The Madison Bargain Hunts-Between The Revolution And The Riots

Emily Hamer took the photos in this blog.

I guess the monsoon at five thirty foretold a things ready to unravel as I rode out the storm having supper at Cracker Barrel and debating just to go home after a whirlwind bargain hunt, that started with sunshine but once the rains flooded the area, it was just time to go home and be glad that I did.  I usually end my trip with a walk around Lake Monona up to State Street, but as I got off a side street to go back to the Lake Monona Terrace, there was a white car blocking traffic and a few police cars. While waiting for the dumbass in front of me to either turn or go the other way, I decided to cut my losses and just go home.  I didn't tell my mom about going up there, she would had a heart attack had I did.

What I didn't know till later was  Mr. Dreadlocks aka Yesha Musa aka Devonere Johnson caused a scene downtown and got arrested and the rioters came out in waves, punched out a Democrat for trying to get to the capital to do late night work and ended up taking down two statues, the Forward one and union civil war captain, and threw the latter into Lake Monona later on.   Later, some guy got in the way of protesters and somebody threw a bike at his car and when he got out, about 50 of them pounded his face, took his wallet and phone, smashed his car windows and went into the night.   Meanwhile, had I stayed at the Mircotel, I would have to deal with some dude walking around with a gun threatening another person.

And you thought that the World Naked Bike Rides of a couple years ago were more eye opening.

With the COVID19 Virus scaring the hell out of everybody, this trip was going to be an interesting bargain hunt, trying to get to the record stores before they close.  With Mad City Music X closing at 4, I did not complete everything I was looking for, tho Dave Zero was good enough to extend closing it an extra half hour, but even with that and some old chatty old bag getting in the way, I couldn't go through all the boxes.  I knew that they had new quarter records, but my misjudging of the time, I just cherry picked a Bread 45, A Crew Cuts RCA single and A Brenda Lee 45 called Think, but didn't find Is It True?.   I'm certain it was there somewhere but maybe next time.

This trip was to focus on the thrift stores, St. Vinnys, Goodwill and what Half Price Books had in the cheap bins.  For finding CDs, I ended up getting 8 CDs but the Neil Young Homegrown album was sold out at the places I went to.   In terms of finding 45s, I found about 15, mostly country and pop and a couple of rock stuff thrown in.  The St Vinnies Grab and Go had a a bunch of moldy and beyond repair 45s of The Beatles and Ricky Nelson.   The Williamson St Vinnys had the most, but at 75 cents  I had to really sort through and leave behind the poor looking ones.  I found a better copy of It's Time To Cry from Paul Anka, not that anybody gives a fuck but Something Has Changed Me, the B side is one of my fave songs from him.  But to be honest, the 15 singles bought might be the most ho hum of the Madison bargain hunts.  Not worthy of a singles going steady list, so here they are.

It's Time To Cry-Paul Anka (ABC Paramount 45-10,064)
Pay Day-Sha Na Na (Karma Sutra KA 507)
Free To Be/Country Green-Eddy Raven (ABC Dot-DOA-17595)
Cry-The Knightsbridge Strings  (Top Rank RA-2006)
Think-Brenda Lee (Decca 31599)
The Shrine On Top Of The Hill-The Crew Cuts (RCA 47-7734)
Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through)-Johnny Rodriquez (Mercury 73334)
I'd Fight The World-Jim Reeves (RCA APB0-0255)
Rainy Night In Georgia-Brook Benton (Atlantic OS 13107)
I May Not Live To See Tomorrow-Brian Hyland (ABC Paramount 45-10274)
A Walk In The Black Forest-Horst Jankowski  (Mercury 72425)
I'm Right Where I Belong-Anthony Armstrong Jones (Epic 5-10970)
She Knows Me Better-Bert Somner (Buddah BDA-243)
Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey-Bobby Darin (Atco 6167)
Sing A Long Cocktail-Johnny Milton (Atco 6202)

For CDs.

Steve Earle-Ghosts Of West Virginia
Galaxie 500-Copenhagen
After The Lights Go Down Low-The Voice Of Al Hibbler
Lou Reed Live
Sergio Mendes-Four Sider
King Gizzard-Fishing For Fishes
Malcolm McLaren-Duck Rock
Black Star Riders-Heavy Fire

B Sides was not visited since when I got done, all stores closed up around 7, with the aforementioned Mad City Music X, closing at 4 30.  Perhaps I could have convinced Dave to keep it open for another hour and maybe had he known that I was from out of town.   Perhaps in the fall, we can return.  But I did spend about an hour and half sorting through the St Vinnies 45 collection.  The Mad City Music X would have taken two hours at least.

Traffic wise I did fairly well making all the green lights in Dubuque and Madison was hit and miss. But now 151 has by passed the stop lights at Fitchburg which would have taken five minutes to do their thing.  There was some construction at around Ridgeway and Baraveld but for the most part this was one of the lesser stress free drives that I had.  Gas prices were the same as down here 2:19 a gallon tho the BP on Williamson Street had it for 1.95.

A year ago, it would have been the World Naked Bike Ride had they held it last weekend but due to CONVID19 virus and civil unrest, it was postponed till next year.  I had thought about spending the night, but looking at the situation that took place downtown, I'm glad I didn't.


45 Notes:

Johnny Milton is basically that good time jazz that was popular at that time.
Bill Bailey is one of Bobby Darin's more fun pop moves with Bobby Scott doing the arrangement. This was a radio station copy WTAH, whatever that came from.  B side I'll Be There they didn't care much for, putting  a X on the title. Richard Wess arranged this, this song is better suited for Frankie Avalon or Fabian.

