Happy Birthday To Me... and Jeff Lynne

     Today is my birthday and one of my presents was getting to renew my Rock Hall membership. As I walked around the Rock Hall, I was trying to think of an idea for a blog post. Then it came to me, I'll look up musicians who were also born on December 30th. I already knew I shared a birthday with Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Matt Lauer and Teri Hatcher, but I didn't know any musicians. It turns out it's a pretty awesome list: Del Shannon, Bo Diddley, Jeff Lynne, Patti Smith and two Monkees, Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones.
     Del Shannon was well before my time and I only know the song "Runaway" and that Tom Petty referenced it in a song once. Still, I know he was an important figure in the history of rock music. And he was born in Michigan. Maybe I'll spend some time investigating his music.
     I don't know much about Bo Diddley either, except I love to look at his guitar whenever I go to the Rock Hall. It truly is one of the iconic guitars in music history.
     I've always meant to check out Patti Smith's music, but never get around to it. I know Michael Stipe is a huge fan and I love U2's cover of "Dancing Barefoot", but that's all I know about her. I definitely have to rectify this musical omission.
     I was very excited that not one, but two, Monkees shared my birthday. I remember being at my cousins' house when I was a kid and they were watching The Monkees. I'd never seen it before and I thought it was awesome. Then, when I was at college, I used to watch MTV all day in the dorm TV room. This is when MTV played videos, but they also played episodes of The Monkees. So I spent hours watching their zany exploits instead of drinking and having sex. I never owned anything by them until Davy Jones died, when I decided to buy a greatest hits collection. My wife has seen them in concert and has some of their records. "Last Train to Clarksville" is one of my favorite songs and I really loved their show. It's too bad they spent so much energy fighting each other instead of entertaining their fans.
     I was most excited about Jeff Lynne. To me, he is an unsung giant in the history of popular music. He has amazing songwriting skills, but is often dismissed as a Beatles' impersonator. Just his output with the Electric Light Orchestra is stellar. 10538 Overture. Mr. Blue Sky. Evil Woman. Turn To Stone. Sweet Talkin' Woman. Can't Get It Out of My Head. Do Ya. Showdown. Don't Bring Me Down. I could go on forever. Add to that The Move and The Traveling Wilburys and Jeff Lynne should be a legend. When I was a kid, I had a 45 of ELO's "Sweet Talkin' Woman" on purple vinyl, but my sister broke it. I still have a greatest hits and Out of the Blue on vinyl and I recommend that my kids listen to those. I think I'll start collecting their other records on vinyl and see if I can track down a replacement purple vinyl 45.
     I also had an awesome steak dinner at Fleming's, so this turned out to be a great birthday. Peace.

Midnight Oil

     Whenever someone asks me what act I'd like to see live that I haven't seen before, I give two answers. The first is David Bowie, who I will write a post about in the future, and the other is Midnight Oil. You may be saying to yourself, "Midnight Oil...really?", but I've loved them since the 80's. You may also be wondering why I've never them since they've been around for over 30 years. As you may recall from previous posts, I grew up in the middle of nowhere and never went to concerts. My first concert was in the mid-80's at CMU when Starship came to campus. Yes , it was the tour for "We Built This City on Rock and Roll". Why do I keep admitting crap like this on the internets? Then I saw Rush a few times in the 90's and that was it until the 2000's when I started going to concerts on a regular basis. At that point, Midnight Oil weren't an active touring band. I have quite a bit of their music in my collection, mostly on vinyl. Today, I bought their recently released career retrospective Essential Oils. This is kind of sad, because I already have their previous best of collection, but this one is even better.
     Of course, everyone knows Diesel and Dust and it's hits "Beds Are Burning" and "Dreamworld". I own that album on cassette, cd, deluxe cd and vinyl and strongly recommend it to my kids. Everyone also knows that they have a seven foot tall, bald, spastic frontman (Peter Garrett). He is never ranked among the great rock frontmen, which I feel is a travesty. He writes powerful lyrics, has a powerful voice and is extremely high energy. I don't know the first thing about Australian history or politics, but when I listen to Midnight Oil I feel like part of whatever cause he's on about. If anyone out there knows of a good Australian history that's not written by a right-wing fascist let me know. I'd really like to learn more about it.
     I also like the band's alternative, surf-rock guitar and drum sound. I don't know if they will ever tour again because Peter Garrett is in the government, but if they do I'll be there even if I have to travel. I also own Blue Sky Mining on blue vinyl and 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 and Earth and Sun and Moon on cd. I really recommend all of it to my kids, but definitely Diesel and Dust and Essential Oils. Midnight Oil are one of those bands that when you hear their music it transports you to another place. You can breath the dust and feel the heat on the back of your neck. You can visualize the landscape and the people who populate it. And considering how much I hate to fly, that's probably as close as I'll ever get to visiting Australia. Peace.

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

     Feliz Navidad! Or as Pee Wee Herman would say Feliz Bla-bi-blah. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas time. My Christmas has been good music-wise. I received two record store gift certificates, the remastered vinyl Yellow Submarine from my son and a copy of McCartney's Tug of War from my daughter. I'll probably use the gift certificates to get some GbV 7"'s that my friend Dave ordered for me and the live Rush 1974 album. I wish there was a radio station that played those old Beatles Christmas shows. Maybe I'll check the Youtubes later. I do find it amusing though that Lennon and McCartney were the greatest songwriters of all-time, but they wrote the two worst Christmas songs ever.
     I'm not really a big fan of Christmas music. It probably has to do with having to practice for Christmas concerts all those years when I was in the band. I like Elvis' It's Christmas Time, Charlie Brown Christmas, Squirrel Nut Zippers Christmas and the Polyphonic Spree's holiday album. I've always meant to check out other records by Vince Guaraldi, who did the Charlie Brown Christmas. It's very Bill Evans-ish, which I love, but I don't know what his other stuff sounds like. I'll have to put that on my list of things to listen to this year.
     This year at work, we had to listen to some truly horrible Christmas cd's. Rod Stewart, Michael Buble (Mike Bubble), Travolta and Olivia Newton-John and Cee Lo Green. By the way, when did Cee Lo Green go from being the other guy in Gnarls Barkley to being shoved down my throat everyday? Just wonderin'. I remember Christmas in 1998 when I was a music manager with my current employer. I received a carton of Christmas cd's and the jewel cases were all smashed up. So I did what anyone else would do, I opened them up and played them instead of the crap they sent us to play. So we played Oscar Peterson, Squirrel Nut Zippers and a bunch of space age bachelor pad Christmas cd's. It was awesome!
     Thanks for indulging my random thoughts about Christmas and music today. I hope everyone has a great holiday season and 2013 (guess the Mayans weren't so smart after all). Peace.

Duran Duran and Other Guilty Pleasures

     I have taken my wife to see Duran Duran twice. She's a huge fan and was even in a Duran Duran fan club when she was a kid. I tell people that I've seen them because of my wife, but secretly I'm a fan too. This admission may cost me my Man Card but it's true. I love their music. Hungry Like the Wolf. Rio. Wild Boys. The Reflex. Notorious. I played saxophone during the height of their popularity, so I especially liked Rio for the sax solo. This is probably a good time for my list of favorite sax songs.

     * Rio
     * Baker Street
     * Careless Whisper (yes, the Wham song- sorry)
     * Who Can It Be Now?
     * Take Me Home Tonight

     As long as I'm admitting that I like Duran Duran and Careless Whisper, I might as well spill ALL my guilty pleasures. Alright, here we go:

1) Duran Duran
2) Hall and Oates
         Yes, I love Daryl Hall's blue-eyed soul and the awesomeness of Oates' mustache. There's a
         great book called "Rock and Roll Cage Match" edited by Sean Manning. It has an essay by
         Michael Showalter entitled Hall & Oates vs. Simon & Garfunkel which is hilarious and Hall
         and Oates win.
3) Culture Club
         I didn't really know what to make of Boy George when I was in high school. I'd never seen a
         guy done up like that in rural Michigan. However, he has a tremendous voice and I love that
         "Time won't give me time" song.
4) Big Time Rush
         We took our kids to see BTR in Detroit in February for our daughter's birthday (the opener was
         One Direction, so I've seen them too). I have to admit I think the TV show is really funny and
         their music is alright for a boy band.
5) Hand Clap Songs
         I firmly believe there is no song that could not be improved with hand claps. I promised awhile
         ago to give my list of favorite hand clap songs, so Ix guess now is a good time. My friend
         requested B-I-N-G-O, but it didn't quite make the cut.

