The last time I was up there, I bought a lot of museum priced 45s. This time out, all came from the quarter dumpster part of Mad City Music Exchange and a lot of the older fortyfives, my mom used to have. It's nice to finally hear The Enchanted Sea by The Islanders without the razor slashes on our old record of that song. As always the St Vincent De Paul store on Williamson Street has been great to find old 45s and this week was no exception. However the other St Vincent De Paul on Park St. is unique in its own way; they charge you by the pound rather than individual 45s and I ended up getting about 8 of them for grand total of 25 cents! One of them was a Robyn Hitchcock/Emma Swift 45 that I have never seen before. And if I didn't pick it up, I would have never seen another one like it again. I'm not sure if Let's Think About Living by Bob Luman was high on the list of stuff to get but to find What's In The World Come Over You (Jack Scott), Three Little Pigs (Lloyd Price), I'm Walking (Ricky Nelson) and Way Down Yonder In New Orleans (Freddy Cannon) really did harken back to my childhood years of playing them at Grandma's House. You may poo poo the needless of Paul Anka but Diana does bring a smile to my face when I hear it. I could almost (but not quite) forgive him for You're Having My Baby.
Mad City Music Exchange had plenty of the quarter ones too. Linda Lu (Ray Sharpe), Sea Of Love (Phil Phillips), Forever (The Little Dippers), Medicine Man (Buchanan Brothers) were the ones that I found there. The St Vincent De Paul on Williamson had a bunch of ole Elvis and Beatles 45s but they were in pretty bad shape but I did pick up Blue Moon and Love Me Tender, why I don't know. Half Priced Books on the West Side of Madison I found Blue Moon (Marcels) and Ride! (Dee Dee Sharp), the latter one of my all time favorite Cameo/Parkway singles. Just Between You And Me was yet another Chordettes single that I didn't have but recalled it was one of my mom's original 45s from long ago. And of course a few other oddball stuff, Burt Bachrach's What The World Needs Now, Bleep You from Cal Smith and more forgotten stuff from Gayle McCormick and Mary Travers. If nothing else, I did find a serviceable copy of Why (Frankie Avalon), that now goes with the picture sleeve that was found in a record storage box a few years ago. I don't remain hopeful that I can sell that for big bucks on Ebay anytime soon though.
For used CD's, this time out was much better than last time although once again Strictly Discs had nothing I needed and Pre Played had nothing to buy either. Since the passing of the owner of Resale Records, that store is now history and B Sides Records was strangely closed on Saturday. Amazingly, I found a Richard Thompson Cd 1000 Years Of Poplar Music and The Grateful Dead's Reckoning for two dollars, I could have picked up Pink Floyd's Animals for that amount but since I had a copy at home that didn't make much sense. There were new releases from Chris Hillman and Chris Rea that I bought at Mad City Music X but I forgot to look for The Golliwogs's Complete Fantasy Recordings or it slipped my mind. The west side Goodwill had the better buys if you're looking for The Beatles' Love, Leonard Cohen's Dear Heather, The John Lennon Collecton (2 of them). The East Side Goodwill and Half Priced Books, I came up empty but don't feel bad. I found enough on the West Side to keep me occupied for the whole month.
And then Barnes And Noble, (east side) had a bunch of Wounded Bird CDs at 3.99. Jo Jo Gunne!, King's X! Earl Scruggs! but since I had Jo Jo Gunne's albums on Collector's Choice, I didn't see the need to buy the other one just to have the So Where's The Show on CD. It was their weakest album for Asylum and King's X Ear Candy is my favorite album but since I had that on CD, it's up for grabs. I ended up buying King Curtis and The Staples Singles CD along with a few obscure acts that looked good. It was surprising to see this many Wounded Bird albums all in one place but given the 3.99 price, it meant that all of the albums are now fallen out of print. Including all of the Mighty Lemon Drops, to which Wounded Bird had bonus tracks for those who still care. As I bought out the majority of the Wounded Bird catalog, I wonder if the west side B and N had any of their own. Turns out that they didn't. It was a fluke.
