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Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — 550

ALBUM: 4-Way Street (1970

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$$

One of the best and emphatic protest anthems against school violence (and war), was Neil Young’s ‘Ohio,’ played on this 1970 record with his on and off again band-mates. It , unfortunately, still resonates with current events.

That song  is about the shooting death of four  students at Kent State May 4,  1970,  during the height  of the Vietnam war protests and one of  the better songs on this live two-record set.

TIn soldiers and Nixon’s coming; we are finally on our own; this summer I hear the drumming; four dead in Ohio.

This album is kind of controversial in that it is hated by some as a bloated artifact, loved by others for the classic songs and music.

I agree. On both accounts.

The extended jams are impressive but too long on record. Keep the song with jams, Ohio and Southern Man to name just two, just edit a bit. Save 20 minutes.

Keep all Neil Young songs. But get rid of such non-gems as 49 Bye Byes, and The Lee Shore, there’s another two or so worth pruning. Savings another 20 minutes. There you go, down to one album. And a great album. Less is more.

Young is clearly the stand-out and, as you’ll see later when we get near the end of my countdown, I have lots and lots of Young. One of my favorites. I finally got to see him live at his annual Bridge School concert in California with my daughter Emily. Paul McCartney was headliner. Videos below show CNSY doing an enduring classic, ‘Teach Your Children.’ and ‘Southern Man,’ an angry rebuke of southerners  for some of the horrors of racism and slavery. Lynyrd Skynyrd fired back years later with a sharp rebuke of thier own, seemingly admonishing him for painting with a broad brush.

I hope Neil Young will remember, Southern Man don’t need him around, anway.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain cancer.

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Marshall Crenshaw — 552, 551

ALBUMS: Marshall Crenshaw (1982); Field Day (1983)

MVC Rating: Crenshaw 4.0/$$$; Field Day 4.0/$$$

I don’t want to say Buddy Holly-lite. Because I’ll bet that’s been done before in a description of Marshall Crenshaw.

So I won’t say it and instead say Buddy Holly-light. Because there is some pure holy Buddy Holly in there. Light not lite.

Had Buddy survived the plane crash, he likely would have progressed far ahead of Crenshaw right now. I say that because Buddy Holly was an incredible hit song writer whose songs have  held up for decades.  For goodness sakes, the Beatles themselves named their band in homage of Buddy Holly andthe Crickets.

Crenshaw’s good. He has a nice soothing sound, catchy songs about girls and, well girls.

Crenshaw is a singer-songwriter who creates song that are imminently fun and fast. Great to listen to at a dinner party out on the porch on warm spring day. Twangy guitars, strong vocals and great songs. It often all starts with song craft. If the songs sometimes may sound tossed off, that’s part of the point.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Dolly Parton — 555, 554, 553

ALBUMS: The Best of Dolly Parton (1970); Best of Dolly Parton (1975); Dolly Greatest Hits (1982)

MVC Rating: Best (’70) 4.5/$$$; Best (’75) 5.O/$$$$; Greatest (82) 4.0/$$$

I’m jealous. My friend and colleague Greg Garrison, AL.com’s religion reporter for decades, drove to Dollywood Thursday night and had an interview Friday with Dolly Parton.

I’m Greg’s editor and he did the smart thing to call me AFTER he was on his way lest I would have ordered him to pick me up. I would have brought my three Dolly albums  with me of course and asked her to sign them. Obnoxious that would be — at the least. So Greg, thanks for waiting on that call.

For my part, I am going to move Dolly Parton up the alphabetical scale of myvinylcountdown.com .

I’m almost up to the D’s anyway, which would make a good fit. You know, D for Dolly.

Dolly Parton is 72 and I  am 58. About 50 years ago I became a fan. As young boy, about 8 or 9 or so, I saw her on TV, on The Porter Wagoner Show. Dolly was kind of a sidekick to Porter, the sequin jacketed country singer with slicked back hair.

