Singles Going Steady 23-Childhood Moldy Oldies

It's been a very radical couple of weeks as I have been taking the car out to many many places, Davenport two weeks ago, Madison last week and this week finishing up a two part visit to Iowa City's very own Sweet Living Antiques And Records, perhaps the last standing of hard to find 45s and LPs, even more so than Record Collector.  The Sweet Living owner kind enough to let me stay past regular business hours to sort through a few boxes of scratched up pieces of history, even amused that I would really dig deep into the collection of stuff.  I told him I love getting down on the floor and really sort through moldy and scratched up stuff hoping to find things of note.  Now it's getting to this stage of the game that the thrift stores have scavengers and collectors out there doing their best to buy up and sell high.  A major difference between Sweet Living and Record Collector is that Sweet Living has a bigger inventory, whereas Record Collector is specialty rock and roll and punk.  I tend to favor things that look appealing, and if the price is right I'll invest a quarter or fifty cents or more to hear what radio doesn't play.  Sweet Living Antiques and me go back to the days of that house on the edge of downtown Iowa City with records stored up two floors and the basement before a tornado destroyed it and he eventually moved out to the edge of town.  For a crate digger, Sweet Living still has a nice inventory of 50 cent records, but also a bit more higher priced stuff for four dollars and then the rare stuff up to the front with prices vary from 7 to 40 dollars.  Unless a 40 dollar single is pristine and high on the list I don't bother but if I look hard enough I'll come across a fifty cent forty five that will work wonders for me.

Although the Davenport and Madison hunts had some things of note, the Cedar Rapids Goodwill had some classic country to boot it was the Sweet Living stuff that opened up the door back to my growing up years.  A couple of the 45s date back to the original 45s that I used to have and somehow can't picture why my mom decided to buy a couple of them.  But then, the booze and cigarette joints would sell cheap 45s on the side for 19 cents or a quarter.  The early early stuff, of Ben E King, Ray Charles burned into my mind. Some came from my mom's big box of 45s to which I'm sure Aunt Virginia bought her share of stuff.  But I do think my mom was more into rock and R and B, whereas the senile sister was into Johnny Mathis or Doris Day.  Somehow this weird mix of music figured greatly into my listening habits as well.  And over the years and to this day, some of the more big band or pop stuff have surfaced itself into my collection.   While kids today are now brought up to rap and nu metal and Bro Job country, most of the influences back then came from the blues or Chuck Berry.   And I still think that the early years of rock and roll were the best of times.  The A side of the 45 was the hit but the B side would be more of what the band wanted to play, or their identity.  I have reached the age that new music today just doesn't speak to me like it once did, so therefore I'd rather seek out stuff from the past that I'm not familiar with or what radio don't play anymore.   And despite the odds I still find things.  I keep an open mind and if the record looks in good shape I'll take a chance.  And Sweet Living Antiques had the variety.  I did pass on some stuff, the records were in rough shape or I would talk myself out of Ernie Fields Chattanooga Choo Choo (I do have that on a best of CD) or Sandy Nelson Drums Are My Beat (ditto).  Certainly, there's lots of work to be done in sorting through sleeveless 45s but if I came across something not chewed up or in VG plus shape despite no sleeve, then it had the best chance of going home with me.  There were plenty of late 80s oldies reissues that looked good, Rhino and Collectibles included. Alas, most of what I have seen for Lloyd Price ABC Paramount singles too far gone but there was a reissue of a Specialty 45 of Ain't It A Shame that was worth 50 cents, and what I call a bargain.  And it went home with me and will have a home till the day I pass on.  And then I'm sure it will be available at a estate sale.

This edition of the Singles Going Steady come from the cream of the crop, the finds of the past three weeks. Even Record Collector managed to find me a piece of the puzzle of the music that I used to have on record till some got broken, or wore the grooves off and I finally found a replacement.  And a couple go way back to before my brother was born, when we were living in Lincoln Illinois and didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out but somehow we had records and those records kept my interest, or simply corrupted my life.  I suppose that's not a bad thing.


1.  Hallelujah Time-Oscar Peterson Trio (Verve Jazz VK 10302)  1963  One of the earliest forty fives that I have ever known and had in my collection I can't fathom the reason why my mom bought this 45, unless I pointed this out to her and she bought it instead of putting it back.  Which shows you the variety that has always a part of my collecting of music.  Like the rest of the original 45s  this one got used as a frisbee, and taken a magic marker too and the copy got thrown away years ago and I've been searching for it.  And finally found a decent copy at Sweet Living Antiques.  The Malcolm Dobbs Singers whoever they were do sing on this, after all Peterson is better known as a jazz artist, and this combination of jazz and gospel was the sign of the times. The B side Hymm To Freedom may have something to do with Martin Luther King.  I know the majority of y'all don't care but when I do come across a 45 from the past such as Hallelujah Time it is a big deal to me.  Especially when it took me a good 40 years to find a replacement copy.  Hallelujah indeed.

2.  That's Why I Was Born-Janice Harper (Prep F123)  1957  Another Sweet Living find, this 45 I recall from the big box of records that Grandma Ambrose used to have and for all intent purposes, this box of 45s send me down the road of record collecting and whatever I would find.  My mom and her sister would spent countless hours at the local Woolworth's for the latest and I tend to think Mom was more into R and B and rock and roll, whereas Aunt Virginia was into Johnny Mathis and Doris Day and probably bought this song. Harper was a pop singer in the style of Gogi Grant or Julie London, although this two minute over the top song reminds me of Here In My Heart by Al Martino.   Harper later recorded for RCA but then faded from view.  To tell you the truth, I wasn't that fond of it when I first it when I was young and fifty years later I'm still not that fond of it.  But hey, it's a promo copy, it might be worth something to you collectors out there.  B side Moonlit Sea is slightly better. 

3.  Ballad Of You And Me And Pooneil-Jefferson Airplane (RCA Victor 47-9297)  1967  Another strange buy but this time we were living in Webster City and I have no idea where I bought this from (Woolworth's maybe?).  Even in a small town, the record department was chock full of decent records and it was the sign of the times. Pretty much I ended up having a lot of the Doors stuff, Jimi Hendrix and The Airplane.  I think I like the Marty Balin numbers better than the Grace Slick hits, but the B Side Two Heads is such a big thumb at the nose of RCA trying to coax a followup to White Rabbit or Somebody To Love, that they resorted to the Paul Kanter tribute to Fred Neil, which managed to hit the local top thirty.  The original 45 I have got donated somewhere and I couldn't get a decent copy till Record Collector had this for 3 bucks.   If I thought about it back then, I could have taken the 45 off the wall at Fuddruckers by the Fiesta Mall.  That used to be my favorite Fudd's Burger place till they closed it down around 2005 or 2006.  Funny I can remember such trivial crap like that but can't remember where I put my car keys at.   B side Two Heads popped in at number 124 in 67

4.  Love In The Hot Afternoon-Gene Watson (Capitol 4076) 1975  Life sucked back in 75, I lost both Grandparents, I tried out for little league baseball and sucked at that and then threw my heart away to some girl up in Michigan that I would see one more time before she got married and had three kids before she turned twenty but 1975 was one of the best years for music, even country had some classic numbers such as Gene's ode to having fun with a Bourbon Street lady, probably a hooker har har.  Originally released as Resco Records 634, it hit number 1 on the local Texas charts before Capitol picked it up to make it a number 3 chart showing.  The signature fiddle at the end is worthwhile.  The success of that enabled Capitol to sign Gene up and he would have a few more hits then moved on to MCA, Epic and Warner Brothers.

5.  Big Star-Stark & McBrien  (RCA Victor PB 10314)  1975  Best known for Isn't It Lonely Together, Fred Stark And Rod McBrien was a soft rock duo that made a few singles for RCA and later Lifesong.  Stark sounds a bit like Jim Croce.  This didn't chart, the lyrics may have been a bit too depressing for public listening.  Nevertheless, Hall And Oates, and England Dan Seals and John Ford Coley had better luck and better songs that would get into the top ten.  Stark And McBrien basically on the outside looking in.

6.  They're Coming To Take Me Away (Ha Haa)-Napoleon XIV  (Warner Brothers WB 7726)  1966 reissued 1973  Jerry Samuels' first single was a recording of Puppy Love on the Vik label in 1956 and wrote songs for the likes of Sammy Davis Jr (The Shelter Of Your Arms A top 20 hit for Sammy in 1964) before putting out this little bizarre chestnut classic under the Napoleon XIV banner before Cousin Brucie called him out.  It did hit number 3 on the charts before Warners reissued it in 1973 where I heard the first time on KLWW FM after dark.  And despite it all, I never seen a copy of the 1973 single until I came across it at Sweet Living Antiques this weekend.  Rhino Records did reissue the whole album and few more oddities on The Second Coming.  Which is probably too much for most to listen through.

7. Sally Was A Good Old Girl-Fats Domino (ABC Paramount 10584)  1964  The antique mall has a record store called BDW or BRW (GD it can't never remember that place, fucking memory loss) and they have managed to impress me with their 2 dollar record selection of LPs and 45s, the latter a hit and miss but one of the few interesting ones is this forgotten number 99 chart scraper from Fats.  I only met the guy at this place once but he told me of another website that sells records, Adam and Eve Music Shop based out of Iowa City.  Which is no longer there.

8.  Mah Na Mah Na-Piero Umiliani  (Ariel AR 500) 1969  A number 55 hit single for Piero and featured in one of those XXX movies, this has actually seen life as a Muppets cover and even Georgio Moroder covered it himself.  In some ways this bit of nonsense reminds me of the Pipkins Gimme Dat Ding. Harmless fun back then but given the crap of Bro Job Country we have today, Mah Na Mah Na is Mozart.

