More housekeeping, briefly. When I was transferring-over capsule music & book reviews from my old website 2 here a coupla wks ago, I 4got mosta the list of best-of box-sets I wrote-up last spring, so here's a quick rundown on them B4 I get back 2 the newer stuff....
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74 -- This is the only box I DIDN'T 4get about, the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. I'm still not quite sure about a lotta the improvs, & all of it could probly have bn condensed in2 2 REALLY KILLER CD's, but the good stuff is REALLY AMAZING. If U're a KC fan, it's a Must Have. Best: Larks I & II, Fracture, Doctor Diamond, The Talking Drum.
* The Who: 30 YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B -- Learned a LOT about these guys, & thot I knew them pretty well already. It all sounds GREAT. Solid discography info. Not enuf notes from Pete Townshend, tho. Best: All the classic hits, + "The Relay," "Slip Kid," "Blue Red and Gray," "Disguises," "I'm the Face," "The Kids are Alright," "Call Me Lightning," "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand," "Tattoo," "Dogs," "Little Billy," "Let's See Action," "Dreaming from the Waist," "Music Must Change," & alla Keith Moon's comedy bits. Completists: "Athena" isn't included.
+ Moody Blues: TIME TRAVELLER -- Bitchbitchbitch. 2 much lame late stuff, 2 much unimportant early stuff, "Simple Game" isn't included, there isn't enuf from DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED & THE PRESENT, there's 2 much from BLUE JAYS & IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD, & I coulda written a better history of the band. But it all SOUNDS GREAT -- Xcept 4 "Blue World," "Sitting at the Wheel" & "Running Water," which 2 me sound like they're mastered 2 SLOW.... 2 much Good Stuff left-off 2 list. I coulda done a better job of pickin 'em....
+ Beach Boys: GOOD VIBRATIONS/30 YEARS OF -- 5 discs isn't enuf space. The choices Rn't the best on the last 2 discs, & lotsa great stuff is left off everywhere. But there IS 30 mins of previously-officially-unreleased SMILE tracks. & mosta it still sounds heavenly. But the stuff they left OFF: "Let Him Run Wild," "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," "Kiss Me Baby," "Good Time," "Girl Don't Tell Me," "Here Today," "Feel Flows," "Lady Lynda," "Let's Go Away for Awhile," "Trombone Dixie".... Best: All the timeless hits, + "The Little Girl I Once Knew," "Please Let Me Wonder," "She Knows Me Too Well," "God Only Knows," "This Whole World," "Long Promised Road," "Surf's Up," "'Til I Die," "California Saga (closing)," "The Trader," "Good Timin'"....
+ Camel: ECHOES -- Tho it leans toward the group's strained commercial side, there's some gorgeous keyboard/guitar/vocal interplay here & of course it sounds great. Best: "Never Let Go," "Lady Fantasy," "Rhayader," "Rhayader Goes to Town," "Unevensong," "Breathless," "Echoes," "Drafted," "Sasquatch," "West Berlin," "Mother Road." Left off: "Flight of the Snow Goose," "Spirit of the Water," "Rain Dances," "Down on the Farm," "Summer Lightning," "Who We Are," "Eye of the Storm," "City Life," "Manic," "A Heart's Desire/End Peace."
+ Caravan: CANTERBURY TALES -- This differs from the 1976 2-record best-of w/ the same title mainly by making poorer song choices, tho it covers more time & includes more rarities. Best: "Place of My Own," "And I Wish I Was Stoned," "For Richard (live)," everything from FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT (their best album), "The World is Yours," "Songs and Signs," "Nine Feet Underground." The studio "For Richard" also included is like a blueprint compared 2 the live version. The live "The Love in Your Eye" suite included here is a little weak compared 2 the studio original that ain't here. There R 2 many trax from CUNNING STUNTS, & they missed (but had room 4) the only good 1, "The Dabsong Conshirtoe." Also left off: "Aristocracy," "Surprise, Surprise," "Virgin on the Ridiculous," "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way (With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris)." & don't Blieve the liner notes when they trash the band's later album BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S....
+ Elton John: GREATEST HITS 1970-2002 -- His REAL box set is TO BE CONTINUED, which I guess I otta track down (gotta used copy U wanna send me?), but this is fairly complete, w/ a whole disc Dvoted 2 his classic early-'70s period. Was grateful 4 "Levon," "Tiny Dancer" & mosta the hits. But among the missing R "Empty Garden," "Ego," "Step Into Christmas," "Friends"....
= KANSAS (2-CD box) -- There's some good stuff here, but it focuses 2 much on their rockin & boogeyin. Suprises include the gorgeous "Journey from MariaBronn," parts of "Incomudro," "The Pinnacle" & "Can You Tell Me?" "Song for America" has always bn pretty great. The trax from LEFTOVERTURE sound great, but even tho they chose 5 of them, they missed 3 of the best: "Miracles Out of Nowhere," "Questions of My Childhood" & "Cheyenne Anthem." "Reason to Be" & "Back Door" Rn't here, either. & "Death of Mother Nature Suite" is ugly. Disappointing.
Showing posts with label The old stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The old stuff. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
1nce more in2 the past! (books)
Mainly 4 housekeeping purposes, here's that list of books I reviewed at my old website B4 it died. Hopefully the capsule raves & dismissals listed here will at least make U laff a little bit. It's amazing how many of these books R music-related. Most of the rest R science-fiction or horror or other off-the-wall stuff....
After I get thru this, I promise 2 find something new 2 write about. Working my way backwards, then....
+ Roger Zelazny: CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS -- The Egyptian pantheon of gods fights it out in an Epic Battle Btween Good & Evil 4 The Fate Of The Universe. Slow start & weak Nding, but in-Btween it's vivid, involving, hilarious, poetic.
+ K.W. Jeter: MANTIS -- Creepy horror novel, Xtremely vivid, involving & well-written. If SF writer Barry N. Malzberg had ever written horror, it mighta come out something like this; the book's dedicated 2 him.
- John Blake: ALL YOU NEEDED WAS LOVE: THE BEATLES AFTER THE BEATLES -- Attempts 2 Xamine the Beatles' solo careers after their breakup. Thin, sad, Dpressing.
* Roger Zelazny: THE DOORS Of HIS FACE THE LAMPS OF HIS MOUTH AND OTHER STORIES, +THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT, +LORD OF LIGHT, +THIS IMMORTAL, +ISLE OF THE DEAD -- DOORS is the best single-author SF collection ever, including amazing pieces like the title story, "The Man Who Loved the Faioli," "This Moment of the Storm," "This Mortal Mountain," "Lucifer." CAMELOT is a slightly-less-brilliant collection but includes classics like "For a Breath I Tarry" & "The Engine at Heartspring's Center." The other 3 R novels, all inventive & worth reading, if not perfect -- but WAY better than RZ's Ndless series of AMBER novels....
- Steven Gaines: HEROES AND VILLAINS -- The Dcline & collapse of the Beach Boys. All the dirt is here, & Gaines piles it on. Dpressing.
* Harlan Ellison: THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT -- TV criticism from the late '60s & early '70s. So brilliant & angry it glows in the dark. Could scar U 4 life. But U won't mind....
* Tim Cahill -- A WOLVERINE IS EATING MY LEG, *JAGUARS RIPPED MY FLESH, *PECKED TO DEATH BY DUCKS, +ROAD FEVER, +HOLD THE ENLIGHTENMENT, +PASS THE BUTTERWORMS, *BURIED DREAMS -- 1st 3 R collections of hilarious essays, usually about "adventure travel" -- walking across Death Valley, cave-Xploring in Georgia, mountain climbing, scuba diving, diving w/ poisonous sea snakes, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, etc. ROAD FEVER is about trying 2 set a world-record drive from the south end of South America 2 Point Barrow, Alaska -- occasionally funny, tho the preparations take longer than the drive. HOLD & PASS R Cahill mellowing w/ age, still funny, but mayB not as punchy. BURIED DREAMS is about Chicago serial-killer John Wayne Gacy, & the last 1/4 of the book really WILL scar U 4 life....
* John McPhee -- ASSEMBLING CALIFORNIA, *RISING FROM THE PLAINS, *BASIN AND RANGE, *THE CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY, *COMING INTO THE COUNTRY, *THE JOHN MCPHEE READER, +ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ARCHDRUID, +TABLE OF CONTENTS, +GIVING GOOD WEIGHT, +THE CONTROL OF NATURE, =IN SUSPECT TERRAIN -- My choice 4 the greatest non-fiction writer of the past century. Everything McPhee writes is vivid, involving & often funny. ASSEMBLING, RISING & BASIN R all about the history & geology of the American West -- the series won him the National Book Award. ENERGY is about securing nuclear weapons & reactors -- the Nd is eerily prophetic about R new century. COUNTRY is all about Alaska; it's huge. The last 1/2 is a long series of vivid character sketches of the state's people, but my fave part is the middle, which follows a search 4 a new site 4 the state's capitol. ARCHDRUID is a series of debates w/ Sierra Club founder David Brower -- best is the last, in which Brower & Bureau of Reclamation director Floyd Dominy take a raft trip 2gether thru the Grand Canyon, arguing all the way. READER, CONTENTS & WEIGHT R all collections of often-outstanding shorter pieces; READER Xcerpts Xcellent sections from McPhee's 1st dozen books. NATURE is about repairing dikes along the Mississippi. TERRAIN is about the geology of New Jersey, probly best if U live there.
* Hunter S. Thompson: FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72, *THE GREAT SHARK HUNT, +FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, +HELL'S ANGELS, +SONGS OF THE DOOMED, =THE CURSE OF LONO, =GENERATION OF SWINE -- The greatest political writer of the '60s & '70s. Hilarious, vivid, involving, outrageous. CAMPAIGN TRAIL covers the Nixon/McGovern campaigns, always hilariously & at times almost unbelievably. SHARK HUNT is an amazingly good best-of, not very-well organized. LAS VEGAS is famous, the opening few pgs R brilliant. HELL'S ANGELS is vivid, but I wished it had bn wilder, like Thompson's later work. Thompson lost his gift at the Nd of '77; DOOMED has a few good things, the rest R dull.
* Dave Marsh: THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL: THE 1,001 GREATEST SINGLES OF ALL TIME -- Marvelous, hilarious, moving essays on some of the greatest rock & R&B songs ever, w/ tons U've probly never heard B4....
+ Tim Riley: TELL ME WHY -- Xamines the Beatles' recordings in depth -- good & in4mative, but a bit dry. Ian MacDonald's REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD covers the same ground in more depth & more inventively.
+ Edward Lee: COVEN -- Over-the-top horror novel, almost like a comic book. When Lee uncovers yet another new outrage U'll B shocked, laff, shake yr head, wonder if he means it, if he's joking, if he's serious....
= Isaac Asimov: THE GODS THEMSELVES -- Brilliant, wild middle section, 1 of the most inventive things Asimov ever did. But the rest is dull. It's a scandal that Robert Silverberg's brilliant DYING INSIDE lost both SF's Hugo & Nebula Awards 2 this....
- Arthur C. Clarke: RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA -- The dullest. Spacemen Xplore an alien probe that briefly passes thru the solar system. Nothing's ever Xplained & the characters R cardboard cutouts. Go read Clarke's 2001 or CHILDHOOD'S END instead.
* ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II -- Classic writing on classic albums, all from the early '70s pgs of ROLLING STONE: Arthur Schmidt & Stephen Holden on the Beach Boys, John Mendelssohn on the Kinks & the Move, Lester Bangs on all kinds of stuff....
* Paul Tingen: MILES BEYOND -- WAY better than the series of late-'60s/early-'70s Miles Davis jazz-rock albums it Xamines in amazing depth & Dtail....
= Frederic Dannen: HIT MEN -- THIS is record-industry corruption?
* Robert Christgau: CHRISTGAU'S RECORD GUIDE: THE '70s, *THE '80s, +THE 90s -- I didn't like his know-it-all, smart-ass Attitude at 1st -- he hated everything I loved! But 1nce I learned 2 roll w/ it I Dcided Uncle Bob can B very knowledgeable & can B a good guide even if yr tastes directly clash w/ his. I'm still not completely sure about his '90s book....
