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Lenny Bruce — 617

ALBUM:  The Story of Lenny, What I Was Arrested For (1975)

MVC Rating: 3.5; $$$

REM, of my Athens, Ga. home, wrote about the end of the world (as we know it):

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid

Lenny Bruce would certainly not be afraid., Buzzing on amphetamines,, he was  driven by what:? By insecurity? Courage? Seeking attention? All of the above?

He was relentlessly stepping up to the line and crossing over. He eventually contributed to moving those lines.

He was busted on drug and obscenity charges over and  over again between 1961 and 1966, at which time he died of a narcotics overdose.

He was glib and cussed  on stage in the early 1960s, pushing the boundaries of society’s slowly expanding borders of taste and decency.

As a journalist i appreciate pioneers in the freedom of speech. I would err on the side of freedom of expression over someone’s idea of  decency. But in most situations I like decency, with the weapons of profane words used strategically for effect

The fall-out is that  the F-word, and others,  became ubiquitous in the movies. And everywhere for that matter. Do people really talk like that? All the time? Well, in newsrooms, yes, I can vouch

I remember Kat in Walnut Creek, Calif., at the Contra Costa Times  had a tip jar requiring a dollar for every naughty word. Some reporters (Tom Peele?) paid in advance. Others on  the installment plan.]

.We in the news biz  have been much more lenient on what we allow in the more free-wheeling online platform. You’ll see less of that kind of language in the actual newspaper.

What Lenny Bruce was doing as a traveling comedian was delving into matters sexual and heretofore considered obscene.

My problem  is he wasn’t all that funny, based on this record  Of course it’was a  different time.

Half the material was about his legal problems and his inability to keep his fucking mouth shut (sub freaking if necessary, trying to demonstrate  effect  here.)

Sure he was a pioneer. But an  unpleasant addicted self-absorbed  one.

In his biographical book on Bruce, author Albert  Goldman cast Lenny  as a pioneer and martyr, albeit haunted by demons. It’s the same Goldman who wrote an exhaustive, negative  tome on Elvis. (I read both books because I was fascinated in my 20s  by both of these larger than life figures.) In Goldman’s portrayals, Lenny did much better than Elvis,, who was portrayed as a fat, drug using, liquor swilling redneck, who’s talents were demeaned more than praised. Forgive me if I can’t  remember details, I read both decades ago.

Closing up now I see the lineage between Bruce and George Carlin and Richard Pryor, both of whom could be brilliant. Dave Chapelle is another.

My tastes wander more around  absurdists such as Monty Python, Steven Wright and Andy Kaufman.

Reminds me of another  REM  song:

Now, Andy did you hear about this one
Tell me, are you locked in the punch
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby 
Are we losing touch
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

o

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Roy Buchanan — 618

ALBUM: Dancing on the Edge (1986)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$

Ask a rock fan about who are the  best guitarists and you usually hear, Hendrix, Clapton,  Page, Van Halen, Richards, Townshend, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck, Chuck Berry, etc. and so on.

You don’t usually hear the name Buchanan unless you are talking to some experienced  guitar players.

Roy Buchanan’s father was a sharecropper and Pentecostal minister who brought music into the house, according to various Internet articles, including Wikipedia.

Originally from Arkansas, the family moved to small town California. At 15 Buchanan left home  to seek his fame and fortune.

He never found it.

At 47, in jail in Virginia for public drunkenness, he died by suicide, hanging himself by his shirt, authorities said

His family disputes that suicide was the cause of that death in 1988.

I have his 1986 album ‘Dancing on the Edge’ and it’s a fine, fun record of country and rock and blues, featuring Buchanan’s swinging, and stinging guitar.

In rock critic  David Fricke’s top 100 guitarists for  Rolling Stone, Buchanan is rated 57. A documentary about his life is named ‘The World’s Greatest Unknown Guitarist.’

And if you are a fan of electric guitar his cover of ‘Hey Joe’ is not to be missed. Listen to the tone, the subtlety and finally the blazing lead runs where  he does something similar to what young people call shredding. Watch it to the end and see if you agree that he should be in top 10. (SEE BELOW)

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Billy Bragg — 620, 619

ALBUMS: Talking with the Taxman about Poetry (1986);  Back to Basics (1987)

MVC Rating: Taxman 4.0/$$$; Basics, 3.5/$$$$

A smart bloke this Billy Bragg.  Articulate working class. We could be mates I think, over a pint.

