Well kiddies, looks we have joined the fast hi speed net life. Computer is still running a bit slow but I think that had to do with MSN outdated programming or maybe it's Norton's security putt putting. I still had net access at work but went net free the whole weekend and imagine that, got rewarded with Real Records in Iowa City 50 percent off used CDs. Guess I know when the right time to go although the college kids are coming back and clogging up the I C streets.
The top ten of the week.
1. No Spitting On The Bus-Steve Gibbons Band 1979 The CD age hasn't been too kind to the English version of Bob Seger but back in the day of vinyl, Gibbons was the cult artist. Great songwriter, sang a bit like Bob Dylan but with more tune, he made three damn good albums for MCA and two for Polydor, the first Down In The Bunker is his acknowledged best. This was a minor hit but Gibbon's sense of humor was so over the top the buying American public didn't get him. Had a great band backing him up, that had Trevor Bolden from Bowie's Spiders From Mars band. Later Robbie Blunt came on board, he's mostly known for being the flagship member of Robert Plant's early 80s album.
2. Comin Down-Angel City 1978 The thinking man's AC/DC, the Brewster brothers were the guitar answer to the Youngs and Doc Neeson was one of those writers that could write up a good song but for some reason The Angels never became more than a cult following in the US. Such a shame really, this came from the Albert Productions album of Face To Face to which Epic would stick out a couple years later, cleaned up the sound and cherry picked songs from The Angels three Aussie albums. Rumour had it that Neeson was in the running to replace Bon Scott but his songwriting was too gothic to the broads and booze lyrics of the Youngs and Bon Scott. The Angels hung around on Epic for three albums before moving on to MCA to make their classic Two Minute Warning and then disappeared for four years before putting out Beyond Salvation on Chrysalis to which the US label demanded that they re record some of their old 70's stuff. Still sounds good to these ears but Liberation Blue reissued all of the Angels albums and Beyond Salvation is in original format. Not to be confused with some power pop diva named Angel City, whose power pop disco cds are import only. Buyer beware.
3. Ordinary-The Alternative Routes 2007 Great name for a alt rock band don't ya think but these guys came from a MTV reality show I think. I gather this was the hit but it sounds a bit like the Gin Blossoms which is good but the lead singer decides to sing falsetto at the end of the song which is bad. The CD was a freebe anyway.
4. Trailer Mama-The Bottlerockets 1993 Hard to believe these guys have been around this long. Brian Hennemann was a roadie for Uncle Tupelo and played guitar on thier last tour and the Jeff Tweedy does help out on vocals before he went high and mighty and formed Wilco. But I still perfer the rowdy rock of the Bottlerockets more then the experimental Wilco or the stuck in the mud Son Volt. Some of us trailer trash rednecks love that three chord rock and roll more.
5. Sounds In Space-Ken Nordine 1958 A weird 45 that I got years ago, it touted about stereophonic sound. More or less a demonstration of RCA's Living Stereo series, which was basically either big band or classical music. Back then, it was the importance of recording stereo just right that was the rule and not exception as it is today with overrecorded cds. Highlights include a Skitch Henderson excerpt that might be worth looking for and Franz Reiner doing Prokofieff's Lieutenant Kije Opus 60 bla bla and how could we forget Ralph Flanagan's Ragg Mopp? Later issued as a grab bag LP called Sounds In Space. Of course back in the mid 80s, when cds were the up and coming, the labels would put together choice cuts from albums to promote the cd. Seen a few at the pawnshop the other day. Most were haphazard at best.
6. All My Life-Legendary Grape 1989 Moby Grape actually. You know them from the 60s as hyped to the hilt, got signed to Columbia who released 5 singles at the same time and basically killed all hope of getting airplay. And then they got signed to the bitchfuck Matthew Katz, who made a shambles out of their recording career and continues to do so this day after he got Sundazed to pull the first two Moby Grape albums off the shelf. But Moby Grape kept reforming from time to time and in 1989 released something on cassette called the Melvilles and this was one of the tracks off that tape and it's the best song off that. Later a UK label reissued this and a few more tracks and renamed it Legendary Grape.
7. As You Go Down-Black Velvet Band 1989 Led by Kiernan Kennedy, these guys put two albums out on Elektra in the late 80's and I spent all day looking for the vinyl album and didn't find it all day so I went out and did something else. Later in the evening when I was typing something up on the computer I look straight at it. Case of having too much I guess. Anyway thought that the pawnshop had the second album on cd and it's been there for months so thought it was going to be there. It wasn't.
8. Your Saving Grace-Steve Miller Band 1969 More than just The Joker or Fly Like An Eagle, Steve Miller had some FM hits although most of the albums that I did have from them in the early years were kinda spotty. In fact, his version of Key To The Highway makes The Melvins sound punk fast and that's saying something. This was written and sung by the drummer Tim Davis.
9. Draw The Line-Aerosmith 1977 Dedicated to Steven Tyler who once again fell off the stage during a live performance the other day. Dude just can't stay on the stage it seems.
10. Summer (the first time)-Bobby Goldsboro 1974 Great guitar player and credible songwriter although his biggest hit was written by Bobby Russell of Saturday Morning Confusion. Honey is either a classic or odious and if you like that you'll enjoy Watching Scotty Grow. But Bobby had some cool stuff out there (little things, it's too late) and this was his final top forty hit which I think came out around the time Summer Of 42 was in theaters. Goldsboro considers this his best song to the point that he told the record label to keep it at 4:39 instead of a two minute edit. And got a hit in the process.
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