What I'm on about....

Good Lord, where did you all go? Readership is WAY DOWN here at the Back-Up Plan, as of the past week or so. Did you all get swept away by the torrential downpours that have hit Western Washington over the past couple nites? Did you all get turned-off by those 100+ "classic rock" songs that I was hatin' on a coupla posts ago? Maybe you're tired of or just not that intrested in those Great Lost Singles I've been posting stats about 4 the past week?
Oh, wait: Maybe you all have Real Lives 2 tend 2? Maybe that's it....

As 4 the Great Lost Singles -- well, I wouldn't have posted those chart numbers if I didn't think the songs themselves were worth tracking down. At least SOME of them are. A few I just tossed in 4 the silliness of it. But it's not like I spent a whole lotta time Dscribing 2 many of them 4 you, so you may not know Xactly what you'd B getting in2, or what all I was on about.
Thing is, I've written about quite a few of those Great Lost Singles B4, even tho it may have bn a year or more back. I just figure if you've bn reading here 4 awhile you know what my obsessions R -- or you can use those post-label-tags over at the right 2 track down more.
& I do hate 2 repeat myself most of the time. But if you wanna know what I'm on about, here's a few Xamples:
* Kracker: "Because of You (The Sun Don't Set)," Winter 1973. Played 1/2adozen times on Seattle's KJR-AM, this rocker has a driving lead guitar, great group vocals, a catchy repeating keyboard riff, & a closing circular vocal chorus that descends in2 anarchy & the return of that driving gtr. This single never made BILLBOARD's Hot 100, & tho Kracker apparently cut 1 album 4 Rolling Stones Records in '73, the resta their career has bn a mystery. After lotsa looking, I now have a copy of their album with the single on the way 2 me, & we'll C if it passes the Great Lost Singles' Acid Test: Does the song sound as good in Reality as it did in my Memory?
* Billy Lee Riley: "I've Got a Thing About You, Baby," #93, early Winter 1972. A classic rocker from the '50s, 1nce signed 2 the legendary Sun label, Riley was previously knocked for sounding "too Black for Whites, and too White for Blacks." Whatever that means. This single, released on CBS's Entrance label, sounds like your nice rockabilly next-door neighbor sits down on your front porch & picks out a friendly little tune about The Love Of His Life on his acoustic guitar, smiling all the way thru. It's got a lotta soul & a nice little bounce, tho it mighta bn a little simple 4 '72....
* Brenda and the Tabulations: "One Girl Too Late." Classic "Girl Group"-style pop, could just as easily have bn recorded in 1965 as the early '70s. My memory sez I 1st heard this in Spring '72 -- on-line searches indicate it was released on Epic in Spring '73. Can still quote a verse or 2 & the chorus & would love 2 hear it again -- but I'm not quite ready 2 spend $30 on a 45-rpm single, no matter how rare it is....
* Junior Walker and the All-Stars: "Take Me Girl, I'm Ready." #51, Summer '71. Junior Walker played that squealing sax solo on Foreigner's "Urgent," the only part of that song worth hearing. Junior & the All-Stars also hadda string of mostly-instrumental hits on Motown's subsidiary Soul label; the biggest was "Shotgun," which hit #4 in 1965. This is 1 of the few on which Junior sings -- & it's classic up-tempo early-'70s R&B with killer singalong choruses. I don't remember any sax playing in it, but my memory could B failing me here -- haven't heard this since '71....
* Johnathan King: "A Tall Order for a Short Guy," Summer '72. King discovered Genesis & 10 c.c., was a columnist 4 British pop weeklies, recorded silly pop songs under a number of noms-du-disc, & even had a flower-power hit of his own with "Everyone's Gone to the Moon," #17, Fall '65. This song is more of a joke: A short guy talks about how his Intended is gonna B a big challenge 2 get close 2. Hilarious, silly lyrics, very upbeat, spectacularly innocent, & you can tell King is smiling & laffing all thru it. Again, probly a little 2 squeaky-clean 4 the sophisticated early '70s. Charming, tho....
* Tim Moore: "Second Avenue," #58, Fall '74. Very nice poetic broken-hearted lovesong, Art Garfunkel had a bigger hit with it later. I liked the singing & production, which still sounds better in my memory than it does in Reality. I found a copy of this a few years back & it was pleasant enuf, but not as melodramatic as I'd remembered, & it failed the Acid Test.
* Andy Pratt: "Pistol Packin' Melody," Fall '74. Can't find this 1, it's like it never Xisted. Pratt was a Piano Man (like a minor-league Elton John or Billy Joel) & most critics hated him, but this catchy, repetitive number with the great singalong choruses got a lotta airplay on Boise, Idaho's KFXD-AM in the Fall of '74. The lyrics R about how hard it is 2 write a catchy, memorable, unforgettable song -- Pratt did it, & it sank without a trace.
* The Road Home: "Keep it in the Family," Summer '71. I think they were on ABC/Dunhill. Great group vocals, & lyrics about love & family ties. I can still recite most of it, but the single never broke thru & there was never a follow-up.
* Heaven Bound: "Five Hundred Miles," #79, Winter '71. Gorgeous female group vocals on an old folk standard, produced (I think) by Wes Farrell, who hadda thing about group-vocal blends. Played 1/2adozen times on Tacoma, Wash.'s old KTAC-AM B4 it disappeared. Far as I know, there was never an album 2 follow it.