9.  Midnight Oil-Charlie Blackwell (Warner Brothers 5031)  1959  A mystery man, Blackwell recorded a few sides for Warner Brothers, the only one that made any chart impression was this number 55 chart showing. Hard to tell if Warners was trying to market Blackwell as a teen idol, followup was the teen popper Kath-A-Leen which would have not sound out of place on a Frankie Avalon single.  B side None Of Em Glow Like You was barely a minute and a half and sounds like a Fabian throwaway.  More about the elusive Blackwell can be found here: http://musicweird.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-mysterious-charlie-blackwell-and.html

10.  Got A Match?-The Daddy O's (Cabot CA 122)  1958  Another WTF recording from the 50s, The Daddy O's owed more to Dixieland and The Firehouse Five rather than rockabilly which this song is part rockabilly and part ragtime.  It was so popular that it was covered by Russ Conway (Columbia UK DB 4166) , Lou Stein (Mercury 71328) and Frank Gallup (ABC Paramount 9931) .  Gallup's version petered out at number 57, and Conway's version was number 30 on the UK (not released in the US)  while Lou Stein's version didn't chart.  The Daddy's O's version was the highest chart position at number 39 in 1958. Gallup would later frequent the chart with the Kapp issued The Ballad Of Irving.  As for the Daddy O's, they were the one hit wonder band, in fact Got A Match was their only single.  They certainly were not rock and roll.  B Side the awful Have A Cigar! (not related to Pink Floyd in any way) which an expected father passed out cigars in waiting for the birth of his child, which he has to pass out two since he got twins. The fact of the matter, they were more The Four Freshmen than The Rock And Roll Trio.  Side note: Gallup's name was misspelled on the ABC single with a u. 

Broken Down On Life's Highway

21 years ago.  I was walking in the old sky walk hovering downtown Cedar Rapids when I bumped into an old acquaintance from my bar hopping days at De Sodas. Her name was Clarice.

The bar hopping daze (a better term) was working all week and then hanging down at Desoda's for a night of drinking and hearing overplayed crap tunes and hopefully getting a chance to dance with somebody.  Most of the times I went home alone.  There was a three week excursion with Christine that ended badly, a effort for making woopie and about 4 Jacks and Cokes that I didn't venture back to her place and somehow ended up being back at my home.  I was easily replaced as I tried to remember what was done wrong as like a three year old spoiled back she ran into the women's bathroom and wouldn't come out.  The new boy toy apologized  for her actions but I told him to enjoy her company while you can and wrote a Get Lost letter to her telling her growing up might help her in the long run.

Clarice was seeing Eddie, who actually third shift in our computer room and I remember her trying to burn my coat with one of her cigarettes as her and Eddie were discussing World Reform.  However that didn't work for long and I did ended up dancing with her on occasion till she dropped out of site around the 1993 floods.  When I saw her in on this day in 1994 we chatted a while, she gave me her phone number and I eventually call her and we got together to chat.  And then she became the significant other for three and a half years.

There are things that I remember about her.  She had three boys, two from her marriage and at that time was carrying Jessie, from another one nighter I guess you can call it.  John and Josh, the two boys were typical kids, they get into trouble as they would go outside and play with the other kids, they must have turned out good, they have not made the news in a bad way.  She lived in Wellington, on the infamous street where folks could by drugs at night and rap music boomed out of the speakers. To go home and not have a black dude on the steps of the apartment selling drugs was a rarity.  The place was a dive and the cockroaches didn't help things either.  Wasn't uncommon to watch TV and one of those dirty bugs crawl up your leg.  But the boys they liked me and Clarice would surprise me in certain ways.  At the beginning she was quite thoughtful.quite loving and full of surprises. Coming to her place, boys in bed with her wearing only a robe.  It really was good times.

The first two years were the best of times, however things would change and they started around the time that I had to go to ER to remove a burst appendix which laid me out for a month.  Taking advantage of the situation, Clarice brought a fairly new 1994 Corsica which she took me out on a test drive a couple days after my surgery and me still under anesthesia. By then, I moved her to a better apartment from the Wellington place and somehow the Cockroaches followed her over there too.  The big blowup came on the 4th of July, which for the first time we had words.  The spell was broken and we would go down the long decline.  And in the process bought a trailer to move her out of the apartments.  By then we weren't talking much, being intimate much less and I don't think I was over there that much.  The woman that sang Unconditional Love was looking elsewhere and no matter what I did never seem to please her and just irritate more.  The warm sunshine April afternoon of chatting ended on a cold Valentine's Day in 1998 when Clarice announced that she was seeing somebody else for six weeks and wanted to move in.  I told her, get my name off the trailer and we can be done with each other.  I would have to deal with her one more time when she was two car payments behind and I outraced the repo guy getting the Corsica back and trying to erase the black mark that she put on my credit report.  We were two months shy of being together four years but in reality it was three and a half, I saw her but twice in the trailer house.

Clarice was a plus size woman when we met.  By then I was more used to dating the heavier type.  And they are quite fun to be with.  She did managed to quit smoking for a while but she started back up after the fourth of July explosion but she did lived on Diet Coke.  She was into country but was open to different types of music, Bob Marley made perfect mood music. The last year and a half she underwent a major diet which she lost half her weight, suddenly I outweighed her.  As we together to a NCS company party she showed up a in a skimpy dress and managed to flirt with a couple co workers.  I think that was early 1997. We dressed up for the occasion.  And it's hard to fathom me in a three piece suit or seeing her in that skimpy dress perhaps it was in indication that she was ready to find somebody else. We weren't exactly getting along and it showed everything I showed up.  The A hole boyfriend too busy hanging out at Relics buying new music while she had to deal with her ex husband and three screaming boys did give an ill thought.  But then again she made it clear that when it comes to me and her children, I was strictly hands off.  But I still have pictures of the boys and of Jessie, the third child and he turns 21 this year.  And I wonder at times if he has met his real dad.  Or if John and Josh are now leading grown up lives.  I still cannot picture them being 26 and 24 now,  where does the time go?  Are they doing all right?  Sometimes that thought crosses my mind.  But as time goes on, I have not seen any of them since 99.  What would Clarice say to all these albums and stuff that I accumulated over the years.  I think she went along with it the best way that she could handle it. We did go see Blue Mountain and Kevin Salem play a acoustic set at BJ's in Iowa City but she had to get back to CR to get her boys so I missed out on that show at Gabes.  Although she never said it, I'm sure she thought it that I spent too much time at the record store, but as far as I know she never gave me the "it's the records or me" ultimatum but I heard the usual accusations of seeing another woman.  To which I told her I'm either at Relics or Rock n Bach or at work or at home.  Don't have time for another woman.  To which that fell upon deaf ears and sure as the sun rose the next day things would start all over again.

Life is a highway and every day I go down the road in search of something that I'll never find so I resort to the things I know best and that's collecting music.  I could have been a good husband or good boyfriend but forty years ago, I took a chance on a girl far away and that didn't pan out.  And then another girl in high school didn't help either and those two really sat the tone of a life that has been a music adventure and a love misadventure.  I really never did find the right girl when everybody was dating and I was scouring the cut out bins at Target.  I could count on one hand how many dates I had in the 80s and 90s before meeting Clarice.  While friends were settling down and starting families, I was collecting rejection letters from girls that my best friends would set me up with, or taking chances with undesirables, hell I was seeing a stripper from out of town thinking that was going lead somewhere.  And if you don't date on a regular basis, you really don't know what to expect from your significant other and that lack of knowledge came back to bite me on the butt on later encounters.    Even with the best of them, I found myself wondering what to do if they were still around.  In the end, it became too clear that I could never settle down;  I would just be wasting everybody's time and getting in their way.  I could blame Jeanette Ratliff for that, but only could look in the mirror to see who the real culprit is.

So I continue to search for what I haven't heard yet or continue to replaced the original records I grew up to with better shape copies.  And just live alone since I do that better than being with somebody.  It's a win win for everybody, I'm sure Clarice has a better man in her life and I continue to come and go and do the things that I'm used to doing.  And that will never change before I'm dead and gone.  And besides, it's much easier on my credit rating too.

Godspeed.

Week In Review: Stan Freberg, Cheese Cake Central.

I've been busy putting together another Singles Going Steady series but I have to comment on two passings of the week.  One of which Bob Burns, former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer, who played on the first two albums was killed in a car accident Saturday in Georgia.  He was 64. When you hear the original version of Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird, that's Bob playing drums.  The original Skynyrd is now jamming in the great beyond, with Bob joining up with Steve and Cassie Gaines, Allen Collins, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkerson and Ronnie Van Zant.  They're rocking in the heavens as they say.

The other big story is Stan Freberg passing away today at age 88 from pneumonia.  While in later years he hosted When Radio Was, a syndicated show that originally aired on KMRY back in the late 90s, Freberg is famous for his parodies of songs and satire of the late 50s and early 60s while recording for Capitol Records.  Many of his albums can be found in the used bins, including Freberg  Radio, which he coined the phase Pay Radio (You have to pay for it to hear it), which if you think about it, Freberg may have envisioned cable and pay TV in the future.  Rhino put together a 4 cd Box set of Freberg's stuff: Tip Of The Freberg, whereas Capitol in the US, put out Capitol Collector's Series to which the lesser offending and more well known songs and skits were used.  The 1951 infamous John and Marsha which hasn't dated very well, Freberg would use that for Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes Cartoon.  Some of the parodies didn't set well with the original artists.  Johnnie Ray was not amused when Stan parodied Cry into Try, until Ray found out that Try was actually enhancing record sales of Cry.  But Lawrence Welk didn't care much for Wunniful Wunniful which may have been the most perfect satire of the Mr. Bubbles himself.  But Jack Webb according to rumor liked his Joe Friday persona on Christmas Dragnet.

Freberg took over for Jack Benny on CBS radio for his short lived radio show but what stands out was that Stan didn't want any advertising from Tobacco or Beer companies.  Anything was fair game, but Capitol censored him on a parody of Arthur Godfrey (They submitted the sketch to Arthur, to which Arthur said no to it) or Ed Sullivan although Stan appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show a few times.  The greatest asset of Stan Freberg's career was his commercials back then were classic, from Ann Miller's tap dancing routine for Heinz Great American Soups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY2VAIIQAj4 to Geno's Pizza Rolls to which Stan parodied Lark Cigarettes and having Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels as the Lone Ranger and Tonto make a cameo appearance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9aU-NBNADA

And of course the Sunsweet prunes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lpytcTqaAs

The Ann Miller Heinz commercial was at that time one of most expensive spots ever filmed. 

Stan Freberg's influences can be felt all the way to Weird Al Yankovic who had Stan on his short lived TV show in the late 90s.  Freberg left When Radio Was in 2006 but still continued to do voiceovers for cartoons, most notably Garfield And Friends playing Dr Whipple and Fluffykins. Weird All has cited Stan as his biggest influence.

