There seems to be some viewers coming in from the cold. So thought I pop in to let the world know the Crab Curator of Record World is still around.
The major story is the major winter storm that dumped a foot of snow, an all time record in November in the Quad Cities and Iowa City got 7 inches of the lovely white crap but up here in Cedar Rapids we missed out. Which doesn't break my heart. The car doesn't do well trying to get up an icy 2 inch snow cover that we had two weeks ago. We missed out but rest assured I saw the storm from afar as I made my way to Stone City to play in the Acoustic Showcase Sunday. Snowstorms do glow in the darkness. We were supposed to have 4 to 6 and a Winter Storm Warning was issued, but as Saturday Night progressed on and waking up to take pee breaks and looking outside, all I saw was brown grounds and howling winds. But no snow. Sunday Morning, the storm teased and threatened us but nothing came of it. But I was watching the Rochelle Train cam and watching that turned into the nightmarish scene from the Shining of blurry lights and a blinding snow with an occasional snow covered train coming in from time to time. In the meantime, Oskaloosa got 17 inches of snow and traffic stalled on the I-80, but up here, the winds howl and nothing came out of the skies. On Monday, The Quad Cities continue to dig themselves out of a foot of snow and traffic is still not recommended. But this does seem to signal that winter, it will be a lot more snowy and colder than previous. And, as most people know, I'm no fan of the snow or cold. But we did managed to miss this storm,
If Kane Brown was pop he'd be taken more seriously than his "country" album. I have no use for him, autotuned rap masquerading as country isn't for me but the folks at Saving Country Music wrote up the review. We'll take them at their word on this forgettable album that nobody will remember a year from now. As with new music anyway. https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-kane-browns-experiment/?fbclid=IwAR2BMTdvFiFSF8PVckKJK0QEB-SNiQre3SdRZnHzu_KJQ-MNgwGtpOD44J0
I'm surprised at the ratings jump for the month here since Record World is no longer an active blog, unless I find a bunch of 45s to write about. 12 years ago, Record World came into being after My Space decided to drop the blog and I toiled around in another obscure website before using Blogspot. So far the archives are full of forgotten songs, thoughts and sports related nonsense and some eye candy. And some of the old pictures have disappeared, never to be seen again. I try my best to keep things up for use and replace the old deleted pictures but nowadays it seems like a lost cause. Time flies and yes I spend too much time on the internet, 12 years gone just like that. I do have a special friend (not GF) that I get together every now and then and go watch a movie with or hang at the house. As they say, It's complicated. Like you and yours.
The big story and reissue is The Beatles White Album which has loads of outtakes but that has never been one of my favorite albums and most of the highlights were on Anthology anyway. I have gotten burned out of rebuying these albums back in the past. I did decide on the single CD of More Blood More Tracks, rather than buying the complete coffee table 6 CD box set of the Blood On The Tracks sessions. Probably would have been better had Columbia issued the first edition of BOTT but for a different view, the single CD More Blood will do. But it won't replace the original go to album.
Samantha Fish, the Kansas City dynamo guitar blues slinger has been signed to Rounder Records after many years on Ruf. Fish has managed to play in this neighborhood on a regular basis for close to 8 years now and continues to get better.
Paste Magazine has already put together a the best of 2018 albums and I don't have any of the top 50 albums at all. Kinda like that in 2017. I have no use for Father John Misty, he tends to be one of those overblown critics darlings and the last album I heard I didn't care much for. The only album I thought about was Ashley McBridye Girl Going Nowhere, and it's more country than Kasey Musgraves last album, which Kasey made her pop move. From what I heard on You Tube, Ashley's songs are more folk than country and make nice background music at coffee houses. A bit too mellow for my listening consumption.
RIP Steve Hillenburg https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/spongebob-squarepants-creator-dead-dies-stephen-hillenburg-1203037362/?fbclid=IwAR2gWdoOorvfqJzM9GLqCDUMKMXRlar6CWvK84JU3aX70tit1xQKB19HJkk
In decemeber I'll try to put together the best of 2018 in music and of course the famed Crabby Awards for best places but that list is also shorter than usual. Plus we await who will be the next Rock and Roll Hall Of Famers for next year, but the interest is waning on that too. But I am surprised at the surge of readership this month Even when this was dormant for a while.
Sit back, do nothing and watch the ratings rise. But we're back to only 40 or less views per day.
Back to normal again.
2018 Worst Country Singles: https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/saving-country-musics-worst-songs-of-2018/?fbclid=IwAR3xAWWmjURipJ4f_TNRglxh0VYmB94hjz1FqJrXiKAzbLMFVnbINzsIptM
Reissues:
10 Years After: A Space In Time, Going Home, Live At The Fillmore East (Chrysalis)
Remastered for the digipack era, A Space In Time Returns back in print and it still might be their best overall album, tho' time has treated Rock N Roll Music To The World better it seems but that record lacks I'd Love To Change The World. It's not the B minus album that Robert Christgau claimed it is (Not enough hip hop or African World Music to his liking) but it still remains a solid listening especially on the second side with I've Been There Too, or Once Upon A Time. In theory, Alvin Lee was never much of a lyricist and he does recycle the Good Morning Little Schoolgirl riff on Let The Sky Fall. His jams are hit and miss but One Of These Days is solid boogie and Baby Let Me Rock And Roll You is 2 minutes of boogie fun.
