Pink Floyd — 263, 262, 261, 259

ALBUMS: Ummaguma (1969) : Dark Side of the Moon (1973): Wish You Were Here (1975); The Wall (1979)

MVC Rating: Ummagumma/4.0/$$$$$; Dark Side/ 5.0/$$$$$; Wish/$$$$$ 4.5; the Wall, 4.5/$$$$$ (NOTE: All five dollar signs meaning at least $25 to get any of these in decent shape. Can pay many hundreds for certain Pink Floyd collectibles.)

By the way, which one’s Pink?

A classic line from a classic album.

The line from a meeting between the rock group and the record company executives, in a few words, captures the relationship or lack thereof between artists and the anonymous men in suits, a relationship that historically had been too often built on rip-offs and lies. Their only interest is that ‘Pink’ and his chums can sell more ‘units.’

Come on in have a cigar boys, the producer tells them.

“I’ll tell you the name of the game, boys,” the song goes. I”t’s called riding the gravy train.”

That on ‘Wish You Were Here” echoed a previous song, the ‘hit’ Money from the DSOM album: New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I’ll buy me a football team…

Pink Floyd has become synonymous with the so-called Classic Rock genre. But back when I got it, there was not a lot like it. There was no ‘Classic’ yet.

Pink Floyd deserves their success. I thought they were out of this world when I first heard them. I think my girlfriend in Indiana in the 9th grade gave me ‘Dark Side of the Moon.’ And if I am not mistaken, i gave her David Essex who really had only one song I remember and that was Rock On. Cool song with a little rock-a-billy echo if I recollect.

Floyd was one of those bands that expanded the boundaries of rock and roll, starting with highly experimental sounds with space as a theme or touchstone. Albums like Ummagumma and Piper’s at the Gates of Dawn were long rides, with trippy special effects. It was the kind of music that your parents thought was all rock music. Ummagumma had extreme dyanamic range with soft passages you could barely hear followed by wine glass breaking shrieks. I don’t know what a banshee looks or sounds like, but I imagine it would sound like the end of the first side of Ummagumma.

And yes, there was an element of the music built to ‘freak out’ the psychedelic or stoned crowd. But as many artists have shown before and after those Ummagumma 60’s and Dark Side 70’s, you usually lose when you mess with the drugs.

Pink Floyd became one of the most successful group of musicians in rock history, or should I say music history. They reigned in their psychedelic influenced musical ramblings into something much more accessible and potent. Unfortunately along the way they lost a key band founder, Syd Barrett, whose drug use escalated and his mental health deteriorated. Eventually the band kicked Barrett out, although he remained a muse and influential inspiration for Pink Floyd’s other members.

From Wikipedia: “Pink Floyd’s most popular work drew on the power of what Barrett signified,” wrote Steven Hyden in his 2018 book Twilight of the Gods. “[E]ven after he was no longer in the band, his spirit haunted its records.”

The Floyd album and song ”Wish You were Here,’ was about Syd as was ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ from the same album.

Pink Floyd’s trademark other-worldy sound and echoes, dipping in to free form jazz and touches of Classical music was Barrett’s foundation for the band led by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. A list of top selling artists of all time using data from  MTVVH1, and Billboard shows Floyd with 121 million certified units sold. That puts them 8th on the list of all time sales leaders. The top three are the Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

By practically creating a new genre, Pink Floyd will go down as one of the most pioneering groups ever. There were other experimentalists. The Soft Machine, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Hawkwind, and Kraftwork. But none ever appealed to as many people. Dark Side of the Moon was on the charts (200) for an astounding 14 years.

Daily Journal (Feb. 26, 2020) Tighten up version

I got a column coming up this weekend that is too long but it’s early. As Mark Twain wrote ‘Sorry this letter was so long. I would have made it shorter if I had more time.’ NOTE: From memory, not exact quote.

So, what I’m writing about is my disappointment that there is not more awareness of Lewy body dementia. The old sore spot was resurrected last week when I received an 82-page, 16,077 word report on Alzheimer’s research. One of those 16K words was Lewy. One!

Again everything, money, publicity, public awareness is focused on Alzheimer’s. We’re going to change that.

