Tag Archives: Procol Harum

Now Normal Chronicles or: Loads and Loads

27 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by in Video

≈ Comments Off on Now Normal Chronicles or: Loads and Loads

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Salutations™!!

Today was a big day in releases. A lot of things came out. Let’s run through some…

Love To Love You Baby from Donna Summer (with the title track, her first big hit) turns 45. The Roaring Silence from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (with “Blinded By The Light”) and No Reason To Cry from Eric Clapton each turn 44. Alan Parsons Project’s Eve turns 41 as does Pat Benatar’s In The Heat Of The Night. Wild Planet from B-52s is 40. Garth Brooks’ second and breakthrough album, No Fences, is 30. Pearl Jam’s debut, Ten is 29 as is Hoodoo from Alison Moyet, The Prodigal Stranger from Procol Harum, Bad English’s second and final album, Backlash, and Bob Seger’s The Fire Inside. No Code from Pearl Jam is 24. Uncle Kracker’s No Stranger To Shame which had his cover of “Drift Away” is 18, as is Corporate America, the last Boston album to feature Brad Delp before his suicide.

So, that’s a lot! I had to pick one to do and that was hard. This is the easy out, I think, but such a great rendition. That guy’s voice dips deep in the low baritone, high bass range. I dig it. Enjoy!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“Blame it all on my roots. I showed up in boots. And ruined your black-tie affair. The last one to know, the last one to show, I was the last one you thought you’d see there. And I saw the surprise and the fear in his eyes when I took his glass of champagne. And I toasted you, said, honey, we may be through, but you’ll never hear me complain.” – “Friends In Low Places” (Blackwell/Lee)

Spinning Sunday or: The Haul 1/11/20

12 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in Records, Spinning Sunday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Salutations™!!

The BCPF and I did a quick jaunt to breakfast and Underdog Records yesterday and came home and my pops came over and helped me replace (read: he installed) a light fixture and put up a new one. It was a lot longer process than it should have been, I’m sure, but hey, we did what we needed to and voila! The lights are up. We didn’t really get to listen to much vinyl yesterday because I wanted to play stuff that my dad would be interested in since he was doing us a solid. There was a lot of George Jones playing from Alexa. Here’s the haul:

Nine_Inch_Nails_-_With_Teeth.png

©Interscope/Nothing

  • Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth — My pal Daniel Butner has loaned me his collection of NIN albums to listen to and get acquainted with. The journey has been interesting. I have never really been into Industrial Rock. Yeah, I have dabbled in some Marilyn Manson and even some NIN but never really paid attention to it. I have a couple of NIN either on vinyl or CD. This is a brand new, 2xLP, remastered, reissue for the 15th anniversary. I sent Daniel a pic and he was excited! New.
  • The Replacements – Don’t Tell A Soul — The 1989 follow up to Pleased to Meet Me. I really enjoyed the previous three records, so let’s hope this is as kick-butt as those. New.
  • The Love Language – Libraries — This is something The BCPF pulled. I do know they are an indie rock band from Raleigh and that this was NM.
  • Modest Mouse – Strangers To Ourselves — I have heard of MM but don’t really know anything about them. The BCPF is a fan and after looking them up, I see that they are strongly influenced by Pavement, Pixies, XTC, and Talking Heads, all bands that she/I like, so it should be interesting. This is “like new” per Jonathan, so let’s say, NM.
  • The Strokes – Angles — Don’t know a lot about The Strokes but a lot of my friends like them. The BCPF picked it up, I’ll post when we listen. VG+.
  • Prefab Sprout – From Langley Park To Memphis — Both The BCPF and I are fans of Belle & Sebastian and upon reading about their influences, this was on their list, so we will probably dig it. The album had guest appearances from Stevie Wonder and Pete Townshend and used multiple producers including Thomas Dolby, who could not commit to working on the entire album. VG+.
  • The Rainmakers – The Rainmakers — I’ve never heard of The Rainmakers but this album was from the mid-80s and looks like something I’d listen to. So, I will. VG++.
  • Sergio Mendes – The Beat Of Brazil — An acclaimed bossa nova/jazz musician from Brazil, Sergio Mendes is a world treasure, so I’ve read. He’s collaborated with many contemporary artists as well as done a lot on his own. This is from 1967 and will feature a lot of bossa nova. VG+.
  • Procol Harum – Exotic Birds And Fruit — Jonathan loves Procol Harum and I have found I enjoy it, so I bought this. Incidentally, the name means nothing. A famous record producer had a cat named Procul Haran (Procul being the breeder’s prefix). So their manager named them Procol Harum (bastardizing both that and harem, kind of like Motley Crue or Def Leppard). VG.
  • Pretenders – Extended Play — This came out between the first Pretenders album and second. A couple of song are outtakes from the first and a couple of them ended up on the second album. It was an addition to the collection. Bam! VG.
  • Bing Crosby – Zing A Little Zong — The only album we listened to yesterday when my dad was here. I love Bing Crosby and his ilk. I just enjoy the standards/crooners style vocal jazz. I just dig it. It’s a good album. VG+.

