Della Reese, former jazz singer and later actress to Touched By An Angel passed away from Diabetes complications. She was 83.
Wayne Cochran, powerful singer that played in Otis Redding band way back in the 50s and hanged with James Brown, then gave rock and roll up for the power of Jesus passed away from Cancer Tuesday. He was 78.
For the past week there were rumors abound that David Cassidy passed away. That became a reality on Tuesday, where the former heartthrob and teen idol died of liver failure at age 67. Cassidy will forever be known as Keith Partridge of the Partridge Family fame, to which it used to be a TV series way back in the 1970s. The Partridge Family had a number 1 hit with I Think I Love You, to which it was David singing lead and Shirley Jones adding backing vocals. David had his own covers of such wonderful songs such as Cherish, How Can I Be Sure and a couple others. The Partridge Family might have been slighter than The Cowsills but they did have some pleasant fodder such as Friend And A Lover but by 1973, they were history and David trying to be taken more seriously went to RCA for a couple of failed albums. Along the way he got too much into drinking and drugs which destroyed his liver and internal organs which cause his downfall. He was popular on the oldies scene and did have an interesting album out in 1992, Didn't You Used To Be David Cassidy that came out on Scotti Brothers but nobody bought it. With the death of David, it serves a notice that everybody dies in this life and who will be next is anybody's guess. Sure hope it ain't you or me. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/obituaries/david-cassidy-dead.html
And then on Thanksgiving Morning Tommy Keene passed away in his sleep. He was 59. Tommy was world renowned for some of the best power pop albums of the past 3 decades starting with Places That Are Gone but has recorded with the likes of Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices, Matthew Sweet and the Gin Blossoms. Plus he had a love for Lou Reed and The Who, what more could you ask for? https://www.nbcwashington.com/entertainment/the-scene/DC-Power-Pop-Rocker-Tommy-Keene-Dies-at-59-459629203.html
And then there was the American Music Awards to which Bruno Mars took home 7 of those awards including Artist Of The Year. Keith Urban also did fine as well winning three country awards. Imagine Dragons won best rock group (???) Linkin Park best Alt rock group, Little Big Town best country group and the female country artist was Carrie Underwood, beating out Miranda Lambert in a rare occasion. Diana Ross got lifetime achievement. Basically that's all you need to know about the AMA's
Which leads into our next story. The yearly turkey awards for crappy albums. At this point in my life, I have refrained from reviewing a lot of new records that would have included the likes of Old Dominion, Florida Georgia Line, Five Finger Death Punch, rap acts, rock radio, top forty radio etc. But in reality their music does not relate to me and basically it's pointless to talk about pointless music from the likes of OD, Beyonce, Kane Brown and so forth. It'd be easy to throw Taylor Swift into this, she's the IT star and her new album is a big event. She might go through boyfriends like I go through CDs but deep inside she's a sweet girl.
So let's go with the real Gobble Gobble Gobbles and go with Radio being the biggest turkey with their limited playlist of different music styles. Top Forty is all autotuned EDP Hip Rap Pop crap and if there's anything rock and roll on top forty I wouldn't know it. The new Country is not Country but autotuned 2nd grade bullshit lyrics that Farce The Music does a better job slamming into the ground. Classic rock radio is just as like a Chinese water torture test no matter how much you love Led Zeppelin or Paranoid album Black Sabbath and the Back In Black AC DC. It's hard to tell what song will make me leave the area, Sweet Chile O Mine or Take On Me or Broken Wings. All of the above.
The other, the oblong packaging of CDs into overlong mini album facsimiles that are skinnier and longer than the average jewel case, which Neil Young might think it's funny to have Peace Trail and Earth stick out in your collection but I have to store them face up since they don't fit in my cd collection. The new Ride and Robert Plant also suffers from this oblong digital packing snafu as well. Say what you want about the jewel case but at least you can store them without the hassles of the digi pack.
Of course I have my share of bargain bin CDs that turned out to be turkeys of their own. Richard Dyer-Bennett's album might be one example, but his Irish ballads might strike a better chord with more objective ears. Prick was one album I couldn't even finish through the first song before chucking it into the Goodwill donation bin. Mandala 1968 album for Atlantic and issued through Wounded Bird can be included. It's second tier soul music from Canada. But all these album were from the two dollar bin so, it was a buyer beware and not a stone cold gobble gobble gobble.
The biggest Gobble Gobble Gobble might be the Iowa Hawkeyes Football Team. Who played their bowl game by running Ohio State out of Iowa City and then pat themselves on the back while Northwestern, Wisconsin and Purdue had their way with them. Stick a fork in their ass. they're done.