As I said, I was about 8 watching B&W TV as Porter introduced Dolly singing her new song. ‘I Will Always Love You.’  That song become a minor hit at the time. And it was embedded in my 8-year-old brain.

Years later Whitney Houston took it to worldwide fame and many people thought it was a new song.

I like Dolly’s version better. Whitney could definitely power through with a voice almost too good to be true. But I blame Whitney, (rest in peace) for all of the vocal gyrations that led to and became overused on vehicles such as ‘American Idol.’

Couple things I learned or my memory was refreshed about: Dolly Parton has an incredible natural voice and sings songs like she means them which is the point of singing, no? Connecting with an audience.She sings with the right emphasis and uses the right inflection.

Her voice is the real deal. But not only that, she played many instruments, guitar, banjo and piano. And maybe more impressive than all; she wrote nearly all of her songs, some of which have become classics.

She had 25 No. 1 Billboard country hits. She did movies, some good, some not so much. But I enjoyed ‘9 to 5.’

The three albums I have are about the perfect snapshot of her career in music. The 1970 best-of covers the early years and has a startling version of ‘Mule Skinner Blues’ complete with yodeling. Dolly makes you love yodeling even if you hate yodeling. This record also may have the definitive version of ‘How Great Thou Art.’

The second best-of  (from 1975) has her signature songs that led her to the big time. ‘Jolene,’ ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Coat of Many Colors’ and ‘Love is Like a Butterfly.’

The third album 1982’s Greatest  Hits chronicles her crossing over from mostly pure country to a more pop sound that garnered bigger audiences but I didn’t like it as well as the earlier two albums.

It has such megahits as ‘Islands in the Stream’ and ‘9 to 5,’ from the movie soundtrack of the same name.

Videos below include a surprising cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ a classic 70s rock tune that few artists ever attempt to cover because the multi-layered original is considered definitive. And the  early introduction of ‘I will Always Love You.’

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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The Cure –556

ALBUM:  Standing on the Beach – the Singles (1986)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

This one appears nearly new, but I know it’s not. I remember buying this in  Birmingham in 1986. Critically acclaimed, the band is in the same musical neighborhood of XTC and the Smiths, both of which I have on vinyl and will be reviewed later.

The Cure, led by Robert Smith, use personal song lyrics and create a dark ethereal sound that at times nears the neo-Gothic space of Sisters of Mercy.

I can see why my record  looks so new: It is, taken overall, depressing and angst-filled, which I could only take in small doses. A renewed listen to this however reveals some strong musicality.

The Smiths provide a  touchstone. Only the Smiths had a  keener grasp on irony and humor. Also, the Smiths had  Johnny Marr’s strumming and  jangly guitar sound which  was more suited for my earbuds anyway. The Cure are a bit icier, a little more electronic (in a punky way).

This is a compilation album of songs over time with some shifts in band members. (I think Robert Smith is the only remaining original member). As they evolved, some of the darkness went away for cheerier tunes, if not lyrics. Probably not lyrics.

An example is the Close to Me video below: The lyrics are not sunshine and light. At least from what I can understand. But the tune itself is quite poppy and catchy.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Elvis Costello — 566, 565, 564, 563

ALBUMS:  KIng of America (1986); Imperial Bedroom (1982); Get Happy (1980);  Armed Forces (1978)

MVC RATING: King 4.0/$$$$; Imperial 4.5/$$$$; Get Happy 4.0/$$$$; Armed Forces, 4.5/$$$$

I may have mentioned this before but Elvis Costello substantially opened my world to another kind of  music. The Beatles first moved something inside and paved the way for this growing interest, or  love, of music.

Because of the Beatles I found the Rolling Stones, the Who, CCR, Clapton, etc. Other paths, including my Dad’s records,  led me to Louis Armstrong, jazz, and later different paths led me to  Motown, Stax, Johnny Cash, the 11-year-old Michael Jackson, and  so on. My Mom, I remember liked folk music, such as Peter Paul and Mary, and some Top 40  off the car radio in the 1970s. I actually remember singing along with mom and siblings to How Do You Do as we were driving. That song you may remember is one I have declared the Best Worst Song of all time.

