This may have been the most times I have blogged, basically out of boredom, but to be honest it's been another month of no bargain hunting whatsoever. Stores are closed and I'm not about to drive to Nebraska.
This state was never under the Stay At Home order, but schools were not testing and therefore, except for going out to the nature center or get groceries I stayed home and watched plenty of old reruns, John Wayne westerns and other assorted crap. I started work on the new Townedgers album and ended up get back spasms and had to put that on hold. I am now back living the single life once again. Like I really had much of a love life, she decided to stay home and lock the whole world behind. It's been too much of a non issue, but she has had a lot going on the past six months, but I do think she made it known in March that she needed a change in her life.. I think she'll be fine whatever she plans to do. And find the right guy the next time except for Mr. Wrong here.
This month's ratings will be over 2,000 views, and that hasn't changed all that much. I find it odd that the most viewed is Fun With Scratchy Records which overtook the My City Was Gone blog this month. Unless people are interested in cracked copies of The Train or She Ain't A Yacht, I failed to see what was the attraction. Bob Welch got some love (4 views today) which was one less than the Gin Blossoms Tribute Blog, which was extracted from the Consortium with some updates. For search keywords, 154 come from Site.Blogspot.Spingville Red Devils, to which is not related to the Springville Orioles site, which is closer. This is Iowa we talk about, not Utah. How that got to be number one all time is a mystery. Not that a Utah high school would base trust in a music page with a emphasis on the local scene.
For May, the music scene remains quarantined, tho Kegger Kim Reynolds has declared that 77 Iowa counties can reopen their businesses on May 1st, with exceptions. Basically here, we're doomed to take out and curbside till at least May 15th. The guess is that June we'll see things open up, but in the age of the Corona V 19 hysteria, not too many are willing to go that route that soon. Any bargain hunts that I might partake in, the earliest would be mid June. Madison got knocked off in Mid March and the earliest would be around the time of the 2020 World Naked Bike Ride, now canceled into 2021.
Since Half Price Books went curbside, I haven't bought anything there and the last Goodwill finds I'm finally getting around to play the 50 Number 1 Hits from George Strait and to be honest, I tend to think he's a bit too much into balladry than uptempo country numbers. There are new albums I need to get, Brandy Clark, Wishbone Ash and Deep Purple come to mind.
For jams, I don't foresee anything sooner than mid June. I'll keep busy with my recording and researching forgotten bands and if I feel up to it, post a blog about that. This site still brings in a few curious people. If there's blogs that need updating, I'll do my best. But my level of interest here is more off than on. The top ten of the week was fun for about 8 years and then the novelty wore off. So I moved on to Singles Going Steady. 64 episodes later, that's still going on. My City Was Gone, the original blog still does better than expected but recent updates haven't got looked upon. Marion IA is changing and not for the better, but if there's interest, I'll might add a couple more in the future.
In short Record World still lives on, tho in limited fashion. I'm sure I'll be back to continue this monstrosity. Stay safe and wash your hands.
5 Star Mud Football Games- 1960 Denver Broncos
Houston 20 Denver 10 (at Houston) 11/20/60
New York Titans 30 Denver 27 (Denver) 12-4-60
The Broncos is forever linked to their gaudy brown and tan uniforms that made them look like mutant wasps. The vertical stripes on their socks made them laughing stocks in the AFL Their owner, so damn cheap, ordered the ushers to go in the stands to retrieve the football after extra points. However, the Broncos were 4-2 and playing decent football till they went 0-8-1, a tie with the Buffalo Bills. Jeppersen Stadium in Houston had to be the worst place to play football, especially during monsoon storms and no drainage, which gave us some fine five star mud baths and perhaps making those Bronco Wasp Unis more tolerable to look at. Jacky Lee, threw for three touchdowns and Bill Groham scored on two bombs in the process.
And Denver's last home game, a snowstorm and a quick melt turned Bears Stadium into a mud pool, kinda like the 1969 season but that year the snowstorm and melt was week four when Kansas City came into town and sloshed their way to a blowout victory. The New York Titans were also a joke team, with bad uniforms and a owner way above his head. Art Powell (no relation to the Oakland Raiders receiver with the same name) scored three times from passes from Al Darrow Lionel Taylor had two TD passes caught from Frank Tripucka, who threw for three TD passes but threw four interceptions including a pick six from Nick Mumley, which turned out to be the deciding score. Fact: Hardy Brown played middle line backer the first year. While pictures are nonexistent, you can find the highlights of the 1960 year on You Tube.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Singles Going Steady 64-Survivors Of The Growing Up Years
Since the record and thrift stores are shut down due to the pandemic known as Corvid19 I have managed to revisit the record collection that I have accumulated over the years. There has no been no shortage of music and I have been discovering some of the oldest 45s still in my collection.