Singles Going Steady Medley: Gobble Gobble Gobble Waterloo Turkeys
They really were.
1) Somewhere Down The Road-Donna Loren (Warner Bros 7-29326) 1984
The Dr Pepper girl of the 1960s, Loren was mostly into what I call MOR type of music. Her best known years was with Challenge Records, but also recorded for Capitol, and a brief spell for Reprise. And then this one off in 1984 for Warner Brothers. Too bland for me to get through. Fun fact: She was married to Lenny Waronker for about 18 years then they divorced. She later married Jarad Cregman of the Fantastic Baggies group and they are still together after all these years.
2) Bumpty Bump-David Carroll (Mercury 70444) 1954
Carroll was the turn of the pop (not rock) era arranger for such rock and rollers like the Crew Cuts and he's had a few singles that did chart. This really creeps into Lawrence Welk territory. Champagne music as they call it. It's all over and done with in under two minutes. This might have been used a couple times in the Flintstones TV show. But I'm not about to find out if that's true or not.
3) 3 Chord Country Song-Red Stegall (Elektra E-46590) #31 Country 1980
He wrote Here We Go Again, which was a hit for Ray Charles and had a number 11 hit with Lone Star Beer And Bob Wills Music for ABC Dot in 1975 but Red was more western than country. I never heard this song on the radio but somebody at a jam mentioned this song. Probably the best find out of all these songs I that found. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0tR32qgdFI
4) Hands Across The Sea-Modern English (Sire/4AD 7-29339) #91 1984
It's weird how classic rock radio has embraced I Melt With You despite it's poor number 78 showing on the charts in 1983 and the follow up Hands Across The Sea which a video is still up for viewing on You Tube, ran out of gas at number 91. Yeah, I recall seeing this video on MTV and thought it was quite corny, like most modern rock videos of that time. Didn't care much for the album After The Roses, they sounded like a more stuffy Depache Mode or a less inspired Mighty Lemon Drops. At that time 4AD was a British label that Sire picked up for distribution, and then Warner Communications helped along the way to the point that After The Roses was reissued with a few more tracks. Which didn't help the album all that much. Six years later a re recorded I Melt With You sputtered to number 76. And we still prefer the original version.
5) All The Lonely Women Of The World-Bill Anderson (Decca 32930) 1972 #5 Country
I think Bill had some fine songs of the 1970s and this was a favorite of mine off the jukebox. I think the copy spent a few too many months in the St Vincent De Paul 45 bins. I like the B side It Was Time For Me To Move On Anyway a bit more. It could have been a country hit.
6) Clair De Lune (Part 1)-Mantovani (London 40304) 1950
And this is where the road ends on our short medley of oddball finds. It is rumored that Brian May was influenced by the sounds of Mantovani and his light musical arrangements and while anybody under 50 would want to listen to a Mantovani song, he at one point bigger than the Beatles, but then again that was in the early 50s and then he was replaced by Slim Whitman as the UK favorite at that time. For a 1950 cover of a Debussy number, I'm amazed on how quiet this recording was being made. It's made in two parts since it was almost four minutes in length and back then 45s could only be recorded up to 3 minutes. Sounds a bit of a lullaby, somewhat like a crescendo of a gentle rolling of the tide by the sea. His big hit was the Moulin Rouge Theme (#8 1953). He recorded up to 1975 and he passed away in 1980 but there is no shortage of Mantovani albums out there in thrift stores across the country and CDs as well. After all, the guy invented Muzak.
Record Reviews:
Bob Seger-I Knew You When (Capitol 2017)
It didn't occur to me till I looked up and seen that his Face The Promise album came out in 2006, 11 years ago. I really thought it was a lot sooner but time flies anymore. The power of being on the internet and seeing the years fly away. Nevertheless, Glenn Frey gets plenty of love, in fact I can think about three other songs that could be some sort of dedication to the late great Eagle. Outside of that, Seger hasn't rocked this hard since God knows when (Seven maybe?) but I do noticed that a lot of the tracks featured Richie Hayward (unless it's a new person, the Richie that I knew died a few years ago after being the drummer for Little Feat) Alto Reed, Craig Frost and Mark Chatfield, those three who were part of the Silver Bullet Band for many years are on this. And the guesswork is that these tracks were laying in the can to be used when the time is right. I tend to like Bob when he's rocking and rolling hard although my opinion isn't universally agreed upon. With Fraud 45 in the White House, Seger throws a few barbs at the Orange Donald with a version of Busload Of Faith (written by Lou Reed) and Leonard Cohen's Democracy. I like the opening Gracie and the Lou Reed cover and The Highway, and unlike Ride Out, it's not overproduced although the loud booming drums does tend to drown out the songs. And even if Runaway Train was done years ago, it does rock pretty good and makes its presence felt. There's a couple of misguided efforts, one of them is one of the three bonus tracks (Forward Into The Past) but Glen's Song is a nice way to end the whole album. Bob's best since Against The Wind.
