Living with Lewy Body Dementia
Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease
ALBUM: Giant (1986)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$
New wavers of the 1980s run to your closet, pull out that box of vinyl and find the Woodentop’s very excellent album, ‘Giant.’
If you did what I did oh so many years ago, you played it once or twice and put it in the closet without any real testing. Very good album with all sorts of swirling rhythms. Drummer Benny Staples is excellent for this upbeat, bopping music.
They have a subdued B-52s feel, with a British accent. Like Morrissey on happy juice.
ALBUM: A Pagan Place (1984); This is the Sea (1985)
MVC Rating: Pagan’s 4.5/$$$$$; Sea 4.5/$$$$$
I think of this band as one that never quite achieved the success it deserved. Their sound was dubbed ‘big music’ after one of the songs on ‘A Pagan’s Place.’ Implying: The Next Big Thing.
Which creates a lot of expectations.
Mike Scott, the band’s leader, was (very obviously) influenced by Bob Dylan. He counts Joe Strummer of the Clash as an influence as well.
With the debut ‘A Pagan Place,’ followed by ‘This is the Sea’ and then ‘Fisherman’s Blues,’ the band snared me immediately as a fan. I have Fisherman’s Blues on CD so I’m not reviewing it here but I say ‘buy it,’ — it’s probably their best. Although the others are awesome. ‘Sea’ had their biggest ‘hit,’ if you can call it a hit, called ‘Whole of the Moon.’
The critique I’ve read and/or heard about the Waterboys is that they sounded overwrought with big subject matter (religion/Christianity), big singing, big music, leading to big pretensions.
OK, perhaps true. This tea is not for everybody.
But in my collection they each earn 4.5 points (out of 5). There is some real musical and songwriting craft going on here.
After ‘This is the Sea,’ Karl Wallinger, a keyboardist for the band left to form his own band, World Party, reviewed later. Mike Scott had some solo endeavors, some like ‘Bring Em All In,’ which touched on spiritual issues.
ALBUM: Violent Femmes (1983)
MVC Rating 4.0/$$$$
The story goes, according to Wikipedia, the band was busking on a street corner out in front of a theater in the band’s hometown of Milwaukee where the Pretenders would be playing that night.
The trio caught the ear of Pretender guitarist James Honeyman Scott. Lead Pretender Chryssie Hynde let them play a song or two after the opening act ended. It was the beginning of a decades long career.
The band is not for everyone. Gordon Gano who writes the songs and sings lead embodies alternative at its most alternative.
With a tip of the hat to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, the Violent Femmes wrote songs from the street touching on drugs, lost love and loneliness. On the second album (Hallowed Ground) Ganos’ Christianity created some dissension at first. That was worked out, and the band member who complained said years later that those songs were among the band’s best.
The Phoenix New Times in a 2014 interview with Gano wrote:
lt was the strength of Gano’s fiery gospel punk songs, the devotional “Jesus Walking on the Water,” “Hallowed Ground,” which reads like it was ripped from book of Psalms, and his gleeful ode to God’s righteous wrath, “It’s Gonna Rain,” that caused Brian Ritchie to relent.
ALBUM: The Colorful Ventures (1961)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$
I would venture to say that this band was instrumental.
No vocals — but they were instrumental in another way as well.
The band was instrumental in defining early guitar music. They were influential in rock and roll and pioneered a sound called ‘surf music.’ Nokie Edwards was the lead guitarist.
‘Walk Don’t Run’ may have been their best known album. I find the Ventures and their pop and surf co-horts, Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins, the Chantays, the Surfaris and others to be quite easy to listen to as it can fade into the background. But a listener paying close attention can hear the precise guitar runs and fabulous picking.
If this is your thing, it might be best to get one of several greatest hits albums. This wasn’t really an album band so the greatest hits work well both as individual slices and an overall vibe. That may run you up to 20 bucks so perusing the bargain bins, like I did, might produce a good find like my album -original press in mono – for under $5.
ALBUMS: October (1981); Under a Blood Red Sky (1983)
MVC Ratings: October 4.0/$$$$; Under a Blood Red Sky 4.5/$$$$
I only have these two early U2 albums on vinyl. I have several others on homemade cassette tapes and CDs.