         * Hey Ya- Outkast
         * Pump It- Black Eyed Peas ( by the way, love Dick Dale's Miserlou)
         * Let's Go- The Cars
         * Good Thing- Fine Young Cannibals
         * What I Like About You- The Romantics
         * Private Eyes- Hall and Oates
         * My Valuable Hunting Knife- GbV ( the video version)
         * Class Clown Spots A Ufo- GbV
         * S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night- Bay City Rollers
         * We Will Rock You- Queen
         * Hurt So Good- John Mellencamp
         * No Matter What- Badfinger
         * Blister in the Sun- Violent Femmes
         * Calling Thermatico-Centro-matic

         I'll probably think of 20 more later, but that's a good start. Peace.

Best Of...

     The "Best Of" album is an age old record label tradition. Whether it's to bridge a gap between band projects, or to cash in on a band after they've left your label or just to encapsulated the career of a defunct band; Best Of's are a license to print money. I'm using "Best Of" generically to also include Greatest Hits albums. The distinction, of course, is there are bands and artists who merit best of collections but technically never had any "hits". Everybody has bands that they like, but don't need to own every album they've recorded. I usually fall in the category of a completist, which means if I like an artist I do have to have everything they've done, including best of's. There are some artists though that I only have the best of album. I don't really understand how the decision process happens in my brain, but I'm able to turn my completist gene on and off. Take for example The Ramones. I like the songs I hear on the radio, but they're all pretty much the same. So, I was never interested in hearing all their albums and breaking them down. I just wanted a collection of the songs I liked, so I bought Ramones Mania. It's all the Ramones I need and have time for at this point in my life. Maybe someday I'll have the desire to hear their complete recorded works, but I'm not there yet. Perhaps one of my kids will listen to Ramones Mania and have their life changed. Anything's possible. So, the following list is the artists for whom I only have best of albums that I would recommend to my kids.

* The Ramones- already discussed

* Men at Work- I played Tenor Sax when I was in school and I love the sax solo on "Who Can It Be
   Now". They were a fun band who had a great singer in Colin Hay with terrific songs.

* Joe Jackson- Worth listening to just for the amazing "Is She Really Going Out With Him".
   Definitely in my Top Ten songs of all-time.

* The Pixies- Love their classic songs, but haven't gotten around to the albums.

* Talking Heads- I like many of their radio singles, but find David Byrne annoying. I haven't listened to any of their albums in it's entirety.

* Steely Dan- I love, love, love their hits, but don't have any proper albums.

* Yo La Tengo- I like the best of collection, but every time I try to listen to an entire album I don't like them. I can't explain.

* The Fixx- One of my favorite 80's groups who had a string of great hits. I particularly love "Red
    Skies at Night", "Saved By Zero" and "Driven Out".

* The Replacements- I like "Alex Chilton" and "I'll Be You", but for some reason I haven't really
   been all in with them.

* Devo- Great act that everyone should at least know the hits.

* John Coltrane- I have much of his work with Miles, but only the best of  for him. I like him until he
   started playing avant garde, free jazz. Definitely one of the giants of the saxophone.

Genesis; Or Can't We All Just Get Along?

     Time for another musical confession. I don't like when bands try to continue with a new singer. I love DLR Van Halen(well the first four albums) and can't stand Van Hagar. I love Bon Scott AC/DC and detest Brian Johnson AC/DC. There is one group I make an exception for... Genesis. Wait, don't stop reading! I know most people are diametrically opposed about Peter Gabriel Genesis vs. Phil Collins Genesis, but I love both incarnations of the band. Most people who know me assume I'm firmly in the Gabriel camp, because I'm a huge nerd for Prog Rock. I love the musicianship and bombast and concepts and pretention. I love Yes, ELP, King Crimson and even Marillion.  I don't understand Peter Gabriel's concept for Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, but I love how that album sounds. I'm also an enormous fan of Gabriel's solo career. But I also love Phil Collins Genesis.
     Contrary to popular opinion, Genesis didn't go from prog rock mastery to being pop sellouts when they changed singers. A Trick of the Tail is one of my favorite albums and it's also quite progressive and it's post-Peter Gabriel. The truth is, many prog rock bands of the 70's changed to more conventional pop rock in the 80's, such as Rush. I understand that old school Genesis fans didn't like this change and blamed Phil Collins for selling them out. Likewise, people who never heard of Genesis before Phil Collins would probably laugh at the sight of Peter Gabriel wearing a dress with a fox head mask and regard it as pretentious garbage. For me though, I look at the career of Genesis as a spectrum. Their song structure has changed over the years, but the musicianship and songwriting has remained consistently excellent. In fact, "Home By the Sea" from Genesis could easily have fit in the Peter Gabriel era canon. Give Phil Collins era Genesis their due respect for ABACAB, A Trick of the Tail, Genesis and songs like "Turn It On Again", "Paperlate" and "Dance on a Volcano".
     I own all the albums mentioned so far and would recommend them to my kids. I also have the two boxed sets, Archives and Archives #2. These are both excellent. Archives has the entire Lamb Lies Down on Broadway album performed live as well as other classic songs from that era. Archives #2 starts with a song called "On The Shoreline" which was from the We Can't Dance sessions. It's awesome and I have no idea how it didn't make the cut for that album. Finally, I'd be remiss not to mention Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks who were virtuoso musicians and integral in creating the Genesis sound. If you are one of the people who has taken sides over the years, I would ask you to reconsider and give the other guy a chance. Peace.

It's Official! Rush is Going Into the Rock Hall

     I've been watching the rumors all day and now it's official; Rush will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!! I know there are many of my Rush fan bretheren out there who have been embittered over the years from all the snubs(myself included), but now is the time to let all that hate go. They're in! I'm thrilled for the band because they took the road less travelled to achieve everything they have in music. I will now renew my membership to the Rock Hall and I can't wait to see their names on that wall with The Beatles and The Who and Led Zeppelin. Maybe someday there will even be a Rush exhibit. Woo Hoo!!! Sorry about the exclamation point abuse but come on, I never thought this day would come. It seems like 100 years ago when I was living in Detroit and watched them being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on CBC. They were inducted by Tom Cochrane of Red Rider. People only know him from the song "Life is a Highway", but Red Rider were a fantastic band and Neruda was a great album. But I digress. In honor of this momentus occassion, here are the lyrics to my favorite Rush song ever, Limelight.

Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage

Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact

Living in the limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem

Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme

Living in a fisheye lens
caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long awaited friend

All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage

Peace.

Centro-matic

     You may recall from my Thanksgiving post that I was thankful for the Will Johnson living room show, which my wife and I attended in September. He is my favorite songwriter and my wife had no idea who he was, but came along for the experience. It's not often that you can see your favorite songwriter perform in someone's living room. I thought about explaining to her that it would be like her seeing Neil Finn in someone's living room, but that would have been a ridiculous analogy. There were maybe 20 people at the Will Johnson show, whereas there would be thousands of people trying to cram into a living room for Neil Finn. It was awesome for me though, because I actually got to talk to him for a minute. There was a merch table set up and they had a couple of Will's solo cd's that I didn't have, so I wanted to buy them. The girl at the table asked Will how much they were and he came over. Now, I kinda have a thing where I don't feel comfortable talking to a performer who I really admire, because I don't know what to say without sounding like a d-bag. In fact, my wife went with me to see Robert Pollard in Detroit and he was just walking around during the opener's set. She kept badgering me to say something to him every time he came within two feet of me, but I was afraid he'd think I was a jerk or something so I didn't. Anyhow, Will was very nice and I told him that now I had all of his stuff (which I remembered later I still don't have Redo the Stacks). He said he would soon take care of that because he has projects coming out in 2013. I also mentioned that I saw his band Centro-matic last year and he thanked me for my support.
     Will Johnson is another extremely prolific songwriter. Apart from his band Centro-matic, the same band also records as South San Gabriel. They use South San Gabriel as a vehicle for their slower, atmospheric songs. He also records as a solo artist and has collaborated with Jason Molina, Jay Farrar, Anders Parker and Jim James, to name a few. In 2008, he released an album called Dual Hawks which one disc was Centro-matic songs and the other disc was South San Gabriel songs. He said that the two bands are like a hawk; one is quiet and majestic like a hawk in flight and the other attacks like a hawk after it's prey. I'm paraphrasing, but it sounded cool when he said it. I prefer the Centro-matic material. It has a raw, ramshackle sound, like a bar band playing behind chicken wire with drunk dudes throwing bottles at them. The drums and guitars are up front and I like that a lot. The South San Gabriel material is, for the most part, devoid of drums and they bring in additional musicians to play strings and stuff. It's good, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it. Then his solo material splits the difference. If you go to the Centro-matic website, there is a sampler of their music that you can listen to or download.
     I would recommend to my kids that they start with Centro-matic and if they like it try the other stuff. My favorites are Dual Hawks, Fort Recovery, The Static vs. The Strings and All The Falsest Hearts Can Try. Here's a breakdown of the standout songs from each album.