He doesn’t even try to change his thick English accent. Hell why should he? To sell more records, maybe?

Basics is a compilation of early songs, mostly just Bragg and his guitar. Taxman has higher production values which means a violin and trumpet sneak in some of the songs.

He was a smart lad; I haven’t followed him in  years but I’m sure he retains his intellect, if not his passionate fight  for the poor and working class. But I do know he worked with Wilco producing an extraordinary song together called ‘California Stars,’ taken from unpublished writings of Woody Guthrie.

To get a sense of his mind, one can look at the song titles: ‘Ideology,’ ‘There is Power in a Union’ ‘Help save the Youth of America’ ‘To Have and to Not Have.’

Or burrow down deeper into his lyrics. In one of his best songs, Levi Stubb’s Tears, a few lines capture a world of hurt.

She ran away from home in her mother’s best coat
She was married before she was even entitled to vote
And her husband was one of those blokes
The sort that only laughs at his own jokes
The sort a war takes away
And when there wasn’t a war he left anyway

Weaving songs of personal relationships and their many hazards with songs of protest and activism have an interesting way of meshing; one side illuminates the others.

But listening  through these earlier songs, a line jumps out that’s probably not surprising given his age and by the fact it is  hard and slow to change the system.

Bragg sang, “I don’t want to change the world. I’m not looking for a new England, I’m just looking for another girl.”

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Brothers Johnson –621

           

 ALBUM: Right on Time (1976)

MVC Rating: 3.5/$$$

The Beatles did Strawberry Fields Forever.

Prince changed fruits when he went for Raspberry Beret. But that song along with the Beatles song have connection in mood and sound, if not fruit, with one of my 70s favorites: Strawberry Letter 23 by Brothers Johnson.

Coulda been a Beatles or Prince song.

There’s a lot of stuff on the interwebs about what this song was about: a letter, the 23rd  in a pink envelope with strawberry scent. Hmm OK let’s delve into the lyrics to see where that leads:

In the garden, I see
West purple shower bells and tea
Orange birds and river cousins
Dressed in green

Uh huh. Now I get it. But forget the fact that I don’t get it.

It sounds good. I love the opening organ fade-out/fade back in, the thumping, running bass line, the funky guitar.  And the organ/guitar interlude that is either appropriated from the Who, Yes, or vice versa.

Oh and I really like the vocals  even though the words are as obscurely nonsensical as Strawberry Field, flowing on a funk groove as easy as  Raspberry Beret.

Put it on to dance because that, in this case, is what it is all about.

TRIVIA: Brothers Johnson won a Grammy for best R&B instrumental for ‘Q’ off of this album.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Bread — 622

ALBUM: The Best of Bread (1973)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$

‘Oh I like bread and butter, I like toast and …’

‘Wait, wait this is not my beautiful song,’ I say, waking up rubbing my eyes.  ‘This is not my talented soft rock  band.’

It’s the falsetto guy singing ‘Bread and Butter,’ the second best worst song of all time.

Sorry I was dreaming. Or should I say nightmaring.

I went to bed last night with the intention of writing a review for the album ‘The Best of Bread,’ you know that group that when their music is played consecutively with the group America will likely leave you unable to wake up – ever.

Luckily I hadn’t indulged in any America earlier.

(So, probably no need to call the somnambulance.}

There I was, laying there with my ear pods in, listening to the string-laden song “If’.”

If a picture paints a thousand words
Then why can’t I paint you?
The words will never show
The you I’ve come to know

Aaaaaah. I think I fell asleep on the second line but woke up in a sweat with Bread and Butter going through my mind. Dang, an earworm alert at 3 a.m., obviously caused by the ‘Bread’ keyword.

All funnin’ aside, Bread, like America, has written and performed some beautiful songs, including:

Bread: ‘Everything I Own,’ ‘Make it With You,’ ‘It Don’t Matter to Me.’

America: Horse with No Name, Sister Golden Hair, Ventura Highway. (However America gets docked, totally docked, a point for being responsible for ‘Muskrat Love.’)

