I just want to take the time to say thank you to my cult following and the word must be getting spread out since I noticed that I am getting a bigger spike in readership. I'm sure there must be a word of mouth going on at there at the Remroom in Russia or those who clicked on the link at Drew's Odds And Sods and Funderglass I think everybody for at least checking out to see what's going down in the music world from an old music bluff who likes his tunes from the last 6 decades out there.
It used to be back in the old days that if you searched for an album or Cd you have to go take your chances at the local music store, before the internet came and made it much easier to find that obscure single or album. Case in point: in 1975 I looked over God's Green Acre for a copy of Katfish Dear Prudence and didn't find one till a 1982 trip to a AZ record store finally found a scratched up DJ copy. Now you can hear it via You Tube. The internet is a wonderful thing unless you own a record store and striving to stay alive, then it's not so great. Living in this town if I want a cd than I have to hope that Wally World or Best Buy or Target has it. Or hopefully if Half Priced Books has a copy, otherwise I have to order it from the web since gas prices are now over three bucks a gallon and driving to the better stores take at least a half tank of gas.
As we begin our 7th decade of rock and roll, I don't have much hope for the new bands out there but there's still enough of the old music yet to be discovered so I don't think there'll ever be a shortage of music. If you haven't heard it, it's new to you. True I have enough music in my collection to last a couple years all told but it's hard to break a habit of going to Goodwill or HP Books to see what they have in the buck bins. And sometimes I do find interesting artifacts. And sometimes I'll share them with my GF to see what she thinks of them.
When I started blogging in 2003, the rules were like they are today: comment on music, make a top ten and see if anybody cares or follows. And so far, I don't have the high ratings nor X rated commentary of some of them. Nor use the 20 dollar words that Robert Christgau uses for his reviews but basically this comes from the mind of myself. Sometimes I get a reaction from some of the readers if I make a bash of some band on a song that matters. The fact is that what I write comes from my perspective and if those who disagree or want to start arguments are advised to start their own site if they don't like what they read. I love reading reviews from the likes of Christgau or Mark Prindle or the fools at Rolling Stone or SPIN, doesn't mean I agree with them all the time but sometimes I'm convinced to buy a 4 star album from the sources and see if I agree with them or not. But more often I come to conclude that Prindle is right a lot more than the Pitchfork or Rolling Stones fools.
I don't take a lotta stock in what I hear for new rock or modern rock anymore. I think the country artists of today have a bit more lasting value but I still remain very choicey in what to get. And sometimes I can be wrong in first assuming. Miranda Lambert is that one singer songwriter that I misjudged; thought she was another beautiful blonde just in there for looks but on a second listen and hearing Kerosene the first time, realized that this woman had substance in her songwriting and rooted for her to succeed in making it in Nashville. She certainly has gone further than the winner that Nashville Star season she was part on, Buddy Jewell. Whereas Jewell disappeared after two albums, Lambert has gotten more and more better following. And she remains more down to earth, unlike others I will not name. It's funny how five years ago Gretchen Wilson was on top of Nashville, now it seems like Wilson is a afterthought, and it's too bad. She actually made a very good album last year that nobody bought. And Wilson does wail away on her version of Barracuda, that old 1977 hit for Heart that you can hear on Gretchen's Greatest Hits.
This site, I don't expect to be in the top 10 or 100 or even 1000 in the rating list at Blogspot. It's basically another website for me to document what I'm hearing or what is going on at the time. I rarely toot my own horn on other sites, sometimes I will report the link at Twitter just to see how many who actually reads the stuff but so far 144 hits on the Best of 2010 link and better than average ratings on the last couple blogs encourages me to keep blogging and keep writing bout the obscure song or band, or sticking an overplayed number on the top ten. But with 28 reads on my last top ten blog and 18 on yesterday's posting of the Lost Decade albums shows that there is an audience that reads them. Somebody actually keyed in Fresh Air, the 1973 country rock band that made one album for Columbia so I'm not the only one out there that remembers this band, so it's a good thing to talk about a band that is barely remembered in this day and age.
So we'll see where this leads and what the next top ten will be. I have been listening to a lot more music lately and it will show on the next top ten. I can't say if we'll get more people to read this, or they will get bored and move on to something other. People do have short attention spans nowadays, but I'm sure I'll still be blogging about something that tickles my fancy. It's what I do best. I think.
Thanks for your support.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The last lost Decade. Some albums of the 00's of note.
Let's face it folks, the last decade was really a lost cause in terms of classic albums. With the major labels either investing their hard earned money on government lobbying and the RIAA or giving us flavor of the week autotuned rap garbage, the rock and roller growing up on radio and album rock was left out in the cold.
The last decade gave us the MP3, the LOUD CD, the Copy protect cd, Pro Tools and Auto Tuner but for memorable music, not a lot was heard through all that compressed loud sound. True I bought the Coldplay albums but don't really play them that much. I never did jump on the Radiohead band wagon, I still think Kid A is the most overrated album this side of Is This It by The Strokes. Basically the last decade didn't have an Nirvana, or a Metallica or a Led Zeppelin or Beatles to give it it's own personality. Basically all we got was fragments of what could have been. The last decade also showed MTV and VH1 devoting their time and energy to crap reality shows that nobody in their right minds would have watched. So the only outlet to hear new music was either NPR or from the web. The up and coming bands that Pitchfork or SPIN touted didn't do much for me. I tried to hear what's the next big thing but end in the process got bored with it all. The Grizzly Bear album I heard one good song at Best Buy and bought that, only to find that song was the only decent thing on that album. The Fleet Foxes copied that CSN vocal sound pretty good but it all did was make me go back to the original source.
So what stood out from the last decade here? Let's see.
1. Childish Things-James McMurtry 2006 I'm thinking Just Us Kids was the better album but no song best described the chaos and anger of the decade with We Can't Make It Here which was J.M's retort against the so called Bush policies of that time. And that song still sounds vital two years into the Obama era. McMurtry was on Columbia for most of the 90s with a little help from John Mellencamp but he didn't start making the classic stuff till he moved on to Sugar Hill. If this was the 60's McMurtry might be known as well as Bob Dylan. James would deny this but he is the best protest singer of the 00's, if you don't believe me then look up Cheney's Toy on Just Us Kids for proof. But Childish Things was the more consistent effort.
2. The Stabilisers-Wanna Do The Wild Plastic Brane Love Thing 2007 When Little Steven partnered with Best Buy with his Wicked Cool project albums and bands, I signed on. The dude from E Street Band and The Sopranos had a deep love for the garage rock music of the 60s but still was open minded to hear the latest bands that wouldn't be suitable for the major labels. In fact the best way to hear Little Steven's bands is to check out The Coolest Songs In The World Series (Volume 1 remains the best). And he did put out albums from the likes of Chesterfield Kings, Hawaiian Mud Bombers, The Len Price 3 and The Stabilisers, a UK band that has one part Buzzcocks, one part Sex Pistols and one part MC5 to make a very fine and listenable punk album of 2007 to which I included as the best of that year. Sad to say that the partnership with Best Buy didn't work out and I'm sure the major labels will not even consider releasing this album. Still, the record is worth seeking out for She's A Goth to which this band outrocks The Cramps.