DH: Rat Patrol and DJs, Remind Us Alive(probably my fav Will Johnson song), All Your Farewells
        and Twenty-Four
FR: Covered Up In Mines, Calling Thermatico, Patience for the Ride and I See-Through You
S vs S: Calling Up the bastards, Wrecking This Show, D. Boon-Free and Curb Your Turbulence
ATFHCT: Blisters May Come, Call The Legion in Tonight and Most Everyone Will Find

     One of my dreams is to be able to interview Centro-matic and write a book about them. I already have a title, "Patience For The Ride". Anyhow, if you aren't familiar with Will Johnson I would strongly encourage you to check out his songwriting. Peace.

Guided by Voices 2012

     As we approach the end of another prolific year for Robert Pollard, I thought I'd post about the three GbV albums released in 2012. My second post was a list of the Top 100 GbV songs of all-time and rather than ammend that list, I'll make a separate list. This list will be the songs from Let's Go Eat the Factory, Class Clown Spots A UFO and The Bears For Lunch that I feel belong in the GbV canon. Before I do that, I'd like to share my opinion on Pollard's prolific output. Most critics fall into one of two camps; those who disparage him for his output and those who are patronising about it. My feeling is that it's not Pollard's job to decide which songs are worthy of release and which aren't. He should be free to release every song he writes and then we're all free to decide which ones we like.
     So, this year Robert Pollard decided to record as GbV after breaking up the band in 2004. He got the classic 90's lineup(Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell,Kevin Fennell plus Greg Demos) back together for a Matador Records anniversary show, toured for awhile, then started recording again. Their 2012 albums more or less pick up where they left off after Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. Some great power pop songs, some flat out rockers, some classic Tobin Sprout popcraft and some clunkers. In short, Guided by Voices albums. When I listened to them as they were released, I was sort of lukewarm; especially with Class Clown Spots A UFO. The past couple weeks I've been listening to all three in my car on a rotating basis. After living with them for a fortnight I actually love all three albums and I'm looking forward to 2013. Their 2012 releases have a total of 61 songs and I have 20 of them on my list. That's a pretty good batting average.

Let's Go Eat the Factory
     * Laundry & Lasers
     * The Unsinkable Fats Domino (check out the Youtube video of their performance on Letterman
        where spastic bassist Greg Demos falls down during the song)
     * Doughnut For A Snowman
     * Waves (Tobin Sprout)
     * Chocolate Boy (favorite song on this album)

Class Clown Spots A UFO
     * He Rises! Our Union Bellboy
     * Class Clown Spots A UFO (instant classic handclap song)
     * Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head/ Billy Wire (they are separate songs but they sound
        awesome together like Auditorium / Motor away)
     * Starfire (Tobin Sprout)
     * All of This Will Go (classic Tobin Sprout)
     * Be Impeccable
     * Jon the Croc

The Bears For Lunch
     * King Arthur the Red (best opening track of the 3 albums)
     * Hangover Child
     * The Challenge is Much More
     * Waving at Airplanes (Tobin Sprout)
     * White Flag (favorite song on this album)
     * Skin to Skin Combat (Tobin Sprout)
     * She Lives in an Airport (good song with preposterous lyrics)
     * Everywhere is Miles From Everywhere

     Here's a bonus list of great song titles:
     * Who Invented the Sun
     * Cyclone Utilities(Remember Your Birthday)
     * The Big Hat and Toy Show
     * Blue Babbleships Bay
     * Dome Rust
     * The Military School Dance Dismissal
     * Amorphous Surprise

Peace.

Cheap Trick

     Since I just did a post on Power Pop this seems like a good time to talk about Cheap Trick. I was a child of the live album era. There was Frampton Comes Alive which I'm pretty sure everyone in the world owned. There was KISS Alive II with the classic live version of Detroit Rock City. There was J Geils Band's Blow Your Face Out with Peter Wolf's amazing rant about love that breaks into "Musta Got Lost". There was also Genesis' live version of "Turn It On Again" and Pat Travers Band's crowd participation gem "(Boom Boom) Out Go the Lights. I could go on forever. However, the greatest album of this era was unquestionably Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan.
     With the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, Cheap Trick's debut album was genius. But the reality is until Budokan virtually nobody knew who Cheap Trick were. I was one of the millions of people who heard the live version of "I Want You To Want Me" and ran out to buy Live at Budokan. Have you ever heard the album version from Cheap Trick In Color? It's horrendously schmaltzy and it's astounding that they even played it in concert. But the live version is fantastic. They had a combination of Beatlesque songwriting, power pop hooks, great onstage personalities and looks. There were the two rock star looking guys(Robin Zander and Tom Petersson), the funny guy with the hat that throws guitar picks(Rick Nielsen) and the dude that looked like a middle-aged accountant playing drums(Bun E. Carlos). They were touring in support of the album Heaven Tonight which is one of my favorite albums. They followed that up with Dream Police. That run of releases by itself should have them in the Rock Hall.
     The 80's found them changing bass players, hiring stylists, recording "The Flame" and changing bass players back. In the 90's they got back to basics and are still touring (without Bun E. Carlos) to this day. I reccomend to my kids that they listen to Cheap Trick's debut album, Budokan, Heaven Tonight, Dream Police and don't get rid of the vinyl EP Found All The Parts.
     Finally, just a couple notes about Sound Mind. I have plenty of topics lined up for future posts, but I am willing to take topic requests if they pertain to my collection. The email address for my blog is soundmindblog@gmail.com. Also, I'm going to add a bit to the blog called "What's Playing in My Car". I have a 45 minute commute each way to work, so that's when I do most of my CD listening. Right now I have the three new GbV albums, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits and Centro-matic's The Static and the Strings. Peace.

Power Pop

     It can be argued (at least by me) that the Who's greatest contribution to rock music was not the rock opera, but rather Power Pop. Pete Townshend coined the term and he and his bandmates were it's greatest practitioners in the mid-60's. The combination of Townshend's power chords and Keith Moon's aggressive drumming style created the template that would be followed by hundreds of bands. The songs are timeless classics; I Can't Explain, My Generation, The Kids Are Alright, Pictures of Lily, Substitute and Anyway,Anyhow,Anywhere  just to name a few. A Power Pop song is typically short with a hooky chorus, insistent drumming and power chord progressions.

     Power Pop has gone in and out of style over the decades. In the 70's there was Todd Rundgren, Big Star and Cheap Trick. The 80's gave us The Romantics, The Knack and the Cars. Since the 90's there have been great bands like Teenage Fanclub, Fountains of Wayne and Guided by Voices. My music collection is loaded with Power Pop goodness and I hope my kids enjoy it. Here are lists of my favorite Power Pop songs and albums to give them some guidance.

* The Kids Are Alright- The Who
* All Day and All of the Night- The Kinks
* Go All the Way- The Raspberries
* Couldn't I Just Tell You- Todd Rundgren
* September Gurls- Big Star
* Come On, Come On- Cheap Trick(Live)
* What I Like About You- The Romantics
* My Sharona- The Knack
* Jenny, Jenny(867-5309)- Tommy Tutone
* My Mistake- The Kingbees
* My Best Friend's Girl- The Cars
* Sparky's Dream- Teenage Fanclub
* Star Sign- Teenage Fanclub
* Radiation Vibe- Fountains of Wayne
* Chasing Heather Crazy- GbV
* Blood and Roses- Smithereens
* The Good in Everyone- Sloan

* Under the Bushes, Under the Stars- GbV
* Grand Prix- Teenage Fanclub
* Heaven Tonight- Cheap Trick
* Fountains of Wayne- Fountains of Wayne
* Ultimate Collection- The Who
* The Cars- The Cars
* Get the Knack- The Knack
* Live at Budokan- Cheap Trick
* It's a Shame About Ray- The Lemonheads
* New Miserable Experience- Gin Blossoms
* You Hear Me- Tommy Keene
* Love Junk- The Pursuit of Happiness
* The Romantics- The Romantics
* Candy-O- The Cars
* Something/Anything- Todd Rundgren

     That oughtta be a good start. Peace.


