Saturday and it was time to do the bargain hunts of this weekend. Back to Davenport. Not a lot of finds tho. However, I bought three new CDs at CO OP and waved going past my significant other as she played the downtown bar. For some reason I thought that I would find some sort of 45's, and only came up with Soul Searching Time from the Trammps (Atlantic 3345 1976). There were three stacks of scratched up and broken 45s, to which well worn copies of Albert King's Don't Throw Your Love On So Strong and a bunch of ABC Paramount B B King 45s with the labels worn to the point you couldn't tell what song was on the label. I had thoughts bout Madison but chose to go to the QC and find music there.
It was a beautiful day but the clipper front tore through and temps went down to freezing and 28 degrees when I left the QC. I thought about going to the Gypsy Highway for supper but they had a cover charge and a band was playing so I opted for Ganzo's
CDs Found
Deep Purple-Turning To Crime
The Darkness-Motorheart
Avey Grouws Band-The Devil May Care
B B King-Live at San Quentin
Best of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Neil Diamond-I'm Glad You Are Here With Me Tonight
John Denver Greatest Hits
Seals and Croft-Summer Breeze
George Strait-22 More Hits
Third World-Journey To Addis
Buddy Guy-The Best There Is
The Best Of The Riviera's-California Sun
Stuff Etc in Davenport had four noted 99 cent specials, (John Denver, Seals And Crofts, George Strait and the Rivieras), the latter being the best of the batch. Goodwill in Bettendorf had BB King, Marvin and Tami, Buddy Guy and Neil Diamond but they also had some classics from Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield and Gladys Knight and The Pips, the guess somebody who had these probably had the 45s. The Buddy Guy is a Vanguard best of, that cherry picks his songs from that label. The Third World came from Goodwill Moline and is a bit harder to find than 98 In The Shade. The Devil May Care is the first Avey Grouws album and CO OP had it for 20 dollars. Since they are a local band, it made sense to support them. In the long run, Seals And Croft and John Denver made great singles but their albums were spotty. While everybody in 1975 might have had JD Greatest Hits, I only find this worthy of Take Me Home, Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High and Leaving On A Jet Plane, Mercury's scraping of Denver's songs on Beginnings were better. But in terms of theory, Denver bores me. Summer Breeze, despite the title track, is an album that haven't aged very well. Advance Guards and Red Dirt does end the album on a up note. Diamond's I'm Glad Youre Here With Me Tonight shows Neil going toward MOR with Bob Gaudio dragging him down. He's no longer a rocker despite Desiree being the closest thing to rock and roll and Dance Of The Sabres is goofy. At this point, this is the good stopping point for those who prefer their Neil with 3 chord pop and rock. The Riverias will be forever known for California Sun, a early surf/garage rock classic and this best of shows them doing so so remakes of hits such as Slippin And Sliding, Oh Boy, Tossin' and Turning, but the throwaway HB Goose Step is a fond memory of Johnny And The Hurricanes without the sax. In other words, a good cover band with a great one hit cover.
Nevertheless, I noticed the CD section at all Goodwill stores are low on inventory. And the Salvation Army bargain store had nothing of note either. New releases are now in the dreaded softpak, which is worse than the GD digipak but since the Major labels are cheap and CDs are imported from Mexico or Czech Republic. DADC, the go to for CD making are now history, or perhaps they moved it to Mexico in typical cost cutting and CEO getting more money for doing less. Stuff Etc in town has quit selling CDs, and Iowa City and DBQ are hit and miss like the QC. I'm not sure if having 22 more Strait Hits is cost effective, or Neil Diamond's 1977 album but for 99 cents, they make a nice dust collector.
The battery in the CD discman died, but we had free XM Sirius Radio so I got to hear the usual Bruce Springsteen songs in each and every channel, Dwight Yoakum's Bakersfield Radio took over Prime Country, which was nice to hear two obscure Rick Nelson songs from the late 60s but a tad too much of Dwight and not enough Buck Owens. They moved the channels around so the fifties and sixties channels got moved to the 70 slot on the radio. I could care less about the Led Zeppelin IV weekend, (we took care of that, playing it sometime in October) and it's strange to hear Slow Ride on Ozzy's Boneyard. In other words, it was a nice free weekend but I'm not about to pony up to renew satellite radio.