3. The Randy Cliffs-Trixie's Trailer Sales 2003 There's plenty of albums out there that fell under the rader and way under the watchful eye of Billboard or Pitchfork and this band was so much of a local favorite that by the time I got a copy of this album, The Randy Cliffs broke up and then reunited for a couple nights and broke up again. But this is in the spirit of Uncle Tupelo or The Bottlerockets. Meaning three chord guitars turned up and band drunk on PBR and too much smokes make it what it is. It's barstool rock and roll and not for the autotuner rappers out there. It's one of those albums that I brought for a dollar last summer and ended up playing it three times in a row in a single setting. In every decade there's always a band like The Randy Cliffs playing somewhere in a garage and one of the reasons that give me hope for the next decade that some band is playing three chord rowdy roadhouse rock.
4. The Darkness-Permission To Land (edited version) 2003 In terms of hype The Strokes were the most hype, promising us back to basics rock and roll but The Darkness was a close runner up with their over the top rock and Justin Hawkins's vocals that recall Freddie Mercury and probably influencing Adam Lambert in the process. Funny how our radio station was praising The Darkness as the up and coming rock and roll saviors but then slamming them all over the place when the record bombed. Gotta love these back stabbing corporate rock stations eh? But what The Darkness did do was make rock music that was fun again, that I don't think they took themselves that seriously. If they did then they would have not made a G rated version of this record and replaced the F bomb with like sounding catch phases (That Dog Don't Give A Duck) or replacing the C word with another C word (coconut). This does echo the pompous of the late 70s and what Queen was famous for but on the other hand they knew their AC DC chords too. You do see the original F bomb album around in the dollar bins but try to find the hilarious edited version to which they even fuzz out the naked model on front.
5. Delta Moon-Clear Blue Flame 2007 Tom Gray used to be the keyboard playing lead singer for The Brains back in the 80s but after they broke up he picked up a steel guitar and learned to play and also was rediscovered the blues and formed Delta Moon around 2000 (which had the late great Charles Wolff of The Brains on drums). First three albums he had a female singer to provide counterpoint but after Moanin, decided to just sing the songs himself. It's a tossup to which DM would be the best of the decade (Hellbound Train and Going Back Home are just as good) but I decided to go with this album which does include Money Changes Everything done in a bluesier way. Delta moon reminds me also of Creedence Clearwater Revival around the Green River time. This wouldn't sound out of place on John Fogerty albums, in fact I think Tom Gray has done a better job than John has on his last couple efforts. That's saying something.
6. The Townedgers-Pawnshops For Olivia 2008 The second decade of TE rock showed a shift more over toward acoustic rock than the electric feedback of There's Nothing Left (2000) or the power pop goodness of 2002's The Road Less Traveled by the time this album came out the bitterness of broken love and failed relationships almost got the best of Rodney Smith and this record was the result of cleaning out the emotional closet that was his personal life. The interesting part was that much of the recording was taken place during the infamous spring floods to which after recording, the band would go downstairs and try to dry out the basement. And then after the release, the massive 31 foot flood of Cedar Rapids came and damn near destroyed the town. The record remains a powerful statement about love and loss but perhaps the telling part of the album is the final track Behind The Sun. As one relationship dies another begins.
7. Bob Dylan-Love & Theft 2001 While there's good argument that Modern Times was the better of the two, I enjoyed this one a lot more since Bob was in a great playful mood on this record and even if he didn't consider Bush & Cheney to be Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, no other song could sum up the years of Bush & Cheney than that song. Then again Dylan had a great backing band with him too. My opinion this record was his best since 1975's Blood On The Tracks and he still plays a lot of these songs off L&T in concert to this day. That accounts for something.
8. Miranda Lambert-Crazy Ex Girlfriend 2007 While I'm glad that the CMA and Country Music in particular is finally recognizing what this little Texas firecracker did on her Revolution album, they should have acknowledged her on this rough and tumble album. She was part of the Nashville Star show that gave us the big winner Buddy Jewell. But while Buddy made two bland albums for Columbia and disappeared, Miranda made three albums of tough than leather but gentle as a summer breeze songwriting and good country and good rock and roll. In fact Miranda is more rock than country in my estimation and when she gave Steve Earle songwriting credit on her Kerosene song it was clear that she was the real deal. Revolution is still in the BB top 200 and though it's good, Crazy Ex Girlfriend is her classic.
9. Radio Moscow 2007 Budgie/Blue Cheer/Black Sabbath late 60's Psychedelic rock from Story City/Ames Iowa that got released on Alive Records which was home to The Black Keys. And Dan Auerback produced this debut. Parker Griggs is the mastermind of this and I'm certain he must have listened to his dad's music collection to get this vibe. One of the early few of My Space bands that I got floored away by this type of tunes that reminds me of Black Sabbath debut and Budgie's debut. Great debut although the followup album lacked that black magic that made the first such a treat to listen to.
10. Killing Joke-Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell 2006 Before the original guys got back together, they made a one off with Dave Grohl in their S/T 2003 pounding on the drums and then made this 70 minute slab of death metal rock and roll. The Light Bringer goes for 8 plus minutes and never lets up. Killing Joke may have made their two best albums ever in the lost decade, and that was before Youth and Paul Ferguson rejoined. Their latest wasn't bad but it's hard to top this one.
Other albums of note from the lost decade.
REM-Accelerate 2008
Jason & The Scorchers-Halcyon Times 2010
Long-View-Mercury 2003
Them Crooked Vultures 2009
Idlewild-Make Another World 2007
The White Stripes-Elephant 2003
Loretta Lynn-Van Leer Rose 2004
Band Of Bees-Free The Bees 2005
Porcupine Tree-The Incident 2009
Black Stone Cherry-Folklore & Superstition 2008
Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit 2006
Secret Machines-Now Here Is Nowhere 2004
Warren Zevon-The Wind 2003
Teddy Thompson-A Piece Of What You Need 2008
Neil Young-Chrome Dreams 2 2007
Len Price 3-Rentacrowd 2007
The Coolest Songs In The World Volume 1-2007
Alejandro Escovedo-Street Songs Of Love 2010
Wire-Send 2003
Ray Scott-My Kind Of Country 2005
Oasis-Don't Believe The Truth 2005
The last decade gave us the MP3, the LOUD CD, the Copy protect cd, Pro Tools and Auto Tuner but for memorable music, not a lot was heard through all that compressed loud sound. True I bought the Coldplay albums but don't really play them that much. I never did jump on the Radiohead band wagon, I still think Kid A is the most overrated album this side of Is This It by The Strokes. Basically the last decade didn't have an Nirvana, or a Metallica or a Led Zeppelin or Beatles to give it it's own personality. Basically all we got was fragments of what could have been. The last decade also showed MTV and VH1 devoting their time and energy to crap reality shows that nobody in their right minds would have watched. So the only outlet to hear new music was either NPR or from the web. The up and coming bands that Pitchfork or SPIN touted didn't do much for me. I tried to hear what's the next big thing but end in the process got bored with it all. The Grizzly Bear album I heard one good song at Best Buy and bought that, only to find that song was the only decent thing on that album. The Fleet Foxes copied that CSN vocal sound pretty good but it all did was make me go back to the original source.
So what stood out from the last decade here? Let's see.
1. Childish Things-James McMurtry 2006 I'm thinking Just Us Kids was the better album but no song best described the chaos and anger of the decade with We Can't Make It Here which was J.M's retort against the so called Bush policies of that time. And that song still sounds vital two years into the Obama era. McMurtry was on Columbia for most of the 90s with a little help from John Mellencamp but he didn't start making the classic stuff till he moved on to Sugar Hill. If this was the 60's McMurtry might be known as well as Bob Dylan. James would deny this but he is the best protest singer of the 00's, if you don't believe me then look up Cheney's Toy on Just Us Kids for proof. But Childish Things was the more consistent effort.
