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Top 6 things I learned about 78 RPM records (Plus: Blog edition ‘Is 78 the new 33-1/3?

Top 6 Things I Learned about 78 RPM Records

  1. The records are 10 inches, as opposed to 12 inches, and most are made of shellac. Vinyl records are 12 inches. 45’s are 7 inches. (These are diameters)
  2. The 78s, put out from the turn of the last century (think 1900 until the 1950s, often came in ‘albums’ where four or five records slid into sheets in the book or album. So they were truly albums in that sense of the word. The word has been expanded, it seems, to include one record in a jacket or even CDs. Confusing.
  3. 78s can look beat up but still play very listenable music. I was surprised — I have both beat up discs and others that are in remarkable shape.
  4. There are tons of labels and some people shop labels. I have Columbia, Decca, Jubilee, Bop, Vocalion, Blue Note, Okeh, Dial, among others.
  5. Some 78s — while a niche’ market — are valuable, as in thousands of dollars valuable. These tend to be rare ones in the country blues, or plain blues vein and older jazz, also rockabilly.
  6. Robert Johnson who with ‘Crossroads’ as having sold his soul to the devil for his guitar abilities put out a few records which are highly sought after

So go now. Check grandma’s closets — could be a Hank Mobley in there.

Short version of ‘Is 78 the new 33 1/3?’ Expanded version here.

Life is a kick. We leave this world helpless, crying and unable to eat solid foods — just as we came in.

I don’t know when the regression of one’s life begins. For me it was about 50 or so. Just more aches and pains. My diagnosis at 57 with Lewy body dementia put the aging process in the fast lane.

I say all this to tell you about my new hobby, listening to 78 RPM records

You’ve seen them even if you haven’t ever used them. They are those 10-inch records usually hard and heavy. Now when we talk about collecting vinyl, we are usually talking about 12-inch records which bring forth the music at the slow moving 33-1/3 revolutions per minute. There are also collectors of the 7-inch, 45 rpm records commonly called 45’s or singles.

Collecting 78’s is the next step toward total regression in the popular human pursuit of listening to music. For me listening to music is therapeutic and can be transcendent, spiritual even.

FOR REST OF POST: Is 78 the new 33 1/3?

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Inside Mike’s brain. Take a tour. (Blog edition).

Note: This published Monday Jan. 6 on AL.com. Here’s the top of the story and a link to the full length version:

This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver who writes about living with Lewy body dementia.

Come on in.

Welcome.

Welcome to my brain.

The brain is the big boss. This is where it begins — and possibly ends.

I have a brain. (Thank God I was in the right line for that).

But I am not my brain.

Sure, my brain is the Bill Gates of my operation on Earth. But Gates has many thousands who make up Microsoft. Of course it’s all directed and put in play by Gates. When my stomach hurts my brain tells me. But my stomach almost simultaneously mobilizes the forces to find whatever distresses it and help with a fix. The brain keeps the light on while the body parts do their job.

The brain is me but not me only. It’s the conductor of a million symphonies as my body comes together in symbiotic synchronicity. Harmony.

But not always, and certainly not forever. My brain is broken now.

It’s leaking Lewy bodies.

And depending on the source, one lives an average of 4 to 9 years after diagnosis. I was diagnosed, first with Parkinson’s and later Lewy body dementia in 2016. In an internal battle, proteins are killing my brain cells by the 10′s of millions. Near the end, autonomic will not be automatic.

So, welcome to my brain. Let’s have a little fun. (That’s my new motto).

Full story here.

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Charley Pride — 277

ALBUM: Make Mine Country (1968)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

I knew who Charlie Pride was from way back as a child. I knew he was the first African American country singer. My dad told me — I can’t even remember the context. Probably sitting around the television when Pride came on and I asked who he was.

Encouraged by Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball, Pride dodged his share of slings and arrows., but persevered. He played ball himself in the Negro Leagues before he began a singing career.

Although he wound up with four Grammys and numerous other awards, he only had one cross over Top 40 hit — ‘Kiss an Angel Good Morning’ — but it was a big one. Born in Mississippi, Pride played a little professional baseball before clearing several hurdles on the way to a significant country music career. He won the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1971.

My father was a big country fan in his younger days so I grew up hearing country music around the house. My current favorites include Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard and George Jones. Guess you would call it Classic Country, the flipside of Classic Rock.

Charley Pride would be in that group. I turned up the car radio when they played ‘Kiss an Angel Good Morning.’ Great catchy song.

