K T Ostlin-My Roots Are Showing
Buck Griffin-Let's Elope Baby
George Hamilton IV-I Know Where I'm Going (1956-1962)
K T Oslin-80's Lady
Hammer-Funky Headhunter
Duke Ellington Live At Newport
Styx-Big Bang Theory
John Parr-Running The Extra Mile
Love And Rockets
Bellamy Brothers Greatest Hits Volume 2
The Big Chill Soundtrack
Cassette:
Hootie And The Blowfish-Cracked Rear View
45
Connie Francis-Drownin' My Sorrows (MGM K-13160) #36 1963
The Goodwill finds of the last couple weeks have dried up. Maquoketa's Goodwill still had the Connie Francis 45 and My Roots Are Showing, an uneven collection of cover songs from the late great K T, which would be her last album for BMG Music, on the second tier BNA label. Half Price Books had the other two in the cheap bins and Buck Griffin's overview was better than Terry Fell's Truck Drivin' Man. Some music collector had a bunch of Bear Family best ofs from forgotten artists like Griffin, who best known hit was Jessie Lee. In usual Bear Family fashion, they moved the better songs up front and the lesser known (gospel numbers) in the back. Not Now Music took the five best Buck Griffin songs and put them on the Essential Rockabilly MGM Story a few years ago. Griffin showed a Hank Williams side but perhaps a bit too Southern. MGM did managed to pick his best sides for distribution. Bear Family covers the Lin/MGM-Metro/Holiday Inn sides, to which collectors are still looking for those rare 45s.
George Hamilton IV has been poorly represented on CD, not even a Country Legend series from Sony Music has been attempted. Abilene, the album made it to a Collectibles cd but Jasmine compiles the ABC Paramount sides (most of them) and three albums directed to the teen idol kiddies, but Hamilton wanted to do more country and after his ABC contract lapsed, he moved to RCA and made his best songs there. The Don Costa produced and arranged songs are Paul Anka like and a bit wooden at times (Jasmine opted for the RCA version of If You Don't Know I Ain't Gonna Tell You, to which George lobbied hard for the plug side, ABC went with A Rose And A Baby Ruth. Disc 1 has the ABC hits, tho If I Had A Printing Press is one of the songs that Hamilton didn't care much for, Even Tho' was left off for some reason. I Know Where I'm Going gives more time and thought to the ABC teen idol years but look closely and some of the songs are written by John D Loundermilk, to which he and George would have a long career together with some of the finer songs written by Loudermilk. The Hank Williams tribute album is the last ABC album and Costa is in charge of the production, the next album To You And Yours is the first RCA release and Chet Atkins takes over. Hamilton would later discover and cover Gordon Lightfoot but that's a different time. Maybe then some label will chance it and reissue those classic country/folk numbers, tho Sony/BMG did a half assed best of on a hard to find CD.
For the first time since 2012 RAGBRAI is coming through these neck of the woods. The riders are stopping through Anamosa tonight but some adventurous riders have found their way through my town and Waubeek and Stone City. For today, my friends Meinfield are playing their last show in Stone City before they move to Utah next month. It's sad that we'll never get together again and play The Weight one more time but I will miss Brenda and Greg and wish them happy journeys together. Hudson/Overly played later in the afternoon and the evening will be capped off by Wooden Nickel Lottery. But I noticed a lot of bikers were going west, probably to FB Company in Waubeek. Which I'm sure there'll be somebody there to play as well. Or they can hi tail it back to Anamosa later on. But the sudden influx of bikers going west was very noticeable.
Death usually comes in threes it seems and we lost Mike Rowe (Metal Church), Joey Jordinson (Slipknot/Murderdolls) and Dusty Hill (Z Z Top) in the past week. Rowe was the legendary voice of Metal Church, Joey was one of the fastest double bass petal speed manics ever and perhaps that might have been cause for his demise at age 46. For 50 years, Z Z Top had a stable lineup of Hill, Billy F Gibbons and Frank Beard, till Hill had to take time off to recover from a injury to which he went to bed on Monday night and moved on from life. Z Z Top's of the 1970s were classic Texas blues and rock and roll boogie, starting with Tres Hombres, Fandango and Tejas as the classic trio albums. (First album and Rio Grande Mud are very good as well). I always loved the weirdness of their music, Fandango is a text book on bar band music and El Loco, their most underrated album. 1983, Eliminator ushered in a new era of MTV video as ZZ Top updated their music, that album is still fun to hear, tho you can't escape Gimme All Your Lovin and Sharp Dressed Man on Corporate Crap Radio. Highlight is Hill's slapping bass on Thug, which is worth the price of having that record in your collection. The light begin to fade on Afterburner and Recycler and perhaps the RCA years was when they bogged down (Rhythmeen remains their best at that time). Hill's passing marks an end to a trio that stuck it out for five decades. We will miss you Dusty.
