Tag Archives: Steve Earle

Spinning Sunday or: The Haul 6/22/19

23 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by in Music Review, Spinning Sunday

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

Salutations™!!

The BCPF and I did a little jumbling around yesterday. We actually started at Underdog Records instead of it being the last stop of the morning. We had a ribbon cutting at Moji Coffee and More at noon and then had breakfast at Mary’s Gourmet Diner, our first time there in about six months. But, I had gone by Underdog on Friday to grab some stuff for The BCPF and me before someone else took off with it. Anywhat! Here’s the haul:

Donald_Fagen_-_The_Nightfly.jpg

©Warner Bros.

  • Bad Books – III — I said on my Instagram post about this album yesterday that one of the joys of having Underdog Records as the official music sponsor of The Less Desirables is making the commercials. It gets me to listen to snippets of new stuff that is highlighted releases. I heard the first song on this and knew right away it is right up The BCPF’s alley so I made sure I picked it up. I was right in thinking she’d love it. The win for me! New.
  • Steve Earle – Guitar Town — #489 on the RS list. I have never really been a fan of his and I think the reason why is “Copperhead Road.” This album is a good album and not a bad listen. I listened to it a few years back now and was surprised that I didn’t hate it. Would I want to listen to it often? Nah. But I was glad to get it in my collection. VG+.
  • Caleb Caudle – Paint Another Layer On My Heart — Caleb is a local dude. He’s been on The Less Desirables and plays around here often. He’s gotten pretty big and does tours. I’m glad to know him. VG++.
  • Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin — One of the ones that I grabbed on Friday because I know how much The BCPF loves Band of Horses. Before we ever started dating, she put a song from this album on a mix-CD for me. It’s a great listen. NM.
  • Band Of Horses – Why Are You Ok — She got not one, but two Band of Horses albums this weekend. She was happy. Both were NM, too.
  • Donald Fagen – The Nightfly — I love Steely Dan and I think most of that is because of Donald Fagen. This had two hits on it but the whole album is fantastic. It seems like he had more fluidity outside of the Steely Dan confines and just had a ball with this album. I told The BCPF, when “New Frontier” came on that I thought the video featured a bomb shelter. So, I looked it up. I was right. This was my favorite listen of the day yesterday. VG+.
  • Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Punch The Clock — Elvis’ eighth studio album. It contains “Everyday I Write the Book” and “Shipbuilding.” VG++.
  • Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Blood & Chocolate — Elvis goes by Napoleon Dynamite (not to be confused with the film, which I loved) on this album. It’s a decent listen. I never realized how creepy “I Want You” is, but I like it anyway. VG++.
  • X – Ain’t Love Grand — First Wave heavy, yet poppy punk. It was a good listen. I hear some of their stuff on SiriusXM sometimes. I like it. Singer Exene Cervenka channels her inner Kate Pearson on this album. VG+.
  • Timbuk 3 – Eden Alley — I never knew the couple had more than their first album and here we are two weeks in a row getting a Timbuk3 album. The BCPF said she had this one when she was a young girl. It’s not epic stuff, or even great for that matter, but it’s a great, fun listen. VG+.
  • U.K. – U.K. — A progressive supergroup with singer/bassist John Wetton (formerly of King Crimson, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry’s band and Uriah Heep), keyboardist/electric violinist Eddie Jobson (formerly of Curved Air, Roxy Music and Frank Zappa’s band), guitarist Allan Holdsworth (formerly of Tempest, Soft Machine, The New Tony Williams Lifetime and Gong) and drummer Bill Bruford (formerly a full member of Yes and King Crimson, and also a tour drummer for Genesis). It is from 1978 but sounds more 80s-ish. Jonathan played if for me in the store. I liked it so I took it! I mean I paid for it, but I bought it. VG-.
  • Shalamar – Heartbreak — The first Shalamar album after Jodi Whatley and Jeffrey Daniel left. It has the only song I know of by the band, “Dancing in the Sheets.” I may find that I know more, but I don’t know. VG+.
  • Various – A Musical Souvenir Of New York City —  Featuring The David Terry Orchestra, The Cherry Hill Songsters, The Travellers Three and The Troubadors. It’s an album of songs about NYC. It’s from 1964 and the picture is of Manhattan but without the WTC since that wasn’t opened until 1973. A $1 bin find. VG/VG+.
  • America – America — This is the 1972 reissue in which “A Horse with No Name” is included. It was originally released as a single after the debut album was released but it was such a success that Warner Bros. reissued it with the song included. $1 bin find. VG.

Was a great day yesterday and the store was jumping. I love seeing Underdog Records busy. If you’ve not listened to the latest episode of The Less Desirables, you should. Each episode we mention the TLD/UR special of the week. I also use Discogs to keep up with my collection so when someone asks, “how many records do you have?” I can blurt out we have XXXX amount and they’re always amazed that I know that. I know that because of Discogs. “Do you have this record?” Why yes. Or, not yet!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“It’s looking like a limb torn off or all together just taken apart. We’re reeling through an endless fall. We are the ever-living ghost of what once was. But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do.” – “No One’s Gonna Love You” (Bridwell/Hampton/Barrett)

The Last Train? or: Heartbreak Station (Eugeology Entry 46)

27 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by in Music Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Salutations™!!

