRNT/1350.

Rusty Weir, famous for his 1975 hit "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance" passed away friday from cancer, he was 65.

Dickie Peterson, leader of Blue Cheer died at age 61.  Blue Cheer is famous for their deconstruction of Summertime Blues.

Oh really?

I am Aquarius, My Lover is Libra

This is a sassy, exciting pairing of two similar souls, sure to be a hit. You both enjoy lots of social activity, and neither would expect the other to wait at home in the traditional sense. In fact, ordering dinner in several times a week will be the only way to handle the busy schedule you both lead! Your coupling is thoroughly modern.

But even the best relationship demands that the partners accommodate each other. In your case, be mindful that Libras care about social acceptance, while you don't give a fig about it. Ruled by idiosyncratic Uranus, Aquarius' job in life is to press forward and to make all kinds of new discoveries. In doing so, you will run up against the Establishment at times. This frightens Libra, for this Venus-ruled sign's job is to bring opposing forces together. They want to be popular and will go out of their way to bring harmony to relationships. You can see how your roles differ; in many ways, Aquarius is a sign of extremes. Libra's friends are likely to be in the arts, yours in the sciences; nevertheless, your friends mix well. And Libras entertain beautifully, so your parties would be much-talked-about affairs!

Libras like to be married, but Aquarius like space and freedom; commitment doesn't come quickly or easily. Sexually, you link up in a heavenly way, with plenty of fun, wit and experimentation. You will enjoy Libra's use of perfume or cologne (female or male, this sign is a fragrance wizard) and their refined, cultured personal style. Libra takes good care of their physical appearance well into old age. Your Libra will enjoy your quixotic and playful approach to sex.

Your Libra is the romantic of the two of you, so let him or her take the lead for some starlit evenings. Physically, you are on the same plane, but you aren't as emotional as a Scorpio, a Pisces, or a Cancer. However, your Sun sign lights up Libra's house of true love, so the bond remains very strong here, even though to the outside world you may appear to have a cool, detached, and analytical relationship. Your Libra lights up your house of deep philosophical thought and distant travel.

This match gets a four-star rating. If things go wrong, it isn't because you aren't suited to one another. Both of you are air signs -- like-elements get along great together. In your case, you both know how to communicate clearly, objectively, and you share an overriding quest for truth. You will have a rich, busy, and noisy life together. Sounds like fun!

Update: in a way I had a good relationship with a Libra and we still talked to this day.  

October

Where does the time fly?

I have no idea. After a long wet, cold summer, we finally get 25 dry days in September, only to be thrown into the great icebox known as October. It shouldn't be 35 degrees right now, we should not have the damn furnace coming on every hour on the hour. Too early for this cold shit.

Coming back from St Louis and the bargain hunts with my other half Nicole, I have never had anybody that could hang with me as much as she did on going to the music stores. She seemed very willing to go whereever the car went, where the wind blows although it damn near blew us off the Chain Of Rocks Bridge but she didn't mind. Once I put her back on the plane back to Michigan, I went to the St Louis Galleria to one more FYE store, finding a couple of cheap five dollar cds in the cut outs and back home again. And thinking for the first time that I might have an equal in the things that I like to do. That one in a million girl that I used to sing about, the one that got away but fate has taught me that the original one in the million girl wasn't the one in a million girl for me but for somebody else.

Today I get to go to the doc's for that annual checkup, to which we assume the position and the doc gropes the hell out of me. The prostate check. I'm not looking forward to that. It's strange to think that being close to fifty that now i have to watch what i eat or do just to make it to the next day. Nicole pleads with me not to get so damn pissed off at life itself and so far I think i've done better although those Fucking Marion Bypass lights always fucking turn red in front of me. I have met it known that once I die I'm going the screw those lights up for two months, the total time i figured that I have waited for them to turn green. I certainly hope that I will have time to devote myself to being a part of Nicole's life if I stay healthy. Funny thing about life is that while i have been hanging at music stores, time has continue to pass by and we're all getting old.

