Early-morning obnoxiousness!

Here's what I played between 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. --
* King Crimson -- The King Crimson Barber Shop. Here now, THIS'll wake you up. That Tony Levin, whatta joker. Only about the third joke they cracked in their entire career....
* King Crimson -- Three of a Perfect Pair. Love the jagged, angular sound and the sliding vocal harmonies. Is Adrian Belew talking about his marriage? Or his partnership with Rockin' Bobby Fripp?
* King Crimson -- Sleepless. Is this the disco remix? For some reason, the version on their best-of sounds different than the original on PERFECT PAIR -- more streamlined, longer, less jagged and annoying. This is not necessarily a good thing. This is still great, hypnotic trance music, and Adrian's line about looking for submarines in his ceiling gets me every time.
* Frank Sinatra -- The Lady is a Tramp. Of course, this guy was also on the Reprise Records label, just like Crimson. ... Hey, this is a hoot! Swingin' big-band arrangement, kinda rushed in a live setting, but it sounds like Frank starts enjoying himself as it goes on -- he starts messing with and ad-libbing the lyrics. The audience is too friggin' loud. Ain't they got no respect?
* Frank Sinatra -- Luck Be a Lady. Kinda formal at first, but then it lightens up and swings. Frank sounds in his element, and some of the lyrics are funny. OK, that's enough of that. What else have we got around here?
* Dean Martin -- Ain't That a Kick in the Head? Disappointing. I thought this was funnier. Sounds like Dino stole the band from The Chairman. Dean might be funnier if he was a little drunker. Some of the lyrics are OK, but Dino delivers it too straight-faced. Next?
* Patsy Cline -- Walkin' After Midnight, Crazy, I Fall to Pieces. Wow, what a voice! And the sound jumps right out of the speakers! "Walkin' After Midnight" sounds pretty tough. "Crazy" moves into Sinatra/Martin crooner territory. "Pieces" softens things out further with backing vocals. But what a pure-country voice. And of course "Crazy" was written by Willie Nelson....
* Kansas -- Journey from Mariabronn. Ah, THE great lost Kansas song.... OK, that semi-operatic "doo-doo-doo" middle-section is maybe a bit too much, but the rest is so perfect and so balanced -- WAY better than "Dust in the Wind." These guys were really good back in the day.
* Monkees -- Your Auntie Grizelda. The CD sound really cleans this up, to the point where you can tell clearly that Peter Tork really can't sing it. Which just makes it more charming. I prefer the noisy chaos of the original vinyl, but this cranky revolutionary track must have really spoken to its generation back in the day. Jack Keller and Diane Hildebrand teamed up to write this -- Hildebrand was really good at nonsense. She co-wrote the Monkees' "Gonna Buy Me a Dog" and "Goin' Down," and co-wrote the Partridge Family's classic "Singing My Song" with the great wordless choruses....
* Styx -- Suite Madame Blue. Grabbed Styx's best-of from Goodwill awhile back when I was feeling a shortage of basic rock and roll in the house. Also grabbed best-of's by Foreigner, Pat Benatar and Lynyrd Skynyrd, for gosh sakes. What was I thinking? Something to keep me motivated at work, maybe? What I want to know is: Why isn't "Lorelei" on Styx's best-of? At least "Fooling Yourself" and "Blue Collar Man" ARE on it. As for THIS, it's heavy-handed and overdone just like I always thought, a pretty dull metaphor for America and its place in the world. The massed-group vocals later on are OK. This is either too thin or they should've pushed the grandiosity EVEN FARTHER. I gotta be in a great mood to be able to take these guys....
* Iron Butterfly -- Flowers and Beads. An old not-quite-girlfriend of mine thought this was the greatest song ever, back in 1974. The vocals are kind of creepy, and the twiddly guitar and sparkly organ are SO 1968, man. And the CD sound cleans everything up way too much. Still, coulda been a hit. But if you think I'm gonna play "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" this early in the morning, you're outta your mind.
* Cat Stevens -- Oh Very Young. I remember not liking this much back in the day, but it sounds pretty good this morning, and the female backing vocals sweeten it up even more. It's a chilly 60 degrees and cloudy here and showers are expected later -- a big change from the sunny 85+ degrees we've averaged the past couple weeks. And I know the rest of the country's cooking....