Weather wise, it sucked. We had no rain all fall and only when I decided to plan the trip then it begin to rain. The annoying kind, that would soak you if you were not careful but I did managed to do a five mile bike ride in between monsoons. And getting a motel room during football season even for away games I still paid 140 dollars for one night at the Red Roof only to have 40 channels of nothing but managed to catch one game of the Cubs/Nationals (they won game one 3-0). For food, it was chain galore, Pizza Hut for lunch, Perkins for pancakes for supper and on the way home Steve at work requested Rocky Rococos' pizza to which I finally broke down and bought one. A medium two topping is expensive 18 dollars but it was Chicago style and I could ate four squares of it. They were huge. I remembered Iowa City had one but I didn't like their pizzas but if I don't order the sausage ones I'll be okay. I still think the sauce is a bit harsh but overall, it's improved for me over time although I don't forsee myself being an regular customer. I probably should have bought a frozen Pizza Uno and presented it to him, it would have been 8 dollars cheaper.
I didn't plan the trip very well, I only took one pair of pants and then much to my chagrin, the fucking button popped off and I had to go to the thrift store to pick up a pair of pants and changed in the car. The stop lights sucked as they did last time and I had issues with slowpokes walking across the road like lost cattle (Moo!) and the usual merge mania cocksuckers getting in the lane and making me take the next exit and double back to get back home but I guess that's now standard procedure. Last time I was there, it was world naked bike ride day and I'm certain that will be the next time I get back into town but this time out I kept my clothes on and rode through the chilly winds and rain and didn't get any sort of leg cramps. Just don't over do it and we'll be fine.
(photo: Steve Apps, Wisconsin State Journal)
As reported earlier, I did an afternoon bike ride between raindrops and by the time I got to State Street in the afternoon, we got hit with a monsoon rain after completing my little bike ride. Turns out that there was a tornado that slammed into the east side of Washington Street up the road that did some damage to houses and homes. This tornado was so quick there was no warnings about it. But then again I wasn't around a TV set at that time. It was over and done in five minutes. http://www.weather.gov/mkx/tor100717
(photo: MLB)
It took them a full five games and nine innings to outlast the Washington Nationals but The Chicago Cubs prevailed 9-8 in a exciting game five that the home team Nats were generous of giving the Cubs two runs on a dropped third strike and catcher's interference. Washington made a game of it till the 8th inning when Wade Davis picked off the Washington catcher who didn't make it back to first. Davis managed to have a three up and down ninth striking out Bryce Harper and advance to the Championship series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. On the AL side, the Chief Wahoo curse struck again as New York beat Cleveland to advance to play Houston, who eliminated the Boston Red Sox and John Ferrill was relived of manager duties the next day. But for the Cubs, they can celebrate tonight, despite another shaky bullpen to which Wade Davis had to work 2 and a 1/3rd innings to pick up a much deserved save.
On the football side of things, Iowa had no trouble with Illinois 45-16, although once again, the Iowa Defense in the first half looked sluggish and only had a 17-13 lead at the half before a Brandon Snyder 89 yard pick six return got the hawks up and running, and it became a runaway when Iowa had 3 more TDs in the fourth quarter. Iowa gets the next weekend off, Illinois will play Rutgers.
The shock of the Big 12 was Iowa State coming from behind to defeat Baker Mayfield and the Oklahoma Sooners 38-31 at Norman of all places. Future NFL WR Allen Lazard caught a amazing TD catch to put the Cyclones in the lead once and for all. Kyle Kempf, replacing Jason Park at QB threw for 343 yards and three TDs and even former QB Joel Lanning came in at QB to run a few plays and return back to defense to play linebacker, the first 2 way player for the Cyclone since 1971. A tacky moment was a Iowa State player planting the ISU Flag on the Oklahoma 50 yard line, the same ploy that Baker did when they beat Ohio State earlier in the year. Losing to Iowa State had hurt the OU chances for a national title and Baker Mayfield's chances for a Heisman. For Matt Campbell, the Iowa State win might have finally turned the team into the up and up after coming up short the past couple seasons. It's too early to tell if this will wake up the cyclones to a bowl game this season but their win did shake up college football this weekend.
The Toilet Bowl was played in the Meadowlands in New Jersey between the winless LA Chargers and NY Giants and the Chargers won 27-22 and the Giants lost Odell Beckham Jr for the rest of the season with a broken ankle.