2. The Stabilisers-Wanna Do The Wild Plastic Brane Love Thing 2007 When Little Steven partnered with Best Buy with his Wicked Cool project albums and bands, I signed on. The dude from E Street Band and The Sopranos had a deep love for the garage rock music of the 60s but still was open minded to hear the latest bands that wouldn't be suitable for the major labels. In fact the best way to hear Little Steven's bands is to check out The Coolest Songs In The World Series (Volume 1 remains the best). And he did put out albums from the likes of Chesterfield Kings, Hawaiian Mud Bombers, The Len Price 3 and The Stabilisers, a UK band that has one part Buzzcocks, one part Sex Pistols and one part MC5 to make a very fine and listenable punk album of 2007 to which I included as the best of that year. Sad to say that the partnership with Best Buy didn't work out and I'm sure the major labels will not even consider releasing this album. Still, the record is worth seeking out for She's A Goth to which this band outrocks The Cramps.
3. The Randy Cliffs-Trixie's Trailer Sales 2003 There's plenty of albums out there that fell under the rader and way under the watchful eye of Billboard or Pitchfork and this band was so much of a local favorite that by the time I got a copy of this album, The Randy Cliffs broke up and then reunited for a couple nights and broke up again. But this is in the spirit of Uncle Tupelo or The Bottlerockets. Meaning three chord guitars turned up and band drunk on PBR and too much smokes make it what it is. It's barstool rock and roll and not for the autotuner rappers out there. It's one of those albums that I brought for a dollar last summer and ended up playing it three times in a row in a single setting. In every decade there's always a band like The Randy Cliffs playing somewhere in a garage and one of the reasons that give me hope for the next decade that some band is playing three chord rowdy roadhouse rock.
4. The Darkness-Permission To Land (edited version) 2003 In terms of hype The Strokes were the most hype, promising us back to basics rock and roll but The Darkness was a close runner up with their over the top rock and Justin Hawkins's vocals that recall Freddie Mercury and probably influencing Adam Lambert in the process. Funny how our radio station was praising The Darkness as the up and coming rock and roll saviors but then slamming them all over the place when the record bombed. Gotta love these back stabbing corporate rock stations eh? But what The Darkness did do was make rock music that was fun again, that I don't think they took themselves that seriously. If they did then they would have not made a G rated version of this record and replaced the F bomb with like sounding catch phases (That Dog Don't Give A Duck) or replacing the C word with another C word (coconut). This does echo the pompous of the late 70s and what Queen was famous for but on the other hand they knew their AC DC chords too. You do see the original F bomb album around in the dollar bins but try to find the hilarious edited version to which they even fuzz out the naked model on front.
5. Delta Moon-Clear Blue Flame 2007 Tom Gray used to be the keyboard playing lead singer for The Brains back in the 80s but after they broke up he picked up a steel guitar and learned to play and also was rediscovered the blues and formed Delta Moon around 2000 (which had the late great Charles Wolff of The Brains on drums). First three albums he had a female singer to provide counterpoint but after Moanin, decided to just sing the songs himself. It's a tossup to which DM would be the best of the decade (Hellbound Train and Going Back Home are just as good) but I decided to go with this album which does include Money Changes Everything done in a bluesier way. Delta moon reminds me also of Creedence Clearwater Revival around the Green River time. This wouldn't sound out of place on John Fogerty albums, in fact I think Tom Gray has done a better job than John has on his last couple efforts. That's saying something.
6. The Townedgers-Pawnshops For Olivia 2008 The second decade of TE rock showed a shift more over toward acoustic rock than the electric feedback of There's Nothing Left (2000) or the power pop goodness of 2002's The Road Less Traveled by the time this album came out the bitterness of broken love and failed relationships almost got the best of Rodney Smith and this record was the result of cleaning out the emotional closet that was his personal life. The interesting part was that much of the recording was taken place during the infamous spring floods to which after recording, the band would go downstairs and try to dry out the basement. And then after the release, the massive 31 foot flood of Cedar Rapids came and damn near destroyed the town. The record remains a powerful statement about love and loss but perhaps the telling part of the album is the final track Behind The Sun. As one relationship dies another begins.
7. Bob Dylan-Love & Theft 2001 While there's good argument that Modern Times was the better of the two, I enjoyed this one a lot more since Bob was in a great playful mood on this record and even if he didn't consider Bush & Cheney to be Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, no other song could sum up the years of Bush & Cheney than that song. Then again Dylan had a great backing band with him too. My opinion this record was his best since 1975's Blood On The Tracks and he still plays a lot of these songs off L&T in concert to this day. That accounts for something.
8. Miranda Lambert-Crazy Ex Girlfriend 2007 While I'm glad that the CMA and Country Music in particular is finally recognizing what this little Texas firecracker did on her Revolution album, they should have acknowledged her on this rough and tumble album. She was part of the Nashville Star show that gave us the big winner Buddy Jewell. But while Buddy made two bland albums for Columbia and disappeared, Miranda made three albums of tough than leather but gentle as a summer breeze songwriting and good country and good rock and roll. In fact Miranda is more rock than country in my estimation and when she gave Steve Earle songwriting credit on her Kerosene song it was clear that she was the real deal. Revolution is still in the BB top 200 and though it's good, Crazy Ex Girlfriend is her classic.
9. Radio Moscow 2007 Budgie/Blue Cheer/Black Sabbath late 60's Psychedelic rock from Story City/Ames Iowa that got released on Alive Records which was home to The Black Keys. And Dan Auerback produced this debut. Parker Griggs is the mastermind of this and I'm certain he must have listened to his dad's music collection to get this vibe. One of the early few of My Space bands that I got floored away by this type of tunes that reminds me of Black Sabbath debut and Budgie's debut. Great debut although the followup album lacked that black magic that made the first such a treat to listen to.
10. Killing Joke-Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell 2006 Before the original guys got back together, they made a one off with Dave Grohl in their S/T 2003 pounding on the drums and then made this 70 minute slab of death metal rock and roll. The Light Bringer goes for 8 plus minutes and never lets up. Killing Joke may have made their two best albums ever in the lost decade, and that was before Youth and Paul Ferguson rejoined. Their latest wasn't bad but it's hard to top this one.
Other albums of note from the lost decade.
REM-Accelerate 2008
Jason & The Scorchers-Halcyon Times 2010
Long-View-Mercury 2003
Them Crooked Vultures 2009
Idlewild-Make Another World 2007
The White Stripes-Elephant 2003
Loretta Lynn-Van Leer Rose 2004
Band Of Bees-Free The Bees 2005
Porcupine Tree-The Incident 2009
Black Stone Cherry-Folklore & Superstition 2008
Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit 2006
Secret Machines-Now Here Is Nowhere 2004
Warren Zevon-The Wind 2003
Teddy Thompson-A Piece Of What You Need 2008
Neil Young-Chrome Dreams 2 2007
Len Price 3-Rentacrowd 2007
The Coolest Songs In The World Volume 1-2007
Alejandro Escovedo-Street Songs Of Love 2010
Wire-Send 2003
Ray Scott-My Kind Of Country 2005
Oasis-Don't Believe The Truth 2005
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Top Ten Of The Year-Beginning Year Nine
In 2003, I got the bright idea of starting my very own blog and put 10 songs of note of what I listen to every week. It began in the old MSN Groups under Yardbird's Roost, then branched out to My Space for four years and then I moved it over here to Blogspot since My Space went down the shitter.