And on that note, for comparison purposes, I’m going to throw in the Carpenters here. Again, great craft, melodic tuneful songs, wonderful voice. It’s just that all these soft rock songs can be OD’d on really quickly as seen in my opening.

Carpenters. ‘Close to You,’ ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ ‘Rainy Days and Mondays.’

These are just a small sampling of these groups’ hits. Any group or artist that can sell as many millions of records as these did cannot be called ‘bad.’ But excessive radio play in my youth and a developing taste for something a little more powerful, this music isn’t my usual thing.

It is the usual thing for Catherine, my beloved, who has built up some unusual resistance for the deadly and sleepy  SRMS (Soft Rock Melancholia Syndrome.) In fact, she can take the three aforementioned groups and add Carly Simon, Carole King and James Taylor and she’s set, right dear? Cat? Cat?

Whoa this is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife.*

-=-=-=–=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

*sorry to crash the landing here. But I hope people understand this closing is a Talking Heads reference foreshadowed in the opening dream sequence in which our hero (me) has a bad dream of a squawking falsetto guy from the song Bread and Butter, which I have elsewhere on this website named the 2nd best worst song of all time. So upon waking up from the nightmare, our hero/writer finished the Bread album review, slyly and with great subtlety (ruined only by this end note) brings the story full circle, beause full circles are good.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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British Rock Classics (various) — 623

MVC Rating: 3.0/$$$

This 1979 Sire compilation is for those who strive to be completists but fail due to laziness or distraction. Or a lack of that OC gene. This one had some classic material from smaller  names and not-so-classic music from larger names.

And yes there were big names on this two-record set: Beatles, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Bee Gees, Cream, just to name a few.

The Zombies  ‘She’s Not There’ is a classic.  The Beatles with Tony Sheridan singing My Bonnie — not so much.

The Cream’s ‘Anyone for Tennis’ is just, well, odd.

The Troggs ‘Love is all Around’ is just right.

The Bee Gees song is so absurdly dramatic, I love it. Reminding us no phones on death row.

The Kinks rock out on an early song available on  a plethora of Kinks compilations.

And Fleetwood Mac on a pretty strong blues song called  Homework, long before there were Rumors of radio domination.

Truth is that people like me would buy these in the  Bargain Bin for $2.99 and cull the best five or six songs for a mixed tape.

Trivia: Sonny Bono of Cher fame wrote the song Needles and Pins performed on this album by the Searchers.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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The Broken Homes — 624

ALBUM: Broken Homes (1986)

MVC Rating:  4.0/$$$

                                                                                       

Here’s one. Here’s one if you want to be cool and pull out of your collection  this  album featuring this  very 80’s looking band wearing dark clothes with some  leather.  Kinda big hair.

You’re friend says ‘ha ha’ who is that? Just another band  gone to obscuredom. But hey, let’s give  it a spin.

Let’s give it a spin.

Broken Homes. Not sure what happened to them, probably obscurification. But they rock  like  they had a future and didn’t care if they did. Tuneful, good vocals, tight band. One of those best bands you’ve never heard of.

”I’ll Be Wearing Blue’ lays out a  bluesy lament of a reluctant groom.

“Soon we will be married,” he sings, “Soon we will be done, soon we will drive to town,  and  we’ll pick out the perfect suit and tie. Your mama’s going to give  me the money, I hope I cannot find  my size.”

It was about 1986 or ’87 and several of my  Birmingham News colleagues and I drove to Atlanta to see Tom Petty (RIP), the Georgia Satellites, and the Del Fuegos. Big show. Bob Carlton, Rick Bragg and Dennis Love, I believe were on this particular road trip.

Between sets waiting on Tom Petty they played, like they do, on the speakers a recording of this debut album from Broken Homes. It immediately caught my attention.  I learned later Petty said in an interview he loved the band. But in the wacky world of the entertainment biz they never made it.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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The Brains — 626, 625

ALBUMS: The Brains (1980), Electronic Eden (1981)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$;  EE: 3.5/$$$

Sometimes there’s a musical memory that is stronger than other memories. It starts in your mind but begins infusing the limbic system. It’s a mind out of body memory.

It was a night in Atlanta about 1980, could have been  ’81. I was with my later to be wife Catherine, my brother and his friends. We were walking up to the party central area at that time, Little Five Points. I first heard the synthesizer. As we got closer it got louder.