In 1978 London Records in the US, on their death bed issued Going Home, a very spotty best of, that is about as half assed as they come, taking three songs off Stonedhedge (at that time out of print in the us), the single edit of Love Like A Man and side two started with I Woke Up This Morning and a cut from Undead and then the crowd pleasing I'm Going Home from Woodstock, Lee's signature song. 10 Minutes of in your face boogie rock, then after the 2 minute mark extending the song to boring proportions. Better seen live when trying to hear it fifty years after the fact. I have good memories of Going Home, I bought it on a sky blue cassette,cheaply made that sounded like crap in the car, especially on cold winter days which was the winter of 78-79. Unless you're a completest, Going Home isn't essential and since Stonedhedge is still in print, redundant. However, this is the first time it has been issued on CD and under the Chrysalis banner to which most if not all 10 years after albums are now under.
Which leaves us to Live At The Fillmore East, which Capitol issued in 2002. Before that, we had Recorded Live, a bloated 1973 2 LP set that Columbia released and to these ears a better way to check out the Alvin Lee Guitar show, but that album is much more polished than the rough drafts of the 1970 set. Lee and company go through a 20 minute I Can't Keep From Cryin Sometimes and a 16 minute blistering Help Me, to which I'm Going Home in it's 11:57 glory seems to be a Ramones type run through. Make no mistake, Alvin Lee cooks on lead guitar but fifty years on, droning 10 plus minute guitar tend to lose favor and attention spans and on Ric Lee's 10 minute drum soloing on The Hobbit still remains boring as hell, a bathroom break for all of the other guys. Another complaint: Alvin can't remember the words to Sweet Little 16 to save his ass, it didn't help him on Watt (which might be the same version as the Fillmore). And if you make it past the other blotched Chuck Berry cover, you get a new run through on I Woke Up This Morning and the concluding Spoonful . In the long run, Recorded Live was the better and more tolerable effort. For excessive rock noodling Live At The Fillmore East is Lee's grand statement.
Grades:
A Space In Time: A-
Recorded Live B-
Going Home: Greatest Hits: C+
Live At The Fillmore East C+
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Black Friday Singles From Davenport and Elsewhere
I'm surprised I have 993 views on one day. So for that effort, I throw together yet another batch of singles found in various locations. Even the Marion store had some decent shape of 60 year old 45s.
Betcha they're pop singles.
1) Tiger Lilly-Rusty Draper (Mercury 70989) #88 1957
Mercury's answer to Guy Mitchell, tho' Mitchell was more convincing as a country star than pop. Tiger Lilly was arranged by Hugo Peretti (of the Hugo/Lugini production team). This song is aimed for the teen pop crowd, it did some airplay enough to hang on the billboard top 100. B side Confidential is a ballad of course. Draper would eventually go straight country and recorded some sides for Monument in the 60s. Fun fact: this 45 was sold from Ferris Records up in Austin Minnesota. It's like archaeological finds, seeing tags and price stickers from forgotten record stores.
2) Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes-Johnnie and Joe (RCA 47-5040) 1952
Country remake of the Perry Como super hit. Johnnie Wright would marry Kitty Wells and had a nice long life together. I tend to favor hillbilly music over poptopia stuff and Johnnie and Joe has a better version tho' not as memorable. For a 66 year old 45, this is better sounding than most 45s. Whoever had this one, took great care of it.
3) A Girl Like You-Larry Hall (Strand 25013) 1960
Hall was a one hit wonder with Sandy (#15 1959) but this followup didn't chart. Sounding somewhat like Frankie Avalon's Venus. B side Rosemary basically the same format and pop style. In fact, some radio stations went with Rosemary as the Plug side. Burt Bachurach co wrote A Girl Like You. I don't know, it's passable teen pop. For better or worse.
4) Sing Me Something Sentimental-Marty Robbins (Columbia 4-21145) 1953
It's hard to believe how far back Marty goes with his music. I remember him with El Paso, A White Sport Coat and Singing The Blues but in 53, he was honky tonk hillbilly. And I have found quite a few of his singles in thrift stores. To find them in excellent sounding shape is a different story. Hillbilly music in the early 50s didn't stand out all that much, mid tempo ballads moreorless. Tho' the record is slightly warped, it sounds like you're in the recording studio, it's that pristine. B side At The End Of A Long Lonely Day is hillbilly blues with a steel guitar. Both songs written by Marty
5) Mirage-Johnny Mathis (Mercury 72464) 1965
Johnny's Mercury years aren't documented all that much, Collector's Choice issued some of his albums on CD. Usually when I pick up his Mercury sides, it's curiosity. Quincy Jones co wrote this 2 minute ditty. Sounds a bit like Maria, with a bit of mysterious strings and melody. It might have been a bigger hit in 1959 rather than 1965 tho'. Mercury didn't promote this very well and one year later Mathis returned back to Columbia to where he still records to this day.
6) Teenage Sonata-Sam Cooke (RCA 47-7701) #50 1960
Sam Cooke could sing just about everything, sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes he had to sing what the label or Hugo & Luigi wanted him to play. Jeff Barry wrote this banal pop number and it isn't one of Sam's best songs. In fact it might one of the worst that he ever did. Glenn Osser, who also arranged Mirage from Johnny Mathis can be blamed for this sappy sound. B side If You Were The Only Girl is better suited for Frankie Avalon. Cooke would have much better songs later on.