Look for it on AL.com Saturday. Even though I went ahead and wrote it too long. Ranted too long. so like my old buddies Archie Bell and his buddies the Drells used to say: Tighten Up.

In other news, I’m gearing up for this Alabama Record Collector’s Association show on March 6 and 7 in Gardendale. I have a table and am ready to sell a portion of MyVinylCountdown.com records. From my eye. There’s a tear.

Here are some records I’m pulling out. I’ll probably put up for sale my A through D’s or E’s, about 150 albums or so. (You can see a list just by scrolling my blog starting from the A’s.)

John Prine — 264

Hello in there John Prine

ALBUM: John Prine 1971

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$ (First pressings and promo albums can be expensive.)

John Prine wrote some classic songs. Socially conscious, witty and biting, he upon further review should go down as one of America’s finest songwriters.

‘Angel from Montgomery,’ ‘Sam Stone,’ ‘Illegal Smile,’ ‘Hello in there,’ and ‘Donald and Lydia’ are major and minor classics. And that was just his first album. I believe I got this in Middle School (actually we called it Junior high school back then). I was about 9th grade. I remember hearing ‘Donald and Lydia’ and thinking I had to find this song. I had to tell my brother to turn down the Alice Cooper so I could figure out a way to find out who did that song and what was it called. It took some sleuthing. Spanish Pipedream was another favorite: “Blow up the TV, throw out your paper … go find Jesus on your own.”

Bob Dylan is reportedly a big fan.

In 2017 Rolling Stone did a profile calling Prine the Mark Twain of singer-songwriters.

Prine’s lyrics can be funny, biting and can make you cry — sometimes all within one song.

From Sam Stone he sets the tone, a family where ‘Daddy,’ a war veteran with a Purple Heart, has a drug problem:
‘There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don’t stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

His much covered ‘Angel from Montgomery’ has these lyrics near the end of the song.. They always give me the chills because I think it is a strong hint that that she (the song’s protagonist killed her husband. I’ve been in debates over this, but here they are followed by a famous cover of the song by Bonnie Raitt.

There’s flies in the kitchen
I can hear ’em there buzzing
And I ain’t done nothing since I woke up today
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say
— John Prine “Angel from Montgomery.’

Here’s Bonnie Raitt covering the song:

In the middle of the Vietnam War — Prine was drafted and did a tour of duty — he wrote this:

But your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reasons for
And your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more

Another example of his funny side.

Papa John Creach — 265

ALBUM: Papa John Creach

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$$

They talk about James Brown being the hardest working many in showbiz. Well I proffer Papa John Creach.

Born in Pennsylvania, classically trained he found some rare symphony gigs open to a black man. So the began to cater to many audiences, learning the biz one nightclub venue at a time in Chicago, he once played many months on a cruise ship and then went West.

His violin playing was a slick mix of blues, jazz, bluegrass and he adapted to his audiences to keep his music gigs alive and to put food on the table. Jazz threw him for a loop at first because he had to learn a new bowing technique, according to his Wikipedia write-up.

“Because of all the nationalities [there], I had to learn to play everything. At some jobs it was strictly German music, or Polish. Now, they used to dance and knock holes in the floor,” according to an LA Times interview in the 1990s cited on his Wikipedia page.

In the psychedelic 1960s, through some connections he made, he was asked to join Hot Tuna, a San Francisco spin-off of Jefferson Airplane. He ended up playing with Airplane as well and played with everybody from the Grateful Dead to the Charlie Daniel’s band to Louis Armstrong.

From St. Louis Blues to Over the Rainow to Danny Boy, Creach help bands expand their musical horizons with his vast knowledge of music and expert playing.

The Partridge Family — 266

ALBUM: Up to Date (1971)

MVC Rating: 2.5//$

This album has two fun bubblegum singles: I’ll Meet you Halfway and Doesn’t Somebody Want to be Wanted. Besides these two hits for the TV teeny bop band of the 1970s, the album contains innocuous filler, many from the professional songwriting team of Wes Ferrell and Gerry Goffin.

I went into this album hoping there’d be a surprise hidden gem but nah. It’s all pretty mediocre stuff. But I like the hits.

