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Difford and Tilbrook — 526

ALBUM: Difford and Tilbrook (1984)

MVC Rating:  3.5/$$

Um.

Couple of nice songs, most notably ‘Picking up the Pieces.’

‘Tears for Attention’ finally gets your attention after a dozen listens, now seems to be a very good song to me after first dismissing as slooow..

But my main reaction is how this is SO not as good as Squeeze, whom I really enjoyed, especially Argybargy and East Side Story, which I will review when I get to the S’s. Difford and Tilbrook were the core of Squeeze. The Squeeze sound is still there with this one  but there’s a lack of energy, a lack of mussels (from a shell.)

I will say though that ‘Picking up the Pieces’ I would rate in the Top 5 of all Squeeze songs.

This is one of those records I may keep out for further listens because there’s something subtle at work that may actually work with further listens. Here’s the thing: I know they can sing and I know they can write songs. I’ just asking to sing louder and write better.

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

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Dixie Dregs — 527

ALBUM: ‘What If.’ (1978)

MVC Rating:

4.0/$$

I have a story about the Dixie Dregs. Must have been around 1978 and I was hanging out with Catherine (my future bride), Rose and Carol in downtown Athens, Ga.

We were all high school buddies and happened to be walking past the Georgia Theatre when some folks were loading equipment from a truck into the theater. It was late afternoon.

We sidled, or at least the young women in the group sidled, over  and asked what’s up. They told us they were the Dixie Dregs and were playing that night.

The Dregs members and crew seemed quite chatty, though not to me. Anyway, with me way in the background, they invited ‘us’ to enjoy the show from the front row. (I think at this point they were holding the door open for Catherine, Rose and Carol and I had to practically dive through before it closed in my face.) Anyway free front row show and it was good. An all-instrumental funky band playing music that was hard to pigeon hole.

Ironically, earler that year I had won an award for best high school critical review with a write-up about Sea Level, an all instrumental offshoot of the Allman Brothers, playing the same venue. The award was from the University of Georgia Journalism Department.

Sea Level was playing at the grand opening of the Georgia Theatre as a concert venue. It used to be a movie theater. (It burned down in 2009, but I can attest  it has been re-built and is very much a go-to Athens, Ga. music venue, with the likes of Randall Bramblett and Chuck Leavell frequently playing.}

As for the Dregs’ music, it was musicianship at a high level. A little bit of Mahavishnu Orchestra, a little southern-fried rock, and some Pat Metheny, or Steve Howe-like jazzy guitar-based tunes.  As a guitarist, Steve Morse is about as respected by musicians as you can get.  Since 1994, he’s been lead guitarist for Deep Purple.  

He had big shoes to fill in Deep Purple where the guitar was once wielded by Ritchie Blackmore. Apparently, he has been well received in the group. This from Deep Purple’s website:

Morse brought a funkiness, a depth as guitarist and writer, an unparalleled fluidity as a soloist, a startling aptitude as foil to Lord, and an arsenal of influences – country, folk, jazz, what they’ve sadly labeled “fusion,” and an inherent understanding of blues-based riffs – that meshed effortlessly with the immaculate Glover-Paice sense of swing and Gillan’s seeming capacity to go anywhere at any time, full-throated and eyes ablaze.

On the Dregs’ 1978 album ‘What If,’ which I have, the instrumentals are easy to listen to and sound as if they could be soundtrack miniatures in a way. ‘Take it off the Top,’ the opening song,, sounds so familiar, kind of like a TV soundtrack (in the vein of Rockford Files).

I hate to call it fusion, as well, but the music certainly fuses jazz, blues, rock and some classical conceits into a very listenable sound synthesis. There’s a violin, organ, bass and drums all driven by Morse’s extraordinary guitar.

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

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Catch up on my vinyl countdown (blog version)

Below are some links and excerpts from stories I wrote about my new status at AL.com

It’s all good. Really good.

