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Led Zeppelin — 359


ALBUMS: Led Zeppelin IV (Stairway album 1971); Houses of the Holy (1973).

MVC Rating: Stairway 5.0/$$$$; Houses 4.5/$$$$

Robert Plant’s voice is/was a force of nature. No doubt about it.

If you were a parental unit at about the time Led Zeppelin hit maximum frenzy, you would describe that force of nature as the sound of a thousand feral cats f… ,um, fighting.

To a young boy/man feeling spunky and cocky and awkward all at the same time, Plant’s flying screeches were a magic carpet ride at 100 mph going through tunnels of Jimmy Page spun guitar scales and crying runs, halfway tamed by John Bonham’s dinosaur bone skin beating.

From thrash metal to lilting folk it was all featured in this Tolkien fantasy land where if you spark up the right mood you were transported and time flowed until it slowed to a drip.

Some influential critics, outing themselves as not-so-different- from the parental units, bashed Led Zeppelin. They literally made fun of them. What they failed to see was this was the artistic and commercial pinnacle of the electrification of blues absorbed by white British kids. New soul. Clapton Cream Yardbirds (from whom Jimmy Page came) had already turned up Robert Johnson’s amp tenfold but Led Zeppelin kept pushing the excess, no, pushing the word ‘excess’ beyond the bounds of its definition. Albert King and Muddy Waters set up the white boys with high lobs. Paged and brethren smashed it. Ace.

My two LZ albums (I have more on digital) are indeed classics. Critics came around. Like the Beatles, there will likely not be another band that created a sound so distinctly different (despite the plagiarism and blatant lifting of old blues lyrics and riffs.) They took it and made it their own, tho that’s certainly disputed by certain plaintiffs.

On Plant’s voice: The only other one in this era and genre who had a voice that could make thousands of black birds explode from the trees was: Janis Joplin.

The 4th album, Stairway, is the commercial peak and like Free Bird or Hotel California or Bohemian Rhapsody, the song is an epic game changer. Even if no one really knows what they are talking about.

Houses of the Holy was a perfectly executed escape from Stairway overkill. It had playful reggae D’yer Mak’er, a James Brown tribute, the Crunge, and a dance tune, ‘Dancing Days.’

There will not be another Led Zeppelin. (Did somebody mention Greta van Fleet?)

“Many times I’ve wondered how much there is to know.”

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Look what I got!

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.


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Daily Journal 4-24-2019,

9::12 a.m: Typical start of the day spent about 10-20 minutes extra looking for stuff. I ended up forgetting my satchel of record albums. I usually take some records that I am working up reviews on, because sometimes liner notes are useful. The covers and the discs themselves often offer up the date released — although a surprising number do NOT do that which means an Internet search. There are also tidbits about who else joined the band to sit in on a song or whatever. Drummer Jim Keltner (Derek and the Dominos) is on half my records it seems, I swear, even a Peter Himmelman one. He must be in his late 70s?

Check-ins. Sleep. Fell asleep watching NBA so even though I didn’t get to bed until after midnight, part of that was sleeping on the couch. Pain. No spasms. No major tendonitis or arthritis or extraordinary Lewy sumptoms right now. Slow typing. Fine motor skills like typing are my most frequent unwelcomed symptom. I have basketball tonight. Mental Health. Good. No depression. No despair. Just middle of the road right now. Thinking with my brain about my brain, Albert Einstein and black holes. Played Dwight Twilley album before work. Great song: “Outta My Hands.”

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Daily Journal 4-23-2019

It’s nearly 8 a.m. I’m not typing well right now. It is increasingly taking awhile to get my hands working. This is my new Daily Journal. Every day I’m going to write about myself, most specifically healh-wise.. But there are no rules. The rest of my blog will continue as before, counting down my 678 vinyol records to bring awareness to this horrible brain disease I have: Lewy body demenia and I will still be filing longer form essays and ruminations and even news.

I was going to try to do this at night but I fell asleep in my bed with my fingers on the keyboard. NP is Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Cry for the Bad Man.’ I’m in the L’s in my countdown alphabetically. I m also listening to Led Zeppelin. I am usually through three album sides before I get to work.

