I was an early listener to rap/hip hop but by the time it exploded I had pretty much lost track. Here’s the legendary progenitors (so to speak) of rap music as we know it. Sounds funny and outdated now though still catchy to a degree.
GM Flash put it on the map with ‘The Message.’ I got their second ‘big’ single ‘New York New York.’ It was like in my preceding review of Eddy Grant where I got the album released after his big hit ‘Electric Avenue.’
But I bought this one in Birmingham new after hearing ‘The Message’ a bunch of times. Kind of shows you how I think. I wanted the newer disc because I thought it would be even better than big hit. I thought it was better or at least similar, but sales did not reflect that.
New York New York big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems
I also bought Kurtis Blow on vinyl about this time, called ‘Party Time,’ again not his biggest record. (That would be ‘The Breaks).’
On vinyl that’s about it for my hip hop collection. Though I have on my iPod a number of rap artists, courtesy in many cases of my three daughters. Let’s see (rolling through my trusty 120 GB classic iPod) I have some Lil’ Wayne, Beastie Boys, Rhymefest, Kanye West, Eminem, 50 cent, and Nas. Most are songs singles not full albums though. But I’ve lost track of the scene for the most part (since my daughters moved out).
I thought I had the album with his big hit: ‘Electric Avenue.’
But I don’t.
My album ‘Going For Broke’ is the album AFTER his big one. My album is pretty good, rock inflected reggae, which means it has rock guitar in it. It’s not what I’d call real roots reggae, more of a fusion pop reggae.
On this album, he has a song “Romancing the Stone’ which was commissioned for the hit movie starring Kathleen Turner, however it was not used in the movie (except for a short guitar solo). The song, a so-so piece of reggae pop, never succeeded at the level of ‘Electric Avenue.’
In Barbados, Grant operated a popular recording studio for years. He also wrote ‘Police on my Back’ recorded by the Clash, one of the better tracks on the Clash’s Sandinista album.
I have to say after a few listens, this album is nice. Good playing, happy reggae beat. I’ll play it again and keep my eye open in record stores for ‘Electric Avenue.’
Man, this music sounds like it came out of the same sessions as ‘Wish You Were Here.’ It was around that time period that the Pink Floyd guitarist put out this restrained but so so nice recording.
With it’s slow building solos and fluid note extensions, it sounds like it would fit right in on ”Wish You were Here’ next to ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond.’And ‘Wish’ is my favorite Pink Floyd record, so I love this, almost like a sequel.
Don’t think this record sold all that well despite its quality and Floyd’s soaring popularity at the time. It’s Gilmour without Floyd himself putting out some very pretty but powerful guitar meditations without the Big Theme histrionics of Floyd.
As one of the commenters on a YouTube video of this album said this shows how big a role Gilmour played in the sound the Pink Floyd. This is fantastic album for Floyd fans and even not-so-much fans.
I got this for $3 at my excellent downtown books/records/cultural curios store: Reed Books.
Here’s another bargain bin find. One takeaway I am having doing this blog and going one-by-one through my 678 albums is that I was not a bad ‘picker’ of records. I could find some good ones for a couple of bucks.
Lowell George, the lead singer of Little Feat, put this one out in 1979 just before he died of a drug overdose in a Virginia hotel room while on tour for this record.
I agree with AllMusic.com that at first this record seems slight, and it didn’t follow in the jazz-fusion direction that Little Feat was heading (part of the reason he did the solo thing.) But back to being ‘slight’ or not so slight. Some really good renditions of songs here. “What Do You Want that Girl to Do,’ an Allen Toussaint – penned song, is excellent. The Ann Peebles song ‘I Can’t Stand the Rain,’ though oft-covered, is done well by George.
“20 Million Things,’ a George original, is gorgeous and should be a classic. George was a multi-instrumentalist prodigy from childhood. Born in Hollywood, Calif., he was a binge eater, binge alcohol consumer and then, of course the drugs. He weighed more than 300 pounds when he died. Sad we only have this one solo album from him. But there’s a lot of good Little Feat music, which I’ll review when I get to the ‘L’s.”
If you do find this record you get the bonus of having a very cool cover by Neon Park that apparently has several pop culture references including Bob Dylan in there.
I’m including a live video of George with Little Feat backed by Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris to show you just how good that George and Little Feat were.
Now I’m not huge into jazz but I have some good jazz records.
I have this Dizzy; a Dexter Gordon Blue Note label album; a Harry James record; some Miles Davis; John Coltrane on CD);Teo Macero, another Blue Note special of Bud Powell, one of my favorite jazz pianists along with Errol Garner. I also have some rock/soul/jazz fusion, if that’s a thing, Steve Howe, Dixie Dregs, Sea Level, and Glenn Phillips.
And going A to Z, I also have some Chet Atkins and Frank Zappa that I would consider jazz or jazzy.
And I have Louis Armstrong, one of my favorite old schoolers, mainly because my father was a big fan of Satchmo, and I heard it at an earl age around the house.
The cool thing about this album is it brings in some newcomers — at least they were new in the 1980s when this was made, including Branford Marsalis, who went on to be the bandleader for Jay Leno for a couple of years and is one of the top saxophonists in the world.
So this has old man Dizzy, he of the bent trumpet and swollen cheeks, has rounded up some youth to make a contemporary jazz record with some old stuff mixed in.
The sound jumps out of the speakers, I must say, which I like on all vinyl productions but especially jazz. I like the trumpet player right in the room with me. I know this seems like my ongoing advice, but this is a good pick in a used record store, high high quality jazz in the ‘bop’ style with an old cheek-ballooning patriarch overseeing some top notch jazz youngsters.
This is one of those straight ahead rock and roll groups that through persistence, solid chops and staying together finally hit the big time.
This album was the precursor to their Top 40 sales of ‘Freeze – Frame’ and ‘Centerfold.’ MVC does’t care for these later ‘MTV’ hits so much. Monkey Island in 1977 was the album where they were straddling both worlds.
This album, Monkey Island, I bought as a cut-out in high school in Athens, Ga. Played it a fair amount actually. Some good old-timey songs like ‘I Do’ and the Louis Armstrong song, ‘I’m not Rough.’
‘So Good’ lives up to its title.
The title track is a little out of character. It’s a multi-part epic of a song with long (good) instrumental intro and oblique lyrics.
The album is a near-miss but the group’s following albums helped give the band — who never thought a harmonica shouldn’t be used — some retirement money. J. Geils, founder and guitarist, died in 2017.
The band caught my attention with an earlier single called ‘Must Have Got Lost’ in which singer Peter Wolf does a rap intro before rap was even a thing. See video below.
That’s not on Monkey Island. But I will include a Monkey Island video too.
The tears wrenched out of human beings by Bobby Goldsboro can be measured in gallons.
Hundreds, thousands of gallons.
‘Honey’ was a huge worldwide hit in 1968 for Goldsboro, born in Florida but who grew up in Dothan and attended Auburn University. Bobby Russell, who wrote ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,’ was ‘Honey’s’ writer.
It was a sentimental tissue-thin manipulation of a song. It was the best of songwriting, and the worst of songwriting.
I’d admire the suspense and mystery built up around the singer’s descriptions of his wife/lover. The La-Tee-Da casual storytelling style draws you in as it drops foreboding hints all the way.
My critique is that the words are often silly, and combined with the syrupy strings, comes off as maudlin. And the casual storytelling style, once you get the whole picture, is kind of creepy.
That said, the songwriter used some deft devices to make this sad. For example never really telling us what happened requiring our brains to think harder to speculate what happened a la ‘Ode to Billie Joe.’
My mother, a longtime educator, gave me this album recently, but we used to cry in the car over it decades ago. It was a No. 1 hit in the U.S. and charted all over the world.
So again the overarching question here is what happened? She died, but what other clues are there.
Let’s react to the lyrics and find out.
Song lyrics italics, my comments bold.
Honey by Bobby Russell, performed by Bobby Goldsboro
See the tree, how big it’s grown
But friend it hasn’t been too long It wasn’t big (good open, foreshadowing) I laughed at her and she got mad, (what was so funny?)
The first day that she planted it Was just a twig Then the first snow came and she ran out To brush the snow away So it wouldn’t die (Foreshadowing, concisely paints picture of soft-hearted, sentimental person. Was the tree somehow going to be cause of death? Listeners are tuned in now) Came runnin’ in all excited, Slipped and almost hurt herself (So she’s becoming clumsy but husband thinks it’s hysterical) And I laughed till I cried (throwing the word cried in there is like a subliminal message readying the tear ducts.)
She was always young at heart, Kinda dumb and kinda smart (Well you are no rocket scientist either BoGo..) And I loved her so And I surprised her with a puppy (Uh oh gratuitous puppy introduction: he’s pulling out all stops in the manipulative attempt to make you cry). Kept me up all Christmas Eve two years ago (aw he loves her so much, he not only gave her the puppy but lives with the dog causing sleep deprivation). And it would sure embarrass her When I came in from workin’ late (working late, huh?) ‘Cause I would know That she’d been sittin’ there and cryin’ Over some sad and silly late, late show (again showing how ‘endearing’ her sentimentality is.)
And honey, I miss you and I’m bein’ good (Working late, huh?) And I’d love to be with you if only I could (here we go again, hint hint: Where did she go?)
She wrecked the car and she was sad (Oh my gosh is she going to die of car wreck injuries?) And so afraid that I’d be mad But what the heck Though I pretended hard to be Guess you could say she saw through me And hugged my neck I came home unexpectedly And caught her cryin’ needlessly (Needlessly is certainly in the eye of the beholder. I mean, did she get bad news like perhaps she was DYING!) In the middle of a day And it was in the early spring When flowers bloom and robins sing She went away (Reach for tissue.)
