Steely Dan Playlist

I don't know why I'm doing this. Don't know why I'm torturing myself. Few things make me so achingly nostalgic. So sad for lost youth. But here goes. A Steely Dan playlist .....

Doctor Wu ..... These days, this is where Steely Dan's music starts for me.

My Old School ..... Might as well just get out the old yearbook and inflict nostalgic memories of what once was. Remembering the old faces and places as I listen.

Rikki Don't Lose That Number ..... This is the one that now says, high school to me. And I don't think it actually received radio play until I was out of high school.

Deacon Blues ..... I wasn't much of a fan initially. But the album, 'Aja' grabbed my attention. By then I had some getting acquainted to do.

Dirty Work

Throw Back the Little Ones

Kid Charlemagne ..... "And I'm never going back to my old school."  It is more difficult than I would have ever thought.

Hey Nineteen ..... "Please take me along when you slide on down."

Only A Fool Would Say That

CSNY 1974

In case there's people who never knew their early 1970's classic songs, CSNY is David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young.

Attempts in 1973 to record a new album to follow-up two highly successful records had fallen apart. A stadium tour was organized for the Summer of 1974 .... an attempt to test out new material with hopes leading to recording a new album following.

The new album never happened. CSNY splintered further afterwards and went in different directions in solo and duo efforts. At the time it seemed like a decade passed before CSN (without Young) got back together in 1977 to release a new record.

Six years ago, a box set from that tour was released. This is my first listen to the first disc in the set. Powerful harmonizing is what stands out.

After the Goldrush

Sometimes you just need to go back to the old classics. The records that you grew up with and that have been with you for as long as you can recall. "After the Goldrush' by Neil Young.

This record was my introduction to Neil Young's music. 'Forced' to stop playing basketball, to sit and listen by the wise older brother of a best friend. From 1970, a time when Neil Young hadn't seemingly been around forever. His third album. (There was a period where I thought it was his first.) I don't recall if I had known of his involvement with Buffalo Springfield yet.

A record that's been on every Desert Island Disc list that I've ever compiled with pen and paper and an album where the entire lyrics have long been memorized from a nearly unreadable lyric sheet included with the vinyl record.

His style has gotten more electric and louder over the years and veered off into other directions occasionally but these largely acoustic Singer/Songwriter roots were my starting point. I've loved much of his work in the fifty years since After the Goldrush and its follow-up, Harvest came out but have always felt a little disappointment that nothing since has reached this level in my eyes. That's just me and my personal expectations and hopes.

A Random 60's Playlist

A little playlist from the 60's. Yes the 1960's. Most of these songs I would hear late at night listening to the radio while the rest of the house slept. This is where my interest in music really began. AM radio hits mostly. Soon to discover the FM dial.

• Gary Puckett and the Union Gap - Young Girl
• Otis Redding - Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay 
• Phil Ochs - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends
• Guess Who - These Eyes ….. This song is counter balanced by their song, 'Friends of Mine.' If not familiar, give it a listen sometime. 
• Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
• Arthur Alexander - Anna (Go To Him) ….. The Beatles also recorded this song. I first heard it on the television program, 'Married With Children' as a song Al keeps hearing on the radio, that he loves from his youth but doesn't know the title.
• Eric Burdon and the Animals - San Francisco Nights ….. Introduced through the older brother of a friend, who was my first record collecting mentor.
• The Mindbendes - A Groovy Kind of Love
• The Foundations - Baby Now That I've Found You ….. This still gives me 'chills' that bring back the feelings of those times listening to the radio. Actually most of these songs do to a certain extent but none quite like this.
• Neil Diamond - Kentucky Woman ….. A few years later as a teenager, I took a lot of good natured grief for being a Neil Diamond fan. It wasn't thought to be cool. What the hell, I didn't care.

Todd

'Hermit of Mink Hollow' by Todd Rundgren.

I was a lukewarm fan in the 1970's. I enjoyed a few of his songs, the hits heard on the radio, but knew little else about him. My college roommate though was fanatical and would play this record several times a week. It was later in life that I started digging a little deeper.

In recent years the song, 'I Saw the Light' (not on this record) has become a go-to tune, maybe even a desert island song list choice of mine. I've come to love all Todd's classic tunes from my teenage and college years. It's not like they can be forgotten!! And I'd bet that my old college roommate is still digging out his vinyl for an occasional spin. I'll have to ask him.