By high school I was listening to mixed-tape cassettes I made, painstakingly, often on a theme. “Soft Rock” or “Hard Rock” or Best of Southern Rock” or, and this is true, I had one mixed tape called “Eclectic Mix.”  As  you can see my imagination was boundless. Not. My  Eclectic Mix probably consisted of country rock and folk, a Rolling Stones song and a Dylan cover. With maybe an Al Green song. (No, that would be saved for my “Love songs” tape.)

But when I was in my last year of high school — “78 is great”– I somehow came across Costello. I actually had a store-bought tape of Costello’s debut and arguably his best — but that’s a big argument. “My Aim Is True’ was not radical in that it was busting new barriers, like the Beatles or the Clash for that matter.

This is melodic, angry, catchy and highly literate pop and rock coming out at a time when punk was making a lot of noise. I didn’t really get the Sex Pistols’ appeal  beyond screaming about being pissed off.  Now Costello was pissed in a literate and often amusing way.

While we, HS seniors, were playing air guitar to Stairway to Heaven,  Dream On, Free Bird and Frampton Comes Alive, along comes a guy bold enough to steal the King’s name. Wearing thick black ugly glasses, mind you. Damn.

As a songwriter he’s near genius.

But it was like nothing I had heard; I couldn’t get enough. Besides the cassette, I  bought five albums over time of Costello. One, This  Year’s Model, is missing from my collection, and it may have been the best. But the four (above) that I still have are excellent. And they are all different, even though marked with his distinctive vocals and artful lyrics. (Last thing, whomever I lent This Year’s Model to, just leave it on my porch, no questions asked. Come to think of it I’m missing a number of albums over the years, such as Bob Marley’s Natty Dread, and Deep Purple Made in Japan which had Highway Star and a scorching performance by Ritchie Blackmore. As usual, I digress).

Back to Costello, listen to  these songs in video. The ‘Detectives’ video is, if you hang with it through the opening loud distortion, a pretty remarkable live performance of a clever song.

Memorable line:  ‘I don’t know how much more of this I can take;

She’s filing her nails while they are dragging the lake.’

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

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Crack the Sky — 568, 567

ALBUMS: Safety in Numbers:  (1978); Animal Notes (1976)

MVC Rating  Safety 4.0/$$$; Animal 4.0/$$$

What is progressive rock?

I’m having this discussion with myself as I listen to my Crack the Sky albums, which have elements of prog-rock but also  traditional rock (without the roll).

Some might even say progressive rock is an oxymoron.

Rock n’ roll was music that boiled up in the 1950s as white musicians appropriated black rhythm and blues.

Mega bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin made gadzillions by stealing the music, giving it a makeover (turning up the guitar and winking as they over emoted vocals to great effect). I’m being a little flip here but not untrue. Groups like the Beatles and Stones took the songs to another place; they weren’t just note-by-note renditions.  But by using the old R&B as a base, they moved forward with their own sound. Besides Stones and Zep, think ZZ Top, Allman Brothers, Cream and Eric Clapton as examples.

But what about groups like King Crimson, Emerson Lake, and Palmer and the Moody Blues? Or, Queen, Soft Machine, Yes, and Electric Light Orchestra. And Pink Floyd, and Crack the Sky? These were groups that used jazz and classical concepts such as orchestral interludes, odd time signatures,  and virtuoso musicianship. Some pushed  it into avant-garde Dadaist music  like Frank Zappa and Beefheart.

These bands either were influenced more by jazz and classical or had moved so far away from an R&B base, that it was not heard in the songs.

Of course, lots of these bands crossed over. Led Zeppelin with its fantasy themes, multi-layered guitars and psychedelia, might be deemed progressive in some contexts, like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ for example.

But I’m leaving out some key influencers: the Who with their rock operas ‘Tommy’ and ‘Quadrophenia;’ the Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations’ and the Beatles who were pioneers on all of it.

