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:
This as many might know here was the theme song for the Linda Blair head spinning vehicle, The Exorcist, AKA ‘Get the Hell out of Me,” AKA as “Rotation, Rotation, Rotation.”
Sorry, I have to laugh to keep from recalling those horrific scenes when the Devil occupied the body of a young Hollywood actress. No wait, Blair was an actress playing a little girl who was definitely not an actress.
This movie was a cultural phenomenon. People actually had to be carried out of the theater or so the reports go.
If there was nothing else to take away from this movie — and it would be hard to take it away once it starts —and that would be that it brought to the national forefront two words.
Projectile vomiting.
Movie-goers learned from this movie that Linda Blair was fed way too much pea soup. I think if they investigate they may find the vomiting was connected to the head-spinning. You do a few 360s with your noggin and tell me you are not a little queasy.
Blair looked like a full-circle water sprinkler, only with gobs of goo instead of water.
Oh sorry. I made up some of that. But I did that to contrast what was an over-the-top extremely dramatic and tension building movie with the music, which is over-the-top, and extremely dramatic. So, perfect fit.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the movie or the music will be the bigger 1970s cultural touchstone. My bet is on the music.
The music fits the movie. It’s orchestral and symphonic in its sweep, not to mention psychedelic and dark.
Did I mention Oldfield, some kind of prodigy who could play dozens of instruments, created this at the age of 19? Wow. He apparently was in several bands as a young teen and due to family problems stayed in his room practicing guitar for hours on end, according to the well sourced Wikipedia page.
This album I bought used for $5 about a month or so ago after my man Willie Moseley, senior writer for Vintage Guitar magazine, suggested Oldfield as a top, if not the top, guitarist of all time. His suggestion was spurred by my posts about lists of greatest guitarists.
I listened. And Moseley had a point. Besides directing and other duties Oldfield spends a good time on his guitar, snapping, ripping through tubulur gongs of sound. Power chords, fuzzed tones and breakneck soloing are all there. And, what’s important it works with the music.
Good finding this record. True 1973 is a long time ago but I still remember the music played on the radio. That radio single was taken from the intro of the two-sided first album. There were many permutations and re-releases to come as the album sold an astonishing 15 million copies worldwide, including 2.6 million in the UK alone.
The music on head phones reveals repetitive riffs jumping on board one-by-one building to big and small crescendos. I flipped to Part. 2, the second side and ran into some parts that wordlessly disturbed me.
There was more tubulur bell dinging but there were unearthly sounds like phantom wolves howling — and snarls and growls of demons in the darkness as the music rose in volume and smothered the room.
I was having a flashback of Linda Blair squealing like a giant razorback. I pushed the off button, backed slowly, out of the room, and shut the door.
ALBUMS: Roy Orbison’s Greatest Hits (1962), 4.5/$$$; All Time Greatest Hits (1986), 4.0/$$$. <both docked a half point for not having Pretty Woman.>
Orbison’s heydey was shortly after I was born. . I probably heard his songs Only the Lonely and Crying at sweaty sock hops in a gym in Indiana.
Hey what’s a guy and gal to do in rural Indy after corning cars, skating at the roller rink, and playing pinball at the laundromat.
So Orbison provided a lot of slow dance material. Sad rejection crying and whining even to some degree but it was slow dance material for sure.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention there were hay rides.
I was the new kid coming from Georgia to a place that didn’t get many new kids. I didn’t know to much about hay rides but I said:
“Hey.”
Now.
Indiana, where I lived for three years growing up — 7th, 8th and 9th grades — is loaded with coming-of-age tales — and I don’t mean that sexually, well maybe I do: we were puppets of a biological force we had no idea how to control or live with. My school was called Klondike Junior High School and our nickname was the Nuggets.
In Indiana?
Where the only gold was corn aging in the fields, awaiting frustrated teenagers to come and get these hard golden kernels to rattle some car radiators.
But I digress. Damn did I digress.
Roy Orbison. His voice was one of the best in rock music. You’ve heard of singers who can break a light bulb with the sonic frequencies. Well Orbison’s multi-octave voice could unscrew the light bulb, set it gently down on a bed of feathers.
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely, hey I want you and I want you only — “Thunder Road,” Bruce Springsteen.
WIkipedia writes: Tim Goodwin, who conducted the orchestra that backed Orbison in Bulgaria, had been told that Orbison’s voice would be a singular experience to hear. When Orbison started with “Crying” and hit the high notes, Goodwin stated: “The strings were playing and the band had built up and, sure enough, the hair on the back of my neck just all started standing up. It was an incredible physical sensation .