Basically, I have another site over at Multiply from time to time I'll add something to there but the membership there is pretty low, just like it is over here. I'm sure I could have been a contender and put together the best damn website of music out there but I keep it low key and made a note that it's here and kept going from the most loyal of fans, namely my GF and those who added the link to their site. The rules are simple here, I used to do news tidbits, add a observation here, more comments there and then add 10 songs that have been on my player or what I heard on the radio or at the local restaurant. It's usually ten songs that I like, although sometimes I will put a song I detest and bash it. For the most part 90 percent of what I choose are actually album cuts or forgotten songs that radio don't play but sometimes I will had a Listen To The Music or Takin Care Of Business if I did play it. Comments are welcome although they are monitored for content. Name calling gets no consideration. I don't mind a good discussion and sometimes we do get those from time to time.
I wish I could quit my shitty job and open up my own music store/radio station but since those are about as certain and stable as a Jessica Simpson relationship, it's best that I continue with just doing the top ten with comment. And my favorite type of music comes from the golden age of rock and roll to the end of the shoegazer movement, which is 1954 to about 1998 before Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit came along and killed the music momentum once and for all. But I do add plenty of stuff from the lost decade (the 2000's) and new music but also stuff before 1954. Most of it is rock and roll but I do challenge the faithful by throwing in a blues number or country or jazz. I also tend to favor the forgotten artist or the flavor of the month back in the mid 90s before Limp Bizkit or American Idol. If I can get people to seek out the obscure on their own then my job is done.
This is a hobby and it's a attempt to keep the good music alive. Now let's see what 10 goodies we got in the bag for y'all.
1. I Can Hear You Calling-3 Dog Night 1970 When my GF was in town last week she asked if I was continue to do the top ten and I kinda shrugged and said yeah I'm sure it will continue. After all it's a hard habit to break so she offered a couple song suggestions and one of them was Joy To The World, the most overplayed 3 Dog Night song out there. Used to like it but after 100,000 plays and forty years later I tend to get sick of it mighty easy. However I did like the B side to that song which is this little boogie number to which KCRG would play a couple times between the 10 and 11 oclock hour before signing off for the night, before they went 24 hours. 3 Dog Night was famous for picking great songs from other bands and singer songwriters of note (Free, Spooky Tooth, Hoyt Axton, Nilsson). This song was originally done by Bush, a band featuring Roy Kenner, Dominic Troiano and the rhythm section of Pakash John and Whitey Glen who backed Lou Reed on the Rock And Roll Animal album. Choice quality stuff if you can find the original version. But 3 Dog Night does a nice job on this song. Roy Kenner went on to The James Gang and later The Law.
2. BOOGALOO-Diplomats Of Solid Sound 2010 Long time ago they were part of the Bend Scepters and Dangtrippers of the late 80s and early 90s before changing their name and their sound to offer a more Booker T and The MG's instrumental soul sound. On their last album they decided to add some female vocals and they got Sarah Cram from The Derelicts (a rockabilly band) to do this. Kinda reminds me of what would have happened if LaBelle would have sang in from of Booker T and Company.
3. Gonna Be Some Changes Made-Bruce Hornsby 2004 More of a cult artist now then when he was hitting the airwaves with The Way It Is, Hornsby has gone more into a jazzier side of things the last decade and while he played around trying for a feeble attempt to hit the charts, he did more experimenting on Hot House and on Halycon Days which was a flop for Columbia. Couldn't decide if he wanted to be Leon Russell or Elton John so he did a bit of both and then became Randy Newman Jr. on later tracks. Halycon Days is long album and hard to get through if you're not a big Bruce fan. Did a much better album a couple years later with Ricky Scaggs.
4. The Mighty Quinn-Manfred Mann 1967 As I get older I can't remember what I did the week before the prior but back in my growing up years, I always remember what was playing on the radio and this was one of those songs that when I first heard it, I was floored by the opening flute solo. I think this did better than Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Did find this on a forty five in the 3 for a dollar bins at Woolworth's in Fort Dodge in 68. Or maybe Arlan's at Cedar Rapids a couple years later, kinda fuzzy on that. BTW, my GF requested this number.
5. Yo Canto-Los Lobos 2010 Hard to say what the big comeback of last year was, but I do know that I never did buy into the Justin Bieber phenomenon that the media shoved down our throat. Or Twitter for that matter but however Los Lobos made their best album last year with Tin Can Trust. I also come to find out that I do like the spanish numbers that Cesar Rojas adds while giving David Hildago some rest. Great song to eat a burrito buy.
6. Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine-Stealer's Wheel 1973 Sad to report that Gerry Rafferty, the leader of this band died yesterday at age 63. This was the follow up to Stuck In The Middle With You but the problem was this song sounded to same so they redid a more rocking version for the LP. I perfer the single version myself but your opinion may vary.
7. Time Changes Everything-Bob Wills with Tommy Duncan 1963 One of many many versions recorded for various labels but my guess this came out around the time Wills was recording for Liberty Records. You're guaranteed quality when Wills lets out his famous howls and calls and scatting and he does this a plenty. Course his best recording do feature Duncan doing the lead vocals but then again your opinion may vary on that. This was a part of the 2 Record Hall Of Fame Series that United Aritsts put out in 1973 but later Steve Hoffman would remaster and reissue this via S & P Records in the early 2000's. Found this as a cutout at Half Priced Books. Go figure.
8. I Don't Know What You Got But It's Got Me-Little Richard 1965 Mr. Penniman didn't do much for a while after denouncing rock and roll in 57, he became a minister and preached against the evils of rock and roll before getting the rock and rolls again and recorded for Vee Jay which were basically recorded versions of his earlier hits but they did pack a wallop of rock and soul. However, he did managed to do this Don Covey penned song to which Covey sang backup vocals and one James Marshall Hendrix played guitar on this. I actually had the forty five to this to which side one would fade out and side two came on with the vocals faded out becoming together again. Perhaps my favorite Little Richard song of all time. You can find this on the new Jimi Hendrix box set or the deleted Motown CD of Vee Jay's Greatest Hits. Either way you need this.
9. Bring It To Light-The Townedgers 2001 My GF thinks I should play more TE's. Perhaps she's right.
10. Hope-Mason Profit 1971 Best known for Two Hangmen, this actually got some airplay on AM radio and was a sizeable hit for Mason Profit. Came out on Ampex Records which was actually a company that specializes in making the cutting edge technology at that time called 8 Track Tapes! Later moved on to Warner Brothers after Ampex went belly up. Guess the future wasn't to be with the damned 8 Tracks which would not last very long. Thank God for Cd's eh?
And finally we say a fond farewell to Mick Karn of Japan fame who lost his battle with cancer at age 52. One of the best fretless bass players out there. And Anne Francis, that sexy woman who played Honey West and starred with Leslie Neilsen on Forbidden Planet in the late 50s also has departed from this world. She was 80. Both will be missed.