In the end, Freberg was a one of a kind performer who was good at studying and parodying the latest trends of music of the 50s and even thumbed a nose at Joe McCartney, the infamous Wisconsin Senator. If there's was a negative, he wasn't a big fan of rock and roll of the early era and it showed in his deconstruction of The Platters' Great Pretender or Elvis'  Heartbreak Hotel or even Lonnie Donagen on Rock Island Line.  However I do think he was dead on some subjects, most likely Green Christmas to which in 1956 Freberg noted of the over commercialization of Christmas and it may be his most controversial but perhaps his finest recording moment.   Nevertheless, Freberg was a one of a kind.  His recordings may have dated themselves but rest assured that he might be the king of best commercials ever made.

He will be missed.  

A excellent overview of Stan's output can be found here: http://www.cyberonic.net/~atrain/comedy/freberg.htm

From the Archives: http://lahistoriadelamusicarock.blogspot.com/2011/06/pink-floyd-brain-damage-from-album-dark.html

Rastro's blog was one of the best things I read that mentioned me.  Hard to believe four years ago that radio is better than it is now.  Since then Bob Dorr's Backtracks got moved to Saturday Afternoons and he still does Blues Avenue and The Beatles Medley on Sunday Nights.  I used to promote his shows on a regular basis till a falling out happened. I'll give him this, he did play the requests but never mentioned me by name on the songs.  I guess I was wearing sun glasses at night  incognito and being mysterious as he would say on the sign off.  I don't promote his shows anymore but the ones that I did are still in the archives. 


Geoffrey Lewis, best known for playing alongside Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way But Loose and other movies passed away at age 79 from natural causes.

The NCAA tourneys are now done.  U Conn was the dominate favorite and they showed that by downing Norte Dame by 10.  Wisconsin played the biggest game of the year by beating  the "we will go undefeated" Kentucky   Wildcats before running out of gas against Duke 68-63.  The referees were terrible in all stages of the game but make no doubt, the big game was them kicking Kentucky's rent a players 71-64, to which afterwards most of Kentucky's players declared for the draft leaving sleezeball John Calipari to find able bodied replacements for next season.  Certainly Wisconsin had one of the best teams but they simply couldn't beat Duke in the two games they played.  The Badgers lose Frank Kamensky, and three others and Sam Dekker is slated to go pro, but one thing is certain, Bo Ryan does have ways to get excellent players and even though next season will be a rebuilding year, he did managed to get them to the final four last two seasons.  Now only if he would put names on the back of the jerseys he would be a cool dude.

It seems that the Chicago Cubs do well in spring training, only to get back on a plane and back to the cold unfriendly confines of Wrigley Field and stink up the first game of the year and Sunday was no exception.  There should be a law forbidding any games played at Wrigley till May, it's cold as hell and the Cubs act as if they left themselves back in sunny Arizona.  New manager Joe Maddon, a new team and the same results of being shut out by St Louis 3-0 in what is being dubbed as Hell at Wrigley.  To which Tom Ricketts is undertaking a very long and expensive upgrade and keeping the bleachers empty as they work on renovations.  The Cubs have 3 catchers on the roster and neither one could throw out Cardinal runners as their wild throws went out to center field.  It seemed more that the Cardinals were at home than the home team themselves, going 0 for 15 with runners on base and anything well hit was held up by cold winds or Cardinal outfielders making great plays.  The biggest sufferers were the fans themselves, with all but four restrooms open and long waits didn't bode well for those that could afford 10 dollar Budweisers and ended up using the cups or the wall to relieve themselves.  The papers dub this Peegate and Ricketts did decide in adding about 30 porta potties to combat Peegate but it's regardless it's going to be a long season.  Don't think going to Wrigley will be on my list to do this year.  And I hope the Cubs bats do show up soon, otherwise having a well known overpaid manager isn't going to help.  He can't bat for them.

Record Store Day is April 18th.  This is the cash cow day that independent record stores owner hope that folks with lots of money will come spend it on overpriced exclusive LP and 45s.  Dave Grohl is ambassador and anything Dave does is great.  Since the inception of RSD back in 2009 I have tried to visit a store within driving distance, but the way I look at this is that anytime I go to the record store is considered RSD.  And this year I do not feel compelled to rub elbows with fellow collectors to find things that may appeal to me. Last three weekends I have done RSD in Davenport, Madison and Iowa City and I think I did quite well.  I could ask Bob Herrington to open up upstairs to find 45s but since Ragged Records will be busy, I don't think it would benefit me.  And of course since RSD is held during the rainy season, I'm usually fighting monsoons to get anything decent.  Right now the decision would be staying close to home and seeing what the thrift stores would have, unless the scavengers beat me to the bargains.

Record Reviews R Us.

Robyn Hitchcock-Fegmania! (Yep Roc Reissue)

Last week, I managed to find this CD via Rhino which was great but alas Another Bubble skipped which pissed me off so I ended up ordering up a new copy.  Back in the 90s Hitchcock granted release rights to Rhino Records (Back when Rhino was keeping the forgotten alive instead of rehashing classic rock crap that they do today) and he would then add bonus tracks and commentary to Grant Alden's liner notes.  Hitchcock has been the definitive alternative artist, too damn weird for radio and for cult fans only.  Which explains why I have 14 other albums from him.  Fegmania! reunites him with the Soft Boys rhythm section of Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor (renamed The Egyptians) and the original 11 track album shows Robyn stealing a page or two from The Byrds and Echo And The Bunnymen but Hitchcock's lyrical sense is his alone.  Fan favorite Egyptian Cream is vintage alternative classic rock and Another Bubble wouldn't sound out of place on Matthew Sweet's albums.  The bonus track Bells Of Rhymey is just about a perfect note for note cover of The Byrds and surprised that this didn't make it on the album.  I have intentions of donating the Rhino CD however, the bonus cuts do differ from the Yep Roc reissue.  On the plus side Yep Roc has better sound and mix, on the negative side the Rhino remains a keeper due to Grand Alden's notes, a demo and live version of Egyptian Cream, a demo of Insect Mother and Swingbeat, an outtake that didn't make it the Yep Roc issue.  The Yep Roc offers Lady Obvious, The Drowning Church and a instrumental of The Man With The Lighbulb Head.  The most interesting cut is The Pit Of Souls (Part 1-IV) which sounds like prog rock.  I don't know if Swingbeat being omitted from the Yep Roc album makes it that much stronger, and trading Egyptian Cream for The Drowning Church lessers or broaden the value, but what I do know is that Fegmania! the album is my favorite Robyn Hitchcock album and whatever copy you find is worth getting.
Grade A-

Lee Dorsey-Wheelin' And Dealin' (Arista 1990)

The late car mechanic got lucky with a nonsensical hit Ya Ya, based upon a made up song between girls was helped by having the great Allen Toussaint playing piano and arranging it.  Being part of the New Orleans scene Dorsey was helped by some of the finest musicians New Orleans had to offer and he took advantage of it. Despite it all, I find Working In A Coal Mine more fun than Ya Ya but Dorsey was a very underrated singer.  Just about all of his hits on Fury and Amy records are here, from Get Out Of My Life Woman, to Ride Your Pony, to a remake of Lottie Moe (sounds like The Meters backing him up with their patented funky beats) and Everything I Do Is Gohn Be Funky  (from now on). One of the earliest compilations done by Bob Irwin who later form Sundazed Records, this collection is mastered beautifully.  Nothing is taken off Lee's final album, ABC's Night People (recommended if you can find it) but Wheelin' And Dealin' is a nice overview of a forgotten New Orleans legend and shows more to him than just Sitting in la la, waiting for my Ya Ya.
Grade A-

Stan Freberg-Capitol Collectors Series (Capitol 1990)

Freberg's satire may seem dated nowadays but he did predict a future of pay radio and if anything, he was the master of making commercials but this best of, presents a glimpse of what Freberg could do best.  At his best he could parody Jack Webb and make it very convincing and the three skits on Dragnet theme (with Walter Schmann's arrangements, Freberg got the the composer of the Dragnet show, which is why it's one of the best moments of this album), and he was dead on about the commercialization of Christmas on Green Christmas, which still remains true to this day.  At his worst, his parodies of The Platters, Elvis and Sha Boom demonstrates a hatred toward rock and roll and doo wop (he was a jazz fan).  And the 1951 freak hit John And Martha has dated badly.   I recall a Sunday afternoon local puppet show used Banana Boat (Day O) to which Freberg is fighting a bongo player that doesn't like loud noises and is one of the better numbers on this compilation. Perhaps the best of the parodies was a Wunniful Wunniful (sic) Part un One and Part un Two) to which the Lawrence Welk person loses out to a runaway bubble machine.  I think when comparing other folk and their parodies, Homer And Jethro were much warmer and more receptive to rock and roll then Stan was, and even Spike Jones showed more respect toward the music that was putting his obsolete. There is a mean spirit that can't be overlooked on The Great Pretender or Try, the Johnnie Ray rip apart.  Overlook that and just focus on St. George And The Dragon or Little Blue Riding Hood and Green Christmas.  Freberg was a whiz in advertising and the modern business world and it shows on Green Christmas.  An uneven look into the world of Stan Freberg.
Grade B

I haven't posted much cheese cake of late, however Ivy Doomkitty continues to make cosplaying a fun fantasy as she dressed up to be Vampirella.  The hope is that we don't censored cuz of this or have your computer melt due to all that hotness.  But I'm thinking this is one of her best costumes ever.  She's offering this print for 15 dollars at her website.  I'll take three please! http://ivydoomkitty.storenvy.com/collections/202662-rocketeer-pinup/products/12765031-vampirella

Finally, Barry Manilow came out of the closet to marry his manager Wed, thus setting up the usual backlash, but in reality this didn't surprise me at all.  You hardly seen Barry with any woman throughout his history and his songs did twinge a bit toward the gay community.  I suppose this will give a whole new meaning of his hits It's a Miracle does sound a bit gay, and what if Mandy was a man?!  The thought that it was uncool to hate Barry Manilow but some of music he did does rock a bit.  New York City Rhythm could be considered the new YMCA, He did cover Ian Hunter's Ships and he put a new wave power pop spin on Some Kind Of Friend.  His underrated 2 AM Paradise Cafe album with the late Shelly Mann on drums is quite good although his revamping of the 60s catalog is a money making venture like Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook Series.  I tend to look at Barry with a bit more seriousness than the average critic, he's camp but he's got some campy good in him. So congrats to our new man and man couple. Tip, don't go to Indiana anytime soon.  They reserve the right to refuse service on gay and lesbians.