Thirteenth Floor Elevators

Groovy, hip and far out 1960's Psychedelic Rock.

Stumbled across the four disc/album box set in my local record store. The Monday/Tuesday evening store guy told me that he had his eyes on it for some time. Well you should have snapped it up, I thought. I felt a little badly for taking something he may have wanted but I'm over it now. Music collecting can be ruthless at times.

He informed me that the individual vinyls are difficult to find.

Safe As Milk

A recent (three days ago) vinyl find. A reissue of the original from 1967 yet new sounds to my ears. Psychedelic and Blues Rock. Captain Beefheart was Don Van Vliet.

It boggles my mind to think these sounds were made over half a century ago.

Ry Cooder was a guitar player for Captain Beefheart. But this sounds nothing like modern day Ry Cooder. Nor 1970's Ry Cooder.

I wouldn't say the music sounds "Safe As Milk."

I've developed a liking in the past two or three years for 1960's Psychedelic Rock and I think of these records from that era as being treasured and valuable historical documents. It would be wrong to let any sounds fade away.

Village Green

Attempting to get enormously cooler by filling in the gaps. From 1968."The Village Green Preservation Society" by The Kinks. Another classic that's been missing from my collection until a few days ago. This is the 50th Anniversary Edition with tons of bonus tracks. No top-40 radio hits back then, instead just a lot of great songs.

Highlight for me ..... The song, "Animal Farm."

Never Too Late

New one just released a week or two ago from Tony Joe White. Love the deep voice. I've seen his sound described as "swamp rock."

Never too late ..... It took many years before I really heard his song "Polk Salad Annie" for the great tune that it was. I stumbled across the album the song is included on in an antique shop and though I really didn't know much about his music at the time, I was looking to bolster my vinyl record collection with classic 1960's and early 70's sounds. What a great find it turned out to be!! And now I'm a huge fan!!

When a musician has a forty-plus years career (or more) there's always a then and now comparison. More often than not, it seems that "then" prevails. For Tony Joe White though, both eras are great!

1960's AM Radio Hits Playlist

Very little causes a sense of aching (as in something I miss badly) nostalgia for me like memories of times spent listening to AM-radio hits from the later half of the 1960's. A time when radio was king!! Memories of anxiously waiting by your radio because you knew that one of your favorite songs would be playing soon. Just when I was reaching the age where I began to notice that there was more to the world around me besides sports ..... like music. Oh and girls also.

• The Turtles - You Showed Me
• The Troggs - Love Is All Around
• Small Faces - Itchycoo Park
• The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You
• The Foundations - Baby Now That I've Found You
• Gary Puckett and The Union Gap - Young Girl
• Eric Burdon and The Animals - San Francisco Nights
• The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin
• The Guess Who - These Eyes
• The Box Tops - Cry Like a Baby
• Manfred Mann - The Mighty Quinn
• The Seekers - Georgy Girl

I've likely noted most of these songs here previously but they deserve repeated listenings. From a genuinely unique time in music. Makes me wish that at least a few people still wrote music like this.

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.

Record Store Day!!

Another "Record Store Day" today! My kind of holiday! Vinyl junkies, geeks and dorks galore in the record store. Wait a minute ..... I'm one of those geeks. Just not the insane variety that stands in a long line for several hours waiting for the doors to open. I mosey on in whenever I get around to it. And glad that I do. From the photos that I've seen it looks like it was a mob scene during the first hour. I probably missed out on some good stories but I'm way too old and lacking in perseverance for this standing-in-line stuff.

It's fascinating to me, the number of kids, teenagers and 20-somethings, that frequent record stores today. Sometimes I think they outnumber us geezers. How did they discover these black discs called records? I feel the urge occasionally to stop and tell them about the grand old days of record stores, the BCD era (before compact discs) when there was three or four in town. When one might go out of business but another would always pop up. When every decent sized town had a record store. When they would burn incense in the store. Long before the internet .... When every store would have the huge Schwann Catalog on the counter for reference. When the majority of the band and musician names on the records were known to me. When I was young!! I wonder if they would listen?

I did pick up a couple Record Store Day limited releases to do my part to observe and honor todays occasion .....