7) Oh Carol-Neil Sedaka (RCA 47-7595) #8 1959
I'm not sure if my mom had this 45 in her collection or not, Neil had a bit more grit to his teen pop numbers more than Paul Anka. I think Anka had better songs at that time but Neil made better albums in the 70s, after all Neil had Elton John helping him out, Paul got lucky with You're Having My Baby and getting raked over the coals. Oh Carol was written about Carol King or so the story goes. B side One Way Ticket (to the blues) is a better song I think. A bit more catchy on the tunes.
8) Just As Long As You Love Me-Jim Edward & Maxine & Bonnie Brown (RCA 47-6631) 1956
Back to hillbilly country blues, Jim Ed and his sisters had some nice harmonies for their 50s recording for RCA. In my return to collecting forgotten 45s, I think I have found about 10 of their singles but never bought The Old Lamplighter or The Three Bells, I have those on the classic Town And Country album that came out on CD for a short time. Next to Don Gibson and Porter Wagoner The Browns are probably my favorite RCA recording acts of the 1950s. B side Don't Tell Me Your Troubles is not the same song as Don Gibson.
9) Ashes Of Love-Don Gibson (RCA 47-9460) 1968
Speaking of Don, he continued to record for RCA and still managed to get Chet Atkins to produce his music, and Don had free reign to find songs from Acuff-Rose to sing and Ashes Of Love is an old Johnnie And Jack song, b side Good Morning Dear did get some country airplay as well, it's a MOR ballad. Mickey Newbury wrote Good Morning Dear; he also wrote Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings as well. Both are not my favorites.
10) Norwegian Wood-Waylon Jennings (RCA 47-8822) 1966
Time To Bum Again was the A side but Waylon wanted to record the Beatles number. Can't say that I blame Waylon.
11) Darlin'-Tom Jones (Mercury 76100) 1981
A sizable country hit, I remember the days when I was roller skating on Wednesday nights at Super Skate they would play this song. Memories.
12) Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)-Melanie (Buddah BDA-167) #6 1970
Hippie singer songwriter....I found a dollar copy of her greatest hits and found most of her songs silly (Brand New Key anybody?) but I always loved Lay Down, thanks to the Edwin Hawkins Singers in the background.wailing away. Mott The Hoople did their own version of Lay Down.
13) Well Did Ya Evea?-Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra (Capitol F-3507) #92 1956
True Love-Bing Crosby with Grace Kelly #3
Grace had the bigger hit but Frank had the most fun on this double sided single written by Cole Porter. Never in my life I ever thought I would have this single in my collection. It brings out the hoarder in me.
14) My Maria-B W Stevenson (RCA APB0-0030) #6 1973
Later a number 1 country hit for Brooks and Dunn but this original gets my nod for better song.
15) You Need Love-Styx (Wooden Nickel PB-10272) #88 1975
Of course any followup to Lady, would be a bomb but You Need Love did score on the regional top 30 here. At times I prefer this to Lady since radio doesn't play it that much. Once Wooden Nickel closed their doors, Styx would find new life with A&M. For better or, namely worse.
So this ends the Black Friday finds. On Sunday, a big snowstorm would hit the Davenport area, getting one foot of snow for a record breaking snowfall in November. Surprisingly, my area didn't get snow but it's an early snow season and I'm sure there'll be many more chances of a white Christmas.
For now, the NO SNOW chant worked for me great this weekend.
Betcha they're pop singles.
1) Tiger Lilly-Rusty Draper (Mercury 70989) #88 1957
Mercury's answer to Guy Mitchell, tho' Mitchell was more convincing as a country star than pop. Tiger Lilly was arranged by Hugo Peretti (of the Hugo/Lugini production team). This song is aimed for the teen pop crowd, it did some airplay enough to hang on the billboard top 100. B side Confidential is a ballad of course. Draper would eventually go straight country and recorded some sides for Monument in the 60s. Fun fact: this 45 was sold from Ferris Records up in Austin Minnesota. It's like archaeological finds, seeing tags and price stickers from forgotten record stores.
2) Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes-Johnnie and Joe (RCA 47-5040) 1952
Country remake of the Perry Como super hit. Johnnie Wright would marry Kitty Wells and had a nice long life together. I tend to favor hillbilly music over poptopia stuff and Johnnie and Joe has a better version tho' not as memorable. For a 66 year old 45, this is better sounding than most 45s. Whoever had this one, took great care of it.
3) A Girl Like You-Larry Hall (Strand 25013) 1960
Hall was a one hit wonder with Sandy (#15 1959) but this followup didn't chart. Sounding somewhat like Frankie Avalon's Venus. B side Rosemary basically the same format and pop style. In fact, some radio stations went with Rosemary as the Plug side. Burt Bachurach co wrote A Girl Like You. I don't know, it's passable teen pop. For better or worse.