More Cheese Cake photo and thoughts. 

 When a skinny woman complains to me about their 120 pound body... I often find myself wanting to punch them in the face with my HUGE ass - I mean, don't you?..... Just because I'm a plus-sized girl... Does not mean I want to commiserate over weight problems... From London Andrews.

Week In Review: Madison, Copy Protected CD

It grieves me to say this but this week's trip to Madison in search of things to take home may have been the most disappointing since finding only one cd in 1996 but back then I wasn't looking for records.  So, this was the most disappointing bargain hunt ever.  Competing with the scavengers out there, the pickings were very slim; even less than the trip that I made up there last July.  It's really beginning to make no sense to even suggest going to their Goodwill's or Salvation Army. None, nix, nothing found at all three Goodwill stores and the Army.  There was a resale store on Washington that had about 6 boxes of albums (no 45s) and the anticipating of finding anything worth nothing, quickly became disappointment unless I was into Anne Murray.  Then I would have completed her discography on this trip.  Or have about 1000 classical albums to listen to.

The continuation of stores closing, Savers was closed on the west side which meant the east side had most of the garbage there.  I liked the west side store better although the location wasn't quite the best place to have a business, plus it was 3 doors down from Best Buy, which continues to shrink even more cd area to the point it's not worth going there anymore.  The only thing worth nothing was the new live Van Halen album but then I didn't see the need to buy it so I didn't.  The best record store in Madison is Strictly Discs; they have gotten much better in having decent music than Mad City Music X and Sugar Shack Records, which I spent about two hours trying to find something to buy.  The clerk up there was very nice to me but there was this dude who would vacuum the carpet and then would spend countless times at the counters playing with the pennies on the counter.  I also couldn't figure out why the records were not in their sleeves either.  It's annoying not to have the CDs in the jewel cases, even more when the vinyl is locked up.  So in the end, the only notable singles i got was With Pen In Hand by Billy Vera (Atlantic 2526) and a copy of Little Bit O' Soul by The Music Explosion (Laurie 3380) which is interesting that the record has Little Bit O Soul as the B side with I See The Light the A.  To which record programmers thought the B was a better hit single. And they were right.  I tried to snap a few pictures inside, but the GD flash went off and shocked me and the end result was a fucked up picture.  However I did get the front of the store without any problem.

Mad City Music X had lesser stuff of note and even their 45 selection was picked over and the 50 cent stuff is total played to death jukebox records or just plain crap and better just to leave out front with a free records sign.   The mercy CD sale  was The Best Of Belly.  Even the loads of dollar albums, they had nothing I really wanted and I begin to wonder if coming up to Madison was even worth the drive of finding bargains.  In general it's been like this anyplace I go to, no shortage of Country or pop stuff of the 50s or 60s. Anything rock and roll and it's trashed.  Just like going to Savers and seeing a Vee Jay Beatles 45 of Please Please Me/From Me To You which would have been the find of the day had the record been in better shape.  Bargain hunting is a crap shoot, this time out instead of hitting a jackpot, I ended up with snake eyes and not a lot of things to write home about.  There was a Sally Jane Hoakum MGM 45 I would have liked to have but the record was warped.  So much for that.

Which lead to Half Priced Books and the east side had large amounts of Bobby Darin 45s but I pretty much had them all and I really didn't see the need of Mame by Louie Armstrong.  Found nothing at the east side but the west side had a few things of note, a Best of Lee Dorsey one of them  Pre Played would have had the find of the trip with Robyn Hitchcock Fegmania! but the second song fucking skips in the cd player and i can't find anything out of the ordinary.  Of course the Pre Played folks like to buff them up after you buy them and I wish they would cut that out.  That might be the reason why it skips, which means I might have to go search for a better copy on Amazon and hope that somebody has it reasonably priced.  It might be one of Robyn's best albums ever. And the song it skips on Another Bubble rocks.

Last July I donated about 50 singles to the Williamson Street St Vincent De Paul Thrift Store and believe it or not about a quarter of them are still up there (go figure).  I guess nobody wanted the Firefall nor Silly Milly by Blue Swede or What Kind Of Fool Am I by Rick Springfield to which the scavengers took the damn sleeve off the record, so I put it back on there. I guess that Grand Funk Railroad is not in big demand for my copies of Walk Like A Man and Shinin On are still there, picture sleeve in tact.  But even as I sorted through the usual suspects I did come go home with 5 singles, nothing earth shaking either unless America's Horse With No Name or Bread's Mother Freedom trips your trigger.  And I'm not sure that I Wanna Go Back from Eddie Money was one of the 50 that I donated last July but I took it home all the same. Unlike the Davenport singles most of the 9 singles I bought, most are just plain Meh.   And Pawn America's Cd section is now basically down to a one side of the usual crap nobody wants.  Either Pawn America isn't taking CDs in anymore or people aren't bringing them in.  I thought about buying a Paiste Signature 14 inch glass crash cymbal for 50 dollars (that is a steal; on a side note, I seen a few more Paiste cymbals of note and cheap too, a innovations crash cymbal, a high end Signature ride for 250 dollars (still cheap) and a 10 inch Rude splash).   But since I'm winding down on my drum playing career, I didn't think it was cost effective to purchase something that would gather dust after a while.  Pawn America has been great in getting Paiste cymbals in on the cheap, for CD's however, five years ago it was the place to be; five years later it's not.  The CD era is over and Pawn America isn't taking anymore in.

But it wasn't a total waste of time.  Strictly Discs had the best deals and I found the latest Status Quo and the recent Tony Joe White Complete Warner Brothers Records in the used bins.  The Tony Joe White the bargain of the day, seven dollars for the two cd set. Plus at least they had some decent albums in the dollar bins.  The major vinyl is downstairs and I managed to while away the hour looking through their collection, but not buying anything else.  Which means the next time Strictly Discs will be one of the places to stop at, Mad City Music X as well.  Anyplace else outside the thrift stores would be a waste of time and effort.

I didn't do State Street this time out. I basically just rented a bike and did about 25 miles of bike riding up and down the bike trails all around Madison and managed to have a better time watching the girl joggers and bike riders ride on by.  Springtime brings out the best views it seems.  I only watch, I'm just too old to really go after somebody.  It's not easy being 30 years older and can only watch from afar.  But its probably better that way.

Since Iowa raised the gas tax, gas prices in Wisconsin were about the same or a few cents cheaper.  The cheapest was PDQ's gas for 2.31 a gallon.  And of course there was the usual supper at Cracker Barrel next to the motel I usually stay at.  Hardly anybody was in my part of the building, so it was very quiet.  The biggest news was the Tony Robinson incident, with his mom going to Washington to do a protest.  I've seen the makeshift memorial where Robinson's life was ended and there was a report that his mom called 911 when Robinson was going through a mental issue but somehow the policeman managed to give Robinson a pep talk and got him out of his funk.  The second time later on would provide a more negative end result.

Monday's weather was cloudy and cool, Tuesday was slightly warmer and better bike riding weather. On the drive up to Madison, I did come across the area where they got a foot of snow and a week later from Platteville to Mineral Point the fields were still covered in snow.  Thankfully it was all melted when I made it to Madison.   I did stop at the Platteville Goodwill and although I found no cd or records of note, I did find a book, The Diary of Frida Kahlo; A Self Portrait.  I bought the book because of the Mexican place in Solon called My Frida, and somehow the book interests me. She led a very interesting but a hard life which she portrayed in her paintings and her thoughts.  I guess that book may be the bargain of the trip, certainly it kept me up late trying to decipher her meanings.   Worth the 1.57 that I paid for the book.

It was a good thing that I postponed the trip a week, the original day I was to go up there, a freak snowstorm dropped about a foot around Prairie Du Chein and about 7 inches around Mineral Point and Platteville, four inches fell in Madison.  Snow was still on the ground around Mineral Point but Madison's snow melted by then.  Monday ZZ Top played there and on Saturday Belle And Sebastian will be there to play.  If I've known that I may have waited till Saturday to go see B&S. Outside of the usual one or two dumbass drivers and wayward bicyclists, the trip was uneventful.  Even with the Tony Robinson issues, things were according to plan.  However the Chinese buffet at World Buffet in Monona was awful. For 14 dollars you'd think they would keep some fresh chicken and broccoli in the damn buffet area.  Good service though.

Another blog site to tell you about in Blogspot.  This is Jamie Lee Fritze's Sound Woman site.  She's a big lover of records and music.  Sounds like the perfect woman for me but she's taken.  You can read about her latest vinyl adventures here: http://asoundwoman.blogspot.com/

It escaped my mind at the time but it was 10 years ago that Sony BMG gave us the copy protect CD to which you could not make duplicates (there was a way that you could and some did), beginning with Velvet Revolver's Contraband and lesser known and forgotten bands like The Dead 60s and Van Zant to name a few.  EMI did this as well for certain albums (Idlewild's third and less interesting album) but this technology along with the rootkit virus that renders computers useless if you played the CD in your computer really begin the the consumer being fed up and CD sales slid big time and have never recovered from this problem.  Today DVDs are still copy protected, but the rootkit problem forced Sony BMG to recall the problem discs and replaced them with regular unprotected cds. By then it was too late but that was happening back in April of 2005.  Doesn't seem that long doesn't it.  When you're on the computer it isn't.

