Vinyl Finds Today

I've been attempting to increase my coolness factor (that may be a lost cause, I may be stuck in nerdsville), by updating my 1960's and 80's vinyl holdings. 

Towards that goal, I drove down I-5 a few miles to an antique mall in downtown Albany, Oregon, where I found and took home (after a stop for fish & chips):

• The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out! (1966)
• Dexy's Midnight Runners - Searching For the Young Soul Rebels (1980)
• The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop It (1980)

It's only taken fifty-plus unexplainable years but I've recently become a fan of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention and this record was a recent addition to my mental 'holy grail' list for badly wanted records at an acceptable price. I had to stretch the limits of what is acceptable but .... What if tomorrow turns out to be my last day on earth? Then at least I'll have listened to and seen this spinning on my turntable. That's unless I burst tonight from the fish & chips.

I've been a fan since the mid-1980's of the band, General Public, with Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, after viewing on MTV, their video for the song, 'Tenderness.' 

Prior to General Public, both were in the Ska band, The English Beat. I've been hoping to come across this recording on vinyl in my record digging excursions and today, there it was!

The English Beat - 'I Just Can't Stop It.' From 1980.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

From 1980. I purchased their, 'Too-Rye-Ay' album back in the early 1980's when the video for the song, 'Come On Eileen' was being played all over MTV. I never gave much attention to The Dexy's after that. I came across this while flipping through the New Wave bins. I wanted it, even if I end up not caring for the music, for the cover photograph. But from what I've read, I expect the music to be great also.

Dexy's Midnight Runners - 'Searching For the Young Soul Rebels.'

Swinging Ella

Saturday evening vinyl find enhancing my collection. Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers. Hopefully most people know who Ella Fitzgerald is but just in case, these are Jazz vocals.

A 1961 pressing of a record originally released in 1959, a mono version on the Verve Record label and the beautiful black vinyl, in near pristine shape. The store owner commented that I had just pulled off a great discovery. I was initially taken in by the cover photo. 

I was flipping through a random stack of albums on the counter of the record store, finding nothing special, when suddenly near the bottom of the stack, there was this!! Proving once again, that you never know what you might find. Had I come across this record two or three years ago, I'd likely flipped right on by. Fortunately, I've grown and advanced when it comes to music appreciation.

The Stray Birds

The self-titled album from 2012 by The Stray Birds. 

Newgrass, Americana, Appalachia, Woodsongs. If there's an acoustic guitar, mandolin, upright bass, banjo, fiddle and great vocals involved, I'm listening. 

My introduction to The Stray Birds was through their song, 'Feathers and Bone.'
 

Claire Austin

When Your Lover Has Gone by Claire Austin.

Torch singer!! I stumbled across this gem at my local record store. A new name for my collection. Jazz and Blues vocalist from the 1950's. This album recorded in 1956. I'm always intrigued by anything from the year I was born. The cover photo and that it's a part of the Original Jazz Classics Series were also huge draws. 

The store owner told me that if I was unhappy for any reason, to return it. I sure hope he's not waiting for the return 

Another Playlist

Tired and partially confused by life, so why not another playlist? Sometimes it feels like all we have is music.

• The Stray Birds - Third Day In a Row .... "Now it's the third day in a row, seeing the sun come up. Some things take a lifetime to learn, so you make em up."
• Greensky Bluegrass - Old Barns .... Saw them one chilly January evening in McMinnville, OR. Afterwards drove the 25 miles home feeling like I was on a cloud, with this song playing, volume up, head bobbing, available fingers and toes tapping. My idea of heaven on earth.
• Mandolin Orange - Golden Embers

It's feeling like a Newgrass - Americana type of playlist. Seems to be going in that direction. Some evenings just call for an acoustic guitar, violin and mandolin. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In fact there's much that's great with that.

• Nickel Creek - When You Come Back Down .... Sometimes all it takes is a great song title to suck me in. Or a great line of lyric: "My greatest fear will be, that you will crash and burn and I won't feel your fire."
• Nickel Creek - Reasons Why
• The Mammals - Ashokan Farewell .... If anyone reads this and checks this song out and it's the first time you hear it, well it's the first time for me as well. Instrumental, bittersweet and yearning.
• The Infamous Stringdusters - Walking On the Moon .... Their take on The Police song.
• Steve Noonan - Buy For Me The Rain .... An oldie, from the 1960's. I first heard it on a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band record. Being a longtime Jackson Browne fan from his first album onward, eventually I would read of songwriting friends and contemporaries, Greg Copeland and Steve Noonan, who wrote the song.

Sometimes one thing leads to another. Especially true with YouTube music videos .....

• Jorma Kaukonen - Hesitation Blues ..... This started playing after the previous song. 

A Playlist For You

A Wednesday night ..... errrr, I mean Thursday night playlist. My consecutive days of blood draw and doctors appointment earlier this week, messed up my perception of what day it is. With that out of the way and out of my thoughts, I've felt free and not overly concerned with time.