The groundbreaking Irish band was a ubiquitous soundtrack to life in the 1980s and 90s. Bono’s larger than life persona and the Edge’s cutting guitar were and are instantly recognizable. They have sold 150 million records.
But I’m not here to review all of U2 here. The two LPs I have will allow a peek into what some critics and die hard fans say is the the best band of its era.
‘October’ in 1981 is a ‘pre-fame’ record. The band had picked up critical kudos for its first album, ‘Boy.’. And while October one had all the hallmarks of the band, it didn’t exactly skyrocket in sales, partially I think due to some weaker cuts on the album and the fact that people were not accustomed to the sound which was really like no other in the heart of the New Wave synth laden songs. I guess you could say they were like the Clash with more love and a little less anger.
‘Under a Blood Red Sky’ is a live mini album which actually has nearly the length of a regular LP. Recorded at the gorgeous venue Red Rocks in Colorado, it shows U2 becoming U2: anthemic protest songs with a simple but effective musical format of guitar, bass, drums and vocal.
“How long,? How long must we sing this song,” Bono asks in ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday.’
“I Will Follow’ and ‘New Year’s Day’ remain rock classics.
The Edge’s chiming guitar is a perfect fit for Bono’s big vocals as was the name the Edge for the style of guitar he plays. The guitar would shimmer, sting and wail and walk up to the edge of power chord metal but never took the step.
ALBUM: Adventure (1978)
MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$
Tom Verlaine is not a name that surfaces much these days. But in the 70s with the band, Television, Verlaine and his co-horts, including Richard Lloyd, created quite a stir with the ringing guitar sound of its debut album Marquee Moon.
‘Adventure,’ their sophomore offering is just as good, I think. Released in 1978, Adventure continued the guitar sound heralding punk’s transformation into more melodic music. New Wave was upon us.
Verlaine and Richard Lloyd were the guitarists, alternating lead and rhythm. Some of the longer guitar parts sound like a smoother Neil Young epic (think ‘Cowgirl in the Sand’ or ‘Like a Hurricane.’)
I remember getting this in Athens, Ga. at WUXTRY, it came out my senior year in high school.
ALBUM: The Undisputed Truth (1971)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$
Motown, the extremely successful record company, left no rock unturned, no trend passed over.
Call it psych-soul or soul-psych, this was soul music tricked out to take advantage of the late-1960s, early 1970s, popularity of psychedelic music.
Norman Whitfield, a Motown producer who worked quite a bit with the Temptations, was the key player behind this outreach.
Billie Calvin, Brenda Evans and Joe Harris were the members of this group. The group had a No. 3 hit, ‘Smiling Faces, Sometimes,’ written by Whitfield.
Whitfield liked to cover his bases by giving songs to multiple groups inside the Motown stable which explains why the Temptations also did the ‘Smiling Faces’ song. (Whitfield also gave the song ‘War’ to the Temptations and then to Edwin Starr who took it to No. 1).
Other songs on this debut album include a surprisingly faithful rendition of Bob Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone; the 60’s psych-pop classic ‘Aquarius;’ and the much covered groove song, ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine.’ Written by Whitfield, and Barrett Strong for Gladys Knight and the Pips, the song was ultimately covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival and Marvin Gaye.
Gaye’s version is considered by critics to be the definitive one. I like Gaye’s and the Pips’ and CCR’s — it’s fun to listen to try to discern what goes into the very different arrangements.
Also on this album is ‘Ball of Confusion (That’s what the world is today).
‘People movin’ out, people movin’ in, Why, because of the color of their skin,’
One of many rock’n’roll songs that helped shape my world view as a kid.
However, the version I heard on the radio was probably the Temptations’ hit version of the song. (There goes Whitfield again, hedging his bets.)
It’s the little things that Lewy body dementia makes more difficult.
Tearing open a wrapped cookie. Typing. Remembering where you put your glasses.
Parkinson’s Disease, Lewy’s cousin, can work much of the same territory.
Remembering what day of the week it is. Picking up your feet to walk. Putting on a shirt.
I don’t know if it’s better to have a pull-over shirt so that I may tie myself into a knot as I push my head through a sleeve instead of the neck hole.
Like a newborn baby getting pushed out of the birth canal my pulled-tight face, stuck in my sleeve, looks real funny in the mirror.