Right now the fall foilage is going full tilt but alas, it's been too damn cloudy and rainy to enjoy the colors of the leaves falling. Thought about going up to Dubuque to see the leaves fall into the Mississippi River, Nicole is talking about coming out in November and December, either one or both of the two. I was thinking it would be wonderful to have her here to celebrate the New Year, which would end this decade on a high note. And hope that we don't have a blizzard or twenty below tempertures in the process. I can still feel her arm around me when traffic begins to drive me nutz. She's with me in spirit.

It's too early to be this cold outside.

Crabb Bits:Mark Prindle, Shelby Singleton, Blake Shelton

Mark Prindle is the famous review guy and sometimes appears on FOX Red Eye and remains one of the more insightful and funny although vulgar in his reviews.  I was commenting about the new KISS Sonic Boom album when he emailed me with his observations.  He gives the Sonic Boom album itself a 6 and the KISS KLASSICS bonus CD a 9.  6/9 get it? Bwahahahaha.  Took me a while to get it too but Mark raves that the remakes are actually better than the originals found on various albums in the past.  I certainly think that Sonic Boom esclipes just about anything since Lick It Up or Side four of Kiss Alive 2, no pussy ballads or hairspray metal but rather that pop metal that KISS was so good at.  Why buy secondhand retreads such as Motley Crue or Poison when you can get the real thing again.  Perhaps Mr Prindle might have a point there in terms of the remakes being better, hell even the micheal bolton penned Forever sounds good in this context.  And if they are so dammned against the discoized I Was Made For Lovin You, why did they include it on the remakes?  Perhaps Dynasty wasn't that bad after all although Vini Poncia's crappy production just about sinks it.  But then again Unmasked was pretty damn faceless and forgettible as I used to remember it.  Wally World has various KISS albums at 5 to 7 dollars.

Mark must have been bored last night since he commented on another observation about me saying New Music Isn't Dead yet, and he said "if so why is that all your acts are 10 years older?  Perhaps I should have rephased it as New Music Isn't Dead from Old Fart Acts.  So I got to look at my album consortium of the year and found out that most if not all albums reviewed come from bands 10 years older and beyond.  Super 400?  First album reviewed 1998.  Porcupine Tree?  First album reviewed 1996. Incubus? 1999, Status Quo? 1967 and appently it was decided that I wasn't reviewing much new acts but rather the old ones.  Miranda Lambert was one of the few this decade acts that I kept tabs on but she's country and doubt if Mark would like her.  What new acts did I reviewed, I had to dig deep to see where they are act.  Tilted Windows, the power pop super group lineup with James Iha, Adam Schelinger, Bun E Carlos and Taylor Hanson.  Saving Abel-a Nickelback sound off, Parachute-a Maroon 5 knockoff, White Lies-a Killers knockoff and Fleet Foxes-a CSN knockoff.  So maybe I'm not as open minded as orginally thoughted.  I just can't get into Paramore or The Gossip or Metro Station or LMFAO or 3OH!3, or think they suck.  I bought Fall out boy but hell i don't even play those albums.  I guess nothing sticks out anyway when it comes to new music.

Shelby Singleton was a well known producer that had some major hits while working at Mercury/Smash Records in the 60s before moving on to buy Sun Records and starting up his own label Plantation Records which gave us Jennie Riley's Harper Valley PTA and Rod Hart's CB Savage.  He died of cancer at age 77 on October 1.  Amazing how Billboard or Rolling Stone never gave this a glance when it comes to music news or CMT. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/arts/music/11singleton.html?_r=0