Reviews:

Delta Moon-Low Down (Jumping Jack 2015)

The continuing saga of Tom Gray and Mark Johnson continues.  In the past 10 plus years of doing Delta Moon, they continue to travel the backroads of southern swamp blues and rock, this time out adding a bit more of a Little Feat sound to which I'm sure Franher Joseph was inspired by Sam Clayton of the Feat.  The last two albums they were under Red Parlor but now back to Jumping Jack.  The covers are Down In The Flood by Bob Dylan and Skip James' Hard Time Killing Floor Blues.  This time out The Moon incorporates more background singing and the ladies return, Anna Kramer and Francine Reed, the latter adding more gospel soul to Flood and Nothing You Can Tell A Fool.  As always Tom Gray continues to show his dry sense of humor on tracks like Open All Night and Wrong Side Of Town and as always Mark Johnson adds some of slickest guitar slide leads and so does Tom.  In a nutshell this comes across as blues but for myself I still look at Low Down as well as the rest of their albums as good old fashioned swamp rock blues, somewhere to the left of Tony Joe White and to the right of CCR with an wink and a nod to the old bluesmen of long ago and far away.  I love this band and basically everything they have done I love just as much.  And was quite flattered when I ordered up the Cd last week and they got it here in three days and everybody autographed it.  And God Bless Tom Gray, one of the best musicians out there that really cares a great deal about Delta Moon fans.  And on the bucket list; to have them play here in this neck of the woods. They always put on a fun show.
Grade A-

Status Quo-Aquostic: Stripped Bare ( Fourth Chord/E.A.R. Music/Eagle 2014)

Overlook the sight of sixty something nude rockers and you got a fairly nice album of unplugged Status Quo numbers that ranged from their best known Pictures Of Matchstick Men to which a combination of strings and acoustics turned it into a more modern number, that's even better than what Camper Von Beethoven did years ago.  While Francis Rossi is still in fine vocal form, Rick Parfitt sounds a bit strained.  Perhaps 22 songs over 70 minutes does lean toward overkill but if you're a fan of Quo and for that matter Rockpile, Aquostic is a nice addition to your Quo collection.  For that matter, none of the songs go over 4 minutes and The Quo revisits songs up to Rock Till You Drop, to which that song really doesn't fit and perhaps taking five songs off their 1973 Hello album is about three too many.  I passed on the reunion Original Quo Live album simply because nobody had it in stock and this CD was a promo copy.  Without the trademark Quo electric boogie rock, the unplugged album opens up a new insight, that after album 50 years together The Status Quo can unplug and rock out, but they never sounded more country either.  Credit  guest accordion wiz and former Dave Edmunds helper  Geraint Watkins for that.
Grade B+

Tony Joe White: The Complete Warner Brothers Studio Recordings (Real Gone 2015)

It's easy to see why Elvis loved Tony Joe; an excellent songwriter and storyteller.  Polk Salad Annie keeps the money and the memories going. After being on Monument for the hit, he moved over to Warner Brothers for a uneven five year career, the best having Peter Asher produced his WB debut and then White continued to strip his sound down to barebones acoustic swamp blues.  Not that the second album The Train I'm On is bad, or the even more stripped down Homemade Ice Cream, which sounds like picking on a open camp fire and fishing.  Even Trolls Like To Rock And Roll is that storytelling humor that we come to expect out of Tony Joe, or They Caught The Devil And Put Him In A Jail In Endora Arkansas.  And then there's love song of I Got A Thing About You Baby, which Elvis did turn into a top 30 hit.  But still Tony Joe White is at his best, with horns backing him up on the funky Don't Let The Door Hit You In The Butt, his final Warner single and fitting finale to a label that became indifferent to him.  If you want a better overview, Warners still has the best of TJ White with his Monument sides and hits but it left out Don't Let The Door.  The Real Gone has all of the Warner Brothers stuff, all three albums and all singles collected.  And anything associated with Gordon Anderson, it's well put together and annotated.  As they say, real music from the swamp.
Grade A-

Israel Vibration-This Is Crucial Reggae (Sanctuary/Ras 2005)

One of the more offbeat vocal reggae bands, this compilation album is during their stay at RAS in the 1990s. A decent harmony group but by 90s standards they were behind the times although they had nice harmonies. For a mix cd overview, this is nothing special, most of the songs go skanking by like a warm summer breeze. Run But You Can't Hide and the live Strength Of My Life are the highlights but this is not something I'd play on a regular basis.
Grade B-

William Bell-The Soul Of A Bell (Stax 1967)

You can't go wrong when you have Booker T and the MGs back you up and for the journeyman Bell, he's best known for the 1961 soul single You Don't Miss Your Water, redid for this album.  First side is slow jam soul and although he tries his best, he can't top Otis Redding's I've Been Loving You Too Long and Otis made Bell's You Don't Miss Your Water his own.  A bit too many ballads I think but Bell does add more soul on Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye than the Casinos did, and finally the rest of the album goes more uptempo on later songs like Any Other Way and You're Such A Sweet Thang although I am certain that's Issac Hayes helping out backing vocals.  Bell does sound like Eddie Floyd and like Floyd was resigned to the back seat to Otis but overall, The Soul Of A  Bell is a nice minor soul classic.
Grade B+


Nina Simone: Saga Of The Good Life And Hard Times (RCA 1997)

Paul Williams re imagines some of the unreleased songs that Nina Simone did back in 1968, considered by some to be her most radical and best period.  Simone at times could be good and at times be erratic, especially during her later years but I think the reason why most of the songs were not released was that they weren't as good as the released stuff that she did with Silk And Satin or Nina Sings The Blues to which the alternative take of Do I Move You appears.  The Martin Luther King Suite featuring her Mississippi Goddam does cook and so does her banter of telling folks to get into it.  The later version of Ain't Got No/I Got Life is more moving although I do think the song is somewhat goofy.  The songs with Nina alone with piano are fine listening for a couple times and even the organ solo on Music For Lovers is unique in a Muzak sort of way. Just like the rest of the album.
Grade B-

Liz Damon's Oriental Express (White Whale 1970)

Madison was devoid of anything in value for records at the thrift stores and I spent wasted hours going through boxes and boxes of crap nobody wanted at a resale store, and  I decided to spend a dollar on the last artist that charted anything for White Whale Records, the label famous for The Turtles and fucking them over.  Liz Damon is not rock and roll, she's easy listening muzak all the way, somewhere along the lines of Up With People or Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66 without the latin groove.  White Whale didn't permit much, no mention of who played and sang, a picture of Liz in front and the band playing live at a casino on the back cover.  And we get muzak covers of the hits of 1970 be it, Close To You or Everything Is Beautiful and the obligatory Beatles songs off Let It Be (guess which ones).   I can't slam this record, it's relaxing and perfect for winding down after a long day at work but again it's not rock and roll.  Damon will forever known as that one hit wonder 1900 Yesterday to which is probably the most lively thing on this record except for that electric guitar lead on Let It Be.  To which after the song is over, you can turn off the light and fall asleep.  It's mellow.
Grade B-

The Life And Times Of: : Butch Walker

Upon the few artists that have managed to make an impact in rock in the late 90s, Butch Walker is an enigma. At times, he can make a fairly listenable album and on the next one make a forgettable turd.  Originally part of Marvelous 3, their two Hi-Fi/Elektra albums I tend to favor Ready Sex Go over The Hey Album.  The latter having minor hit Freak Of The Week and the other a better song selection.  While critics rave over Walker's solo period, you really don't need to look no further than the aptly titled Left Of Self Centered, his one and only Arista album that is the most consistent.  Walker does borrow some Cheap Trick here, some glam there and a touch of grunge and power pop and it does have a sense of humor.  Not so with the dull and boring Letters, one of a handful of albums Walker did for Epic.  Butch rebounded with The Rise And Fall Of Butch Walker And The Let's Go Out Tonites, a handful name to name a band.  But I believe it's his best next to Left Of Self Centered.  Although credited as a wonderkind producer, he did jinx The Donnas on their 2nd Atlantic album Gold Metal, which did not live up to the name in record sales or reviews and The Donnas' faded from view.    He has figured in producing the likes of Weezer, American Hi Fi, Pink and Avril Lavigine to name a few.  He continues to do solo work and his last couple albums was with The Black Widows.  I haven't paid much attention to those albums or the ones when he was in SouthGang, which had two albums out on Virgin before the band got tired of the label's bullshit and split up.  In terms of pop music nowadays (or at least in the late 00's) chances are you would have heard Butch Walker production in Fall Out Boy and even country with Keith Urban.  To me, Butch's albums to get are the Marvelous 3, Ready Sex Go and Left Of Self Centered and all can be found in the cheap bins.  As for fan interaction with Butch, I heard complaints of him using their photos of him without given credit, a sure sign of a left of self centered rock star.  He tends to be overrated but if he checks his ego at the door, he does know to craft a good album from time to time.

  

Singles Going Steady 22-Classic Rock

Perhaps the most blatant and condescending attempt to go commercial, this edition of long running Singles Going Steady series takes a bigger look at the 45s that came into view this weekend and really took shape during my time up in Madison and trying to find the keepers from the crap. Knowing all the time, that some of the mentioned costs more than the actual Cd the songs came from.  The references of some of the songs come courtesy of Strictly Discs in Madison.  Basically it's all rock and roll this time out.

1.  Please Please Me-The Beatles (Vee Jay 498) 1963  I don't need to rehash the story of The Beatles being on EMI and Capitol in the US had a very passive interest in them till I Want To Hold Your Hand broke big and then they decided that maybe they did have a band that could make them lots of money in the long run but before that various Beatles songs did make on various independent labels (Tollie, Swan, even Atco got into the fun before Capitol recalled all masters for their own keeping). Perhaps the oddest pairings was being on a R and B label like Vee Jay and certainly Vee Jay took advantage of that by offering the single in different configurations, most notably the rainbow edge label that bared some similarity to Capitol's LP rainbow label. I did find a reference copy at Savers (see Week In Review: Madison) but the record seen much better days and I didn't feel compelled to just pick it up.  Kinda like finding  All Shook Up by Elvis in a thrift shop.  Unplayable but it might make a okay wall fixture to show off just to say you have a copy.

2.  TVC 15-David Bowie (RCA PB-10665)  1976  The bicentennial year was a bumper crop of outstanding and classic songs made into 45s but the big problem of most of these were in edited form.  I'm sure if Marion TV and Records would have had a copy I'd probably buy it but be pissed off at the 3:30 edit and not the full 5:30 version.  The best part of the song is the chorus ending.  Half of the time, radio played the edited version and we missed out on the full version and had to get the album in the first place.  Bowie to me has been one of the most erratic artists of the classic rock era, never got into his Ziggy Stardust persona all that much but I actually think that Station To Station was his best studio album of all time. But that's just my observation.

3.  Candy Store Rock-Led Zeppelin (Swan Song SS-70110) 1976  Another 45 that our local record store didn't stock and hard to believe since anything Led Zeppelin could sell.  However, this song didn't chart at all and basically for some idiot reason Marion TV and Records couldn't get a copy.  Not a lot of thought on the lyrics but that band can cook up some bitching heaviness.   And further proof that John Paul Jones was the secret weapon of L.Z.