Wow. Zeppelin and Skynyrd. Two totally different groups but co-equals in virtuosity, popularity and influence. Free Bird vs. Stairway to Heaven. Love em both. (although I barely listen to them any more after hearing those songs 1 (yes) 1 million times each.

Oh and because the journal will be a lot about me and the disease and its erosion of me, I need some health touchstones.: Sleep. Has been good although I had two of those extremely painful rolling muscle spasms this last week in my calves. It happens at night and I usually wake up yelling. Eating: Officially on South Beach low carb diet although I had a chocolate bunny yesterday, solid melt-in-your mouth-chocolate. But constippation is a battle I fight with prunes.. Mental State:. If my mentality was a state it would have a bumper sticker saying ‘Thank God for Mississippi.’ In other words, it could be worse. Pain I’ve had two painful rolling muscle spasms this week. It’s the kind where I feel like the rodents that I sometimes hallucinate are somehow making their way under my skin, into my my calf, and running amuck. Most of the time I am not in pain,however, and feel fortunate about that. The brain itself does not have pain nerve endings — it is my understanding, and I am thankful for that.

Watch for these updates every day.and I’ll keep the music flowing. Thanks to Lori Oliver, my sister-in-law, for suggesting this journal feature, saying it would greatly enhance my regular but sporadic posts on my health. I just look up to the universe and say let me keep words and I’ll make sure that I try to string them together into something that makes sense. (His and Hurricanes is the exception).

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His and Hurricanes, Pt. 9

SCENE: Courtroom  222  in a massive underground city beneath the dead city of Orlando. The new city was called Boybando. No  one knows why. It is still the year 2525,

Burnees stood tall before the judge. She knew he would order her killed so she thought she might as well have some fun. You know that kind of fun that makes the target explode.

JUDGE: Burnees Firesky, how do you plead to these charges?

BURNEES: Which charges?

JUDGE: These charges you have been brought up on — corrupting God-fearing people, blasphemy. sedition and 10 charges of antagonistication

‘BURNEES: I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t recognize your jurisdiction o’er me. Your jurisdiction needs some consultation,

JUDGE: What are you saying?

BURNEES: I am reminded of the words of Prosby who said it so profoundly:
Gonna dig ya on a scoobydoo. Gonna gitcha on’a scubadie
Ooh boog-a-boo you. You ooh boog-a-boo you, little boy
Get hip to the consultation of the boolawee.

JUDGE: See Ms. Firesky this is just the kind of thing that has gotten you into so much trouble. And don’t ever say ‘boolawee’ in my court again.

BURNEES:: You say that because you are not hip to the consultation of the boolawwee.

JUDGE: Out of order. Now Ms,Firesky you now have 11 charges of antagonistication. I sentence you to be hung, no, nailed to a tree, a tall tree, with rusty nails. What do you have to say for yourself?

BURNEES: Well, in the words of Akfak: “He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.”

The Judge started to talk but Burnees continued. “But she who seeks will find and she who does not seek will not be found.:

Again the judge , very confused now, tried again but Burnees continued louder. “And she who seeks sea shells by the seashore will sell sea shells by the seashore but how many sea shells fetched from the sea shore will she sell?

Miles away, both vertically and horizontally, Prosby shifted from shadow to shadow on his way to the Alexander Springs portal. He may die trying but he was on his way to rescue Burnees.

TO BE CONTINUED …

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Lyle Lovett– 360

ALBUM: Lyle Lovett (1986); Pontiac (1988)

MVC Rating: Lovett 4.0/$$$; Pontiac, 4.0/$$$$

bought this debut album in my early Birmingham years. Probably because of lyrics like this: And this old porch is like a steaming greasy plate of enchiladas
With lots of cheese and onions
And a guacamole salad
And you can get them down at the LaSalle Hotel

Lovett went to Texas A&M just like my Dad.

Lovett loved cheese enchiladas just like Dad (who taught me to love them).

Lovett married Julia Roberts. Dad married Jo Ellen Oliver, beautiful women both. Dad stayed married.

Though I haven’t listened much lately I have this album and a couple Lovett CD’s. His song about church going on too long is a favorite.