It basically started back in 63 when my mother took me up to Woolworth's in Lincoln to see what they had for cheap music. At that time they went 6 for a dollar. I can't recall what the hell I went to the bathroom for but I can remember the songs and 45s of long ago. Starting with Gonna Send You Back To Walker by The Animals, a song that was so great, I played it once and then broke the damn thing. It took me about 30 years onward to find a playable copy. Another was Carol by Tommy Roe and that too got broke but I would eventually get a replacement copy years later.
To be honest, I have been lucky to find replacement copies in the 55 years of record collecting. Had I known how hard it would find some of the titles, I would have taken better care of my 45s. I have yet to find Let's Go Get Stoned/Ray Charles on a decent 45, but missing 45s did come across my path from time to time during visits at Goodwill, Moondog Music and Mad City Music X in Mad City. It wasn't till around 1973 that I finally decided to keep the record sleeve on the 45s that I got.
Records can take a beating but there have been some that have been sleeveless for many years and have a lot of scruffs and fingerprints. If they're cracked, or if they have a creator scratch, or worse a vertical scratch, then any sort of buffing or cleaning won't help the cause. Back then, people played records and they played the crap out of them. In the ole days, we have a big box of records that we threw in without any regard. At my Grandma's house in Lincoln Ill, she had a big batch of old records from the 50s and early 60s. That box became my focus of recreating my own collection of those fabled singles and going after better copies. It's not out of the question to find Elvis Presley's RCA singles, in fact they have been easier to find, especially finding an original RCA of Blue Moon, and then finding the Gold Standard one later on. The kindness of strangers donating their unwanted music has helped my cause, and tho I'm not sure if I'll have the same luck after the Corona Pandemic ends; it will be a brave new world hitting the St Vincent De Paul, if it's still there in Madison.
After all these years, I am still surprised that I do have some of the 45s from 50 plus years ago. These 10 selections have been part of my journey. For better or worse, they have survived being Frisbee around the house with me and my brother, stepped on, played at 78 or 33 RPM (sometimes 16). But for the most part, these are the ones that still play fairly good.
1) I've Been Around-Fats Domino (Imperial X5629) 1959
Be My Guest was the hit single but I loved the B side and the cascading piano from Fats. This record is part of the original Lincoln singles that Grandma finally let us have the rest after Aunt Sarge picked her faves. I have yet to find a decent more playable copy, Be My Guest has some awful scratches on it, however, I cleaned the record grooves on I've Been Around and it plays fairly well. Outside of that, much of the rest of the Lincoln singles have fallen into poor shape. There may be about 10 other 45s I still have (Tallahassee Lassie, Sweet Little Sixteen, The Enchanted Sea) but if I played those, I would need a needle replacement.
2) Desert March-Jorgen Ingman (Atco 45-6305) 1964
This record might have come from a Lincoln liquor store around 64. I recall the batch of 45s that Mom bought was Halleujah Time (Oscar Peterson Trio), I Who Have Nothing (Ben E King) or That Lucky Old Sun from Ray Charles, but this record is the longest surviving in my collection. I have managed to find other singles from Ingmann but not this song. It's in rough shape but does play. This record is also the connection from being part of the formative years and going from Lincoln to the present. Jorgen was part of the Metorion gang (Bent Fabric) that Atco licensed back then.
3) I Know Why-The Spectors Three (3) Trey T-103) 1959
The other side I Really Do was the plug, but I liked I Know Why better. Lee Hazelwood with Lester Sill teamed up with Phil Spector on this number, hard to find and I haven't seen it on any Phil Spector compilation. The Spectors Three was Phil's next project after the Teddy Bears went their separate ways and would issue another single. This copy from a Box set of 10 45s that mom got at some department store in Waterloo and there was plenty of great songs (Let The Water Run Down, Ben E King, Piano Nellie-Bobby Brant, to which, got cracked, however I did find a reissue of that song and the Ben E King's song too later on, so all is good) I'm guessing the year was 1965.
4) Hey Joe-Jimi Hendrix Exp. (Reprise 0572) 1967
Nevada Iowa, Ben Franklin store. They had a bunch of singles for 9 cents a piece and this one had the picture sleeve that I wished that I could have kept. Other 9 cent singles I found was 10-2 Double Plus from Jackie and Tut, Strange Brew by Cream, On Broadway by King Curtis and Katherine by Ben E King, seems to me that anything Ben E King released I bought. This is where I discovered Jimi Hendrix and I liked 51st Anniversary better, I played that one all the time. However with name association, I would continue to seek out Jimi's singles when I saw them. Usually at Arlan's in Fort Dodge.