4.  The Shout-Robin Trower (Chrysalis CHR-2429)  1980  Robin Trower's classic years was on Chrysalis and having James Dewar being the lead singer.  The lesser known 45s (Man Of The World, My Love) would sound just as great on classic rock radio with the overplayed but since Corporate rock radio doesn't play that way, the hell with anything else not Foreigner.  Of course in my lifetime, Bridge Of Sighs was a must have album but Trower started tinkering with the formula for more of a funk and soul feel on In City Dreams and Caravan To Midnight but the album Victims Of The Fury returns Robin and James back into a gritty hard rock sound but the catch was the songs were now shorter and on The Shout a nod to punk rock if you can believe that.  The lyrics are all Keith Reid though, a bit more wordy than Johnny Rotten or The Clash.  One of those songs that KRNA played in 1980 that made me took notice between the Billy Joel and Journey stuff they touted and I did find a cutout cassette of that album. And then bought the vinyl...and the CD.  But never the single, couldn't find it anywhere.

5.  A Horse With No Name-America (Warner Brothers WB 7555) 1972  I think I was in fifth grade, home from school being sick with the flu when I first heard this off a fading radio station in the afternoon.  My mom worked at Sears at that time, and once she left for work I had free rein to turn the radio on and listen to the songs out there.  It's overplayed to death now but it was one of those songs when you hear the first time it grabs your attention. In some ways America was no different than Crosby Stills and Nash or Loggins And Messina, it was folk rock with some jamming off and on, especially on B side Everyone I Meet Is From California which didn't make it to the first America album, a head scratcher for the omit.  Out of the CSN and LM bands, America was the weakest of the bunch and their albums have been uneven at best and even slid into a MOR ballad band although they hit number 1 with the overplayed Sister Golden Hair a big 1975 hit but if given the choice Horse wins out.  But then again once they lost Dan Peek, they really did become a MOR band.

6.  Mother Freedom-Bread (Elektra EKS-45740)  1971  People loved those David Gates ballads but if he turned out a rocking 45 such as this song the chart position were not as high.  Don't laugh but Bread was a very capable rock band if they wanted to be, James Griffin wrote more of the rockers, Gates' "bread" (pun) and butter was the ballads.  I come to find I can handle the ballads more now than I used to but this surprise rocker I did buy when I went up to the Lincoln Woolworth's visiting my Grandma when she was still alive (good times). 1971 was a nice watershed year for great 45s and that trek did continue up to 1976 before disco and rap and corporate rock sucked all the inspiration out. Mock me all you want but Bread was a very good rock band when they wanted it to be.

7. Come Up The Years-Jefferson Airplane (RCA 47-8848) 1966   The strange case of Jefferson Airplane is how classic rock radio plays Somebody To Love or White Rabbit every chance they get but the failed 45s you won't hear at all.  But the failed singles probably had too much of a sound too similar to the Mama's And Papa's or Simon And Garfunkel.  It didn't help that they had one of the biggest assholes managing them, one Matthew Katz who co produced their first album.  Grace Slick was still in The Great Society and Skip Spence was playing drums for The Airplane even though he was a guitarist by trade.  This song was too folky to make an impression on the charts, B side Blues From An Airplane would hint for the sound they were searching for, but Jefferson Airplane Takes Off remains a stellar first album.  However the Airplane would manage to excrete themselves from Matthew Katz and go on to bigger things,  Spence would form his own band Moby Grape but unfortunately would retain Katz for his management skills.  And the rest would be history.

8.  I Wanna Go Back-Eddie Money (Columbia 38-06569)  1986  We know the money man and his first album which Two Tickets To Paradise and Baby Hold On are still in regular rotation over the years and somehow I managed to score a vinyl copy of The Sound Of Money which sold boatloads of CDs in the late 80s but this song has always struck a chord with me.  While going from shit job to shit job in my five months being in Arizona, this song was really my expression of being homesick  and since I was about to be kicked out of the house by my loving Aunt Virginia it was either go home or go homeless.

9.  Something Lacking In Me-Nigel Olsson (Rocket PIG-40455)  1975  Nigel has always been one of rock and roll most underrated drummer, he drummed in Uriah Heep for a spell before joining up with Elton John for a off and on 40 plus year career but Nigel had an eye for a solo career which he got further with hackster Paul Davis co producing him rather than his boss.  Something Lacking, is not much different than Philadelphia Freedom, even has Gene Page arranging the strings on this song.  One of the co-writers on this song is none other than David Foster, who would later turn Chicago into mush.  One of 45s that I found in Davenport that I took noticed after all the scavengers bypassed this record.

10. Shakin Street-MC5 (Atlantic 2724) 1970   In this day and age we tend to take certain band records more seriously than we used to back when they were still around and The MC5 were no exception. They didn't do themselves any favors by using F bombs to stores that wouldn't sell Kick Out The Jams using the Elektra label and they certainly didn't do themselves any favors by having Jon Landau producing their album, which Lars Ullrich must have took to heart on Metallica's And Justice For All.  A very tinny and no bass mix whatsoever.  Which tends me to think that Landau is about as overrated as his previous employer Jann Wanner.  On the plus side he got to produce the MC5.  Interesting to note that Landau wanted Fred Smith to sing this rather than Robb Tyler, Smith would rather not but in the end, not only this song remains MC5's best overall song, it influenced a lot of the up and coming garage punk bands at that time.  Not bad at all. 

Record Collecting In The Vinyl Revival

Since the report of vinyl sales that have gone up last year it obvious to me that every collector and scavenger is now out and about and plundering the used vinyl at the thrift stores, which will make the upcoming Madison trip a bit more challenging.  Certainly today's like minded individuals will be looking to see what they can find and then post their findings via certain record collecting social media outlets.  

In today's antique stores and record marts, I have noticed the big price markups on moldy album covers and records that don't justify their price.  To pay five dollars for a Ted Nugent album which looks like somebody left out on the highway. (not that I would buy Ted Nugent mind you but I have seen an album that looked like it was left out on the highway) or four bucks for a scratched up 45 really comes to wonderment if it's cost effective just to get a reference copy   But in this day and age, some folks do.  Or get ripped off at an EBAY seller site since the record advertised as VG mint was more like VG minus or poor grade.  Today's bargain hunter has to really do their homework and check out pictures and ratings before deciding to invest.  In my EBAY buys, the buyers I bought records from I can recommend.  In my previous years, I managed to revisit and reacquired 45s to replaced poor copies or records that got broke right off the bat due to me being younger than 5 years old.  It's really a shame that I never treated those records better or kept the sleeves.  But I did managed to find Gonna Send You Back To Walker 45 from the Animals (The first 45 that really caught my attention) or One Beer from Chuck Murphy.  Rock and roll bluffs don't care about the latter but since I grew up listening to a wide variety of records some do stand out for me enough to seek out better copies.  And still working on a trying to get Until I Found You from Don Hollinger for less than 40 dollars (good luck with that).

After eight months away from Madison, I think it is high time to revisit that city and the thrift stores that might have the elusive or lesser known 45 that might appeal to me.  Davenport has been fairly nice with some obscure stuff that the most keen eyed collectors out there overlooked but the weird stuff like The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde The Very Very Blue Danube (Ranwood R-1010  1974) or Carmen Cavallaro Just Say I Love Her (Decca 7-29735  1955) are going to sit there a while.  But in this bizarre world that I live in, if the record looks new, has a sleeve and doesn't skip all over the player then I'm more than willing to give it a spin and then donate it back if I don't like it enough.  And if I stay interested, then I'll research more via the net to learn more about Carmen Cavallaro, who was a big influence on Liberace or to a lesser extent Roger Williams.  Not exactly rock and roll.  And in the case of Charles Randolph Grean, he started out in the big band era, later produced a few country albums for The Sons Of The Pioneers and Eddie Arnold and in the 60s worked with Leonard Nemoy and The Mills Brothers (Cab Driver) before composing the number 11 1969 hit Quentin's Theme from the Dark Shadows soap opera show.  Grean also had a hand in writing Sweet Violets, a early 50s hit for Diana Shore and later done by The Demonstrators for Warner Brother in the 60s, which was close to rock and roll as Grean would ever get. The 1974 Blue Danube I think Grean tried to capitalize on the rock classical craze of Apollo 100's Joy but even then the classical rock craze didn't last very long.

But then again my life has always been the interest of the 45, and the origins of songs and where they come from and they continue to hold my attention more to this date.  It probably would have done my ex girl friends to come up with a box of records, sit them out and front of me and let me sort through the way to keep my attention. Yes, I kinda stopped once the CD boom came around in the 1990s and that year span up to 2002, till I found a decent turntable and once again picked up where I left off.  And up till 2014, I had the pick of the litter, till vinyl sales surged up and the scavengers begin to buy any and everything.  To which even the big finds of last August even shocked me and perhaps the majority of them slept late and yours truly crept in and added them to my collection at 10 cents apiece. To which I doubt I'll ever see the likes of that again.

Last weeks' treasure trove of finds was really not much if you look at it.  The majority of them were country 45s and most scavengers passed on, but since I grew up in that late 60s country music sound I managed to find some songs that eluded me for years.  I always liked the uptempo But You Know I Love You from Bill Anderson (Decca 7-32514) more than The First Edition's version and while classic country plays David Houston's Almost Persuaded, his best song was You Mean The World To Me (Epic  5-10224). There was plenty of Buck Owens to be had, I picked up Buckeroo and Tall Dark Stranger. Strangely though, who ever had the 45s didn't have any George Jones and the only Merle Haggard there was The Fugitive (Capitol 5803).  And plenty more others.

In the course of the last five years of 45's, the country side findings have been better than the rock side of things.  The old 60s of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson RCA 45s have been more plentiful out there and the forgotten country stars of yesterday I have plenty of Faron Young, Roy Drusky and the late great Dave Dudley who recorded many albums for Mercury and only has a paltry 11 song best of to show for his tenure there.  There's not much demand for his I Keep Coming Back For More (Mercury 72818) single but since it was in fairly good shape, I thought why not.  While finding country 45s can be fun and rewarding, it is still the rock sides that I'm on the lookout for. Once in a while, I'll stumbled upon a box of sleeveless 45s of rock and roll but most of them are too scratched up or are overplayed jukebox copies.  Not all bad but it does comes down to wondering if I'll see a certain  45 if I should pick it up.  Which was the case of finding a G grade of Link Wray's Jack The Ripper (Swan 4137), but I did managed to clean it up with plenty of rubbing alcohol and a towel and getting the dirt out of the grooves.  Still having the scratches though but the sound has improved with a good cleaning. 