Or should my early morning hijinks start with a buttoned-down shirt where I spend 15 minutes to push those plastic buttons sideways into a too-small hole only to find out that the buttons on the right side of my shirt didn’t go into the correct holes on the left side of my shirt. Aaaaargh!
Maybe I’ll leave it, no one will notice. OK, that might have worked except, upon further inspection, I missed with the buttons by two holes each. My shirt looks like a Picasso painting.
Ah, maybe I should button the shirt beforehand and then pull it over my head? That might work except there’s already a tangled up, pull-over shirt halfway on my torso. So I walk (carefully) downstairs looking like a shirt rack and approach my beloved wife and caregiver and meekly say: Help.
It’s the little things.
Like climbing out of the bed in the morning.
I’m pretty sure that someone rolls me up in two sheets, a quilt and a blanket, sometime in the middle of the night while I’m sleeping. Houdini could not get out of this straightjacket. I push away bad thoughts that Catherine does this as revenge for all the button and pull-over mishaps. (Hmm. It does buy her more peaceful coffee time before she’s confronted with the walking shirt rack.)
Wrapped like a mummy in bed sheets, I’m limited on how to contact help. I cannot stand up, so I can’t walk down for help. She keeps her phone with her so I could call her with my phone which is on the night stand about six inches from my face. My arms are tied, but I briefly entertain the idea of trying to peck at the phone with my nose.
It’s the little things. Lewy minutia, I call it.
But when you’re shuffling down the hallway, unable to find your glasses, with your head stuck in a sleeve, it can seem rather daunting.
NOTE: This is a fictionalized account based on real events. And the names have not been changed.
ALBUM: The Collection
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$
If you listen closely you’ll hear an occasional guitar. But you have to really listen. Ultravox is very much a synth band, and it’s not synthesizer heavy in the name of progressive rock.
Judging from this collection of 20 Ultravox tunes, the band was clearly in pursuit of the Top 40 — at least during the Midge Ure era from late 1979 to the mid 80s.
During that time they garnered seven Top 10 albums and 17 Top 40 singles in the UK.
1981’s Vienna was their biggest hit, but the band was not as successful in the US as they were in the UK. Vienna, for example, hit No. 3 in the UK while it only reached 163 in the US.
Ure became involved in charity work and co-wrote the song ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’ with Bob Geldof. The song is one of the biggest selling singles of all time. It was written to raise money and awareness of a great famine in Africa.
According to Wikipedia, Ure has received much recognition for his charity work and fund-raising including four honorary doctorates.
ALBUM: The Best of Frank Sinatra
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$
Now here’s a bit of a switch. Frank Sinatra. He’s arguably one of the best or best known singers of the 20th Century.
I picked this re-issue up in Birmingham sometime in the 1980s. I can’t remember exactly why — I may have heard a Sinatra song in a movie. Or, I may have just wanted to be able to field a request. If someone’s at my house listening to music — which was a common pastime — and said, ‘Hey got any Sinatra? I could say, ‘Of course.’
For me, his music was ‘easy listening or jazzy easy listening. Critics often cite his ‘effortless’ singing style and phrasing as to what made him so good. I see that. The songs come out fully baked, casual, effortless and you are left wondering ‘how did he make me like this song.
I have little awareness of the days when he was in his prime. This greatest hits captures some of his best and best known songs like ‘Young at Heart,’ ‘High Hopes,’ and ‘Chicago.’ Noticeably absent however is ‘Strangers in the Night,’ which supposedly Sinatra hated. Also ‘My Way’ is not here. I’m going to dock the grade a point for not having those iconic songs on a ‘Best of.’
When I was a kid I knew a little about the Rat Pack. I liked Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin the best; I actually didn’t see Sinatra on TV as much as Davis and Martin.
I even read Davis’ autobiography, how he lost his eye and all of that. I knew Dean Martin through the Jerry Lewis movies and and his own variety TV show. Martin always had a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. And that was while he was singing(:
I did pick up some Frank Sinatra on 78 records but I still need to sift through a stack of these to see what I have.
It was a whole different world of popular music back then —1940s and 50s. Sinatra, however, in the 1960s must have been listening to newer stuff. He called the Beatle George Harrison’s song, “Something,’ the ‘greatest love song of the past 50 years.’
Sinatra covered that song as did about every crooner around the world, from Liberace to James Brown to (more recently) Billie Eilish.