Crabb's Observations Of The Week-Prog Pop Bands, My Space Etc.

On the subject of

Spam Mail:
Seems like the Spam Commenters like to throw things in the Jock Itch Jams Blog touting drugs & Viagra and whatever is bad for you.  This is why we approve things otherwise I would have 20 comments of absolute bullshit and nothing to do with the songs.  Put some thought in them and I may consider them.  Everytime I see a spam comment I pretty much know where the blog it's coming from.

Prog Rock and the lesser known:
Was reading TAD's blog on the new Prog rock book he was reading and it sounds like any book out there.  It's good in some subject, ignorant on others.  It's hard to figure what passes for Prog rock once you get past the usual suspects.   As for Camel, I didn't know anything about them till I picked up a copy of their 1984 Live Pressure Points at a Las Vegas pawnshop and then from time to time bought some when i seen them (Rain Dances, Nude). For US prog rock Kansas is best known, and Styx  is number 2 although by the time Tommy Shaw joined they were more pop rock then prog rock and after Equinox their records were spotty at best.  Didn't like Crystal Ball very much, Grand Illusion had Miss America and the title track and overplayed Come Sail Away and not much more.  Pieces Of Eight was better although I haven't listened to it when the cassette player ate the cassette tape of that and got off the bus on Cornerstone.  If they were prog rock it would be the Wooden Nickel albums (to which you can get in a complete 2 CD set from Hip O) but once they signed on to A&M they had an eye on the top forty chart and adapted according to plan.  And forever lost their Prog Rock cred with the wedding song Babe.

In the late 70's Epic signed Starcastle, a band that came from Illinois and boasted ex REO lead singer Terry Littell.  Starcastle was the closest thing the US ever came to having a band sound like YES and their first album echos plenty of The Yes Album, and is the only prog rock album to be recorded in Pekin Illinois.  And despite the odds, Sony Music still has it in print. Littell was a screamer in REO Speedwagon but in Starcastle he sounded just about like Jon Anderson.  Resulting albums Fountains Of Light and Citadel, which Roy Thomas Baker produced showed them to be pretty good in the YES soundalike department & they were damn good musicians and their own way.  But by 1979, their record label forced them to go a more radio ready (we want hits translation) and Real To Reel was the result.  Perhaps Epic Records way of trying to turn Starcastle into REO Speedwagon but the band has disowned this record and refused to put up song downloads on their website.  Real To Reel wasn't that bad of an album if you like pop rock of that time, in some ways it reminds me of Prism, the Canadian Prog Pop Band that made five albums for Ariola/Capitol in the late 70s.  But Real To Reel wasn't a prog album.  It was a pop album through and through, it didn't sell and Epic dropped Starcastle soon afterward.  Renassiance Records has issued the other Epic albums but beware, they're on CD R and the cover art is poorly Xeroxed.

The other Epic Band of note was Trillion to which their first album was produced by Barry Mraz (Styx) and featured future Toto vocal replacement Fergie Fredericksen and their music was a combination of Styx keyboard to YES like guitars, Fergie's vocals a combo of Geddy Lee/Tommy Shaw.  Bought the album didn't like it much, Fredericksen's vocals were not for me.  Thom Griffin replaced him on 1980's Clear Approach and it was much better, with Make Time For Love which graced the outer top 100.  But I wouldn't call Clear Approach a prog rock album, it was more in line with the music of Journey and Kansas Audio Visions era. I think I bought Clear Approach just for the cool cover art.  Trillion broke up after Epic dropped them.  Fredricksen would appear on albums by LeRoux (All Fired Up) & Toto (Isolation), but Patrick Leonard, the keyboard player would go to produce such notables as Madonna, Peter Cetera and The Outfield and team up with Kevin Gilbert in the underrated Toy Matinee which made a decent prog pop album for Reprise.  Then hooked up with Richard (Mr. Mister) Page in 3rd Matinee.