4) Sing Me Something Sentimental-Marty Robbins (Columbia 4-21145) 1953
It's hard to believe how far back Marty goes with his music. I remember him with El Paso, A White Sport Coat and Singing The Blues but in 53, he was honky tonk hillbilly. And I have found quite a few of his singles in thrift stores. To find them in excellent sounding shape is a different story. Hillbilly music in the early 50s didn't stand out all that much, mid tempo ballads moreorless. Tho' the record is slightly warped, it sounds like you're in the recording studio, it's that pristine. B side At The End Of A Long Lonely Day is hillbilly blues with a steel guitar. Both songs written by Marty
5) Mirage-Johnny Mathis (Mercury 72464) 1965
Johnny's Mercury years aren't documented all that much, Collector's Choice issued some of his albums on CD. Usually when I pick up his Mercury sides, it's curiosity. Quincy Jones co wrote this 2 minute ditty. Sounds a bit like Maria, with a bit of mysterious strings and melody. It might have been a bigger hit in 1959 rather than 1965 tho'. Mercury didn't promote this very well and one year later Mathis returned back to Columbia to where he still records to this day.
6) Teenage Sonata-Sam Cooke (RCA 47-7701) #50 1960
Sam Cooke could sing just about everything, sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes he had to sing what the label or Hugo & Luigi wanted him to play. Jeff Barry wrote this banal pop number and it isn't one of Sam's best songs. In fact it might one of the worst that he ever did. Glenn Osser, who also arranged Mirage from Johnny Mathis can be blamed for this sappy sound. B side If You Were The Only Girl is better suited for Frankie Avalon. Cooke would have much better songs later on.
7) Oh Carol-Neil Sedaka (RCA 47-7595) #8 1959
I'm not sure if my mom had this 45 in her collection or not, Neil had a bit more grit to his teen pop numbers more than Paul Anka. I think Anka had better songs at that time but Neil made better albums in the 70s, after all Neil had Elton John helping him out, Paul got lucky with You're Having My Baby and getting raked over the coals. Oh Carol was written about Carol King or so the story goes. B side One Way Ticket (to the blues) is a better song I think. A bit more catchy on the tunes.
8) Just As Long As You Love Me-Jim Edward & Maxine & Bonnie Brown (RCA 47-6631) 1956
Back to hillbilly country blues, Jim Ed and his sisters had some nice harmonies for their 50s recording for RCA. In my return to collecting forgotten 45s, I think I have found about 10 of their singles but never bought The Old Lamplighter or The Three Bells, I have those on the classic Town And Country album that came out on CD for a short time. Next to Don Gibson and Porter Wagoner The Browns are probably my favorite RCA recording acts of the 1950s. B side Don't Tell Me Your Troubles is not the same song as Don Gibson.
9) Ashes Of Love-Don Gibson (RCA 47-9460) 1968
Speaking of Don, he continued to record for RCA and still managed to get Chet Atkins to produce his music, and Don had free reign to find songs from Acuff-Rose to sing and Ashes Of Love is an old Johnnie And Jack song, b side Good Morning Dear did get some country airplay as well, it's a MOR ballad. Mickey Newbury wrote Good Morning Dear; he also wrote Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings as well. Both are not my favorites.
10) Norwegian Wood-Waylon Jennings (RCA 47-8822) 1966
Time To Bum Again was the A side but Waylon wanted to record the Beatles number. Can't say that I blame Waylon.
11) Darlin'-Tom Jones (Mercury 76100) 1981
A sizable country hit, I remember the days when I was roller skating on Wednesday nights at Super Skate they would play this song. Memories.
12) Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)-Melanie (Buddah BDA-167) #6 1970
Hippie singer songwriter....I found a dollar copy of her greatest hits and found most of her songs silly (Brand New Key anybody?) but I always loved Lay Down, thanks to the Edwin Hawkins Singers in the background.wailing away. Mott The Hoople did their own version of Lay Down.
13) Well Did Ya Evea?-Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra (Capitol F-3507) #92 1956
True Love-Bing Crosby with Grace Kelly #3
Grace had the bigger hit but Frank had the most fun on this double sided single written by Cole Porter. Never in my life I ever thought I would have this single in my collection. It brings out the hoarder in me.
14) My Maria-B W Stevenson (RCA APB0-0030) #6 1973
Later a number 1 country hit for Brooks and Dunn but this original gets my nod for better song.
15) You Need Love-Styx (Wooden Nickel PB-10272) #88 1975
Of course any followup to Lady, would be a bomb but You Need Love did score on the regional top 30 here. At times I prefer this to Lady since radio doesn't play it that much. Once Wooden Nickel closed their doors, Styx would find new life with A&M. For better or, namely worse.
So this ends the Black Friday finds. On Sunday, a big snowstorm would hit the Davenport area, getting one foot of snow for a record breaking snowfall in November. Surprisingly, my area didn't get snow but it's an early snow season and I'm sure there'll be many more chances of a white Christmas.
For now, the NO SNOW chant worked for me great this weekend.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Gobble Gobble Gobble, Turkey Shoot 2018
Yay, that time again.
That time to really hand out the Turkey Turds of the year and there's no shortage of them. Take a look at the blubbering idiot in the White House. The King Turkey of them all.
With that out of the way, I'm amazed of the dwindling of music, and good music mind you. it's too EZ to tell you of the usual suspects, which is, artists continuing to fuck us over with shitty digipacks, major labels bankrupt for ideas and not producing future rock and rollers continuing to mine the archives for 50th anniversary issues of albums. And basically I'm sure Beatles fans will fork over the big bucks for the Complete White Album Sessions or More Blood More Tracks that captures everything Bob Dylan did for the 1974 Blood On The Track album but Sony Music opted not to reissued the first edition of Blood On The Track before Bob decided to redo five songs up in Minneapolis. The single edition of More Blood, More Tracks was worth the 15 dollars that Co Op Moline had it. But I am not interested in buying overpriced coffee table albums just to play once and file away forever. Come 2019, I might decide to get married and need to do a rummage sale to clear space. Hopefully somebody will talk sense into my special somebody and convince her that being single and free is the way to go. You really don't want to spend the rest of your life 24/7 with a bargain hunting record hoarder.
In terms of theory, new music has been crappy and unremarkable. The guy at Co Op was raving about The Struts and calling them the next big rock band, but from I heard, they're second rate Buckcherry. The Greta Van Fleet album debut got lambasted and raked over the coals by Pitchfork and they might have been right. The band was a lie, they weren't influenced by Aerosmith as Rolling Stone claimed but by Led Zeppelin. They do have the sound down but the inspiration is not there. Anthem Of The Peaceful Army (Lava/Universal) starts out all wrong with Age Of Man and never quite recovers. There are some promising moments but hey, the lead singer is 22, the drummer and bass player are 19 and they'll have better days and albums ahead once they develop their own sound and leave the Zep behind. But then again they could morph into Kingdom Come as well. With that Anthem Of The Peaceful Army gets a gobble gobble gobble
Mark Knopfler. The voice and sound of Dire Straits has continued to slowly devolve into middle of the road laid back muzak and his latest Down The Road Whenever (Virgin/Blue Note) he continues to make songs that are mini stories, alas, the music is boring. He was never King Kickass with the Straits but at least they did have a uptempo to counter the slow and bore. The problem is the length of these songs, 13 totaling 71 minutes, and if you're a bigger fan you're free to try the deluxe digipack edition with 2 more songs that balloon up to 78 minutes. At least he doesn't go full Celtic and left the penny whistle at home. This record is better suited for late night listening as you dose off into sleep. I damn near dozed off going home trying to listen to this in the car stereo.
It's easy to slam to so called country rappers and artists but let's face it folks, old country isn't coming back. It has mutated into watered down southern rock and half baked rap and Kane Brown Experiment (RCA) shows Brown taking over for Florida Georgia Line as the new Hick Hop artist. I really don't know what brings these autotuned doughnut holes to think they're country. The video Weekend is dumb autotuned red neck fun at the Wally World. The rest of the album is that bad. Yes it sucks.
And Five Finger Death Punch, And Justice For None. No wonder people don't listen to new rock anymore.
And The Pistol Annies are back with a new album as well, the most anticipated turned out to be a depressing album Gospel Interstate (RCA). Times have changed, Two divorces, two kids and one the way and sad songs about breakups and cheating boyfriends and husbands. It seems to be more in tuned with Miranda Lambert's last album, which also disappointed me and finding a second cheap copy confirmed my initial feelings that a sad Miranda is less fun than a sassy Miranda being a Crazy Ex Girlfriend. I may take another listen to Gospel Interstate, but I don't think it's the A album that Robert Christgau gave it. Overgraded to say the very least.
So far the Turkey's of the year fall go to sports as well. The 2018 Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles who were tied for most 1 run or less games. One team lost a record 115 games, the other blew the division title and wild card game and had the second best NL record. It didn't help the Cubs signing Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, to which one had a bad shoulder and the other was too busy walking opposing batters. Darvish gets a pass for this season but next season fans will be screaming for his head if he doesn't earn that big contract that he got.
The College Football gobble gobble gobble goes to Iowa who, with a cupcake schedule couldn't beat a decent big ten team and watched Northwestern win the West title in Iowa City, to which fans had to see Pat Fitzgerald, so full of himself, rub the win in the Hawkeyes fans' faces. Iowa did come back to blow out Illinois 63-0 to which the Fighting Illini will show Lovie Smith out the door after this season. We'll see if Iowa can beat Nebraska to savage a season full of promises but once again thanks to Nathan Stanley's dumb fuck play calling and interceptions all Iowa can hope for is a pre Christmas bowl game, but Hawkeye fans have moved on to Basketball to which Iowa beat Oregon and U Conn and won the Big Apple tournament last week. (Iowa outlasted Nebraska 31-28 on a last second FG, but they did their damnest to give Nebraska the game, missing a FG and then opting to take a FG away by fucking up a fourth and goal on the 3 and Nebraska went 97 yards for a TD. Iowa has beaten the Mighty Corn 4 straight times, but I doubt there'll be a fifth).
This just in. Michigan gets Gobble Gobble Gobbled for the 13th time in 14 games as Ohio State lambasted them 62-39, the most points ever scored. And Michigan's defense was number 1. Not anymore. The love affair between Jim Harbaugh and the state of Michigan is now officially over. He has yet to beat them in four games. The hard core will screaming for his head now.
But the big Screw You Gobble Gobble Gobble goes to Best Buy for not selling CDs anymore and Wal Mart and Target continuing to shrink their inventory to plain Greatest Hits and Top five best sellers. In fact, Wally World has now one small aisle of the CD section. If you want the latest Bottlerockets or Rhett Miller, you're better off to go to a CD record store (Zia's Records, Mad City Music X, Moondog Music, Co Op Moline) and get it there instead of Best Buy. In fact, I haven't step foot in Best Buy since they quit selling CDs. I have better luck finding new releases at Books A Million than Target/Wally World. The Vinyl Revival is still going although people are beginning to tire of that and I've noticed more records coming into the used stores and Half Price Books. I think it's a crock of shit to buy a album for 25 or 30 dollars when 30 years ago you could get the same album as a nice price 5.99 special. Don't look for me to pony up big bucks for Record Store Day Specials this Black Friday. I wish I could have kept Devo Are We Not Men but paying 30 bucks for a RSD release, nah, I pass. Nor do I desire Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club on LP for 25 dollars. You can find the CD for 2 dollars or less without ease.