From their Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry chops out of the chute in early early 1960 to ‘A Day in the Life’ in 1967 which I would consider the classic example of a progressive rock song. It’s not only complex, lyrically and musically but it also is cohesive, despite many shifting parts.

So this may be a long way of saying, it’s those Beatles again. Yet they didn’t ignore their early American influenced rock n’ roll either, or ever.  In their last apearance on the top of a building in London they plaed ‘Get Back’ which is about as rock’n roll as you can get.

Crack the Sky is no Beatles. But the band’s song Safety in Numbers works well with it’s  opening guitar strum and catchy chorus even if that chorus is two cliche’ s bound together: “Cause there’s safety in numbers and numbers don’t lie.’

I like it.

Animal Notes is a little meatier. Invaders from Mars  sounds like a 10cc or Squeeze song. Strong progressive rock instrumentation.

There’s an interesting  song about Canadian Mounties, not kidding, which apparently at one point was supposed to be worked up into a concept album. Probably good decision to abandon that idea..

Counting down my 678 records before I die of brain disease.

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Sam Cooke –570

ALBUM: Live at Harlem Square Club 1963 (1985)

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$

I could listen to Sam Cooke sing anything. A telephone book? What’s that?

The menu at Olive Garden, maybe.

Lost too soon, Cooke was a soul singer who’s voice was smooth with a side of gravel. He could swing as evidenced by this wonderful 1963 music from the Harlem Club, re-discovered and released in 1985.

You want to ‘Twist the Night Away’, then take your handkerchief a round. Round and round. Now your dancing with the chicken slacks, er, the chick in slacks.

What if your baby been stepping out at least that’s what people say.

Sam says don’t get all violent about it, go home and  tell her:

Honey it’s all right
Long as I know, long as I know that you love me
Honey, it’s all right

(And as long as she  tells you it’s not true, he sings a little later).

But then again ‘You Send Me.’

Cooke’s biggest hit. He milks it at the Harlem: “I just want you to listen to this song right here.”

At first I thought it was infatuation
But, woo, it’s lasted so long
Now I find myself wanting
To marry you and take you home, whoa
You, you, you, you send me
I know you send me
I know you send me
Honest you do

Cooke could work a crowd. They burst out in singalong choruses nearly every song. Wish I was there.

Sam earned his chops on the gospel music scene with some magnificent God praising in a group called  Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, which, if you’re into that kind of music, is some top of the line gospel.

Less than a year after this live show, Cooke was shot and killed in Los Angeles. Police ruled it a justifiable homicide, something the family has long disputed, according to a book by Fred Bronson called The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits: The Inside Story Behind Every Number.

This one was tough not to give a 5.0.

Counting my 678 vinyl records down before I die of brain disease.

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Living for the City

Hicks prepares to sing at the bus station. (Mike Oliver)
OK,  so you know us journalists. Alway looking for the irony, the anomaly, the thing that seems out of place.
It’s Friday and  a couple of us in the AL.com newsroom heard about the grand opening of the intermodal bus/train station where featured live would be American Idol star and Birmingham native and barbecue entrepreneur Taylor Hicks.
We ambled on over.
So there was a  big crowd of city of Birmingham folks who knew what was going on. The other half of the  nearly packed bus station was made up of  travelers who seemed confused by the whole shindig. There was no sign, that I saw, that said Taylor Hicks was about to perform. And Taylor is the kind of a guy who would go unnoticed in a Publix grocery store.
I’m leading up to my ironic observation.
The ribbon gets cut. Former Mayor William Bell is there, current Mayor Randall Woodfin was there and council members whom I can’t name and other city folk were there.
So what does Hicks open with. “Living for the City.’
People were dancing, waving hands, clapping, bumping to a cool Stevie Wonder funky groove. I had to admit I was nodding along to the beat.
I still had the song in my bobbing  head going  back to the office.
Then I remembered the words.
Taylor may have subbed out some words? Don’t know because I really wasn’t able to hear the words clearly with bus station accoustics.
 Here’s the words from Stevie Wonder, which would not necessarily be the  Chamber of Commerce version of the city.
-=-=–=-=-=-=-
A boy is born in hard time Mississippi
Surrounded by four walls that ain’t so pretty
His parents give him love and affection
To keep him strong moving in the right direction
Living just enough, just enough for the city
His father works some days for fourteen hours
And you can bet he barely makes a dollar
His mother goes to scrub the floors for many
And you’d best believe she hardly gets a penny
Living just enough, just enough for the city yeah
His sister’s black but she is sho ’nuff pretty
Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy
To walk to school she’s got to get up early
Her clothes are old but never are they dirty
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Her brother’s smart he’s got more sense than many
His patience’s long but soon he won’t have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
‘Cause where he lives they don’t use colored people
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Just enough for the city
Living for the city
Just enough for the city
Enough for the city
Just enough for the city
Living for the city
Just enough for the city
-=-=-=-=-=-=
A great song.  And Taylor did a fine job with  it:  In fact, Taylor sang the song in one of the rounds in 2006 when he won American Idol,  so not an off-the-wall choice. It’s just there  was some irony because the Wonder song isn’t exactly a love letter for the ‘the city:’
In fact it is actually a brutal and scathing critique of ‘the city.’

