Saturday, July 13, 2013

#694: It's only music

Is it possible to get completely bored with this stuff? I'm still listening to my Olde Favorites at work, but trying to vary it up a little, trying to dig out stuff I haven't heard in awhile. Whatever keeps me moving. Here's The List:

Bubble Puppy -- Hot Smoke and Sassafras.
Pat Metheny -- New Chatauqua.
John Miles -- Highfly.
George Harrison -- What is Life?
ELO -- Can't Get it Out of My Head.
Mamas and the Papas -- 12:30, California Dreaming.
The Who -- I'm the Face, Disguises, So Sad About Us, I Can't Reach You, I Can See for Miles, Armenia City in the Sky, Tattoo, Our Love Was, Sunrise, Little Billy, Dogs, Dreaming From the Waist (live), Call Me Lightning, Let's See Action, Long Live Rock, Naked Eye (live).
John Mellencamp -- Authority Song.
Lynyrd Skynyrd -- Tuesday's Gone.
Hall and Oates -- Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices).
Police -- Does Everyone Stare?, On Any Other Day.
Donovan -- Season of the Witch.
Marshall Tucker Band -- Heard it in a Love Song.
Delaney and Bonnie and Friends -- Only You Know and I Know.
Dion -- Ruby Baby.
Chicago -- Critic's Choice, In Terms of Two.
Kingston Trio -- Greenback Dollar.
Yardbirds -- Heart Full of Soul.
Steam -- Kiss Him Goodbye.
ELP -- Karn Evil 9 1st Impression (Parts 1&2).
Neil Diamond -- Crunchy Granola Suite, Walk on Water.
Cheap Trick -- Surrender, Voices.
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur.

The only one of these that got a Reaction from the Unsuspecting Public was Neil's "Crunchy Granola Suite," which had a woman in her 60s bouncing around & singing along with. I laughed & asked if she was familiar with the song & she said "Oh yes -- but I don't get why women my age think he's so hot...."
So we talked that one over, agreeing that when Neil was in his Weird Period in the early '70s he did some Great Stuff, & that his mid-'60s leather-jacket phase was pretty great too.
But she really threw me when she said the greatest concert she ever saw was by Nine Inch Nails. She agreed they were pretty intense & suggested I might want to listen more.... & considering I've hardly heard anything by them....

I'm about to sell-off 5 years' worth of CD's, albums & books that didn't quite work for me -- a big box & 3 bags worth of stuff headed for my nearest Half-Price Books (in Tacoma, about 30 miles away) on my next weekend -- hopefully to help me with a current ...*AHEM* ... cash-flow problem. Most of what's going is stuff that Just Didn't Work, stuff that wasn't bad but which I can live without, or items I have duplicates of on vinyl or CD. I don't expect to be bringing home any New Music -- I'm seriously in it for the cash -- but I'll keep you posted.
Going off in the pile are OK-but-not-great works by ELP, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Gong, etc., plus books I've decided I'll clearly never get around to reading -- or reading again. I go through these clear-the-decks phases every year or two, but it's been 5 years since I've had an excuse to visit Half-Price. I'm hoping it's worth the trip. I'm also kind of bummed that I apparently spent my money on The Wrong Stuff....
I am so bored musically right now that I started reading Kim Cooper & David Smay's BUBBLEGUM MUSIC IS THE NAKED TRUTH -- which actually has some real good solid info in it if you're a sucker for the Monkees, Partridge Family, Cowsills, Archies, old Buddah Records singles, or any other late-'60s/early-'70s silliness. But it's like I overdosed & had to put it down for awhile.
Continued with Hunter S. Thompson's massive collection of letters THE PROUD HIGHWAY, which includes letters from all the way back to his 1957 days in the Air Force -- a marriage that didn't last too long. At one point Thompson wrote to a friend that for some obvious reason "the Air Force and writers just don't see eye to eye. ... I'm one of many writers who come in, do their time, and then leave as soon as possible." Had no trouble relating to THAT, it had me laughing out loud. Maybe I just need to read about something OTHER than music for awhile....

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