The video below was of the Traveling Willburys filmed after Roy died. His voice is on it and note Orbison’s framed portrait on the wall..
T
These albums I own have virtually the same line-up, but there is one big difference. The second, newer one, is re-recorded. Yes, they are not the original hits, which ticked me off — and i’m sure others felt the same way when they found out. It’s not prominently mentioned on the cover. But after getting over the initial ripped-off feeling, I listened to it and, you know, it’s not bad. Heck, if Roy Orbison needs to be covered, who better than the Big O.
Musically the sound is a little softer on the re-recorded one, but it’s still Orbison’s voice on this double album.
ALBUMS: Contender w/ the X-Rays (1981); Eye of the Storm (1983)
MVC Rating: Contender 4.0/$$$; Eye of the Storm 3.5/$$
Five-dollar cover was a lot back in the day. That was the cost of a brand new album.
But for that $5 bill you would get into the little roadhouse club called the Casino in Auburn Ala. with live music and 50-cent longneck Budweisers. One of the best bands through was David Olney and the X-Rays. (Not to be confused with David Lindley and EL Rayo X).
He had a whole array of upbeat love songs and gritty story-songs such as Wait Here for the Cops, Oh My Love, Contender and Love and Money.
I found his 1981 album in an Auburn record store and am glad to have it. Many years later after starting this blog I picked up another Olney record for $2 at Charlemagne. It’s called Eye of the Storm. Not as good for me as the Contender album probably due to my emotional/nostalgia hook. But pretty good music nonetheless in a more Americana style.
The a capella ‘Ain’t it That Way” and the title song really stand out
WIkipedia reports that over the last few decades songs have been covered by and co-written with Emmylou Harris, Stee Earle, Linda Rondstadt, Steve Young, Del McCoury and Laurie Lewis.
He was friends with Townes Van Zandt, reported the ‘Nashville Scene,’ who said of Olney:
Anytime anyone asks me who my favorite music writers are, I say Mozart, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bob Dylan, and Dave Olney. Dave Olney is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard – and that’s true. I mean that from my heart.
The album I picked up by mistake. I saw the name Hurley and thought it was this group I heard about called Michael Hurley and the Holy Modal Rounders.
This was more than 30 years ago in Birmingham, although I liked the record with its full-throated backing gospel choir. The music was soul-inflected gospel with a hint of country. For years I thought Hurley on my album “John Hurley Delivers One More Hallelujah’ to be a black man. Just based on his vocals, the hallelujah choir and there were no pictures on the album and no Internet to disprove my pre-judgement.
Like I said I enjoyed the album but I had hundreds of albums before boxing them up and embracing the digital age. So, to be honest about it, after three children three states and 100s of CD’s , I never heard about John Hurley again and forgot that album languishing in hap-hazard alphabetical order in about six boxes.
As those of you know who have followed my column , I am chronicling and reviewing my album collection on my site as I count down my 678 (and growing) number of albums.
This is to raise awareness for Lewy body dementia which is the second leading cause of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s. Please check out the About Me button on my blog for more on Lewy.
Moving, raising a family and all that put some pressure on my records to be sold, but I held on Alabama, Georgia, Florida, California and now back to Alabama.
Meanwhile back at the vinyl countdown. I had stored away my records for decades, became an early adopter of an iPod and Apple streaming music. But I always vowed that even if I have to wait to retirement I’ll get those records out and have a listening room (AKA ‘Man Cave”). This was an idea long before I became ill. The Lewy diagnosis just gave me a deadline about three years ago I started this blog, to have fun mostly but also to raise awareness to this crummy disease.
So back to Hurley. He resurfaced in my consciousness when I got down to the ‘H’s ( I am now on the ‘N’s in my alphabetical countdown.) I listened to the album again and was really impressed. So I did more research and found out he grew up in a poor neighborhood in Pittsburgh. He worked and lived in Nashville for a while . He and his songwriting partner Ronnie Wilkins had a big moment in Muscle Shoals when Jerry Hall asked them to do a song for Aretha Franklin. They came back with “Son of a Preacher Man,” a worldwide hit for Dusty Springfield. Aretha covered it later to good success but not as big as Springfield’s hit.
I knew that song well, sang it on the way to church on Sundays when it came on in the car. My attention then focused on a song that I heard so many accolades but was relatively unfamiliar with it. It was called ‘Living on the Love of the Common People.”
