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Charles Aznavour, Discogs, Eels, Elton John, Huey Lewis & The News, Music, Otis Redding, Rick Rizzo, Sea Wolf, Tara Key, The BCPF, Tom Waits, Underdog Records, WSNC
Salutations™!!
It was a busy Saturday for The BCPF and me. Not busy in work, but just a lot going on. But, all of it was fun. Mainly because we did it all together. But, one of the “things” was going to Underdog Records! Here’s the haul!
Sea Wolf – Through A Dark Wood — It’s a band led by Alex Brown Church. I don’t know what that means outside of it’s on Wikipedia. The BCPF picked this one. New.
Eels – Extreme Witchcraft — Brand new released this week. 180g vinyl with printed inner sleeve, screen printed poster. New.
Various – Singles – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack — This film, while important to early 90s pop culture, wasn’t quite as big as Reality Bites, but it was close. It was a Cameron Crowe-written film that featured a lot of Seattle’s grunge and contemporary rock, as well as some from outside Seattle. 2×LP, Compilation, Reissue. EX.
Otis Redding – Otis Blue / Otis Redding Sings Soul — It was ranked #72 on the Rolling Stone list that matters and dropped to #178 on the one that doesn’t. VG.
Tom Waits – Closing Time — Reissue, Remastered, 180 gram. Tom Waits from 1973. I think he was knocking it out of the park at this time. I didn’t like a lot of his later stuff but his early 70s stuff was awesome! This has “Ol’ 55” which many may know from The Eagles, but Waits wrote the song. New.
Ratt – Dancing Undercover — The third album and last one of those that I cared about from RATT. I didn’t like much of anything after, with the exception of a few songs here and there. The singles were “Dance,” “Body Talk,” and “Slip of the Lip.” VG+ on the vinyl, VG on the cover.
Rick Rizzo & Tara Key – Dark Edson Tiger — I literally have no idea what this is, The BCPF just picked it. I would say that she listened on YouTube to see what it sounded like whilst in the store and picked it up. It’s still sealed. NM.
Huey Lewis And The News – Picture This — I bought this for two reasons. 1) I didn’t have it. I wanted it. I listened to it this week. 2) yesterday was its 40th anniversary (as I highlighted in the Sounds Like Saturday post).
Elton John – Sleeping With The Past — This is a “club” version. The Columbia Record Club version, that is. I have been looking for this because of one song in particular. That song is “Club at the End of the Street.” It wasn’t the biggest song from this album. That goes to either “Healing Hands” or “Sacrifice.” They were released as a “Double A-Side” and it’s confusing. “Club…” did make it to #28. EX.
Charles Aznavour – Ave Maria — We got this in the $1 bin. It’s in VG, probably. It may be able to be cleaned up a bit, but we’ll see. Aznavour is one of the best-selling artists in the world. When he passed away in 2018, I looked him up and saw that CNN and Time called him the Entertainer of the Century in 1998. So, we don’t pass on Monsieur Aznavour.
Jonathan has been going through a lot of new used stock and putting out a lot of great stuff. The “Freshly Used” bins were full. It was exciting. If you watch the Underdog Records social media, you’ll know when Jonathan gets fresh stuff, reissues, new stuff, and more. You can order unused, NEW vinyl by visiting the website. I use Discogs to keep track and make sure I’m not buying stuff that I already had or do a little shuffle at times. It’s cool. You should use it, too.
Until next time, keep spinnin’…
Scorp out!
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“When the shades are drawn and the light of the moon is banned and the stars up above walk the heavens hand in hand. There’s a shady place at the end of the working day where young lovers go. And this hot little trio plays. That’s where we meet. That’s where we meet. Me and you rendezvous in the club at the end of the street.” – “Club at the End of the Street” (John/Taupin)
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!!
thus far. There’s plenty of energy flowing in this concert. I’m sure the whole thing (thirty-three songs) would be a great listen but who has the time? Seriously, it’s back to the previous point: the original was only six songs. The songs, “Young Man Blues,” “Substitute,” Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” Johnny Kidd’s “Shakin’ All Over,” an amalgamation of “My Generation/See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You/Underture…” and so on, and a seven minute jam on “The Magic Bus.” Like I said, it seems powerful from this little sampling. I will probably take time to listen to the rest later but this is for “now,” for those who will start throwing out “Dude, you really need to listen to all of it” at me. I really like this and I’m not a big fan of The Who. Dug!
producer Nick Lowe, I’d say in a hurry: approximately 24 hours total. It’s raw but well produced, not slick. It captures energy and has an open ambient sound as if it’s recorded in an open room. Extra plate reverb on the vox create the effect. Nice. It should also be noted that this was prior to the Attractions becoming his permanent backing band. It was recorded with members of a group called Clover which had to be credited as “The Shamrocks” (if credited at all) due to contractual obligations/restrictions. This album contains “Alison,” “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes,” “Watching the Detectives” (US version only) and “Less Than Zero” which is the first single released by the Stiff label. I also thought “Blame It on Cain” was pretty cool, too. I’ll definitely say I dug it.