This is a good album if you want to get a feel for his plain country style. early in his career.

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Primitons, Pylon –279, 278

ALBUMS: Primitons ‘Happy All the Time;’ (1987) Pylon, GYRATE (1980)

RVC Rating: Primitons 4.0/$$$; Gyrate, 4.0/$$$$

You know it occurred to me listening to these again that Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe sounded/sounds a lot like Chrissie Hynde fronting a punk band — or Janis Joplin where Briscoe could have stood face-to-face in a cathartic screech contest.

I put these two together, not because any similarity in music, but because they both are wonderful artifacts of the Southern alternative rock blast that started about 1978 and continued through the 1980s.

So the Primitons were from Birmingham and I’ve been told I attended their send-off at a 1985 Chuck’s WUXTRY (on 4th Ave. North.) I was here then. And I know Chuck from whom I used to purchase used records at the downtown Athens, Ga. WUXTRY and the Birmingham WUXTRY. Chuck moved his downtown store to Cahaba Heights where he sold records for years.

I remember a keg party one night at WUXTRY but don’t remember the music. I do remember slinging LPs like Frisbee’s — every vinyl junky’s dream — and we laughed as they splattered against the brick wall. When one spun too close to Mr. Businessman’s head, I think we scattered like the other rats in that alley.

As Steve Martin says, Mmm, having some fun now.

The Primitons was as melodic as many of Michael Stipe’s sentimental song impressions. In fact these bands are nearly polar opposites yet share a time and a place and an energy from a alt-Southern rock scene that surprisingly wasn’t Atlanta but Athens, Ga. and the Primitons likely made many I-20 trips to play in Athens. Ga. ,

Pylon is perhaps better known (than Primitons that is, not REM). A group much respected in the after hours crowd of the late 70s and early 80s where people stayed downtown and danced until 4 a.m. Pylon was 3-chords and get-up-on-the dance floor. And to think I heard Vanessa say in an interview that she enjoyed the experience but really was glad when it ended. Yep, there’s a certain age and athletic category you need to take five hours of body slams, the very loud chords and pancakes and eggs at The Grill.

Sun’s coming up!

If you like punk, hard rock you owe it to your self to listen to Pylon’s ‘Stop It’. See below:

It certainly looks like the covers share a similar artistic vision. But I have no evidence looking at liner notes that they are somehow linked.

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The Pretenders — 281, 280

ALBUMS: The Pretenders (1980); Learning to Crawl (1983)

MVC Rating: Pretenders 4.5/ $$$; Learning 4.5/$$$

This band I just picked up on after hearing them on the radio. Strong female lead singer and good songwriter. Chrissie led the band with a sneer that offered rock and roll a direction as it moved into the Nuevo Wavo sound.

‘Learning to Cry’ was the third album and put them square in the commercial arena as New Wave examples of where the sound was going and what’s next. They just rocked and rolled people, that’s all- no more no less. I’d pick up these two albums if you don’t have any Pretenders — they are nearly Desert Island records, in and of themselves.

Brass in Pocket was their initial hit off the first album. They had strong rockers including “Precious.” The first album had a punkier sound. I don’t have the second album but I think it too was punkiel The first album had a full tank a gas, a scraping tailpipe and it looked like it might know where it is going.

Learning to Crawl proved they knew where to go. (Back) On the Chan Gang is an all time classic and ‘Middle of the Road;’ Thumbelina; My City was Gone; and 2000 Miles all deserve to be in the conversation. “I Hurt You,’ — Whew!

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Tom Petty — 282, 283

ALBUMS: Damn the Torpedoes (1979); Let me Up I’ve Had Enough (1987);

MVC Ratings: Torpedoes, 4.5/$$$$; Let me up 4.0/$$$.

Of course like nearly every Florida southern boy (at least partly) I was a big fan of the Gainesville, FL, native. He became big when I was in late high school, early college age. ‘Let Me Up’ came out about the time CD’s were taking over and I’m kind of surprised i don’t have this in CD format.

The Let Me Up album was a surprise — I don’t think I listened to it much and it has some great playing and singing on it. Jammin’ Me is a good one although it exposed what may be the reason this album was on the verge of busting out but never had the song to push that on through. Jammin’ Me has a lot of cultural references that I think are cool and most people got. But when you are raising up issues in song about the news, sometimes the stories get old in a 24-hour news cycle.

