Learning To Dance

My introduction to Jack Tempchin was way back in the early 1970's. The songwriter of the song that The Eagles made famous, "Peaceful Easy Feeling." The song that I personally identify with discovering FM radio. Forty-plus years later and he has a new album. (I'm assuming that there were a few in between but he never became a huge name.)

Causes me to wonder how many singer/songwriters over the years, never had the big break that put them out there for greater exposure and more listeners? How many songs worthy of an ear, never were heard beyond a small circle of friends? I suppose that's why I keep looking for more music. Why I keep flipping through those racks of records and compact discs. The seemingly insatiable hope that I'll find something new or older .... but still enjoyable to give a listen to.

The Joshua Tree

It's difficult to realize that this album is almost thirty years old.

How did U2 come up with the ideas for this collection of songs? There's not a single song that could be thought of as just existing in order to fill space on the record. When finished, did they pause and wonder how they could ever match this effort?

As recalled, there was a huge build up leading up to its release in 1987. It seemed to be considered a masterpiece before it was released. You don't see that any more where the release of a record was a major event. A significant moment or landmark in cultural history. That's how I remember this record. It's differfent today and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's what I used to wonder about .... that you would reach a point in time where with a finite number of musical notes available to be used in the writing of songs, that eventually songwriters would run out of combinations of those notes to leep music truly evolving and original

I intially fell in love with side one of the record and rarely listened to side two. Maybe it was due to it being the height of the music video age on television and the anointed radio hits of the day were all on side one. It was years later before I truly listened to and discovered the beauty of side two. It's just as strong as the first side if not moreso.

My Personal Vinyl Addiction

This could be me ..... If I won the lottery. While I think that I have a large collection compared to most people, it's not quite at this level. Though the search would be a great adventure!!

It's a strange process. I purchase a few records, get them home, then a few days later start feeling the urge to look for more. Not only for the listening pleasure but also for the visual pleasures of each. The album covers, front and back. The artwork, the liner notes, the names, etc. It's history!!!

It's funny how it all evolved. I went from twenty years of vinyl and resisting every urge in the 1980's to switch to compact discs, to eventually accepting the inevitible compact disc trend, as vinyl was disappearing from record shops. The lure of 'bonus tracks' on the CD was the final selling point in my mind. For the next twenty years it was almost exclusively the CD. I'd pick up a rare vinyl record of interest that I came across along the way but they were few and far between. Then about five years ago, vinyl started to take off again. Inventory in the record shops began to expand. It helped that my local record shop cared about quality. Not only of the record itself but of the album covers. Their selections were in good shape, not scratched, wrinkled, tattered and torn.

Now I'm probably at a 60% vinyl (mostly used but in good shape) and 40% compact disc rate. Maybe closer to 50/50? I do feel a little sense of disapoinment when I go with the CD. Like I should have searched harder for the vinyl.

A couple of friends attempted to convince me at one time, to give up my collection. They failed in their goal. I thought that they might resort to gathering a dozen mutual friends and trying an intervention. It wouldn't have been pleasant.

Will I ever listen to each of my records? I'd like to but have to admit, probably not. But I will gaze at those album covers and titles on the spines. I will treasure some of the more unknown and obscure names in my collection. I will feel excitement at the thought of what I might find tomorrow. I will feel anticipation as I drive down the street approaching each search possibility.

Time Fades Away

My original vinyl from 1973 is scratched to hell. It's never been released on compact disc. You can't even find a used vinyl copy anywhere. A remastered vinyl was supposed to be released on Record Store Day a year or so ago but was called back. Then I heard it was released on the last Record Store Day, Black Friday event a few months ago but my local store received no copies. (Or maybe the owner, since I know he's a big NY fan, kept their copy for himself?) Guess I should have expected that since it was limited to around 3000 copies and not released by itself but as part of a box set of re-issues and likely with a hefty price tag. Supposedly Neil Young hates it.

So I'll just have to continue to be happy with my scratched original vinyl. (At the time, I was still a year or two away from realizing the importance of proper care of one's vinyl treasures. My attitude apparently being that I'll just buy another one.) It was a little different take on the live album concept ..... New songs done in concert!! It trails only Harvest and After The Goldrush as my favorite Neil Young records.

The Rush For Gold

One that I always come back to. Neil Young's, After the Goldrush. It's so familar now but I can recall a time when the sounds and album cover were new to my eyes and ears. It's easy to forget after so many years, that 45 years ago, the name Neil Young wasn't as well known as it would eventually become. At the time he was relatively unknown in my universe. I didn't know of his Buffalo Springfield roots and the connection with Crosby, Stills and Nash was also new. Nor was it a given that he would still be recording five or ten years down the line. The future for Neil Young was not clear.

This is one of those records where I don't need a lyric sheet to follow along with the vocals. (Not that it would help in this case as the supplied lyric sheet is in Young's less than perfect penmenship and occasionally difficult to read.) I can't sit down and recite the lyrics as poetry but when the music starts the words suddenly return along with accompanying flashbacks of my early teenage years.

This is one of the handful of records that I think of as a personal transition point from listening to the weekly Top-40 hits on AM radio to seeking out vinyl albums and discovering the few but much "cooler" channels on FM-radio in those days. And 45 years later, it still sounds as fresh and vital as it did in 1970.

The Pleasures Of A Record Collection

You ever lay on the floor gazing at the spines and attached titles of your (or another persons) vinyl record collection? Pondering the artwork, liner notes, songs and history within each. Or thumbing through a stack of old 45's (Not to forget 78's)? Reflecting on the memories and emotions that many of your records bring forth. For a true vinyl junkie it's one of the more rewarding moments of collecting. Up there with the actual listening to the albums/records. the experience works with compact discs also, just to a lesser degree.

Everybody has a starting point in record collecting. Most likely everyone has a mentor who helped get them started. Mine was the older brother of one of my best friends. I'd go down the street and around the corner in the neighborhood that I grew up in to play a little driveway basketball with a friend and end up inside the house listening to his brother's records. Creedence, Guess Who, Woodstock (Drug Store Truck Driving Man), The White Album by The Beatles, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, San Francisco Nights by Eric Burdon, White Bird ..... and so much more. It was quite an education for a thirteen year old. And 45 years later, those hours have never been forgotten.

Visits to local record stores have been a regular ritual since about age sixteen. Some friends have called it an obsession. Once a week generally being the rate. Often times there's multiple visits within a week. When you hear something that truly excites you, you just can't wait until next week or next month. Or hope that someone gets it for you on your birthday. There's a desire to get to the record store as soon as possible. When I drive by locations around town where a record shop once existed, I feel a twinge or two of sadness for its no longer being there. Especially the places that helped get me started with collecting and the joy of browsing through shelves, racks, crates and bins of records.

Some of my longest drives home have been while traveling just a few blocks with new record releases and purchases in hand and dealing with the anticipation of hearing for the first time, the sounds on the disc.

With many favorite records, you can recall exact details of past listening experiences. You can conjure up an image of the occasion and though it may have been thirty years ago, it often feels like it was in the recent past ..... like it's still within reach. Even if maybe you have'nt listened to the record since. They take you back to high school or an old friends house. Or return you to your dorm room in college. Or driving along a lonely country road where you may have first heard something on the radio.