No I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I spent the weekend over at Nicole's and since her computer is so damn slow, I really don't get on there much. And yes dear it is a slow computer to the point that I use the backspace more than I do other keys. We decided to go up to Dubuque and spent some time in the Diamond Jo Casino. Not into Casinos mind you and while she won 30 dollars, Mr. No Luck blew 50 of his and with that couldn't go to one record store due to time and 50 less dollars. Nevertheless I had to visit the old hippie at Moondog Music and get the new New Riders Of The Purple Sage, which is their second straight great album. Never mind their Columbia years, which was erratic at best or the MCA/A&M years which were downright boring, their comeback album of a few years Where I Came From finally showed them that they could compete with the other jam bands of today. But Best Buy wouldn't have it anyway, so I figured that Moondog Music would. 17 Pine Avenue, continues the good times and the jams although it's the slightest of the two album but still blows anything they've done since Panama Red.
Another new album or reissue is Meet Glen Campbell (Capitol) which expands on the original album with two remixes of his biggest hits (Gentle On My Mind, Galveston) and three cuts from a AOL session which I can take or leave. Basically the brainchild of Julian Raymond, better known as A n R behind the careers of Less Than Jake or Suicide Machines, he picks and chooses some of the newer stuff for Glen and Glen shines on the U2 cover of All I Want Is You, Green Day's Time Of Your Life and Foo Fighters Days Like These. Raymond comes across a Al Delory of the day but like Al, Julian tends to overdo the strings and horns on songs like Grow Old With Me and a questionable version of the Velvet Underground's Jesus. But you can't fault the man for trying and Glen sounds like he's at home with them. Of course they took it up a notch with Ghost On The Canvas (to which the interludes kinda ruins it for me but it's his finest moment since My World Fell Down or Gentle On My Mind. Capitol dropped the ball on this one when originally released back in 2009 and they try to make it up with remixes and AOL Session bonus cuts. But with Glen's Alzheimer's overtaking him, Meet Glen Campbell and Ghost On The Canvas shows that when faced with the eventual end, he faces it with a smile and determination with God's Blessings. Thank Raymond for getting the best of out of Glen, even though Raymond's excessive brings of what Glen's recordings were 40 years ago. Still take it for what it's worth, a good pop album, not country but pop. And Glen would surprise one more time before the curtain falls.
The Ratings are taking a hit, looks like The Rock N Roll And The Brains blog has finally come to the end of the line with 3,239 views and has been stagnated for the last week. At it stands, we might clear 1,200 views this month on other things but I'm thinking somewhere out there, we lost a sponsor, or a fan site got shut down.
Big props to Bob Dorr of Iowa Public Radio for playing six songs that I suggested on his Saturday night Back Tracks show. I'd settle for one but he played Bad Motor Scooter and Space Station Number 5 from the Montrose album (A LITTE MONTROSE FOR YA, we got the message Shawn, shut up) but he also played not only the Thin Lizzy version of Rosalie but the original Bob Seger version plus Kill For Peace by The Fugs and Post Toastee by Tommy Bolin. A couple missteps, wasn't too impressed with the Roy Wood 14 minute Meet Me At The Jailhouse and it won't get me to buy any of Wood's Wizzard stuff and the Soft Machine selection came from a later and less interesting edition of the band but hell the rest of the show rocked hard. And even included Van Morrison's Here Comes The Night from It's Too Late To Stop Now http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/ipr-studioone/guide.guidemain?action=viewPlaylist&playlistID=755468&eventID=145135
From the ashes of Borders, comes Books A Million in it's spot and you can't tell the difference. BAM haven't changed that much the interior and there's a new Cafe house for your cuppacino fix. But they do have vinyl albums and they have a decent selection of Vee Jay artists (John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed), jazz from Coltraine and Monk and The Dictators and Richard Hell's Blank Generation to boot at 13 bucks, which doesn't vary much from the CD I guess. BAM is a bit more expensive on their CDs though, the cutouts are 'yawn' and they still have Christmas Crap CDs that nobody wants but Books A Million might survive and give Moondog or CD's 4 Change a run for the vinyl money. Where else could you get Pearl Jam 10 for 16.99?
Finally, you will not believe what you'll find in the budget bins at Best Buy now. Too bad the damn recording industry didn't do this shit long time ago, but they slashed prices on the hard to believe. This week's 5 dollar special includes Peter Frampton Frampton album, Best of Mike And The Mechanics and Deep Purple's Made In Japan which I bought on 8 track for 12 dollars back in 76. Hell the album was 12.99 for 2 record set. But now you can get the 77 minute behemoth for five bucks now. But the MP3 remains at 11.49. Seems to me that the labels are now taking to gouge the public for the digital download. Better to buy the CD for half off.
And So It Goes.
2 comments:
Hey Crabby: I thot Al DeLory's strings & overproduction were summa the best things about summa Glen's early hits -- sure adds drama 2 "It's Only Make Believe," "Try a Little Kindness," "Wichita Lineman," etc....
You can tell when a producer leaves his mark when you remember his contributions to the recordings. Delory made the recordings for what they are. Glen may have had better known folks (Jimmy Bowen, Gary Klein, Lambert/Potter) but Al Delory made him timeless. Cheers!
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