Friday, December 11, 2009

Tracking down Olde Favorites

Summa this stuff goes back a yr or more, but whattheheck -- thanx 2 a coupla really good 2nd-hand stores in the area, the folks at Amazon.com, & a few others, I've managed 2 track down at pretty cheap prices a few Olde Favorites of mine, + a couple fairly recent items other folks have raved about.
I've written here B4 about how I sometimes think my musical nostalgia should B left in the past -- about disappointing Xperiences I've had tripping-over stuff I hadn't heard in 30+ yrs (Lobo's "California Kid and Remo," Donovan's "Life Goes On," Tim Moore's "Second Avenue," Five-Man Electrical Band's "Julianna"), stuff I'd treasured when I was younger that I can hardly stand 2 hear now, that make me wonder what I heard in them 2 Bgin w/. Well, this go-round turned out a little better. A few Xamples:
* Doobie Brothers: "Neal's Fandango" (1975, from STAMPEDE) -- Yeezus, why wasn't this a HIT? GREAT rolling rocker, w/ Xcellent Pat Simmons guitar, great group vocals, good nostalgic lyrics that'R nevertheless outta the way FAST, high NRG, everything U'd ever want -- Xcept a good Nding. It slams in2 a brick wall after 3-1/4 mins! Why? It coulda gone on 4 another 3 or more & I wouldn'ta cared. They coulda at least faded it out.... Or attached Jeff Baxter's pretty solo-acoustic "Precis" 2 the Nd.... Elsewhere on STAMPEDE, "I Cheat the Hangman" goes the 6 mins that "Fandango" shoulda, & tries 2 achieve a sorta cinematic drama ... & doesn't reach it. 1st 1/2's pretty good, tho....
* Synergy: "Warriors" (1975, from ELECTRONIC REALIZATIONS FOR ROCK ORCHESTRA) -- A lotta synthesizer music doesn't work 4 me, sounds 2 cold. But no matter how cold he gets (& this is pretty distant), I've always liked mosta Larry Fast's mid-'70s synth adventures (SEQUENCER is 3/4's great, only CORDS Cms 2 artificial). This is gorgeous, mournful, distant, haunting -- & it drags on 4 a marvelous 13 mins!
* The Wackers: "I Hardly Know Her Name" (1972, from HOT WACKS) -- Had this on tape 4 yrs, taped by a friend of mine back in '77. Still sounds great -- catchy, great vocals, good gtr, but it's over in less than 2 mins -- WAY 2 soon. Resta the album isn't as immediately grabby, so far....
+ Chris Hodge: "We're On Our Way" (1972) -- This just makes me shake my head & laff in disBlief. This sounds JUST LIKE Marc Bolan/T. Rex! I don't know a thing about Chris Hodge; this single was a 1-shot on Apple Records that I heard mayB 1/2adozen times on Tacoma, Wash.'s KTAC AM in the summer of '72, then it vanished. Silly lyrics mixing sex & space travel, nice supersonic gtr, w/ some Indian/sitar accents that wouldn't suprise me if they indicate George Harrison was lurking in the background somewhere. Hodge's silly "Oooh! Ah!" vocalisms predate Lindsey Buckingham by 5 yrs. Produced by Tony Cox -- common name, but could it B the same Tony Cox that produced the 1st Yes album & some early Caravan stuff? Cool & silly, but it's gonna take me a couple more listenings....
+ Casey Kelly: "Poor Boy" (1971) -- I've never 4got10 the gtr riff that opens this (& mosta the words), Dspite not having heard this since '71. Still catchy & effective, thanx partly 2 Jackson Browne's pals Russ Kunkel, Craig Doerge & Leland Sklar as the backing band, but Kelly's gtr work's pretty great. Not sure about the resta the self-titled album this comes from -- some of it's kinda dated spacey-hippie-folky stuff. (& is his long-4got10 2nd single on here? I don't even remember the NAME of it....) The cover must notta helped sell 2 many records either -- on it, Kelly Cms 2 B sorta fading in2 the background as he strums his acoustic & a woman who looks sorta like an older Linda Ronstadt looks on from the side. But the back cover -- a close-up of Kelly's face -- is worse (nothing personal). The whole package screams '71 Hippie. No wonder the album didn't fly off the shelves...
& a coupla new 1's:
Animal Collective: MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION (2009) -- There's a new wave in book reviewing in which, if a book doesn't work 4 U, it's assumed the problem is U, not the book. Blame the victim? Here, I'm sure it's me. I've tried this sevral times, & I can't make it work 4 me. Kinda nice group vocals w/ electronic keybs in a loud sorta wash. But it just Cms kinda 4mless, w/ even less melodic progress & change than some of Coldplay's stuff. I'd had some hopes 4 this, since the idea of Beach Boys harmonies crossed w/ electronics sounded pretty good 2 me....
Television Personalities: MY DARK PLACES (2007) -- Guess I wasn't ready 4 the stark simplicity of this, the almost-nursery-rhyme level that Dan Treacy & friends work at. I haven't given up yet, but.... MayB if I'd bn thru some of the things Treacy has (jail time, homelessness, nervous breakdown) I'd wanna keep things simple 2. But I thot he'd address summa these things more directly.... I've read that this useta B a pop band. I'm still reminded of Syd Barrett....

1 comment:

drewzepmeister said...

Tad-I've got extremely lucky in finding in most of my music collection. I've been to rummages sales, thrift shops, and some where even been given to me. The just come along by chance. I'm still looking for REO's and the Doobies' debut albums as well as many other ones.