10 artists and bands not in the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame. http://www.culturesonar.com/fans-top-ten-rock-roll-hall-fame-snubs/
Passings; Connie Hawkins, one of the best all time basketball player players, who played for the Phoenix Suns died from colon cancer. He was 75. He was one of the best Iowa basketball players in 1961 till he was singled out in a point shaving scam that cost him a few years on the NBA circuit. History has shown he had nothing to do with that but the NBA blackballed him for a few years till they lifted the ban and Phoenix drafted him in the first round. The point shaving scam had him expelled from Iowa and he could not find another college that would take him in. A grave injustice. However his work in the ABA and Harlem Globetrotters were great enough to get him in the basketball hall of fame. He did wonders for the Phoenix Suns in 1969, pushing the Los Angles Lakers to seven games but his knee problems would limit his greatness. He was traded to the Lakers in 1973 and he would finish his career with the Atlanta Hawks in 75-76.
Delilah, the adviser to the broken hearted and loved ones who want to hear a sappy love song, is still alive but she lost her son Zachariah to suicide on Sunday. He was battling depression.
Things have changed since my last visit to Arizona, This FYE store was a big hangout for me when I used to live there and it was my first destination when I got off the airplane. Across the street was a Fuddruckers' I used to eat at. Both are now long gone, The Longmore FYE used to be known as Wherehouse Music before FYE bought them out and eventually closed each and every one down. This place closed in 2016.
(Photo: Shawn Byrne via KD Miner)
Despite of saying that they weren't, Sears Holdings announced that the Kingman K Mart would be closing and that store is now in the history books at well. There's really not that much on that side of town on Andy Devine, there's a Bashas and a few other stores, but in my time of going through Kingman on Route 66 I'd stop in at K mart to pick up some things. Sears also announced that they are closing all of the Sears stores in Canada. K Mart used to be a big deal but once Sears bought them out, they started closing them all down. However the Sears CEO will give himself a raise while jettisoning jobs and putting K Mart alongside the Arlans and Woolworth's and Hastings stores in the places that are now gone. If nothing else, the Taco Bell is still open for business though.
On a different note, Kingman's new Goodwill will open this Friday at the former Beall's Outlet Store location in the strip mall on Stockton Hill Drive. There might be some bargains to find for those who venture there. Not me, it's too big of a road trip (almost 3 days from here).
Record Reviews:
Chris Rea-Road Songs For Lovers (BMG 2017)
He's been around forever but I think this is his first US release since Espresso Logic, 25 years ago. Basically a Chris Rea album has the usual pattern of great guitar song leading things off, then a fairly good 2nd song and then the record goes uneven. Once again Road Songs For Lovers follows the Rea Template of making an album. He's good with the more rocking and blues numbers (Money, Rock My Soul) and it does lead off with Happy On The Road, a uptempo rocker that isn't as long as previous offernings. He gets boring with those ballads he loves to pepper his albums with and the whole thing ends with three ballads, the yearning Angel Of Love, the after hours lounge jazz of Breaking Point and concludes with the snoozer Beautiful. In his 40 year music career, Rea has proven to be a cult artist that has a big following on the other side of the pond. His best albums remain Auberge and The Road To Hell (The Geffen album with bonus track Let's Dance works for me) and if you want to discover more Rea, Whatever Happen to Bennie Sanatini, with his first hit Fool If You Think It's Over and Dancing With Strangers, which appeared on Motown in 1986. Road Songs For Lovers falls short of expectations here, too many ballads and it's two minutes short of an hour. But for a late comeback of sorts, it's Rea doing what he does best, with that smokey baritone vocal of his and neat slide guitar work. Sometimes what he does best may not be the best of what he has to offer. Especially if it takes work to stay awake to listen to the ballads that put me to sleep.
Grade B
Chris Hillman-Biding My Time (Rounder 2017)
If nothing else, Chris' comeback album is the last album that Tom Petty produced. This record got done before Petty checked out of this world. And like of who Petty produces, he usually gets the best out of forgotten artists, Del Shannon was one, Chris the other. Like Rea's album this record has 12 songs but unlike Rea's album Biding My Time is much shorter and more to the point. It also benefits from Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and the Heartbreakers helping out too. Hillman enlists John Jorgenson from the Desert Rose Band to help out too. I like the revisits of She Don't Care About Time, Walk Right Back, New Ole John Robertson and even Bells Of Rhymyney. Restless with McGuinn's telling 12 string Rickenbocker makes me do wish that Chris could do one more album with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn but at least with Tom Petty (and Herb Pedersen) Hillman has not sounded this good since the days of The Flying Burrito Brothers. His version of Petty's Wildflowers might even be better than Tom's version. Little did we know, Wildflowers would end this album on a high note and for that matter would be the final song that Petty would be associated with.
Grade B+
The Searchers-Another Night-The Complete Sire Sessions (Omnivore 2017)
While disco was ruining radio at that time, across the pond was the revival of real rock and roll, led by Rockpile (Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe's band that made albums under their own names but came together to make one 1980 album of worthiness) and pub rockers Eddie And The Hot Rods, Dr. Feelgood and The Pirates making classic albums of their own that only audiophiles or bargain hunters would know about. The Searchers were always under the radar even in their hit making years for Kapp and only audiophiles and record collectors know more about their albums than the dancing fools of disco or soft rockers of note. In 1979, they came roaring out of the gate with a new S/T album and a harder power pop sound than their hit making years. Their first album starts out with Hearts In Her Eyes, a cover of The Records (actual band) and of course the smooth Switch Board Susan to which your's truly has performed live of late. They even cover Tom Petty on a song that isn't well known (Lost In Your Eyes) but shows their willingness to try new songs from up and coming artists. The second side of that album is slightly less but still has catchy songs like It's Too Late and No Dancing. Their second album Love's Melodies was a bit of a slump but still had wonderful songs like Silver, September Gurls (Big Star anybody?) and Almost Saturday Night, the John Fogerty classic song from his forgotten Asylum S/T album to which Dave Edmunds would get a minor hit in 1981. For some reason neither albums got The Searchers on the map and Sire moved on to other things, namely The Pretenders and some upstart named Madonna. Wounded Bird issued both Searchers albums in barebones format, (you need a microscope to read the notes) before Omnivore picked up the rights to reissue both albums, with a few surprises, not sure if the new remixes are worth it but four new songs not on the Wounded Bird nor Raven reissues might be worth a listen. It's good to see this back in print. Another Night shows that for a veteran band The Searchers could be as enjoyable as Rockpile or The Records or Big Star. And at the same time they could make a classic album too.
Grade A-
Green Day-God's Favorite Band (Reprise 2017)
Logically speaking it had to happened. The first best of covered the years prior to American Idiot, so it had to happened to get a new update. This album gives us 2000 Light Years Away from Kerplunk! and of course the highlights from American Idiot and the lesser satisfying 20th Century Breakdown The surprise is Miranda Lambert on Ordinary World (was Sheryl Crow too busy on that day not to sing?) and a new song Back In The USA. There are some major omissions on this album Insommiac only has Brain Stew and Geek Stink Breath and Walking Contradiction is left off. The problem with overview best ofs, is that nowadays they tend to cram almost everything from the catalog and Green Day has managed to make about 16 albums, give or take a comp or two. Problem number 2, the later albums are not as interesting, as Green Day transformed from punk rockers to the new Who, Billy Joe Armstrong got a bit too serious and if he ran low of lyrical thought, resorted to F bombs. And Oh Love and Bang Bang weren't exactly good songs either. International Superhits remains the better buy, get that and American Idiot and you'll be set for life. At this point, I'm too old to care anymore.
But for a flawed overview, it might provide a argument that Green Day was God's Favorite Band (although U2 would contest to that, or the Stones, or The Who)
Grade B+
Kindred-Next Of Kin (Warner Brothers 1972)
At the Barnes And Noble fire sale, they had a bunch of Wounded Bird Cds for sale at 4 dollars and I managed to get about 7 of them. Wounded Bird does everything on the cheap, the facsimile of the liner notes and photos are so scattershot and small you can't read who does what and forget about the lyric sheet (see 54-40's reissue) with 20/20 vision. That said, they did open up the door for the lesser known. I basically bought Kindred because Bobby Cochran plays on this album and sings, he would later move on to Steppenwolf 1974-1976, the last time that band made decent albums. Best way to describe this album is hippie rock led by Gloria Giano's whiskey soaked vocals and Marty Rodgers' male vocals on the more hippie numbers. Certainly Gloria's songs are the better one, Movin On is powerhouse rock. Marty's One More River is more MOR lite rock, Given the situation, it's a surprise to even see this on CD, a curio for the audiophile to check out to see what the fuss was about. In some ways they were a lot related to Smith, the Gayle McCormick led band at that time but Kindred didn't have Steve Barri underminding their efforts. But Bobby Cochran was the secret weapon, he also had the best song on this album, Ain't No Doubt. Next Of Kin was the product of the times, the last cry of hippie peace and love rock. At 28 minutes it doesn't stay on the scene very long either.