* Dave Marsh & John Swenson: ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE -- 4 awhile my fave book ever 2 argue w/ & throw across the room. But there's also some very good info here. I don't trust the later editions....
+ Mick Fleetwood: FLEETWOOD -- Just about everything U'd ever want 2 know about the Big Mac, written by their drummer. Solid, Dtailed, vivid, involving, funny. It could even have gone on longer. But in these cases I always want 2 know MORE....
* Nicholas Schaffner: SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS -- 2nd-best rock band bio ever, about Pink Floyd. Way better, more involving & more Dtailed than even Nick Mason's memoir on the band.
+ Dan Kennedy: ROCK ON -- Kennedy worked at Atlantic Records 4 a few months in the '00s, during which he botched sevral projects & couldn't keep himself from getting fired. Funny in places, but U & I would never have messed-up such an opportunity....
* David Leaf: THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH -- Best band-bio ever, lots of solid info & Dtails on the Boys' career, Brian Wilson's personal demons, the PET SOUNDS & SMILE periods, & much more. Outdated a bit now, but still a near-perfect job.
+ David Hajdu: POSITIVELY 4TH STREET -- Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Farina & Richard Farina, & how their lives & careers intertwined in the early '60s. Involving.
+ Jeff Tamarkin: GOT A REVOLUTION! -- Solid bio on Jefferson Airplane & Starship, great Dtails & lotsa quotes, long Dscriptions of the recording of each album along the way, tho of course I wish it had bn longer. But the discography is just a list of album titles....
= Clinton Heylin: BOOTLEG! -- Disappointing history of unauthorized recordings. Good technical & legal Dtails & interviews w/ key figures Bhind the scenes, but there is very little discussion of the actual music made available thru bootlegs or the significance of it....
+ Stan Cornyn & Paul Scanlon: EXPLODING! -- History of Warner Bros Records, written by the man who created hilarious off-the-wall print ads 4 Randy Newman & Van Dyke Parks in the '60s. Cornyn's amusing writing carries the 1st 1/2 of the book; the 2nd 1/2 is just a blur -- 2 much happens, which may have bn the point....
+ J.G. Ballard: VERMILLION SANDS -- Marvelous, magical SF short stories about an artist's colony at the edge of a sand sea -- very unlike the rest of the late author's often-grim work. Best R the beautiful "Cloud Sculptors of Coral-D" & "Venus Smiles," in which Ballard revealed 4 perhaps the only time ever that he actually hadda sense of humor....
* Richard DiLello: THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY -- Hilarious history of the Beatles' Apple Records, written by the company's "house hippie." DiLello was there 4 "Hey Jude," the WHITE ALBUM, John & Yoko's weirdnesses, the Paul Is Dead rumors, & when it all fell apart. Vividly, at times daringly written, lotsa priceless moments.
* Roger Dean: VIEWS -- Gorgeous album-cover artwork from the '60s & '70s, including Dean's trademark work 4 Yes & many others.
* Hipgnosis: WALK AWAY RENE -- More gorgeous album cover art, mainly photos from albums by Pink Floyd & many others. The text by photog Storm Thorgerson not only Xplains how the photos were shot, it includes priceless, hilarious stories about how all the parts came 2gether....
* George R.R. Martin: DYING OF THE LIGHT -- Best SF novel ever. Vivid, moving, intense, gorgeous. A classic "space opera."
= Kim Stanley Robinson: THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS -- SF meets future music, but the sometimes-good writing gets tangled-up in a disappointing cloak&dagger plot.
+ Thomas Mallon: A BOOK OF ONE'S OWN -- About diaries & journals & the people who write them, w/ Xcerpts from some of the greatest & most revealing Xamples ever, from Anne Frank 2 Richard Nixon 2 people I guarantee U've never heard of....
* Algis Budrys: BENCHMARKS -- Nearly 40-yr-old SF criticism from the best SF critic ever. He tackles many of the field's classics, gives insights on how they came 2 B written, & gets across what it feels like 2 create this wondrous stuff....
- Frank Herbert: GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE -- In the running w/ Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA 4 worst major SF novel ever....
= George R.R. Martin: THE ARMAGEDDON RAG, +WINDHAVEN, +A SONG FOR LYA AND OTHER STORIES, +SONGS OF STARS AND SHADOWS, +SANDKINGS, +TUF VOYAGING -- RAG is a weak rock&roll novel, buried by a lame cloak&dagger plot, only 5 pgs of real magic in the whole book. The 1st 2/3rds of WINDHAVEN -- about a society of "fliers" who carry letters & news Btween the island residents of a watery world -- R so great it doesn't matter that I can't remember the Nd. The others R collections of George's early-'70s work, when he was 1 of SF's best writers. Greats: "A Song for Lya," "With Morning Comes Mistfall," "This Tower of Ashes," "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr," "Night Shift," "The Stone City," "In the House of the Worm," "Sandkings," "Nightflyers," "The Plague Star"....
* Gael Baudino: GOSSAMER AXE -- 2nd-best rock novel ever. A Harper from the land of Faerie forms an all-women heavy-metal band 2 blast a hole Btween the worlds & rescue her 1 true love from The Other Side. Brilliant, involving, moving, there's a happy Nding 4 every1, & the rock band Dtails R perfect.
* Lewis Shiner: GLIMPSES -- The greatest rock novel ever. Shiner's hero can create unheard music by rock superstars just by thinking about it. & in an effort 2 create lost greats like the Beach Boys' SMILE, the Doors' CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD, Hendrix's FIRST RAYS OF THE NEW RISING SUN, he meets these larger-than-life heroes -- all while dealing w/ his own Life Issues: crumbling marriage, father's death, mother growing older, love, mortality, etc. Vivid & moving, & Shiner gets all the musical Dtails Xactly right.
= Terry Southern, Richard Branson, etc.: VIRGIN: A HISTORY OF VIRGIN RECORDS -- Disappointingly thin photo-book history of the British label which started out brave & daring & uncommercial, then later went super-commercial w/ Paula Abdul & the Rolling Stones. I'd love 2 know more about their off-the-wall earlier yrs....
* Lester Bangs: PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG, *MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS AND BAD TASTE -- 2 Xcellent collections of Bangs' wild & wide-ranging rock criticism from the '70s. Both books include many classic pieces, the 2nd has 2 articles on Miles Davis that NE jazz or jazz-rock fan should read (including Paul Tingen, see above).
* Jack Ketchum: SHE WAKES, *THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, *OFF SEASON, *HIDE AND SEEK, +JOYRIDE, +THE LOST, -LADIES' NIGHT -- Often-superb horror novels; brutal, gutsy, direct -- Ketchum wastes no time. HIDE AND SEEK & SHE WAKES R probly best; GIRL NEXT DOOR isn't quite as harrowing as its rep. The others R at least solid, Xcept 4 LADIES' NIGHT, which is 2 far over the top.
+ Tim Sandlin: JIMI HENDRIX TURNS 80 -- Residents take over a senior citizens' home in a revolution straight outta the '60s. Hilarious, compassionate, moving.
+ Phil Patton: DREAMLAND -- Off-the-wall "travel guide" 2 the area around Nevada's notorious Area 51 test range, home of the Stealth bomber & fighter & lots of UFOs. Lots of sketches of area characters & Xploration of the history & folklore.
+ David Darlington: AREA 51 -- Much of the same material covered from a slightly more sober viewpoint, w/ a bit more emphasis on the high-tech. Combine these last 2 books 2gether & U've probly got the best book possible on the subject.
+ Ian McDonald: DESOLATION ROAD -- 1st 1/2 of this history of an imaginary village on Mars is vivid, inventive, involving & funny. 2nd 1/2 gets strangled by Killer Plot.
* ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK -- MayB not everything U'd ever wanna know, but a lotta good info, & some of the writing is really amazing, especially on acts like T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Caravan, Camel....
* Jon Savage: ENGLAND'S DREAMING -- The rise of the Sex Pistols & Punk Rock in a vivid & Xhaustive history. Some of Savage's writing is frighteningly good, as in his Dpiction of the Pistols' last concert in San Francisco, & the decline & death of Sid Vicious. There R also many vivid character sketches of Punk notables (Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux, others). U don't havta B a Punk fan 2 love it....
+ Neal Stephenson: SNOW CRASH -- Pretty good smart-ass SF, vivid & funny, w/ everything U'd ever want Xcept a good Nding....
- Jerry Lucky: THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES -- The worst rock book ever, filled w/ typographical errors & opinions treated as facts. Most valuble is the last 1/2, in which Lucky lists some 1,500 prog acts, many of whom I'd never heard-of B4. But even that list is riddled w/ mistakes, & he leaves a lot of artists OUT....
+ John Peel & Sheila Ravenscroft: MARGRAVE OF THE MARSHES -- Peel attempts 2 recap his long history as BBC DJ & champion of new music ... & the story is lovingly completed by his wife after his death. Funny, w/ lotsa great stories, I wish it had bn longer. Ravenscroft's part of the book is actually better, more Dtailed & more revealing than Peel's -- she was far enuf from the subject & the happenings around him 2 Dscribe it all....
* Kathe Koja: SKIN, *THE CIPHER, *BAD BRAINS, +STRANGE ANGELS, +KINK, +EXTREMITIES, *THE BLUE MIRROR, +STRAYDOG, =BUDDHA BOY -- Koja was the greatest horror novelist of the '90s & SKIN is the best horror novel ever; about performance art, body alteration, creativity & much more, when Koja's characters hurt, so will U. THE CIPHER is equally brilliant, claustrophobic & creepy, tho the Nding's weak. BAD BRAINS is 9/10th's of a great novel; another weak Nding. KINK & STRANGE ANGELS R transitional -- both have very good things in them. EXTREMITIES is an at-times brilliant collection of stories. The last 3 R young-adult novels: BLUE MIRROR is the best since SKIN. STRAYDOG intensely Dscribes the relationship Btween a teen girl & the collie she adopts from the pound. BUDDHA BOY also deals w/ misfits; tho not a complete success, Koja's vivid, abrupt writing will paint a clear picture 4 U. I look 4ward eagerly 2 Koja's next horror novel....
* Ian MacDonald: REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD -- A wondrous look at the Beatles' recordings. Amazing Dtails, stunning insights, vivid writing. The ultimate Beatles book.
* Robert Draper: ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY -- Vivid, Dtailed story of how Jann Wenner's mag went from a counterculture touchstone 2 a gossip sheet 4 his friends. LOTS of talent squandered along the way, & Draper misses nothing. Brilliant but Dpressing, sounds just like every newspaper I ever worked 4....
* Dominic Priore: LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE! -- Scrapbook about the Beach Boys' lost SMILE album, coulda used an editor, but there's some Xcellent stuff here, especially Jules Siegel's brilliant 1968 magazine piece "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!"
+ Roddy Doyle: THE COMMITMENTS -- Fast-paced & funny novel about a group that forms "to save Ireland thru R&B." Nds just as it's Getting Really Good, but worth reading -- & 4 Ghod's sake, C the movie!
+ Damien Broderick: TRANSMITTERS -- Real Life & SF meet & clash. Not a complete success, a little dry, but an intresting Xperiment....
After I get thru this, I promise 2 find something new 2 write about. Working my way backwards, then....
+ Roger Zelazny: CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS -- The Egyptian pantheon of gods fights it out in an Epic Battle Btween Good & Evil 4 The Fate Of The Universe. Slow start & weak Nding, but in-Btween it's vivid, involving, hilarious, poetic.
+ K.W. Jeter: MANTIS -- Creepy horror novel, Xtremely vivid, involving & well-written. If SF writer Barry N. Malzberg had ever written horror, it mighta come out something like this; the book's dedicated 2 him.
- John Blake: ALL YOU NEEDED WAS LOVE: THE BEATLES AFTER THE BEATLES -- Attempts 2 Xamine the Beatles' solo careers after their breakup. Thin, sad, Dpressing.