5) Yesterday-Ray Charles (ABC 11009) 1967
Webster City at Woolworths. Ray Charles was always a trusted artist and I bought and wore out many copies of his earlier stuff, Cincinnati Kid, The Train, That Lucky Old Sun, You Are My Sunshine, Smack Dab In The Middle. Most were found in the three for a dollar bin at Woolworths, the Hastings of the 1960s. But looking at the grooves and seeing how well it plays, I don't think I was that impressed with this version. B side Never Had Enough Of Nothing Yet was much better I think. Somehow, I put this record in my dad's collection of 45s but he was not a Ray Charles fan and while thumbing through the ones I could salvage with, I managed to retrieve this one and put a record sleeve on it and filed it away. The records does play in VG sound despite 50 years without a sleeve.
6) Hurdy Gurdy Man-Donovan (Epic 5-10345) 1969
Another Webster City/Woolworth's record. I ended up getting a few singles from him (Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Jennifer Jupiter) but finding this in the 3 for a dollar bin was like striking gold. This does have a original Epic sleeve but to be honest, this record was sleeveless for a while. The hardest rocking song Donovan ever has done but I'm sure Jimmy Page and John Bonham had something to do with that as well.
7) Right Now-Herbie Mann (Atlantic Jazz 45-5023) #111 1962
Webster City but this time, some hardware store has this for like 50 cents. I think I also bought Johnny Bond's Sadie Was A Lady. Never heard Right Now but since it had a cool blue and silver label, I figure it would rock. Outside of Halleujah Time from Oscar Peterson, my introduction to jazz. It charted at #111 on the bubbling over side. Like most jazz singles, it was a edited version. Still sounds great to me.
8) Soapstone Mountain-It's A Beautiful Day (Columbia 4-45152) 1970
A promo copy that was found at a Waterloo Goodwill for a quarter I think. We used to lived in Waterloo and most of the time, mom bought a lot of scratchy 45s there. In 1965 they were sold for five cents and I used to peal the damn price tag off the label only to have it take half the label off. My introduction to IABD was the Different Strokes sampler that sold for a dollar at Kresge. I have seen a stock copy of this song. Would have been neat to have a stock copy, simply of the B side Good Lovin'.
9) People Got To Be Free-The Rascals (Atlantic 45-2537) 1968
Woolworth's Lincoln. This record beat the odds and in it's yucky shape does play fairly well. Alas, another Woolworth's buy It's Only Love (Tommy James/Shondells) didn't play well either. Some of these records had a yucky film on it, Somebody must have spilled Pepsi on it.
10) Move Over-Steppenwolf (Dunhill/ABC D=4305) 1969
Webster City, tho I think I bought this at the drug store and not Woolworth's. At that time I had plenty of Steppenwolf records, Doors Records etc etc but most didn't survive. One of my all time fave Steppenwolf songs. Fits perfectly in these days and times.
These records are the ones that did survive the first fifty years of my life (expect Soapstone Mountain). I had a trio of Ricky Nelson singles but the worse looking one was the one that played the best, It's Late. Poor Little Fool is from the original Lincoln box but the grooves got mircowaved it seemed and Hello Mary Lou had scratches that wouldn't buff off. The Jive Samba fry Cannonball Adderley has a crack in it. Paint It Black From Jalopy Five was borderline but in the end, I decided it was decent enough to put a sleeve on it. The rejected records were put back in the tins in the closet and probably won't be bothered to play them again.
It basically started back in 63 when my mother took me up to Woolworth's in Lincoln to see what they had for cheap music. At that time they went 6 for a dollar. I can't recall what the hell I went to the bathroom for but I can remember the songs and 45s of long ago. Starting with Gonna Send You Back To Walker by The Animals, a song that was so great, I played it once and then broke the damn thing. It took me about 30 years onward to find a playable copy. Another was Carol by Tommy Roe and that too got broke but I would eventually get a replacement copy years later.
To be honest, I have been lucky to find replacement copies in the 55 years of record collecting. Had I known how hard it would find some of the titles, I would have taken better care of my 45s. I have yet to find Let's Go Get Stoned/Ray Charles on a decent 45, but missing 45s did come across my path from time to time during visits at Goodwill, Moondog Music and Mad City Music X in Mad City. It wasn't till around 1973 that I finally decided to keep the record sleeve on the 45s that I got.
Records can take a beating but there have been some that have been sleeveless for many years and have a lot of scruffs and fingerprints. If they're cracked, or if they have a creator scratch, or worse a vertical scratch, then any sort of buffing or cleaning won't help the cause. Back then, people played records and they played the crap out of them. In the ole days, we have a big box of records that we threw in without any regard. At my Grandma's house in Lincoln Ill, she had a big batch of old records from the 50s and early 60s. That box became my focus of recreating my own collection of those fabled singles and going after better copies. It's not out of the question to find Elvis Presley's RCA singles, in fact they have been easier to find, especially finding an original RCA of Blue Moon, and then finding the Gold Standard one later on. The kindness of strangers donating their unwanted music has helped my cause, and tho I'm not sure if I'll have the same luck after the Corona Pandemic ends; it will be a brave new world hitting the St Vincent De Paul, if it's still there in Madison.