I would also like to point out here that one of Petty’s best records, unbeknownst to much of the public, was the soundtrack to the movie “She’s the One.” His masterpiece, I believe was ‘Full Moon Fever,’ but that movie soundtrack had some of Petty’s best work such as Walls Pt. 1 and 2; Change the Lock; Asshole and California.

If memory serves me correctly.

I remember we had a road trip to see Petty the main act with the DelFuegos and the Georgia Satellites. Fun time had by all. If memory again serves me correctly. There was me, Bob Carlton, Rick Bragg and Dennis Love. But that may be wrong. I know I was there.

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Daily journal, Dec. 16, 2019, ‘Knocking’ edition

Who does the best version of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,’ the Bob Dylan song from the 1970s?

Watch for a post on that later this week but you can help by sending me suggestions. There’s of course Dylan’s version and Guns and Roses version which I would start at as reference points. There’s other good competition though.

Regular readers of this blog may miss stories that appeared in AL.com only. And vice versa.

Here’s two stories that didn’t get published here. I received good feedback from the one about Lennon and mixed response from ‘bloody fable.’

Lennon’s God

Bloody Fable

I’m coming up on some time off but keep looking a i will continue to post when needed or inspired.

NP (Now playing Pretenders and Tom Petty as I wade deeply into the P’s. I also have found a couple of stragglers from the N’s and O’s that i need to get up.

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His and Hurricanes of the Future Pt. 13

EDITOR’s NOTE

This is the 13th in a series. For best experience read it sequentially starting at Pt. 1. Click on the His and Hurricanes button on the website for the others.

SCENE: Prosby was on his way due west to get to the Underground where Burneese was being held. Burneese had been found guilty of the trumped up charges and sentenced to death.

***

Burneese was popular, had lots of friends inside and outside of government. She got the highest grade meals because of her friendship with those in the kitchen. Instead of the dried spiced meat and smashed potatoes, she ate like a Queen, yeast rolls, turnips and collards and mushroom and leak soup.

Meat was rare and unwanted these days. Most of it was potted or jerked and at least 20 years old. Vegetables were both the mainstay and the delicacy as people mastered the art of hydroponic gardening and experimented with crossbred seedlings. For desert she had kiwi and raspberries.

Although confined to a small cell, she had two hours in an open space with televisions and music-makers. If you were really lucky you might snag a HelmVirt or HV. It was a helmet which you could put on for many virtual reality experiences. You could put it on and be on a beach in Hawaii in your mind. The HV’s were given to reward the “good inmates.” Of course Burneese, a big fan of vintage cop shows, used her connections to get an HV.

“Why do you get that, bitch?” A large woman with a hateful look, squinting eyes and snot tattoos, approached Burneese. In the old days ex-convicts could be easily spotted with their prison tats: Lettering between the knuckles; a tear drop on the face under the eye. Now snot tattoos which came with shiny ink looked like a trail of green and yellow snot dripping to one’s lip.

“I have permission.” Burnsee gave her a convict’s staredown.

“Give it to me now” the woman said, “or I will beat you down like a junkyard cat-rat.”

“Huh,” said Burneese.

The woman approached. Burneese could have taken her with one spinning leg kick to the head, but then she would expose herself as a trained fighter, bringing attention she did not need.

So she gave her the helmet.

Go ahead, the shows weren’t too hot anyway. Unbeknownst to the woman who bent down to pick it up, Burneese had opened with one hand a bottle of YaSuba Ghost-Haber sauce. And she had emptied it into the helmet. One drop of what was billed as the world’s Hottest Hot Sauce can heat a 2-gallon pot of beans feeding 25 people. Wonder what 100 drops will do on one persons head?

The woman immediately put the helmet on. and the screams were still loud behind the face mask. Apparently it was so hot, it impaired the woman’s thinking and she couldn’t take it off as big drops of the sauce dripped down in her eyes, her cheeks, mouth and nose.

She ran screaming down the hall.

Meanwhile, Prosby, about five miles from as the crow flies, was cold. A stiff breeze was rushing in from the north. And this used to be the Sunshine State?

Snow began to fall. It was common now. Snow in Florida. The climate had been turned upside down for the world.

That climate change is caused in part by humans used to be a debate, Prosby remembered from his school teachings. Hundreds of years ago some folks said climate change didn’t even exist. Their rantings fell silent over time as they saw record storms, tornadoes, Hurricanes and HIsicanes, 10-year droughts, massive flooding, and people moving underground. Prosby smiled when he remembered how one news investigation found the oil companies had underground shelters and living spaces for decades before the general populous. But of course, the tycoons and CEOs also had an average of 5000 times the annual salaries of the middle class workers.