* Roger Zelazny: THE DOORS Of HIS FACE THE LAMPS OF HIS MOUTH AND OTHER STORIES, +THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT, +LORD OF LIGHT, +THIS IMMORTAL, +ISLE OF THE DEAD -- DOORS is the best single-author SF collection ever, including amazing pieces like the title story, "The Man Who Loved the Faioli," "This Moment of the Storm," "This Mortal Mountain," "Lucifer." CAMELOT is a slightly-less-brilliant collection but includes classics like "For a Breath I Tarry" & "The Engine at Heartspring's Center." The other 3 R novels, all inventive & worth reading, if not perfect -- but WAY better than RZ's Ndless series of AMBER novels....
- Steven Gaines: HEROES AND VILLAINS -- The Dcline & collapse of the Beach Boys. All the dirt is here, & Gaines piles it on. Dpressing.
* Harlan Ellison: THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT -- TV criticism from the late '60s & early '70s. So brilliant & angry it glows in the dark. Could scar U 4 life. But U won't mind....
* Tim Cahill -- A WOLVERINE IS EATING MY LEG, *JAGUARS RIPPED MY FLESH, *PECKED TO DEATH BY DUCKS, +ROAD FEVER, +HOLD THE ENLIGHTENMENT, +PASS THE BUTTERWORMS, *BURIED DREAMS -- 1st 3 R collections of hilarious essays, usually about "adventure travel" -- walking across Death Valley, cave-Xploring in Georgia, mountain climbing, scuba diving, diving w/ poisonous sea snakes, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, etc. ROAD FEVER is about trying 2 set a world-record drive from the south end of South America 2 Point Barrow, Alaska -- occasionally funny, tho the preparations take longer than the drive. HOLD & PASS R Cahill mellowing w/ age, still funny, but mayB not as punchy. BURIED DREAMS is about Chicago serial-killer John Wayne Gacy, & the last 1/4 of the book really WILL scar U 4 life....
* John McPhee -- ASSEMBLING CALIFORNIA, *RISING FROM THE PLAINS, *BASIN AND RANGE, *THE CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY, *COMING INTO THE COUNTRY, *THE JOHN MCPHEE READER, +ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ARCHDRUID, +TABLE OF CONTENTS, +GIVING GOOD WEIGHT, +THE CONTROL OF NATURE, =IN SUSPECT TERRAIN -- My choice 4 the greatest non-fiction writer of the past century. Everything McPhee writes is vivid, involving & often funny. ASSEMBLING, RISING & BASIN R all about the history & geology of the American West -- the series won him the National Book Award. ENERGY is about securing nuclear weapons & reactors -- the Nd is eerily prophetic about R new century. COUNTRY is all about Alaska; it's huge. The last 1/2 is a long series of vivid character sketches of the state's people, but my fave part is the middle, which follows a search 4 a new site 4 the state's capitol. ARCHDRUID is a series of debates w/ Sierra Club founder David Brower -- best is the last, in which Brower & Bureau of Reclamation director Floyd Dominy take a raft trip 2gether thru the Grand Canyon, arguing all the way. READER, CONTENTS & WEIGHT R all collections of often-outstanding shorter pieces; READER Xcerpts Xcellent sections from McPhee's 1st dozen books. NATURE is about repairing dikes along the Mississippi. TERRAIN is about the geology of New Jersey, probly best if U live there.
* Hunter S. Thompson: FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72, *THE GREAT SHARK HUNT, +FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, +HELL'S ANGELS, +SONGS OF THE DOOMED, =THE CURSE OF LONO, =GENERATION OF SWINE -- The greatest political writer of the '60s & '70s. Hilarious, vivid, involving, outrageous. CAMPAIGN TRAIL covers the Nixon/McGovern campaigns, always hilariously & at times almost unbelievably. SHARK HUNT is an amazingly good best-of, not very-well organized. LAS VEGAS is famous, the opening few pgs R brilliant. HELL'S ANGELS is vivid, but I wished it had bn wilder, like Thompson's later work. Thompson lost his gift at the Nd of '77; DOOMED has a few good things, the rest R dull.
* Dave Marsh: THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL: THE 1,001 GREATEST SINGLES OF ALL TIME -- Marvelous, hilarious, moving essays on some of the greatest rock & R&B songs ever, w/ tons U've probly never heard B4....
+ Tim Riley: TELL ME WHY -- Xamines the Beatles' recordings in depth -- good & in4mative, but a bit dry. Ian MacDonald's REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD covers the same ground in more depth & more inventively.
+ Edward Lee: COVEN -- Over-the-top horror novel, almost like a comic book. When Lee uncovers yet another new outrage U'll B shocked, laff, shake yr head, wonder if he means it, if he's joking, if he's serious....
= Isaac Asimov: THE GODS THEMSELVES -- Brilliant, wild middle section, 1 of the most inventive things Asimov ever did. But the rest is dull. It's a scandal that Robert Silverberg's brilliant DYING INSIDE lost both SF's Hugo & Nebula Awards 2 this....
- Arthur C. Clarke: RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA -- The dullest. Spacemen Xplore an alien probe that briefly passes thru the solar system. Nothing's ever Xplained & the characters R cardboard cutouts. Go read Clarke's 2001 or CHILDHOOD'S END instead.
* ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II -- Classic writing on classic albums, all from the early '70s pgs of ROLLING STONE: Arthur Schmidt & Stephen Holden on the Beach Boys, John Mendelssohn on the Kinks & the Move, Lester Bangs on all kinds of stuff....
* Paul Tingen: MILES BEYOND -- WAY better than the series of late-'60s/early-'70s Miles Davis jazz-rock albums it Xamines in amazing depth & Dtail....
= Frederic Dannen: HIT MEN -- THIS is record-industry corruption?
* Robert Christgau: CHRISTGAU'S RECORD GUIDE: THE '70s, *THE '80s, +THE 90s -- I didn't like his know-it-all, smart-ass Attitude at 1st -- he hated everything I loved! But 1nce I learned 2 roll w/ it I Dcided Uncle Bob can B very knowledgeable & can B a good guide even if yr tastes directly clash w/ his. I'm still not completely sure about his '90s book....
* Dave Marsh & John Swenson: ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE -- 4 awhile my fave book ever 2 argue w/ & throw across the room. But there's also some very good info here. I don't trust the later editions....
+ Mick Fleetwood: FLEETWOOD -- Just about everything U'd ever want 2 know about the Big Mac, written by their drummer. Solid, Dtailed, vivid, involving, funny. It could even have gone on longer. But in these cases I always want 2 know MORE....
* Nicholas Schaffner: SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS -- 2nd-best rock band bio ever, about Pink Floyd. Way better, more involving & more Dtailed than even Nick Mason's memoir on the band.
+ Dan Kennedy: ROCK ON -- Kennedy worked at Atlantic Records 4 a few months in the '00s, during which he botched sevral projects & couldn't keep himself from getting fired. Funny in places, but U & I would never have messed-up such an opportunity....
* David Leaf: THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH -- Best band-bio ever, lots of solid info & Dtails on the Boys' career, Brian Wilson's personal demons, the PET SOUNDS & SMILE periods, & much more. Outdated a bit now, but still a near-perfect job.
+ David Hajdu: POSITIVELY 4TH STREET -- Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Farina & Richard Farina, & how their lives & careers intertwined in the early '60s. Involving.
+ Jeff Tamarkin: GOT A REVOLUTION! -- Solid bio on Jefferson Airplane & Starship, great Dtails & lotsa quotes, long Dscriptions of the recording of each album along the way, tho of course I wish it had bn longer. But the discography is just a list of album titles....
= Clinton Heylin: BOOTLEG! -- Disappointing history of unauthorized recordings. Good technical & legal Dtails & interviews w/ key figures Bhind the scenes, but there is very little discussion of the actual music made available thru bootlegs or the significance of it....
+ Stan Cornyn & Paul Scanlon: EXPLODING! -- History of Warner Bros Records, written by the man who created hilarious off-the-wall print ads 4 Randy Newman & Van Dyke Parks in the '60s. Cornyn's amusing writing carries the 1st 1/2 of the book; the 2nd 1/2 is just a blur -- 2 much happens, which may have bn the point....
+ J.G. Ballard: VERMILLION SANDS -- Marvelous, magical SF short stories about an artist's colony at the edge of a sand sea -- very unlike the rest of the late author's often-grim work. Best R the beautiful "Cloud Sculptors of Coral-D" & "Venus Smiles," in which Ballard revealed 4 perhaps the only time ever that he actually hadda sense of humor....
* Richard DiLello: THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY -- Hilarious history of the Beatles' Apple Records, written by the company's "house hippie." DiLello was there 4 "Hey Jude," the WHITE ALBUM, John & Yoko's weirdnesses, the Paul Is Dead rumors, & when it all fell apart. Vividly, at times daringly written, lotsa priceless moments.
* Roger Dean: VIEWS -- Gorgeous album-cover artwork from the '60s & '70s, including Dean's trademark work 4 Yes & many others.
* Hipgnosis: WALK AWAY RENE -- More gorgeous album cover art, mainly photos from albums by Pink Floyd & many others. The text by photog Storm Thorgerson not only Xplains how the photos were shot, it includes priceless, hilarious stories about how all the parts came 2gether....
* George R.R. Martin: DYING OF THE LIGHT -- Best SF novel ever. Vivid, moving, intense, gorgeous. A classic "space opera."
= Kim Stanley Robinson: THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS -- SF meets future music, but the sometimes-good writing gets tangled-up in a disappointing cloak&dagger plot.
+ Thomas Mallon: A BOOK OF ONE'S OWN -- About diaries & journals & the people who write them, w/ Xcerpts from some of the greatest & most revealing Xamples ever, from Anne Frank 2 Richard Nixon 2 people I guarantee U've never heard of....
* Algis Budrys: BENCHMARKS -- Nearly 40-yr-old SF criticism from the best SF critic ever. He tackles many of the field's classics, gives insights on how they came 2 B written, & gets across what it feels like 2 create this wondrous stuff....
- Frank Herbert: GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE -- In the running w/ Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA 4 worst major SF novel ever....
= George R.R. Martin: THE ARMAGEDDON RAG, +WINDHAVEN, +A SONG FOR LYA AND OTHER STORIES, +SONGS OF STARS AND SHADOWS, +SANDKINGS, +TUF VOYAGING -- RAG is a weak rock&roll novel, buried by a lame cloak&dagger plot, only 5 pgs of real magic in the whole book. The 1st 2/3rds of WINDHAVEN -- about a society of "fliers" who carry letters & news Btween the island residents of a watery world -- R so great it doesn't matter that I can't remember the Nd. The others R collections of George's early-'70s work, when he was 1 of SF's best writers. Greats: "A Song for Lya," "With Morning Comes Mistfall," "This Tower of Ashes," "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr," "Night Shift," "The Stone City," "In the House of the Worm," "Sandkings," "Nightflyers," "The Plague Star"....
* Gael Baudino: GOSSAMER AXE -- 2nd-best rock novel ever. A Harper from the land of Faerie forms an all-women heavy-metal band 2 blast a hole Btween the worlds & rescue her 1 true love from The Other Side. Brilliant, involving, moving, there's a happy Nding 4 every1, & the rock band Dtails R perfect.
* Lewis Shiner: GLIMPSES -- The greatest rock novel ever. Shiner's hero can create unheard music by rock superstars just by thinking about it. & in an effort 2 create lost greats like the Beach Boys' SMILE, the Doors' CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD, Hendrix's FIRST RAYS OF THE NEW RISING SUN, he meets these larger-than-life heroes -- all while dealing w/ his own Life Issues: crumbling marriage, father's death, mother growing older, love, mortality, etc. Vivid & moving, & Shiner gets all the musical Dtails Xactly right.
= Terry Southern, Richard Branson, etc.: VIRGIN: A HISTORY OF VIRGIN RECORDS -- Disappointingly thin photo-book history of the British label which started out brave & daring & uncommercial, then later went super-commercial w/ Paula Abdul & the Rolling Stones. I'd love 2 know more about their off-the-wall earlier yrs....
* Lester Bangs: PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG, *MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS AND BAD TASTE -- 2 Xcellent collections of Bangs' wild & wide-ranging rock criticism from the '70s. Both books include many classic pieces, the 2nd has 2 articles on Miles Davis that NE jazz or jazz-rock fan should read (including Paul Tingen, see above).