Then there’s the ultimate cheating song ‘God Will.‘

 
So who says he'll forgive you
And says that he'll miss you
And dream of your sweet memory
God does
But I don't
God will
But I won't
And that's the difference
Between God and me

In the liner note the legendary Guy Clark wrote: “The first time I met Lyle I thought he was a French blues player. You can’t tell he’s Texan ’til you hear the songs. Then he’s so Texas he doesn’t have to say it.”

After publishing this and weeks later I discovered I had another vinyl Lyle Lovett album called Pontiac. It’s even better than the self-titled debut I reviewed here. HIghlights: “If I had a Boat,’ ‘She’s No Lady,’ and ‘Give me Back My Heart.’

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Dementia Free Day: How too much information can be bad (blog version)

Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear — Sunday school song based on Bible passage in Luke

As a lifelong journalist, I’m all about information. Open records open meetings. Free speech. I say no secrets is the best way to run a government and, for the most part, your personal life.

But also in my experience as a journalist in Alabama, Florida and California I’ve seen burnout.

I learned to protect myself but you can’t always. I didn’t want to see the crime scene photos of Chauncy Bailey, a journalist and colleague in Oakland Calif. but after I pushed the photos away I snuck a glance. He was shot in the face with a shotgun.

I cannot unsee that.

Covering the cop beat in Birmingham years earlier a similar thing occurred when a police detective said “Hey this is what we were working on. He threw the envelope with photos of the crime scene. They watched me pull out a 70-something-year-old woman who was stabbed more than a dozen times. I passed the hazing of a cub cop reporter by not throwing up.

So I learned to avert my eyes and steel myself: When a decomposing body of a heatwave victim was taken out of her house; when a female murder victim was pulled from a quarry; when people broke down and screamed in anguish at funerals of children; when a man cried showing me the spot where he found his dying brother, carried by a tornado 100 yards from his house.

When I was offered to cover an execution while working at the Orlando Sentinel, I declined. When a woman threatened to jump off the Oakland Tribune building in a suicide, I chose not to watch as the street filled with onloookers.

But I heard the the eerie simultaneous gasp of the crowd below when she hit the pavement. I can’t unhear that.

I guess i am hoping to give you a strategy, however ineffectual, and as a warning, however meaningful it may be.

I am three years into a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. The average lifespan after diagnosis is 4 to 8 years.

I am scared. I am sad. I am angry. I am resigned. All those things at different times but I’m also practicing my strategies learned in the past.

That doesn’t mean I will stop gathering information about my disease or listening to others’ experiences in memory care centers, in support groups and in YouTube videos.

On YouTube I watched John and Dawn’s achingly beautiful video. It shows what will likely happen to me. I doubt I will watch it again, because that would be too much. I’m linking it here but don’t watch if you are not up for it right now. Self protection.

I wanted to do something funny with this post. I was going to propose a Lewy body dementia free day. A day where patients like myself and caretakers like my super strong wife, Catherine, and my daughters Hannah, Emily and Claire could have a daylong respite from encountering, talking, reading, watching anything about dementia..Lewy Free Day.

Maybe the symptoms will go away for a day. Maybe that burning feeling on my neck will go away. That my fingers will return to their past nimbleness. I actually took typing in school and could get 50 to 60 words a minute. Now I find myself hunting and pecking.

What if we had one day a week as Lewy Free Day.

We all know that’s a pipe dream. But we can choose a day –i’ll say Monday — to mindfully focus on what is positive in our lives. Watch an uplifting movie, read something not about dementia. Make your favorite dinner or go out. Put off any non-urgent actions related to dementia care or research or talking about new symptoms until the next day.

Don’t even joke about dementia. Finger to lips to anyone who brings it up.

On this day, dementia doesn’t exist.

Lewy Free Day or, to broaden it out, Dementia Free Day. T-shirts could be made:

‘Dementia Free Day’ on the front.

On the back: ‘Don’t forget.’ (or vice versa.)

I’m putting my Dementia Free Day for Monday on my calendar.

Otherwise I’ll forget.

For AL.com version go here.

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David Lindley — 360, 359, 358, 357,

My four David Lindley albums.