I found his first album ‘John Hurley Sings to the People.” That had the Common People song. I was blown away again. ‘Sweet Pain’ is another great song off of that album.
The Common People song was a simple tune and simple words that came together with the ability to pull tears out of your eyes, especially if you watch the video of the song put together by Hurley’s son from family pictures. I was happy to have found these records and so now I’m looking for his third and last album. In the record store recently I found Hurley but it was the same album I had for so many years: John Hurley Delivers One More Hallelujah. Only this one had a birthday wish written in ink on the cover by presumably Hurley himself. See the picture.
Here’s the Happy Birthday message on an album I bought by John Hurt. Hurt, a singer-songwriter, grew up poor in Pittsburgh. He wrote several major hits but died relatively unknown at age 45.
I would love to find more information about this. Who’s Mom? Is this indeed from John Hurley?
I have tried to reach Hurley’s son, Ron, to no avail at this point.
John died in 1986 at age 45 of liver failure and brain failure, according to Wikipedia.
Meanwhile, another clue appeared on the same YouTube comment section suggesting Hurley at one point or several points in his life stayed or lived in Birmingham.
Here’s a post on the YouTube thread posted eight years ago.
@ronhurley1961 John Hurley was one of the, if not the most talented people that I have ever known. I met him when I was 17 years old in Birmingham Alabam at Bob Groves recording studio. He was there recording a friend of mine named Mike Gunnels. He drove a red sports car and always wore sunglasses. He stayed at my house and honored me with his friendship. That was over 40 years ago and I miss him to this day. He recorded the album “Street Gospel” shortly after and it is still my favorite.
NOTE TO READERS: The commenter’s user name was WiseGuyDogs1 and 8 years was how long ago this comment was published. Also ‘Street Gospel’ was the same record as ‘John Hurley Sings for the Common People.’ Lastly Mike Gunnels was the leader of a band called Hard Times, which later changed its name to Rites of Spring. They were considered by my own anecdotal research to be the best band in Birmingham for a few years there in the 1960s. Attempts to reach Gunnels were unsuccessful.
Among those dozen or so who have covered the song are Waylon Jennings, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Young, the Everly Brothers, and the Four Preps.
END NOTE: Those familiar with www.myvinylcountdown.com know that I have been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, a fatal disease which will likely kill me. Meanwhile, I have been reviewing my collection — I’m at nearly 400 reviewed now at my website. on my way to 678. I am going in alphabetical order (more or less).
I feel a kinship with the Lewy Body Dementia Association staffers. I’ve written for their website. I’ve laughed with them, shot hoops with them, gone to Vegas (Lewy conference) with them, worked with them to raise money for research and awareness.
They’ve been good folks. Now they’ve come out with a checklist that is giving me a headache.
But it’s not their fault.
The LBDA checklist is good. But probably because I have Lewy body dementia and I am trying to cover same dementia. Things get complicated. With a Lewy on your back.
So the source of my headache? I decided to fill in the boxes on the 2-page list of symptoms. Do I shuffle when I walk? Yes. Not all the time though. Do I have a weak voice? Yes. Sometimes. Do I have hallucinations? Yes, but rarely. Does my handwriting/typing suffer or change. Yes but well controlled with medication.
And on and on with the symptoms with me checking about 90 percent of the 40 or so boxes but I was left with a desire to add more context beyond checking a box.
LBDA recommends that you take it to the doctor where you could then give context to each of these two dozen or so symptoms. Again great idea. But by then you may have forgotten the nuances . For example, do I drool? Depends on what’s cooking, no, sorry couldn’t resist. Real answer, rarely.
So, anyway, my headache came on when I saw that i was checking nearly every box and appeared near death. When in reality, I feel OK much of the time. I am definitely not criticizing this great idea but i have one slight suggestion to make it more useful.
It’s easy as 1-2-3.
Below is a partial piece of the checklist which I have quickly filled in with my 1-2-3 grading system.
The 1 means frequently; the 2 means occasionally and 3 means seldomly or rarely. Leave blank if never.
And that’s it. I think I may try it at my next doctor’s visit and report back.
I just realized that I am glad I cut the list off where I did lest I share to the world my grading on constipation, delusions and sexual dysfunction.
Here’s a great album I picked up just about a year ago so not really a growing- up album. But I can make the link. Nyro wrote ‘Eli’s Coming’ a romping rock and roll radio hit for Three Dog Night off of a live album. I did dig that song at a pretty early age , 13 or 14.