• The Jayhawks - Sound of Lies .... So many great songs. These days, my consistent goto band.
• Joseph Arthur - Can't Exist
• Daniel Lanois - Still Water
• Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
• Toad the Wet Sprocket - Windmills / California Wasted
• Aimee Mann - Pavlov's Bell
• Beth Orton - Stolen Car .... Had this dream recently where I walked out the door to discover that my car was gone. Had it happen on several occasions in real life but that was because I had forgotten where I parked.
• Jay Farrar - Still Be Around .... I still hold without wavering in my opinion that Son Volt was the better band that emerged from the Uncle Tupelo breakup. 
• Patti Griffin - Rain .... "Now I don't want to beg you baby, for something maybe you could never give, I'm not lookin' for the rest of your life, I just want another chance to live."

The Beginning

Trying to remember the earliest additions and beginnings of my vinyl record collection, over fifty years ago ....

• The Bee Gees - Best of The Bee Gees (1969) .... Before their disco days.
• Neil Diamond - Touching You Touching Me (1969)
• Tommy James and The Shondells .... I don't recall the title. It became a victim of being left sitting where the rays of the sun could shine on the black vinyl for an extended period of time. 
• The Association - Greatest Hits (1968)
• Donovan - The Hurdy Gurdy Man (1968) .... Memories circa 1969 of Catholic school, seventh grade, early morning before classes started and the teacher playing Atlantis on the class record player.
• Neil Young - After the Goldrush (1970)
• Rolling Stones - Through the Past Darkly: Big Hits Volume 2 (1969) .... I recall hearing, Ruby Tuesday, and She's a Rainbow and wondering: "There's a volume one?"

There must be one or two others that I'm overlooking. It's only been fifty-two years, so maybe that's to be expected.

After the Goldrush was a transitional point in my collecting ways. Vinyl became increasingly serious after this. I wanted more than the greatest hits. I began to listen to friends' records, frequent local record stores, read Rolling Stone magazine and listen to FM radio and less AM radio and top 40 hits. It was a great time to be starting out in record collecting. 

Post Doctors Office Anti-Blues Playlist

 Just a Monday evening, survived the trip to the doctor's office and will rest easy tonight, playlist ....

• Neil Young - Old Man & Heart of Gold .... Thinking back to the years and the excitement felt when these songs were new. It's so mind blowing knowing that half a century has passed since I first heard them. And they still stand out for me.
• America - A Horse With No Name .... People make fun of this song saying that the lyrics make no sense. But sometimes it's just the feeling that remains from those days and all the memories of friends and places that one cherishes. Being young and surviving. Smiling with someone you went to school with at the thought of those days you have in common. Yeah can you believe that was us and here we are fifty years later. I can not adequately explain but I can still feel the vibes.
• Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview .... I didn't really get into Van Morrison's music until I saw him on Saturday Nite Live playing his song, Wavelength. So there already existed this huge catalogue of music to become smitten with. 
• Van Morrison - Cleaning Windows ..... Then my ex-wife, who wasn't an ex at the time, came along and this became our song.
• Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise .... Fast forward several years, no longer married, and I made a mix-tape for a college girl who I worked with, of Springsteen songs. Upon handing it to her she commented: "Oh, old man music." My official notice that I wasn't young anymore. The cold words hit hard. I had steadfastly refused to believe it before that moment.
• Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers .... An example of what you don't give a second thought to initially, you later become obsessed with.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Breakdown .... I seem to recall a time when Tom Petty first was heard on the radio, that he was thought of for a few seconds or in a few corners of the universe as New Wave or even borderline, Punk. One had to be there to know.

Hiss Golden Messenger Playlist

One of my favorite bands these days is Hiss Golden Messenger. I don't recall where I was first exposed to M.C. Taylor's songs, It may have been a Relix Magazine music sampler disc, (There's a voice in my head telling me this), but I quickly became hooked. 

• No Lord Is Free
• My Wing
• My Jenny of the Roses .... I once sent a video of this song to a lady named Jenny .... She replied that she doesn't like roses. Well, OK. 
• Saturday's Song
• Blue Country Mystic
• Bright Direction (You're a Dark Star Now)
• John the Gun .... I love how several of the songs fade and end in a few extended moments of instrumental interplay. 
• I Need a Teacher
• Gulfport You've Been on My Mind .... Causing me to recall some wild (for me), late-night online chats with CJ from Gulfport.
• Jaw ...... I've only on my fifth or sixth replay of this song tonight, while tapping along on my computer mouse and dining table. I suppose there's worse things one could do with their middle finger.
  

Bonus Track:

• Yo La Tengo - You Can Have It All

Searching For a Title

Searching for various forms of beauty in voices, words and song, some older, some not so old .....

• Tom Paxton - When Morning Breaks
• Dave Van Ronk - River Come Down
• John Angaiak - I'll Rock you to the Rhythm of the Ocean .... A friend introduced me to the compilation record, Native North America. 
• Brian Davey - Dreams of Ways
• Willie Dunn - I Pity the Country
• Chris Wood - Spitfires
• Pierce Pettis - St. Paul's Song
• Eric Fiedor - Spin .... "You pull me up and you pull me down, You make this old boys head spin."
• Joe Pug - The Door Was Always Open
• Tim Buckley - Song to the Siren
• Gene Clark - Yesterday, Am I Right .... Perhaps the most beautiful.