Grade B+
Thirty Days Out (Reprise 1971)
And then there's Thirty Days Out. Another minor band that got enough requests for reissue that Wounded Bird threw it out and it's more country rock than the hippie rock of Kindred. The influence is Poco although local bandmates Wilderness Road had the same sound, but was much better due to a sense of humor and better playing. This CD had a nice album cover which made me buy the thing. Starts out promising with Everybody's Looking For Someone, which might have been a single but nobody bought it. Strange to note nowadays most bands opt for The Eagles sound rather than back then trying to be the next Poco. Even on good days Poco could be inconsistent. Even on a good day Thirty Days Out tends to put people to sleep. Their first and only album that I know of. Once is enough.
Grade C
Jay Boy Adams (Atlantic 1977)
He got ZZ Top's management to get him on a major label, he got David Lindley to help out on a couple songs and he comes across a cross between Dan Fogelburg and John Denver although I'm sure Bob Dylan played a role in this. Or Jerry Jeff Walker come to think of it. Most of the songs are a story upon themselves (the one that I remember most is the sad In Rain In Spring) and this album you have to play a few more times to get the feel of these songs. I like the opening Nine Hard Years and The Tale Of Jack Diamond best. Adams would follow up with another album Fork In A Road and then Atlantic put him out to pasture and he went over to Capricorn Records for an album that never got released when Capricorn went bankrupt and went back to his day job. On occasion he'll play a gig or two and make an album (2014's Let It Go is actually quite good). His Atlantic debut is a bit uneven but he is a good storyteller singer.
Grade B
Mandala-Soul Crusade (Atlantic 1968)
Best known for having Dominac Troiano and lead screamer Roy Kenner (Both would go on to replace Joe Walsh in the James Gang), this band made horn driven R and B rock and roll, more like a poor man's Blood Sweat And Tears. Whitney Glen, the drummer would later play on Lou Reed Rock And Roll Animal, Troiano and Kenner would move on to The James Gang, with mixed results. Their best known song was Love-itis, a minor hit but got the interest of the J. Geils Band who recorded it for their Hot Line album in the mid 70s. Side 1 has World Of Love which is their hardest rocking song, but the rest is forgettable white boy soul music. Side 2 is total garbage.
Grade C-
Update: Upon another listen, this record still sounds like a Rascals parody with Vanilla Fudge pompousness.Troiano wrote most of the songs on this album and their best song remains Love-itis, to which J. Geils Band would cover for the 1974 Hotline album, with better results. Side 2 remains the problem, it starts out with a weird instrumental and then concludes with the shitty Faith. In the end, I doubt I will ever play this record again. Kenner would do better with the James Gang Bang album (by then Troiano left to join the Guess Who and mess up their sound) and the band LAW, which made two albums for MCA that got ignored.
Music From My Youth: The Cars-Candy O (Elektra 1979)
Given corporate radio's love of the same certain hits, I kinda gotten tired of hearing the first two albums, even though Let's Go is still irresistible from time to time. But then again corporate radio tended to favor Ben Orr's vocals rather than Ric Osacek, Ric was a bit more darker and quirkier. That might also figured into Ric's albums not doing so well after the demise of the Cars. Still, their first three albums remain the best of the bunch, Panorama over Shake It Up for me but once they hit it big with You Might Think and Heartbeat City, they lost me, and when they did reformed a few years ago, Ben Orr was already dead. With Orr, Ocasek found a perfect vocalist to get their songs on the radio. The debate remains which was the best of the Cars to get. While the first was a worthy debut, I didn't care much for All Mixed Up (and still don't). Candy O didn't have the ready made hits like Best Friend's Girlfriend or Just What I Needed or Let The Good Times Roll, but to me it was slightly better than the debut. Failed hit single It's All I Can Do, was much more catchy than Since You're Gone from Shake It Up and Double Life was mystery new wave good, despite the throwaway Ocasek goof leading into the title track. Side 2 had weaker songs but Dangerous Type was a better song to end the album than All Mixed Up. Your ears might differ with me on that. Side note: I brought this album along with Blue Oyster Cult's Mirrors at the old Target Store on 1st Avenue. Over the years I got both on CD but I tend to bring out Candy O to listen to more than Mirrors, which I tend to forget I still have on the shelf.
Grade B+
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