* Jack Ketchum: SHE WAKES, *THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, *OFF SEASON, *HIDE AND SEEK, +JOYRIDE, +THE LOST, -LADIES' NIGHT -- Often-superb horror novels; brutal, gutsy, direct -- Ketchum wastes no time. HIDE AND SEEK & SHE WAKES R probly best; GIRL NEXT DOOR isn't quite as harrowing as its rep. The others R at least solid, Xcept 4 LADIES' NIGHT, which is 2 far over the top.
+ Tim Sandlin: JIMI HENDRIX TURNS 80 -- Residents take over a senior citizens' home in a revolution straight outta the '60s. Hilarious, compassionate, moving.
+ Phil Patton: DREAMLAND -- Off-the-wall "travel guide" 2 the area around Nevada's notorious Area 51 test range, home of the Stealth bomber & fighter & lots of UFOs. Lots of sketches of area characters & Xploration of the history & folklore.
+ David Darlington: AREA 51 -- Much of the same material covered from a slightly more sober viewpoint, w/ a bit more emphasis on the high-tech. Combine these last 2 books 2gether & U've probly got the best book possible on the subject.
+ Ian McDonald: DESOLATION ROAD -- 1st 1/2 of this history of an imaginary village on Mars is vivid, inventive, involving & funny. 2nd 1/2 gets strangled by Killer Plot.
* ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK -- MayB not everything U'd ever wanna know, but a lotta good info, & some of the writing is really amazing, especially on acts like T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Caravan, Camel....
* Jon Savage: ENGLAND'S DREAMING -- The rise of the Sex Pistols & Punk Rock in a vivid & Xhaustive history. Some of Savage's writing is frighteningly good, as in his Dpiction of the Pistols' last concert in San Francisco, & the decline & death of Sid Vicious. There R also many vivid character sketches of Punk notables (Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux, others). U don't havta B a Punk fan 2 love it....
+ Neal Stephenson: SNOW CRASH -- Pretty good smart-ass SF, vivid & funny, w/ everything U'd ever want Xcept a good Nding....
- Jerry Lucky: THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES -- The worst rock book ever, filled w/ typographical errors & opinions treated as facts. Most valuble is the last 1/2, in which Lucky lists some 1,500 prog acts, many of whom I'd never heard-of B4. But even that list is riddled w/ mistakes, & he leaves a lot of artists OUT....
+ John Peel & Sheila Ravenscroft: MARGRAVE OF THE MARSHES -- Peel attempts 2 recap his long history as BBC DJ & champion of new music ... & the story is lovingly completed by his wife after his death. Funny, w/ lotsa great stories, I wish it had bn longer. Ravenscroft's part of the book is actually better, more Dtailed & more revealing than Peel's -- she was far enuf from the subject & the happenings around him 2 Dscribe it all....
* Kathe Koja: SKIN, *THE CIPHER, *BAD BRAINS, +STRANGE ANGELS, +KINK, +EXTREMITIES, *THE BLUE MIRROR, +STRAYDOG, =BUDDHA BOY -- Koja was the greatest horror novelist of the '90s & SKIN is the best horror novel ever; about performance art, body alteration, creativity & much more, when Koja's characters hurt, so will U. THE CIPHER is equally brilliant, claustrophobic & creepy, tho the Nding's weak. BAD BRAINS is 9/10th's of a great novel; another weak Nding. KINK & STRANGE ANGELS R transitional -- both have very good things in them. EXTREMITIES is an at-times brilliant collection of stories. The last 3 R young-adult novels: BLUE MIRROR is the best since SKIN. STRAYDOG intensely Dscribes the relationship Btween a teen girl & the collie she adopts from the pound. BUDDHA BOY also deals w/ misfits; tho not a complete success, Koja's vivid, abrupt writing will paint a clear picture 4 U. I look 4ward eagerly 2 Koja's next horror novel....
* Ian MacDonald: REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD -- A wondrous look at the Beatles' recordings. Amazing Dtails, stunning insights, vivid writing. The ultimate Beatles book.
* Robert Draper: ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY -- Vivid, Dtailed story of how Jann Wenner's mag went from a counterculture touchstone 2 a gossip sheet 4 his friends. LOTS of talent squandered along the way, & Draper misses nothing. Brilliant but Dpressing, sounds just like every newspaper I ever worked 4....
* Dominic Priore: LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE! -- Scrapbook about the Beach Boys' lost SMILE album, coulda used an editor, but there's some Xcellent stuff here, especially Jules Siegel's brilliant 1968 magazine piece "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!"
+ Roddy Doyle: THE COMMITMENTS -- Fast-paced & funny novel about a group that forms "to save Ireland thru R&B." Nds just as it's Getting Really Good, but worth reading -- & 4 Ghod's sake, C the movie!
+ Damien Broderick: TRANSMITTERS -- Real Life & SF meet & clash. Not a complete success, a little dry, but an intresting Xperiment....
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Forward into the past! (music)
My old website has died, apparently w/o hope of recovery, so as of right now I Have No Past. Which on 1 hand is a drag, & on the other hand gives me a cheap Xcuse 2 recycle all that old stuff as new capsule reviews here.
& since this blog has bn a little musically-challenged lately, here's the music I reviewed during my 1st 8 mo's on-line, which some of U may not have Cn B4. These capsule reviews will B almost all new stuff, which is more fun 4 me than just doing a laundry-list/recap. & U know how I love 2 make lists.... (I'll get 2 the books I reviewed eventually....)
This may take awhile tho, so bear w/ me....
Some of those old reviews I'll miss, like the fictional review of SMILE & its made-up impact on the world, & the words on Nick Drake, Kate Bush, Fairport Convention, Gryphon, Providence, the reviews I did in memory of my Mom, the rant about Michael Jackson & CNN, the series of Great Lost Singles reviews (there's a list of them all elsewhere on this blog, so at least U can find out what they WERE), those long writeups on '70s radio, science fiction & my Record Store Daze -- but this ain't Great Art 4 The Ages NEway, & it's not like I can't regurgitate some version of it all if pressed. (Bsides, some of the off-the-wall attempts at humor R better-off lost in Internet Purgatory somewhere. ... I can't hear NEbody laffing out there. Is this thing switched on?)
So, another look back in2 the past, just 4 fun. Working my way backward, then....
* Bread: BEST OF's -- Timeless nostalgia from the early 1970's. Lotta the hits R pretty great, & summa the album trax R stunning, especially "Been Too Long on the Road."
+ Badfinger: THE VERY BEST OF & other best-of's -- Mosta the hits R pretty great, especially "Baby Blue," "No Matter What" & "Day After Day." But a lotta the rest is kinda 4gettable, Xcept 4 the brilliant, driving "In the Meantime/Some Other Time," "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke?," "The Name of the Game," "Apple of My Eye."
* Raspberries: GREATEST -- Mosta the hits really were GREAT, & the album trax reveal a whole diffrent side of the band (like the silly "Come Around and See Me"). I'm a sucker 4 "Overnight Sensation," "Let's Pretend," "Tonight," "Ecstacy." Great drumming & group vocals. They shoulda bn bigger.
+ Lobo: INTRODUCING -- Timeless rural nostalgia from '71. 1st album I ever bought.
+ Mary-Chapin Carpenter: COME ON, COME ON -- Some great stuff here, tho the moodier trax drag. Brilliant: "Passionate Kisses," "The Hard Way," title song.
+ Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks: BUCKINGHAM/NICKS -- From '73, B4 joining Fleetwood Mac. 1st side's great, especially the gorgeous, mournful "Without a Leg to Stand On," "Crying in the Night," & a better version of "Crystal" than the Mac did. All I remember from the 2nd side is the rousing "Don't Let Me Down Again."
+ Spirit: 12 DREAMS OF DR. SARDONICUS & +BEST OF -- Did they invent American art-rock? SARDONICUS has some great stuff, especially at the start & Nd; "Nature's Way" is a freakin classic. BEST OF includes the GREAT "I Got a Line on You," about 1/2 of SARDONICUS, the sorta weary Nd-of-the-Summer-of-Love # "Aren't You Glad?" & some other stuff that didn't grab me much.
*Bangles: DIFFERENT LIGHT, +ALL OVER THE PLACE, =EVERYTHING, +GREATEST -- I love female harmonies, I'm a big Go-Go's fan 2. DIFFERENT LIGHT is 1 of the best pop albums ever, tho it's not perfect -- but the 2nd side nearly is, especially "Let it Go," "September Gurls," "Angels Don't Fall in Love," "Following," "Not Like You." Tested repeatedly during LOTS of road trips. ALL OVER has more Attitude, & my fave Bangs song ever, "Dover Beach." The 2nd side's pretty gutsy, 2. EVERYTHING has 4 good songs, including the gorgeous "I'll Set You Free." GREATEST has mosta these titles + the GREAT "Everything I Wanted."
* George Winston: AUTUMN -- The only New Age album U'll ever need. Gorgeous solo piano.
+ Roxy Music: STREET LIFE/20 GREAT HITS, +GREATEST HITS, +FLESH AND BLOOD, +AVALON -- I love their later, mellower stuff, especially "Over You," "Same Old Scene," "Dance Away," "Oh Yeah (On the Radio)." But I needta educate myself more on their early outrage....
+ Joan Armatrading: ME MYSELF I, +TRACK RECORD, etc. -- The deep-voiced woman w/ the sensitive songs. There's some great stuff on all her albums. I especially love "When I Get it Right," "Persona Grata," "Temptation." & "I Need You" will rip you up....
* Steve Tibbetts: YR -- Jazz, Rock, New Age? Doesn't matter. Steve's melodic, flowing compositions & gorgeous guitar will make U a Bliever. & "Ur" will melt yr speakers....
* Alan Parsons Project: INSTRUMENTAL WORKS -- Predictable but gorgeous instrumentals from Parsons' 1st 1/2dozen albums. My fave is "The Gold Bug," but it's all pretty & hypnotic.
* Shoes: PRESENT TENSE -- Mostly gorgeous, breathy New Wave lovesongs. Best: "Too Late," "In My Arms Again," "Now and Then," "Every Girl."
* Split Enz: WAIATA, *HISTORY NEVER REPEATS/BEST OF -- Great songs, great silliness.
= Steely Dan: GAUCHO -- Most of it's lazy & lame Byond Blief, but the title track is a gorgeous lost classic, & "Third World Man" is pretty odd....
* Suzanne Vega: (1st) -- Pristine '80s folk w/ a crystal-clear production. I love almost all of it Xcept 4 that long fable about the princess & the soldier.... & the best stuff is amazing: "Cracking," "Undertow," "Knight Moves," "Small Blue Thing," "Some Journey," "Marlene on the Wall"....
+ Bruce Cockburn: DANCING IN THE DRAGON'S JAWS, +RESUME best-of -- DANCING has 2 brilliant trax, "Incandescent Blue" & "Badlands Flashback," & the rest is very pleasant. RESUME is intresting, especially 4 "Silver Wheels" & "Dance With the Devil."
* Partridge Family: ALBUM, =UP TO DATE, *SOUND MAGAZINE -- Why R U laffing? Everybody's gotta start somewhere, & I'm STILL a sucker 4 great group vocals, which these folks had. ALBUM is amazingly consistent 4 lite pop, DATE is a bit of a letdown but still has some great stuff, & SOUND MAG is their best album ever, a real step 4ward in punchiness, w/ 2 knockouts: "I'm on My Way Back Home" & "Love is All That I Ever Needed." Course if U can't take Keith's ego....
+ Rare Earth: ONE WORLD -- Some great songs, & pretty smooth. "If I Die" & "Underneath God's Light" R 4got10 classics, & the rest ain't bad....
* Go-Go's: TALK SHOW -- 1 of the other greatest pop albums ever. Punchy, great gtr, great drumming, & the vocals! They got no respect, but 1/2 of this shoulda bn on their best-of, especially "You Thought," "Forget That Day," "Capture the Light," "I'm With You." Also road-tested over MANY miles....