So now that we are all thoroughly depressed of the Turkey Turds of the Year, here' hoping that your Thanksgiving will be peaceful and you'll be spared of family feuds. Just put on Alice Restaurant Massacre by Arlo Guthrie and you'll feel better.
Gobble Gobble Gobble.
That time to really hand out the Turkey Turds of the year and there's no shortage of them. Take a look at the blubbering idiot in the White House. The King Turkey of them all.
With that out of the way, I'm amazed of the dwindling of music, and good music mind you. it's too EZ to tell you of the usual suspects, which is, artists continuing to fuck us over with shitty digipacks, major labels bankrupt for ideas and not producing future rock and rollers continuing to mine the archives for 50th anniversary issues of albums. And basically I'm sure Beatles fans will fork over the big bucks for the Complete White Album Sessions or More Blood More Tracks that captures everything Bob Dylan did for the 1974 Blood On The Track album but Sony Music opted not to reissued the first edition of Blood On The Track before Bob decided to redo five songs up in Minneapolis. The single edition of More Blood, More Tracks was worth the 15 dollars that Co Op Moline had it. But I am not interested in buying overpriced coffee table albums just to play once and file away forever. Come 2019, I might decide to get married and need to do a rummage sale to clear space. Hopefully somebody will talk sense into my special somebody and convince her that being single and free is the way to go. You really don't want to spend the rest of your life 24/7 with a bargain hunting record hoarder.
In terms of theory, new music has been crappy and unremarkable. The guy at Co Op was raving about The Struts and calling them the next big rock band, but from I heard, they're second rate Buckcherry. The Greta Van Fleet album debut got lambasted and raked over the coals by Pitchfork and they might have been right. The band was a lie, they weren't influenced by Aerosmith as Rolling Stone claimed but by Led Zeppelin. They do have the sound down but the inspiration is not there. Anthem Of The Peaceful Army (Lava/Universal) starts out all wrong with Age Of Man and never quite recovers. There are some promising moments but hey, the lead singer is 22, the drummer and bass player are 19 and they'll have better days and albums ahead once they develop their own sound and leave the Zep behind. But then again they could morph into Kingdom Come as well. With that Anthem Of The Peaceful Army gets a gobble gobble gobble
Mark Knopfler. The voice and sound of Dire Straits has continued to slowly devolve into middle of the road laid back muzak and his latest Down The Road Whenever (Virgin/Blue Note) he continues to make songs that are mini stories, alas, the music is boring. He was never King Kickass with the Straits but at least they did have a uptempo to counter the slow and bore. The problem is the length of these songs, 13 totaling 71 minutes, and if you're a bigger fan you're free to try the deluxe digipack edition with 2 more songs that balloon up to 78 minutes. At least he doesn't go full Celtic and left the penny whistle at home. This record is better suited for late night listening as you dose off into sleep. I damn near dozed off going home trying to listen to this in the car stereo.
It's easy to slam to so called country rappers and artists but let's face it folks, old country isn't coming back. It has mutated into watered down southern rock and half baked rap and Kane Brown Experiment (RCA) shows Brown taking over for Florida Georgia Line as the new Hick Hop artist. I really don't know what brings these autotuned doughnut holes to think they're country. The video Weekend is dumb autotuned red neck fun at the Wally World. The rest of the album is that bad. Yes it sucks.
And Five Finger Death Punch, And Justice For None. No wonder people don't listen to new rock anymore.
And The Pistol Annies are back with a new album as well, the most anticipated turned out to be a depressing album Gospel Interstate (RCA). Times have changed, Two divorces, two kids and one the way and sad songs about breakups and cheating boyfriends and husbands. It seems to be more in tuned with Miranda Lambert's last album, which also disappointed me and finding a second cheap copy confirmed my initial feelings that a sad Miranda is less fun than a sassy Miranda being a Crazy Ex Girlfriend. I may take another listen to Gospel Interstate, but I don't think it's the A album that Robert Christgau gave it. Overgraded to say the very least.
So far the Turkey's of the year fall go to sports as well. The 2018 Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles who were tied for most 1 run or less games. One team lost a record 115 games, the other blew the division title and wild card game and had the second best NL record. It didn't help the Cubs signing Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, to which one had a bad shoulder and the other was too busy walking opposing batters. Darvish gets a pass for this season but next season fans will be screaming for his head if he doesn't earn that big contract that he got.
The College Football gobble gobble gobble goes to Iowa who, with a cupcake schedule couldn't beat a decent big ten team and watched Northwestern win the West title in Iowa City, to which fans had to see Pat Fitzgerald, so full of himself, rub the win in the Hawkeyes fans' faces. Iowa did come back to blow out Illinois 63-0 to which the Fighting Illini will show Lovie Smith out the door after this season. We'll see if Iowa can beat Nebraska to savage a season full of promises but once again thanks to Nathan Stanley's dumb fuck play calling and interceptions all Iowa can hope for is a pre Christmas bowl game, but Hawkeye fans have moved on to Basketball to which Iowa beat Oregon and U Conn and won the Big Apple tournament last week. (Iowa outlasted Nebraska 31-28 on a last second FG, but they did their damnest to give Nebraska the game, missing a FG and then opting to take a FG away by fucking up a fourth and goal on the 3 and Nebraska went 97 yards for a TD. Iowa has beaten the Mighty Corn 4 straight times, but I doubt there'll be a fifth).