    

It's... Monty Python's Flying Circus

     I have some comedy albums in my collection ranging from Bob Newhart to Robin Williams to Bill Cosby to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. However, most of my comedy albums are by Monty Python's Flying Circus. Monty Python was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam (director of my favorite movie, The Fisher King), Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin ( no relation to Sarah). When I was in high school, living in the middle of nowhere Michigan, we only had 4 tv channels; CBS, NBC, ABC and local PBS. I always noticed in the TV Guide (a weekly staple of my existence) a show called Monty Python's Flying Circus. Now, I HATE circi(?) so I never turned it on. Oddly enough, my grandparents introduced me to Benny Hill which was on PBS right before MPFC. One night, I was watching Benny Hill and fell asleep in the middle of the episode. When I woke, I was introduced to the world of Monty Python. I had never seen anything like it. There were guys dressed as women, crazy collage animations, no punchlines or conclusions to sketches and British accents. There were dead parrots, spam, a cheese shop with no cheese, flying sheep and the Spanish Inquisition. Then I discovered that they made movies, as well. I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail in my college dorm on a movie night. I loved it right away when King Arthur comes out of the mist pretending to ride a horse while his squire is banging two halves of an empty coconut together to make a clomping noise. Then King Arthur has to explain how he came into possession of a coconut when Mercia is a temperate zone. I have the album soundtrack of the Holy Grail and I've owned it on VHS and two different DVD editions. If you've never seen it, it's classic. I also have the soundtrack for The Life of Brian, The Final Rip Off and Previous Record. I used to have Instant Record Collection and Matching Tie and Jacket, but I loaned them and never got them back. I recommend all of this to my kids. Most of their material is timeless, with only the occasional reference to 70's Britain.
     When I started to write this post, I intended to list classic lines or recount classic sketches but that could go on forever. It would also be boring if you're already a fan and have the whole canon memorized. If you're not familiar with Monty Python I would recommend spending a day on Youtube watching videos. I would start by searching dead parrot or French taunting or argument clinic or nudge nudge and going from there. Well, since I said this blog would have lots of lists I'll give you a list of my favorite sketches and you can search those too. Peace.

* Upper-class Twit of the Year
* Restaurant Sketch
* Most Horrible Family in Britain
* Self Defense
* Travel Agent
* Undertaker Sketch
*Cheese Shop
* Dead parrot
* Spanish Inquisition
*Spam
* Book Shop
* All England Summarize Proust Competition
* And my favorite one where the son who's a miner comes home to visit his father who is a playwright, but I don't know what it's called. Sorry.

Beatles Dilemma # 3

     Today I went to Record Den and bought the remastered vinyl version of Magical Mystery Tour. "What's the big deal about that you ask?". Here's the big deal; I have a sickness. In the past 35 years I have bought the Beatles catalog several times. When  they remastered the albums on CD in 2009, I bought them all individually and then when my son ripped them all up I got my parents to buy me the boxed set. I had many of the LP's when I was a kid, lost most of them, then started replacing them on used vinyl. I even have Beatles' Rock Band for Christ's sake. Now they are releasing all the remastered CD's on vinyl and I promised my wife I wouldn't buy them again. But the ineveitable has begun. Recently, I bought the restored DVD of Magical Mystery Tour after my wife begged me not to. But all I had was a janky old $9, grainy version of it, so obviously I had to get it. In my defense, I didn't buy the $400 dollar boxed set of LP's like my friend did, but I'll eventually buy most of them at some point.
     Even after McCartney's expensive divorce I'm sure he still has billions of dollars. I'm pretty sure Yoko doesn't clip coupons. Who really needs this annual money grab. Apparently, we do or they wouldn't keep doing it. The real pisser is that what fans really want is for the Let It Be footage to be released on DVD and they seem to have no interest in doing that. I'd even settle for the Beatles cartoons on DVD, even though they were pretty cheesy. At least I have no interest in the $400 Beatles pen set.
     Anyhow, I understand capitalism and the laws of supply and demand, but how about a break for a few years. I guess I just have to learn to control my completist personality. At least the new generation is being exposed to the Beatles, so it's not all bad. Peace.

Mark Linkous a.k.a. Sparklehorse

     About two and a half years ago, I went into to work and one of my co-workers asked me if I had heard that the Sparklehorse guy killed himself. He knew I was a big fan, but I hadn't heard. I think I asked him a couple questions about it, but I was mainly trying not to cry. The next day I didn't have to work and I was on the internet literally all day looking up stories about his suicide and watching youtube video. The news was crushing, but not surprising when you look back at his songs. A couple years before his suicide, I had written a proposal for the 33 1/3 book series on Sparklehorse's album Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (Viva...). My proposal wasn't well written and not accepted, but it is a great album that sheds much light on Mark Linkous.
     Mark Linkous was a soft-spoken, creative, troubled soul. Two song titles on Viva... seemed to summarize his outlook on life, Heart of Darkness and Sad & Beautiful World. His lyrics suggested a childlike amazement at both the beauty and the sadness of day to day existence. When I listen to Viva..., I imagine Linkous' mind as an abandoned amusement park littered with broken funhouse mirrors and dilapidated carousels. In the background, you sometimes hear what sounds like a demented calliope from an alternate universe. In the song "Tears on Fresh Fruit", he sings Through the bony walls of my skull / they was playing lullabies.  The album is in turns haunting, powerful, fragile and triumphant. It has several classic Linkous lines, such as:

* Yes your hair smells like sunshine today
* Everything that's made is made to decay
* I'd like to tell you how I feel, but I'll probably keep it 'til Saturday
* The parasites will love you when you're dead, la la la la la
* Pretty girl milkin' a cow - oh ya
* Hey little dog, can't even fly

     The album also had two tracks, Rainmaker and Someday I Will Treat You Good, that should've been alternative rock radio classics. But the song that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it is Spirit Ditch, ande it goes something like this:

I want my records back/ and that motorcycle gas tank that I spray painted black
The owls began talkin' to me/ but I'm sworn to secrecy
Woke up in a burnt out basement/ sleeping with metal hands in a spirit ditch

     There's another verse and then he plays a recording of his mother on the phone talking about how she had a dream that he had been hurt. Words can't really convey how haunting this song is.
     When Mark was on tour opening for Radiohead, he nearly died when he passed out from a combination of Valium and painkillers. His legs were pinned under his body for several hours and almost had to be amputated. Much of his next album, Good Morning Spider, was about that experience. He went on to record a couple more albums and collaborated with Tom Waits, PJ Harvey and Danger Mouse, to name a few. He was working on a new album when he killed himself. I'm glad I got to see Sparklehorse open for R.E.M. in 2003 or I may never have been exposed to the dark, beautiful mind of Mark Linkous. Peace.

In Defense of Neil Peart

     In the short history of this blog I've established that I'm a big Rush fan. I'll admit that I'm not one of those super fans who have seen them 100's of times and go to multiple cities every tour, but I've seen them 6 times and I love their music. However, I'm not myopic and freely admit that they have made questionable choices throughout their history. Among these would be:

* kimonos
* Ayn Rand
* those 80's mullets
* kimonos
* skinny ties
* keyboards
* naked dudes on album covers
* the song Dog Years
* kimonos

     I say this to show that I'm not a fan boy apologist when I say give Neil Peart a break already. Now, maybe my perception is skewed because I'm basing it on what I read on message boards, but people really need to lighten up on Neil. I am a frequent visitor to the fansite Rushisaband which is a fantastic resource for everything Rush. Rushisaband has a link to a message board called Counterparts that is populated by many bitter people. The object of much of their bitterness is Neil Peart. I'm all for people having opinions, especially about music, but some of these people seem to feel entitled to something from Neil because they buy tickets and records. I understand people who aren't fans hating Geddy's voice or thinking Neil is a robotic drummer, but I don't get supposed fans bashing someone who has done nothing to them just because he's a private person. I've read all of Neil's books, including Ghost Rider, which was about the deaths of his daughter and wife and his subsequent motorcycle journey to heal from these losses. I've also seen the Rush doc Beyond the Lighted Stage several times and the members of Rush seem like great guys. So why all the vitriol for Neil?
     The craziest complaint about him is that he's responsible for a five year band hiatus because he was a self-indulgent baby when his wife and daughter died. People begrudged him this time to recover and dismissed it as a rich guy not working for their amusement just to ride a motorcycle and mope. What a bunch of crap. We all deal with grief in different ways and his process seems to have worked well for him. He's remarried and has a little girl and the band is still going strong, so be happy for him.
     The main thing people have against Neil is that he doesn't like to be bothered by people he doesn't know, e.i., fans. All Rush fans know this about him, especially from the song Limelight, and most respect his wishes. There is a vocal minority, however, who have a huge problem with his private nature. It's a constant topic of ridicule and venom on the message board. All Neil owes you is to play his best every night and that's it. He enjoys creating music and performing to the best of his ability, then he wants to get on his motorcycle and live his life the way he wants to. How is that hurting anyone? Is your own life so bankrupt that you need your fandom acknowledged by Neil to feel validated? I don't get it. Let it go! Life's too short. Peace.