* Bare Naked Ladies: STUNT, +THEIR GREATEST HITS -- STUNT is amazingly good, solid, w/ great, often funny songs, sometimes-amazing gtr & other great instrumentation. Best: "Its All Been Done," "Light Up My Room," "I'll Be That Girl," the hilarious "Alcohol," "In the Car," "Who Needs Sleep?," "Never is Enough," "Some Fantastic." GREATEST I keep mainly 4 the live "What A Good Boy," which is an AMAZING per4mance. Also great: "Get in Line," "It's Only Me," Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," "Brian Wilson," "If I Had a Million Dollars."
= Coldplay: VIVA LA VIDA -- Summa this is actually starting 2 grow on me....
* Jordin Sparks: (1st) -- "Now You Tell Me," "Tattoo" & "Worth the Wait" R all brilliant, & the rest is at least solid & professional. & she can REALLY sing....
+ Tracey Ullman: YOU BROKE MY HEART IN 17 PLACES -- Great fun, & some of it's just great, period: "They Don't Know," "Breakaway," "I'm Always Touched By Your Presence, Dear," "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten." She coulda had a whole 'nother career....
+ Nik Kershaw: HUMAN RACING -- Him 2. He coulda bn Stevie Wonder's ghost-singer -- amazing impersonation on "Faces." But the amazing high point is the silly "Gone to Pieces," where (among other things) The Chipmunks make their 1st appearance inna recording studio since about 1964 -- & they sound great!
+ Pete Townshend: ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE CHINESE EYES, *EMPTY GLASS, +PSYCHODERELICT -- CHINESE EYES needed more songs as good as "Slit Skirts," "North Country Girl," "Uniforms," "Somebody Saved Me," "Face Dances Part 2." GLASS is a classic, but good as "Rough Boys" is, I've always loved the softer but still passionate stuff: the marvelous "A Little is Enough," "And I Moved," "Jools and Jim," "Cat's in the Cupboard." & "Gonna Get Ya" is a screamer.... PSYCHO has 1 GREAT song, "Now and Then." The rest is an intresting Xperiment....
* ELO: TIME -- Raising filler 2 a fine art. "Twilight" is great & "The Way Life's Meant to Be" is almost perfect. Summa the rest is so silly U may wanna fling the disc across the room: "Yours Truly, 2095," "Here is the News"....
* Clannad: MACALLA -- Dark, w/o enuf variation in moods, but some great moody tunes nevertheless. Best: "Journey's End," "The Wild Cry," "Indoor," "Blackstairs," "Caislean Oir."
* Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL -- They could B stuffy in the studio, but here they relax a little & the orchestra sweeps them along. Best: "Can You Understand?," "Running Hard" & the GORGEOUS 1st 3 mins of "Ashes are Burning."
+ Blue Oyster Cult: AGENTS OF FORTUNE -- 1/2 great stuff, 1/2 real crap. Best: "Don't Fear the Reaper," "ETI," "Morning Final," "Debbie Denise."
* Police: REGGATTA DE BLANC -- The Rodney Dangerfields of New Wave, lotsa great comedy, especially on "Does Everyone Stare" & "On Any Other Day."
* Dire Straits: MAKIN MOVIES, +LOVE OVER GOLD, +LOCAL HERO SOUNDTRACK -- MOVIES is their most cinematic work, U'll C the videos in yr head on great songs like "Romeo and Juliet," "Hand in Hand," "Expresso Love," "Tunnel of Love." GOLD keeps the cinemagic 4 1 amazing track, the gorgeous 15-min "Telegraph Road." Title song's also pretty, & "Industrial Disease" is a dry-run 4 "Money for Nothing." HERO is pleasant soundtrack music w/ 2 great bits: the anthemic "Going Home" theme at the Nd, & Gerry Rafferty's vocals on the laid-back "That's the Way it Always Starts."
+ Philip Glass: KOYAANISQATSI -- Eerie, icy, mechanical, nightmarish, robot music w/ disembodied wailing voices. But parts of it R pretty....
+ Todd Rundgren: SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, +ADVENTURES IN UTOPIA, +VERY BEST OF -- All great pop. & why wasn't "Couldn't I Just Tell You?" a hit? Or "You Make Me Crazy"? Or "The Very Last Time"? Or "Saving Grace"? Or....
+ Keane: HOPES AND FEARS, -UNDER THE IRON SEA -- HOPES has 4 great songs; the lost classic is "Bend and Break." IRON SEA is the worst art-rock album I've heard in the last decade.
+ The Jam: SETTING SONS -- Angry, bitter, Dspairing New Wave concept album -- which still has lotsa songs U can sing along with! Best: "Private Hell," "Thick as Thieves," "Little Boy Soldiers," "Strange Town," "Eton Rifles," & the recorder hook on "Wasteland." + the WORST version of "Heat Wave" that U'll never wanna hear again....
+ Modern English: AFTER THE SNOW -- The great "I Melt With You" shoulda bn a bigger hit, now it's never gonna die, U can hear it in candy commercials. Whole 2nd side's high-quality, especially "Carry Me Down" & "Tables Turning." 1st side Dscends in2 arty quiet, but it's still intresting....
* Fairport Convention: FAIRPORT CHRONICLES best-of -- Best British folk-rock band ever. Great songs, amazing passionate singing by Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews. Best: "Come All Ye," "Listen, Listen," "I'll Keep it With Mine," "The Way I Feel," "Tale in Hard Time."
* Gentle Giant: PRETENSIOUS best-of, +FREE HAND, +THREE FRIENDS -- PRETENSIOUS has some of their very best stuff off their 1st 6 albums, it's full of gems like "Advent of Panurge," "Schooldays," "Raconteur, Troubadour," "Pentegruel's Nativity," "Knots," "Edge of Twilight," "Cogs in Cogs." FREE HAND's worth it all 4 the gorgeous "His Last Voyage" & "Time to Kill." "Talybont" sounds like Gryphon.... THREE FRIENDS has the hushed "Schooldays" & the guys actually rocking on "Peel the Paint."
* Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT, +CANTERBURY TALES (2-record best-of) -- GIRLS is 1 of the best prog albums ever, tho not perfect -- the great stuff is so good I 4give the coupla dead spots. The driving "Memory Lain/Hugh/Headloss" & "Be All Right," the charming "The Dog, the Dog" & "Surprise, Surprise," & the cinematic suite "A Hunting We Shall Go...." -- these guys were at their absolute best here. & Dave Sinclair is a 4got10 '70s master of keyboards.... TALES has mosta their best stuff & adds a gorgeous live take of "Virgin on the Ridiculous." (The 2-CD best-of under the same name has more early stuff & shuffles the resta the best, not a better package, but diffrent & Xpanded.)
* U.K.: (1st), =DANGER MONEY -- 1st album's a screamer, hardly a bad track on it, best R "Time to Kill," "Mental Medication" & the "In the Dead of Night" suite. DANGER is a big letdown, 2 Dcent tracks: "Rendezvous 6:02" & "Nothing to Lose." The last of these sounds like a dry-run 4 Asia....
+ Buffalo Springfield: RETROSPECTIVE best-of -- They shoulda had more hits, like "Bluebird," "Mr. Soul," "On the Way Home," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," "Rock and Roll Woman." & then there's Neil Young's kaleidoscopic "Broken Arrow"....
* Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS -- What can I say? Bn listening 2 it since I was 16 yrs old...
* Amazing Blondel: FANTASIA LINDUM, +ENGLAND -- British Folk concept albums, gorgeous vocals & tunes.
+ Kevin Ayers: ODD DITTIES -- Mostly failed singles & outtakes, Cn by some critics as his best album ever. Un4gettable: the silly "Connie on a Rubber Band," "Soon, Soon, Soon," "Lady Rachel." Guests include Soft Machine, Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, most of Caravan....
* Justin Hayward & John Lodge: BLUE JAYS -- Best stuff rivals the Moodies: "When You Wake Up," "Saved By the Music," "This Morning," "Remember Me, My Friend," "Maybe," "My Brother," "You," "Who Are You Now?"
+ Jefferson Starship: FREEDOM AT POINT ZERO -- I've always loved Paul Kantner's science-fiction chorales. Best: Title track, "Fading Lady Light," "Lightning Rose," "Just the Same," "Awakening," "Things to Come."
* Grace Slick: DREAMS -- Prog. Great gtr, orchestra, & the wailin lead singer herself. Best: "Full Moon Man," "Let it Go," "Garden of Man," "Face to the Wind," "El Diablo."
* Dan Fogelberg: THE INNOCENT AGE, *PHOENIX -- INNOCENT turns in2 soundtrack muzak by the Nd but there's some great stuff along the way, especially the gorgeous "Nexus" & "The Reach," "Stolen Moments," "In the Passage," "The Lion's Share," "Times Like These," "Same Old Lang Syne," title song -- I even like the mushy "Hard to Say." PHOENIX has some great stuff 2: title track, "Along the Road," "Wishing on the Moon," "Heart Hotels"....
+ Hawkwind: HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL -- Heavy metal space rock? Best is the great "You'd Better Believe It," but Lemmy & Mick Farren's "Lost Johnny" is killer, & some of the others R pretty cool. Intresting snyth-wash breaks Btween songs....
* Yes: YESSONGS -- So great U can drop at least 1 side & never miss it (the side w/ "Roundabout," "Your Move" & Wakeman's solo themes). "Close to the Edge" is so cosmic, "Starship Trooper" so stunning, "And You and I" so pretty, & "Siberian Khatru" has got some great chaotic stuff goin on....
+ Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays: AS FALLS WICHITA, SO FALLS WICHITA FALLS -- Title track is 22 fairly gorgeous mins of synth-wash & crystalline gtr, w/ a climax in which aliens touch down in their UFOs on a children's playground... or something. Only "Ozark" on Side 2 comes close 2 Bing as good....
+ Manfred Mann's Earth Band: CHANCE -- Intresting almost-robotic sounds, & "Stranded" is a lost art-rock classic. Manfred's version of Springsteen's "For You" is almost bombastic enuf 2 B ELP, & "Heart on the Street" is no slouch either....
* Kate Bush: THE KICK INSIDE, +LIONHEART, +NEVER FOR EVER, +THE WHOLE STORY best-of -- U'll get useta her voice quicker than U think. Whole 1st side of KICK is GREAT, especially "Saxophone Song," "Kite," "Strange Phenomena" & "Man With the Child in His Eyes." The other 2 have great trax here & there: LIONHEART's worth it just 4 "Wow." NEVER has the gorgeous "Delius," the outrageous "Violin," & a little revenge # called "The Wedding List." WHOLE STORY includes sevral of these, + the marvelous "Cloudbusting" & the sensual "Running Up That Hill." The 2-CD best-of THIS WOMAN'S WORK includes otherwise-unavailable greats like the stark "Empty Bullring," the beautiful "December Will Be Magic Again," & the heart-wrenching title song.
* Sally Oldfield: WATER BEARER -- Beautiful LORD OF THE RINGS-flavored prog.
* Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER -- Gorgeous. Almost every track's perfect. Great lyrics, guitar, vocals, & the backup is summa British Folk's best. Standouts: "Northern Sky," "Hazey Jane II," "At the Chime of a City Clock," "Fly," "Sunday."
= Soft Machine: THIRD -- "Slightly All the Time" & "Out-Bloody-Rageous" R pretty hypnotic, but I could never get past the 5 mins of feedback noise that opens "Facelift," & I thot "Moon in June" was just silly. The primitive, muddy production lets them down, tho it never stopped me w/ early Caravan....
= Hatfield & the North: (1st) -- Funny & busy-busy. Talented, but coulda used more tunes....
* Sky: SKY2, +SKY3 -- British all-instrumental prog band, kinda conservative. 2 is another double where U could throw 1/2 of it away & not miss it -- but the good stuff is REALLY good: "Vivaldi," "Watching the Aeroplanes," "Scipio," "Toccata," "Fifo," "Adagio," "Scherzo." Their relentless 4/4 robotics may bug U tho. 3 mellows w/ the loss of keyboardist/composer Francis Monkman -- nothing on it's as good as 2. Closest is drummer Tristan Fry's rather good "Connecting Rooms" & bassist Herbie Flowers' slowly-building "Meheeco."
* Beach Boys: SMILE -- Best prog album ever.
+ Brian Wilson: SMILE -- Brian's voice is shot, but the songs we haven't heard B4 R pretty great, especially "On a Holiday" & "In Blue Hawaii."