because I’ve really never given it a chance. Between Ride the Lightning, “Black” (Metallica) and …In Justice For All this was just what I listened to the least, then Kill ‘Em All. This was Cliff Burton’s exodus album, though tragically. I can’t get over the speed of his finger picking style, at least at that time. Thinking on the time, this wasn’t “normal” to me. His bass solo in “Orion” showed his melodic side. I will admit that I was a bigger fan of Jason Newstead (basically for putting up with Lars’ and James’ crap and his resilience in the face of his parts basically being erased from “Justice”), but Cliff was great on this. This is also the first major label album for the band: Elektra Records. The production is slick as all get out but somehow raw at the same time. Some of the songs are epic (three songs over eight minutes) with the shortest being 5:12 (“Battery”). I think my favorite song on this is “The Thing That Should Not Be.” Somehow, it just sounds mean. Differently than most of the other songs. All of them are definitely punching you in the face but this one sounds evil. I think it’s the tone, the subject matter (Cthulhu) and weird solo, etc. It all comes together to create a beautifully chaotic mess. I think Metallica used more complex rhythms on this album as compared to the prior ones. “Disposable Heroes” has some of the fastest rhythms that I’ve heard on any Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, etc. album. It’s smoking fast. Word has it that Lars Ulrich actually took some drum lessons for this album. I know that Kirk Hammett took direction from Joe Satriani on how to better record his parts. I think I treated this album unfairly in the past. I am listening to it now and find that it’s actually a really good album. With its themes of drug use (title song), mythical creatures, politics and anti-war sentiments (“Disposable Heroes”), insanity (“Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”), false prophets (“Leper Messiah”) and so forth, this album is what Metallica was all about “pre-Load.” I don’t know after that because like Samson, once they cut their hair, they lost all power. Honestly, the hair had nothing to do with it, but when they cut it, the music started sucking. So… meh. But, this album? It gets a definite dig. I really liked it.
opportunity to listen to since the Purple One signed his exclusive deal with Tidal and I don’t pay for that. This, to me, is the penultimate Prince album as far as quality goes. Some may disagree with me on that, in fact, I expect that. The first is Purple Rain as that was the height of his popularity and power. This, is the one, that at least for me, broke him into the mainstream. For You, Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy all had quality stuff on it, but this was the climb. Mostly on the fact that not only was radio playing the snot out of the title track and “Little Red Corvette,” but because MTV, BET, Night Flight and Night Tracks were all playing the videos of them ad naseum. I did “Little Red Corvette” for the Vagabond Saints Society Presents Purple Rain show November before last, acoustically. I remember when I listened this (on cassette, I borrowed it from a friend) when I was a kid, “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” was one of my favorite tracks because I was thirteen or fourteen and that was the first time I ever heard someone use the word “f**k” on a musical album. And, I somehow, in my sheltered childhood, realized what pretending to be married actually meant. There was a lot of sniggering going on then, for sure. “D.M.S.R.” was a bit of a oddity for me, not because of the song or what the letters mean (dance, music, sex, romance), but that in the first CD pressing, it was simply not there (there was a disclaimer explaining the reasoning). I hadn’t been into collecting CDs long and didn’t realize they had to do that. Compression and mastering being what they are today, that’s not the case; it’s included. And it’s actually one of the best dance songs that Prince ever did. I’d have rather them get rid of something else and kept that as it was one of my faves. The song order threw me off, too, on the CD because on the cassette version, “Free” was the last on the first side. It was moved to even up the sides, I guess. I think that was commonplace with 8-Tracks, too. My short attention span being what it is (awful) some of the lengthy songs start to lose me, but it’s still great stuff. Even though Prince had his “band” together – if you look closely in the “football” in the “1” in his name on the cover, it says “and the Revolution” – Dez Dickerson is the only other person playing any of the instruments, which in his case is the guitar solos. Prince plays and programs every other instrument that happens on the album. Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones (the ones you see in the videos) do most of the backups but this is where Wendy Melvoin joins in and does some backup on “Free.” Like I said, this album is his second greatest, to me. I’ll be honest and say that this is the first time that I’ve really ever listened all the way through since I was a kid. I listened to the first four songs and that was about it. This listen, though, is fantastic and I certainly will also say, I DIG it!!
Radiohead songs after (or before) that album’s finale. To me, their best song was “Creep.” Low and behold that’s what I’ll doing for the show. Okay (computer), enough of that. My past utterances in this album’s direction could have been misguided or just a sign of immense stubbornness or even ignorance. The two tracks that immediately stand out first are “Paranoid Android” and “Karma Police,” of course. But, there’s so much more to it like “Let Down,” “Exit Music (For a Film),” “Electioneering,” “No Surprises” and “Lucky” (which truly may be the dark horse of the album. 1997 was still the “infancy of the modern home computer” and the track “Fitter Happier” was a representation of tech-speech patterns in compu-self-help and a good one, at that. I know that at least “Paranoid Android” was inspired by Marvin Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but I’m thinking more of it could have been, too. Reading up on it, I noticed the influences were all over the place for this album, but I think that they reigned it in to a cohesive package. This departure from where they were (previous two albums) defined much of what Radiohead would be and is today; for better or worse. I think overall, as I stated previously in the section, I have judged thee unfairly, O Radiohead. I doth dig thy OK Computer collection.
Useless Things Need Love Too 