CD
The American Breed-Bend Me Shape Me
Carlene Carter-I Fell In Love
Los Lonely Boys-Sacred
Weather Report-Mysterious Traveler
Bob Dylan-Blonde On Blonde
45's
Half Breed-Cher (MCA-40102) #1 1973
Misery-Soul Asylum (Columbia 77959) #20 1995
Burning Heart-Vandenberg (Atco 7-99947) #39 1982
Stepping Out On You-Jimmie Skinner (Mercury 70792) 1956
Every spring, there's a record sale on 29th street in Marion. To which the guy puts out a very interesting collection and lots of records. I'm not sure if he used to have a record store or perhaps, is a picker at the thrift stores in town. I went there in 2017 and found a few off the wall 45s and made off a haul. Perhaps he knows me too well as a record collector or hoarder. He had some great behind the counter 45s but he said they were not for sale and steered me toward the big box of 500 records he was selling for 50 dollars or ten cents a record. No cherry picking. To which I took a peak, turned up my nose and went on my merry way to Goodwill to pick up a couple of CDs.
The 45s found were from Half Price Books, the Marion location that doesn't showcase museum records. My thought is this....I'll be happy to find and acquire single records when I see them and if they are in good shape. Buying in balk doesn't benefit me, it takes up space of unwanted 45s and I will donate them to St. Vinnies or Goodwill. 500 records for 50 dollars might be a good day if you throw in something of value, perhaps I should have stacked the Lavern Baker 45 I was looking at and then try to get away with that. Outside of So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star, I wasn't impressed with what I seen, too much pop, too much hack country and way too many records that have seen better days. You can't bullshit a record collector. I'll support whatever record sales that I seen around town, I'm sure I'll be back in another four years, but I don't think 45s sell as well as albums. I would have made another buying exception for We Ain't Got Nothing Yet from Blues Magoos. But in the end, it's your inventory and my money, and my money still spends good elsewhere.
I don't see a lot of 45s in the 1990s, a very rare and usually they are jukebox copies. Which explains why I found Soul Asylum's Misery which made number 20 on the charts in 95 but you never hear it on the radio. I love the hook Frustrated Incorporated as the tag line. I had Grave Dancer's Union a couple times on CD but never thought it was worth keeping around. Probably why I never bothered to get the follow up Let Your Dim Light Shine. B side is a punk rock raver but I can't read the title (Hope) . A cover of the Descendants song. It made the Japan edition of the album. I had Burning Heart as a single years ago, and it is one of the best hard rock ballads of the 80s. Not sure if Razor N Tie stuck it on one of those metal ballads they were famous for at that time. B side Burning For You was a passable hard rocker.
In this day and age of cancel culture, you don't hear Cher's Half Breed on the radio anymore but it is one of her better numbers during the early 70s with Snuff Garrett producing. Stepping Out On You is Jimmie's first Mercury single and is 100 percent pure hillbilly. The Billboard review gave it a B plus. I'm a sucker for this type of country western. Record shows its age but plays pretty good.
A shame I couldn't get Tweedle Dee.
Still, if I can't get the seller to open up his 45's vault, I know there's other places to keep me going with cheap music.
I managed to score season 5 1 and 2 of Perry Mason for binge watching, and somebody donated some rock CDs over at the Goodwill. I did held myself away from picking up Skynyrd's Inners' but the temptation was too strong not to pick up Blonde On Blonde for the third time. I had issues with Dylan's singing style on this album, but the songs are top rate. The Best Of American Breed is compared with The Buckingham in horn driven pop, but Bend Me Shape Me is their calling card. Did you know that Ready Willing and Able was used for a Partridge Wieners radio spot? If you had the Oh Yeah, best of Dunwich Records Volume 1 album on Sundazed, you would know that, and if you do, you'll have a hell of a ear worm too. It's hard to believe this band would eventually morph into Rufus with Chuka Kahn later on.
I tend to think I Fell In Love was Carlene's best album, at 38 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome and Carter along with the doomed Howie Epstein managed to balance her Rockpile rockabilly and Carter Family country. Anything with Albert Lee on guitar is worth hearing. I still think it's better than Little Love Letters simply of the fact it keeps Carter in check. Which means her last Giant effort Little Acts Of Treason is next on the list to review, but Hindsight 20/20 is the best overview, despite the overabundance of ballads. Easy From Now On is a underrated classic that does end I Fell In Love and H 20/20 on a grand note.
Los Lonely Boys' Sacred was the followup to their break out debut. They loved Stevie Ray Vaughn and Santana and it shows. Willie Nelson appears on Outlaws. The preaching gets a little tiring after a while and maybe the Garza brothers didn't have staying power but this album has moments of pleasurable listening.
Weather Report has always been a band that has frustrated me on record. The classic lineup of Joe Zunwail, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erkstine made it clear that they were a better band live than in the studio. This 1974 effort has Alphonso Johnson playing bass rather than Jaco and Zunwail dominates the album with free form new age space jazz. The mix is weird sounding and Scarlet Woman is quite mysterious. Heavy Weather may be the next Weather Report LP to check out if and when I get in the mood but this is the album, thanks to Alphonso Johnson that shows that the fretless bass made this band sound quite unique.