+ The Move: MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY -- The heavily-produced stuff (title track, "Do Ya," "Tonite") is pretty great, the rockabilly stuff is at least funny, & 1/3rd of it's 4gettable.
* Glass Moon: (1st) -- Xcellent Genesis-soundalike band from Fla. Turn Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" in2 a shoulda-bn-hit. Whole 2nd side's pretty strong. But the lost classic is "Sundays and Mondays," w/ a thunderstorm-like gtr solo by Jamie Glaser.
+ Camel: THE SINGLE FACTOR, +BREATHLESS -- SINGLE has a gold-plated 2nd side w/ overlooked greats like "Sasquatch," the angry "Manic," & the gorgeous "Heart's Desire/End Peace." BREATHLESS is just solid lite Ntertainment w/ the gorgeous title track, the soaring "Echoes," & a sorta British answer 2 Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" in bassist/vocalist Richard Sinclair's "Down on the Farm."
+ Barclay James Harvest: GONE TO EARTH -- 3 great songs: The crashingly dramatic "Hymn," the gentle "Spirit on the Water," & "Poor Man's Moody Blues."
* Moody Blues: THE PRESENT -- Their best, most consistent album ever.
+ Be-Bop Deluxe: SUNBURST FINISH -- Bowie meets heavy gtr! Worth it all 4 the brilliant "Sleep That Burns." Whole 1st side's pretty strong.
* Group 87: (1st) -- 1 of the 2 best all-instrumental prog albums ever. I want the gorgeous, anthemic, life-affirming "One Night Away From Day" played at my funeral. Most of the rest is only a step down from that peak of brilliance....
* Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS -- Gorgeous Genesis-like instrumental melodies + rockin blowouts like "Wind-Up Doll Day Wind" & "Service With a Smile".....
* Fleet Foxes: (1st) -- Love "Blue Ridge Mountains," but think summa the lyrics elsewhere R kinda silly. Love the way it flows 2gether like prog albums of old....
+ Wigwam: NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB -- Lite & folky in places, more streamlined & rockin on "Do Or Die," a little comedy on "Simple Human Kindness" & "Freddy Are You Ready?" & then there's the driving "Bless Your Lucky Stars," the ultimate vocoder song....
+ Rollers: ELEVATOR -- Growing-up on-stage, painfully. The former Bay City Rollers do themselves proud on the gorgeous Beatles-ish "Hello and Welcome Home," the nostalgic "I Was Eleven," the intense "Stoned Houses #2," & "Washington's Birthday."
+ Judie Tzuke: STAY WITH ME 'TIL DAWN -- Could almost B prog. Great songwriting, intense & sweeping musical backing -- whole 1st side's great. Best: Title song, "These Are the Laws," "Welcome to the Cruise," "For You," "Sukarita."
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74, +THE POWER TO BELIEVE, *YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE best-of, +COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, +DISCIPLINE -- GREAT DECEIVER is the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. POWER is impressive & super-efficient, but Xcept 4 "Level Five" & the hilarious "Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With," I couldn't find much that really grabbed me. GUIDE is summa Crimson's best from their 1st 6 yrs, shows their wide range, but doesn't include "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Great Deceiver," "Fracture".... COURT is 1/2 great, 1/2 crap; "Schizoid" will blow yr ears open, but the other 2 good songs sound like a heavy Moody Blues. DISCIPLINE starts intense & heavy, "Frame By Frame" is 1 of KC's best ever, "Indiscipline" & "Elephant Talk" Rn't far Bhind, but the 2nd 1/2 just drifts off....
* Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN -- Best Moodies-style album ever. Great singing, songwriting, strings. Lost classics: "Fantasy Fugue," "If We Were Wise," "Neptune's Door."
* Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, *TREASON -- RED QUEEN is the best instrumental rock album ever; "Lament" will change yr life. TREASON is a sorta kinder, gentler Jethro Tull album; "Spring Song" shoulda made these guys prog-rock stars.
= National Health: (1st), =OF QUEUES AND CURES -- 1 great song on each: The cosmic 15-min "Tenemos Roads" on the 1st, the hilarious 11-min "Binoculars" on the 2nd.
+ Incredible String Band: THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER -- Silly, spooky, even Deeply Serious. "Witch'es Hat" is my fave, but all of it's unique. 1nce U stop laffing, U'll B impressed w/ the structure, lyrics, instrumentation. These guys were in their own world, but they knew what they were doin....
= Caravan: CUNNING STUNTS, +BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S -- STUNTS is disappointing, only the side-long "Dabsong Conshirtoe" is up 2 their 4mer standards. The follow-up BLIND DOG is more like it, & closes w/ 2 gorgeous Caravan Classics, "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris" -- 1 of the prettiest lovesongs U'll ever hear.
* Fleetwood Mac: TUSK -- Great atmosphere. My fave album ever 4 doing household chores. This isn't a putdown. Varied moods & sounds, & some of it'll just float U away. Best: The lost classic "I Know I'm Not Wrong," "Sisters of the Moon," "Brown Eyes," "Never Make Me Cry," "Never Forget," "Angel," "Beautiful Child," "Storms," "That's All for Everyone," "Walk a Thin Line," title song....
* Illusion: OUT OF THE MIST -- Best Renaissance-style album ever. Great songs, lotsa drama, Xcellent gtr & keybs, solid songwriting, & beautiful lead vocals by Jane Relf. Best: "Everywhere You Go," "Candles are Burning," "Roads to Freedom," "Face of Yesterday."
+ Keith Jarrett: EYES OF THE HEART -- Listen 2 the sound of Jarrett's quartet breaking up. Filled with anger, frustration & stress -- which adds a lot 2 the music, I think. If there were more actual tunes I'da given it a *.
+ David Sancious and Tone: TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) -- Sancious was sorta the Hendrix of the synthesizer, & both the side-long title track & the much-shorter "Play and Display of the Heart" R marvelous -- beautiful themes 2 go w/ the outrageous variations.
= Strawbs: JUST A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS -- Worth it just 4 the angry "Where is This Dream of Your Youth?," which includes some of Rick Wakeman's best playing ever.
= Gong: YOU, +SHAMAL -- YOU has 2 Dcent psychedelic jam tracks, "Master Builder" & "A Sprinkling of Clouds." The rest I'm still trying 2 figure out, but it's REAL silly. SHAMAL is from the later, slightly-more-structured jazz-rock band, & parts of it R pretty good, especially "Wingful of Eyes," the rest of the 1st side, & the title-track closer.
= Rare Bird: EPIC FOREST -- 2 Xcellent songs, the haunting 9-min title track & the driving "Birdman." The rest is almost completely 4gettable.
* Al Stewart: MODERN TIMES -- His best, most consistent album ever. 2nd 1/2 is brilliant: the rolling & silly "Apple Cider Reconstitution," the dramatic "Dark and Rolling Sea," & the great lyrics & solid gtr of the title track. 1st 1/2's lighter but still Quality Al. Alan Parsons' 1st production job 4 Al, followed by YEAR OF THE CAT....
* Stories: ABOUT US -- Great lost British pop-rock album, programmed sideways. Best: Lost classics "Please, Please" & "Love is in Motion," "Words," "What Comes After," "Darling," "Circles."
* Hollies: ROMANY -- Kinda arty, but lotsa great harmonies & strong if off-the-wall songs. Best: "Magic Woman Touch," title song, "Touch," "Words Don't Come Easy," the almost-rockin "Slow Down," "Won't We Feel Good," "Down River," "Blue in the Morning." Alan Parsons co-engineered.
& since this blog has bn a little musically-challenged lately, here's the music I reviewed during my 1st 8 mo's on-line, which some of U may not have Cn B4. These capsule reviews will B almost all new stuff, which is more fun 4 me than just doing a laundry-list/recap. & U know how I love 2 make lists.... (I'll get 2 the books I reviewed eventually....)
This may take awhile tho, so bear w/ me....
Some of those old reviews I'll miss, like the fictional review of SMILE & its made-up impact on the world, & the words on Nick Drake, Kate Bush, Fairport Convention, Gryphon, Providence, the reviews I did in memory of my Mom, the rant about Michael Jackson & CNN, the series of Great Lost Singles reviews (there's a list of them all elsewhere on this blog, so at least U can find out what they WERE), those long writeups on '70s radio, science fiction & my Record Store Daze -- but this ain't Great Art 4 The Ages NEway, & it's not like I can't regurgitate some version of it all if pressed. (Bsides, some of the off-the-wall attempts at humor R better-off lost in Internet Purgatory somewhere. ... I can't hear NEbody laffing out there. Is this thing switched on?)
So, another look back in2 the past, just 4 fun. Working my way backward, then....
* Bread: BEST OF's -- Timeless nostalgia from the early 1970's. Lotta the hits R pretty great, & summa the album trax R stunning, especially "Been Too Long on the Road."
+ Badfinger: THE VERY BEST OF & other best-of's -- Mosta the hits R pretty great, especially "Baby Blue," "No Matter What" & "Day After Day." But a lotta the rest is kinda 4gettable, Xcept 4 the brilliant, driving "In the Meantime/Some Other Time," "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke?," "The Name of the Game," "Apple of My Eye."
* Raspberries: GREATEST -- Mosta the hits really were GREAT, & the album trax reveal a whole diffrent side of the band (like the silly "Come Around and See Me"). I'm a sucker 4 "Overnight Sensation," "Let's Pretend," "Tonight," "Ecstacy." Great drumming & group vocals. They shoulda bn bigger.
+ Lobo: INTRODUCING -- Timeless rural nostalgia from '71. 1st album I ever bought.
+ Mary-Chapin Carpenter: COME ON, COME ON -- Some great stuff here, tho the moodier trax drag. Brilliant: "Passionate Kisses," "The Hard Way," title song.
+ Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks: BUCKINGHAM/NICKS -- From '73, B4 joining Fleetwood Mac. 1st side's great, especially the gorgeous, mournful "Without a Leg to Stand On," "Crying in the Night," & a better version of "Crystal" than the Mac did. All I remember from the 2nd side is the rousing "Don't Let Me Down Again."
+ Spirit: 12 DREAMS OF DR. SARDONICUS & +BEST OF -- Did they invent American art-rock? SARDONICUS has some great stuff, especially at the start & Nd; "Nature's Way" is a freakin classic. BEST OF includes the GREAT "I Got a Line on You," about 1/2 of SARDONICUS, the sorta weary Nd-of-the-Summer-of-Love # "Aren't You Glad?" & some other stuff that didn't grab me much.
*Bangles: DIFFERENT LIGHT, +ALL OVER THE PLACE, =EVERYTHING, +GREATEST -- I love female harmonies, I'm a big Go-Go's fan 2. DIFFERENT LIGHT is 1 of the best pop albums ever, tho it's not perfect -- but the 2nd side nearly is, especially "Let it Go," "September Gurls," "Angels Don't Fall in Love," "Following," "Not Like You." Tested repeatedly during LOTS of road trips. ALL OVER has more Attitude, & my fave Bangs song ever, "Dover Beach." The 2nd side's pretty gutsy, 2. EVERYTHING has 4 good songs, including the gorgeous "I'll Set You Free." GREATEST has mosta these titles + the GREAT "Everything I Wanted."
* George Winston: AUTUMN -- The only New Age album U'll ever need. Gorgeous solo piano.
+ Roxy Music: STREET LIFE/20 GREAT HITS, +GREATEST HITS, +FLESH AND BLOOD, +AVALON -- I love their later, mellower stuff, especially "Over You," "Same Old Scene," "Dance Away," "Oh Yeah (On the Radio)." But I needta educate myself more on their early outrage....
+ Joan Armatrading: ME MYSELF I, +TRACK RECORD, etc. -- The deep-voiced woman w/ the sensitive songs. There's some great stuff on all her albums. I especially love "When I Get it Right," "Persona Grata," "Temptation." & "I Need You" will rip you up....
* Steve Tibbetts: YR -- Jazz, Rock, New Age? Doesn't matter. Steve's melodic, flowing compositions & gorgeous guitar will make U a Bliever. & "Ur" will melt yr speakers....
