Playlist - Purple

PURPLE (1/30/07) 78:08

1. TELEX – Peanuts

2. ALVIN STARDUST – Jealous Mind

3. IAN DURY – Lonely (Town)

4. THE ROLLING STONES – Live With Me

5. SHAKATAK – Night Birds

6. LEVEL 42 – Mr. Pink

7. HOLGER CZUKAY – Hit Hit Flop Flop

8. FOCUS – Crackers

9. LOTHAR MEID – Wenn

10. RICK WAKEMAN – Latin Reel (Theme to “Gole”)

11. GODLEY & CRÈME – Can’t Sleep

12. PEPE JARAMILLO – Mexican Voodoo

13. SAILOR – Machines

14. CHAZ JANKEL – The Boy On The Bridge

15. STEPHEN MILLER – G Song

16. MANFRED MANN – One Way

17. CAT STEVENS – On The Road To Find Out

18. THE YARDBIRDS – Smile On Me

19. THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL – Only Pretty, What A Pity

20. ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS – The Other Side Of This Life

21. THE WHO – Armenia City In The Sky

22. PAUL McCARTNEY – Valentine Day

23. FAMILY – Seasons

Trophy Album

The concept of a "Trophy Album"

Last night, I scanned the cover of the debut John Entwistle solo album, "Smash Your Head Against The Wall" (re-mastered version, natch!) and then and there, I decided I had to hear it again. I went into the other room, put it in the CD player and was transfixed for the approx. 40 minutes that it takes to grind out that amusing little album. 40 minutes seemed like 3 minutes.

I knew every note, every word - yet I was still able to hear new things in it. Yes, I have a kindly nostalgia for this album, but...I am likely ready to declare it one of my all-time favorite albums, while trying to figure out if I want to pigeon-hole it any further than that. I like all of the songs on both sides; I feel like I could defend this album to a group of 'music geeks' as 'the definitive Who solo album' as well.

I had been a fan of The Who for about 3 or 4 years when "Smash Your Head" walked down the pike. I do not think that I 'knew it was coming' or anything - just pleasantly surprised when I went in to the downtown Long Beach hippie record store...and there it was, on the 'import wall'. Well, whatever else I was going to get that day is long-forgotten. And in those days, I usually only could scrape together enough money to buy ONE record - I was 12, going on 13.

Well - "Smash Your Head" penetrated deep - it told me exactly who John Entwistle was, within The Who. I was already a big fan - this was just additional 'proof' that I was on to a good thing with The Who. If you don't know it - there's still hope - there is a wonderful version available from the Sanctuary label, with plenty of illuminating bonus tracks - and I even see the LP from time to time!

Yes, there are variant versions of this album - the liner notes of the new CD issue say that he was never satisfied with the mix of the original UK Track Record LP - so when it saw the light of day in the US (on Decca - soon to become MCA, soon to become Universal), it featured some different mixes (notably on "What Are We Doing Here?" - different lead vocal!).

When this album was first issued on CD, there was a bonus track - a cover version of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" - that's on the new CD as well, along with a bunch of demos.

35+ years hence - I discuss this album with my friends that know and love it - we debate about whether or not "Pick me Up (Big Chicken)" is the definitive John Entwistle song; we compare his solo version of "Heaven & Hell" to th various versions recorded with The Who; it took me a few years, but after his 2nd album "Whistle Rhymes" - I have now finally really listened to the next few albums in his musical folder - "Rigor Mortis Sets In", "Mad Dog", "Too Late The Hero" - and, yes, I got to see The John Entwistle Band play live once - in a small nightclub (they had enough amplification to play The Rose Bowl!).

So, love it to death - his and mine! I felt bad when he died - but...hookers & drugs at The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas - I suppose there are worse ways to die! And me? If at all possible, I will make people sit through some of this album, as it is played at my wake - whenever that is. But what cut to use? "Eternal Youth (No. 29)"?

With love,

Ron

Playlist - Red

Playlist – Red (1/24/07)

1) YELLO – Goldrush (12”)

2) MUTE BEAT – Down Town

3) PETER & THE ELECTRO-KITSCH BAND – Dad, Laissez-Moi Conduire Le Cad

4) A CERTAIN RATIO – Inside

5) PIZZICATO FIVE – Go Go Dancer (Remixed by Telex)

6) LEVEL 42 – Heathrow

7) IRMIN SCHMIDT – Kein Schoener La La

8) THE STRANGLERS – Shakin’ Like A Leaf (12”)

9) OH WELL – Oh Well

10) THE MONOCHROME SET – Take Foz

11) DAVID BOWIE – What In The World

12) JOHN COOPER CLARKE – The Day My Pad Went Mad

13) YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI – Wild & Moody / Stranger Things Have Happened

14) L’AFFAIRE LOUIS’ TRIO – La Nuit

15) 10cc – Good Morning Judge

16) MELON – Pleasure Before Your Breakfast

17) M+M – Only You

18) ROBERT CALVERT – The Greenfly & The Rose

19) FAUST – The Sad Skinhead

20) SAMMIE AMERICA’S GASPHETTI – I Need It Too

Perfect Collection?

Perfect Collection

I frequently find myself entertaining the thought of a “Collection MK II”. That’s right – I’ve spent 40 years assembling a vast collection of music – and now I want to do it a second time. Am I nuts?

Well, if I just picked up cheap duplicates of hard-to-find CD’s, then I suppose it’s innocent enough to start doing this (“The Price of Love” by Jay H. Alanski, for instance). But – when I re-sort my list, I see items that I would not want in my “second collection”. It’s just a spread sheet, so I can allow myself to play around a little bit with the concept.

In recent years, little paper album cover CD’s have become very popular in the collecting community – and in Japan, specifically. They truly attempt to capture some of the aesthetic pleasure of owning an original LP of the title – but it’s a CD – in some cases, re-mastered in 24bit. Wow.

So, if I were to assemble a “Perfect Collection”, I suppose it would contain mostly re-mastered titles…or original issues on LP, when applicable – whatever delivered the sound I was after (in some cases, the original LP definitely has “better sound” than any CD issue). With “bonus tracks” on re-mastered CD’s – just how many singles would I need in my 2^nd collection?

I have a few massive collections – notably Split Enz and Frank Zappa. I suppose I would keep those collections, each numbering into the hundreds – but…how many artists do I want to exhaustively collect?

I sort and re-sort my list – how many titles can I get it down to? At present my music list is at around 20,500 – which can be whittled down to about 12,000 titles. Dang, that sure is a lot of “non-essential” titles, dude. Yeah, it bothers me to keep a CD for 1 or 2 tracks – but there are definitely a few that are kept for only a couple of songs.

Of those approx. 8,000 “non-essential” titles – many of them would be my experiments of trying new artists, such as the several hundred pre-1970 country & western LP’s I was interested in a few years ago – definitely some of them would make it to my “Collection MK II” – Jimmie Driftwood, Jim Reeves, Billy Edd Wheeler, Ernest Tubb etc. I’ve definitely got some un-essential easy listening LP’s…

Where do I put my “Collection MK II”? Shall I get one of those Sony hard-disk machines that hold 650 hours of perfect digital sound? I bet that would eliminate a ton of those CD’s (and CD singles) where the title is being kept for only a song or two. And it feels a little bit more tangible than merely having an MP3 of the title. Or do I just dump the “two tracks” at a time to MD or make a CD-R of ‘em?

It’s definitely attractive to think about boiling down my audio (and video) collection. Let’s get those filing cabinets in here, man. I have work to do!

Let's listen again

So, lately, I have been trying to listen to a lot of music - so what else is new? Over Xmas / New Year's I found a CD of "Deviants #3" - so last weekend, I played the entire recorded output of The Deviants for the first time in a few years ("Disposable", "Ptoof!" and "#3"). "Disposable" sounded OK, some of the songs are good - but the musicianship seemed "almost amateur" - the profanity seemed almost...apologetic? My favorite cut this time around was the "Birds and Wires" spoken word track - nice, I'll have to drop it in to a "Mix" for someone, and see if it gets recognized! I am most familiar with "Ptoof!" - "Nothing Man" is very cool, and they manage to sound sincere when they swear and hurl non-P.C. language. 1970's "Deviants #3" sounds much more musically accomplished - great songs, writing etc. Wish I hadn't sold my original LP of it some years ago, now I only have this Japanese CD of it to comfort me. Playing The Deviants for the first time in years - wow. I should recommend them to my friend Karl - he also dug The Fugs!

I also found a CD of "Camembert Electrique" by Gong. Boy, haven't played Gong in quite a while - thus far, I have listened to "Magic Brother - Mystic Sister" and "Banana Moon" (technically a Daevid Allen solo album, but I have always thought of it as the 2nd Gong album). Because of the nature of the recordings (and their age), neither of these CD's sound 'stellar' - "Magic Brother" was supposedly recorded on the audio track of 16 or 35mm film (?!), so there sounds like drop-out on the cymbals in a few places - and the damned CD boasts "Digitally Re-Mastered"! Well, if it's a CD, yes - it technically IS digitally mastered / re-mastered. At least this version (from '04?) doesn't sound as bad as the CD from the 80's, which was definitely taken from an LP - and you know how crap the Byg pressings were! Still, I like some of the songs very much here; Allen sounds great - and I could largely do without Gilly Smythe's "space whispers" - she speaks more than sings..."Banana Moon" still chugs along as it has customarily done so for 35+ years - only chink in the armor is the big long piece in the middle of what used to be 'side two' - "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein and His Adventures In The Land of Flip" (or thereabouts) - what was Mr. Allen thinking? (I know, I know...not much), but it sure sounds like "psychedelic padding" to me, folks! Can't fault "All I Want Is Out Of Here" and "It's The Time of Your Life" at all - and I am always amused by the cut that pokes fun at Kevin Ayers ("You're just a rose coloured spade" etc.) - and "Camembert Electrique" sounds fine thus far - haven't got all the way through it as yet. I wish they reproduced the blue booklet, but...it's a cheezy Charly / Snapper CD. I think I will wait and tackle the (proper) "Gong Trilogy" another time (i.e. the next 3 albums); I really love "Angel's Egg".

So, here I am in 2007, re-listening to some early 70's hippie music - for a fresh perspective.

What are you listening to?

- Ron

Yard List Jan. 8, 2007

Recent Yard List - been busy lately (many $1, $3 CD's)

CHAO, MANU – ME GUSTAS TU, VIRGIN FR CD Single promo
Promo CD single from the former lead singer of Mano Negra!
CHEAP TRICK – G.H., EPIC US CD
$3, and likely all the Cheap Trick I could ever want (apart from maybe the debut album)
HOLMES, DAVID – BOW DOWN TO THE EXIT SIGN, GO! BEAT JPN CD
An electronica album from a few years back – that I never got around to.
MONEY MARK – PUSH THE BUTTON, TOYS FACTORY JPN CDx2 kami
Rather fond of this Mo’ Wax title – and this is a little album cover 2 disc version!
RUSSELL, LEON – LEON RUSSELL, DCC US CD Gold Disc
Gold Disc with different (and more) bonus tracks!
V.A. – ART LABOE – VOL. 3 DEDICATED TO YOU, ORIGINAL SOUND US CD
V.A. – ART LABOE – VOL. 7 DEDICATED TO YOU, ORIGINAL SOUND US CD
L.A. radio oldies, from Art Laboe – and not just strictly ‘chook’ hits, either! 15 tracks per.
V.A. – BILLBOARD TOP ROCK 'N' ROLL HITS 1972, RHINO US CDOnly 10 tracks, but some silly shit!
V.A. – HITS OF '50, ASV UK CD mono
Neat! All hit songs from 1950 – gee, more pre-modern stuff!
V.A. – ISLAND VIBES - REGGAE + DUB CLASSICS, ISLAND JPN CD
Japanese Island label dub reggae CD, that doesn’t have any Bob Marley on it!
V.A. – VERVE: TALKIN' VERVE, VERVE US CD
Very neat 2 disc set of Verve jazz
V.A. – XMAS: BLUE YULE, RHINO US CD
Yeah yeah yeah…Xmas is over, but this looked groovy, and was a mere $3!
WALKER & THE ALL STARS, JR. – G.H., MOTOWN US CD
You mean, there’s more after “Shotgun”?

Then...

ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE – IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT GODS, ARCANGELO JPN CD kami ’76 progressive rock (instrumental?) album with Bill Bruford, lovingly re-produced
BROWN, ARTHUR – CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN, UNIVERSAL JPN CD kami
Exact re-pro of the debut Arthur Brown LP as a CD, with bonus tracks!
CMU – SPACE CABARET, UNIVERSAL JPN CD kami
Exact re-pro of the 2^nd C.M.U. LP as a CD, with bonus tracks! (That’s right!)
GAINSBOURG, SERGE – CONFIDENTIEL, UNIVERSAL JPN CD kami
Exact re-pro of his 1963 LP as a CD, which is easily my favorite Gainsbourg album.
MORALES, HUMBERTO & NORO – MAMBO BY MORALES, SONY JPN CD
1950/1 “Mambo” – 23 tracks in all, glorious mono – think: “Perez Prado”
TAKAHASHI, YUKIHIRO – BLUE MOON BLUE, TOSHIBA JPN CD
’06 solo album by YMO’s vocalist/drummer (a tad expensive, but I love YT’s solo work!)
THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN – HOLLYWOOD DREAM, UNIVERSAL JPN CD kami
Exact re-pro of the only Thunderclap Newman LP as a CD, with bonus tracks!

Then...

BENNETT, DUSTER – FINGERTIPS, SANCTUARY UK CD
’75 final album from this late British blues guy – really rather good
BLUE, DAVID / V.A. – DAVID BLUE / SINGER-SONGWRITER PROJECT, ELEKTRA UK CD ‘65/6; Purchased for the Richard Farina and Patrick Sky cuts
COOPER, ALICE – BILLION DOLLAR BABIES, RHINO US 2CD re
2CD version, found inexpensively; a whole extra disc, lots of live tracks, and some out-takes too
ENTWISTLE, JOHN – MAD DOG, SANCTUARY US CD re
ENTWISTLE, JOHN – TOO LATE THE HERO, SANCTUARY US CD re
Two re-mastered Entwistle solo albums on CD – now the set of which ones I wanted is complete
FERLINGHETTI, LAWRENCE – CONEY ISLAND OF THE MIND, RYKODISC US CD
99 cents! The bard of San Francisco waxing philosophical for Rykodisc
FONTAINE, FRANK – SONGS I SING ON THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW, CCM US CD
99 cents – ’63 album (in stereo), but I doubt any of it is sung in the persona of Crazy Guggenheim!
GILMOUR, DAVID – ARNOLD LAYNE, EMI UK CD Single
’06 single, with David Bowie – recorded live; nice Syd Barrett tribute single, also has “Late Night”
HOLLYWOOD MOTEL – self-titled, ARTEMIS US CD
I bought a bunch of comedy/spoken word CD’s for 99 cents each, and this was among them
INXS – THE SWING, ATCO US CD ’84
The final INXS album I needed / wanted on CD.
LURIE, EVAN / E.J. GOLD – TOKYO TOUR, GATEWAYS US CD
Weird looking 1990 jazz CD from the keyboard player of The Lounge Lizards
PROCOL HARUM – GRAND HOTEL, FRIDAY MUSIC US CD re
’04 re-issue of the ’73 classic, with a live track (from the “Over The Rainbow” LP) added
SEBASTIAN, JOHN – CHASIN' GUS' GHOST, HOLLYWOOD US CD
’99 solo CD from the former heart & soul of The Lovin’ Spoonful – 99 cents!
SERENDIPITY SINGERS – SERENDIPITY / MANY SIDES OF, COLLECTABLES US CD
Two stereo 1964 albums on 1 CD, 99 cents! Seems like “A Mighty Wind”, but for real…
TOWNSHEND, PETE / RONNIE LANE – ROUGH MIX, HIP-O US Dual Disc CD/DVD
Thought I’d try one of these “Dual Discs” – one side CD, th other DVD – with a 1977 classic

Vinyl...

GLITTER, GARY – BOYS WILL BE BOYS, ARISTA DE LP
’84 German LP with “Another Rock & Roll Xmas”
JANKEL, CHAS – LOOKING AT YOU, A&M US LP
’85 Former Blockhead solo LP, with a few Ian Dury songs to be found here

MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT – BEST OF, MCA UK LP
Ian Matthews post-Fairport, pre-solo records ‘best of” – ’74 UK LP of early 70’s material
SUMMERS, ANDY / ROBERT FRIPP – I ADVANCE MASKED, A&M US LP
Never heard this ’82 album – and a nice copy was found for $2
V.A. – A BELLYFUL OF LAUGHS, TRANSATLANTIC UK LP Peter Cook & John Fortune, Bernard Manning, Richard Digance, Mike Harding etc. – British comedy, mid-70’s

- Ron