Achtung Baby

     One great thing about the relationship between me and my wife is that we are musically compatible. Not that we agree on everything (Enrique Iglesias), but we do share similar taste. We also enjoy going to concerts together, such as, McCartney, Duran Duran, Foo Fighters, U2 and Rush. It takes a special kind of wife to go to a Rush concert and actually like it. She has drawn the line on one thing, however. Now, she will only go to concerts where you buy seats - no standing. A few years ago we went to the House of Blues to see Cheap Trick and Squeeze. We bought main floor general admission tickets and had to stand. The standing wasn't necessarily the problem, but she couldn't see over people and they keep bumping into her. We made it through Cheap Trick, but left half way into Squeeze because she couldn't take it anymore. I'm not a huge fan of standing, but most bands I want to see play at the Beachland or Grog Shop. Therefore, I stand.
     Some couples don't find out that they are musically incompatible until it's too late. That was not the case with us. Before we started dating she invited me to a party at her apartment. While everyone else was talking and drinking, I was looking at the shelf with her CD's and DVD's. The first thing that caught my eye was the complete series of The Young Ones. I was, and still am, a Britcom dork and I love the Young Ones. So, I knew we had similar senses of humor. Then I noticed something interesting about her CD collection. She had the other halves of my collections. What I mean by that is I had all the 80's U2 and she had all the 90's U2(hence the title of my post - I'm not going to break down the album, sorry). I had the first two Better Than Ezra cd's and she had the next three. Oddly though, we had the exact same Oasis cd's. This can be explained by the fact she is nine years younger than me, but it was still kind of serendipitous. So, we had a Dr. Evil / Mini Me "you complete me" thing going on musically.
     Anyhow, neither of us had seen U2 before so we decided to splurge and see them at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. This was their most recent tour that was postponed part way through when Bono messed up his back. Originally, the opening act was Interpol which I was excited about. When the show was rescheduled it was changed to Florence and the Machine who were better than I thought they'd be, but not Interpol. U2 were amazing and it was a great experience.
     As long as I'm on the subject of U2, I do have some confessions. To me, they parallel R.E.M.
They were the biggest bands in the world in the 90's and seemed to have a friendly rivalry with each other. However, I'm that guy that likes the "old" stuff and didn't like them changing. I hated Zoo TV, The Fly, McPhisto and all that crap. U2 really lost me for awhile. My perspective on that has changed as I've gotten older and I enjoy my wife's 90's U2 cd's as much as my 80's U2 cd's now.
     We've also seen Better Than Ezra twice and enjoyed them. The last time we saw them they talked about being Rush fans and played a little Rush medley, which was awesome. Friction, Baby is one of my all-time favorite albums and I hope some day they play it live in it's entirety. We never saw Oasis and I guess we probably never will, unless the Gallagher's stop being wankers and get the band back together. I would love to see them play "Supersonic" live. Keep hope alive. Peace.

Things I'm Thankful For

     Well., I just finished watching the Lions epically blow another game, so I need to spend some time reflecting on things I'm thankful for. Obviously, I'm thankful for my family, having a job, having a home, television and bacon. However, this is a music blog, so here's what I'm thankful for musically.

* 180G vinyl
* Manchester, England
* Rickenbacker
* My Fender Telecaster
* My car CD player
* Record Den - Mentor,OH
* Square Records - Akron, OH
* Will Johnson Living Room Show
* Sparky's Dream by Teenage Fanclub
* Star Sign by Teenage Fanclub
* Hand Clap Songs (there will be a list someday)
* The British Invasion
* 867-5309
* Eddie Money running a travel agency
* Matador Records
* 33 1/3 book series
* Youtube

     I'd also like to thank the NFL for that indefensible rule that screwed the Lions today and a thank you in advance for when the Lions fire Head Coach Jim Schwartz. That is all. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my family, drinking. Peace.

R.E.M. - Country Feedback

     About seven years ago, I made a mixtape of my favorite R.E.M. songs and I entitled it Country Feedback. Not only is that the title of my second favorite R.E.M. song, but, I feel it also perfectly summarizes their sound. In the beginning, it was an intoxicating mixture of rock, country, Faulknerian Southern Gothicism, guitar jangle and mumbly, indecipherable lyrics. I would argue that their first five albums are all nearly perfect. I would also contend that no other band has ever started their career with five straight albums of that quality. When Murmur came out, I was a nerdy teenager growing up in rural Michigan and R.E.M. were right in my wheelhouse. I loved their sound. I loved their look.  I loved Peter Buck's Rickenbacker. I loved mumbly Stipe. I loved Mike Mills fragile harmonies. I loved Bill Berry's eyebrows. I loved Sitting Still and Shaking Through. I have the 7" of Radio Free Europe.
     Reckoning will always be my favorite R.E.M. album, but their defining song is Driver 8 from Fables of the Reconstruction. That was everything great about R.E.M. rolled into one song. There was a great guitar riff, great vocals and evocative railroad imagery. They followed that up with Life's Rich Pageant which had stellar tracks like These Days and I Believe. Then they delivered the album Document which for me was a double-edged sword. They finally broke big with The One I Love, Finest Worksong and It's the End of the World As We Know It and I was thrilled. But the success of Document landed them a deal with Warner Brothers and old R.E.M. died.

     I hate to be that guy, but I really didn't like their major label albums. Don't get me wrong, I've bought them all and there are many great songs, but I didn't like them as well as their IRS catalog. I also didn't like it when Michael Stipe gave up the mystery of his lyrics for explicit songs about politics and relationships. I missed the mumble. They recorded two songs that most people currently identify them with that I can't even listen to anymore: Losing My Religion and Everybody Hurts. In fact, here's my list of songs I can't listen to anymore, because I've heard them too many times.

1) Losing My Religion
2) Everybody Hurts
3) One- U2
4) Stairway to Heaven
5) Free Bird
6) Come As You Are- Nirvana
7) Another Brick in the Wall
8) Pinball Wizard
9) Space Oddity
10) Wonderwall- Oasis
Nothing against these bands (except Skynyrd), but enough already.

     Anyhow, when Bill Berry left the band due to health reasons, I felt they lost their edge musically and wish they had retired then. I regret never seeing them play in the 80's. I saw them in 2003 on their greatest hits tour and they were great. I was surprised how much fun Stipe seemed to have during the show. And when Peter Buck stepped on stage with the black Rickenbacker my life was complete. The opening band that night was Sparklehorse who I was unfamiliar with at the time. I soon corrected that and I will talk about them in a post very soon. Let me just say I have a list of three "goosebump" albums and here it is.

1) Sparklehorse- Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
2) Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
3) Flaming Lips- Soft Bulletin

     As far as recommendations, I have everything by R.E.M., including concert DVD's, and my kids should try all of it. I hope when they are teenagers that a band can still come along like R.E.M. and touch them the same way. Peace.
    