* Cat Stevens -- Where Do the Children Play? This isn't too far from a gentle Jethro Tull song, especially during Cat's "play-ay-ay-ay" choruses. And it gets angrier as it goes. Then it sounds even more like Ian Anderson.
* Cat Stevens -- Sitting. Haven't heard this in years. Cat sounds so bitter and worried. Desperate. About nothing much. Compelling performance, though.
* Indigo Girls -- Closer to Fine. Great vocals and acoustic guitars, not sure about the protest lyrics. Could maybe have been simpler lyrically.
* Beatles -- Baby's in Black. Wow, this is really terrible -- until the GREAT harmony vocals on the choruses save it. And meanwhile, it's started raining outside. Jeez, it could be March out there....
* Beatles -- Rock and Roll Music. Can't turn THIS off.... Nice barrelhouse piano from George Martin, too.
* Beatles -- Mr. Moonlight, Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey, Every Little Thing, Everybody's Trying to be My Baby. "Mr. Moonlight" is truly wretched, but somehow that cheezy organ sound grows on you like a fungus. "Kansas City" rocks and has these amazingly happy shouted vocals throughout. Too bad "Every Little Thing" doesn't have any of the flashy "Day Tripper"-riffy guitar that Yes's much-later version has -- probably because the Fabs wouldn't record "Day Tripper" 'til like 8 months later. Yes's version also, amazingly, LEERS more than the Fabs' -- "And you know the THING she does/She does for me...." "Everybody" features George's best, funniest vocal ever. Shoulda been a hit.
* Electric Light Orchestra -- Boy Blue, Birmingham Blues, Bluebird. Choruses on "Boy Blue" are OK, but the rest seems kind of stodgy, dull, awkward. And the string players sound like they're stuck in the mud. The only thing that grabs me on "Birmingham Blues" is the occasional acoustic-guitar strumming. "Bluebird" is more like it, coulda been a hit. Ghod knows what original album it's on -- I'd say something later, because it's really smooth. I'd read that Jeff Lynne had a "blue" fixation, but who knows what it means. No clues here.
* Trisha Yearwood -- Thinkin' About You. This is so restful. Trisha sounds so relaxed. And the guitar's great. But it ends too soon.
* Liz Phair -- Extraordinary. This is wonderful. Amazing. Great vocals and choruses, solid playing. Too bad it's the only thing of hers that's ever grabbed me. "Why Can't I?" was annoying, and EXILE IN GUYVILLE was a hype no matter what the "concept" was supposed to be.
* Liz Phair -- H.W.C. Well now, this is shocking. It's also playful, and you can sing along with the choruses ... if you want. And you'll NEVER hear it on the radio. Sure raised my eyebrows. Cute. Liz, you dirty thing.
* JoDee Messina -- Heads Carolina Tails California. Love these upbeat country women! Should've been a huge pop hit. Of course it's over with too quick....
* Harvey Danger -- Flagpole Sitta. I LOVE the "I'm not sick but I'm not well" choruses, and this is great to scream along with as you careen down the freeway. The lyrics are brutal and hilarious. And it's over too quick. Why does everyone think this is Green Day? Too bad(?) that they couldn't follow it up....
* Seals and Crofts -- We May Never Pass This Way Again. Well, this really sounds quiet next to Harvey Danger. But I loved it back in the day and it still sounds great. And I can finally hear all the words clearly....
* Seals and Crofts -- Hummingbird. This is almost too much. It's SO 1972. But something about the string arrangement and the voices building at the climax does its magic. Great production by Louie Shelton.
* Grateful Dead -- Uncle John's Band. Man, if only they could SING! Crosby, Stills and Nash or the Beach Boys they definitely were NOT. But the communal spirit carries them through despite the sometimes strained vocals. Tough to say no to this acoustic ditty. But it could've been an anthem. If somebody else had performed it.
* Grateful Dead -- New Speedway Boogie. And on this the strained vocals really hurt. There are better, more dramatic versions out there.... And I just noticed I've lost the Dead's best-of somewhere in my travels. Maybe I didn't care that much....