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.