If you don’t already know it, David Cassidy and Shirley Jones are the only ones who had record time along with their camera time on the insipid TV show The Partridge Family. But I watched it — heck I was 11 years old and kind of liked the notion of screaming girls chasing me, um, David around.

The Cowsills, the Rhode Island family band who actually did play their own instruments, were the inspiration for the TV show. If memory serves me the TV producers wanted the family but not Mrs. Cowsill — the mom. Not because she wasn’t a good musician, but because Shirley Jones, who starred in Oklahoma, wanted this chance of being a Rock and Roll mother as she rolled into her middle age.

Oh well, I like the Cowsills better.

Big John Patton — 268, 267

Album: Blue John (Recorded 1963, released 1986)

MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$

If you are introducing someone to good jazz, Blue John is a good place to start. Because it is so much fun. What do you expect from an album that starts off with “Hot Sauce.”

This record has an odd history. It was recorded in 1963 but didn’t see its release until 1986 on Blue Note.

Allmusic.com says this: “There may be something of a novelty element to (George) Braith‘s (saxophone) playing, but bluesy, groove-centered soul-jazz rarely sounds this bright and exuberant, which is reason enough not to dismiss his contributions.”

In addition to Braith’s funky sax sounds, Grant Green’s guitar throughout is tasty. Many people get introduced to good jazz with ‘Kinda Blue’ by Miles Davis or John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” or “My Favorite Things.” Great albums and must haves for a jazz collection. But Blue John by Big John Patton is an instant like with its laid back tempo and bluesy swing.

Links to Wikipedia bios of these musicians below.

John Patton – organ

Tommy Turrentine – trumpet (5, 6)

George Braith – soprano saxophonestritch

Grant Green – guitar

Ben Dixon – drums

I gave Mike Love a vinyl record today (blog version)

This is not the album I gave Mike Love today.

I gave Mike Love a vinyl record album today.

This all came about just a few hours before Love and his Beach Boys were to take the stage at the Alabama Theatre.

I’m going to the show, by the way. My brother bought me tickets for Christmas. Thanks David.

OK, here’s how I came about giving Love an album, or at least I hope he got it.

Earlier today I decided to take a stroll out of my office in downtown Birmingham to get a bite. Instead, I stopped at Reed Books, a favorite haunt which sells just about everything vintage, old and collectible.

All records are $2 and since I was skipping lunch I figured I’d use my lunch money for a record. The record was ‘Almost Summer,’ the 1978 soundtrack of a movie with the same name, which I found just rummaging around. Never heard of it but I looked at the songs and who wrote them.

A good portion of the tracks were written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson, I noticed. So there seemed to be good vibrations following me or leading me.

A record with obscure Beach Boys songs. One of them was apparently a hit.

I bought the record and wandered back to my office. The Alabama Theatre is on the way to my office, however. I stopped where a small group of people were standing near at least three large buses. They eyed me warily as I approached and began talking: Are you with the Beach Boys I asked? They really didn’t say anything. A security guard, clearly labeled so on his shirt, started to make his way closer to me. I reached into my satchel — slowly — and pulled out the album.

I told him I just wanted to give this to Mike Love or Bryan WIlson (not knowing if he’d be here or not).

“Oh,” the security guard said. “You just want me to give this to him?”

I said, yes. And I did, give it to him. Hope he likes it. Hope the security guard gave it to him. Then I started thinking, Love probably has this or maybe he doesn’t like it. I was arguing with myself.

Well, you never know. God only knows I felt good doing it, even if I won’t have it for My Vinyl Countdown.

AL.com version here.

Prefab Sprout — 270, 269

ALBUMS: Two Wheels Good (1985); From Langley Park to Memphis (1988)

MVC Ratings: Two 4.0/$$$$; Langley, 4.0/$$$

This group on these two albums play great, melodic folk English Pop-Rock with very smart lyrics. It’s the kind of band I guarantee someone reading this review and listens to it will fall in love. Not for everybody, but those who fall, fall hard. Listen to first side of Wheels five times. ‘When love breaks down’ was a hit. I love ‘Bonny.’

Listen to ‘The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and ‘Cars and Girls’ on Langley five times each.

Get back to me next week and tell me what you think.