So, not a bad haul. The new year has waded us through the holiday wasteland of no new releases and things are coming out, be them reissues or brand new albums. I dig it a lot. Listen to each new episode of The Less Desirables to hear the TLD/UR special of the week. I use Discogs to bring you all this lovely list, you should use it to track your music collection regardless of the medium.

Until tomorrow, keep spinning…
Scorp out!

—
“Father, son, holy cow. Moses went up to the mountain high to find out from God why did you make us why? Secret words in a secret room, he said a womp bop a lu bop a lop bam boom. I did not put you here to suffer. I did not put you here to whine. I put you here to love one another. And to get out and have a good time now now now. Let my people go-go-go.” – “Let My People Go-Go” (Walkenhorst)

Spinning Sunday or: The Haul 11/2/19

03 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by in Records, Spinning Sunday

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Salutations™!!

In addition to The BCPF’s and my usual Saturday routine, we had to go by Lowe’s to pick out stuff for the renovation project from the “Flood of 2019.” But, we had fun doing that. We also got to go to our happy place which is Underdog Records. We picked up some good stuff and got to talk with Jonathan, so that’s always a plus. Here’s what we got:

KinksStateofConfusion

©Arista

  • R.E.M. – Monster — I have talked a lot about the Vagabond Saints Society in the past. The first show I ever performed with them was the “REM – The Later Years” show around 2007 or so. I had two songs with VSS on that show and one was on this album, “Crush with Eyeliner.” I liked that song then and I like it now. The rest of the album is okay, but it’s one that The BCPF never had on any medium, so yay, us! 2xLP with an entire remix album, so it’s like two-in-one. New.
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival Featuring John Fogerty – Chronicle – The 20 Greatest Hits — This is #59 on the RS list and yes, it is a compilation album. I didn’t listen through it because I didn’t listen to “greatest hits” albums after the Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn ones. Whew! But, this has a lot of great CCR on it and it was in a weird green vinyl, so I picked it up after it sitting in the bin for a while. 2xLP. New.
  • Cheap Trick – One On One — Cheap Trick’s sixth studio album and the first one to feature Jon Brandt after Tom Petersson left the band. It looks like Brandt only played bass on a few songs and that Rick Nielsen played on most of it. So, there must have been a transition period before Brandt showed up and when they started recording. This album isn’t my fave from them but it has some good stuff: “If You Want My Love,” “She’s Tight,” “I Want You,” and more. VG+.
  • Procol Harum – The Best Of Procol Harum — Jonathan at Underdog has told me many, many times of his love for Procol Harum. This is a greatest hits compilation and I’m looking forward to what they call “hits.” We’re all familiar with “White Shade of Pale” and possibly moderately aware of “Conquistador” but the rest, I’m interested in. VG++.
  • The Kinks – Give The People What They Want — The 18th album from The Kinks, this was in their “Early 80s” phase. I think it was a good time for them. It wasn’t British Invasion popularity or even feel (duh!) but I think, still, it was good. The singles on this album were “Better Things,” “Destroyer” and “Predictable.” VG++.
  • The Kinks – State Of Confusion — The 19th (yep, the follow up to the previous entry) released from The Kinks. The best-known song from this album (and pretty much any Kinks album since the 60s in the US, at least) is “Come Dancing.” Missing from this LP version but on the cassette version was a song called “Long Distance.” Turns out that my friend Parke Puterbaugh, who was a critic for Rolling Stone magazine commented, “there’s no excuse for omitting [‘Long Distance’ from the LP version of State of Confusion]”. I need to find it on streaming or something. VG++.

The haul was somewhat light this week but we filled in some listening time with some Nine Inch Nails records that my pal Daniel Butner let us borrow. I’m trying to absorb some of it and a lot of it I like, but a lot of it, I still don’t get, but it’s growing on me. Underdog Records celebrated its anniversary this past Friday and that’s always a great time/thing to celebrate. They have a few new pieces of used equipment if you’d like to get your listening stations updated! Listen to each new episode of The Less Desirables to hear the TLD/UR special of the week. Use Discogs to keep track of your music collection.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“I know you. I know you’ve seen her. She’s a sad tomato. She’s three miles of bad road. Walking down the street. Will I never meet her? She’s a real woman-child. 
Oh, my kiss breath turpentine.” – “Crush With Eyeliner” (Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)

Silent Sunday or: The Haul 2/3/18

04 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in Records, Silent Sunday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Salutations™!!

It was a pretty routine day for us other than having to go do some phone stuff for The BCPF. Of course, the highlight is going to Underdog Records where several of our Facebook group were and we got to chat a bit. Also, we added to the Rolling Stone (RS) List collection. I’ll tell you more about it as we go on. Speaking of which…as_front_300k

So that’s a pretty good haul, we think. We’re happy with it. Underdog had some nice speakers for sale yesterday. They always have something new and gently used come in, be it records, speakers, turntables, cassette players, receivers, even reel-to-reel at times. Keep up with them on social media to keep up with their “newly posted” items.

Discogs is a great way to keep up with your collection. Also, buying from their marketplace is pretty fun (but be careful, you can spend a lot of money in there).

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“She packed my bags last night pre-flight. Zero hour, nine AM. And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then. I miss the earth so much I miss my wife; it’s lonely out in space on such a timeless flight.” – “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time)” (John/Taupin)