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Yellow Bird sighting. Is it a sign?

AL.com’s Dennis Pillion has a story this morning about the sighting of a one-in-a -million genetic anomaly, a yellow cardinal, seen in the Birmingham area.

Auburn University researchers say this cardinal is yellow due to a rare genetic mutation. It’s been photographed around Alabaster, Alabama in February 2018.(Jeremy Black Photography)

First thing I thought of was the band Bright Eyes led by Conor Oberst  and his references to yellow birds in two songs of the album  ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning.’

From the song Poison Oak:

And I never thought this life was possible
You’re the yellow bird that I’ve been waiting for
The end of paralysis I was a statuette

From the song We are  Nowhere and It’s Now

Did you forget that yellow bird?
How could you forget your yellow bird?
She took a small silver wreath and pinned it on to me
She said, “This one will bring you love”
And I don’t know if it’s true
But I keep it for good luck

I don’t have this on vinyl, so this is not a ‘countdown’ record. But I recommend Conor Oberst’s work, both in Bright Eyes and out of Bright eyes.  Check the videos and his references to ‘yellow bird.’

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Core of Rock (various artists) –571

still with its $3 sticker

ALBUM: Core of Rock, compilation, (Richie Havens, Tim Hardin, et.  al. 1970)

MVC Rating: 3.5/$$$

An odd mix of popular and not so popular from the 1960s and 1970s.

I’m looking for some thread to tie them together, but is kind of a hodgepodge , that includes blues folk and a jamming drum and flute solo from Blues Project.

Janis Ian, the brainy teenager who wrote ‘At 17’,  goes all Romeo and West Side story with ‘Society’s Child.’

Then there’s Cory Wells, formerly (or later)  of hitmeisters Three Dog Night who should have stayed with the pack  (or was this before he joined the pack). His two songs, with the band the Enemys, include a needless and poor version of Chuck Berry’s ‘Too Much Monkey Business.’

And then there’s Blues Project, hippie flute instrumentals– meh. And Van Dyke Parks is working his arrangement talents while humming Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Richie Havens’ take on ‘I Shall be Released’ is good. But my admiration here was focused on Tim Hardin, the fragile-voiced war vet who wrote and performed one of rock/folk’s most straightforward and best song ever in a career cut short by a fatal drug overdose: Reason to Believe.

if I listen long enough to you

I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true.

Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried

Still I’d look to find a reason to believe

I love Hardin’s voice. But Rod Stewart’s version is a forceful classic.

I realize this album was a bargain pickup so I, as I was wont to do, could glean two or three or four songs for a mixtape. I also used to discover new and good music on some of these hit-or-miss compilations. (Wait until i get you to one of my compilation purchases with a cool rave-up of a song that will make your ‘backbone slip.’ (That will be in the  M’s), I think.

 

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.