...These R just a few Xamples. My point is: If you can track it down, this stuff could Change Your Life. It certainly left its mark on me....

PS: The Launderettes' "Red River" -- which I've mentioned briefly here B4 -- is the 1st 45-rpm single I've bought in YEARS. It sounds great, tho mayB a little 2 retro 4 most current radio play. & I love the choruses. The group vocals are GREAT.
So, see there, I really DO buy stuff that's current. Even tho it sounds like it coulda come outta the '60s or '70s....

Numbers and other weirdnesses....

Like some of you out there, & as I've noted B4, I can't stop messing with Blogger's "Stats" function that tracks visits 2 yer blog, who's reading what, etc. I'm still not sure I BELIEVE the numbers, but they R intresting. Course there's no way 2 know if anybody's actually READING this stuff or if they stumbled in here by mistake -- I assume a post or 2 looked at is accidental; some1 who looked at 10 or 20 posts musta found SOMETHING of intrest -- or they can't Blieve I'm doing this. Sometimes I can't Blieve it either....
Just 4 laffs & cos I think it's neat, here's how Blogger's tracked visits here over the last year:
July 2010 -- 405.
August '10 -- 306.
Sept -- 444.
Oct -- 605.
Nov -- 490.
Dec -- 711.
Jan 2011 -- 828.
Feb -- 700.
Mar -- 655.
Apr -- 396.
May -- 678.
...So far in June I seem 2 B avging Btween 150-200 hits per wk, so I figure if I keep posting stuff I might set a new record 4 the blog. 4 whatever that's worth. What I really wanna know is if people from Madagascar & Russia R actually finding something of worth here, & if so, what? Folks allegedly from both places have supposedly bn looking things over quite a bit lately....
Other oddities: Back in April when I was Mostly Down, apparently there were more folks from Iran(!) visiting here than Americans -- what the heck is up with THAT?
& back B4 that what seemed like the entire country of the Netherlands allegedly visited here over a period of a coupla wks. They still come back 4 a look-see now & then. & apparently there R folks out there from Canada & the U.K. & Australia in addition 2 the folks from Russia & Madagascar popping in & staying 4 awhile. Again, I figure a pg or 2 looked-at is an accident -- 10 or 20 pgs viewed means some1 was around 4 awhile.
IF this is all true, I'm flattered. The only thing better would B 2 HEAR from some of you folks....
So 1nce again, if you're reading this in Madagascar, drop me a line! Tell me how you found your way here & what you thot. Cos summa this stuff boggles me....

I'm also boggled by who reads what. Thanx 2 The Regulars (you know who you R) 4 figuring out that the 1 thing I left outta that recent big long list of albums was asking what you guys started out with back in the days when you were 1st buying music.... I know I was tired by the time I got 2 the end of that list, but you guys knew what I was trying 2 do & I appreciate your response. & I even remembered some stuff I 4got in the 1st go-round....
I'm boggled that a post I did almost a year ago about my very 1st musical memories is apparently still Bing viewed by 1/2adozen folks each week. The post about my vacation last year still gets looked at. That rant I did awhile back about the 2-fast pace of modern life still gets looked at. & all the lists of Recommended Strange Music I've done get looked-over more than almost anything else. (I can pretty-much figure that 1 out.) SOMEBODY must be reading this stuff....
If there's something you wanna see, lemme know. Something you want me 2 review, say the word. I've got a BIG stack of mostly-new-to-me CD's lined up by the player, & I THINK I might actually get 2 them tomorrow. Maybe. They've bn waiting 4 awhile....

1 last thing: 4 some reason, I can't currently comment in response 2 comments on this blog. Not sure why the heck this is, but it's like Blogger's system doesn't recognize it's me when I go 2 comment. Blogger knows it's me when I visit other people's blogs, but at my own it either wants me 2 B anonymous or won't let me comment at all. Not that I always WANT 2 comment in response 2 y'all's always-brilliant insights, but.... I guess this means you can Have At It. As Ted Nugent 1nce said, it's a free-for-all. Anybody got any advice...?

The World is Yours, Part 2

It's back 2 Bizness As Usual here at the Back-Up Plan. The Holiday Rush is apparently over, & traffic 2 this site has reverted back 2 the more-normal dozen or so visits per day. My thanx 2 those who still browse here. Were those 80 or so visits per day I was getting 4 awhile just Bcos it was the holidays & folks hadda lotta spare time? & how 'bout all those visits from Denmark? 4 awhile the Danes were giving my American readers a real run 4 their money.
NEway, my thanx 2 all 4 yr support, & it would B great 2 actually HEAR from some of U....
& now, back 2 1 of my musical obsessions: Caravan. (Bet U thot I'd never get back 2 them....)

From THE WORLD IS YOURS best-of: Waterloo Lily/Any Advance on Carpet?/Bossa Nochance/Virgin on the Ridiculous/For Richard (live)/Keeping Back My Love/No Backstage Pass/Stuck in a Hole/The Love in Your Eye/The Dabsong Conshirtoe (live debut recording)/A Very Smelly Grubby Little Oik/Feelin' Reelin' Squealin'.

The 2nd 1/2 of Caravan's 4-disc best-of isn't as intresting 2 me as the 1st 1/2 was, but that's probly just Bcos I'm pretty familiar w/ the band's later works. I think that overall the later songwriting & performances R stronger. Almost all the later Caravan Classics R included here, most in the best available versions -- "Memory Lain/Hugh/Headloss," "The Dog, The Dog, He's at it Again," "A Hunting We Shall Go," "For Richard (live)," "All the Way with John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris," etc. If U're a fan of melodic prog w/ catchy melodies & songs U can sing along w/ -- as well as some great, driving riffs -- these songs could change yr life.
But it's also EZer 4 me 2 pick at summa the choices, 2 whine (as w/ NE best-of) about all the great things that Rn't here & should B. But I'll get 2 that later....
"Waterloo Lily" is jazzy & silly, & highlights the band's ongoing hilarious but charming obsession w/ fat women. It also features bassist Richard Sinclair's Xcellent laid-back vocals & a nice jazzy organ midsection by Brit Steve Miller. From the album of the same name, this sounds better than I remembered.
"Any Advance on Carpet?" is a nice, jazzy organ&guitar instrumental -- definitely sounds like a backing track 4 something, but it's nice & bouncy.
The version of "Virgin on the Ridiculous" included here has some spirited viola-playing from Geoff Richardson, & guitarist Pye Hastings' usual relaxed vocals -- but I miss the orchestra & chorus from the original live/New Symphonia recording. This picks up in the instrumental midsection, but doesn't have the push & weight (swing?) of the original.
"For Richard" still sounds great -- as wistful in the opening & as forceful in the last 1/2 as ever. & the great riff that takes up the whole 2nd 1/2 is probly Caravan's most rockin' moment.
"Keeping Back My Love" is an outtake from CUNNING STUNTS that woulda improved their weakest classic-period album. But parts of it sound like sections of earlier Caravan songs, most like "Memory Lain" & at least 1 other 1 I can't place right off. A re-written version of this under the title "Behind You" was later included on their un-distinctive 1977 album BETTER BY FAR on British Arista.
"No Backstage Pass" is a pleasant but not outstanding Pye-vocal ballad. "Stuck in a Hole" is an upbeat single w/ a catchy chorus. All this stuff from CUNNING STUNTS sounds better than I remembered.
The BBC recording of "The Love in Your Eye" included here isn't bad, but it's thin compared 2 both the studio original & the New Symphonia/live version. There R 2 versions of "Love in Your Eye" in this package, & neither R as good as what was already available....
The 15-minute version of "Dabsong Conshirtoe" here is also a BBC recording, apparently the live debut of the song. Compared 2 the studio version, there R some bum notes & Pye's vocals R a little shaky -- but bassist Mike Wedgwood's singing is pretty strong. But then it turns rather unpleasantly heavy a few mins in -- the charm of the original was its jazzy lightness.
"A Very Smelly Grubby Little Oik" -- Now this is more like it. Still sounds great. & it's REALLY silly.
Their version of Kevin Ayers/Soft Machine's "Feelin' Reelin' Squealin'" is the best previously-unreleased track in the whole package -- the wildest, loudest thing they ever did, straight outta 1967 Soft Machine, very loud & screechy & totally unlike NEthing else Caravan ever did. Recommended to Rastro & NE other big Soft Machine fans out there....