Bottom line: I’m now going to be writing full time as a columnist. Here’s part of what I wrote and published  on AL.com Friday.

A little over a year ago I wrote a column that pulled out the tried and true trope: I have some good news and bad news.

My ‘good’ news was that despite what I had previously announced in a column, I did not have Parkinson’s disease after all.  I did not have that dreadful brain degenerating disease that left Muhammed “The Louisville Lip” Ali speechless, and makes Michael J. Fox shake and tremble like he has just been pulled out of an ice fishing hole.

I didn’t have it. But I had something else.

There was that word ‘but.’

Oliver listening to and writing about one of his 678 vinyl records stored on bottom shelf. Despite a degenerative brain disease, he vows to review them all. (Mike Oliver).

My wife, Catherine, scolds me when I use the word ‘but’ after a declarative clause. “When you say ‘but,'”she says, “You are negating everything you said in the first part of the sentence.”

But, but, but  … I argue. (I always argue semantics).

But it’s true in this case. Not having Parkinson’s was NOT good news. I was misdiagnosed (not uncommon). I didn’t have Parkinson’s; I had Lewy Body dementia, which in general leaves its patients with a shortened lifespan. The average lifespan after diagnosis is five to seven years, usually much shorter than the lifespan expected after an Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diagnosis.

I was diagnosed about 18 months ago at age 56. So, I have a little time, I think.

For more go to this link :

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/i_am_a_writer_with_a_brain_dis.html

Today I wrote more specifically (to theAl.com audience ) about my  countdown and record review:.

So I’ve told you earlier I was going to be doing more writings on AL.com, and some of it will relate to the countdown of my vinyl records.

I have vowed in my blog that I will count down my collection of 678 vinyl records before I succumb to a degenerative brain disease called  Lewy Body dementia.

I’m 58 now and it appears I have enough records to last me about two years, although I am feeling deadline pressure.

You can  read that story here:

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/catch_up_to_my_vinyl_countdown.html

It gives my blog an exponentially larger audience. And  that’s good.

Keep reading my blog and  be on the watch for other columns at AL.com

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The dB’s — 532

ALBUM: Like This (1984)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

This reeks of college.  Although this came out in 1984, two years  after I had graduated from Auburn University.

I guess you may have earlier picked up that I matriculated there.

But my home was Athens, Ga. Yes I went to UGA as well. And Athens, at that time, was on the cutting edge of alternative music with the B-52’s, REM, Pylon, Love Tractor and many others.

I straddled the line, sometimes going all in on so-called alternative music, but still respecting roots rock and classic rock, blues and soul.

As Springsteen famously sang: I learned more in a three-minute record than I ever learned in school.

The dB’s had several very good musicians and songwriters, Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, who later joined  REM, on tours. The dB’s had that college radio sound, a little jangle, a poppy feel that felt on the edge of breaking out but nonetheless retained its alternative label — perhaps a reason they never really did break out.

The dB’s were clever, smart and musically interesting. A Spy in the House of Love is one my favorite rock and rollers, but db’s still screamed dorm room and college life, which as I listen to it right now is good — because it  brings back memories.

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

.

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Donovan — 535, 534, 533

ALBUMS: The Real Donovan (1965  ); Hurdy Gurdy Man (1968); Barabajagal (1969).

MVC Ratings: Hurdy 4.5.$$$; The Real Donovan 3.5/$$$; Barabajal 4.0/$$$$

I am skipping ahead here only slightly in my alphabetical placement. I should be doing my Dire Straits and Bo Diddley and db’s before Donovan.

But in the previous post I compared up-and-comer Mac DeMarco to Donovan and since I brought him up, I figured  let’s review my three Donovan records before I get back to my not-so-strict alphabetization. At least we’re keeping it in the D’s.

If Donovan sounds interesting to you, I’d probably start with one of his several greatest hits albums. The three records I have cover most of his hits: Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Atlantis, Catch the Wind, Mellow Yellow and Colours to name the bigger hits.