* Alan Parsons Project: INSTRUMENTAL WORKS -- Predictable but gorgeous instrumentals from Parsons' 1st 1/2dozen albums. My fave is "The Gold Bug," but it's all pretty & hypnotic.
* Shoes: PRESENT TENSE -- Mostly gorgeous, breathy New Wave lovesongs. Best: "Too Late," "In My Arms Again," "Now and Then," "Every Girl."
* Split Enz: WAIATA, *HISTORY NEVER REPEATS/BEST OF -- Great songs, great silliness.
= Steely Dan: GAUCHO -- Most of it's lazy & lame Byond Blief, but the title track is a gorgeous lost classic, & "Third World Man" is pretty odd....
* Suzanne Vega: (1st) -- Pristine '80s folk w/ a crystal-clear production. I love almost all of it Xcept 4 that long fable about the princess & the soldier.... & the best stuff is amazing: "Cracking," "Undertow," "Knight Moves," "Small Blue Thing," "Some Journey," "Marlene on the Wall"....
+ Bruce Cockburn: DANCING IN THE DRAGON'S JAWS, +RESUME best-of -- DANCING has 2 brilliant trax, "Incandescent Blue" & "Badlands Flashback," & the rest is very pleasant. RESUME is intresting, especially 4 "Silver Wheels" & "Dance With the Devil."
* Partridge Family: ALBUM, =UP TO DATE, *SOUND MAGAZINE -- Why R U laffing? Everybody's gotta start somewhere, & I'm STILL a sucker 4 great group vocals, which these folks had. ALBUM is amazingly consistent 4 lite pop, DATE is a bit of a letdown but still has some great stuff, & SOUND MAG is their best album ever, a real step 4ward in punchiness, w/ 2 knockouts: "I'm on My Way Back Home" & "Love is All That I Ever Needed." Course if U can't take Keith's ego....
+ Rare Earth: ONE WORLD -- Some great songs, & pretty smooth. "If I Die" & "Underneath God's Light" R 4got10 classics, & the rest ain't bad....
* Go-Go's: TALK SHOW -- 1 of the other greatest pop albums ever. Punchy, great gtr, great drumming, & the vocals! They got no respect, but 1/2 of this shoulda bn on their best-of, especially "You Thought," "Forget That Day," "Capture the Light," "I'm With You." Also road-tested over MANY miles....
* Bare Naked Ladies: STUNT, +THEIR GREATEST HITS -- STUNT is amazingly good, solid, w/ great, often funny songs, sometimes-amazing gtr & other great instrumentation. Best: "Its All Been Done," "Light Up My Room," "I'll Be That Girl," the hilarious "Alcohol," "In the Car," "Who Needs Sleep?," "Never is Enough," "Some Fantastic." GREATEST I keep mainly 4 the live "What A Good Boy," which is an AMAZING per4mance. Also great: "Get in Line," "It's Only Me," Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," "Brian Wilson," "If I Had a Million Dollars."
= Coldplay: VIVA LA VIDA -- Summa this is actually starting 2 grow on me....
* Jordin Sparks: (1st) -- "Now You Tell Me," "Tattoo" & "Worth the Wait" R all brilliant, & the rest is at least solid & professional. & she can REALLY sing....
+ Tracey Ullman: YOU BROKE MY HEART IN 17 PLACES -- Great fun, & some of it's just great, period: "They Don't Know," "Breakaway," "I'm Always Touched By Your Presence, Dear," "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten." She coulda had a whole 'nother career....
+ Nik Kershaw: HUMAN RACING -- Him 2. He coulda bn Stevie Wonder's ghost-singer -- amazing impersonation on "Faces." But the amazing high point is the silly "Gone to Pieces," where (among other things) The Chipmunks make their 1st appearance inna recording studio since about 1964 -- & they sound great!
+ Pete Townshend: ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE CHINESE EYES, *EMPTY GLASS, +PSYCHODERELICT -- CHINESE EYES needed more songs as good as "Slit Skirts," "North Country Girl," "Uniforms," "Somebody Saved Me," "Face Dances Part 2." GLASS is a classic, but good as "Rough Boys" is, I've always loved the softer but still passionate stuff: the marvelous "A Little is Enough," "And I Moved," "Jools and Jim," "Cat's in the Cupboard." & "Gonna Get Ya" is a screamer.... PSYCHO has 1 GREAT song, "Now and Then." The rest is an intresting Xperiment....
* ELO: TIME -- Raising filler 2 a fine art. "Twilight" is great & "The Way Life's Meant to Be" is almost perfect. Summa the rest is so silly U may wanna fling the disc across the room: "Yours Truly, 2095," "Here is the News"....
* Clannad: MACALLA -- Dark, w/o enuf variation in moods, but some great moody tunes nevertheless. Best: "Journey's End," "The Wild Cry," "Indoor," "Blackstairs," "Caislean Oir."
* Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL -- They could B stuffy in the studio, but here they relax a little & the orchestra sweeps them along. Best: "Can You Understand?," "Running Hard" & the GORGEOUS 1st 3 mins of "Ashes are Burning."
+ Blue Oyster Cult: AGENTS OF FORTUNE -- 1/2 great stuff, 1/2 real crap. Best: "Don't Fear the Reaper," "ETI," "Morning Final," "Debbie Denise."
* Police: REGGATTA DE BLANC -- The Rodney Dangerfields of New Wave, lotsa great comedy, especially on "Does Everyone Stare" & "On Any Other Day."
* Dire Straits: MAKIN MOVIES, +LOVE OVER GOLD, +LOCAL HERO SOUNDTRACK -- MOVIES is their most cinematic work, U'll C the videos in yr head on great songs like "Romeo and Juliet," "Hand in Hand," "Expresso Love," "Tunnel of Love." GOLD keeps the cinemagic 4 1 amazing track, the gorgeous 15-min "Telegraph Road." Title song's also pretty, & "Industrial Disease" is a dry-run 4 "Money for Nothing." HERO is pleasant soundtrack music w/ 2 great bits: the anthemic "Going Home" theme at the Nd, & Gerry Rafferty's vocals on the laid-back "That's the Way it Always Starts."
+ Philip Glass: KOYAANISQATSI -- Eerie, icy, mechanical, nightmarish, robot music w/ disembodied wailing voices. But parts of it R pretty....
+ Todd Rundgren: SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, +ADVENTURES IN UTOPIA, +VERY BEST OF -- All great pop. & why wasn't "Couldn't I Just Tell You?" a hit? Or "You Make Me Crazy"? Or "The Very Last Time"? Or "Saving Grace"? Or....
+ Keane: HOPES AND FEARS, -UNDER THE IRON SEA -- HOPES has 4 great songs; the lost classic is "Bend and Break." IRON SEA is the worst art-rock album I've heard in the last decade.
+ The Jam: SETTING SONS -- Angry, bitter, Dspairing New Wave concept album -- which still has lotsa songs U can sing along with! Best: "Private Hell," "Thick as Thieves," "Little Boy Soldiers," "Strange Town," "Eton Rifles," & the recorder hook on "Wasteland." + the WORST version of "Heat Wave" that U'll never wanna hear again....
+ Modern English: AFTER THE SNOW -- The great "I Melt With You" shoulda bn a bigger hit, now it's never gonna die, U can hear it in candy commercials. Whole 2nd side's high-quality, especially "Carry Me Down" & "Tables Turning." 1st side Dscends in2 arty quiet, but it's still intresting....
* Fairport Convention: FAIRPORT CHRONICLES best-of -- Best British folk-rock band ever. Great songs, amazing passionate singing by Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews. Best: "Come All Ye," "Listen, Listen," "I'll Keep it With Mine," "The Way I Feel," "Tale in Hard Time."
* Gentle Giant: PRETENSIOUS best-of, +FREE HAND, +THREE FRIENDS -- PRETENSIOUS has some of their very best stuff off their 1st 6 albums, it's full of gems like "Advent of Panurge," "Schooldays," "Raconteur, Troubadour," "Pentegruel's Nativity," "Knots," "Edge of Twilight," "Cogs in Cogs." FREE HAND's worth it all 4 the gorgeous "His Last Voyage" & "Time to Kill." "Talybont" sounds like Gryphon.... THREE FRIENDS has the hushed "Schooldays" & the guys actually rocking on "Peel the Paint."
* Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT, +CANTERBURY TALES (2-record best-of) -- GIRLS is 1 of the best prog albums ever, tho not perfect -- the great stuff is so good I 4give the coupla dead spots. The driving "Memory Lain/Hugh/Headloss" & "Be All Right," the charming "The Dog, the Dog" & "Surprise, Surprise," & the cinematic suite "A Hunting We Shall Go...." -- these guys were at their absolute best here. & Dave Sinclair is a 4got10 '70s master of keyboards.... TALES has mosta their best stuff & adds a gorgeous live take of "Virgin on the Ridiculous." (The 2-CD best-of under the same name has more early stuff & shuffles the resta the best, not a better package, but diffrent & Xpanded.)
* U.K.: (1st), =DANGER MONEY -- 1st album's a screamer, hardly a bad track on it, best R "Time to Kill," "Mental Medication" & the "In the Dead of Night" suite. DANGER is a big letdown, 2 Dcent tracks: "Rendezvous 6:02" & "Nothing to Lose." The last of these sounds like a dry-run 4 Asia....
+ Buffalo Springfield: RETROSPECTIVE best-of -- They shoulda had more hits, like "Bluebird," "Mr. Soul," "On the Way Home," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," "Rock and Roll Woman." & then there's Neil Young's kaleidoscopic "Broken Arrow"....
* Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS -- What can I say? Bn listening 2 it since I was 16 yrs old...
* Amazing Blondel: FANTASIA LINDUM, +ENGLAND -- British Folk concept albums, gorgeous vocals & tunes.
+ Kevin Ayers: ODD DITTIES -- Mostly failed singles & outtakes, Cn by some critics as his best album ever. Un4gettable: the silly "Connie on a Rubber Band," "Soon, Soon, Soon," "Lady Rachel." Guests include Soft Machine, Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, most of Caravan....
* Justin Hayward & John Lodge: BLUE JAYS -- Best stuff rivals the Moodies: "When You Wake Up," "Saved By the Music," "This Morning," "Remember Me, My Friend," "Maybe," "My Brother," "You," "Who Are You Now?"
+ Jefferson Starship: FREEDOM AT POINT ZERO -- I've always loved Paul Kantner's science-fiction chorales. Best: Title track, "Fading Lady Light," "Lightning Rose," "Just the Same," "Awakening," "Things to Come."
* Grace Slick: DREAMS -- Prog. Great gtr, orchestra, & the wailin lead singer herself. Best: "Full Moon Man," "Let it Go," "Garden of Man," "Face to the Wind," "El Diablo."
* Dan Fogelberg: THE INNOCENT AGE, *PHOENIX -- INNOCENT turns in2 soundtrack muzak by the Nd but there's some great stuff along the way, especially the gorgeous "Nexus" & "The Reach," "Stolen Moments," "In the Passage," "The Lion's Share," "Times Like These," "Same Old Lang Syne," title song -- I even like the mushy "Hard to Say." PHOENIX has some great stuff 2: title track, "Along the Road," "Wishing on the Moon," "Heart Hotels"....
+ Hawkwind: HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL -- Heavy metal space rock? Best is the great "You'd Better Believe It," but Lemmy & Mick Farren's "Lost Johnny" is killer, & some of the others R pretty cool. Intresting snyth-wash breaks Btween songs....
* Yes: YESSONGS -- So great U can drop at least 1 side & never miss it (the side w/ "Roundabout," "Your Move" & Wakeman's solo themes). "Close to the Edge" is so cosmic, "Starship Trooper" so stunning, "And You and I" so pretty, & "Siberian Khatru" has got some great chaotic stuff goin on....
+ Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays: AS FALLS WICHITA, SO FALLS WICHITA FALLS -- Title track is 22 fairly gorgeous mins of synth-wash & crystalline gtr, w/ a climax in which aliens touch down in their UFOs on a children's playground... or something. Only "Ozark" on Side 2 comes close 2 Bing as good....
+ Manfred Mann's Earth Band: CHANCE -- Intresting almost-robotic sounds, & "Stranded" is a lost art-rock classic. Manfred's version of Springsteen's "For You" is almost bombastic enuf 2 B ELP, & "Heart on the Street" is no slouch either....