COMPLAINTS: All of Caravan's very best work coulda bn collected on 3 discs w/ the 4th saved 4 the best outtakes & live trax included here.
NOT IN THE PACKAGE: "Songs and Signs," "Surprise, Surprise," "Be All Right" in the freight-train-like original studio version, the charming original live "Virgin on the Ridiculous," the superior original studio "Love in Your Eye," the superior original studio "Dabsong Conshirtoe," "Can You Hear Me?" None of Wedgwood's songs R included -- "Chiefs and Indians" woulda bn a nice addition.
WASTED: "C'thulu" & mosta the live trax listed above.
FORMAT: Can I note how much I hate Decca/Universal's hardback-book-style CD collections with the booklet built-in & the jamming plastic clips & the CDs that sometimes fall out? I've hated this format since the Moody Blues' TIME TRAVELLER collection & Decca hasn't improved it. This 4mat might B cheaper 2 manufacture than a proper box, but it isn't BETTER.
OVERALL: This is in more depth than the previous Decca 2-disc best-of, CANTERBURY TALES, & if U buy this cheap (like I did) U can skip IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK (it's all here), & could put off FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT & their 1st album, most of which R also here. & the booklet's pretty informative. I'd still recommend this package 2 fans. But it otta B perfect....

COMING SOON: Camel's RAINBOW'S END best-of....

Readership's up!

Not trying 2 blow my own horn here (no more than usual), but according 2 Blogger's statistics, readership is apparently WAY up 4 the Holiday Season here at the Back-Up Plan -- about double the usual amount.
Ghod Knows why -- mayB people R looking 4 strange music&book gift ideas 4 Xmas? I'm not doing NEthing diffrent, & in fact have lately bn a little more difficult & self-involved than usual.
Nevertheless, visitors have included folks from a Fleetwood Mac fan site called "The Ledge" (www.ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/), which picked-up on my recent mention of that band occasionally performing some rather "strange" stuff. I hope those folks realize that I meant strange in a GOOD way -- that The Mac's periodic strangeness is 1 of the many things that I thot made them so great. I've bn considering doing a write-up citing specific Xamples of their stranger work -- TUSK would B merely Xhibit A -- but I assume NE real music fan is already pretty familiar with their best stuff. The Mac has bn doing great, unusual, brilliant, unique, off-the-wall stuff since as far back as "Oh Well" & "The Green Manalishi."
NEway, that write-up -- along w/ a long list of Great Strange Music By Famous People -- will likely B coming along soon ... unless I already posted it at some point in the past. I'll havta check. I hate getting old....
Other visitors included folks from a Lady Gaga fan site that glommed on2 my brief mention of her awhile back -- I'm not SURE I've ever heard a single song by the lady. Which clearly shows how up-to-date I am....
...Then there was that poor soul who visited here apparently hoping I was going 2 write something in-depth about Camel's RAINBOW'S END best-of. Ghod bless ya, I DID write a LITTLE about it, 5 or 6 songs' worth. But I haven't gotten 2 the rest of it yet. But I will, I will....
The Ntire nation of Denmark also visited recently, apparently. Still can't quite figure that 1 out....
Have also noticed that the recent "Goin' Mainstream" list of pop albums has bn getting a lotta looks -- hey, I wanna know what's in other people's music collections, 2 -- I guess that Xplains it. U want more lists?
...Is the Nostalgia stuff working 4 NEbody, or is it just fun 4 mememe?
More visitors have come 2 the Back-Up Plan from "Drew's Odds and Sods" (www.drewsoddsandsods.blogspot.com/) than from NE other referring website, apparently. Thanx 4 linking 2 the Back-Up Plan, Drew. Hope U're not still digging out from that recent 10 feet of snow up there in Wisconsin....
It would B cool if some of these mysterious visitors would actually LEAVE A COMMENT, even if it's just 2 tell me I'm fulla crap or they can't follow my hideous typing, but You Can't Always Get What You Want....
Isn't it neat all the great info Blogger's STATS function provides? I could look at it 4 days. What a geek....
Thanx 2 every1 out there 4 yr support, & I hope U all hadda good Xmas. & Happy New Ear, while I'm at it.
More silliness is likely ahead. Keep rockin! -- TAD.