My Space
Five Years ago, I started blogging over there and for the first year or two My Space was a good place to keep up on friends and such.  The cool Mingles folks that managed to keep in touch rather than go bed jumping.  Keeping in touch with some of The Roosties.  Checking out cool bands.  And keeping in touch with friends in town.  Things went to the toilet after News Corp bought My Space and countless problems made me pull the plug over there.  The new and improved My Space is a joke.  I posted a link to this site and if you access it from My Space, the My Space Nazi's call it spam.  Fed up, I told whoever's left in there to google R S Crabb and then choose the right site.  Third from the top.  In the coming weeks I'm going to try to save the best of the blogs over them and incorporate them over here.   I think some of the old gang have been reading them and it's great to once again chat with Starman and The Real Brooksie on music, just like the old times in chat, before  things got too political over there. 

I suppose with a bit more promoting I could have build this site up to be the Best Damn Place For Music Talk but I tend to go off subject when something else crosses my mind.  I try not to rant and rave like I did in the old days and in the old MSN Groups, basically there's too much negative and sensationalism in the news and in the music department so I try to keep things as simple and as user friendly as possible.  If I feel a need to show my Torrette's Syndrome I take it over to Twitter. and of  course a record review although it's hard to tell you to buy an album or avoid it in 180 characters or less.  Besides, politics tend to get me in trouble anyway.

The Weather This Week:
Yeah we got 16 inches of snow here but it was straight snow and nothing icy or rain to it.  Naturally, I did managed to dig myself out of the driveway although I'm getting sick and tired of the below zero weather that we have been getting since December.   I think we're more into a new ice age than global warming myself.  But really can do without the extreme weather.  After all, it could be worse.

Aerosmith:
Big issue was that the guys practiced without Joe Perry in tow but Joe Perry tweeted that he had prior dealings and couldn't make it.  I love Aerosmith just as much as the other guy or y'all but I think they really need to come up with their own stuff and not rely on outside songwriters such as Marti Fredericksen or Desmond Child and (God Forbid) Diane Warren.  Last group effort was Done With Mirrors (1985) which may have been more jam than actual songs but I actually like that over the rest of their Geffen and Columbia albums although Honkin On Bobo was fairly consistent.   I guess the Steve Lillywhite sessions didn't fare very well.  Hell, Joe Perry released more new albums than Aerosmith did the last five years.  Would I buy the new Aerosmith if it came out?  I donno, I didn't on 9 Lives or Just Push Play but I did on Bobo and the Rockin The Joint Live album.  But I'm beginning to think that they are the US Rolling Stones, making so so albums and charging up a storm playing live.  I think I trust Joe Perry a lot more than the Toxxic Twins together.

Bargain Hunting In February:
The weather hasn't helped and I can't get our mechanic to get the car fixed so haven't ventured out to Dubuque at all and went to Iowa City once in December.  The long term forecast looks to be cold and below zero at nights and basically it's not a lotta fun driving in the cold anyway.  So looks like it's the weekend at Half Priced Books and checking out Goodwill.

The big finds seems to be the boxset of Merle Haggard from Time Life, 4 CDs for 14.98 is a steal.  I guess Time Life has also sent out The History Of Bluegrass, and the History Of Folks Music Box sets as well for the same price.  Don't know how Half Priced Books been getting them but The Merle Haggard and The Bluegrass History box sets are bargains.  For vinyl, HP Books have been getting some great vinyl reissues across the pond with John Entwistle Smash Your Head Against The Wall for 14 bucks vinyl (somebody bought it) Live at The Roxy Volume 1 (The UK Roxy and not the LA Roxy) and A Quiet Night IN....originally on Bronze and featuring choice cuts from Hawkwind, Motorhead, Uriah Heep for 8 bucks.  Actually I still have the Bronze Import vinyl in my closet and I think I paid 15 bucks for it years ago.  First time I got introduced to Hawkwind with their biggest US hit Shot Down In The Night.   Still Half Priced Books has been getting some great cutouts from the Fantasy Jazz label and plenty of Time Life Cutouts that the guy up there gets bored and throws them in the 2 dollar bins when they don't sell.  Which is where I found The Spinners' Pick Of The Litter.  Nobody wanted to pay 6 bucks for it, so they marked it down to two and guess who bought it?    Looking for bargains is fun.

Beaker Street Farewell?
Sunday Night Clyde Clifford will conclude his Beaker Street Show on The Point.  So far, no word on if Beaker Street will be picked up somewhere else and I haven't seen anything new from the Beaker Street website.  However I remain hopeful that it will return somewhere and if not Clyde, please play Ballad Of The USS Titanic one more time before you turn out the lights please?