If you like two or more of these following groups, you will certainly enjoy Prefab Sprout: Squeeze, Roxy Music, 10cc, the Housemartins, Thomas Dolby (who produced both of these albums.)The sound is very 80s but very good 80s.

One explanation for their name is that band members misheard the June Carter-Johnny Cash song ‘Jackson’ when Carter sings “We got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout’ — they had apparently been singing and hearing that as “prefab sprout.

Two Wheels Good was released with the name Steve McQueen (yes the American actor) in the UK. But the McQueen estate objected and that why mine says ‘Two Wheels Good’ at the top right corner of my album.

God, coincidence, numerology

I have 678 records. At least I did when I officially counted my records before launching MyVinylCountdown.com two or so years ago.

I have definitely picked up more since then.

Hit ABOUT ME here if you need more information about this.

I had written about this Nun study before.

A multi-decade study of Alzheimer’s Disease , is famous and has given people hope. They found examples of nuns with visible signs of dementia causing proteins in the brain. They found some brains upon autopsy appeared that the nun had Alzheimer’s Disease — but no one knew because the patient — the nun — did not show any symptoms of the disease, leading researchers to be optimistic that some people can fight this disease and workarounds by your very own brain can avoid much of the ravages of dying of dementia.

The number of nuns used in this multiyear study? 678.

See my earlier write-up

Now I have begun looking at 78’s — those hard but fragile slabs of chellac that made music at 78 RPM. I bought a couple of these and have enjoyed some very old good jazz.

So now i’m into 78s. Doubt they’ll go on the timeline like my 33s. They are 78s, like if only there were a 6 or 600 and they’d be, yes, 678.

Maybe a stretch. So I doodled while I was waiting to think. Which took me through a thousand memories and an hour of standing blank faced.

So start with 78 RPM records.

Take away 45 RPM.

Take away 33 RPM.

Equals Zero (0)

78-45-33=0

What? What does any of that mean?

Look I don’t know a thing about numerology except that I’d probably be promised Hell by a church lady if even talked about it.

One last thing while I’m still doodling. Let’s give a number to the letters RPM, a shorthand way of saying Revolutions Per Minute.

Let’s assign each letter a number based on where they are in the count.

There’s 26 letters in the alphabet.

R =18 P=16 M=13.

18+16+13= 60

That’s 60 as in SIXty.

Story is on 78 rpm records. Subtract out the 45s and 33s (from 78) and it equals 0. Zero is also the number that comes with 60, the number for RPMs added, as shown above.

Zap the zeroes as their doubling cancelled each other out.

Slide the now leftover 6 in front of 78 and it is 678.

But let’s look at one more thing:. The sum total of the RPM numbers added is 60. Double that and you have 120. In the music world 120 RPM was what Thomas Edison was playing on the original playback recording machine

I have written before about a numbers coincidence related to my battle with Lewy body dementia that almost blew what’s left of my mind.

FROM New York Times:

NOTE: I don’t want anyone to believe that I’m sitting on some magic numbers are something. I just noticed what appear to be coincidence. I’m fine with it being a coincidence, by the way. I don’t see God sitting around coming up with numeric answers to our own problems. But as I try to make my documentation of a Lewy body patient as complete as possible, I may seem to be pushing boundaries? Wasting time? Or learning that life is all about math?

Y’all keep reading. I will say this: I’m feeling much less random about the universe these days.

Glenn Phillips — 273

ALBUM: Swim in the Wind, (1977)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$

Here is one of the best guitarists you’ve never heard of deals. I think I’ve already said that about him. Aaaargh there are so many best guitarists out there — THAT YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF.

But this guy is the real deal.

Glenn Phillips is an Atlanta-based musician and was in the Hampton Grease Band in Atlanta, which some swear was better than the Allman Brothers. I was about a generation behind Phillips. Although I never saw him live I do have his album — listen to the one I put on video to the end, and you’ll see some blazing and tasteful guitar.

I do understand from others that Phillips taught and mentored some of the good ones around Atlanta including Bob Elsey of the Swimming Pool Q’s. I’ve said before (mostly) instrumental guitar music is good for certain situations. In other words I have to be in the mood. Joining Phillips on an instrumental guitar record, I’ve got Steve Howe, Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, John Fahey the Ventures, the Raybeats, and Paco DeLucia