This st louis trip gave me a whole bunch of new cds to review and hear but it didn't stop me from going to Best Buy and picking up Joe Cocker's Live At Woodstock, nor Manic Street Preachers Songs For Plaque Lovers which is their best album from what i have heard from them.  Or Drivin N Cryin' Bubble Factory which is their first in 12 years and absoluetly rocks.   Or Miranda Lambert's Revolution, although not as good as Crazy Ex Girlfriend since Revolution goes on a bit too long but to my ears she has remained the best country singer of this decade and easily the best to come out of Nashville Star. Buddy who?  Buddy Jewell was the dude that won that year and made two sugarysweet albums to the point of giving you diabeates and easily forgettible albums for Columbia.  Seems like Buddy isn't on Sony Nashville anymore but Miranda's continuning to get stronger with each album and even to the point that she passed Gretchen Wilson as country babe.  In the meantime, Wilson supposely has a new album coming end of year but so far nothing has been heard from.  With Big And Rich having a greatest hits released, that's a bad sign when a band gets a best of, three albums into their career.  Seems to be a country revolution coming on, Rascal Flatts is getting long in the tooth and Love And Theft might replace them with their smooth Eagles like harmonies and even on the Disney label their new album sounds like it's worth a listen to if found used and cheap.  Lady Antellbellum and Gloriana are two of up and coming bands too and had Lady A come up with another song like Love Don't Live Here Anymore, their first album would have been classic.   The future remains bright for them despite the cloudyness that is Country Music Today.

Blake Shelton is funny on Twitter, especially when he's had too many to drink and gets into it with people who question if it's really him.  Here's hoping Miranda will rub off more of her music unto his.  I gave up following Courtney Love, she simply goes on and on and half the time nobody knows what the fuck she's saying.  Somehow I managing to get more followers from the country side of things rather than rock.  Lee Ann Womack must have found something interesting to follow me and I don't mind.  But then again I don't use twitter all that much outside of keeping a conversation with my fellow bargain hunter and partner Sassy.  That is if I can behind the firewall at work.

Top Ten Of The Week-Leftovers

One of the things about St Louis that made things stand out was meeting Nicole aka Sassy and watching her buy more cds at two of the three cd stores we went to.  Since security searched us at the Arch I figured may as well go up to the top of that and check out the sights.  Good view of Busch Stadium but barely could see The Chain Of Rocks Bridge from there but I knew where it was at.

Outside of the monsoon, nothing out of the ordinary stood out.  And I had my first choclate shake from Ben And Jerry's, that ice cream store in University District.  It was addicting.

On the Twitter side of things, I finally gave up following Courtney Love's incoherent blabbing about nothing and added Blake Shelton instead.  He's much more funnier than Courtney.  Courtney's tweets are lots like a novel that goes nowhere.  Sure hope she gets over her hatred of Mandy Moore, Jim Barber, Irving Azhoff and Ryan Adams had nothing to do with this Ms Love.

Peter Criss has revealed that he had breast cancer and had it taken care of.  Contrary to rumour guys can get breast cancer too.  I wonder if there will be some snide comments from Mr. Tongue or Starboy on that.  If they do, I'll lose all respect for them.  Mr Tongue better hope he don't get cancer of his family jewels...

There's a big fucking mess we call the Marion beautifacation project and appently the smug seven fucks who supposed to be representing the people have decided that they going to clean up the brownlands (the former APCO, Marion Iron,Coast to Coast properties).  Nothing like Jack Larson trying to decide what's right for you never mind the fact that the fucking sewer systems suck and fail half the time Marion gets a half foot of rain or when Indian Creek pays you a visit.  Other bright ideas include a fucking roundabout (i hate this contraption) that will make a traffic jam much longer than before and moving the busy 7th Avenue down a block to 6th Avenue.  I like to know how the fuck they're going to pull that one off.  Seems like Jack larson and that idiot mayor are looking out for their best interests only.  Either you with them or not.  A Joke upon itself.

And after having a very dry september, we're back in another wet fucking month again. 7 Days into October and already 2 and half inches of rain.  And more coming tomorrow, lucky us.  Pour some more water on this drowning man.