* Kate Bush: THE KICK INSIDE, +LIONHEART, +NEVER FOR EVER, +THE WHOLE STORY best-of -- U'll get useta her voice quicker than U think. Whole 1st side of KICK is GREAT, especially "Saxophone Song," "Kite," "Strange Phenomena" & "Man With the Child in His Eyes." The other 2 have great trax here & there: LIONHEART's worth it just 4 "Wow." NEVER has the gorgeous "Delius," the outrageous "Violin," & a little revenge # called "The Wedding List." WHOLE STORY includes sevral of these, + the marvelous "Cloudbusting" & the sensual "Running Up That Hill." The 2-CD best-of THIS WOMAN'S WORK includes otherwise-unavailable greats like the stark "Empty Bullring," the beautiful "December Will Be Magic Again," & the heart-wrenching title song.
* Sally Oldfield: WATER BEARER -- Beautiful LORD OF THE RINGS-flavored prog.
* Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER -- Gorgeous. Almost every track's perfect. Great lyrics, guitar, vocals, & the backup is summa British Folk's best. Standouts: "Northern Sky," "Hazey Jane II," "At the Chime of a City Clock," "Fly," "Sunday."
= Soft Machine: THIRD -- "Slightly All the Time" & "Out-Bloody-Rageous" R pretty hypnotic, but I could never get past the 5 mins of feedback noise that opens "Facelift," & I thot "Moon in June" was just silly. The primitive, muddy production lets them down, tho it never stopped me w/ early Caravan....
= Hatfield & the North: (1st) -- Funny & busy-busy. Talented, but coulda used more tunes....
* Sky: SKY2, +SKY3 -- British all-instrumental prog band, kinda conservative. 2 is another double where U could throw 1/2 of it away & not miss it -- but the good stuff is REALLY good: "Vivaldi," "Watching the Aeroplanes," "Scipio," "Toccata," "Fifo," "Adagio," "Scherzo." Their relentless 4/4 robotics may bug U tho. 3 mellows w/ the loss of keyboardist/composer Francis Monkman -- nothing on it's as good as 2. Closest is drummer Tristan Fry's rather good "Connecting Rooms" & bassist Herbie Flowers' slowly-building "Meheeco."
* Beach Boys: SMILE -- Best prog album ever.
+ Brian Wilson: SMILE -- Brian's voice is shot, but the songs we haven't heard B4 R pretty great, especially "On a Holiday" & "In Blue Hawaii."
+ The Move: MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY -- The heavily-produced stuff (title track, "Do Ya," "Tonite") is pretty great, the rockabilly stuff is at least funny, & 1/3rd of it's 4gettable.
* Glass Moon: (1st) -- Xcellent Genesis-soundalike band from Fla. Turn Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" in2 a shoulda-bn-hit. Whole 2nd side's pretty strong. But the lost classic is "Sundays and Mondays," w/ a thunderstorm-like gtr solo by Jamie Glaser.
+ Camel: THE SINGLE FACTOR, +BREATHLESS -- SINGLE has a gold-plated 2nd side w/ overlooked greats like "Sasquatch," the angry "Manic," & the gorgeous "Heart's Desire/End Peace." BREATHLESS is just solid lite Ntertainment w/ the gorgeous title track, the soaring "Echoes," & a sorta British answer 2 Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" in bassist/vocalist Richard Sinclair's "Down on the Farm."
+ Barclay James Harvest: GONE TO EARTH -- 3 great songs: The crashingly dramatic "Hymn," the gentle "Spirit on the Water," & "Poor Man's Moody Blues."
* Moody Blues: THE PRESENT -- Their best, most consistent album ever.
+ Be-Bop Deluxe: SUNBURST FINISH -- Bowie meets heavy gtr! Worth it all 4 the brilliant "Sleep That Burns." Whole 1st side's pretty strong.
* Group 87: (1st) -- 1 of the 2 best all-instrumental prog albums ever. I want the gorgeous, anthemic, life-affirming "One Night Away From Day" played at my funeral. Most of the rest is only a step down from that peak of brilliance....
* Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS -- Gorgeous Genesis-like instrumental melodies + rockin blowouts like "Wind-Up Doll Day Wind" & "Service With a Smile".....
* Fleet Foxes: (1st) -- Love "Blue Ridge Mountains," but think summa the lyrics elsewhere R kinda silly. Love the way it flows 2gether like prog albums of old....
+ Wigwam: NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB -- Lite & folky in places, more streamlined & rockin on "Do Or Die," a little comedy on "Simple Human Kindness" & "Freddy Are You Ready?" & then there's the driving "Bless Your Lucky Stars," the ultimate vocoder song....
+ Rollers: ELEVATOR -- Growing-up on-stage, painfully. The former Bay City Rollers do themselves proud on the gorgeous Beatles-ish "Hello and Welcome Home," the nostalgic "I Was Eleven," the intense "Stoned Houses #2," & "Washington's Birthday."
+ Judie Tzuke: STAY WITH ME 'TIL DAWN -- Could almost B prog. Great songwriting, intense & sweeping musical backing -- whole 1st side's great. Best: Title song, "These Are the Laws," "Welcome to the Cruise," "For You," "Sukarita."
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74, +THE POWER TO BELIEVE, *YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE best-of, +COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, +DISCIPLINE -- GREAT DECEIVER is the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. POWER is impressive & super-efficient, but Xcept 4 "Level Five" & the hilarious "Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With," I couldn't find much that really grabbed me. GUIDE is summa Crimson's best from their 1st 6 yrs, shows their wide range, but doesn't include "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Great Deceiver," "Fracture".... COURT is 1/2 great, 1/2 crap; "Schizoid" will blow yr ears open, but the other 2 good songs sound like a heavy Moody Blues. DISCIPLINE starts intense & heavy, "Frame By Frame" is 1 of KC's best ever, "Indiscipline" & "Elephant Talk" Rn't far Bhind, but the 2nd 1/2 just drifts off....
* Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN -- Best Moodies-style album ever. Great singing, songwriting, strings. Lost classics: "Fantasy Fugue," "If We Were Wise," "Neptune's Door."
* Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, *TREASON -- RED QUEEN is the best instrumental rock album ever; "Lament" will change yr life. TREASON is a sorta kinder, gentler Jethro Tull album; "Spring Song" shoulda made these guys prog-rock stars.
= National Health: (1st), =OF QUEUES AND CURES -- 1 great song on each: The cosmic 15-min "Tenemos Roads" on the 1st, the hilarious 11-min "Binoculars" on the 2nd.
+ Incredible String Band: THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER -- Silly, spooky, even Deeply Serious. "Witch'es Hat" is my fave, but all of it's unique. 1nce U stop laffing, U'll B impressed w/ the structure, lyrics, instrumentation. These guys were in their own world, but they knew what they were doin....
= Caravan: CUNNING STUNTS, +BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S -- STUNTS is disappointing, only the side-long "Dabsong Conshirtoe" is up 2 their 4mer standards. The follow-up BLIND DOG is more like it, & closes w/ 2 gorgeous Caravan Classics, "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris" -- 1 of the prettiest lovesongs U'll ever hear.
* Fleetwood Mac: TUSK -- Great atmosphere. My fave album ever 4 doing household chores. This isn't a putdown. Varied moods & sounds, & some of it'll just float U away. Best: The lost classic "I Know I'm Not Wrong," "Sisters of the Moon," "Brown Eyes," "Never Make Me Cry," "Never Forget," "Angel," "Beautiful Child," "Storms," "That's All for Everyone," "Walk a Thin Line," title song....
* Illusion: OUT OF THE MIST -- Best Renaissance-style album ever. Great songs, lotsa drama, Xcellent gtr & keybs, solid songwriting, & beautiful lead vocals by Jane Relf. Best: "Everywhere You Go," "Candles are Burning," "Roads to Freedom," "Face of Yesterday."
+ Keith Jarrett: EYES OF THE HEART -- Listen 2 the sound of Jarrett's quartet breaking up. Filled with anger, frustration & stress -- which adds a lot 2 the music, I think. If there were more actual tunes I'da given it a *.
+ David Sancious and Tone: TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) -- Sancious was sorta the Hendrix of the synthesizer, & both the side-long title track & the much-shorter "Play and Display of the Heart" R marvelous -- beautiful themes 2 go w/ the outrageous variations.
= Strawbs: JUST A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS -- Worth it just 4 the angry "Where is This Dream of Your Youth?," which includes some of Rick Wakeman's best playing ever.
= Gong: YOU, +SHAMAL -- YOU has 2 Dcent psychedelic jam tracks, "Master Builder" & "A Sprinkling of Clouds." The rest I'm still trying 2 figure out, but it's REAL silly. SHAMAL is from the later, slightly-more-structured jazz-rock band, & parts of it R pretty good, especially "Wingful of Eyes," the rest of the 1st side, & the title-track closer.
= Rare Bird: EPIC FOREST -- 2 Xcellent songs, the haunting 9-min title track & the driving "Birdman." The rest is almost completely 4gettable.
* Al Stewart: MODERN TIMES -- His best, most consistent album ever. 2nd 1/2 is brilliant: the rolling & silly "Apple Cider Reconstitution," the dramatic "Dark and Rolling Sea," & the great lyrics & solid gtr of the title track. 1st 1/2's lighter but still Quality Al. Alan Parsons' 1st production job 4 Al, followed by YEAR OF THE CAT....
* Stories: ABOUT US -- Great lost British pop-rock album, programmed sideways. Best: Lost classics "Please, Please" & "Love is in Motion," "Words," "What Comes After," "Darling," "Circles."
* Hollies: ROMANY -- Kinda arty, but lotsa great harmonies & strong if off-the-wall songs. Best: "Magic Woman Touch," title song, "Touch," "Words Don't Come Easy," the almost-rockin "Slow Down," "Won't We Feel Good," "Down River," "Blue in the Morning." Alan Parsons co-engineered.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Technical notes, etc....
As long as it keeps working, let's assume that the 225 reviews & posts at my old website (http://www.tadsweirdassmusicandbooks.co.cc/) R incorporated here by reference, as they say in legal circles. Which means if U've just stumbled over this blog & U wanna know what I'm gonna B up 2 here, the old site's a good place 2 look-up 4 a quick idea. (& hopefully I won't lose all those old posts.)
Let's also assume I have the right 2 change my opinion; alter, delete & add 2 my lists of Great Stuff; learn about New Great Stuff; recycle soma my older mayB-not-thoroughly-thot-out reviews in2 stunning brand-new reviews 4 a new location; & suddenly discover Great Music (& Books) I've had in the house 4 30 yrs but have always bn 2 lazy 2 listen-2 or read. (I've always bn slow w/ the obvious stuff -- took me 3 yrs 2 realize the Cars' 1st album was pretty great; took me a decade 2 Dcide Madonna was an Artist; took me 20 yrs 2 realize Led Zeppelin was pretty great; still not sure about Prince....)
I'm old, I'm cranky, I can't always remember stuff. I can remember 1971 better than I can remember last wk (& even then it ain't always so clear). Soho, needless 2 say, the Nostalgia level is probly gonna B pretty high. Those R The Rules & U have bn warned.... On w/ the show....
Let's also assume I have the right 2 change my opinion; alter, delete & add 2 my lists of Great Stuff; learn about New Great Stuff; recycle soma my older mayB-not-thoroughly-thot-out reviews in2 stunning brand-new reviews 4 a new location; & suddenly discover Great Music (& Books) I've had in the house 4 30 yrs but have always bn 2 lazy 2 listen-2 or read. (I've always bn slow w/ the obvious stuff -- took me 3 yrs 2 realize the Cars' 1st album was pretty great; took me a decade 2 Dcide Madonna was an Artist; took me 20 yrs 2 realize Led Zeppelin was pretty great; still not sure about Prince....)
I'm old, I'm cranky, I can't always remember stuff. I can remember 1971 better than I can remember last wk (& even then it ain't always so clear). Soho, needless 2 say, the Nostalgia level is probly gonna B pretty high. Those R The Rules & U have bn warned.... On w/ the show....
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