After all these years, I am still surprised that I do have some of the 45s from 50 plus years ago. These 10 selections have been part of my journey. For better or worse, they have survived being Frisbee around the house with me and my brother, stepped on, played at 78 or 33 RPM (sometimes 16). But for the most part, these are the ones that still play fairly good.
1) I've Been Around-Fats Domino (Imperial X5629) 1959
Be My Guest was the hit single but I loved the B side and the cascading piano from Fats. This record is part of the original Lincoln singles that Grandma finally let us have the rest after Aunt Sarge picked her faves. I have yet to find a decent more playable copy, Be My Guest has some awful scratches on it, however, I cleaned the record grooves on I've Been Around and it plays fairly well. Outside of that, much of the rest of the Lincoln singles have fallen into poor shape. There may be about 10 other 45s I still have (Tallahassee Lassie, Sweet Little Sixteen, The Enchanted Sea) but if I played those, I would need a needle replacement.
2) Desert March-Jorgen Ingman (Atco 45-6305) 1964
This record might have come from a Lincoln liquor store around 64. I recall the batch of 45s that Mom bought was Halleujah Time (Oscar Peterson Trio), I Who Have Nothing (Ben E King) or That Lucky Old Sun from Ray Charles, but this record is the longest surviving in my collection. I have managed to find other singles from Ingmann but not this song. It's in rough shape but does play. This record is also the connection from being part of the formative years and going from Lincoln to the present. Jorgen was part of the Metorion gang (Bent Fabric) that Atco licensed back then.
3) I Know Why-The Spectors Three (3) Trey T-103) 1959
The other side I Really Do was the plug, but I liked I Know Why better. Lee Hazelwood with Lester Sill teamed up with Phil Spector on this number, hard to find and I haven't seen it on any Phil Spector compilation. The Spectors Three was Phil's next project after the Teddy Bears went their separate ways and would issue another single. This copy from a Box set of 10 45s that mom got at some department store in Waterloo and there was plenty of great songs (Let The Water Run Down, Ben E King, Piano Nellie-Bobby Brant, to which, got cracked, however I did find a reissue of that song and the Ben E King's song too later on, so all is good) I'm guessing the year was 1965.
4) Hey Joe-Jimi Hendrix Exp. (Reprise 0572) 1967
Nevada Iowa, Ben Franklin store. They had a bunch of singles for 9 cents a piece and this one had the picture sleeve that I wished that I could have kept. Other 9 cent singles I found was 10-2 Double Plus from Jackie and Tut, Strange Brew by Cream, On Broadway by King Curtis and Katherine by Ben E King, seems to me that anything Ben E King released I bought. This is where I discovered Jimi Hendrix and I liked 51st Anniversary better, I played that one all the time. However with name association, I would continue to seek out Jimi's singles when I saw them. Usually at Arlan's in Fort Dodge.
5) Yesterday-Ray Charles (ABC 11009) 1967
Webster City at Woolworths. Ray Charles was always a trusted artist and I bought and wore out many copies of his earlier stuff, Cincinnati Kid, The Train, That Lucky Old Sun, You Are My Sunshine, Smack Dab In The Middle. Most were found in the three for a dollar bin at Woolworths, the Hastings of the 1960s. But looking at the grooves and seeing how well it plays, I don't think I was that impressed with this version. B side Never Had Enough Of Nothing Yet was much better I think. Somehow, I put this record in my dad's collection of 45s but he was not a Ray Charles fan and while thumbing through the ones I could salvage with, I managed to retrieve this one and put a record sleeve on it and filed it away. The records does play in VG sound despite 50 years without a sleeve.
6) Hurdy Gurdy Man-Donovan (Epic 5-10345) 1969
Another Webster City/Woolworth's record. I ended up getting a few singles from him (Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Jennifer Jupiter) but finding this in the 3 for a dollar bin was like striking gold. This does have a original Epic sleeve but to be honest, this record was sleeveless for a while. The hardest rocking song Donovan ever has done but I'm sure Jimmy Page and John Bonham had something to do with that as well.
7) Right Now-Herbie Mann (Atlantic Jazz 45-5023) #111 1962
Webster City but this time, some hardware store has this for like 50 cents. I think I also bought Johnny Bond's Sadie Was A Lady. Never heard Right Now but since it had a cool blue and silver label, I figure it would rock. Outside of Halleujah Time from Oscar Peterson, my introduction to jazz. It charted at #111 on the bubbling over side. Like most jazz singles, it was a edited version. Still sounds great to me.
8) Soapstone Mountain-It's A Beautiful Day (Columbia 4-45152) 1970
A promo copy that was found at a Waterloo Goodwill for a quarter I think. We used to lived in Waterloo and most of the time, mom bought a lot of scratchy 45s there. In 1965 they were sold for five cents and I used to peal the damn price tag off the label only to have it take half the label off. My introduction to IABD was the Different Strokes sampler that sold for a dollar at Kresge. I have seen a stock copy of this song. Would have been neat to have a stock copy, simply of the B side Good Lovin'.