The Top Ten Of The Week (any typos or errors feel free to add them to the comments)

1.  Beginning Of The End-Status Quo 2009  Actually this came out a couple years earlier but it's finally seeing the light of day on this side of the pond via Eagle Rock Music.  The Quo has been around for 40 plus years and never became more than cult artists in the US but in the UK and Europe they are considered rock gods.  In Search Of The Fourth Chord is a better album than 2005's The Party Ain't Started Yet but their old label Sanctuary never saw fit to issue it in the US.  The Quo remain the ultimate boogie kings but then again don't look for them to be played on your radio station anytime soon.  It takes away playing time from Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac (and i do like that song but something's wrong when you hear a 32 year old song on three radio stations at the same time today.

2.  Cold Gin-KISS 1974  No I don't have the new KISS album Sonic Boom in my collection yet, Wally World didn't have any copies as I went to press today and so far the reviews of that new album is that it's their best record since side 4 of KISS Alive 2. Guess Paul Stanley knows how to produce a better rock record than Gene $immon$ but geezus Paul get off Ace and Peter's ass.  Everytime I turn around your bad mouthing on them again.  Just take your millions and shut the fuck up.

3.  Real Fine Love-John Hiatt 1990  I didn't play a whole lot of CDs for Nicole in our venture around St Louis, we settled to listen to KSHE 94.7 most of the time and perhaps that was a mistake on my part but we did managed to hit some fine honky tonk and reaggae on a left of the dial station.  But I did play some John Hiatt as a introduction to what I listen to and she seemed to like it some.  If I get sappy smack me but I think this song is how I feel about her and what has things become.  And if you think I'm getting sappy folks, you know where the door is at.

4.  Hypnotized-Fleetwood Mac 1973  I'm sick of hearing Go Your Own Way which has wore out its welcome this weekend.  Again the fact is that had we known that radio would be still playing the same songs of long ago, my 45 collection would be much less. However classic rock radio does play this Bob Welch number and it may have been the best song Welch wrote for the Mac.  I tend to favor the lesser heard rather than the overplayed to which my top tens of the week try to point out.  Heard on KSHE right before we got to Sonic, just in time to hear Bye Bye Bye by some boy band of the late 90s.

5.  Paingiver-Full Fathom Five 1988  This band came from Iowa City and make a hell of a classic alt rock album called 4AM on Link Records and FFF was IC's answer to Husker Du in terms of buzzing guitar and intense bass and drums.  4AM supposely came out on CD although I do have the vinyl album.  This track appeared on the Link Record compliaton All The Young Dudes.

6.  Crash Course In Brain Surgery-Budgie 1971 Originally a single on Kapp Records (!) and later covered by Metallica on their Garage Days Re Revisited EP.  Budgie was a power metal trio with Burke Shelley beating Geddy Lee in terms of that high falsetto vocals that could curdle milk.  Meaning that Shelley was on the music scene two years before Geddy.

7.  That's The Way The World Goes Around-Miranda Lambert 2009  She's back with a new album and with the same 'don't fuck with me' attitude that makes her a joy to listen to.  This is a hard rock cover of a John Prine song and I betcha the pussies at KHAK won't play this.  But I will.

8.  Lucky Number-Lene Lovich 1979  Another album that came acrossed by accident at Vintage Vinyl in St Louis, this is actually on the Stiff/Epic label and not Rhino.  I always got a kick out of her Doot Doot Doot chorus.  One of the real early music videos that I remember the Midnight Special or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert played.  Before MTV.

9.  (whatever happened to the) Great American Bubble Factory?-Drivin n Cryin 2009 Plenty of new music to talk about, last time Kevn Kenney and company made an album was about 12 years ago and now they are back and louder than ever.  I still believe in the bands that I grew up listening to and follow and DnC are no exception.  Just don't bore me to death.

