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ABBA, Curated by Underdog, Discogs, Heart, Jay Ferguson, John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell, Music, Neil Young, Old Sea Brigade, Records, Rush, The Less Desirables, Tom Waits, Underdog Records
Salutations™!!
Underdog Records was jumping yesterday with people coming in and Jonathan was only playing local artists in the store for the first part of the day. He sold a good bit of local music, including selling out of a few, with that. I like when he does that. I had gone in and set some stuff back on Friday but we picked up the stuff yesterday. Here’s what we got:
©Anti-/Epitaph
- Old Sea Brigade – Ode To A Friend — I call it my “husbandly duty” to find new music that my lovely bride, The BCPF will enjoy; stuff that is “up her alley.” When I record the weekly advert for Underdog Records on The Less Desirables, I use portions of new releases or whatever Jonathan has sent me to highlight and a lot of the time, I’ll find stuff that I think is really good, either that I will like, The BCPF will like or we both would. This is one that I thought she’d love. I had Jonathan get me one and we brought it home and she was very pleased with it. It’s laid back folky stuff and she loved it. I recommend listening to it. New.
- Tom Waits – Mule Variations — #414 on the RS list, this is a 2xLP that is completely co-written with Waits’ wife and songwriting partner, Kathleen Brennan. I’m hit and miss with most Tom Waits stuff. The songs are beautiful and sometimes dark but his singing is what is the determining factor in my like/dislike. He sounds like he had a cocktail of gravel, concrete, and sandpaper whilst smoking two packs of Camels concurrently and saving cats from a burning building. It’s rough. EX/VG++.
- Neil Young – After The Gold Rush — #71 on the RS list and while I feel that should be about 100 positions higher, it’s still a great album. Neil Young is another that I’m hit or miss with. VG++.
- Rush – Signals — The follow-up to Moving Pictures, in 1982, Signals has “Subdivisions,” “New World Man,” “The Weapon,” and “Countdown.” Not my favorite Rush album but it’s still a good one. VG+.
- Jay Ferguson – Thunder Island — I know the title track and that’s about it. I like the title track and it was only a few bucks so I decided to buy it with the picture of him in his fabric toe shoes. It’s just funny. VG+.
- ABBA – Super Trouper — With “Super Trouper” and “The Winner Takes It All.” Their next album was the last studio album prior to their hiatus, which is still going on. VG+.
- Heart – Private Audition — Released in 1982 and is the last Heart album to feature Mike DeRosier and Steve Fossen, who left after the recording of this album. VG+.
- John Fogerty – Centerfield — Put me in coach! The title track, “The Old Man Down the Road” and “Rock and Roll Girls.” It was $1, so why not? VG+.
- Joni Mitchell – Clouds — “Chelsea Morning,” “The Fiddle and the Drum” and “Both Sides, Now” are the tunes that The BCPF are most excited about. This is Mitchell’s sophomore effort and we have 10 of the first 11 of her albums. It was $1. VG.
I told you about Curated by Underdog Records, right? I think so. De is also digging out a lot of backstock of used equipment that Jonathan hasn’t had time to go through and they’re cleaning them up and getting some really great stuff up for sale. I really wanted that Sansui (as I wrote about). They have a lot of great stuff for those looking to break into or update their record collecting experience. Listen to The Less Desirables to hear the TLD/UR special of the week.
Discogs is how Curated by Underdog keeps track of what you have and how you do, as well!
Until tomorrow, keep spinning…
Scorp out!
—
“Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning and the first thing that I heard was a song outside my window. And, the traffic wrote the words. It came a-reeling up like Christmas bells and rapping up like pipes and drums. Oh, won’t you stay? We’ll put on the day and we’ll wear it ’till the night comes.” – “Chelsea Morning” (Mitchell)
solo stuff that, while I like it, I can’t quite get into it. I like this, but, it’s just okay in the long run. I love the title track and a few other songs, though. I’m going with dig!
Rolling Stones are also represented with “Satisfaction (I Can’t Get No).” All in all, it’s decent album, I suppose, but I certainly don’t think it belongs in the top 300, much less the top 80. Meh, at best.
the songs in cover bands, either live or in practice. I had the soundtrack for a while before I saw the film and as cheesy as the film was (or is it just an 80s niche movie, in general?), I could watch it over and over. In fact, the first time I saw it was on HBO and it was with several excited teenaged boys (we ranged from 12-14 years old). Ma Mère had no clue what we were watching. We huddled around the TV in my bedroom eyes and mouth agape when Apollonia disrobed to jump into “not Lake Minnetonka.” Anywhat! Musically, it’s Prince’s genius on parade, well Parade was two albums later, but you know what I mean. The guitar work, which I figure is split with Wendy Melvoin, is great. Lots of noisy guitars and that was throughout. Also prevalent, a good bit of keyboards. It’s funny that the overall album doesn’t really have a lot of discernible melodies (there are some), but each song stands out. I also remember the adolescent elation I experienced when that same 13 year old kid heard the word “masturbating” in “Darling Nikki.” “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” you know… who am I kidding? There’s not a bad song on this album and I love every one of them. Some of it is just Prince (“The Beautiful Ones,” “Darling Nikki” and “When Doves Cry”) and that’s classic Prince. I can’t say anything bad about this. I LOVE this album. I wish it was higher in the list, actually.
here; the best known is probably “Southern Man,” the other side of the “Sweet Home Alabama” call/response. I also liked “When You Dance I Can Really Love.” All in all, I thought it was decent but I really don’t see where it’s ‘top 80’ material. It’s good and all but I don’t see it this high. Meh, for me on this one.
this album from start to finish. My seal of approval is: I’d love to find it on vinyl. And, I will have my good buddy Jonathan at Underdog Records on the hunt. I can’t pick out any faves. If it’s on this album, it’s my favorite. LOVE!!
other than he’s just awesomely funky-n-groovy? That on many of his albums and tracks, he plays most of the instruments himself. Lots of clavinets happening on this album and other great keyboard spots. He plays the drums, synth basses, a bit of everything. That and guest spots from Ray Parker, Jr., Jeff Beck, Deneice Williams, “Buzz” Feiten make this album even more spectacular. Stevie’s use of melody and orchestration fills the cracks and holes (not in quality, just covers the speakers) with aural splendor. The ultra-powerful and urgent, “Superstition” is there and offset by the sweetness of “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “You and I” and “You’ve Got It Bad Girl.” There’s range and spread on this album and that’s a great thing. Groove and shuffle, intensity and tenderness, bits of it all. I dug this album and thought it was well composed.
There’s so much power in her music and in these songs it’s easy to get lost in them. This is a fantastic album. I DUG it!
yet another check on the “I’m from West Virginia and my parents listened to country music” tally of life. Neither of those, by the way are knocks nor mock on the facts. We didn’t have radio stations that played Pink Floyd, or anything like that until around 1981 or 1982. Ma Mère listened to gospel or older pop stuffs like Leslie Gore or folksy stuff like Peter, Paul & Mary. Ma Père listened to country. Tears-in-beer country. Plus, none of my friends listened to Pink Floyd, so I had no exposure, at all. I do remember walking into a record store on Main Street in Welch, WV, looking for KISS’ Unmasked (1980) album and seeing a cardboard cutout of the album cover and Gerald Scarfe posters that were associated with the album. I moved to WSNC, as I’ve said countless times, in 1986 and there was a reissue of “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” around 1987-88 or so and I bought it on 45. I had just started listening to the local classic rock station and got more familiar with some other Floyd songs. I decided, sometime later, to buy The Wall, but it was in or after 1990 because I didn’t buy my first CD player until December 27, 1989. I did have Delicate Sound of Thunder on cassette (it was released two days after my 18th birthday) and heard three of the songs that way. Anywhat! All that to say, I love the album and with the exception of a song or so (can we say “Bring the Boys Back Home?”). My faves are (all three) “Another Brick in the Wall,” “Goodbye Blue Sky,” “Young Lust,” “Hey You,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Run Like Hell.” I love the album.
#86 – Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen. I think this is the first time in a bit, if not the entire list, that I have two albums in a row that I actually own. It may have happened. But, I’m pretty positive that it is the first time that I own two in a row on vinyl. Sadly, I didn’t have time to listen to this on vinyl at home. I’ll try to do a vinyl listen soon, if I have something that is available on it. That’s something that I’ve not done since I’ve started this countdown. It’ll be fun. When I first heard the first single, “Dancing in the Dark,” believe it or not, that was the first time I heard of Bruce Springsteen. Yeah, yeah, I know, but it really was. Chalk it up to my total immersion into KISS and just breaking out of the mold. And, here’s the other thing, I hated it, every bit of it. I don’t know that I heard “Cover Me” (the second single until much later. If I did, I probably turned it off or went out to play or something. I’ve mostly come around to who I used to call Spruce Bedspring over the years. Most of that with the help of my friend Beth who is the biggest Springsteen fan I have ever met or even ever heard of. To me, though, at the time, the title track and to some extent “Dancing…” sounds like he’s just yelling the whole time. I just wanted to shout back “just shut up!” Now, fast forward to now. I don’t know how I feel about “Darlington County” but the rest of the album (if you take into account I like more laid-back and alternative versions of the title track) is fantastic. Of course, my favorite tune (since I asked for it and did it at the VSS Springsteen show) is “I’m on Fire.” It’s a sultry little number. I loved the video, too. “My Hometown” and “Glory Days” are also faves of mine. There are some throwaways, at least to me, such as “Working on the Highway” and the aforementioned “Darlington County.” “Downbound Train” and “I’m Goin’ Down” make up for both of those, though. There were seven singles released on this album. While none of the songs are virtuosity tunes or even particularly intrinsic or complex, that’s not what this album was about it, I don’t think. It was just putting out a good album. This is that. Great even. I really dug it.
this countdown are any better than most of the albums that were in the top 200-100? Does it deserve to be on this list, absolutely and I dig it, but I still don’t think it’s Top 100 material. Not a knock on the album, I just think some stuff is better. Dug.