Beaker Street playlist 6-26-2020

9 p.m. – 10 p.m

1. Climax Blues Band “Couldn’t Get It Right (Extended ’88 Mix)”
2. Blue Oyster Cult “Fire of Unknown Origin”
3. Crosby, Stills & Nash “Dark Star”
4. Fantasy “Stoned Cowboy”
5. Grateful Dead “Sugaree” (Live- Dick’s Picks Vol. 35)
6. Humble Pie “I Don’t Need No Doctor” (Live “Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore”)
7. J.J. Cale “Stone River”
8. Horslips “Speed The Plough”
9. Kula Shaker “Shower Your Love”
10. Jethro Tull “Dharma For One”

10 p.m. – 11 p.m.

1. The Moody Blues “Eyes Of A Child Part 1>Floating>Eyes Of A Child Part 2”
2. The Moody Blues “Eternity Road”
3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Castles Made of Sand”
4. The Doors “Waiting For The Sun”
5. Blind Faith “Sea of Joy”
6. Leon Russell and Don Preston “Medley: Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Young Blood” (Live- The Concert for Bangladesh)
7. Renaissance “Carpet Of The Sun” (Live)
8. Captain Beyond “Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air)”
9. Blue Oyster Cult “Then Came The Last Days Of May”
10. Chicago “Questions 67 & 68”
11. Chris Rea “Auberge”

11 p.m. – Midnight

1. Starcastle “To The Fire Wind”
2. Abraxas Pool “Boom Ba Ya Ya”
3. Country Joe McDonald “Holy Roller”
4. Big Brother And The Holding Company “Combination Of The Two”
5. Linn County “Fever Shot”
6. Iron Butterfly “Most Anything You Want”
7. Jon Butcher “Wishes”
8. Emerson, Lake & Powell “Touch And Go”
9. Thunderclap Newman “Something In The Air”
10. The Doobie Brothers “Dark Eyed Cajun Woman”
11. Evanescence “Anywhere”

Beaker Street 6-19-2020

9 p.m. – 10 p.m.

1. Savoy Brown “Hellbound Train”
2. Blue Oyster Cult “E.T.I (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)”
3. Vanilla Fudge “Stra (Illusions of My Childhood Part 1> You Keep Me Hangin’ On>Illusions of My Childhood Part 2)”
4. Cream “Tales of Brave Ulysses”
5. The Alan Parsons Project “The Voice”
6. Chris Rea “God’s Great Banana Skin”
7. Horslips “The Power and The Glory> The Rock Remains”
8. Neil Young and Crazy Horse “Powderfinger” (Live Rust)
9. Grateful Dead “West L.A. Fadeaway”
10. Proto-Kaw “Greenburg, Glickstein, Charles, David, Smith and Jones”

10 p.m. – 11 p.m

1. Jamie Brockett “The Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic”
2. Uriah Heep “Salisbury”
3. Grand Funk Railroad “Inside Looking Out”
4. Uriah Heep “Blind Eye”
5. Deep Purple “Anthem”
6. Burger “Humming A Snatch Of A Tune”
7. Fleetwood Mac “Bare Trees”

11 p.m. – Midnight

1. Arlo Guthrie “The Motorcycle Song”
2. Fleetwood Mac “The Ghost”
3. The Doobie Brothers “Cotton Mouth”
4. Within Temptation “Mother Earth” (Live at Leidse Kade)
5. The Allman Brothers Band “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (Live At The Fillmore East)
6. Quicksilver Messenger Service “Fresh Air”
7. Black Sabbath “Fairies Wear Boots”
8. Audience “The House On The Hill”
9. Trout Fishing In America “No Matter What Goes Right”

Compiled by Tyler Vincent

Notes:

The best example of classic Beaker Street.  Jamie Brockett returns with the Titanic song.  Hellbound Train leads off the show and Trout Fishing's No Matter What Goes Right is one of the classic finales to end the show.  Blind Eye is a Uriah Heep song but Wishbone Ash's version has been known to appear on the show.    Even Black Sabbath's Fairies Wear Boots fits into the format.   Clyde Clifford is finding his groove once again.

The Quad Cities Bargain Hunt-Corona Virus Style

Hard to believe it's been half a year since I been to Davenport to bargain hunt.  I figured since I haven't been there, the turnover of used cds and records would continue.  This trip did yield a lot of off the wall CDs and (gasp) 45s.  Stuff Etc had a bunch of them, but sad to say they had to stick their Goddamn price labels on the record labels.  Only thing I could do is put regular tape over the sticky area.  I'll post the findings later in the month as a Singles Going Steady segment.  It's been a while since I have compiled a singles find.

For the first time, they gave me a senior discount at the Veterans Thrift Store.  Which meant I got the best of Blue Oyster Cult for 38 cents.   Under dollar deals were Joni Mitchell's Hits, finding six Cds and DVDs at the Coralville Stuff Etc for under five dollars and and Motown Rarities Cd from Davenport Stuff Etc for 99 cents.  All of the Goodwill stores had some CDs that I did buy and a DVD of World War 1, 5 DVD's for 1.99.  I think we made out okay.  Only Books A Million had nothing of note.  And The Salvation Army Junk Store was closed.  I found enough stuff to not worry about that, and at the same time put the Madison trip on hold for a couple more weeks.

While Iowa had the restaurants open for dining in, Illinois still has take out only.  Masks are required for going into stores.  I found Pub 1848, home of the Monday Night Jam hosted by Sean Ryan.  The special guest was Jef Spradley, tho Michael Moncada was there.  Spradley didn't impressed me with a version of the much hated Hey Soul Sister. It appeared that a lot of the gang played original stuff. I did made a new friend in a four legged rescue German Shepard Pointer and entertained thoughts of taking her home with me.  Moncada was the leader of the now defunct Whiskey High and I don't recall any of his songs or set.  Maybe the next time I'll get my guitar and entertain the masses and expand my musical horizons.

Of course, the usual nonsense of bad drivers, fucked up red lights and competing with the merging cocksuckers on the interstate put me in a rotten mood most of the time I was in Davenport.   Since Illinois was take out only, I jumped back over to find a open Rudi's Tacos, had supper there and across the river again to Moline.  To which I helped myself to a couple pizza squares as well.  Perhaps next time I'll get to play there. Sean Ryan did offer a guitar in case I forgot mine.

Five star mud bowl game  12-5-1965
Green Bay 24 Minnesota 19

The Vikings got screwed by two bad referee calls, one which Tom Hall was called for a questionable PI call in the end zone (which Herb Adderley reminded him while Hall was screaming at the refs). Fran Tarkenton came back to throw yet another pass that Red Phillips made a diving catch in the end zone but the refs said no, he was out of bounds or he was juggling the catch.  Even with the Ref's help, Green Bay benefited from a partially blocked FG attempt by Jeff Jordan that bounced right off the the post.  Basically the Vikings were the better team that day, but the breaks were not on their side. While Minnesota would rebound and beat the hapless Detroit Lions 29-7 on a gooey Tigers Stadium slop field. Green Bay would win the champtionship by overpowering Cleveland in Mud Bowl Championship a few weeks later.


Reviews:

Tracy Chapman-New Beginning (Elektra 1994)

Gimme One Good Reason has become a soft rock staple, somehow blues, somehow rock.  Problem with this overlong 62 minute 12 song gauntlet is that Chapman prolongs all of the songs past their usefulness.  While I enjoyed the title track and Cold Feet, the shortest song was Gimme One Good Reason at 4 and half minutes long.  The rest wander.  The Rape Of The World at 7 minutes long, feels twice as long.
B-

The Best Of Blue Oyster Cult (Columbia 1999)

BOC was ill served by Sony music for many years on a decent best of.  Career Of Evil, the 1989 contractual obligation album, sucked from the word go, to which the budget priced On Flame With Rock And Roll was the better choice since it ignored Club Ninja.  While Workshop Of The Telescopes was a 2 CD overview that touched all of the bases of the good years and bad, people kinda balked at buying that one, tho it's better known as the Essential BOC. For the most part The Best Of aka Don't Fear The Reaper economizes the highlights and if you want a decent overview, this is the one to get.  Of course it has to lead off with Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll and follow it up with The Red And The Black.  As with most of the BOC comps, it short changes on Albert Bouchard's contributions to the band.   The Cities On Flame cheapie CD, gives us Dominance and Submission and Death Valley Nights, both Albert singing them.  He and brother Joe did give BOC that menace hard rock sound that would disappear after Bouchard's leaving of the band in 82.  What BOC brought to rock, was that everybody in the band could sing and play and write their own songs, Buck Dharma remains their guitar hero, Eric Bloom, the good time rock and roller getting fans all worked up in live settings.   I find it odd that Going Through The Motions did get issued as a single whereas I Love The Night might have been a better choice but that is nitpicking when it comes to best of packages.  In usual style Bruce Dickerson cherry picks the best known and ends with Take Me Away from the 1983 Revolution By Night and ignores Club Ninja and Imaginos; Dancing In The Ruins might have been a better album closer.  However, Burning For You and Don't Fear The Reaper will have a forever home in Corporation  Rock Radio, as well the Cowbell skit on Saturday Night Live.   To which I continue to wonder why they didn't bother to use Hair Of The Dog from Nazareth instead.  That seems to have more cowbell.
B+

Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section (Comtempory OJC  1957)

One of the must hear jazz records of the 1950s is this January 19, 1957 recording date, when Pepper almost missing the sessions and never met the guys before came through with 9 improvised run throughs of standard faves along with a couple Pepper originals.    This record is as much to the backing band (Red Garland, Paul Chambers and especially Philly Joe Jones) as it was to Pepper.  These guys would figure into the classic albums that Miles Davis put together at that time.  Even if Lester Koring's liner notes mentioned that Pepper had to hustle in and in the process taped up his well worn mouth cork  and breezed through 9 songs (a bonus track was issued on the reissued version Concord put out later on).  Excellent playing between everybody involved, you wouldn't know that Pepper never jammed with them beforehand.   Philly Joe Jones, remains the most underrated jazz drummer in jazz history.
A

V/A-Music Power (K Tel 1996)

When K TEL came back into business in 1995, they have found the compilation years have passed them by.  The original 1974 album had 22 tracks but the 1996 reissue only 10.  The early K tel albums, were the inspiration of Rhino's Have A Nice Day series which did a better job putting the classics among with the cheese and shit.  No real surprises here, tho Mammy Blue is the Stories version and not the Pop Tops 1972 cheese hit.  The only rocker here is Raspberries' Tonight, the soul songs are fair to good to great, Keeper Of The Castle, the Four Tops first hit after leaving Motown and hooking with the Lambert/Potter production team, Dobie Gray's Drift Away (later popularized by Uncle Kracker), the soul country of Oh Girl (Chi Lites) and Gladys Knight's Where Peaceful Waters Flow.  We can tolerate Jim Croce and Jim Stafford's goofy Spiders And Snakes.  Tony Orlando n Dawn's cheese Sweet Gypsy Rose and Gordon Sinclair's Americans are the nadir, I was more familiar with Bryon McGregor's version which was more radical but wouldn't feel out of place on the One Nation Network.   The K Tel experiment didn't last very long, in three years they would declare bankruptcy and give up the ghost.  But if you like the old K TEL records, these do bring back memories.  Even if in the CD era, K TEL didn't fill up the CD like they did on LP.  And for more fun and games, there was a order list of the 7 other K TEL albums you could get.
B

Bob Dylan-Rough And Rowdy Ways (Columbia 2020)

Dylan's first album of new material since Tempest is a chore to sit through, even with good intentions. It kinda reminds me of the Edwin R Murrow albums I Can Hear It Now, where Dylan comments on the state of the world, all summed on 17 minute Murder Most Fowl, to which Dylan adds puns, phases and other assorted words to comment on that fateful day in Dallas, complete with mellow piano in the background.  His band stays intact, Matt Chamberlain keeps time on drums.  Outside of a couple shuffle blues and one uptempo number, the record is basically is background music to Dylan's ideals.  Listen hard and you'll find memorable ones. Tempest, the last album got bogged down by the last two numbers, a rambling wreck of a Titanic song and a eight minute John Lennon eulogy.  At least Murder Most Fowl gets its own CD, but I am never a fan of crappy digipacks, to which this gets lowered a half grade.  Unlike the rest, Rough and Rowdy Ways takes a few listens to get its point across.  To which, nobody gets alive in the end anyway.
B+

Jesse Colin Young-Dreamers (BMG 2019)

Being an old hippie, Jesse wrote the anthem of the 60s with Get Together, and while his solo career may have not been all that substantial he did managed to hang with Warner Music for a while.  But to be honest, his hippie dippy good vibes tend to bore me and with this 62 minute 2019 album, this is in dire need of editing.  Oh it starts out rocking right off the bat with Cast A Stone and Walk The Talk but in between those songs and Look Over Yonder, the record falls off the rails.  Like David Crosby, J.C.Y will make the record the longer than it should.   We certainly need more younger protest singers rather than the over 70 gang, which still cares bout this world.   The key is to stay awake tho.
C+

The Strokes-The New Abnormal (RCA 2020)

To be honest, I never caught on with what they were putting down, beginning with Is This It?  Probably the best suited titled to unremarkable music, Room On Fire had more balls to it but whatever compelled me to try The New Abnormal is to hear what they have been doing since the last time I was interested.  Turns out this is their 80s tribute, starts out fine The Adults Are Talking, but what made Is This It better was that they kept the songs shorter back then.  Rick Rubin may or may not figured much into this album outside of producer's credit, but I found myself like Weezer's black album better than the New Abnormal.
C+

Singles Going Steady 65-Quad Cities Findings

There hasn't been much in finding 45s, but somehow this trip to Davenport, I found a bunch from Stuff Etc from a personal collection.  Good luck to the dude who has to peel off that gummy 15.99 tag on We Can Work It Out.


1)   Substitute-The Who  (Atco  45-6409)  1966

The oddity in The Who's single catalog,  The only single that Polydor issued via Atco in the states, with B side Waltz For A Pig done by the Graham Bond Organization which it sounds like Ginger Baker is playing the drums.   I have never heard the single version, which cuts into the guitar solo rather than the second verse, and it sounds a bit sped up. Nothing wrong with that.  Substitute is one of the more sought after Who singles due to the relation on being on Atco.  Had the picture sleeve came along, this would worth more but this old collector did managed to find a 45 sleeve to protect it from the elements from here on out.  Plays very well.

2)   Lightning's Girl-Nancy Sinatra  (Reprise 0628)  #24 1967

B side was Till It's Time For You To Go, written by Buffy St-Marie and covered by Elvis, Neil Diamond, but the plug side is one of the most strangest songs that came from the mind of Lee Hazelwood, including paranoid strings here n there.  Nancy just turned 80 this month and she continues to speak out against the joke in the white house.  Out of all the songs she recorded, this is my fave song from her.  The only 45 that I found at the 53rd St. Goodwill.

3)   How Insensitive-Tony Bennett (Columbia 4-43331)  1965
Other side-Fly Me To The Moon  #84 1965

A forgotten 45, from the the original collection of Lincoln singles that my Grandma used to have.  Alas, the original copy was cracked and broken (probably from playing frisbee with it) but in reality, How Insensitive is that perfect breakup song.  Astrid Gilberto covered a nice version.  Tony also adds a nice moody touch to Fly Me To The Moon, which I'm shocked that it did place on the pop charts.  There is a reason I revisit songs such as these since they were part of my childhood memories.  We didn't know it back then but Tony Bennett could sing with the best of them.  It's what we call gentle jazz.  Muzak with a swing.

4)   To Each His Own-Frankie Laine (ABC 45-11032)  #82 1968

Laine had a mini comeback with ABC in the late 60, with Bob Thiele producing and Peter DeAngelis arranging,  Lush pop,  I'm Happy To Hear That You're Sorry the B side, is more swinging pop style Frankie was famous for.  Nobody cares but I'm still looking for his signature song, Dammit Isn't God's Last Name on 45.  In some ways, To Each His Own sounds a bit like After The Lovin, done by Elgerbert Humperdinck...which reminds me.


5)   Release Me-Engelbert Humperdinck   (Parrot 45-40011)  #4 1967

Blame Doug Bonesteel on this one.  I have no idea why I picked this one up, despite without a sleeve, it plays like new, but there's a certain charm to this middle of the road muzak classic.  Tom Jones probably did a version of his own too.  B side is the Gordon Mills' penned 10 Guitars, who also managed Sir Tom Jones back then as well.  Owes more to Gene Pitney, than muzak.

6)   I Cried (The Blues Right Out Of My Eye)-Crystal Gayle  (MCA 40837)  1970 #23 Country

MCA's attempt to capitalize on Gayle's success on United Artists in 1977 with a reissue of this song, written by her sister Loretta Lynn and at that time, Crystal went for a Lynn type of vocals, which didn't suit her style, she would find her own voice later on.  B side Sparklin' Look Of Love is more uptempo, but critics called this and most of her Decca output Little Loretta singles,  It's not that bad, but Loretta sings this better.

7)    Let Me Be There-Olivia Newton-John (MCA 40101) #6  1973

I have fond memories of singing this song in Mixed Chorus class at the old junior high school.  Going through puberty, hitting the high notes and that bullfrog baritone.  Good times before the bullies paved the way for a negative life.  Olivia could be convincing country singer had she gone that way, followup If You Love Me (let me know) went to number 5, but on the local chart both songs hit number 1.  Kudos to Mike Sammes for making the songs memorable.  B side Maybe then I'll think of you, was written by John Farrar, Olivia's producer of choice at that time.

8)   I'm Gonna Hire A Wino To Decorate Our Home-David Frizzell (Viva/Warner 50063)  1982

Dated country from the folks who bought you Every Which Way But Loose.



9)   Fail Safe (Part 1)-Hal Schaefer Quintet (Colpix CP-751)  1964

Best known for being Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach, he was instrumental in composing movie themes as this one fot the movie Fail Safe.  Part 2, the B side is a bit too scratchy for my liking.

10)   Your Friend-The Roemans (ABC Paramount 45-10583)  1964

A garage rock band, that featured Bernie Higgins (later of Key Largo fame) on drums and Lanny Lankford as lead vocalist.  Marty Wilde wrote this song and the b side Give Me A Chance.  Ray Stevens arranged both songs.  Lankford would pass in 1969 after a auto accident.   Overall, Give Me A Chance is the better song but in reality, both songs are passable.

11)    The Entertainer-Tony Clarke  (Chess 1924)  #31  1964

Early Chicago soul from the label associated with the blues.  One of the best of the so called Northern Soul sound.  Sounding somewhat like Major Lance or what the Impressions were doing.  This Heart Of Mine, the B side, owes to Little Anthony n the Imperials but not as interesting.

12)   Please Pass The Biscuits-Gene Sullivan (Columbia 4-40971c)  1957

Silly country novelty song. Wash your feet before going to bed, is just as silly too.

13)   Soul Sister, Brown Sugar-Sam & Dave (Atlantic 45-2590)  #41 1968

Latter day soul classic, written by the great Issac Hayes and David Porter.  I can't make my mind up whose the best soul duo...Sam and Dave or Bobby and James Purify.   Come On In, the b side pales a bit but for the best combination of Atlantic Soul and Stax grease, you can't go wrong with this.

14)   Don't Forget To Remember-The Bee Gees (Atco 45-6702)  #73 1969

Colin Peterson is the featured singer on b side The Lord, which could pass as an outtake for The Fireballs.  Without Robin Gibb, Don't Forget To Remember suffered on the charts, in the grand BG style, it's a ballad.   But for true fun, The Lord is preferable.


15)   Those Were The Days-Mary Hopkin (Apple 1801)  #2 1969

To conclude our collection of rock, soul, blues, MOR and crap, we leave you this sweet tune from Mary.   At least they left the record sleeve on this 45s. 

The Ten Worst Albums by Ten Brilliant Bands-A Difference Of Opinion

Louder Sound dropped the ball on this.

Deep Purple
The Battle Rages On
Slaves And Masters

KI$$
Carnival Of Souls
Carnival Of Souls

Led Zeppelin
Celebration Day
The Song Remains The Same

Rolling Stones
Emotional Rescue
Bridges To Babylon

Pink Floyd
Soundtrack to the movie More
The Final Cut

Jethro Tull
The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
Under Wraps

Queen
Made In Heaven
Hot Space

Bob Segar
Noah
Brand New Morning

Eagles
On The Border
Long Road Out Of Eden

Kinks
School Boys In Disgrace
Phobia

For Deep Purple, if you look at the Ian Gillan era only, then perhaps The Battle Rages On is the least of the albums.  The last of the Roger Glover produced albums, it shows the clashes of style between Richie Blackmore who always wanted to dominate the band the way that he did with Rainbow, but as long as Gillan was part of Deep Purple,that wasn't going to happen.  It is a hard listen if you stopped listening to Purple.  However Steve Morse, not only saved Deep Purple but turned them into a long lasting band that made good to great albums, Purpledicular, the 1996 album is as good as Burn and perhaps Machine Head.   The worst Purple album was Slaves And Masters, to which Blackmore did turn them into the New Rainbow with Joe Lynn Turner taking over for Gillan on vocals.  To these ears, it sounds like uninspired Foreigner, and the worst use of Ian Paice on drums.

The only time I agreed with Louder Sound was Carnival Of Souls from Kiss, by then they were trying to join the grunge music scene and failed miserably, and getting hack producer Toby Wright didn't help much.  Psycho Circus , the so called comeback album with Ace and Peter was false advertising and can be considered just as bad.  But Into The Void was the only song performed by the original Kiss band which saves that from being the worst.  Kiss and grunge simply didn't mix

There are no bad Led Zeppelin albums, so basically Celebration Day got the nod for worst.  It shows that time and age and lowered Robert Plant's banshee vocals and a step down musically made Zep more metal than usual.  But even Robert Plant knew that Zep couldn't return back to the old daze and after this 2006 performance steered clear from Zep reunions.  But if you want real bombast, the original two LP Song Remains The Same is that.  The bonus tracks added to the CD does chop the Spinal Tap factor in half.

Rolling Stones-Emotional Rescue was a half assed effort and it did ushered in the era that the Stones quit making good albums and going for the dollars.  The Stones could make sloppiness into an art and Summer Romance and Where The Boys Go  are as punk rock as they ever got.  Jagger's infatuation with the Bee Gees high falsetto is noted on the title track, and She's So Cold is so much fun.  Alas, Keith Richards' vocal contributions to Indian Girl and All About You are turds and the record was doomed from the start with Dance Part 1.  The Stones nadir remains Bridges To Babylon, to which they discovered Techno (with disastrous results).

Pink Floyd's More soundtrack always gets dragged over the coals but I find it more listenable compared to The Final Cut.  The Nile Song gets closed to metal and Quicksilver points the way toward Ummagumma.  Before Roger Waters sucked all the fun out of Floyd, More shows a playfulness that Pink Floyd had even after Syd Barrett left.

Picking the Christmas album for Jethro Tull reveals laziness from Louder Sound.  Basically the last Tull album, it's a rare album that you can listen to all year.  Under Wraps should have been a Ian Anderson solo album but the 80's drums make it hard to listen to.  You can make a case for Rock Island or the lackluster From Roots To Branches but for Christmas albums, The Tull Christmas Album is a seasonal fave.

Queen's Made In Heaven turned to be the Freddie Mercury Memorial Album and it's taking the easy way out for posting the worst album.  Hot Space is a chore to listen through, maybe even more so than Made In Heaven.

It's interesting how Noah got picked as worst album from Bob Seger.  In fact, that record comes from a trio of forgotten Seger albums that have fallen out of print. After the underground success of Ramblin Gamblin Man, somebody decided that Tom Neme should write and sing most of the songs. Alas, the best songs were written and sang by Bob (Noah, Death Row). With Neme's goofy love songs, I can see why Seger disavowed Noah.  But then again, there's It's  A Mystery, probably the worst of the Silver Bullet Band era, but I'll go with the acoustically driven and sleep inducing Brand New Morning.  Bob's attempt to be John Denver I gather.

Another disagreement is On The Border, but this album showed the Eagles are in transition, going away from the country rock that put them in the league as Poco (unlike Poco, The Eagles had more friendlier sounding songs).  Don Felder's arrival would set the stage on the next album One Of These Nights.  If you go with the worst, you could argue for The Long Run, which imploded the band but Long Road Out Of Eden is two CDs of a lack of direction that was crying out for Don Felder, who by then got ousted by Don Henley n Glenn Frey. 


The omit is Alice Cooper.  Goes To Hell was chosen as worst AC album.  I have never that big of a AC fan, so I opted to replace Alice with The Kinks with worst album and what they would have picked.  School Boys In Disgrace was the last the soap opera concept albums that took the Kinks in parody territory.   School Boys is considered their least album before Ray decided to drop the concept albums and go back to writing rock albums with no theme.  The CD age showed The Kinks took advantage of the new format to make what would have been 2 record sets of ho hum material. The Columbia era consisted of a EP and a overblown album that made School Boys In Disgrace, Lola.  For the sake of the matter, neither Ray or Dave made another listenable album.

So it goes, another ten listings to debate.  Next time, OK Computer, hype or overhype.

Beaker Street Playlist 6-12-2020

9 p.m. – 10 p.m.

1. Renaissance “Rajah Khan”
2. The Strawbs “Strange Day Over The Hill.”
3. John Stewart “Gold”
4. Albert Collins ‘Ice Pick”
5. Jeff Beck “The Hangman’s Knee”
6. Bela Fleck & the Flecktones “Road House Blues”
7. King Crimson “In The Court of the Crimson King (Including ‘The Return of the Fire Witch’ and ‘The Dance of the Puppets’)”
8. Blue Oyster Cult “E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)” (Live- Some Enchanted Evening)
9. The Byrds “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”
10. Brand X “Euthanasia Waltz”

Hour 2

1. Leon Russell “Magic Mirror”
2. Chris Rea “Burning Feet”
3. John Sebastian “Black Snake Blues”
4. Deep Purple “River Deep, Mountain High”
5. Neil Young “Living With War”
6. Dr. John “The Patriotic Flag Waver”
7. Crosby, Stills & Nash “Treetop Flyer” (Live)
8. Dire Straits “Brothers In Arms”
9. Steely Dan “Bodhisattva”
10. The Doobie Brothers “Toulouse Street”

11 p.m. – Midnight

1. Spirit “Fresh Garbage”
2. The Alan Parsons Project “Hyper-Gamma-Spaces”
3. Savoy Brown ” I Can’t Get Next You”
4. It’s A Beautiful Day “White Bird”
5. Quicksilver Messenger Service “Pride of Man”
6. The Doobie Beothers “Mamaloi”
7. The Allman Brothers Band “Southbound”
8. The James Gang “Stop”
9. Bo Hansson “Fog On The Barrow-Downs> The Black Riders & Flight to the Ford> At the House of Elrond & The Ring Goes South”
10. Hot Tuna “Water Song”
11. The Doobie Brothers “South City Midnight Lady”

Notes;

Some old faves making debuts, White Bird, In the Court Of The Crimson King, Stop, Fresh Garbage, Pride Of Man.  Heavy on the Toulouse Street Doobie cuts and South City Midnight Lady ending the show is kinda of traditional thing.  Tyler Vincent continues to document the whole three hours and does have a standalone blog. https://beakerstreetsetlists.com/

But for myself, Beaker Street I have documented on other sites and continue to do so. Perhaps in the end I'll will default with the actual link for future lists.

Classic Albums From the 1990's That You May Have Overlooked

30 Years ago, was the beginning of the 1990s.  What started out hair metal mania, got wiped away by Nirvana and the Seattle Rock Scene, lovingly named grunge.   It really wasn't grunge but hard rock and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Nirvana took this music and ran with it.  Later on, Stone Temple Pilots and Candlebox joined, but they were more in tune with the classic rock rather than the grunge noise of Seattle.   And then, a couple things happen, One was the Telecom Act of 1996 which killed the independent radio stations by Clear Channel (now I FART radio) and Cumulus and secondly, Universal buying out Polygram to form the behemoth Universal Music, which in 2008 had a fire that destroyed a good collection of Universal acts from the past.  Universal also gave us Limp Bizkit.

I have seen lists from the likes of Pitchfork, SPIN, Rolling Stone and other Corporate owned that gave us their lesser known.  But in reality, they are not as deep as you would think.  The mid 90s was the last chance to hear lesser known bands on major labels on college radio before Clear Channel and Cumulus took everything into cookie cutter sound a like stations.  At least Polygram cared enough to promote the forgotten bands.

Having grown up and reading the trade magazines, and underground college papers I did managed to seek out the off the beaten path bands.  None of these bands sold enough to stay around the label after the first album, some were lucky to make two or even three albums.  These are the albums that made me take notice and still find a spot on my cd shelf and close enough to play.  These are in no particular order.  Most can still be found in the cheap bins if you look hard enough.


1)    Big Back Forty-Bested  (Polydor 1998)

Out of all of the bands from this era, Big Back Forty remains my fave unknown band.   They did pop up to play Gabe's with the Honeydogs, to which I still have the poster hanging up in my basement.  Sean Beal, originally from Train Hits Truck (who made a hard to find album Still Feel Gone that actually combines the Seattle sound with a bit of Americana thrown in) and company managed to have a minor hit with Blood (which played outside of a Phoenix bar that caught my attention a few years later after the fact).  One of the Best Buy bands to seek out, Bested shows BB40 moving away from the grungy Still Feel Gone in favor of a more radio ready sound and perhaps a bit too polished by Joe Hardy and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig that Puig really smoothed out the rough edges.  Still Eight Miles Down and Monte Carlo Girl shows a bit of John Mellencamp and the Jayhawks as influences but Beal's down home baritone shows an eccentric  and original sound, that wasn't bound for the radio.   Just What I Need is damn near perfect.  Alas, Bested would be the only album BB40 would release.  No Depression missed the boat on the review, limping them along with the likes of the Haynes Boys (who?) and Hootie And The Blowfish (WTF?), Beal's vocals compared with the dude from Crash Test Dummies but with a more dry sense of humor.  Probably one of the reasons why I still love this album.

2)    Handsome  (Epic 1997)

Peter Mengade, played in Helmet, left after Betty to form this hard rock band that played like Helmet but with a bit more melody.  Jeremy Chatelain had a more popish vocal than Page Hamilton's drill Sargent bellow, and former Quicksand guitar player Tom Capone complimented Mengade's guitars. Producer Terry Date (Soundgarden, Pantera) added more attention to the guitars and burying the drums deep in the mix.  Needles got some airplay, but my faves remain Left Of Heaven and Swimming.  At the same time, Helmet issued the lackluster Aftertaste, which proved that the loss of Mengade was Handsome's gain but not in record sales.  The record bombed and the band called it a day in 1998. But those who have heard it swear it was one of the best hard rock albums of 1997.  At least I know it still kicks can.


3)   Swinging Steaks-Southside Of The Sky (Capricorn 1993)

The revival of Capricorn Records in the early 1990s, showed that Phil Walden was willing to try out new music and styles.  His roster included at that time Col Bruce Hampton And The Aquarian Rescue Unit, Widespread Panic, The reunited Dixie Dregs, Vigilantes Of Love, Sonia Dada, 311 and The Steaks, who came out of Boston.  Southside Of The Sky is credited for starting up the so called Alt roots rock music.   They got Gary Katz (Steely Dan, Root Boy Slim) to produce part of the album and it's goodtime  rock and country had some great songs and minor hits on the AAA format. (Beg, Steal Borrow, Train Wreck, South Side Of The Sky).  In some ways, Swinging Steaks should have been as well known as say Uncle Tupelo or the Jayhawks, but Warner music decided that Capricorn wasn't cost effective and whatever momentum they had, they lost.  This Cd was found at the Kingman pawn shop on my Arizona summer get away and  I played it a lot driving down AZ 66.  A few years ago, I wrote about the Swinging Steaks and this album, and they took notice.   Even to this day, Southside Of The Sky is just as good as, Hollywood Town Hall or No Depression.  Maybe even better.

4)  Rhino Bucket (Reprise 1990)

There are no shortage of hard rock albums inspired by AC DC, The Cult's Electric, Krokus's One Vice At A Time and The Angels-Face To Face in the 70s and 80s.   Rhino Bucket shocked everybody by managed to really take the AC DC vibe to a whole new level, even succeeding over AC DC themselves.  Future producer to AC DC, Brendan O Brien really took the time to make Rhino Bucket sound like the real things.  Circus Of Power's Daniel Rey produced this.  Perhaps OBrien might have polished up the sound better than it should but you gotta admit, it is one of the best AC DC album not made by AC DC.  Alas, Warner Music had chosen to take it out of print, Wounded Bird was slated to reissue it but the album got withdrawn.   Metal import Rock Candy did issue it for a short time.

5)   Jellyfish-Split Milk (Charisma 1993)

Andy Strumer and Roger Manning will disagree but Split Milk is the best Queen tribute sounding album, or is that the Beach Boys?  I had issues for their overhyped Belly Button album, which I doubt it's one of the best Power Pop albums of the 90s,  unless you call it overrated.   But then again Queen was never in my top 30 fave bands due to Killer Queen or Under Pressure to which Vanilla Ice lifted for his shitty Ice Ice Baby and tried to get total credit.  Jason Faulkner couldn't get any of his songs recorded by Jellyfish and opted out.  Split Milk is Jellyfish's best record, even tho it was their second and they would break up afterwards.  The Ghost At Number One is one of their shining moments.  And the rest of the album would get better with age, unlike Belly Button.


6)  Mach Five (Island 1998)

The Universal taking over Polygram Records killed off a few potential bands getting better known. One of them was Mach Five, who made a very good power pop rock album that recalls Del Amitri and Steven Hagler, fresh from making Local H sound better than they should have, came on board to polish up their sound.  Can't Stop It is that forgotten 90s song that should have been played more (see Big Back Forty's Blood) and I'm Alive would have sounded at home on the shit stained KDAT during 90's at 9.  With Universal on board, Mach Five was destined back to the heap pile and the band basically disappeared.  In 1999 Mach Five stayed around long enough to open for the Honeydogs when the Honeydogs made their spring appearance at Gabe's in Iowa City.


7)   The Greenberry Woods-Rapple Dapple (Sire/Reprise 1994)

If Jellyfish influences were the Beach Boys/Queen, Rhino Bucket was AC DC and the Woods loved The Hollies.  Unlike Mach Five, The Woods were well known enough to have a song appeared on the Rhino Poptopia compilation, with Trampoline, but That's What She Said is the perfect Hollies song that the Hollies never recorded.  You can hear traces of Squeeze and Revolver era Beatles on Sentimental Rule, and Adieu.  Hold On does owe itself to Squeeze.  Critics raved more on Big Money Item but with Sire moving distribution to Elektra (still part of Warner Music but with less priority) neither album sold.  Brant and Matt Huseman would return as Splitsville and made a couple of noteworthy  albums.  In fact, our very own Erin Tapken was their biggest fan, to the point that they made her president of the Splitsville fan club.   The Splitsville albums are fun but pale in comparison to the Greenberry Woods.

8)   The Dylans  (Beggars Banquet 1991)

While people enjoyed grunge, I preferred Shoegazer, a more dreamy type of pop rock that the UK made famous around the early 1990s.  Ride or Slowdive would be the prime examples of shoegazer music but 2nd tier bands such as the Charlatans UK or The Dylans made trippy rock.  The Charlatans UK won out due to Rob Collins' organ and keyboard work, The Dylans were more guitar driven, tho Some Friendly was more radio friendlier but The Dylans had this sweet backing vocals sound that made Godlike and Sad Rush Of Sunday.  If you compare both Some Friendly and the first Dylans album, the main influence was the Stone Roses.  While the Charlatans UK would involve their sounds toward a more Rolling Stones sound, The Dylans never expanded theirs and album number two, drifted toward a more wacked out Chocolate Watch Band on Spirit Finger, their second album and then disappeared.  But their first album remains one of the best Shoegazer albums of the 1990s


9)   Kings Of The Sun-Full Frontal Attack (RCA 1990)

The best rock album of the 1990s was the most sloppiest and loose sounding record this side of The Who Sing My Generation.  Even for the full 55 minutes, the Kings Of The Sun commanded the spirit of rock and roll and why I loved it.  Jeffrey Hoad had a voice somewhere between Bon Scott and Doc Neeson but Clifford Hoad was the second coming of Keith Moon.  All William Whittman had to do was push play and let the Kings do their thing.  The endings were as long as anything on Ragged Glory by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.  In fact, I have never heard such all over the place drumming from Clifford, not since the days of Moon had we had anybody attack the drums with such craziness.   Even for an hour CD, I played it three times over after buying it.  And I really thought that this would break the band.  Full Frontal Attack makes Guns n Roses sound like bubblegum.  That's saying something.


10)    Denzil-Pub (Play/Giant 1994)

Denzil Thomas did the best soundalike of Nick Lowe and this may have been a tip of the hat to Nick and the Stiff years or perhaps a play on the term pub rock.  Pub rock being best described as hard and fast rock n roll, very early Motorhead comes to mind or Ducks Deluxe, and Eddie And The Hot Rods.  I remember finding this cd and taking it over to Relics for Jerry Scott to listen to and dammed if Jerry had this Cd on regular rotation.   Problem was Pub was too British sounding, Thomas could channel his inner Nick Lowe but he also had an eye on Brinsley Schwartz and Squeeze at the same time.  Richard Thompson might have something to deal with dry wit as well.   This CD was a critics fave and this will get mentioned from time to time. Thomas has never gone away, Pub can now be found on Spotify.   For real British pub rock, it's worth hearing again and again.

Beaker Street 6/5/2020 Playlist

Kyle Vincent: kept notes of the songs.  Without his help, we wouldn't have this. 

1. The Hassles (f/ Billy Joel) “Hour of the Wolf”

2. Curved Air “Marie Antoinette”

3. Atomic Rooster “Breakthrough”

4. Brewer and Shipley “Tarkio Road”

5. Within Temptation “Mother Earth (Live at Leidse Kade)”

6. Black Sabbath “Planet Caravan”

7. Yes “I’ve Seen All Good People (a- Your Move; b- All Good People)”

8. Heart “Rock and Roll (Live)”

10 p.m. to 11 p.m.

1. Trout Fishing In America “Dead Egyptian Blues”

2. Traffic “Medicated Goo (Live- Welcome to the Canteen)”

3. Abraxas Pool “Boom Ba Ya Ya”

4. Blue Oyster Cult “She’s As Beautiful As A Foot”

5. Andy Powell “The King Will Come (Live at Juanita’s)”

6. The Dino Kruse Band “Only Come Out At Night”

7. Robert Palmer “Sailin’ Shoes> Hey Julia> Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley”

8. Sugarloaf “Green Eyed Lady”

9.  Alan Parsons' "Return to Tunguska"

11 p.m. to Midnight

1. The Doors “Riders on the Storm”

2. Spirit “Prelude/Nothin’ to Hide> Nature’s Way”

3. Oingo Boingo “Dead Man’s Party”

4. Savoy Brown “Savoy Brown Boogie: Feels So Good> Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On> Little Queenie> Purple Haze> Hernando’s Hideaway” (Live- A Step Further)

5. Grand Funk Railroad “Mean Mistreater”

6. Sonia Dada “Screaming John”

7. Cauldron “Fifty Foot Hose”

8. Jefferson Starship “Women Who Fly


Notes:

Robert Palmer's three song medley from the Sneaking Sally Through The Alley was a surprise.  Usually Little Feat would have Sailing Shoes on instead.   Other surprises includes the Savoy Brown Boogie, Black Sabbath's Planet Caravan, one the lesser known songs played off Paranoid and Blue Oyster Cult's She's As Beautiful As A Foot.  

Beaker Street was the first show that ever played anything from Sonia Dada. 

Women Who Fly is famous for closing out Beaker Street shows from the past. 

It's easy to see that Clyde Clifford loves The King Will Come.  This is the third show of four that featured the song, either from Andy Powell or Wishbone Ash.  Rest assured KRNA or KKRQ haven't played that song once in the 40 years both radio stations have been around.