ALBUMS: El Rayo X (1981); Win this Record (1982); Mr. Dave (1985} Very Greasy (1988).

MVC Rating: El Rayo X, 4,5/$$$; Win This Record, 4.5 $$$; Mr. Dave, 4.0/$$$; Very Greasy, 4.0/$$$$.

It’s been said that David Lindley can play any stringed instrument put before him. Just give him some string.

The eccentric looking musician — long unkempt locks, plaid shirts, psychedelic pants, bushy mutton chop sideburns — was the antithesis of smooth, suave So-Cal performer Jackson Browne, whom Lindley backed on much of Browne’s discography and live shows.

That’s probably why Lindley’s side projects were so much fun. His eccentricities — kept in check while playing a note perfect lead on ‘Running on Empty’ for example were finally his to accentuate.

And he did, mixing covers of obscure reggae rasta tunes, blues, country with scorching slide guitar and other instruments you may not know.

For example, on Very Greasy , Lindley is listed as playing slide guitar,
Bouzouki, Saz, and mandolin. I know mandolin and slide but not the other two. Apparently they are lute-like instruments from Turkey and surrounding areas. (At least he used existing instruments with a track record unlike 10cc ‘s Godley & Creme who went noodling around with middling success on their self-made Gizmo.)

It should be noted that Lindley in his younger days won the Topanga Banjo/fiddle contest in California five times. From 1966 to 1970 he played in Kaleidoscope, a band he co-founded.







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BREAKING: Third annual Mike Madness charity tournament set for July 20

See AL.com version for updated version.

I just got word that we have agreed on a date with UAB which is donating the use of the UAB Recreation Center for 3-on-3 basketball games (and other hijinx) for charity.

We are raising money to fight this brain disorder that I have, along with more than 1 million other people.

It has no cure, no known cause and is fatal. It is the second leading cause of dementia behind Alzheimer’s disease. But few people are aware of Lewy, which physiologically is a cousin to Parkinson’s disease with symptoms similar to both PD and AD.

Trent Richardson drives like the football player he is at Mike Madness charity basketball tournament last year. The tournament is back again for its third year on July 20. More details to come. Photo — Trish Crain

In two years we have raised a total of more than $25,000 for research and awareness of Lewy body dementia. We started humbly with a $5,000 goal the first year and took in about $13,000. Last year we raised $12,000. (These numbers are coming from my math memory department in my brain which is currently under siege from rogue proteins, but I think they are about right.) I would love to raise $25,000 this year to push our total to $50,000.

I think we can do it. I think this will be the most successful one yet.

Details of the tournament will be coming but mark the date: July 20, UAB Recreation Center. We have the gym all day and will start pretty early in the morning. Again stay tuned.

.
Last year we had surprise visitors. Former NBA and UA basketball star Buck Johnson and former UA running back Trent Richardson joined us and even participated in a game or two

So stay tuned. Many more details to come.

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Lake–368, 367

ALBUMS:: Lake (1977); Paradise Island (1979)

MVC Rating: Lake 4.0/$$$; Paradise Island 3.5/$$$

This is a German band (sang in English) that had some minor success on the radio with a couple of songs, including ‘Time Bomb.’ My knee-jerk reaction would be to say they are Yes-lite. But the better description would be Styx’s German cousin.

So what’s the difference between Lake and Styx, Asia, or Toto? Record sales is about all I can see. Lake has the same skill-set: highly professional musicians who can put a polished sheen on a radio-friendly sounding tune.

They definitely were aiming for the radio, unafraid to lop a healthy dose of syrupy strings over there rock balladry — see ‘Do I Love You.’ Or is that keyboards?

My wife enjoyed this band, more than me. And that’s how I came to have these.

The band did receive an honor from MyVinylCountdown by being named by me as a band that should have had a bigger hit in the song ‘Jesus Came Down.’ It’s about Jesus coming back and being disappointed in what we’ve been doing. Now who might be behind this little outcome? I don’t know, who could it be? Ummm, SATAN. (Thanks for pointing that out church lady.

Both the albums I have, their debut and the second one, are almost interchangeable. They are both good solid examples, of the polished guitar and keyboard rock that came out of car radio speakers in the late 1970s and 1980s.