• Typhoon - Prosthetic Love (Piano Version) ..... 7-inch vinyl. A local band!
• The Animals - The Animals No. 2 ..... 10-inch vinyl. From 1965. Their second EP.

Also found .....

• Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson - The Great Kai and J.J. ..... Jazz from 1961. Both are trombonists. Bill Evans on piano. On Impulse Records, another of the great classic Jazz record labels.
• Clyde McCoy - The Uncollected 1938 .... Big Band Swing. From radio broadcasts. On Hindsight Records. Part of a series of enjoyable recordings of different big bands from the 1930's-50's. I've been taking home anything that I can find from this series. History to me. Something my parents may have listened to in their youth which makes it fascinating. With the live narration introducing each song, you almost feel like you are back in those days, in front of your radio.

Memories of Wheatfield Soul

Flashing back to teenage years and memories of listening to The Guess Who at a friends house. Two songs have always stood out ..... The classic and beautiful, "These Eyes" and the possibly haunting and frightening, "Friends of Mine" which despite being ten minutes long, and despite lyrics describing a condemned man walking to his hanging (we probably thought that the lyrics were cool), would often get repeat listenings. It was one of those songs that would get an after school playing/listening before my friends parents arrived home from work so we could crank up the volume. Certainly not a tune that you would ever hear on the AM radio top-40 weekly hit list being counted down by Casey Kasem. I'm not sure but we may not have listened to anything else from the album? It was likely an eye opener for a young teenager just released from eight years of Catholic School. I recall a teacher who let us play "Atlantis" by Donovan and Simon and Garfunkels, "The Sounds of Silence" in the classroom but I suspect that "Friends of Mine" just might not have been allowed.

When I think of the conclusion of the 1960's and the transition into the 1970's, this record always comes to mind. Sitting on the floor listening to it on a portable turntable. Quoting lyrics. Pondering the meaning of Friends of Mine. Forty-six years later though, it's the heartbreak described in These Eyes that stands out. I used to assume that it was a love song .... possibly because those two words, "these eyes," was the vision taken and absorbed from the song but the rest of the lyrics are about heartache.

 Friends Of Mine Lyrics

Traveling Wilbury's Dirty World

Time passes by so quickly. Over twenty-five years ago. Already legends at the time of their formation. The ultimate supergroup!! I love the story behind the ending of this song. George Harrison passed out magazines to each person and asked them to randomly pick out short word combinations or phrases to use. Then they took turns singing their choices. New approaches to songwriting.

Today's Vinyl Finds

Just browsing through the bins in the record store looking for something to grab my attention.

Something a little familar. Some Classic rock from the 1960's. Previously unreleased songs. Some with vocals, some instrumentals. Lou Reed!

Also came across something totally unknown. I'm not even sure if it's Jazz or Blues? Or both? In the liner notes it mentions "Boogie Woogie" piano.

Liner notes are always a good thing!

Late 60's Playlist

From the days of AM radio listening, often late at night while the rest of the family slept. When Top-40 radio was king. A few that I didn't especially care for back then but over the years, they grow on you and you realize how wrong you were in your youth. Wish that I had collected the 45's!!

• The Boxtops - Cry Like a Baby .... Hated it back then. Love it today!!
• Gary Puckett and The Union Gap - Young Girl
• Phil Ochs - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends .... As a kid I didn't recognize the apathy described in the song.
• Eric Burden and The Animals - San Francisco Nights
• The Foundations - Baby Now That I've Found You .... What first comes to mind when I think music of the 1960's!!
• Otis Redding - Sitting On the Dock of the Bay .... The radio DJ used to say by "the late great Otis Redding." I had to find out what "late" meant. 
• The Guess Who - These Eyes .... The one that I always come back to!!
• The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You
• It's A Beautiful Day - White Bird
• The Troggs - Love Is All Around
• The Zombies - Time of the Season
• Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman .... Funny how sometimes it takes many years and several cover versions before you realize how great a song is. 
• The Beatles - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away .... Eddie Vedder covers it like it's his own song but he's still not The Beatles. 
• Classics IV - Spooky

Many of the songs from this era cause a terrible yearning and nostalgic ache deep inside my soul. The songs of my youth. My true introduction to the pleasures of listening to music. Transitor radios. You knew that your favorite hit songs would be played every few hours. You'd wait with great anticipation to hear those favorites again. And when you occasionally hear one of those songs now, you feel chills throughout your body.