The first song of the 1965 album is called Turquoise and it was what first made me  connect DeMarco’s style to Donovan. And from DeMarco, Salad Days, the title song, sounds like a whimsical Donovan song.

As for other comparisons, the Donovan song Atlantis with its repetitive singalong chorus could just as well have been an Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ song, had Donovan not done it 40-something years ago.

Donovan was born in Glasgow, Scotland and was a high school dropout and sort of wandering beach bum, according to his bio. His early work seemed heavily influenced by folk music and Bob Dylan. Although Donovan has said some of his songs that people say sound like Dylan were composed and recorded before Donovan even knew who Dylan was.

Donovan comparisons go only so far. Donovan isn’t or wasn’t as ‘chill’ as DeMarco, at least from what I hear on Salad Days. Donovan had some pretty heavy electric guitars in Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man, and Barabajagal to name some.

While DeMarco’s ‘lo-fi’ sound has just a tincture of psych, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck played on some of Donovan’s songs and  Donovan dove head-long into that 60s psych-o-melodics. (My word, just going to try it out for a while.)

And then there’s Mellow Yellow and the ‘electrical banana’ — yes he wrote that.

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Mac DeMarco –536

ALBUM: Salad Days (2014)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

Of course, I have to stifle a laugh when I hear an earnest young singer of 23 open the album with: ‘As I’m getting older, chip upon my shoulder.’

Mac DeMarco, who is now 27, says his ‘salad days are over.’

Well at 58 my lettuce wilted long ago.

Act your age, he says on the record. Not going to do it.

One thing, this Canadian is as mellow (maybe even yellow) as an old folkster.

I like him.

He’s got an updated Donovan style with a  little frost on it. That’s Donovan Leitch of Hurdy Gurdy man and Sunshine Superman fame. (See now I’m pulling my old man references — back to the 1960s, how about that! Donovan was charting 50 years ago). Also that’s Donovan of Mellow Yellow fame if you missed the reference above.

Donovan was kind of dismissed as a hopelessly helpless hippie at points in his career, a Dylan clone at other parts.  But he put out some great music.

Like Donovan, Mac does some spacey slow note-bending  guitar work. His words, despite my funning with them, are good. Production is immaculate. It’s that ethereal feel that reminds me of Donovan mixed with a little sleepy time jazz as you hear on Johnny’s Odyssey.

This is a new album, 2014.  My sister and her family gave me this one along with some others still yet to be reviewed. The idea being that if I keep my vow of counting down all my vinyl before I die of brain disease, she (and others) are extending my life by adding to my collection. I can’t argue with that, although I do have a lot of albums before I get to the Z’s!

Thanks for this one, nice gentle sound. DeMarco is a young person  with a wise heart. Just like my younger sister.

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Rhymes with Reason

‘

Rhymes with Reason

When does knowledge hit the ceiling

Nothing there revealing

-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-=-=-=-=

I’m standing at the intersection of flesh and spirit

Groans gain ground

Can you hear it?

No corners in a round

Make the circle sound in season

Anything that rhymes with reason

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

When do the words stop meaning?

I see demeaning of the meaning

I live a lifetime in just one morning

Had you never heard the warning?

How many people must whisper to be heard?

How can you know before it has occurred?

678 records; 678 nuns

Trying still to find the right word.

The right word?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Have you, my plainspoken love?

Have you listened, have you seen?

The solo flight of the white dove?

Have you heard? Surely you’ve heard.

The plaintive cry of the yellow bird.

To everything there is a season

Anything that rhymes with reason

 

–Mike Oliver–

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Miles Davis — 541

ALBUM: Milesones (1958)

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$$$

ALBUM: Milestones (1958)

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$$$

I don’t know if it’s a Lewy thing but I’m enjoying this jazz more than ever.  I’ve played this Miles record, both sides about five times in the past two days.  It’s old  new jazz. (Also jumped into a Dizzy Gillespie record,  I’ll review in the G’s.}

It’s modern jazz, sometimes ‘played too darn fast’ Chuck Berry famously complained. It’s modern but it’s 1958, a year before I was born and a year before Davis gave us his masterpiece (IMHO) ‘Kind of Blue.’