Basically, I have another site over at Multiply from time to time I'll add something to there but the membership there is pretty low, just like it is over here. I'm sure I could have been a contender and put together the best damn website of music out there but I keep it low key and made a note that it's here and kept going from the most loyal of fans, namely my GF and those who added the link to their site. The rules are simple here, I used to do news tidbits, add a observation here, more comments there and then add 10 songs that have been on my player or what I heard on the radio or at the local restaurant. It's usually ten songs that I like, although sometimes I will put a song I detest and bash it. For the most part 90 percent of what I choose are actually album cuts or forgotten songs that radio don't play but sometimes I will had a Listen To The Music or Takin Care Of Business if I did play it. Comments are welcome although they are monitored for content. Name calling gets no consideration. I don't mind a good discussion and sometimes we do get those from time to time.
I wish I could quit my shitty job and open up my own music store/radio station but since those are about as certain and stable as a Jessica Simpson relationship, it's best that I continue with just doing the top ten with comment. And my favorite type of music comes from the golden age of rock and roll to the end of the shoegazer movement, which is 1954 to about 1998 before Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit came along and killed the music momentum once and for all. But I do add plenty of stuff from the lost decade (the 2000's) and new music but also stuff before 1954. Most of it is rock and roll but I do challenge the faithful by throwing in a blues number or country or jazz. I also tend to favor the forgotten artist or the flavor of the month back in the mid 90s before Limp Bizkit or American Idol. If I can get people to seek out the obscure on their own then my job is done.
This is a hobby and it's a attempt to keep the good music alive. Now let's see what 10 goodies we got in the bag for y'all.
1. I Can Hear You Calling-3 Dog Night 1970 When my GF was in town last week she asked if I was continue to do the top ten and I kinda shrugged and said yeah I'm sure it will continue. After all it's a hard habit to break so she offered a couple song suggestions and one of them was Joy To The World, the most overplayed 3 Dog Night song out there. Used to like it but after 100,000 plays and forty years later I tend to get sick of it mighty easy. However I did like the B side to that song which is this little boogie number to which KCRG would play a couple times between the 10 and 11 oclock hour before signing off for the night, before they went 24 hours. 3 Dog Night was famous for picking great songs from other bands and singer songwriters of note (Free, Spooky Tooth, Hoyt Axton, Nilsson). This song was originally done by Bush, a band featuring Roy Kenner, Dominic Troiano and the rhythm section of Pakash John and Whitey Glen who backed Lou Reed on the Rock And Roll Animal album. Choice quality stuff if you can find the original version. But 3 Dog Night does a nice job on this song. Roy Kenner went on to The James Gang and later The Law.
2. BOOGALOO-Diplomats Of Solid Sound 2010 Long time ago they were part of the Bend Scepters and Dangtrippers of the late 80s and early 90s before changing their name and their sound to offer a more Booker T and The MG's instrumental soul sound. On their last album they decided to add some female vocals and they got Sarah Cram from The Derelicts (a rockabilly band) to do this. Kinda reminds me of what would have happened if LaBelle would have sang in from of Booker T and Company.
3. Gonna Be Some Changes Made-Bruce Hornsby 2004 More of a cult artist now then when he was hitting the airwaves with The Way It Is, Hornsby has gone more into a jazzier side of things the last decade and while he played around trying for a feeble attempt to hit the charts, he did more experimenting on Hot House and on Halycon Days which was a flop for Columbia. Couldn't decide if he wanted to be Leon Russell or Elton John so he did a bit of both and then became Randy Newman Jr. on later tracks. Halycon Days is long album and hard to get through if you're not a big Bruce fan. Did a much better album a couple years later with Ricky Scaggs.
4. The Mighty Quinn-Manfred Mann 1967 As I get older I can't remember what I did the week before the prior but back in my growing up years, I always remember what was playing on the radio and this was one of those songs that when I first heard it, I was floored by the opening flute solo. I think this did better than Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Did find this on a forty five in the 3 for a dollar bins at Woolworth's in Fort Dodge in 68. Or maybe Arlan's at Cedar Rapids a couple years later, kinda fuzzy on that. BTW, my GF requested this number.
5. Yo Canto-Los Lobos 2010 Hard to say what the big comeback of last year was, but I do know that I never did buy into the Justin Bieber phenomenon that the media shoved down our throat. Or Twitter for that matter but however Los Lobos made their best album last year with Tin Can Trust. I also come to find out that I do like the spanish numbers that Cesar Rojas adds while giving David Hildago some rest. Great song to eat a burrito buy.
6. Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine-Stealer's Wheel 1973 Sad to report that Gerry Rafferty, the leader of this band died yesterday at age 63. This was the follow up to Stuck In The Middle With You but the problem was this song sounded to same so they redid a more rocking version for the LP. I perfer the single version myself but your opinion may vary.
7. Time Changes Everything-Bob Wills with Tommy Duncan 1963 One of many many versions recorded for various labels but my guess this came out around the time Wills was recording for Liberty Records. You're guaranteed quality when Wills lets out his famous howls and calls and scatting and he does this a plenty. Course his best recording do feature Duncan doing the lead vocals but then again your opinion may vary on that. This was a part of the 2 Record Hall Of Fame Series that United Aritsts put out in 1973 but later Steve Hoffman would remaster and reissue this via S & P Records in the early 2000's. Found this as a cutout at Half Priced Books. Go figure.
8. I Don't Know What You Got But It's Got Me-Little Richard 1965 Mr. Penniman didn't do much for a while after denouncing rock and roll in 57, he became a minister and preached against the evils of rock and roll before getting the rock and rolls again and recorded for Vee Jay which were basically recorded versions of his earlier hits but they did pack a wallop of rock and soul. However, he did managed to do this Don Covey penned song to which Covey sang backup vocals and one James Marshall Hendrix played guitar on this. I actually had the forty five to this to which side one would fade out and side two came on with the vocals faded out becoming together again. Perhaps my favorite Little Richard song of all time. You can find this on the new Jimi Hendrix box set or the deleted Motown CD of Vee Jay's Greatest Hits. Either way you need this.
9. Bring It To Light-The Townedgers 2001 My GF thinks I should play more TE's. Perhaps she's right.
10. Hope-Mason Profit 1971 Best known for Two Hangmen, this actually got some airplay on AM radio and was a sizeable hit for Mason Profit. Came out on Ampex Records which was actually a company that specializes in making the cutting edge technology at that time called 8 Track Tapes! Later moved on to Warner Brothers after Ampex went belly up. Guess the future wasn't to be with the damned 8 Tracks which would not last very long. Thank God for Cd's eh?
And finally we say a fond farewell to Mick Karn of Japan fame who lost his battle with cancer at age 52. One of the best fretless bass players out there. And Anne Francis, that sexy woman who played Honey West and starred with Leslie Neilsen on Forbidden Planet in the late 50s also has departed from this world. She was 80. Both will be missed.
Monday, January 3, 2011
A New Year Begins
Hope everybody had a Happy New Year, sorry I haven't been much online. I've been taking a week off and hanging with the GF.
Thanks to the Blogspot bros of Funderglass, TAD's Backup Plan and Drew's Odd And Sods for the continuing support and links to my blogs and The Best of 2010 has been the overall runaway winning blog. Can't understand the logic of My Girlfriend Thinks I should Blog more Often or the outdated Sick of Summer Ready for fall Top ten being so popular but to each their own i guess.
If you like top tens and follow them, this will be my 9th year of doing a top ten of songs of the week. And of course other news as they happen and maybe a bargain hunting trip to Madison once again. But no AZ trip this year to speak of. Been there done that and moving on, nothing left to see.
Here's hoping for a better year than last.
Thanks to the Blogspot bros of Funderglass, TAD's Backup Plan and Drew's Odd And Sods for the continuing support and links to my blogs and The Best of 2010 has been the overall runaway winning blog. Can't understand the logic of My Girlfriend Thinks I should Blog more Often or the outdated Sick of Summer Ready for fall Top ten being so popular but to each their own i guess.
If you like top tens and follow them, this will be my 9th year of doing a top ten of songs of the week. And of course other news as they happen and maybe a bargain hunting trip to Madison once again. But no AZ trip this year to speak of. Been there done that and moving on, nothing left to see.
Here's hoping for a better year than last.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Looking back on 2010
As we come to the end of this God Forsaken year it's time for me to think back and seen what the hell we did.
This year may have been one of the best years of CD bargain hunting that I have encountered. Four things stood out.
1. The closing of the FYE store in Coral Ridge and prices slashed 50 to 60 percent off enabled me to return there three times this year ending in February.
2. Real Records 50 percent off used CDs in August turned out to be a bonanza since Craig put out a lotta of his out of print inventory and I managed to find Dee Dee King's Standing In The Spotlight for four bucks as well as Leon Russell's Stop All That Jazz.
3. Hastings Music big Sony Music Sale during our Arizona Farewell trip.
But perhaps the last and best find was the October dollar cd sale at Pawn America in Madison which I ended up buying over 35 CDs in a two day binge. Of course finding a mint cd of Led Zeppelin 4 is always great, especially when I beat some dude that had 2 big shopping bags of stuff that he was picking up left and right. So convinced that I could find more that the next month I return to Mad City I did....and found nothing. But Frugal Muse more than made that up by having John Hartford's Aero Plain for 2 bucks. Which is selling for 50 bucks on Amazon.
The life of a bargain hunter is always hit and miss. And there were times that I'd go to either Waterloo or Ames/Des Moines and that turned out to be a wasted road trip. So I went to the places that still had CDs for sale, which was in Dubuque or Madison or Davenport. I made two big road trips: to Ann Arbor with my trusty GF driving the way to Encore Recordings and the other was the Arizona Farewell To The Music Stores Trip. The Michigan trip was the first time I have been up there in 35 years. And basically was a trip to meet her family and get acquainted with them. However she did humor the old dude by taking me to a couple FYEs and Encore but outside of that I didn't bother her with going to any in Detroit. But also knowing that there's nothing in Hale outside of a noisy air conditioner that put me to sleep. But also going outdoors and getting eaten up by those damn mosquitoes. I'm sure it won't be another 35 years going back up there, the GF won't allow that.
The Arizona Farewell Trip was planned on the same day as Michigan trip but with cheap airfares at that time, I thought it would be nice to return to the desert one more time. But it was bittersweet since everytime I went into a Zia's I would be bombarded with sales associates asking if I was all right or needing music help. Four times at the Thunderbird Zia's of pesky help and high used cd prices convinced me that I have doing the right thing by never going back there again. At least the folks at Hastings left me to my own devices. But I think the highlight was finally hooking up with Dennis Lancaster on the Sunday night I got there and we walked downtown Tempe and hung at the bar and drinking those iced smooties and getting a bellyache afterward. But it was fun talking about the old days and wondering where the hell they went and hearing Dennis moaning of the fact that the cute chick sitting next to him wasn't even born when I was living down there in 86.
It wasn't all cd bargain hunts in Arizona. I drove down Arizona 66, stopped at Crookton Pass and watched a couple trains go by and then it was off to Seligman to say hi to the kind folks at Angel's Gift And Barber Shoppe just before closing time. Didn't see Angel there, but got to talk to his daughter for a few. She's always been sweet and kind to me in the 20 years of stopping there while passing through. And off to Kingman to spend a night and the afternoon counting trains going through town and having supper at Cracker Barrel and having chicken and dumplings platter. And down the road to Bullhead City, Needles, through Lake Havasu City and Parker to Tucson to meet up with Barbara for a couple hours. And for the first time, only went through one monsoon storm between Tucson and Casa Grande, every day was sunny and clear. Sky blue skies. The way I want to remember Arizona.
This year has been the story of more places closing up shop. Marco's Pizza, my favorite place for the pizza buffet closed when I was up in Michigan and never reopened. FYE in Coral Ridge closed. Best Buy continues to shrink their CD inventory. The help continues to annoy me. The Plattville Record Store closed up so for the most part. But I did go to Madison four times and struck it big the last two. But on a picture taking trip on State Street encountered some old homeless hag worried that I was going to steal her cigarettes, didn't think much about it till the old hag told her buddies to "watch out for that guy". To which it was certain and the reason why I couldn't never live in Madison on a regular basis; if I stay there more than two days, the morons would come out and piss me off to the point that the trip wasn't fun. So, I went back up there a month later, on a Football Saturday and found out that it was best time to go there. Hardly anybody to bother me at the music stores.
I don't wasted any trips to Davenport or Dubuque or Madison, in Davenport I went there to stop at Big Lots and pick up some reduced prices on food. We used to have Big Lots in town, till they closed them up except the ones at Davenport or Hannibal or where my GF lives at.
The weather here was like the year before, snowy winters, and hot and humid summers with monsoon storms at night. No big floods here but Lake Delhi had 10 inches of rain one night and the dam failed and the Lake emptied down river to Monticello. The Wapsi flooded from rains up north but The Cedar in town didn't flood. And the fall was beautiful, got up to 80 degrees when I was in Madison that October day.
For sports it was pure disappointment. The Chicago Cubs tripped from the word go and Lou Pinella retired but they save their best baseball in September after he left. The San Diego Chargers couldn't beat The Oakland Raiders and stayed home for the playoffs. But the Iowa Hawkeyes, my beloved team had no defense and had it wasn't for a Micah Hyde pick six against Missouri in the Insight Bowl, this season would have been a disaster.
So we come to the end of the year and the only constant from last year is that my GF is spending another Christmas and New Year's with me. And the wondering of where I'll be at for next year and my plans are. I'm done with the Arizona trips, done with the Zia's and the pushy record clerks knowing nothing of what I like. I promised I would retire from this when I turn 50 but we all know that won't happen. As long there's a Half Priced Bookstore within driving distance and in town, I'll still be a fixture there, just like Jimmy Kibler and the old dude with the glasses. I'm sure there'll be a Madison trip or a Dubuque trip when the snow melts or when the car is working or as long as I have my job.
I'm sure there will be new stores a coming or favorite hangouts or eateries closing up just like this year and the year before and so on. I'm sure I will return next year with more observations and top ten mania that is the basis for this blogsite. It's a hard habit to break. If I don't there's a backlog of archives worth discovering. Thanks to all who follow, who supported and made comments of noteworthiness.
Till the next time.
This year may have been one of the best years of CD bargain hunting that I have encountered. Four things stood out.
1. The closing of the FYE store in Coral Ridge and prices slashed 50 to 60 percent off enabled me to return there three times this year ending in February.
2. Real Records 50 percent off used CDs in August turned out to be a bonanza since Craig put out a lotta of his out of print inventory and I managed to find Dee Dee King's Standing In The Spotlight for four bucks as well as Leon Russell's Stop All That Jazz.
3. Hastings Music big Sony Music Sale during our Arizona Farewell trip.
But perhaps the last and best find was the October dollar cd sale at Pawn America in Madison which I ended up buying over 35 CDs in a two day binge. Of course finding a mint cd of Led Zeppelin 4 is always great, especially when I beat some dude that had 2 big shopping bags of stuff that he was picking up left and right. So convinced that I could find more that the next month I return to Mad City I did....and found nothing. But Frugal Muse more than made that up by having John Hartford's Aero Plain for 2 bucks. Which is selling for 50 bucks on Amazon.
The life of a bargain hunter is always hit and miss. And there were times that I'd go to either Waterloo or Ames/Des Moines and that turned out to be a wasted road trip. So I went to the places that still had CDs for sale, which was in Dubuque or Madison or Davenport. I made two big road trips: to Ann Arbor with my trusty GF driving the way to Encore Recordings and the other was the Arizona Farewell To The Music Stores Trip. The Michigan trip was the first time I have been up there in 35 years. And basically was a trip to meet her family and get acquainted with them. However she did humor the old dude by taking me to a couple FYEs and Encore but outside of that I didn't bother her with going to any in Detroit. But also knowing that there's nothing in Hale outside of a noisy air conditioner that put me to sleep. But also going outdoors and getting eaten up by those damn mosquitoes. I'm sure it won't be another 35 years going back up there, the GF won't allow that.
The Arizona Farewell Trip was planned on the same day as Michigan trip but with cheap airfares at that time, I thought it would be nice to return to the desert one more time. But it was bittersweet since everytime I went into a Zia's I would be bombarded with sales associates asking if I was all right or needing music help. Four times at the Thunderbird Zia's of pesky help and high used cd prices convinced me that I have doing the right thing by never going back there again. At least the folks at Hastings left me to my own devices. But I think the highlight was finally hooking up with Dennis Lancaster on the Sunday night I got there and we walked downtown Tempe and hung at the bar and drinking those iced smooties and getting a bellyache afterward. But it was fun talking about the old days and wondering where the hell they went and hearing Dennis moaning of the fact that the cute chick sitting next to him wasn't even born when I was living down there in 86.
It wasn't all cd bargain hunts in Arizona. I drove down Arizona 66, stopped at Crookton Pass and watched a couple trains go by and then it was off to Seligman to say hi to the kind folks at Angel's Gift And Barber Shoppe just before closing time. Didn't see Angel there, but got to talk to his daughter for a few. She's always been sweet and kind to me in the 20 years of stopping there while passing through. And off to Kingman to spend a night and the afternoon counting trains going through town and having supper at Cracker Barrel and having chicken and dumplings platter. And down the road to Bullhead City, Needles, through Lake Havasu City and Parker to Tucson to meet up with Barbara for a couple hours. And for the first time, only went through one monsoon storm between Tucson and Casa Grande, every day was sunny and clear. Sky blue skies. The way I want to remember Arizona.
This year has been the story of more places closing up shop. Marco's Pizza, my favorite place for the pizza buffet closed when I was up in Michigan and never reopened. FYE in Coral Ridge closed. Best Buy continues to shrink their CD inventory. The help continues to annoy me. The Plattville Record Store closed up so for the most part. But I did go to Madison four times and struck it big the last two. But on a picture taking trip on State Street encountered some old homeless hag worried that I was going to steal her cigarettes, didn't think much about it till the old hag told her buddies to "watch out for that guy". To which it was certain and the reason why I couldn't never live in Madison on a regular basis; if I stay there more than two days, the morons would come out and piss me off to the point that the trip wasn't fun. So, I went back up there a month later, on a Football Saturday and found out that it was best time to go there. Hardly anybody to bother me at the music stores.
I don't wasted any trips to Davenport or Dubuque or Madison, in Davenport I went there to stop at Big Lots and pick up some reduced prices on food. We used to have Big Lots in town, till they closed them up except the ones at Davenport or Hannibal or where my GF lives at.
The weather here was like the year before, snowy winters, and hot and humid summers with monsoon storms at night. No big floods here but Lake Delhi had 10 inches of rain one night and the dam failed and the Lake emptied down river to Monticello. The Wapsi flooded from rains up north but The Cedar in town didn't flood. And the fall was beautiful, got up to 80 degrees when I was in Madison that October day.
For sports it was pure disappointment. The Chicago Cubs tripped from the word go and Lou Pinella retired but they save their best baseball in September after he left. The San Diego Chargers couldn't beat The Oakland Raiders and stayed home for the playoffs. But the Iowa Hawkeyes, my beloved team had no defense and had it wasn't for a Micah Hyde pick six against Missouri in the Insight Bowl, this season would have been a disaster.
So we come to the end of the year and the only constant from last year is that my GF is spending another Christmas and New Year's with me. And the wondering of where I'll be at for next year and my plans are. I'm done with the Arizona trips, done with the Zia's and the pushy record clerks knowing nothing of what I like. I promised I would retire from this when I turn 50 but we all know that won't happen. As long there's a Half Priced Bookstore within driving distance and in town, I'll still be a fixture there, just like Jimmy Kibler and the old dude with the glasses. I'm sure there'll be a Madison trip or a Dubuque trip when the snow melts or when the car is working or as long as I have my job.
I'm sure there will be new stores a coming or favorite hangouts or eateries closing up just like this year and the year before and so on. I'm sure I will return next year with more observations and top ten mania that is the basis for this blogsite. It's a hard habit to break. If I don't there's a backlog of archives worth discovering. Thanks to all who follow, who supported and made comments of noteworthiness.
Till the next time.
Top Ten Of The Week-Don't Touch My 45's
For our final top ten of the year. I am going back to some of my favorite and recent discoveries on 45's found at different music stores and Goodwill.
This year might be over and for the most part the new music that the critics tout and rave I really don't have a need for. But yours truly is still busy looking for the obscure and out of print music that you don't hear on the radio. Some of this stuff is even beyond me. Guess that makes me a music fanatic eh?
1. Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night-Kenny Dino 1961 Robert Plant had a hit with this cover in 1990 but I have actually never heard the original version of this song till I found a scratchy 45 of this song yesterday at Goodwill. On Musicor, I'm sure the nah nah nah nah chorus gets a bit tired for the bored but not myself. Only other version I know of this is The Turtles revamping it in 1965. Dino's only big hit (#24 highest chart position in 61), he died from a heart attack last year.
2. Sink The Bismarck-Homer & Jethro 1960 The original song parody dudes, they recorded tons for RCA and this version of the Johnny Horton classic song had my GF cracking up big time. I'm sure she finds my methods of top ten songs for consideration quite interesting. The B side to their parody of He'll Have To Go.
3. Honky Tonk Women Love Red Neck Men-Jerry Jaye 1976 Best known for his rockabilly version of My Girl Josephine, one of the greatest singles to come out of Hi Records, Jaye was mostly country and western when he returned to Hi/London after a brief stay at Mega and a single for Columbia. This did reach the bottom tiers of the top 100 country chart but don't think I ever heard it on the radio. Another 45 found at Goodwill yesterday.
4. Woman Goin Crazy On Caroline Street-Jimmy Buffett 1976 Co-written with Steve Goodman but didn't chart. This was before Margaritaville. From Havana Daydreamin.
5. Mule Skinner Blues-Rusty Draper 1960 Can't say if this predated The Fendermen's but this is another 45 of note found yesterday. A side was his version of Please Help Me I'm Falling.
6. Miles Of Rope-The 100's 2008 Getting back to some choice cuts from the cd player. Haven't done much playing things since the GF is down here keeping me occupied on other things. The 100's hailed from Iowa and on their 2nd album move to Mount Vernon Iowa to record a polished followup to their first album. They remind me of a less enthused Bottlerockets.
7. Common Ground-Rhythm Corps 1988 They had a minor hit and managed to do it in the waning days of MTV playing music videos. The album didn't have anything that rocked like the titled track and after their second LP, Pasha/CBS took them to hit the road.
8. Greenback Dollar, Watch & Chain-Ray Harris 1956 His best known song, recorded for Sun Records but out of all the compilations that I have had, I found this on a Rounder Cutout found at my second home, Half Priced Books. Harris would later figure into the formation of Hi Records and produced Jaye's My Girl Josephine.
9. I Just Want To Touch You-Utopia 1980 From their Beatle tribute album Deface The Music and yes this was a minor hit. Or it could have been their tribute to The Rutles. I'm guessing the former.
10. Clear As The Driven Snow-The Doobie Brothers 1973 Finally, I got word that Beaker Street, the Sunday night show is being dropped by the classic rock radio station The Point. I hope Clyde Clifford can find another radio station down there, that can give up a couple hours of the same tired classic rock boreshit in favor of some forgotten choice album that Clifford likes. This song is dedicated to Clifford and Beaker Street and thanks so much for playing my requests from time to time. Cheers!
This year might be over and for the most part the new music that the critics tout and rave I really don't have a need for. But yours truly is still busy looking for the obscure and out of print music that you don't hear on the radio. Some of this stuff is even beyond me. Guess that makes me a music fanatic eh?
1. Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night-Kenny Dino 1961 Robert Plant had a hit with this cover in 1990 but I have actually never heard the original version of this song till I found a scratchy 45 of this song yesterday at Goodwill. On Musicor, I'm sure the nah nah nah nah chorus gets a bit tired for the bored but not myself. Only other version I know of this is The Turtles revamping it in 1965. Dino's only big hit (#24 highest chart position in 61), he died from a heart attack last year.
2. Sink The Bismarck-Homer & Jethro 1960 The original song parody dudes, they recorded tons for RCA and this version of the Johnny Horton classic song had my GF cracking up big time. I'm sure she finds my methods of top ten songs for consideration quite interesting. The B side to their parody of He'll Have To Go.
3. Honky Tonk Women Love Red Neck Men-Jerry Jaye 1976 Best known for his rockabilly version of My Girl Josephine, one of the greatest singles to come out of Hi Records, Jaye was mostly country and western when he returned to Hi/London after a brief stay at Mega and a single for Columbia. This did reach the bottom tiers of the top 100 country chart but don't think I ever heard it on the radio. Another 45 found at Goodwill yesterday.
4. Woman Goin Crazy On Caroline Street-Jimmy Buffett 1976 Co-written with Steve Goodman but didn't chart. This was before Margaritaville. From Havana Daydreamin.
5. Mule Skinner Blues-Rusty Draper 1960 Can't say if this predated The Fendermen's but this is another 45 of note found yesterday. A side was his version of Please Help Me I'm Falling.
6. Miles Of Rope-The 100's 2008 Getting back to some choice cuts from the cd player. Haven't done much playing things since the GF is down here keeping me occupied on other things. The 100's hailed from Iowa and on their 2nd album move to Mount Vernon Iowa to record a polished followup to their first album. They remind me of a less enthused Bottlerockets.
7. Common Ground-Rhythm Corps 1988 They had a minor hit and managed to do it in the waning days of MTV playing music videos. The album didn't have anything that rocked like the titled track and after their second LP, Pasha/CBS took them to hit the road.
8. Greenback Dollar, Watch & Chain-Ray Harris 1956 His best known song, recorded for Sun Records but out of all the compilations that I have had, I found this on a Rounder Cutout found at my second home, Half Priced Books. Harris would later figure into the formation of Hi Records and produced Jaye's My Girl Josephine.
9. I Just Want To Touch You-Utopia 1980 From their Beatle tribute album Deface The Music and yes this was a minor hit. Or it could have been their tribute to The Rutles. I'm guessing the former.
10. Clear As The Driven Snow-The Doobie Brothers 1973 Finally, I got word that Beaker Street, the Sunday night show is being dropped by the classic rock radio station The Point. I hope Clyde Clifford can find another radio station down there, that can give up a couple hours of the same tired classic rock boreshit in favor of some forgotten choice album that Clifford likes. This song is dedicated to Clifford and Beaker Street and thanks so much for playing my requests from time to time. Cheers!
Friday, December 24, 2010
No Christmas Spirit Here
Another white Christmas is bestow upon us and it's has been snowing for 24 straight hours. This GD Pineapple Express storm came, flooded California and parts of Nevada and Arizona and supposed to peter out but during the day we kept getting wave after wave after wave of snow squalls all night and most of the day. The two to three inches ended up being a fucking foot of the white slippery and slick shit and somehow tomorrow I must get to the airport on slick roads and a sick car to get my other half.
I have never been more out of the Christmas spirit than this year. We have had 4 major storms, dumping more than 3 inches of snow ever since the start of this month. Being in packaging most of the month didn't help morale, nor did a break line breaking on my car either. It's still not been repaired after three weeks. It didn't help when my dad broke his hip at his workplace either. The purple car needs new brake pads and the the windshield wipers don't work either. The first two weekends I had made plans to go shopping for gifts but we had two winter snowstorms that prohibited me to driving to Dubuque and then we ended up getting a Alberta Clipper that dumped another 5 inches of snow and then got to below zero. I gave up and decide to give everybody a card and money. Can't argue with cash. Can't get out of the driveway since the car is stuck and will not go anywhere tonight.
The house is in a mess, cleaned a bit of it before dealing with the GD snow shoveling. I know my other half don't care but I need to clear a path just so she don't trip over things. It didn't help last week when I ended up getting the first of many wintertime flu and colds here.
So anyway, while TBS plays A Christmas Story 24 hours right now and It's a Wonderful Life is on NBC, I'm celebrating it with 24 hours of Fear's Fuck Christmas, that little 53 second song that Lee Ving tacked on as a final cut on their Fear-The Record CD.
Hope y'all have a better Christmas than me.
I have never been more out of the Christmas spirit than this year. We have had 4 major storms, dumping more than 3 inches of snow ever since the start of this month. Being in packaging most of the month didn't help morale, nor did a break line breaking on my car either. It's still not been repaired after three weeks. It didn't help when my dad broke his hip at his workplace either. The purple car needs new brake pads and the the windshield wipers don't work either. The first two weekends I had made plans to go shopping for gifts but we had two winter snowstorms that prohibited me to driving to Dubuque and then we ended up getting a Alberta Clipper that dumped another 5 inches of snow and then got to below zero. I gave up and decide to give everybody a card and money. Can't argue with cash. Can't get out of the driveway since the car is stuck and will not go anywhere tonight.
The house is in a mess, cleaned a bit of it before dealing with the GD snow shoveling. I know my other half don't care but I need to clear a path just so she don't trip over things. It didn't help last week when I ended up getting the first of many wintertime flu and colds here.
So anyway, while TBS plays A Christmas Story 24 hours right now and It's a Wonderful Life is on NBC, I'm celebrating it with 24 hours of Fear's Fuck Christmas, that little 53 second song that Lee Ving tacked on as a final cut on their Fear-The Record CD.
Hope y'all have a better Christmas than me.
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