Record World Playlist 3-5-14

Another snowstorm of the weekend; eight straight weekends with some kind of clipper or major storm screwing things up.  This winter is the worst I have seen since the infamous 2007-2008 mess and basically we're all sick of the snow and cold bullshit of once again below zero record lows.  I'm beginning to think a weekend without any of the white shit or rain would be news upon itself.  The picture pretty much sums things up. Another record low set Monday morning at 14 below zero, first time ever this late in winter. We shouldn't be having January weather in March.  And the bullshit continues.



This brings up a argument of what was left off, Bobby Fuller nor Eddie Cochran shouldn't be any Drug addled albums in music history and mention of Hawkwind either?  Something for you to read and consider.http://www.theweeklings.com/sbeaudoin/2014/02/26/the-50-most-drug-addled-albums-of-mania-dissipation-and-beauty/



Upon the winter of discontent, I've been busy stockpiling the Townedgers Music Emporium with plenty of snows (songs, I thought I leave that typo in since all I ever do is typos, the Harry Caray of blogging, which BTW he would have been 100 last weekend) but doing researching of what ever happened to certain people in my lives.  But the one that intrigued me most was the fate of Isabella Marks, the famous snake lady of Spokane to which I spent some good times and the worst of times with in 2001, the best was during late June where I seen the bluest skies of Seattle and it never rained and we had lot of fun buying out Wherehouse Music and visiting the now gone Cellophane Square CD Store and living on a steady diet of Taco Time.  However, the next time wasn't so great, which capped off a pet bunny rabbit that peed on about 4 pillows at the Motel 8 and a meltdown from her at a Pizzeria about some misplaced drug I never knew she had and with that,  had enough and dropped her home and call it a Mingles failure. A acrimonious ending. It was thought that drugs would eventually get the best of her. Ah, but the miracles of social networking, Isabella is still alive and still living in Spokane and sounds like she cleaned up her act and is married.  I wish her the very best.

 In the meantime while Crabby retires from the E Harmony find me love sites all around net land, Bill Kopp has popped the question to Audrey Hermon and she said yes.  Bill is also working hard on new liner notes to a Real Gone reissue of a Cannonball Adderley album The Black Messiah due later in the year.


I haven't been up to Washington State since 2001 and I know for a fact it's not what it used to be for music stores or bands for that matter, but Sub Pop Records continues to get the music to the people by opening up a store in the Sea Tac Airport.  There's hardly any music stores at the airport anyway although I recall a Motown type store in the Detroit airport area.  For Seattle, 14 years away means most of the stores that I went to are now gone. There was Sonic Boom to which I found Tommy Keene Songs From The Film on CD for 3 bucks, and a Half Priced Books not far from a long forgotten Djangos but then again, my mind is cloudy and pretty have forgotten where things are at. If all fails, they do have Hastings in a few locations and about three of them in Spokane. But Spokane had a shitload of pawnshops that had plenty of cheap CDs as well. 4,000 Holes is the best record store up there.  As much as I would love to revisit the Pacific NW, I will not make it back up there in this lifetime.  It's a four hour plane ride from here to there (pending spending time in major airport HUBs) and I think the only people I know up there are Serena (aka Seastarr in the old music chat room), and Starman.  Plus I don't do well in planes, especially having a back that spams up if the wind blows right.

David Palmer, the original Steely Dan vocalist sued his old band for royalties not paid  digitally, and other terms that lawyers use to get more money i.e. breach of contract, not being fair bla bla.  Palmer was only in the band for a few songs off Can't Buy A Thrill then left to help out Carole King (Jazzman) and later joined Wha-Koo.  While Donald Fagen's voice would be better suited for the lyrics,  Palmer owns Dirty Work so much that Steely Dan don't play it in their live shows anymore.

This song sucks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rJlp26eplU&feature=youtu.be

KFMH, the pirate radio stations of the 90s celebrated their 1 year being back on the airwaves via net radio. I still believe that they would be better served on the 99.7 dial that they used to have before buyout after buyout that Cumulus/Clear Channel owns and plays the usual top forty crapola.  Their playlist continues to rival KEXP in different types of music. https://www.facebook.com/ThePlusPirateRadio

The new amphitheater in Cedar Rapids will finally have their first of perhaps many concerts.  The 90s hangover tour of Everclear, Soul Asylum, Eve 6 and Space Hog will play there the 5th of August. If you can't wait that long, you have at Riverside Casino Blues Traveler, Sugar Ray, The Gin Blossoms and Smash Mouth  June 28th.  The last gap of an bygone area before Limp Bizkit, Universal buying out Polygram and the Telecom Act of 1996 ruined music forever.  And I still haven't reviewed anything new this year.