The last entry was something that I was familiar with and I really enjoyed it. Eugene and Jon are behind but Eug is trying to catch up. I was late with this one because Thursday was Thanksgiving and I hadn’t had time to give it a fair shake. But, let’s hit it…R-5700976-1400324217-3906.jpeg

#46 – Heartbreak Station by Cinderella.

I loved Cinderella’s first two albums. They were raw, yes, but still glammy and glittery. They were gutter rock and that was great. “Nobody’s Fool,” “Somebody Save Me,” “Nothin’ for Nothin’,” “Shake Me,” “Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin’ Apart at the Seams,” “Gypsy Road,” “The Last Mile,” “Coming Home” and the list goes on. Night Songs and Long Cold Winter had those. And, then, this album came along. This was Rolling Stones. This was Aerosmith. Both of those by which I picked out as soon as I heard it. I will say that Tom Keifer and company did Stones and Aerosmith better than the originals but I don’t really care for either way for the Stones, I can’t stand Aerosuck, and I don’t care for Cinderella doing them.

One way for me to switch the channel on SiriusXM’s Hair Nation channel is to let “Shelter Me” come on. I absolutely hate that song. From the first time in 1990 until the fourth time hearing it during this project, I have completely hated it. This is not the glammy and glittery gutter rock that Cinderella was to me. This was a sad excuse for a blues record, and we know how I feel about blues music. Not, hard rock – or even pop rock – that are based in blues, but when I can hear the blues coming out. And, it reminded me of “Copperhead Road” in places and I hate that song, too.

One funny thing about this album, it came out on my 20th birthday. Okay, that’s really not funny but it is somewhat ironic that I dislike it as much as I do. And, I really do. There are moments that I like and a few of the songs, but overall, I couldn’t wait for it to be over every time I listened to it. And, I never listened to it back to back. I just needed a break. I will say, though, that while I say there are a few that I like, I really do like “Electric Love.”

Like I said, on Night Songs and Long Cold Winter, I loved what Keifer, Eric Brittingham, Fred Coury and Jeff LeBar did. On this, I find very little redeeming qualities. Sorry, Eug, but this is a dud for me. But, remember Dear Reader, this is just my opinion. I’m not right or wrong, just how I feel. Definitely, give it (and the two albums prior in their discography) a listen. You may like it. It grates me, badly. Look for Eugene’s and Jon’s reviews sometime next year on this one.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“Woke up this morning on the wrong side of bed. I got this feeling like a train’s running through my head. Turned on my radio to the same old song. Some big mouth talking trying to tell us where the world went wrong.” – “The More Things Change” (Keifer)

The First 100 is the Deepest or: The Good, The Bad, The Indifferent

12 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by in Music Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

Salutations™!!

So I finished the first 100 of Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Albums of All Time.  I thought maybe I could give a little retrospective of what I liked and didn’t like in that first 100.

e1a5f-rolling_stone_logo-svg

Rolling Stone

I’m going to preface this with a caveat. I am not including albums that I would consider some of my faves.  I own and listen to Synchronicity all the time. Same with Destroyer, Van Halen, Faith, etc.  This list is about discovery, and some revisiting, for me. The reason I’m doing it is to see what I’ve been missing out on, what deliciousness I can unearth.  There were some awesome finds and some huge letdowns.  Some I’d love to have, some I’d love to have on vinyl even, and some I’d love to have destroyed.  Things that I dreaded, often left me feeling pleasantly surprised. While others that I may have been looking forward to disappointed me.  Nothing’s perfect and I know I feel this list is very much flawed. You don’t include compilation albums in top lists.  I don’t care how iconic that greatest hits or anthology may be.  I am a huge KISS fan and I don’t care two shakes about Double Platinum outside of my childhood.  Give me fully packaged studio albums every day.  I allowed the live albums after much debate with myself.  The performances in live albums tend to show some artistic merit and, often, more raw emotion.

I was going to make a Top 5 and Bottom 5, but I couldn’t limit to 5 that I liked.  There were plenty of those that I could have said I didn’t like but they had to really be bad to make the bottom 5.  These were chosen from going back to reread what I had written about in the last 10 installments.  These, also, are in no order. Here we go:

Top Finds #500-401

  • Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure
  • The Smiths by The Smiths
  • Oracular Spectacular by MGMT
  • Tunnel of Love by Bruce Springsteen
  • Mule Variations by Tom Waits
  • Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
  • Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
  • Sea Change by Beck
  • Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
  • Touch by Eurythmics

And honorable mention goes to Guitar Town by Steve Earle

Bottom “I Can’t Unhear That” #500-401

  • John Prine by John Prine
  • Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne
  • Life After Death by Notorious B.I.G.
  • Only Built for Cuban Linx by Raekwon
  • Voodoo by D’Angelo

Yes, I realize that 4 of that 5 are rap albums. I’m not discriminating against rap albums as you’ll find plenty of them in the #500-401 that I stated my digging of.  So don’t read more into that than necessary.  I just found that I didn’t care about any of these.

Overall, I really enjoyed this segment of the list and I even appreciate the ones that I didn’t like.  I am glad I undertook this task and I look forward to the next 100!  Thank you, Dear Reader, for being interested in my ramblings enough to read through them.  On to listening!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…

Scorp out!

—

“I just wade the tides that turned
Till I learn to leave the past behind” – “Guess I’m Doing Fine” by Beck from Sea Change