Today's collectors are getting more and more keen on things, going to estate sales, sucking up to the thrift store employees in order to get the cream of the crop, but sometimes something will fall through their greedy little mitts and comes into my attention.  Which somehow I managed to score a Mobile Fidelity copy of The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, one of the sacred cows in the collector's world.  I'm not above paying big bucks for something that I really want but to find Magical Mystery Tour for 2.38 is why I collect.  The fun of finding something cheap and being happy to say I have a copy.  I could put this up for grabs on a FB record collecting site and quote a price but I have a feeling I'll be playing this from time to time.

And for the Madison bargain hunts is like the Arizona Bargain hunts.  The object is to have fun and see what's out there for the picking.  Nothing against the Antique Malls, they serve a purpose and everybody likes to makes money as well spend money.  I just don't see a need to blow on overpriced moldy and scratched up albums.  And if it's worth mentioning, I'll be sure to do that.  But I also keep a open mind, and knowing that somewhere in the past of the 50s pop recordings and 60s country, there's also good music in that. 

So get them boxes of 45s ready Mad City.  I'll be in your town soon. 

Week In Review: Records, Hawks, Ted Cruz sucks

A bit of unfinished business, AJ Pero Twisted Sister drummer passed away at age 55 from a heart attack.

John Renbourn, from the Pentangle and solo years was one of the better acoustic guitarist the world has known but when he didn't show up for a concert and when they went to his home, they found him dead from a heart attack.  He was 70.

Loretta Lynn finally played at the Paramount last night before a capacity crowd.  It was a family affair as her son, and grand daughters played the show.  A classmate of mine Donna Grant was kind enough to take pictures of the show, with Loretta looking grand than ever.  I wonder if Loretta played anything off Van Leer Rose. http://www.hooplanow.com/subject/life/arts/music/review-loretta-lynn-brought-exceptional-evening-of-country-music-to-cedar-rapids-20150327

The NCAA tourney's have come and gone and the biggest disappointments came from Iowa once again.  The lucky team is UCLA, a season which they got in at a higher than what they should have been rating and won the SMU game on a technicality.  However, the biggest loser was Iowa State which got upended by one point to Alabama Birmingham to which game two UCLA blew that team out. If the scrip goes to plan Gonzaga will beat them.  Which leads to Iowa finally winning their first NCAA game since 2001 by playing their best game against Davidson, and then turned around and Gonzaga politely showed them the door in a 19 point win.  Iowa never lead, starting things right off the wrong way with a turnover and the rest was history. Still the NCAA is Kentucky's for the winning, any upsets would be the major one.   In the NIT's Richmond ended Arizona State's miserable season. Which lead to Herb Sendek getting fired two days later after being ASU coach for 9 seasons and having 2 NCAA and 4 NIT appearances  The ASU team underachieved, the high point them beating Arizona in Tempe and downside getting their ass handed back to them in Utah and Colorado. Getting back to Iowa, they haven't been to the sweet 16 since Tom Davis' last year as coach as AD shit for brains Bob Bowlsby (now big 12 Commish) forced Davis out.  And Iowa still is paying for Bowlsby' mess.  Here's hoping next year's Hawkeyes will improve but it won't be easy.  Aaron White's career is done.

On the plus side the Iowa women are going to the Sweet 16 with a 88-70 win over Miami, as the Bethany Doolitte/Melissa Dixon/Samantha Logic farewell tour continues.  Overcoming a cold shooting first half, the Hawk girls lit up the usual dormant  Carver hawkeye baskets with 75 percent shooting in the second half.  And for their effort, gets to play Baylor this Friday.  And they lost 81-66 in a game they never led and had some behemoth man-woman center break Bethany Doolittle's nose.  Sam Logic gave her final triple double performance of her career but it wasn't enough.  It's too bad that we didn't have somebody come off the bench and give Sune Agbuke a punch where the sun don't shine after that non called elbow that she threw that broke Doolittle's nose.  The Hawks only had seven FTs attempted all game whereas Baylor had something like 15 or 16. Coach,Kim Mulkey's happy to know that the refs were on her side all game.  Nevertheless the Hawkeye Women had a great season.  Sad way to see it end when them playing against 8 players.

The big news from here is that Rod Stewart, long time vocalist who's best records are still the ones he cut with Mercury and that side project called Faces is coming to the Five this summer.  To which rumors of a Faced reunion might be forthcoming but Ian McLegan's death pretty much shattered it being a real band (Ronnie Lane checked out years ago) but the nostalgic folk will pony up dollars to see that.  Stewart hasn't done much since then, whoring himself out on the Great American Songbook and his last return to rock album Time was a mixed bag, more meh than yeah.  Over the weekend Heart appeared here as well.  I didn't go to that, I went to Davenport to waste a nice day (perhaps Friday and Saturday would have idea days to do Madison since Monday a late winter storm postpone going up there, thus starting up the here comes the crappy storms to fuck your trip up season) and to see if Bob down at Ragged Records would give me the green light to see his hidden 45s collection upstairs.  However, Bob said it would have preferable to give him a few days notice that he could clear space up there, which made me wonder if this is even worth the effort.  I don't doubt there may be lots of clutter upstairs but give a month notice for the next time might be even overwhelming for me.  So basically I ended up getting the new James McMurtry Complicated Game 2 Record set for 27 dollars and left it at that.

Since the August jackpot finds, each trip since then has not has as rewarding.  And of course the scavengers were out and about more often than not and I ran into one at the Salvation Army as he looked at an old Just For Fun scratched up 45 that was done by Bones Howe and mentioned he could have sold that for 50 dollars via Ebay had it been in better shape.  It's guys like him that makes bargain hunting a bit more harder to find for records of note, if anything comes up rock and roll, the album is usually scratched, the cover is moldy and looked it was in a flooded basement.   While the scavenger left there empty handed, I found some off the wall DJ promos and odd stuff that are byproducts of an era of music nobody cares about anymore.  The best of the bunch may be used for Singles Going Steady but the only interesting thing was a Jack Scott picture sleeve of Goodbye Baby/Save My Soul (Carlton 493) minus the record.  For six records I ended up paying 2 dollars for, most might be re-donated later on.  But for the most part, the same old Juke box country records of the 80s were still there at The Salvation Army, and probably will be there next time I'm back in town.  Just like that Jimmy Webb Cd that I donated six months ago and is still there today.

The love affair with Samantha Fish is over.  I used to get emails from RME, the Davenport outfit that would tout of forthcoming shows but most of the things I get in the hotmail addy is the usual ED drugs bullshit and countless spam of winning the Nigeria Lottery or shady business deals.  And half the time, the old out of date computer freezes up due to Hotmail's commercials that make things run even more slower.  While this was going on, Samantha Fish came back to The Redstone Room on March 13th to a filled with capacity electric performance.   She's still promoting Black Wind Calling and I know it would have been a great music show but once again with no promotion about it up here, I knew nothing about it.  Perhaps she can make an effort to drive up 61 to 30 to Cedar Rapids and play here once a while, maybe Bluesmore?  I'm game but she's not returning my phone calls or emails.

Kathy Welch was the lovely record girl at Record Realm that everybody in town had a secret crush on myself included.  Still lovely in her mid 50s she has since moved out of town and done all the things people do, get married have kids but she's started up her own little shop of jewelry and even specialty sandals.  Like all my friends I try to give props and promote their business whenever I can.  Here's hers. http://www.rochatcollettedesigns.com/  

Gary Overton, the clown President of Sony Music Nashville stepped down.  If you don't get played on country radio you don't exist comment he made started a backlash and may have played a role in him stepping down.   Without Miranda Lambert, he would have been gone years ago.

The Library Of Congress added a few more pieces to the national recording registry.  The major albums are note is Sly And The Family Stone 1968 classic Stand!  (Despite the 13 minute Sex Machine, the rest of the record is flawless) Laryn Hill's album after The Fugees broke up, (not into that sort of stuff but it is worthy of inclusion of hearing Hill when she had her shit together before falling off the deep end), Steve Martin's Wild And Crazy Guy (1978 comedy album with King Tut although Let's Get Small is his classic moment), Radiohead OK Computer (I look at this record the way I do with Dark Side Of The Moon, one of the all time classic B albums out there, a must hear but not something I pull out to listen to after that) and The Doors first album (from Break On Through to The End an album way ahead of its time). Other notable recordings includes wax cylinder recordigs of the late 1890s of Benjamin Ives Gilman at the Chicago Fair (1893), Blind Lemon Jefferson 1928's Black Snake Moan/Matchbox Blues (an old Paramount Recording), Agnes Moorhead's Suspense radio theater show of Sorry Wrong Number (1943), A 1945 recording of FDR's funeral (we need another Franklin Roosevelt in the White House to combat the John Birch Tea Party and the one percent party), Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker My Funny Valentine (1953, 16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955, Stand By Me from Ben E King in 1961, Joan Baez 1960 folk album, You Lost That Lovin Feeling by The Righteous Brothers (one of the best Phil Spector productions ever before he became Looney Tunes) and a few others. http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2015/15-041.html

And the clown show is coming once again. Scott Walker has been here a few times and now it's official: Ted Cruz, the Canook wants to be president here.  This is where I play the birther card and say provide a birth certificate saying you were a US born citizen, wait you can't.  Republicans give elephants a bad name, the clowns vying for votes and Koch money are Jeb Bush (No more fucking Bushes in the white house, the last one really screwed things up), Donald Trump (wouldn't you like this clown for a President, declaring bankruptcy at least four times) Walker (his comment about union workers compared to ISIS really didn't help his cause) and now Ted (shut the government down) Cruz, today's Joe McCartney, perhaps the worst thing to ever come out of Wisconsin (although Scott Fitzgerald is making a ploy for all time worst). The Tea Party no different than the John Birch Society.  But then again the Democrats aren't much better, touting Hilary Clinton (No more Clintons either) or Joe Biden.  Whoever wins, we all still lose.  Cruz is just a joke, and it rhymes with lose.  Funny thing with the Conserves, they even turn on each other.  Just like Karl (Marx) Rove getting into a shouting match with Glenn Beck.   Which reminds me, this week is the new Ray Stevens album, one part novelty, one part obama bashing, one part pop, the rest all filler.  Even Wally World hasn't gotten that in.