    

How Wayne Coyne Changed My Life

          I mentioned before that in the late 90's I pretty much stopped listening to rock music and was into jazz and New Age. I'll talk more about that sometime when I get to my Miles Davis collection. Anyhow, in 2002, I had just gone through a divorce and I was in a really bad place in my life. I had a weekend off from work and decided to take a drive up to Mackinac Island to clear my head and just get away. The trip was alright, but I didn't feel much better about my life. On the way back to Detroit, I was driving past Lansing and was channel surfing on the radio. I stopped on a college station that was playing an interesting song. It was about telling people who are close to you that you love them before they die and it's too late. The DJ came on and said it was a new song by the Flaming Lips called "Do You Realize?". I had a vague memory of seeing them on HBO's Reverb and thinking they were kind of cool in an unusual sort of way. I didn't really think about them again nor did I recall "She Don't Use Jelly", which had been a minor hit for them in the mid-90's. Shortly after I heard "Do You Realize?", I was in a CD store with listening stations and one of the choices was Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by Flaming Lips. The opening track "Fight Test" grabbed me right away with the distorted spoken words "The test begins nowwwww"! Then it goes into a song about how a guy loses the girl he loves because he wouldn't fight for her. I stopped listening and bought the CD and that started me on a road of musical rediscovery. I bought all the Flaming Lips CD's I could find and ordered the rest at work. I was done with jazz, except Miles, and New Age and back into rock music.
     I went back through their catalog and was thrilled by the quality and variety and off-kilter insanity of their albums. My favorites were In A Priest Driven Ambulance and Transmissions From the Satellite Heart. Priest had many great tracks, but I especially loved "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain". One line that encapsulates how I feel quite often is "somebody please tell this machine I'm not a machine". There's another great line in the song "There You Are", You stand in the rain/ and the rain fills your brain/ and it makes you think that God/ was fucked up/ when he made this town.
     At work, we had Red Dot machines which allowed you to listen to 30 seconds of a song on thousands of CD's. It also suggested similar artists when you selected a CD. This lead to hours of listening to bands similar to the Flaming Lips and then bands similar to those bands. This is how I discovered GbV, Mercury Rev, Modest Mouse, Pavement and many other bands that I had either missed when they were first out or new bands. This type of music spoke to me in a way that music never had spoken to me before. I felt better about myself and my life and it all came from a random song on the radio by a weird band from Oklahoma City.
      Obviously, their best album is The Soft Bulletin which was released in 1999. My favorite song is "Waitin' For a Superman" which is the only song that makes me cry every time I hear it. The chorus is:
     Tell everybody waitin' for Superman/ that they should try to hold on best they can/ he hasn't dropped them, forgot them, or anything/ it's just too heavy for Superman to lift.
     The way Wayne sings it kills me every time. It also has one of my future funeral songs on it, "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate". The other two on my list so far are "Do You Realize?" and "All Things Must Pass" by George Harrison. I hope my kids will give all of the Flaming Lips music a chance, but definitely the three albums I have mentioned here.
     One last thought about Wayne Coyne. I hope he finds his way again, because he has touched a lot of people with his music. I've gotten to the point with his gummy vaginas and 24 hour long songs and disturbing videos that I can't support his art anymore. I really hate to say that, because he helped get me through a very rough time in my life, but that's how I feel.

Comments

     Apparently I needed to change the settings for comments on my blog. I did say I'm not tech savvy. Anyhow, sorry about that and I think I fixed it.

Doves

     With all due respect to White Stripes, my favorite band of the '00's is Doves. They are a trio from Manchester, England who I would describe as a little less weird Radiohead. If there were any justice, the door that Coldplay opened to the States would have brought in Doves, Elbow and Kasabian. However, we got Keane, Susan Boyle and One Direction. The band consists of Jimi Goodwin and brothers Andy and Jez Williams. They began in the 80's and 90's as a club band called SubSub. In 1998 they became Doves and their sound has been defined by insistent guitars and drums and atmospheric effects.
     I can remember the first time I heard Doves. When my 14 years old daughter was two she woke up in the middle of the night and I got up with her. I turned on the TV while I rocked her back to sleep and put on MTV 2. The video for "Catch the Sun" came on and the next day I went to work and ordered Lost Souls. To this day, "Catch the Sun" is one of my favorite songs and encapsulates how I felt growing up in a rural town. I have never been to the UK, but it seems like I've been to Manchester just from listening to Lost Souls. When you listen to this album, you can almost smell the sea air and hear the waves against the docks and the seabirds as they circle overhead. Doves main themes then, and even now, are the water and escaping.
     Their subsequent albums are also quite good. Their biggest hit is probably "There Goes the Fear" from the critically acclaimed Last Broadcast, which ironically is my least favorite, but still good, Doves album. I can't list all my favorite songs in the space of this blog, but among them are Black and White Town, Snowden, Here It Comes and Winter Hill. I really should try to write a book about Doves. Someone in the UK probabaly already has though.
     I have pretty much everything by them that you can get in the States, including a 10" single of "There Goes the Fear". I would recommend that my kids listen to Lost Souls and The Places Between, which is a best of collection with a music video DVD. If you aren't familiar with Doves please check them out. They are an amazing band. They are currently on hiatus, but hopefully they will begin recording again soon.

Flying Nun : The Label, Not The Show

     It's criminal that I can't walk into any record store where I live and find releases from the Flying Nun record label. Flying Nun (FN) is the iconic New Zealand label that is known for DIY, jangly rock music that started about 30 years ago. Some of the bands on FN were The Clean, The Bats, Straightjacket Fits, the Chills and the Verlaines. I have learned what I know about FN from Youtube and I have managed to find a few CD's and records. I only have the Clean Anthology, an LP of Daddy's Highway by the Bats and Melt by Straightjacket Fits. Part of the charm of FN was the low-budget, ramshackle way the label was run, but it's the year 2012 and there's no reason that the FN catalog should not have worldwide re-release. I guarantee there would be huge demand in the States for this stuff. So, this is my plea for Peter Jackson or Neil Finn or the Fight of the Conchords guys to invest in FN so this can happen. People should know who David Kilgour is. They should know who Chris Knox is. They should know who Shayne Carter is. They should know Death and the Maiden by the Verlaines, not just the Stephen Malkmus cover. I mentioned earlier that I like Popstrangers. They are on Flying Nun and I need to be able to buy their stuff. If you're not familiar with them they have a video on Youtube for a song called "What Else Can They Do" which is awesome. There's also a FN documentary on Youtube. I think it was called Heavenly Hits. I have this fantasy of going to New Zealand and walking into a record store and all of this great music would be there. I have the feeling though that I'd be on a plane for a zillion hours and when I got there they wouldn't have any either. I'm sure I could order stuff on the interwebs, but I prefer going into a store and touching it. And don't start me on downloading. I probably have to get over the ordering online thing though. Anyhow, I recommend that my kids give the Clean Anthology a listen and if they like that maybe by then the FN catalog with be available for them to buy. Hello Peter Jackson, are you listening. Peace.

Some Background Music

     Before I continue with this blog it might be helpful to provide some more background about myself. I have to apologize up front that I am not a tech savvy person. The absence of links to Youtube videos and creative design are probably baffling to anyone viewing this blog. This blog started as a way to force myself to write because I wanted to write a book of essays about music and my life. I haven't promoted this blog, nor did I expect anyone to even find it in the vast blogosphere. I promise at some time in the near future I'll figure out enough technology to make Sound Mind a more interesting blog. In the meantime, I welcome any relevent comments and may even respond to them in future posts. So, in short, pardon my dust.
     My musical journey has been long and often embarrassing. The first 8 Track I ever bought was Barry Manilow Live. You know, the one with him in the blue jumpsuit. Please don't stop reading. For the benefit of those of you who have no idea what an 8 Track is, it was a machine that played tape cartridges. It would break an album up into 4 parts which would audibly change in the middle of songs. It was horrible, but it was easier to use than a reel-to-reel player and before cassette tapes. It's amazing that the 8 Track player was invented by the same guy who invented the Lear Jet. Anyhow, my dad had an 8 Track player and cartridges by Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. I believe this, coupled with being raised on Hee Haw, lead me to feel a connection with early R.E.M. and alt-country in general.
     When I was young, my babysitter would bring her records with her and most of them were Elton John. It's not strange that in the 70's someone would have Elton John lp's. However, this was mid- Michigan which was, and still is, rural, religious and redneck-ish. So looking back it does seem kind of odd that she'd be a huge Elton John fan. Consequently, the first album I bought was Greatest Hits Vol. 1.  and I would stack up 70's Elton John (and Bernie Taupin) with just about anyone in the history of music. Now old, bitchy, diva Elton John you can have.
     Confession time again. My parents were fans of Elvis and country music, not the Beatles. So I wasn't exposed to the Beatles and I knew "You're Sixteen" by Ringo and "Live and Let Die" by Wings before I knew who the Beatles were. I eventually caught up, but it was 10 wasted years of my life. To my mother's credit, she let me get 3 things at the grocery store every week. A comic book, a pack of baseball or football cards and a 45 RPM record. I had a pretty good collection, but many of them were either abused or lost over the years. I still have the first three 45's I ever bought and they are all by The Sweet (Ballroom Blitz, Fox on the Run and Action). I remember in Elementary school our music teacher would let us bring in records on Friday to share with the class. So I was exposed to Peter Frampton, Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys and Kiss. All I remember about middle school was drawing the Kiss guys, the Boston spaceship (also a Robert Pollard side project) and Cheap Trick's logo on all my notebooks.
     For the sake of getting on with this blog, here's the Cliff's note version of the next 25 years after this. I went from Album-Oriented-Rock to Prog rock to Heavy Metal to Hair Bands to 90's mainstream Alternative. At the end of the 90's I was really burnt out on rock music and immersed myself in jazz for a couple years. I made the mistake of starting with Bitches Brew by Miles Davis and was not prepared for that yet. So I went back to Kind of Blue and it was love at first listen. Eventually I worked up to Bitches Brew and love that as well. At some point in this blog there will be a list of the best bands of all-time and number 1 will be Miles Davis' Second Quintet. Beside Miles were Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. The human race could continue another thousand years and I can't imagine a greater collection of musical talent and genius. I'll save the story of what got me back into rock music for later.

My Other Beatles Dilemma

     As I said in my original post, the Sound Mind blog is a road map for my kids to sort through my music collection when I die. I don't know how they'll feel about most of my collection, but I know there will be fights over the Beatles stuff. Now by the time I die, someday, they may be grown up and have their own Beatles collections and it won't be a big deal. I hope that's the case, because I don't want to decide who gets what.
     At this point, I would like to officially apologize to my oldest daughter for not exposing her to the Beatles when she was little. To this day, she isn't a fan and it's one of my greatest regrets as a parent. My second daughter, whose name is also the title of a Beatles' song, is another story. When she was two years old, she was obsessed with "The Wizard of Oz" and had to watch it at least four times a day. To this day, I know every damn word of that movie. The only funny thing was she used to call the Wicked Witch the Dicked Witch. Obviously, this got old really fast and I needed a solution. One day I took her to the library and they had videotapes ( yes VHS tapes that you had to be kind and rewind) of A Hard Days Night, Help, and the Beatles' Anthology. I checked them out for me to watch and miraculously she was hooked right away. Then the Yellow Submarine was reissued and we bought that. and I bought her the McFarlane action figures for Christmas. She is still a huge fan and wrote a school paper last year about why the Beatles were better than the Rolling Stones. She got an A+. It was a very proud moment.
     In 2004, I remarried and have a daughter and son who are both Beatles fans, especially my son. They have even seen McCartney and Ringo live. My son was about 18 months old when he took over my original CD collection. At that time, they remastered the Beatles catalog and I bought them all again because he had destoyed the cases to all my old ones. I tried to keep him from destroying the new ones and it worked for awhile. But he eventually tore up the packaging of the reissues. Thankfully, my parents got me the boxed set for Christmas and I have it stashed. Now my son just has a CD case full of loose Beatles CDs but he's happy to have them. I'm happy to have the boxed set, so it's all good. I also introduced him to my Beatles records and he has actually bought a few of his own at the record store. I kind of hope that he gets my records and my second daughter gets my CDs, but I'll probably let them fight over it after I'm gone. I will have more Beatles lists and posts in the future, but I'll try to not over do it. There is no shortage of writing about the Beatles already.
    

The Great Beatles Dilemma

     As this blog goes on, I will be including several music lists. The inherent problem with music lists is that they are dominated by the Beatles, and rightfully so. I was born in December of 1964, so I have never known a world without the Beatles. It's almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like to be alive before the Fab Four with nothing but megaphone crooners and opera singers. Sure there were influences for the Beatles like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis, but none of them have the vast legacy and generational resurgency of the Beatles. Okay there were Sinatra and Miles Davis, but still, what passed for entertainment before the Beatles was quite abysmal. Just watch the episodes of Ed Sullivan that they appeared on as exhibit 1. So, I have one rule about music lists. I only put the Beatles on Beatles lists. Including them on other lists is boring and unfair. Every time there is a Top 100 albums of All-Time list the top 10 is almost all Beatles albums. What a revelation! So right now I'd like to share some of my Beatles' lists and then in my next post I'll talk about how I've passed my love of the Beatles to my kids.

Best Album
     1) Abbey Road
     2) White Album
     3) Revolver - this would be #1 if Rain and Paperback Writer were on it
     4) Magical Mystery Tour
     5) Sgt. Pepper

Top 10 Songs
     1) Rain
     2) I am the Walrus
     3) I Wanna Hold Your Hand
     4) Ticket To Ride
     5) Helter Skelter
     6) Here Comes the Sun
     7) Paperback Writer
     8) I Want to Tell You
     9) Strawberry Fields Forever
     10) And Your Bird Can Sing

Songs I can't listen to anymore because I've heard them too many times
     1) Yesterday
     2) Hey Jude
     3) Let It Be
     4) Eleanor Rigby

     This is no indictment of Paul McCartney other than he wrote great songs that get played to death. I've seen him twice and I'm a huge Wings fan and much of the criticism of him being a songwriting lightweight is completely unfair. But I can't listen to these songs anymore. I wish he could replace them in his live show with some off the wall gems, but most people would riot. Maybe it's just me. Sorry.

Yuck

     You may be getting the impression from my blog so far that I'm a middle-aged guy who only listens to older music. Not true! I love new bands like Cloud Nothings, Popstrangers and Extra Medium Pony just to name a couple. One new band I really love is Yuck. Their sound is heavily influenced by 90's alternative, but they manage to not sound derivative. They do power pop, shoegaze and straight up, fuzzed out guitar rock. They also have a female bass player and a drummer with big hair. The bands that come to mind when listening to their album are Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo and Pavement. I was put off a little from buying the CD because the album art is rather unpleasant. Daniel Blumberg, who is the singer and one of the guitarists, is also an artist. He drew the artwork which is a drawing of some messed up looking person who is apparently about to vomit. I managed to overcome the artwork and I've actually bought the album threec times. I bought the original CD, then the reissue with 6 B-sides included on CD and vinyl. I also bought 2 of their 7'' records when I went to see them at the Grog Shop. The CD opens with the track "Get Away" which is one of my favorite opening songs on any album. It comes right out of the gate with guitars blazing and set the tone for the rest of the album. My other favorite songs "Shook Down" and "Sunday" are power pop gems that could easily fit on Teenage Fanclub's Grand Prix. "Georgia" is indebted to Yo La Tengo and I assume is a tribute to Georgia since it's sung by their bass player Mariko Doi. The B-sides disc has a couple songs that most bands would kill to have on an actual album. "Milkshake" is another power pop masterpiece. It has great lyrics and the chorus is killer," I don't want to get you down / I just need to be around /  baby you're so unkind / you make a milkshake of my mind". Who hasn't been there? "Coconut Bible" is an endearingly goofy ditty about coconuts, I guess, but it's a great song with awesome guitars. "Cousin Corona" is a slow, menacing song that builds to the chorus, then explodes, then pulls back again, and repeats. Once again, great guitars. The lead guitarist is Max Bloom and I was at the urinal next to him at the Grog Shop show. I didn't say anything to him or violate any men's room ettiquette. Anyhow, this album is one of those albums that makes me wonder what's wrong with people. More people should know who Yuck are, but they can't get a sniff. Meanwhile, crap like Death Cab For Cutie and Kings of Leon and Coldplay gets shoved down our throats. My kids definitely have to give this one a chance. Peace.