In 2200, Prosby remembering his ancient history, the average plumber, computer technician or farmer made about $80,000 per year while the average CEO pay was $400 Million a year.

Over the last 100 years, the destruction of our ozone layer has turned up the volume — to 11 — on nearly all weather events. Scientist now theorize that the very laws of gravity are soon to be affected as the earth’s rotation slowly speeds up.

Many folks have actually attached chairs beds and couches, upside down on the ceilings because some think we’ll be weightless and pulled upward as gravity’s pull reverses itself due to the faster spinning globe. They think people will be literally walking on the ceiling, living in an upside down world. How long this will take is still a matter of scientific debate, it could be slowly over a period centuries or it could take place over a matter of a few years.

The slow believers say there will be people and all objects not tethered on earth will lose weight eventually reaching a weight of 0 pounds. People will feel very light and will be able to jump over houses. As the weight goes into the negative territory ( which the standard scale can measure as it sticks to the ceiling, people will be in danger as the lack of gravity can take them to space. Screaming untethered humans will begin to rise off of the ground and eventually suffocate as they move closer to outer space.

Critics of this theory point out that folks can wear weights on the ankles and waist and be just fine for hundreds of years until the counter gravity pull is too strong.

But this hasn’t stopped an entire industry now of selling at Tar-Mart “Ceiling Living” room concepts.

Prosby broke out of his reverie wondering how comfortable it would be lying on your couch on the ceiling when he heard a noise.

It was the sound of footsteps crackling in the ever increasing snow — about 2 inches now.

“Who goes there?” asked Prosby, feeling cold, damp and grumpy.

To Be Continued

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Protomartyr — 285

ALBUMS: Relatives in Descent (2017)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

Post-punk they call it. Pere Ubu-like. I hear Lou Reed-like vocal word play. There’s a darkness about it that almost dips its toe into Goth, like the Cure did or maybe even as far as Sisters of Mercy.

This is a record I received a year ago for my birthday and since I’ve been listening to my 678 albums in alphabetical order, I haven’t had a chance to listen this more than a few times.

Despite all the references I give above, my first reaction was a relatively obscure Midwestern group called Eleventh Dream Day. Not so much lyrically but the driving jangly guitar which sits very close to the front, along with killer bass, constantly driving the angsty words which sometimes feature the same line over and over and sometimes veer into the Captain Beefheart experimental realm.

The persistent chord-a-matic guitar strums remind me a little of my high school buddy, Paul Hammond RIP, and his work in Time Toy and Little Tigers in the heydey of the Athens, Ga., music scene.

Good stuff. Go for it if you are interested in a punky Lou Reed — hey wait a minute that would be Velvet Underground. No? Yes.

The band reminds at times of Athens, Ga. band Time Toy

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New Riders of the Purple Sage — 285

ALBUM: Best of New RIders of the Purple Sage ( 1976)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

With my Southern roots I grew up with country, country rock, folk rock and blues rock. On the west coast there was an equally dedicated group of musicians who played roots music before they called it roots music. That means a song might have banjo, pedal guitar, dobro, mandolin or other acoustical instruments.

They formed groups out there like New Riders of the Purple Sage with members Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, of the Grateful Dead. I’ve written before that, probably due to my Southern roots, the Allman brothers were my pick for a jam band, not the Grateful Dead. But in the past couple years I’ve gone from dismissing the Dead to admiring and even enjoying some of their work.

The psychedelic bluegrass rock blend of the Dead can be seen in this Purple Sage record. (This ‘Best of’ culls from seven albums between 1971 and 1976) and includes a nice cover ‘Hello Mary Lou,” the song RIcky Nelson made popular.

There were also in the 1960s and 1970s some cool sounds from that genre by Kalaidoscope, featuring an young banjo prodigy David Lindley, later to play guitar (and other stringed instruments) with Jackson Brown’s band.

The West Coast also had the Byrds, Gram Parsons, Poco, and It’s a Beautiful Day working in the same territory.

Administrative note: I am doing this record now while I’m in the ‘O’s because I missed it in the ‘N’s. That’s going to happen as I go farther toward the end — which will be a thing. I started this with 678 albums and I am below 300 to go. But those 678 have likely grown by 100 over the past two years. Just guessing.

The group on another greatest hits featuring live music has this Stones’ cover: