I have obtained three very interesting albums from a nice couple who wanted to donate for the cause.
That cause being raising awareness and funds to fight Lewy body dementia. (Read my story here).
Wow! Here’s what they got me!
Three very interesting records including Birmingham area favorites from the 1970s: Buckingham Nicks. The couple, Stevie and Lindsay, appearing ‘nekkid’ on the cover (top right) seems to be shouting: We are lovers!
Of course,, the irony would come later after becoming famous in Fleetwood Mac, the couple split up and in their misery produced some of the best music of their lives, break-up songs such as, ‘You can go your own way’ and ‘Dreams.’. No more ‘nekkid’ album covers, though. Not exactly groundbreaking, the album is really good however. It sort of flopped initially. It strongly presages the latter Fleetwood Mac sound in style and melody. And of course the rest is history as Fleetwood Mac became one of the biggest selling bands of all time.
Interestingly it sold better in Alabama than just about anywhere.
AL.com has written the about this: 45 Years later Buckingham Nicks still casts a spell
AL.com rock writer Matt Wake wrote “…the group became an unlikely sensation in Alabama after Birmingham progressive rock station WJLN-FM gave the LP heavy spins, particularly spiraling seven-minute track “Frozen Love.”
So how did these records come to me?
Several weeks ago a man named Jim Stubbs of the Birmingham area, emailed me to ask if I had Buckingham Nicks and, if not, do I was want it?
Long story short we met at John’s Diner, I met his wonderful wife Debbie who used to know me when we both worked at the Birmingham News in 1983 –we overlapped a few months.
The Stubbs said they just wanted to donate for the cause, bringing awareness to Lewy body dementia, which I have and try to do just that — raise awareness — with my blog www..myvinylcountdown.com
The Stubbs are good people, and I want to figure out a way to make their pledge count. One idea is to auction off some collectible records to go to Lewy body dementia research and awareness.
I don’t know how much these albums are worth, maybe $50 altogether? $100? $300? I definitely have some records that would qualify as collectible. If we can get even 25 to 50 albums I’m pretty sure we can raise $1,000 to $3,000 like that with some good effective advertising.
Here’s the skinny on what I know about the other two albums which have bizarre backstories.
Billy Joel “Cold Spring Harbor”
Liner notes says he checked into to a mental hospital around this time. There’s also some who call it his debut because he recorded it in 1971 even though it wasn’t released until 1976 after Joel’s other work became big.
It opens with the original version of ‘She’s got a Way.’ that’s followed by the blistering honky tonk piano and guitar tune called ‘You Can Make Me Free.’
The weirdness of this album is they recorded it 8 percent too fast. I put this on the other night and my wife commented “That sounds like Billy Joel as a child.”
Joel apparently went ballistic over the unfixable error. He called it his chipmunk album.
Thanks Jim and Debbie for turning me on to these records. They may provide the base for a solid charitable drive either part of Mike Madness weekend or separate. That’s July 20 on the hoops and after party, keep alert for details.
Joel explains in this video:
Jimmy Buffet, “High Cumberland Jubilee.”
Buffett had a problem with his album that,like Joel, caused a long delay before it was released.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about this album: Due to its limited appeal, long periods out of general release, and stylistic differences with the rest of Buffett’s work, High Cumberland Jubilee (along with the similar Down to Earth) was often not considered part of the chronology of Buffett albums by fans or even Buffett himself. It was his final album with Barnaby just before his signing with Dunhill and the recording of his 1973 breakout album, A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean.
This was often called his ‘lost’album. ‘
I think it is great. Picking and grinning music that I would choose to listen to over his later overplayed music. I’m not saying his later music is bad, I’ve just heard enough — for now. Until I go to the beach.
So three good records. Value is difficult to place on these as I roam around the Internet. BN for example is selling from between $20 to $100. I see Buffet’s going from $7 to $55 but the median seems to about $10, according to Discogs.. And Joel’s cold harbor ranges on Discogs from about $9,99 to $75. But on FPS 2700 it’s median range is about $15.