9) People Got To Be Free-The Rascals (Atlantic 45-2537) 1968
Woolworth's Lincoln. This record beat the odds and in it's yucky shape does play fairly well. Alas, another Woolworth's buy It's Only Love (Tommy James/Shondells) didn't play well either. Some of these records had a yucky film on it, Somebody must have spilled Pepsi on it.
10) Move Over-Steppenwolf (Dunhill/ABC D=4305) 1969
Webster City, tho I think I bought this at the drug store and not Woolworth's. At that time I had plenty of Steppenwolf records, Doors Records etc etc but most didn't survive. One of my all time fave Steppenwolf songs. Fits perfectly in these days and times.
These records are the ones that did survive the first fifty years of my life (expect Soapstone Mountain). I had a trio of Ricky Nelson singles but the worse looking one was the one that played the best, It's Late. Poor Little Fool is from the original Lincoln box but the grooves got mircowaved it seemed and Hello Mary Lou had scratches that wouldn't buff off. The Jive Samba fry Cannonball Adderley has a crack in it. Paint It Black From Jalopy Five was borderline but in the end, I decided it was decent enough to put a sleeve on it. The rejected records were put back in the tins in the closet and probably won't be bothered to play them again.
Monday, April 20, 2020
Our favorite bands: The Gin Blossoms
Out of all of the bands that were buzzbin worthy of the 1990s, I followed the Gin Blossoms more than the others simply of the fact that they came from my old stompin ground of Tempe Arizona and I came across them by accident of being the last second replacement of the beloved Sand Rubies/Sidewinders at Chuy's. So seating in front of them with some super fans and part of the opening act band Echo House I got to see and hear the majority of the Gin Blossoms songs to which their A and M debut was slated to be released later that summer of 1992.
They had a connection with the Sidewinders by releasing their debut on the San Jacinto Label which was owned by Rich Hopkins of that band. The GBs had a great songwriter with another Hopkins, the late genius Doug whose fondness for the outrageous and booze led to his parting of the GBs. The first album Dusted is in that Arizona pop rock that the Sidewinders was famous for and a lot of the songs off that album got remade for New Miserable Experience. Dusted was out of print and highly sought after till the GB's reissued it for a brief time on their Gin Blossom label.
If you want to know about 90s power pop from Arizona, New Miserable Experience remains one of the best albums of the 1990s with songs such as Hey Jealousy, Mrs. Rita, Untill I Fall Away, Found Out About You and Alison Road. It was that rare album that the label picked no fewer than five songs for singles and all got airplay bigtime in 1992-1993. But also the GBs also had minor hits with a nice cover of Soul Deep and another concert favorite Idiot Summer. New Miserable Expierence can be found in the dollar bins but I still think it remains their most perfect album and A and M expanded it with a bonus cd of choice live cuts and a couple from Dusted and other tracks that didn't make it on the album. Critics didn't care much for it, in fact old crank Robert Christgau gave NME a C plus and dismissed it but I believe that record went above him. In the classic rock of the 90s, Mrs Rita or Hey Jealousey is playing somewhere.
But what was supposed to be their shining moment, they never quite recaptured the pop magic of that album after Doug Hopkins departed (Hopkins later formed The Chimeras and wrote songs that would be become Mistaken For Granted before committing suicide). True they continue to have radio hits with Follow You Down and the Marshall Crenshaw cowrite Till I Hear It From You but Congratulations I'm Sorry, while good wasn't great. While A&M backed them wholeheartedly, there are actually more best of Gin Blossoms then there are actual albums. Outside Looking In, pretty much cherry picks the best of both albums and that got replaced by the 20th Century Masters Series.
The Gin Blossoms broke up, Robin Wilson formed the more darker rocking Gas Giants and did a decent album and then did a cartoon recording with famed cult guitarist Tommy Keene. Jesse Valenzula made two decent albums as a soloist and with The Odd's Craig Northney. And then in 2006 The GB's reformed and made Major Lodge Victory on Hybrid, this time with help from Danny Wilde. But Hybrid went bellyup but the Gin Blossoms continue to tour and have a new album coming out on SLG's 429 Records in September.
But I still continue to have good memories of this Tempe band that continues to play up here in Iowa in the summertime. Saw them during the Flood Festival of 1993 and they will be playing at the Bar B Q festival on June 25, 2010. And they still remain one of the best live acts to see, even 18 years after encountering them at Chuy's. And still despite so so recordings remains one of my favorites acts to come out of the 1990s.
"Hello, we are the Gin Blossoms from Tempe Arizona, ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and we all out of bubble gum............................."