Grade A-
Rod Stewart-Still The Same-Great Rock Classics Of Our Time (J 2006)
I passed on his Great American Song Book Series, not that they were laughable. They weren't. I was not interested in them, but I did hold judgement upon if I saw Still The Same as a reasonably priced CD, i.e. thrift store copy and there was a dollar copy during Goodwill's dollar days. For one thing, he meant business when he picked up Kenny Aronoff on drums. Even if John Shanks produced this (the hack behind Bon Jovi's 2000s albums) I was willing to overlook on the autotuned vocal and polished recording. Only I'll Stand By You didn't impressed me but I found myself singing along to Everything I Own, and If Not For You, which is more Olivia Newton John than Bob Dylan. And I always like ONJ's version better. If nothing else, Still The Same might be just like that local band down at the dive pub playing these songs, in fact, a local band Jiffy Pop actually did It's A Heartache. I never doubted Rod could not do rock covers, he's done that before on his classic Mercury albums, at his age, he tends to go more towards the mellower songs, the Bread, Eagles, Seger etc. We really don't need another Day After Day but if anybody's entitled to that, Stewart is the guy that can do it. Nice touch: he dedicated this album to Long John Baldry after Baldry passed away in 2006. Rod produced the best moments off his album It Ain't Easy.
Grade B+
Queensryche Greatest Hits (Virgin 2000)
They started out as hard core Judas Priest knockoffs and Geoff Tate's over the top vocals which could clear out a room and then started moving through prog rock, adding Pink Floyd and Rush to the mix. At the same time Tate's was beginning to be less interested of hitting those operatic vocals. I recall in 2001, while dating a oddball woman that was a big fan of theirs how she liked the first half of this album while I enjoyed the latter half more so on. You can't get more extreme on the vocal range as Tate did on Take Hold Of The Flame or The Lady Wore Black Nevertheless Queensryche was the longest lasting band on EMI American (outside of Lonesome George Thorogood) and corporate downsizing had them on Virgin for this Greatest Hits overview. Their downward spirial or in my case, moving on to a more accessible sound, they really did get better with each album, to which Operation Mindcrime or Empire were their classic moments, Silent Lucidity perhaps the best Pink Floyd knockoff coming from a band from Seattle. By then when Promised Land came out, they were a shadow of the over the top screamfest of the early albums, either Tate couldn't sing the high notes or didn't want to. They were late to the gunge movement and getting the Alice In Chains producer to mud up Hear In The Now Frontier didn't help much, nor losing Chris DeGarmo soon afterward. To which Geoff Tate started to take over the authoritarian de facto leader of the band to which a band revolt would remove him from the band and Todd La Torre would return the sound of early Ryche' to critical acclaim on the albums on Century Media. I still think they progressed mightly on in the 1990s with Empire through Promised Land and even Hear In The Now Frontier and their only Atlantic album Q2K showed that they could rock with the best intentions and pull off prog rock moves as well. For a Greatest Hits mix Cd, it does reveal Queensryche highlights (good and bad) and best songs. But for the first songs before Operation Mindcrime, it's better for me to listen to them at the end of the day rather than first thing in the morning. They rock better.
Grade A-
Amazing Journey The Story Of The Who (Geffen 2008)
A best of that I got simply of the DVD of the same name. Anything with the original Who will always be of interest for me. But in typical Universal fashion the major hits are there and a couple of off the wall things (Sea And Sand, Amazing Journey/Sparks, Song Is Over) But it is pointless as they come. Won't Get Fooled Again comes from one of John Entwistle's final shows and has Zak Starkey pounding on the drums, Zak probably the best of the replacement Who drummers since he was taught by the legendary Keith Moon. This version would probably make Looney Moony smile. I can tolerate Real Good Looking Boy and Eminence Front is the only song from the Kenny Jones era. Tea And Theater puts me to sleep. In this day and era, everytime we get a Who Best of, they tend to disappoint me, including that big box set Universal put out, overpriced and still missing key tracks in favor of the pointless EP The Who did 10 years ago. The Who still remains my favorite band of the classic rock era, but Amazing Journey the album, isn't so amazing. Unless you find this used for a dollar somewhere. In other words a subpar Mix tape masquerading as a best of.
Grade B-
Never buy a Lenovo computer. They suck. Lost another add on to this blog due to FU frowny face.
Maybe next time.