There was the chorus: Money Changes Everything …

Then whirling looping synthesizer sounds from the leader of the band, Tom Gray. The song is one that could easily end up on my Top 10, maybe Top 15  rock songs of  all time. Later Cyndi Lauper would make it a worldwide hit. But I still like this original.

I’ve got two cut-outs records of the Brains first two albums. They never made it really. In that regard they remind me of the Swimming Pool Q’s.  Great bands, great songs. Both from Atlanta. Both had strong guitar playing and didn’t for the most part let New Wave affectations ruin the effect, or the music. Great bands that deserved wider appreciation.

Back to Little Five Points,  I yelled to Cat. IT’S THE BRAINS.  (For free I might add, playing outdoors.)

And just walking up live at the time they were playing a truly transcendent song, well there is a memory. I still feel it.

Other good songs off of Electronic Eden, ‘One in a  Million’ and “Hypnotized.’ Off  of their self-titled debut, the punkish ‘In the Night’’ and ‘Gold Dust Kids’ and rocking ‘Raeline.’

But I challenge you to listen to ‘Money Changes Everything’ three times. You’ll then know what I mean when I say, ‘Gray matters.’

Here’s video  of Brains leader Tom Gray backed by Q’s singing ‘Money Changes Everything’ Live, followed by video of Cyndi Lauper smash hit cover:

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Randall Bramblett– 627

ALBUM: That Other Mile (1974)

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$

I started counting the musicians credited on this album and got to about 15 before giving up.

But listen to this bluesy, jazzy minor masterpiece and everything fits. Sax, bass, drums, wah- wah guitar, steel guitar, steel drums, keyboards, congas – you can tell there’s a lot of music going here, but it plays to a whole; every note counts. The players give each other space and let the music breathe.

I was once decades ago offered $40 for this album. I think it is not so easy to find this one, his first. As you can see, I still have it. I didn’t sell.

Bramblett for a long time lived (and may still) in my hometown of Athens, Ga. Of course, this preceded the Athens explosion of talent in the 1980s led by B-52s, REM and Widespread Panic.

Bramblett was touring with the Allman Brothers and doing session work in Georgia. A multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, guitar, keyboards), he was a consummate musician, never showy. His songs get down and jam in a relaxed way, there’s an underburn to a lot of his work.

It’s go-down-by-the-river music, with a blanket and picnic basket filled with sandwiches, wine and mosquito repellent (I know something about Georgia rivers). 

At this river concert, depending on the song, you may hug your friend or you may get up and boogie.

In a review of this, Allmusic’ Dave Lynch says Bramblett’s songs were ‘literate and thoughtful.’

He once went to seminary with the intention of becoming a pastor.

‘The music surrounding his often heartfelt vocals was as powerful as the words being sung,’ Lynch wrote. ’Somehow both shimmering and swampy.’

The whole album is strong. If I had to choose standouts, I’d say That Other Mile, No Stone Unturned, I Caint and Everybody Got it on the Inside. This is timeless.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Black Uhuru — 628

ALBUM:   Anthem (1983)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

You’ve got to have money to make money, sings the lead vocalist Michael Rose on Anthem. Not sure how successful they are/were, but Black Uhuru was definitey looking to cross over here. The Jamaican group had significant reggae  cred already.

This album is smooth, some dub, high production values, legendary bottom. And the lyrics, well, the album is called Anthem and has songs called What is Life, Botanical Roots and Solidarity. I think they are going down the traditional reggae road here.

When I first heard Bob Marley, it was like hearing Dylan or the Beatles for the first time. So different, so compelling. I have a few of his albums, (although whomever borrowed my Natty Dread record, I’d like it back now. It was my favorite and I can’t find it.) I also like Jimmy Cliff. The soundtrack to the movie ‘The Harder They Come’ is a good place to start,as an introduction to Cliff or reggae music in general.

Back to Black Uhuru, this album, crying out to expand their audience, is very good. I give it a thumbs up.

And I  especially want to note the ‘bottom’ of all this: Robbie Shakespeare on bass and Sly Dunbar on drums are a legendary rhythm machine. And you just get a taste here. Check out Sly and Robbie, a mostly  instrumental ‘solo’ album if you want to get into a groove. This ‘promotional copy’ I have includes a publicity photo and 4-page press release.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.