Update 2020: The Gin Blossoms are still around and in 2018 dropped off Mixed Reality, yet another good effort with long time collaborator Danny Wilde helping out on words and music and having Don Dixon and Mitch Easter (REM, Smithereens) producing. But the record is hard to find. The lineup of Robin Wilson, Jesse Valenzula Bill Leen and Scott Johnson has been intact since Doug Hopkins was replaced tho they have changed drummers every so often. Scott Hessel has been providing the beats since 2012. New Miserable Exp will forever remain their classic moment. For thirty years, they only had six proper albums and a buttload of best ofs The Sony live album I'm guessing is a truncated version of the Cleopatra live album, The 20th Century Masters and Icon are basically the same except ICON deletes one song.
The In Bloom live album is a bootleg copy but the soundboard recording is quite fine and not as messed up as the official Cleopatra live album. In Bloom comes from two 1993 shows and we get two live versions of Mrs. Rita, Just South Of Nowhere and Cheatin' Some of the live recordings from In Bloom did make it on the expanded edition of New Miserable Exp, an album that defined the power pop 90s era. While Jesse, Bill and Robin did write songs on that album, it is the Doug Hopkins songs that make the album what it is and a shame that Hopkins couldn't control his demons that would eventually take his life with a gun in 1993 and his ashes scattered off the old Ash Ave Bridge in downtown Tempe. He did get a gold record for Hey Jealousy to which he eventually would destroy in a rage. However that song remains in the Gin Blossoms staple as well as other Hopkins originals such as Found Out About You and Lost Horizons. Hopkins is still fondly remembered, but the Gin Blossoms continue on with Scott Johnson picking up where Doug left off. The Gin Blossoms have worked with a few notable artists, namely Marshall Crenshaw on the number 1 hit Till I Hear It From You (and in the process changed Marshall's music into something the GB's were doing) and the late great Tommy Keene to which they borrowed Keene's drummer for one album. But in the demise of MTV, the Gin Blossoms were one of the last bands to benefit for music videos but they have been one of the most dedicated live bands out there. Next to Los Lobos, all the guys are approachable and very friendly to talk to after a gig. They really did made a great impression on me when they were started out in 1992 at the local bar in Tempe.
The albums:
Dusted (San Jacinto/Gin Blossoms Records 1989) A-
New Miserable Expierence (A&M 1992) A-
Up And Crumblin' (A&M EP) B+
In Bloom (KTS 1996) B+
Congratulations I'm Sorry (A&M 1996) C+
Outside Looking In-The Best Of (A&M 1999) B+
Major Lodge Victory (Hybrid 2006) B
In Concert (Cleopatra 2009) B
New Miserable Experience Expanded Edition (A&M 2009) A-
No Chocolate Cake (629/Savoy 2010) B
Playlist; Gin Blossoms Live (Sony 2016) NR
Mixed Reality (Cleopatra 2018) B
They had a connection with the Sidewinders by releasing their debut on the San Jacinto Label which was owned by Rich Hopkins of that band. The GBs had a great songwriter with another Hopkins, the late genius Doug whose fondness for the outrageous and booze led to his parting of the GBs. The first album Dusted is in that Arizona pop rock that the Sidewinders was famous for and a lot of the songs off that album got remade for New Miserable Experience. Dusted was out of print and highly sought after till the GB's reissued it for a brief time on their Gin Blossom label.
If you want to know about 90s power pop from Arizona, New Miserable Experience remains one of the best albums of the 1990s with songs such as Hey Jealousy, Mrs. Rita, Untill I Fall Away, Found Out About You and Alison Road. It was that rare album that the label picked no fewer than five songs for singles and all got airplay bigtime in 1992-1993. But also the GBs also had minor hits with a nice cover of Soul Deep and another concert favorite Idiot Summer. New Miserable Expierence can be found in the dollar bins but I still think it remains their most perfect album and A and M expanded it with a bonus cd of choice live cuts and a couple from Dusted and other tracks that didn't make it on the album. Critics didn't care much for it, in fact old crank Robert Christgau gave NME a C plus and dismissed it but I believe that record went above him. In the classic rock of the 90s, Mrs Rita or Hey Jealousey is playing somewhere.
But what was supposed to be their shining moment, they never quite recaptured the pop magic of that album after Doug Hopkins departed (Hopkins later formed The Chimeras and wrote songs that would be become Mistaken For Granted before committing suicide). True they continue to have radio hits with Follow You Down and the Marshall Crenshaw cowrite Till I Hear It From You but Congratulations I'm Sorry, while good wasn't great. While A&M backed them wholeheartedly, there are actually more best of Gin Blossoms then there are actual albums. Outside Looking In, pretty much cherry picks the best of both albums and that got replaced by the 20th Century Masters Series.