This just in. Michigan gets Gobble Gobble Gobbled for the 13th time in 14 games as Ohio State lambasted them 62-39, the most points ever scored. And Michigan's defense was number 1. Not anymore. The love affair between Jim Harbaugh and the state of Michigan is now officially over. He has yet to beat them in four games. The hard core will screaming for his head now.
But the big Screw You Gobble Gobble Gobble goes to Best Buy for not selling CDs anymore and Wal Mart and Target continuing to shrink their inventory to plain Greatest Hits and Top five best sellers. In fact, Wally World has now one small aisle of the CD section. If you want the latest Bottlerockets or Rhett Miller, you're better off to go to a CD record store (Zia's Records, Mad City Music X, Moondog Music, Co Op Moline) and get it there instead of Best Buy. In fact, I haven't step foot in Best Buy since they quit selling CDs. I have better luck finding new releases at Books A Million than Target/Wally World. The Vinyl Revival is still going although people are beginning to tire of that and I've noticed more records coming into the used stores and Half Price Books. I think it's a crock of shit to buy a album for 25 or 30 dollars when 30 years ago you could get the same album as a nice price 5.99 special. Don't look for me to pony up big bucks for Record Store Day Specials this Black Friday. I wish I could have kept Devo Are We Not Men but paying 30 bucks for a RSD release, nah, I pass. Nor do I desire Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club on LP for 25 dollars. You can find the CD for 2 dollars or less without ease.
So now that we are all thoroughly depressed of the Turkey Turds of the Year, here' hoping that your Thanksgiving will be peaceful and you'll be spared of family feuds. Just put on Alice Restaurant Massacre by Arlo Guthrie and you'll feel better.
Gobble Gobble Gobble.
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Singles Going Steady-Dubuque St. Vincent De Paul Pop Singles Of The 50s
For a quarter I didn't expect much but they were such in good shape.
Nobody played them.
1) Wimoweh-Wilder Brothers (Wing 90046) 1955
The basics of this song would become The Lion Sleeps Tonight and it's basically a big band stomp. Corny as it gets, but puts a smile on my face when I hear it. B Side Love That Melody is more cornball based on Here Comes The Bride. Smarter teens went for the R and B and Elvis, and to a lesser extent, The Crew Cuts.
2) Baby Girl Of Mine-Bobby Sharp (Wing 90056) 1956
Best known as a songwriter (he wrote Unchain My Heart, a big hit for Ray Charles and later Joe Cocker) Sharp did a one off single for Mercury's second tier label Wing, Somewhat of a country number with harmonica too. Other side Flowers, Mr. Florist Please might have been pitched to a Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra,it has that Pop sound among the doo wop backing vocalist.
3) The Jogger-Bobby Bare (Columbia 38-03809) 1983
Bare continued to record Shel Silverstein's songs late into the 1980s and scored a minor country hit with this song, which sounds like The Winner Part 25 of something like that. B side The Gravy Train is passable Silverstein fun.
4) Smiles-Crazy Otto (Decca 9-92403) 1955
Fritz Schulz-Reichel was his real name and he was a German jazz pianist, who had a knack of playing the melody with his left hand and the rhythm with his right. Johnny Maddox had a hit of doing Reichel's Crazy Otto songs with the Crazy Otto Melody. Fritz's songs were recorded via Deusche Grammophon in Germany and on the fledgling Polydor later on, but Decca picked up his recordings in the 1950s. Smiles is ragtime jazz as well as Glad Doll Rag, which does owe a bit to Kansas City Jazz, via Germany. Reichel passed away in 1990.
5) Tropical-Stanley Black (London 45-1720) 1956
Another jazz pianist, this time from the UK, Black recorded many recordings for Decca/Phase 4 in his career and is probably the most heard of piano player on the muzak side of things. Tropical is a Mort Gould composition. B side is the piano work Begin the Beguine, the Cole Porter standard. Not rock and roll but it's fun if you take it in its muzak context.
6) You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do) Buddy Greco (Coral 9-60979) 1953
Cheesy lounge pop complete with female backing vocals (The Heathertones) Greco enjoyed a Vegas' style career of cheesy lounge pop songs. B side I Predict is more boring cheese pop crapola. Big Joe Turner had a much more swinging version of You're Driving Me Crazy from his classic album The Boss Of The Blues. Start there to hear this song.
7) I'm Dancing With Tears In My Eyes-Ralph Flanagan (RCA Victor 47-4078) 1951
X did a cover version of this song, which in no way is similar to this big band version. Dancing On The Ceiling is the stuff of Guy Lombardo legends made of.
8) Rap Your Troubles In Drums-George Shearing Quintet (MGM-K-11600) 1953
Bossa Nova with Bongos as drum solo by Cal Tjeder. More jazz slanted than the big band stuff of this blog. Probably was the inspiration for Bongo Rock by Preston Epps a few years later. B side Easy To Love is muzak jazz. George Shearing always seemed to be more in line with easy listening jazz anyway.