Vinyl Lovin:

Drive By Truckers-English Oceans (ATO)

The first new release of the year reviewed and of course we had to wait for some real good stuff to come out.  The DBTs are very hit and miss for me, they came roaring out of nowhere with their classic Southern Rock Opera that Lost Highway had no clue to promote, the highwater album was Decoration Day, but once Jason Isbell left town, I didn't pay much attention although I did review a couple and traded them in.  But English Oceans is their best record since Decoration Day in the way it starts out very strong with the Rolling Stone riff of Shit Shot Counts that sounded like Mike Cooley was listening to The Bottle Rockets as well.  And the first 6 songs of this album just might be the best six songs that DBTs ever started out since Southern Rock Opera. Sometimes they can make a song so strong that I have to hear it again be it the strongest ones Cooley's Primer Coat and Patterson Hood's anti love song Pauline Hawkins (Fate always happens when nobody's looking). Second half of the album kinda goes by like a passing train, with the exception of Brad Morgan smashing cymbals on the first 4/4, which might explain of the album closer Grand Canyon, which like the song itself a grand statement and farewell to Craig Lieske and with Patterson Hood leaving this grand thought for the day: I'm never one to wonder about the things beyond control, I stare off in the distance as I feel the highway roll....I did that too while listening to English Oceans and think of things past and present before Morgan's cymbal crash wakes me back to reality and get my thoughts back on the road too.  Of course it helps when Hood or Cooley takes a jab at some right wing nut job as well. (The Part Of Him).  In the end, I actually do like having Mike Cooley return to songwriting and having a keen eye on life itself.  The second half goes on too long and the gap between The Part Of Him and Grand Canyon, the songs between are more ho hum than hip hip hooray but on a whole English Oceans is their best in years.

Grade A-

Clyde McPlatter-Lover Please (Mercury 1962)

The original voice of The Drifters before he moved to a checkered solo career, having  most of his success with Atlantic (A Lover's Question, Without Love There Is Nothing) and moving on to MGM and Mercury to where this album has his final top 30 hits, a number 7 charting of Lover Please (Written by Billy Swan-later of I Can Help fame) and a number 25 of the seldom heard on radio his version of Little Bitty Pretty One. An odd pairing of sorts, McPlatter going to Nashville and working with some of the finest musicians at that time (Boots Randolph, Pig Robbins, Bob Moore, Jerry Kennedy, Buddy Harman, Charlie McCoy) and Shelby Singleton producing the effort.  McPlatter revisits some of the early hits that he had when he was with Billy Ward and The Dominoes and The Drifters, which may have at the behest of the label itself.  Though some of the backing vocal arrangements are dated and corny (the high pitched whoever on Sixty Minute Man needs to be put out their misery) and the staggered 8 of Little Bitty Pretty One doesn't work either.  I give Clyde credit for singing the hell out of Pretty Girls Every Where and Don't Let Go and he's channeling Ray Charles on I'm Moving On despite the Merrie Melodies Singers trying to do it Hank Snow's way.  But in the end it Eugene Church and Roy Hamilton still have the definite version.  Still it's an enjoyable album on its own merit, it's better than the disaster that was the MGM years but still pales to his Atlantic period.

Grade B

Bert Jansch-Rosemary Lane (Reprise 1971)

Between the Pentangle's principal guitar players, I always gave Bert the benefit of the doubt over John Renbourn and Bert's solo albums held my attention more, but Rosemary Lane is basically Bert himself doing the usual British traditional folk  by himself.  Love his work with The Pentangle, most of the the first 2 albums that they did which introduced the world to a completely acoustic band playing acoustic folk rock and doing it very well.  Finding Jansch's solo albums is a bit trickier but I found this for a dollar and it's a promo copy that hasn't been played very much.  It's a mostly subdued and low key effort but there highlights in Tell Me What Is True Love and Bird Song, the former making it on the 2 CD overview Light Flight.  Whoever had this album before gives high marks to M'lady Nancy and (calling it a pretty song) Silly Woman.  You won't be rocking out this album but it's nice background music if you reading a book, or in my case, writing out this week's playlist.

Grade B+

Playlist:

New Song-The Who
Give Me One More Day-John Mayall
Must Have Been Crazy-Chicago
Oceanside-Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Speakin' Out-Neil Young
Can't Get Through-The Tearaways
96 Degrees In The Shade-Third World
Groovy Situation-Gene Chandler
Another Gray Area-Graham Parker
Skateaway-Dire Straits