The Gin Blossoms broke up, Robin Wilson formed the more darker rocking Gas Giants and did a decent album and then did a cartoon recording with famed cult guitarist Tommy Keene. Jesse Valenzula made two decent albums as a soloist and with The Odd's Craig Northney. And then in 2006 The GB's reformed and made Major Lodge Victory on Hybrid, this time with help from Danny Wilde. But Hybrid went bellyup but the Gin Blossoms continue to tour and have a new album coming out on SLG's 429 Records in September.
But I still continue to have good memories of this Tempe band that continues to play up here in Iowa in the summertime. Saw them during the Flood Festival of 1993 and they will be playing at the Bar B Q festival on June 25, 2010. And they still remain one of the best live acts to see, even 18 years after encountering them at Chuy's. And still despite so so recordings remains one of my favorites acts to come out of the 1990s.
"Hello, we are the Gin Blossoms from Tempe Arizona, ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and we all out of bubble gum............................."
Update 2020: The Gin Blossoms are still around and in 2018 dropped off Mixed Reality, yet another good effort with long time collaborator Danny Wilde helping out on words and music and having Don Dixon and Mitch Easter (REM, Smithereens) producing. But the record is hard to find. The lineup of Robin Wilson, Jesse Valenzula Bill Leen and Scott Johnson has been intact since Doug Hopkins was replaced tho they have changed drummers every so often. Scott Hessel has been providing the beats since 2012. New Miserable Exp will forever remain their classic moment. For thirty years, they only had six proper albums and a buttload of best ofs The Sony live album I'm guessing is a truncated version of the Cleopatra live album, The 20th Century Masters and Icon are basically the same except ICON deletes one song.
The In Bloom live album is a bootleg copy but the soundboard recording is quite fine and not as messed up as the official Cleopatra live album. In Bloom comes from two 1993 shows and we get two live versions of Mrs. Rita, Just South Of Nowhere and Cheatin' Some of the live recordings from In Bloom did make it on the expanded edition of New Miserable Exp, an album that defined the power pop 90s era. While Jesse, Bill and Robin did write songs on that album, it is the Doug Hopkins songs that make the album what it is and a shame that Hopkins couldn't control his demons that would eventually take his life with a gun in 1993 and his ashes scattered off the old Ash Ave Bridge in downtown Tempe. He did get a gold record for Hey Jealousy to which he eventually would destroy in a rage. However that song remains in the Gin Blossoms staple as well as other Hopkins originals such as Found Out About You and Lost Horizons. Hopkins is still fondly remembered, but the Gin Blossoms continue on with Scott Johnson picking up where Doug left off. The Gin Blossoms have worked with a few notable artists, namely Marshall Crenshaw on the number 1 hit Till I Hear It From You (and in the process changed Marshall's music into something the GB's were doing) and the late great Tommy Keene to which they borrowed Keene's drummer for one album. But in the demise of MTV, the Gin Blossoms were one of the last bands to benefit for music videos but they have been one of the most dedicated live bands out there. Next to Los Lobos, all the guys are approachable and very friendly to talk to after a gig. They really did made a great impression on me when they were started out in 1992 at the local bar in Tempe.
The albums:
Dusted (San Jacinto/Gin Blossoms Records 1989) A-
New Miserable Expierence (A&M 1992) A-
Up And Crumblin' (A&M EP) B+
In Bloom (KTS 1996) B+
Congratulations I'm Sorry (A&M 1996) C+
Outside Looking In-The Best Of (A&M 1999) B+
Major Lodge Victory (Hybrid 2006) B
In Concert (Cleopatra 2009) B
New Miserable Experience Expanded Edition (A&M 2009) A-
No Chocolate Cake (629/Savoy 2010) B
Playlist; Gin Blossoms Live (Sony 2016) NR
Mixed Reality (Cleopatra 2018) B
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Corona Virus Updates
We are six weeks into a self quarantine and seeing all the record and book stores closed up due to stay at home orders. That hasn't stopped me from going to work but being furloughed off for the next two months I might be able to take inventory of what I have for music.
The Corona Virus has taken some notables. Matt Seligman (Soft Boys, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby) died friday aged 64. Adam Schlenger (Fountains Of Wayne, That Thing You Do) 52, John Prine 73, Joe Diffie 61 all passed from this. Even at home, Egads lead singer Belinda James and Karl Hudson both have tested positive of this dreaded virus. With April, we had no jams or gigs to speak of and May doesn't look promising. Baseball season has been delayed. And schools have suspended the school year as well.
There's no vaccine out there to rid of this super virus and I'm sure people are working on something. The hope is that it can be available and not to the ones that are paying top dollar to acquire and suck the living expenses out of the working class. Meanwhile the 1 percent get richer and richer and cares less. I haven't said much about the WH occupant and will not, basically my feelings for him have been documented over the past 12 years in various blogs. Mitch McConnell came to me in a dream dressed up in a jesters outfit and since that dream that has been the perfect image of him. Forever a joke and bought and paid for by Big Oil, Pharma, lobbyists and so on. The Iowa Governor Kegger Kim Reynolds is another fuck up. Indifferent and stay at home voters kept her in. This year Iowa will have a chance to rid Pig Nuts Phony Joni Ernst. If they keep that cunt in, then I have no sympathy for this state any more. I've witness the degrading of each election years and despite my best efforts, they have fallen short. Beginning back in 2008 I pointed out the dangers of the WH occupant but still the cancer grew and 8 years and 46 percent of the stay at home non voters and electorial college, he got in and every day has been a deeper decline into the swamp mess that he vowed to drain. Only problem was he kept the corrupted in.
So, this is a very important election year but as a friend musician pointed out, it means nothing since both parties are controlled by the same folk that likes to divide and conquer. It might be too late since my votes didn't count in the past four elections. But I'll be dammed if I'm going to vote for a failed reality TV legend in his own mind and a Goddamned Pig Neutered cunt maverick. And as for that 1200 check , I still yet to get it. And not holding my breath in the process.
Now that we got the political bullshit out of the way, life here in Record World land has gone on without my involvement. The usual best blogs continue to make the stats and I've managed to add a few side comments as updates. It's too much work to really go dig deep and comment on everything and take out expired photos that I originally copied and pasted, only to watch them fade into nothing when the original source gets deleted. Plus the usual keyboard mistakes that didn't get caught the first time and me having to proof read and take out the misspelled words or incomplete sentences. When I did the top ten of the week, it was a labor of love but it took about four hours to write it up and add the pictures. Adding eye candy didn't help much I don't think.
If there's a market for it, I could open up the Record Consortium which has been sleeping since 2016. But usually the anthology of bands have been over here, since the main net traffic stops at Record World and not so much on the Consortium. But who knows, the Forgotten Bands and Artists have done better than most and even the Swinging Steaks managed to give a shout out to this off the wall blog and provided a link for a couple years. God bless em.
With that, I wish you all well, stay safe, wash your hands and kill your television.
The Corona Virus has taken some notables. Matt Seligman (Soft Boys, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby) died friday aged 64. Adam Schlenger (Fountains Of Wayne, That Thing You Do) 52, John Prine 73, Joe Diffie 61 all passed from this. Even at home, Egads lead singer Belinda James and Karl Hudson both have tested positive of this dreaded virus. With April, we had no jams or gigs to speak of and May doesn't look promising. Baseball season has been delayed. And schools have suspended the school year as well.
There's no vaccine out there to rid of this super virus and I'm sure people are working on something. The hope is that it can be available and not to the ones that are paying top dollar to acquire and suck the living expenses out of the working class. Meanwhile the 1 percent get richer and richer and cares less. I haven't said much about the WH occupant and will not, basically my feelings for him have been documented over the past 12 years in various blogs. Mitch McConnell came to me in a dream dressed up in a jesters outfit and since that dream that has been the perfect image of him. Forever a joke and bought and paid for by Big Oil, Pharma, lobbyists and so on. The Iowa Governor Kegger Kim Reynolds is another fuck up. Indifferent and stay at home voters kept her in. This year Iowa will have a chance to rid Pig Nuts Phony Joni Ernst. If they keep that cunt in, then I have no sympathy for this state any more. I've witness the degrading of each election years and despite my best efforts, they have fallen short. Beginning back in 2008 I pointed out the dangers of the WH occupant but still the cancer grew and 8 years and 46 percent of the stay at home non voters and electorial college, he got in and every day has been a deeper decline into the swamp mess that he vowed to drain. Only problem was he kept the corrupted in.
So, this is a very important election year but as a friend musician pointed out, it means nothing since both parties are controlled by the same folk that likes to divide and conquer. It might be too late since my votes didn't count in the past four elections. But I'll be dammed if I'm going to vote for a failed reality TV legend in his own mind and a Goddamned Pig Neutered cunt maverick. And as for that 1200 check , I still yet to get it. And not holding my breath in the process.
Now that we got the political bullshit out of the way, life here in Record World land has gone on without my involvement. The usual best blogs continue to make the stats and I've managed to add a few side comments as updates. It's too much work to really go dig deep and comment on everything and take out expired photos that I originally copied and pasted, only to watch them fade into nothing when the original source gets deleted. Plus the usual keyboard mistakes that didn't get caught the first time and me having to proof read and take out the misspelled words or incomplete sentences. When I did the top ten of the week, it was a labor of love but it took about four hours to write it up and add the pictures. Adding eye candy didn't help much I don't think.
If there's a market for it, I could open up the Record Consortium which has been sleeping since 2016. But usually the anthology of bands have been over here, since the main net traffic stops at Record World and not so much on the Consortium. But who knows, the Forgotten Bands and Artists have done better than most and even the Swinging Steaks managed to give a shout out to this off the wall blog and provided a link for a couple years. God bless em.
With that, I wish you all well, stay safe, wash your hands and kill your television.
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