9) Drive In-Nelson Riddle (Capitol F2648) 1954
A missing entry in 45 Cat, the guess is this song was heard at drive in's at intermission time. Somehow the melody was incorporated in the American Bandstand theme. B side You Won't Forget Me is background noise for a movie soundtrack.
10) Dragnet-Ray Anthony (Capitol F2562) 1954
A big band remake of the theme of a certain detective show that I used to watch growing up and have most of those shows. Anthony would score a hit with Peter Gunn. It's debatable who had the better version,him or Henry Mancini but I tend to have lots of fun when I play Dragnet or Peter Gunn. Worthless trivia: I had one of those EP 45's, where they cram 3 songs on one side. The Waldorf 45 was red vinyl and that version of Dragnet done by Enoch Light, who would be one of more better known muzak arrangers, with plenty of his albums that still can be found in the dollar bins at your local junk store or St Vincent De Paul.
With that, these record finds were the best of the batch, but not rock n roll, not by a long shot. I doubt that we won't get much of a following from those who want to seek these records out. Except for a couple of these, most of these records will be returned to the St Vincent De Paul as soon as I make another donation.
Nobody played them.
1) Wimoweh-Wilder Brothers (Wing 90046) 1955
The basics of this song would become The Lion Sleeps Tonight and it's basically a big band stomp. Corny as it gets, but puts a smile on my face when I hear it. B Side Love That Melody is more cornball based on Here Comes The Bride. Smarter teens went for the R and B and Elvis, and to a lesser extent, The Crew Cuts.
2) Baby Girl Of Mine-Bobby Sharp (Wing 90056) 1956
Best known as a songwriter (he wrote Unchain My Heart, a big hit for Ray Charles and later Joe Cocker) Sharp did a one off single for Mercury's second tier label Wing, Somewhat of a country number with harmonica too. Other side Flowers, Mr. Florist Please might have been pitched to a Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra,it has that Pop sound among the doo wop backing vocalist.
3) The Jogger-Bobby Bare (Columbia 38-03809) 1983
Bare continued to record Shel Silverstein's songs late into the 1980s and scored a minor country hit with this song, which sounds like The Winner Part 25 of something like that. B side The Gravy Train is passable Silverstein fun.
4) Smiles-Crazy Otto (Decca 9-92403) 1955
Fritz Schulz-Reichel was his real name and he was a German jazz pianist, who had a knack of playing the melody with his left hand and the rhythm with his right. Johnny Maddox had a hit of doing Reichel's Crazy Otto songs with the Crazy Otto Melody. Fritz's songs were recorded via Deusche Grammophon in Germany and on the fledgling Polydor later on, but Decca picked up his recordings in the 1950s. Smiles is ragtime jazz as well as Glad Doll Rag, which does owe a bit to Kansas City Jazz, via Germany. Reichel passed away in 1990.
5) Tropical-Stanley Black (London 45-1720) 1956
Another jazz pianist, this time from the UK, Black recorded many recordings for Decca/Phase 4 in his career and is probably the most heard of piano player on the muzak side of things. Tropical is a Mort Gould composition. B side is the piano work Begin the Beguine, the Cole Porter standard. Not rock and roll but it's fun if you take it in its muzak context.
6) You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do) Buddy Greco (Coral 9-60979) 1953
Cheesy lounge pop complete with female backing vocals (The Heathertones) Greco enjoyed a Vegas' style career of cheesy lounge pop songs. B side I Predict is more boring cheese pop crapola. Big Joe Turner had a much more swinging version of You're Driving Me Crazy from his classic album The Boss Of The Blues. Start there to hear this song.
7) I'm Dancing With Tears In My Eyes-Ralph Flanagan (RCA Victor 47-4078) 1951
X did a cover version of this song, which in no way is similar to this big band version. Dancing On The Ceiling is the stuff of Guy Lombardo legends made of.
8) Rap Your Troubles In Drums-George Shearing Quintet (MGM-K-11600) 1953
Bossa Nova with Bongos as drum solo by Cal Tjeder. More jazz slanted than the big band stuff of this blog. Probably was the inspiration for Bongo Rock by Preston Epps a few years later. B side Easy To Love is muzak jazz. George Shearing always seemed to be more in line with easy listening jazz anyway.
9) Drive In-Nelson Riddle (Capitol F2648) 1954
A missing entry in 45 Cat, the guess is this song was heard at drive in's at intermission time. Somehow the melody was incorporated in the American Bandstand theme. B side You Won't Forget Me is background noise for a movie soundtrack.
10) Dragnet-Ray Anthony (Capitol F2562) 1954
A big band remake of the theme of a certain detective show that I used to watch growing up and have most of those shows. Anthony would score a hit with Peter Gunn. It's debatable who had the better version,him or Henry Mancini but I tend to have lots of fun when I play Dragnet or Peter Gunn. Worthless trivia: I had one of those EP 45's, where they cram 3 songs on one side. The Waldorf 45 was red vinyl and that version of Dragnet done by Enoch Light, who would be one of more better known muzak arrangers, with plenty of his albums that still can be found in the dollar bins at your local junk store or St Vincent De Paul.
With that, these record finds were the best of the batch, but not rock n roll, not by a long shot. I doubt that we won't get much of a following from those who want to seek these records out. Except for a couple of these, most of these records will be returned to the St Vincent De Paul as soon as I make another donation.
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