Top Ten Of The Week-Between The Hear And Now

The year has gone by fast hasn't it?

Judging by our ratings I'm thinking the viewership will be between 800 and 900 thereabouts, unless I start writing everyday and then it may hit 1,000 but then again most of the viewership seem to be going for the tried and true rather than the here and now.  Everytime I look at the 10 all time, the Ides Of March and Blanda Blackmore Blues keep knocking each other off the final spot.  But the Crabb Bits on Paul Revere is making a charge up the charts.  And of course the usual My GF Thinks I Should Blog and Brains blog remaining definite reads.  No word on the whereabouts of the Rock and Roll and The Offspring is at.  Most new posts get about 10 views per blog, sometimes 15 but not what we would call groundbreaking and basically just the usual gang following.  I do notice a bit of a spike in spam mail and did add some to make up a funny comment from myself but still thinking I should do a Spam blog and let them hock their wares there.

Black Friday coming up and does it mean I'll be doing a bargain hunting trip to a record store that day? Not really.  I haven't seen any thing that the major labels have drummed up to get me going to buy some overpriced 7 inch 45 or promo CD.  Best Buy has something going on about 4.99 CDs and judging from what I have seen, it's basically the same albums that you can find for 4.99 every day.  Aerosmith Classics Live 1 and 2 (not recommended unless your a fan) or selected 20th Century Masters from Universal although Guns & Roses Greatest Hits might be up your alley should you decide to fight the crowds.  To which I'm not.  Barnes & Noble seem to have a better selection of 4.99 stuff (Paul Desmond Take Ten, Ray Stevens All Time Hits) and they did have Graham Nash Songs For Beginners for 7.99 likewise ole stoner David Crosby If Only I Can Remember My Name to which for that price I'll chance it since I have never heard it before.  Robert Christgau hated it and so did Rolling Stone Mag.

In Box Set mania, I haven't had much interest in the Pink Floyd reissues which only serves a fact that the difference is that the CDs are made in Mexico and put in crappy digipaks the worst GD format that makes people download more.  The latest Pink Floyd Best Of A Foot In The Door is made for the person who has yet to own any Pink Floyd and it only has one Syd Barrett song on there and of course The Great Gig In The Sky aka Dole Pineapple Commercial of 1973.  Tad gave a great review of Smile http://tadsbackupplan.blogspot.com/2011/11/all-smiles.html  if you missed it the first time.

The new REM farewell overview is now out as well as a updated Quadrapenia from The Who Director's Cut but I admire that album from a distance, no matter how much Pete Townsend says how fucking brilliant it is. Reissue of the year might be Beach Boys Smile but I'll go with Wounded Bird Records reissue of The Fugs Reprise albums.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/could-we-really-say-goodbye-to-cds-in-2012  
/?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150954953605525_27620795_10150955075210525  Can't be a year without the usual the end of the CD is coming article.  Believe me CDs will still be around in some way or another.  As long there's junkshops, record stores (what's left of them) and the net, you'll find them and they'll still be manufactured.  As for the major labels its going to come down who'll be last label standing and that will probably be Universal vs Sony Music since both of them carved up EMI.  And the other guy Warner Music Group.  No freaking wonder why music sucks and the world is still stuck on a playlist of 1985 that will not go away no matter how many formats that is out there and come and gone. 

And for those who wondered, Dan Brinkley of Hit Dan Back is gay.  Now you can sleep better at night knowing that.

The Top Ten Of The Week:

1.  Ramblin Gamblin Man-Bob Seger System 1968  Can't understand the reasoning beyond Bob's not interested in his early albums but this album rocks hard.  Perhaps it has something to do that Bob didn't care much for this band after the 2nd album fiasco known as Noah and having somebody else do lead vocals but on this album and hit single Bob sings all but one track.  He might be put off by the jacking off by the engineer pinging drums and cymbals from left to right speaker but still that's a small complaint.  The mono single is on the new Bob Seger best of, should you want to spring the bucks for it.

2.  Operation Spirit (the Tyranny Of Tradition)-Live 1991  In the spirit of 20th anniversary albums how bout this from the band from Pennsylvania striking gold on their first album and later on the bigger but not necessarily better  Throwing Copper, an album that I liked a lot at first but then soured upon it later.  Live never really meant much to me soon afterward but I still have their first album Mental Jewelry and still do play it on occasion.  Unlike the rest of y'all.

3.  Take Ten-Paul Desmond 1963  Went solo and did an answer to his big hit for Dave Brubeck (Take Five of course) this features no drum solos but nice interplay between Paul and Jim Hall on guitar and borrows Eugene Wright on this track.  But who holds it all together?  The drummer to which was the legendary Connie Kay.

4.  The Garden Is Open-The Fugs 1967  Guaranteed to offend The Fugs have been that band and they did it in style. However, they did have musicians that could jam with the best of them, and this track off Tenderness Junction shows they could keep up with The Grateful Dead if they wanted to.  Their first two albums have been reissued via Fantasy but their more famous stuff for Reprise has been now reissued by the kind folks at Wounded Bird Records.  Too bad they're not around.  Occupy Wall Street could really use them.

5.  Unsung-Helmet 1992  Time and rock radio have forgotten them but 20 years ago they struck a deal with Interscope and Meantime came roaring out to the masses.  With Page Hamilton drill Sargent bellowing and hard hitting guitar chords and screeches it was ahead of the Tom Morello Rage Against The Machine by a year.  This did generate some airplay on the radio but nowadays Cumulus Radio ignores it.  Which is bullshit.  Meantime and Strap It On still blows anything from Interscope in this day and age.  Page Hamilton is still around but his last three Helmet albums have done nothing for me.

6.  Go Where You Wanna Go-The Bees 2011  Nice cover of the Mamas and Papas number.  The Bees are back with a brand new album Every Step's A Yes and most of the time they don't rock out, in fact most of the songs kinda go by like a stoned dude.  In fact it was so damn mellow it put me to sleep and I almost crashed into the ditch on the way home.  That wouldn't been a good thing.

7.  Where Is My Mind-Vanilla Fudge 1968  It's been the way I've been feeling of late.  Especially at work when I'm trying to learn something and every word coming out from the instructor sounds foreign.  It's too early in my years for Alzheimer's.

8.  Supersonic Sex Machine-Steel Panther 2011  More silly hair metal comedy from this band that takes their cue from Motley Crue and Poison and other hair metal bands of that era but adds more of a sexual overtone to their music.  If you can believe that.

9.  Cafe-Malo 1972  They made a damn good debut for Warner Brothers in 1972 and had a top ten hit with Suavecito.  But they owe a lot to Santana, since Carlos' brother Jorge plays guitar in this band and they managed to borrow two of the percussionists from the Santana Band to give this record a more jamming latino groove.

10.  Key To The Highway-Steve Miller Band 1968  Finally a nod and a wink to Rastro on this one.  I never did find the vinyl LP of Children Of The Future but Kirk at Record Collector had this on CD so I picked it up and still think that this might be the slowest version of Little Walter's song to the point that it makes The Melvins sound like Metallica if you can believe that.  I don't know I still find the album good in spots, think the side long suite on side 1 is a bit tedious and the best songs remain Boz Scaggs' contributions leading off side two.  But I'm sure Rastro would disagree with me.

This from Jeff Higgins of Groove Sandwich.  He writes about Coldplay plus Nickelback equals Plain Yoghourt. The link don't work anymore but he basically said it was like yogurt or chewing gum.  Good on the first listen but loses its flavor the more you play it.