But this one with  Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane burned pretty well. I gave it a ‘5’ anyway. I remember buying this used at some kind of flea market in Anniston, AL.  Would have  been 1982.  I knew who Davis was but upon seeing the cover photo I felt like  I had to have the album. Pretty intense and cool looking dude. And that’s what his music looks and sounds like: Him.

Below, Miles and company play:

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

 

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Dave Davies – 543, 542

ALBUMS: Dave Davies — AFL1 3603 ( bar code album 1980);  Chosen People (1983)

MVC Rating: Bar code — 4.0/$$$; Chosen People 3.5/$$

 Dave’s brother Ray was the Kinks Kreative soul. Dave was the guitarist, and a pioneering one at that. The riffs in early 1960s classics like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day and All of the Night’ were much copied (e.g. Van Halen). One could make the case the distortion laden pieces paved the way for heavy metal.

I have lots of Kinks records, bought mostly in my high school years in Athens, Ga. I’ll write more when we get to the K’s in www.myvinylcountdown.com

Ray wrote the lions’ share of Kinks song. One notable exception was  Dave’s  ‘Death of a Clown,’ one of the Kinks’ most poignant songs ever, and they did a lot of poignant songs.

The Kinks went through so many style changes, every album  was like a new band although all decidedly Kinks. They did English folk whimsy, straight-ahead rock and roll and  clever commentary songs.

Dave had a way of doing falsetto harmony behind Ray’s lead  vocals. I thought it was the coolest thing. Listen to one of their most famous songs, ‘Lola‘ to hear the brother harmonizing effect. It reminds a lot of Ronnie Lane’s style of singing, though with a rocking edge.

These two solo albums I  have are hit and miss. Dave shows off his guitar chops. On the bar code album, he puts the bar code on the the cover as the main art for the album, perhaps making the statement that his music is seen as nothing more than a commodity? I’m just guessing here.

Best song on bar code album, ‘Doing the Best for You,’  simple little melody on piano with crunching guitars. The Chosen People has a lovely song called ‘Give Me One More Chance.’

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

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Roger Daltrey — 544

ALBUM: One of the Boys (1977)

MVC Rating: 3.0/$$

These albums by members of supergroup bands going solo come to me with low expectations. They are usually forced  at least in the musical sense by the artist working out of his role. That’s part of the appeal to the artist and part of the ego-driven decision.

Look at Diana Ross, they think. She didn’t need no Supremes.

Look at Mick Jagger’s solo work. He DOES need the Stones.

ROGER: Uh, Pete, it’s just a little side project  like you did with Ronnie Lane.

But that side project — Rough Mix — was good! One of my favorite albums. One of the best songs in that Townshend-Lane creation is the song ‘Annie.’

Daltrey, who never learned to button his own shirt, put it all out there on “One of the Boys’ — ballads, rockers, a little country. Hoping something would stick.

Daltrey is a great rock vocalist and quintessential front man for one of rock’s greatest rock bands, The Who. But this album is  fair at best. But not without ambition.

Best song (ironically): Avenging Annie.

I have Andy Pratt’s version of Avenging Annie — he wrote it. And you could certainly argue that Daltry’s is better.

Daltrey is a singer, an interpreter of other’s songs. Townshend did the lion’s share of writing of the Who’s classics not the chiseled, shirtless frontman  with flowing blond hair.

Funny side note: In my album, which is a cutout has an advertisement sheet offering “RogerDaltrey Hologram’ pendant that makes Daltrey look like a cross between Andre the Giant and Thor.

Oh, it’s $9.95 plus $1 shipping.