And honey, I miss you and I’m bein’ good And I’d love to be with you if only I could (Sure about that?)
One day while I was not at home (Working late again?) While she was there and all alone The angels came (Good gosh, the Hell’s Angles took her out. What in the name of everything holy were you involved in, man?) Now all I have is memories of honey (tears) And I wake up nights and call her name (tears) Now my life’s an empty stage (tears) Where honey lived and honey played And love grew up And a small cloud passes overhead And cries down on the flower bed (more tears, some blubbering) That honey loved
And see the tree how big it’s grown But friend it hasn’t been too long It wasn’t big (good writing example, coming full circle) And I laughed at her and she got mad The first day that she planted it, Was just a twig (sob)
(One question: Can a twig grow into a tree?)
Other songs on his ‘Greatest Hits’ never approached the sales and popularity of ‘Honey.’ His first hit was “See the Funny Clown,” who happens to be crying on the inside. The song is way inferior to the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles hit “Tears of a Clown.’ He also had a hit called ‘Watching Scottie Grow,’ that for some reason isn’t on this album.
Goldsboro has another song on this disc called “The Straight Life” with lyrics that kind of blow my mind. Here’s the second verse of the song.:
Sometimes my thoughts may find me in Mexico, Drinking tequila going out of my mind Having a ball on a couple ‘a bob, Treating the ladies to corn on the cob, Leaving the straight life behind
Huh? First off, couple a’bob is an English term for money not Spanish. Tequila will make you nuts but not sure about the hi jinks behind a tequila and corn cob party.
ALBUM: And Then There were Three … (1978); A Trick of the Tail (1976)
MVC Rating: Three 3.5/$$$; Tail, 3.0/$$$
Genesis, I’m sorry, makes me want to exodus.
I’ve tried. I have two of their later albums post-Peter Gabriel. So maybe I haven’t heard their good stuff.
The ‘Three’ album title plays off the fact that members were dropping from the band like water rats from a sinking barge. Ok, that’s a little harsh.
Yet that album produced probably their most accessible song “Follow Me, Follow You,” a Top-40 friendly song, but certainly no tour de force. Maybe I need more time with these to see what the fuss was about.
On Trick of the Tail I hear chunky synthesizer/keyboard chords aligned with semi-melodic verse and nothing that makes me say, ‘Wow, in the beginning there was this great band.’
I am not keen on most art-rock or so-called progressive bands. I like Yes better than this. I’ve learned through re-initiation during MyVinylCountdown of some interesting work by Emerson Lake and Palmer. But Genesis just leaves me feeling blase’ and that’s not what rock music is supposed to do.
The songs seem to meander down the river, which could be nice, except when the river raft stops, you are five miles from your car.
One of the best songs on ‘Tail’ is one about a mythological beast called a ‘Squonk.’ On ‘Three’ the hit is good, if not a little light.
This is soft rock AKA as Adult Contemporary. I bought this used recently for loose change after reviewing the Best of Bread for MyVinylCountdown.com.
I admired Bread’s songcraft and was impressed with Gate’s guitar and vocals. It was pretty but that’s about it. A little like the Carpenters, a little like America.
In fact some of us debated which one was best (or worst) Bread vs. America. Think that dispute is still ongoing. One colleague said he would pick America but only if they never do ‘Muskrat Love’ again.
So I bought this Gates’ solo album and it is pretty much a Bread album, pretty, but that’s about it.
But maybe that’s enough.
Song picks: ‘Ann’ shows off his voice. ‘SIght and Sound’ shows some guitar skills. Suite Clouds and Rain shows his piano chops. ‘Do you Believe He’s Comin’ shows his aforementioned guitar skills as well as religious faith. In fact for a guy who seems so partial to soft rock, Gates can play a mean guitar as he does here in the “Do You Believe He’s Comin’ and with Bread the song ‘Guitar Man.’
Got to find a way to bring some love in here today.
Marvin Gaye is smooth and soulfully cool. For good solid soul, Gaye knew no peer. He was the male counterpoint to Aretha Franklin.
I’m not counting out Otis Redding, Wilson Picket, Al Green or any of the other pioneers in this realm. Gaye was a little less of a soul belter than Aretha. His sound was seductive, jazzy soul — sometimes with a social message (What’s Going On.’)
I’m not saying he couldn’t belt either, on ‘Grapevine’ he belts.
Marvin’s life ended too soon, in 1984, tragically at the hands of his father.
I’ve written this elsewhere on the blog: His version of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star game in 1983 brought tears to my eyes as I was hearing it in real time on live television. He did a soulful, and controversial take, on our National Anthem. I thought it was a touching rendition in the style Mr. Gaye sings. Jose Feliciano did a Spanish-tinged version, more than a decade earlier. He took some flak, as well.
LBUM: Going for Broke