As expected former News anchor Tiffany O Donnell defeated Amada Andrews by a margin of 62 percent to Andrews 34 percent. Thus proving Cedar Rapids people are as stupid as they are. Guess they like prickly right wing newcasters in goverment.
This weekend was the big week of college football and Iowa had to win and hope that Michigan and Minnesota would win their games. Lo and behold, both teams did. Even with a one loss season, Michigan HAD to beat Ohio State, Michigan hadn't defeated the Buckeyes since my EX, the brat was with me and five straight losses, I knew Jim Harbaugh wanted to defeat the damned Buckeyes. And they won 42-27 at Ann Arbor today. Hassan Hawkins scored a record five touchdowns and Aidan Hutchinson made CJ Stroud's day a living hell, sacking him three times. Hawkins had 169 yards rushing too. After striking out five times, Harbaugh and company hit a Home Run, A Grand Slam so to speak. The cloud has disappeared in Ann Arbor
The other game of note, was Minnesota. The Gophers didn't get Floyd of Rosedale again, but they got Paul Bunyan's Axe and chopped Wisconsin 23-13 in a game up in Minneapolis, and chopped the Badgers out of the Championship game. To which Iowa can thank both Michigan and Minnesota for winning their games. And Nebraska for being generous enough to fade in the forth quarter. The Gophers came close. But in the end. the stars aligned just right for Iowa. For their reward, they get Michigan for the Championship.
Finally The Governor's Cup in Arizona. and Arizona State kept the cup again, winning 38-15 in Tempe Saturday. Jack Jones dominating the game and had a 87 yard pick six to the house. ASU goes 8-4 and Herman Edwards will be back next season. The Sun Devils have won five straight against Arizona. The Wildcats end up 1-11.
Coaching surprises galore: Chip Kelly bolts Norte Dame to turn around LSU and Lincoln Riley goes to USC from Oklahoma. Which means Matt Campbell will be hotly mentioned to take over the Irish, or Gary Fickel who turned Cincinnati into a final four playoff team. Iowa State had a disappointing year, so perhaps a change of scenery might do him good.
Passing's: Curley Culp, HOF DT for the KC Chiefs and later Houston passed away Saturday from cancer, He was 75. Culp was part of the stone wall KC Chief defense that pummeled Joe Kapp and the Minnesota Vikings on Super Bowl 4 23-7.
Erik Marshall, drummer for the Meekats and Surf Zombies passed from a undisclosed illness. He joins Kyle Oyloe in the great beyond.
Five star mud game; One For Curly Culp
Kansas City 23 Minnesota 7 (Tulane Stadium; NO LA)
Super Bowl 4
65 power toss trap muthafucka. The end of the game for the Vikings who dominated the NFL all season. Destroyed Cleveland twice, made a shambles out of Baltimore, then threw snowballs at the Lions on Thanksgiving game. Who would thought that Kansas City would have a snowball's chance in hell? Well, Kansas City begged to differ, and although Hank Stram became the first reality star on the Super Bowl 4 game, when they mike d him up, Kansas City has a defense which was as tough or even more tougher than the Purple People Eaters. Kansas City's frustration of not beating the Oakland Raiders carried them into the playoff, to which afterward, the Chiefs outshined the Raiders 17-7 to get to the super bowl. Granted Kansas City in the first SB was outclassed in the second half but in the first half held their own. This time out, the Chiefs made it clear they would not going to lose this game. At that time, Ed Pololak was still taking notes on the sidelines, leaving Mike Garrett and Robert Homes to rush the 65 power toss trap. Nevertheless the Vikings were jinxed when Charlie West fumbled the kick and the Chiefs recovered leading to the Garrett touchdown. The big story was Kansas City D, holding the Vikings down to 24 rushing yards in the first half and battering Joe Kapp to the point that he had to leave in Gary Cruzzo who would throw a pass to Emmit Thomas to end the game and Kansas City first SB victory. The Chiefs D, lead by Curly Culp, Buck Buchanan, Aaron Thomas and Jerry Mays destroyed the Vikings Offense all game. In the end, perhaps while the Vikings are credited for winning the NFL final championship, they were outclassed by Kansas City, 65 power toss trap or not.