Her original of that however is not on this one, which is an album of cover songs. The group Labelle sang throughout this album. The songs are soul and R&B that she grew up listening to in the Bronx. Song’s like the title cut, Jimmy Mack, Spanish Harlem and You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me. Now that i think about it, I was listening to these songs as well.
With Labelle chiming in, this gets real good real early. A real good record, worth looking for more of her music.
NOTE: I published a column on AL.com over the weekend which included a parable. I am now publishing the blog version of the parable on My Vinyl Countdown. The story comes out of this notion that whether we are healthy or terminally ill, we are all going to die.
—
He not busy being born is busy dying – Bob Dylan ‘It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding.”
A man is at the doctor’s office, hat in hand.
Man: How long I got Doc?
Doctor: 37 years, four months and two days.
Man : Whoa is that an average of lifespans after diagnosis?
Doctor: No average here. That’s how much time you have, I can tell you the exact second if you wish.
Man: No no. What do I do?
Doctor: Live! Live life.
Man: But now that you’ve told me the exact date I can’t stop thinking about it. Should I start making plans? There’s so much more I want to do.
Doctor: Well, you have 37 years four months and two days. Tomorrow at this time there will be one less day.
Man: AAaaargh. I’m dying.
The man ran out of the doctor’s office and into the street screaming.
‘I’m dying, I’m dying.”
A homeless person touched the man’s arm. ‘But you’re living. You’re living.”
The man stopped. He gave the homeless person a $20 bill. He went into a café, picked up a book and turned to a page.
A friend sat down.
Friend: What are you thinking about?
Man: My doctor said I have 37 years, four months and two days left to live
Friend: We are all going to die.
Man: Should I laugh or cry?
Friend: Yes.
The man looked at his friend. He looked down at the page with words by Henry David Thoreau.
He read: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
The man and friend sipped hot coffee. The heat felt good in the bustling café; outside was bone-chilling cold. The man looked again at Thoreau’s words.
“Live your life, do your work, then take your hat,” Thoreau wrote.
The man looked around the table, and underneath.
Man: Where’s my hat?
The man decided he must re-trace his steps. He looked and looked at the cafe, in the streets at the police station. He was driven by the words of a prophet: Nothing’s ever lost on God’s green Earth. She told this to the children. Time passed and he enjoyed life and almost forgot about his hat.
Then one day, five years later, , he spotted the hat on the doctor’s head as the doctor left the office one day.
I’m not ready to judge the content therein but these three albums I received for my recent birthday are fantastic to look at.
From top left it’s Bright Eyes’ “Fevers and Mirrors.” That’s a mirror which actually reflects. So you are on the album cover.
Clockwise it is a new Peter Buck solo album called “I Am Back to Blow Your Mind Once Again.” It’s a picture with a Day-Glo shine featuring a bicycle in the foreground and Peter, of REM fame, looking out over the water in the background.
Across the bottom is the gatefold of “Country Squire” by Tyler Childers. It looks like the same Day Glo artist only there’s a barn a goat and a recreational vehicle involved.
This reminds me that it might be time to do another round of MyVinylCountdown cover art standouts. You can see what I did here.
I am 60 by the way, going into year four of my diagnosis of Lewy body dementia.
ALBUM: ‘Little Criminals’ (1977) ‘I Love L.A. promotional EP (1983)
MVC Rating:Criminals 4.0/$$; LA 4.0./$$
I recognize the talent, the barrel-roll piano playing, the sardonic voice, the intelligent if not overly ironic lyrics illustrated by his biggest all time hit ‘Short People.’
Sure it was a send-up of prejudice and discrimination, sung from the point of view of a narrator so over the top that you couldn’t believe the singer was for real. Could you
Some people did. I would say get over yourself. But I found myself disliking this song because in 1977 it shot to No. 2 on Billboard and the refrain “Don’t need no short people round here” was always on the radio.
I thought it was funny at first but some of my best friends were short people. I came to a point where I disliked the song. I do agree with Randy Newman’s take in which Wikipedia reports he said:: “I had no idea that there was any sensitivity, I mean, that anyone could believe that anyone was as crazy as that character. To have that kind of animus against short people, and then to sing it and put it all in song and have a philosophy on it.”[
But Newman is good at what he does. having written some good songs. On this album I particularly like ‘Baltimore’ and ‘Dixie Flyer.’ I also have a single of ‘I Love LA’ — another song where you can’t take the words at face value.
Satire is funny. Satire is mean. Sometimes satire is funny because it’s mean. I get that. We get to make a choice about whether it’s funny or not and why or why not.