Sunday, while going through the same records at Stuff Etc, a guy told me that Goodwill managed to get some 45s of note in, about 300 and I was in the vicinity, so I made it past the usual 4 stop lights turning red when you get there to Council street and that Goodwill.  The guy was right, there was a tub full of country records from the 60s and 70s.  Scavengers tend to overlook country, but since I grew up in that time I did like a few country records and I did managed to sort out and picked the 14 best suited songs for me.  There was some Johnny Cash (all scratched and played down to the nubs), Jerry lee Lewis (various shapes) Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells and so on but I did pick up a couple Buck Owens 45s that weren't too bad in shape, a couple Jim And Jessie, couple Dave Dudley's and some odds and ends, nothing exciting.   Perhaps I'll use them for a Singles Going Steady Country Sides blog.  The rock stuff was rare and I really didn't want a Winchester Cathedral single but for a country haul, it worked out okay.

Rod's Reviews:

Red Simpson-The Man Behind The Badge (Capitol 1965 thereabouts)

Oh, BTW whoever had the country singles donated a bunch of country albums, I did have the Buck Owens albums and the Jim Nesbitt Truck Driving Cat With Nine Lives LP had a scratch that made me put it back but I settled on this concept album from Red Simpson, who is better known for I'm A Truck and did have a best of that Diesel Only issued years ago on CD.  Simpson back then wrote a lot of songs for Buck Owens which is why he was on Capitol, back then labels actually supported the artists.  On this album Simpson salutes the men in blue in 12 songs about policemen.  Best song is Johnny Law, the familiar guitar sound of Don Rich playing and help from the Buckeroos themselves (Doyle Holly co wrote Johnny Law), the rest just what you expect from a concept album of 1965 saluting the men in blue. Perhaps Bruce Springsteen may have heard this album while penning Highway Patrol, which is by far anything better on The Man Behind The Badge but still with Ken Nelson's great production work and the Buckeroos (or whoever was backing Red up) impeccable playing, it's probably worth that 1.68 cutout price just to hear this. But if you do find this album, play 25 Years In Patrol and compare it to Neil Young's Southern Pacific, a song about a guy whose time in his profession has come and gone.  Even throwaway songs have a message if you listen closely.
Grade B-

Free-Heartbreaker (Island 1973)

My favorite Free album is also the one that doesn't have the late Andy Fraser playing bass on it. But then again Free was more inconsistent than Bad Company despite the latter's Rough Diamonds or Burning Sky but the former's Free At Last was one boring mess outside of Little Bit Of Love.  Reviews of Heartbreaker were mixed and toward the negative, but for these ears I actually enjoyed the lesser known ballads that John Rabbit Bundrick did on side 2.  On a whole, the album does showcase the breakdown and breakup of the band due to Paul Kossoff's bad habits, and Bundrick and Paul Rodgers punching each other out in terms of who was leading the band.  Kossoff does play on the majority of the album, and gets songwriting credit on Wishing Well although while not credited, that is him playing lead guitar. Kossoff's distinctive tone can also be heard on the title track and Come Together In The Morning, which his druggy lead somehow adds a bit of tone to the ballad.  Tetsu Yamanchi's bass quite nicely follows what Fraser did on previous albums, the chunky riff to Wishing Well, which in classic rock radio world would be played as much as All Right Now.  Wishing Well is the best song, second best is Easy On My Soul, a very mellow song that features a double keyboards from both Paul and John.  Heartbreaker, the song is damn near heavy metal, even if Kossoff wasn't full time, at least he made the most of his efforts with said song.  The original mix didn't appeal to Chris Blackwell and he sent Andy Johns to mix it better, and Johns put together a very bassy and mysterous mix that is part echo and part wow and flutter, in fact the original album I thought the compression made the songs much more harder rock sounding.  Make no mistake, this album you can actually hear the band falling apart at the seems all the way to the closer Seven Angels.   In the end, Heartbreaker is the end of Free and Rodgers and Simon Kirke would move on to a whole new level with Bad Company, where Kossoff would eventually form the Back Street Crawlers before dying in 1976 from heart failure, and Tetsu Yamanchi would replace Ronnie Lane in Faces.  John Bundrick would do a couple solo albums and session work before joining up with The Who but even he said that being in Free was a much better time, despite things falling apart.  The bonus tracks while interesting are not essential although Bundrick's guide vocal for the shelved Hand Me Down/Turn Me Around and minor B side Let Me Show You How (featuring the original Richard Digby Smith's mix, would give a idea how the record would sound like before Andy Johns came in to remix it.).  The album would have been slightly better than Free At Last. Chris Blackwell was right in his judgement to redo the sound recording.  In the end, while the Free fans tend to enjoy Fire And Water or Highway better, Heartbreaker is their finest work as they're being pulled apart by the forces of Rabbit going one way, Kossoff the other (he pitched a hussy fit when Snuffy Walden came on board as second guitarist) and Paul Rodgers riding the storm out along with Simon Kirke's powerful but economic playing.  A minor rock classic of it's own excesses.
Grade A-

James McMurtry-Complicated Game (2015)

While a reviewer at No Depression raved about this being James' best album ever, I'm not that sure or that enthusiastic to do the same but McMurtry has always been a quality singer songwriter the past 25 years, ever since Too Long In The Wasteland to which John Mellencamp gave his blessings and his band to help James.  But this record is much more stripped down than Too Long or anything else for that matter. Lead off track Copper Canteen would be a perfect bro country song for Luke Bryan to cover till he took a deep look in the lyrics and it's not all tanlines, pussy chasing and beer drinking. It's much more deeper than that, it's a song that looks hard and into the soul of somebody who looks at today's kids, and the big box stores that have replaced life the way it used to be.  Rest of the album is not as hard hitting as Copper Canteen but the blows are more than just glancing either.  Ain't Got A Place is kind of a update of I'm Not Around Here and it's interesting to read James' thoughts on some of the songs on the lyric sheet that is on both of this 2 record set that you have to play at 45 RPM (found that out the hard way).  James songs, like his dad's books, are imagines pined in between the grooves and the simple production does enhance the despair and desperation even in the love songs.  In some ways Complicated Game is no different than say, Where You Hide The Body or Just Us Kids, the hour long album comes across like a book or movie.  And it all makes sense to hear it in one setting, up to the end of Cutter which James ends the song with the thought of I don't know what to say to you, I shouldn't judge but I often do, there's really no way to top that, and so it ends.  The cold hard facts of life in those last two lines.
Grade A-

Silver Apples (MCA 1997)

They made two albums for Kapp back in the late 60s, and I recall seeing Contact, the second album in the 44 cent bins but never bought it.  This band features Danny Taylor playing drums and Simeon playing oscillators in different rhythms and sounds.  Very original ideal that nobody ever did back then.  I'm sure the original Kapp 44 cent albums are now worth more in price (Universal reissued the LPs on vinyl a few years back) although the novelty tends to wear thin if you hear both albums on this 2 on 1 CD that is both the first album and Contact)  Hearing You And I gives me visions of Pere Ubu and what Alan Revenstine would do in that band, I think Pere Ubu and David Thomas must have a Sliver Apples Lp in their collection.  Oscillations is their other classic song, even too weird for the hippie dippy generation.  I suspect Simeon may have found a banjo to pluck on, thus giving us a oddball cover of Ruby, the old bluegrass staple.  But next to Trout Mask Replica, Silver Apples' records are avant garde bliss (or torture).  Your choice.
Grade B

The Replacements-All Shook Down (Rhino/Reprise/Sire 2008)

I for one, was never a big Replacements fan, Husker Du was the band of choice.  And through their career the only two albums that appealed to me was Let It Be which still is their classic and the 1987 Pleased To Meet Me, an album that Alex Chilton was supposed to produced but even he was too eccentric or erratic for any value so Jim Dickinson stepped in.   Fast forward to 1991 where the Mats were down to Paul Westerburg and Tommy Stinson and whoever was in the recording studio, the rock numbers they sounded like Rolling Stones (if Ronnie Wood was lead singer, not Mick) but hell Westerberg sounded half bored on this album anyway. But I think All Shook Down was slightly better than Don't Tell A Soul, with the simplistic Merry Go Round being a nice but failed single.  And Torture is torture especially when the Concrete Blond singer starts screeching, Tina Turner Miss Napoliano is not.  The Expanded edition is the one to get, simply of hearing Paul's demos and the alternative reading of My Little Problem and adding a couple songs off the hard to find promo Don't Buy Or Sell It's Crap, which could have been the working title of All Shook Down. Tommy's Satellite is interesting in itself, after Paul broke up the Mats, Stinson continued under the Bash and Pop name and the underrated Friday Night Is Killing Me which Satellite suggests of how that band would sound.  For a band that started out with Sorry Ma Forgot To Take Out The Trash, I could see how that bumpy and decade long run would end with the subdued All Shook Down.  The original album is a B minus but the bonus tracks of the expanded edition does give this a very weak B plus.


Finally, it's been noted how crappy country music has turned into with hack acts like Chase Rice, Florida Georgia Line which has turned into a boom time for the Farce The Music dudes.  This little Craigslist add, is a parody of things but it pretty much sums up the major label requirements to make it on radio anymore.  I have no use for new country, the o has been left off for some time but this humorous add really sums things up.  It could also be used for the now vacant CEO job at Sony Music now that Gary Overton has been jettisoned.  Don't look for better music to come out anytime soon on K HACK, unless somebody builds a time machine and turn music back about 50 years. 


(from a old deleted Craigslist ad)

Major Nashville Record Label seeks Male Recording Artist aged 21-27. Not interested in female acts.

Be at least 5'8 tall, have straight white teeth and at least rudimentary knowledge of basic guitar chords. Preferable if you're new to town, haven't played out very much and aren't working with a Manager. Want to work with clean slate. Have every song needed for first album on hold. If you have your own songs we can talk about that down the road but not necessary. Track listing is below to get you excited for the project.

George Jones & A Mason Jar
Texas Hot Stick
All Y'all
Straight Outta Jerkwater
Beer In A Duck Blind
Hank It Up
Rural Route 69
Damn Girl (The Thigh Gap Song)
Skeeter Bite
17 Miles to Smyrna
Meemaw's Nanner Puddin'

Please send a Youtube/Soundcloud link to your singing and a clear picture. Have the opening spot on a MAJOR late Summer shed/small arena tour already secured so want to be recording ASAP.

• do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers