Top Ten Of The Week-My Rock, Your Roll

Must be Wednesday, must be time for Crabby's top ten. I'm surprised my GF didn't make any comments about the Brooks & Dunn track last week.

1. I Know-Dionne Farris 1994 If I really thought about what passed for music and what gets played on radio and on my stereo I'd be wasting everybody's time and mine. It just music and sometimes I do like songs that are catchy and do get overplayed on radio. This was a giant hit for Dionne and then she disappeared forevermore. You could probably called this alternative rock but if you hear the rest of this album it's run of the mill R & B. Which is why you see her album in the dollar bins all around town. Fun fact: Randy Jackson was co executive producer. Yeah, the American Idol judge and not to be confused with Randy Jackson of Zebra. Which is rock and roll.

2. Head Like A Hole-Nine Inch Nails 1989 I'm not a big fan of Trent Reznor and most of his stuff is too off the wall for me but when I do want to hear some of this aggro techno industrial what you may call it, I put on Pretty Hate Machine to which that it will be reissued for the third time via Universal. Guess he had problems with Rykodisc when he reissued it for the second time. My copy is the Rykodisc version, found for 2 bucks in Mad City back in the summer.

3. Holy Water-Bad Company 1990 When I did the discography of Bad Company, I pretty much didn't take into account of the Brian Howe era but I kinda threw a thought or two on the albums that were out there, Fame And Fortune sucked, Dangerous Age showed promise and Holy Water was the best of the Howe years. Couldn't tell it apart from Foreigner but back then it sold decently. Wounded Bird actually reissued the CD as well as Here Comes Trouble, the followup but I found the vinyl in the dollar bins in my Madison Farewell bargain hunt and picked it up since I didn't think I would ever see it again. Fun fact number 2: got to see the Brian Howe led Bad Company when they were part of a tour with Damn Yankees.

4. Night Nurse-Gregory Isaacs 1982 RIP. Isaacs passed away from lung cancer at age 59 this week. This is his best known hit.

5. Hot And Nasty-Black Oak Arkansas 1973 For fun and games listen to the live version of this on Raunch & Roll, their biggest selling album at that time. Supposedly Jim Dandy was the inspiration of David Lee Roth and that could run good or bad. This was released at a single and the single 45 edit has a much louder mix. If you can find it.

6. I Hate To Be You On That Fateful Day-Bob Dylan 1962 The big CD of the week was Columbia reissuing The Whitmark Demos, a collection of songs that Bob recorded for ideas and thoughts for his albums but since he signed on with a music publisher, he could record his songs for ideas or for giving out to other singers and songwriters. Listening to these songs you can actually see how versatile Dylan really was. Also, Sony Music put out a box set of Bob's early albums in pristine mono. 9 Cds might be too much unless your a fanatic of BD, but there is a single cd of selected better known songs in mono for 10 bucks. Back then everything seemed to sound better in mono. Or least it did on the radio.

7. Pull Me Under-Dream Theater 1992
8. America-YES 1973

Progressive rock I can listen to at certain times. My best friend is a big YES fan and I do love Yes at times. But their mid 70's period started to reek of pretentiousness. I liked Close To The Edge, passed on Topographic Oceans and did find Relayer in the dollar section at Pawn America. Drew from Drew's Odds And Sods gives a much better review and more positive of it more than I can. I thought it was kinda noisy and disjointed although the jazzy Sound Chaser stood out better then the side long The Gates Of Delirium and failed single Soon which was basically the ending of that song. Nevertheless, I decided to pick instead their 1973 cover of Paul Simon's song which can be found as a bonus track on the remastered Fragile. Had the forty five of that song but it got cracked. Dream Theater on the other hand is prog rock of the 1990's and they have managed to have a devoted following but to be honest I haven't really gotten into these guys. Even after finding Images And Words in the dollar bins at the pawnshop, three weeks later I have yet to play that through. I tend to perfer Steven Wilson's Porcupine Tree or Spock's Beard with Neil Morse. Plus there seems to be a nasty divorce between drummer great Mike Portnoy and the rest of DT since he moved over to Sevendust another different band with a different sound.

9. You Came, You Saw, You Conquered-The Ronettes 1969 This didn't do very well on the charts, it didn't come out on Phillies but A & M around the time Ike & Tina's River Deep Mountain High. I guess it just didn't sound right for 1969 but more in line of 1964, when PS was making those Back To Mono recordings that sounded good on radio.

10. Balls To The Wall-Accept 1984 The story of my life and perhaps their best known song. They sounded a cross between AC/DC and Judas Priest to me but to you, I really don't know.