It is the end of July and the Chicago Cubs find themselves 10 and a half games out of first place and each passing day is one less day to watch them not hit or pitch, Joey Votto has hit two HR in the first three games for the Reds. The ongoing feud with King Kong Garrett and El K Baez reared its ugly head again when Baez, jawing away at the OO OO man and one pitch later delivered the game winning hit, to which Baez, taunted and laughed at Garrett while walking all the way to first. Needless to say Garrett wasn't too happy, but he got his revenge the next night, as did Votto hitting two more HRs off Azolay, the overrated Cubs rookie pitcher and another two Wed night against Zac Davies and glass arm Cody Abbott, who hasn't done jack shit except give up walks and shots into the Wrigley seats. The past two months we continue to hear about the team being breaking up by the trade deadline but so far Joc Pederson and Andrew Clafin are the only ones traded away, Chafin was traded for a promising first baseman and another shit pitcher with a 0-2 6-97 ERA. I'm sure we'll keep an eye up this week to see who finally leaves or if we get anybody in return. Bryce Ball, should fit in well with the Cub hitters that love to strike out in record fashion.
And Anthony Rizzo got traded to the Yankoffs for duct tape. Ricketts sucks as owner, Hoyer is just as bad as GM. Bryant went to San Francisco. Baez took Trevor Williams with him to the fucking Mets, Krimbel joins Ryan Tejara at crosstown rival Chicago White Sox and just in time for the crosstown series. Jake Marinick is a Padre. Some of the people received have had Tommy John surgery (one twice) or is out for the season. The dark ages has begin. To which the depleted Washington Nats defeated the Cubs and the return of Jake Arrieta 4-3, tho Jake pitched four so so innings..
The Goodwill Pick and Save actually some CDs of note, tho why I wanted to hear MC Hammer going gangsta with the forgotten Funky Headhunter, I could have donated the 22 cents for Goodwill training. To which the bossy clerk scolded me for not wearing gloves when I came inside. The Hootie And The Blowfish on Cassette was a novelty I couldn't pass up for 15 cents. The Styx, Love n Rockets and perhaps John Parr might be given to my girlfriend to build up her CD collection. Somehow I was compelled to give the bossy clerk my 23 cents for Goodwill training. If it was a quarter or more, I would have asked for change.
Five star mud game: Washington 16 Philadelphia 10 (Franklin Field 11/10/68) Philadelphia PA
The Eagles of the Joe Kunchinich era had the best uniforms but the most uneven teams. They were 9 and 5 in 1966 and lost to the Baltimore Colts in the Playoff (or as Lombardi called it, the Shit Bowl) and great things were expected. 1967 they never got it going and in 1968, they were stinking up the league. They had a few hard luck losses, a 6 to 3 loss to Pitt, and 7-6 New York victory. But on a windy and rainy day in Philly, The Eagles failed again. Sam Baker missed 2 FGs, Norm Snead had two picks and Ben Hawkins scored the only touchdown. Franklin Field was one of the better stadiums but the chewed up field turned into a mighty muddy mess that probably caused Baker's two FGs to go elsewhere. In the running for OJ Simpson, Philly won two games, including the 12-0 Thanksgiving mudbath in Detroit and a 29-17 romp past New Orleans, but Minnesota got the last laugh, whopping them 24-17 in the infamous "let's boo Santa Claus" game which would be the last game on grass in Franklin Field before they became the first NFL stadium to go Artificial Turf. Which ushered in a new era of foorball. The Astro Turf, looked nice, but players complained it was like playing on concrete. To which they had a point, since you had a 1/4 of plastic carpet on concrete. And the new Eagles uniform for 1969 looked as cheap as that Astro turf.
Record Reviews.