10.  Black Gives Way To Blue-Alice In Chains 2009  And finally, say what you will about AIC and how it pales compared to the long departed Layne Staley who couldn't get over his demons and drug habit.  But Jerry Cantrell really shaped more of the songs and the vocals more than what he's credited for.  I could only take so much of Layne's screaming which is why I don't bother with Facelift or their S/T album.  William Duvall is a good sub and has more soul in his vocals than Layne's dread.  In essenence, Cantrell wrote most of the songs and although this would replace Dirt as the all time classic AIC it does hold it's own and in some ways is better than Facelift but then again that's my opinion and don't get your panties in a wad if you disagree.  Side note: piano is played by the one and only Elton John.  Take that anyway you want to.

Coming Friday night at 1st Street Live-Roger Clyne And The Arizona Peacemakers.  I have the night off, perhaps I'll go check them out.  But I won't be in the mood to party too much since I'm off to get my prostate checked on. 

Kudos to Jimmy Zack's Pizza for their buffet customed to my liking.  In marion i have two pizza joints I enjoy the most, Jimmy Zack's and Naso's.  October is national pizza month so I'll be doing my share to promote eating pizza.

St Louis Bargain Hunt 2009

The St Louis bargain hunt is now in the books, it has come and gone like the leaves blowing in the wind.  Nicole aka Sassy blog her own version of the trip, she was taking down notes on the way out to the airport, so anyway here is my take on the trip.

Tuesday arrived in Granite City to spend three hours on the Chain Of Rocks bridge and then returned to watch the sunset and the harvest moon rise up.  Found a couple albums at the GC Salvation Army store, Astrid Gilberto's Fly Me To The Moon and Black and White's 1983 Geffen album.   The service was slow at Hardee's but they gave me a couple of cookies to go with the 2 hot ham and cheese that I got.

Wedensday spent down at University City and hung around at Vintage Vinyl and down to Euclid Records and FYE on Hampton.  Had some yummy chicken n noodles at Noodles and Company in Delmar Blvd.  And then went to the airport to pick up SassyPassey and sat down and talk of old times.  First time I have seen her since the 2000 Mingles party.

Thursday, went into a fucking Monsoon storm back to the Record Exchange to which Sassey bought more cds than I did.  I wouldn't picked anything up but managed to find the first OKane's CD.  For the first time, I went up into the fabled Arch along with her and took pictures and marveled at the way the new Busch Stadium looked from the top.  I didn't think much of the security that stripped searched us but had to marveled that I finally got a chance to go up in the arch.  Takes about four minites to get up there and down.  Thankfully my causterphobia didn't act up.  Then we walked about four blocks down to the Hard Rock Cafe, when we could have taken the Metro and got there sooner.  But we did return to the car via the Metro.

Friday, back to the Chain Of Rocks Bridge and it was windy as hell, cloudy and cool.  We got fucked out of the weather with it being so cloudy and windy. Then went and got some mexican food in University City again.  And another return to Vintange Vinyl to which I did buy more CDs than her.

Saturday, we took a drive around St louis and got to see the arch at night lighting up the skies and we drove across the Eads Bridge twice.  And on Sunday, took her back to the airport and I made one more trip to the St Louis Galleria, a fancy mall that had a FYE and then it was back home except for a two hour stop off at Hannibal to take some pictures and then got home real late.

Cheapest gas was in St Louis at the Quik Trip at 2.06 a gallon.
I didn't eat any pizza down there, seems like it was mexican or Jack In The Box since it was the only close eatery to the hotel.

KSHE 94.7 remains the best radio station down there, they blew my mind with some Journey from the first album, this is before Steve Perry people.  Also the public radio station played some vintage Ray Price and Willie Nelson and even reagge to which blew Sassy's mind.

I was a week too early for The Bottle Rockets show at Blueberry Hill but we did stumbled across Slotom's, a hole in the wall dive that the Bottle Rockets sang and you can see on their 24 Hours A Day album.

Anyway, I spent too much on CDs, went to one too many but that's the fun of the St Louis Bargain Hunts.  And I did find some cool deals in selected stores, most notably the Okane's and Budgie's first album.  Think I'll be all right, till new release Tuesday.

And it's back to Best Buy again.