Dinosaur Jr: Ear Bleeding Country

     I went to see Dinosaur Jr. the other night at the Beachland Ballroom. I had never seen them before and it was a great show. J. Mascis is a guitar genius, Lou Barlow was rockin' the Geddy Lee Rickenbacker bass and Murph was rock solid. They are also one of those bands that the fans want to hear them play their new songs. Usually that's when people go to the bathroom. As I said, this was the first time I've seen Dinosaur Jr. play and there are a few reasons for that. In the 90's I was in a weird place musically. I had wasted much of the 80's listening to hair metal bands, then in 1991 Kurt Cobain put that scene out of its misery. On a personal level, my oldest daughter was also born in 1991. I was a first time father and didn't keep up with new music. I was too busy sterilizing bottles, changing diapers, not getting sleep and working full time to discover bands. I was so distracted from music at that time that I didn't even expose her to the Beatles. That is one of my biggest regrets as a father, but I'll save that for one of my Beatles' posts. Anyhow, this was pre-internet and the only easily accessible outlets for music were radio and MTV. So I casually listened to bands like Better Than Ezra, Gin Blossoms, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Now, these are all fine bands and I own many of their CDs, but I missed tons of amazing bands because they weren't dropped in my lap. Toward the end of the 90's I actually stopped listening to rock music and got into jazz and New Age. So during that decade I completely missed out on bands like Flaming Lips, Pavement, Guided by Voices, Teenage Fanclub, the Pixies and of course Dinosaur Jr. I say this to explain why I don't have much Dinosaur Jr. in my collection. I plan on rectifying this in the near future, but for the purposes of this blog I have to recommend to my kids that they listen to Ear Bleeding Country.
     Ear Bleeding Country is an apt title for this best of album. J. Mascis's vocals kind of have a country vibe and the music is ear bleeding, but in a good way. Mascis is widely recognized as one of the few guitar heroes of the alternative rock scene. I assume that he was influenced by the guitar heroes of the 70's and 80's but also a product of the alternative scene. My favorite song by Dinosaur Jr. is "The Wagon". I found it interesting during the show the other day that that was the song everybody really got into. I assumed that people would go nuts for Freak Scene or Start Choppin' or Feel the Pain, and they did, but The Wagon was definitely the highlight. I'm not always a big lyrics guy, but The Wagon has great lyrics like There's a place I'd like to go / When you get there then I'll know. It also has great imagery with the lines Ring the doorbell in your mind / but it's locked from the outside / You don't live there anyway / but I'll knock on it all day. Apart from the songs I already mentioned, there is also In a Jar, Out There and I Don't think So. There really are no bad songs on this CD. And I promise that I will soon add "Bug" and "You're Living All Over Me" to my collection because it's kind of embarrassing that I don't have them.

    

Rush Nominated for Rock Hall

    Where is Jann Wenner's dead body? Rush have finally been nominated for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame right here in Cleveland. I realize they are not in yet, but with the new fan vote and past inductees getting a vote it seems like they actually have a chance. This news changes the planned post that I had for my Rush collection which was largely a diatribe against the Rock Hall nominating committee. When my wife and I moved to Cleveland in 2006 she gave me a very thoughtful gift, a Rock Hall membership. I obviously love music and it's history and enjoyed my visits to the museum. However, deep down I hated to support an institution that stubbornly refused to recognize one of the greatest rock bands of all time-Rush. When they were snubbed again last year I decided not to renew my membership. Needless to say, if they get in I will be renewing. I only wish they had gotten in when the induction ceremony was here so I could attend.
     My Rush collection is quite large. It includes LPs, cassettes, CDs and DVDs. At one time or another I've own their entire catalog on all of these formats. As I mentioned in my first post, the most valuable item in my collection is the Moon Records version of their debut album. It goes without saying that they should keep that album. Back to the wall, here are the other essential albums in the Rush catalog.

Permanent Waves
     This was the album when I was first exposed to Rush. I grew up in the middle of nowhere Michigan and was barely able to listen to a couple AOR stations who's playlists were mainly Journey, Styx, Foreigner, REO and Led Zeppelin. When I heard "The Spirit of Radio" I was hooked. Not only does it rock, but the lyrics really spoke to me about the integrity of music and radio.  The other single from that album was "Freewill" which has the great line"if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice". It continues to challenge my personal philosophy( I lean toward believing in Determinism rather than Freewill) but nevertheless is one of my favorite Rush songs. I didn't know it at the time, but this album was a departure from their prog-rock beginnings. However, "Natural Science" and "Jacob's Ladder" were both proggy and led me to go back and investigate Rush's older material as well as bands like Yes, Genesis, ELP and Marillion. Hopefully, it will have the same effect on my kids.

Moving Pictures
     This is widely accepted as their masterpiece. The first side of the album is flawless and includes my all-time favorite Rush song "Limelight". Ironically, it's Neil's song about his difficulties dealing with fame and it brought them their greatest fame as a band. Unlike 2112, side two is also awesome.

Signals
     Although the band has voiced it's displeasure over how Signals ended up sounding it is still one of my favorite Rush albums. "Subdivisions" has been a live staple since it's release and probably the most identifiable song for their fans. Not only does it comment on the boredom of suburban life, it also gave solace to kids who felt like they didn't fit in with the cool crowd. Signals also includes the criminally overlooked song "Analog Kid".

     I know many people are put off by the kimonoes, Geddy's voice, Neil's technical mastery of drumming and his philosophy. Regardless of how you feel about them or their music there's no denying their influence and their place in the history of rock music. I also recommend that my kids keep all the concert DVDs because Rush is one of the greatest live acts ever.

Guided by Voices Top 100 Songs

     When I first heard of Guided by Voices, I asked a friend what he knew about them. No really, I didn't have a computer or internet back then so I asked a friend. He warned me that I'd go broke and crazy if I got into them. He was right , of course, as it's well documented that Robert Pollard is the most prolific songwriter alive. I'm glad that I gave them a chance because GbV is my favorite non-Beatles band (more about that in a future post). Pollard has literally written over 1000 songs and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the entire lexicon of rock music. And Tobin Sprout is an awesome songwriter in his own right. My Top 100 list was written before their recent reunion albums so I haven't included any of those songs, nor does it include any solo or side project songs. Maybe those can be future lists. This list is really the only guidance I can give to my kids when the time comes to sort through all my GbV records and cds. The beauty of GbV is that Matador Records put out a box set called Hardcore UFOs which included a best of cd entitled Human Amusements at Hourly Rates and over half the songs on the "best of" aren't even on my list of 100. One last piece of advice is give every song at least until the chorus before you judge it. Finally, this list is not in order of best to worst because I can't do that with these songs. It's just a list of 100 amazing songs. Let the disagreements begin!

1) Gold Star for Robot Boy                                     51) Finest Joke is Upon Us
2) My Son Cool                                                       52) Bulldog Skin
3) Chasing Heather Crazy                                       53) Choking Tara
4) Your Name is Wild                                             54) Things I Will Keep
5) Tractor Rape Chain                                             55) Surgical Focus
6) Not Behind the Fighter Jet                                  56) Strumpet Eye
7) Quality of Armor                                                 57) Skills Like This
8) Scissors                                                                58) Twilight Campfighter
9) Game of Pricks                                                    59) Glad Girls
10) Atom Eyes                                                         60) Brides Have Hit Glass
11) Teenage FBI                                                      61) Everywhere With Helicopter
12) Fair Touching                                                    62) My Kind of Soldier
13) Navigating Flood Regions                                 63) Best of Jill Hives
14) Metal Mothers                                                   64) Secret Star
15) Exit Flagger                                                       65) I'll Replace You W/ Machines
16) 14 Cheerleader Coldfront                                  66) Useless Inventions
17) Hardcore UFOs                                                  67) Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud
18) Buzzards and Dreadful Crows                           68) Girls of Wild Strawberries
19) Queen of Cans and Jars                                      69) Closets of Henry
20) I am a Scientist                                                   70) Tour Guide at the Winston Churchill
21) Postal Blowfish                                                   71) Huffman Prarie Flying Field
22) It's Like Soul Man                                               72) Dayton, Ohio 19 Something and 5
23) Why Did You Land?                                           73) My Thoughts are a Gas
24) Echos Myron                                                       74) Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
25) Shocker in Gloomtown                                       75) Captain's Dead
26) Watch Me Jumpstart                                           76) Color of My Blade
27) They're Not Witches                                           77) June Salutes You
28) As We Go Up We Go Down                              78) My Impression Now
29) Big Chief's Chinese Restaurant                          79) Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy
30) Closer You Are                                                   80) Wished I Was a Giant
31) Auditorium/Motor Away                                    81) Interest Position
32) My Valuable Hunting Knife                               82) Tropical Robots
33) Striped White Jets                                               83) Smothered in Hugs
34) Blimps Go 90                                                      84) Man Called Aerodynamics
35) Little Whirl                                                         85) Rhine Jive Click
36) Alright                                                                86) Underground Initiations
37) Mincer Ray                                                         87) Gleemer
38) Cut-Out Witch                                                    88) 100 Colors
39) Burning Flag Birthday Suit                                89) Sot
40) Official Ironman Rally Song                              90) Jar of Cardinals
41) To Remake the Young Flyer                              91) Big Boring Wedding
42) Bright Paper Werewolves                                  92) Sheetkickers
43) Underwater Explosions                                      93) Optional Bases Opposed
44) Don't Stop Now                                                  94) Cheyenne
45) Drag Days                                                           95) Eureka Signs
46) Redmen and Their Wives                                   96) Sad If I Lost It
47) Dodging Invisible Rays                                      97) Jane of the Waking Universe
48) Delayed Reaction Brats                                      98) Office of Hearts
49) He's the Uncle                                                    99) Mix Up the Satellite
50) Finks                                                                  100) On the Tundra