Los Lobos-Native Sons (New West 2021)
In this day and age, I don't pay attention to new music and new bands anymore. There's some great ones out there and yes I need to check out the latest from Too Much Joy, however the Weezer Ok Human hasn't been played yet and I had it for a couple weeks now. The first new Los Lobos album in seven years is their tribute to the LA bands that influenced them. The title track is the only original that they did and it's a keeper. Farmer John is fun (tho Crazy Horse's drunken version is the better take) but they bring a dark overtone to Bluebird/For What Its Worth that Buffalo Springfield is done proud and The World Is A Ghetto is jamtastic. Per usual, it's still a family band (David Hidalgo Jr, basically replaced Bugs Gonzalez in the studio on drums, but is quite good since he did play for Social Distortion at one time). Los Lobos, fifty years onward still make great albums. This one is no exception.
A-
Various: Crimestoppers (Rhino 2000)
I'm a sucker for compilations that are based on concepts of TV shows or movies. Back in 2000, Rhino quietly issued a Cd of various private eye shows and alas, has to rely on old TV scores (Cannon, Hart To Hart) that renders this nothing more than what TVT would put out for TV themes back in the 1990s. And how could you forget the Dragnet theme? Unless Rhino didn't seem to give Capitol records a piece of the action with Ray Anthony's version of that, this gets docked a notch. It's not all a waste, Peter Gunn is the original Henry Mancini version (probably the hardest theme Henry ever came up with), Hawaiian Eye has a catchy hook, and even Mike Post's Rockford Files Theme and Magnan PI makes sense. And Lalo Schitfin's Mannix theme is jazzy. Then again we are missing The Streets Of San Francisco, The Saint, Ironside or I Spy. Back then, private eye shows always had the best jazzy type of sound to make the show memorable. And probably better than the shows themselves (Checkmate)
B
John Parr-Running The Endless Mile (Atlantic 1986)
Ain't it amazing that the so called cutting edge music of the 1980s has dated much more badly than disco or bubblegum or big garage revival of 2001 (yea, the Strokes really really threw the wool over our eyes)? Parr's first album had Naughty Naughty and a barrage of bubblegum rock that could challenge Foreigner. His second album for Atlantic, Parr goes all in on the Casio keyboard schist and plastic intimation sounds of guitar and sax, that this could be laughable had the songs didn't have any hooks. King Of Lies, Scratch, Do It Again and Blame It On The Radio are quite good, Parr knows a good hook and he can sing in a Lou Grimm type of voice. While the album didn't do as well as his first, Atlantic cut ties with him. It's a period piece for sure and you can live without this, but there's a fascination that makes this worth hearing a couple more times before donating it back to Goodwill and let somebody enjoy this relic.
B-
K T Oslin-80's Ladies (RCA 1988)
She never really was country. She was more pop than country, maybe a eye for show tunes. Phoebe Snow is more in terms what Oslin was, or in my opinion Melissa Manchester. Listening to her overview Songs From An Aging Sex Bomb was more wishful thinking, she was too feminist to be pin up and she was in her 40's when she made the big time. She had her own voice which was welcomed in the country field but then again she did load up on the balladry on side two of 80s Ladies. She could rock when she felt like it (which wasn't too often) but Wall Of Tears is a nice lead off and Do Ya so so. I like Melissa Manchester about the same as K T but then again if I wanted to listen to Melissa, I would put on her greatest hits. As with K T, Songs From An Aging Sex Bomb would be my go to album but I need to get that back from my girlfriend before she donates it back to Goodwill.
B-
Ars Nova-Sunshine And Shadows (Atlantic 1969)
Psychedelic music can be fun in so many ways, fifty years after the fact that most of it is cheesy and the expiration date expired a long time ago. 13th Floor Elevators made great psychedelic albums (their first) and Iron Butterfly came close (Heavy, and In Da Gadda Da Vida) but Ars Nova is hit and miss. In fact I'm not sure what they want to be. The best tracks found their way to an Atlantic 45 that I still have, including the 6 minute Walk On The Sand which explores their inner Blues Project. But there's a maddening of crappy horn pop, that puts them in Lighthouse territory (Rubbish) or Please Don't Go Now, which sounds like New Vaudeville Band. Not everything that came out of the 60s from obscure bands are worth hearing. This is one of them
C