CD Reviews:
Deep Purple-Turning To Crime (Ear/Edel 2021)
Cover albums are hit and miss. Sometimes, they serve a purpose of discovering forgotten music, which may be worth seeking out (see Plant/Krauss) or they serve a contractual obligation that might be fun but on repeated listens are no different than your local average bar band (see Ozzy or Queenscrye) Deep Purple has been quite busy of late, recently issuing Whooosh, an plesantly forgotten studio album and now deciding to revisit classic rock and soul, and getting mixed results. I'm not sure if covering 7 and 7 is suits them well, or Shapes Of Things. They do give justice to Dixie Chicken and managed to find a obscure Bob Segar song Lucifer and the Caught In The Act Medley, perhaps they should have gone all in on Green Onions or even Dazed And Confused. Battle Of New Orleans is fun. But for a busman's holiday, Turning To Crime is a album you won't remember much by. Take it as a covers album that will amuse you a couple times before filing it away for good
B
Willie Nelson-Family (Legacy 2021)
Amazing to see Willie continuing to put out two to three albums per year as he closes in the backside of 80, and putting together a half hour's worth of inspirational music and most of these songs Willie has covered in previous forms. It's a bittersweet album, the final one to feature Paul English's last recordings before he passed on. As with other inspirational albums, like the Troublemaker, Willie can be the best in gospel music. Bobbie, Willie's sister and guidance, helps songs like I saw the light and In God's Way to be required listening. As close to a family gathering as it gets.
A-
Vince Gill-Pocket Full Of Gold (MCA 1991)
Gill is one of the nicest guys and a hell of a guitar player but I have found his albums to be quite boring and not exactly rocking. His love of ballads may be one reason but upon hearing this album of 30 years ago, the verdict is the same, not enough uptempo stuff, too many ballads. The bar favorite Liza Jane is the highlight and it would have been fun to hear Albert Lee play on this. Other songs that kept my attention was side opening I Quit and side closer Sparkle which despite some corny lyrics end the record on a better note.
B-
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss-Raise The Roof (Rounder 2021)
The first album was a bit more hyped up than usual but it did kick start Plant's career. And to be honest, was more enjoyable than the Page/Plant 1990s get together. Raise The Roof is slightly better and the reworking of The Price Of Love turns the song inside out. Searching For My Love turns Bobby Moore's song into a more bluesy torch ballad. And hearing Can't Let Go, I had to research who did song, since it sounded more familiar and my old band used to play it. Lucinda Williams is the answer. Krauss's country honky tonk songs tend to be minor, Hank Williams better than the Merle Haggard cover. And perhaps some of the songs could have used a fader at the end, John Henry Burnett deciding to ride the groove out. MVP: Jay Bellerose, who adds just enough color to the songs with his drum work.
A-
Best Of Arlo Guthrie (Warner Bros 1978)
Arlo made an impression with Alice Restaurant Massacree, to which he would have four more minutes in 1996 and made that the essential version of song. The Motorcycle Song was done better in that forgettable live document with Pete Seeger and then Coming Into Los Angeles another fine song. And of course, making Steve Goodman a bit more richer with City Of New Orleans. Alice's Restaurant is now a Thanksgiving staple, still fun to hear once in a while in the proper moment. This best of, doesn't hold much argument about the best songs from Arlo, the second album after Alice's Restaurant is classic, Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys not so much and perhaps Amigos is worth your time. For a cherry picked best of. It falls short.
B
Oh, Michigan destroyed Iowa 42 to 3 in the championship. Iowa fucks up again on the major stage again. Nobody is going to take them seriously, until Kurt Fararnez and his half wit son leave.
Alabama being the darling of the college football elite, are back at the number 1 position, despite Michigan blowing out Iowa and that they didn't want to repeat a get together with Georgia, which should have had happen. Cincinnati remains at number 3 and still disrespected by the CFB. All Cincinnati has to do is beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. Michigan will have to dispose of Georgia in the Orange Bowl.
For looking like shit, Iowa will go Citrus and face Kentucky for a New Year's Bowl game in Orlando. Arizona State will face Wisconsin in the Las Vegas Bowl December 30th. The other florida bowl is Iowa State and Clemson. I don't think there's left to say about this. We never know who the contender or pretender will be. In the case of Iowa, what was supposed to be a dream season turned out to be yet another disaster when it came against playing the other team and the championship. It's obvilous to everybody, Kurt Ferenez can not win the big game.
For the first time ever, no new rock and roll records made it to the Billboard top 100. Rock is dead.
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