11.06.2006

 

Must-Have Albums

Has anyone else re-bought an album from your/our youth? I'm referring to those albums we played over and over until we wore them out or tired of them. And then one day, years later, something jars the memory and for some reason you simply have to have that album again?

I recently re-purchased Billy Joel's "The Stranger" (this time on CD) because of all the memories I associate with that album. And it's still fun to listen to.

Comments:
Yep: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." And now I'm really amazed at how different the songs are, as if Elton John was trying on a new style in each song. I still don't get half of what Bernie Taupin is talking about (well, maybe half), but he obviously wanted to rise above the usual song lyric, as if he was a Poet, capital P.
 
Stedje turned me on to the Stones and they never fail to delight with their raunch. I never was into Led Zeppelin at the time, though I do remember sitting in my room on hot, late summer nights on 6th Street (no AC) listening to the 30 minute WDVE DJ breakdown/intro/analysis of LZ4 ("...Jimmy Page lifts the riff from cut #3 from an old Robert Johnson blues number...blah,blah,blah...") before playing the ablum STRAIGHT THROUGH. Went back to them about 10 years ago and still like Robert Plant's new stuff. Geoff and I got into Styx, Supertramp, Billy Joe-L, Kansas and Queen and I can recall him trying to convince his mom that it was legitimate music. Only Queen has endured for me.

Have a whole 70's/guilty pleasures playlist on my iPod that I've chased down from iTunes including, I'm embarrassed to say:
-lots of Elton John
-lots of Atlanta Rhythm Section
-some Seals and Croft
-Bad Company
-Boz Scaggs
-Sweet
-TRex
-Bread (!)
-Al Stewart
-....even Jim Croce ('cause the chick dig him and his mellow ballads and early death define a guy as a sensitive dude, worthy of a slow dance....)

OK, enough of this idiocy.
 
Opps. I'll claim that post..........
 
We sorta figured it was you. :-)

At one of our reunions, Eric requested 70's music, and the DJ played every song you don't remember from the 70's. It was depressing. I subsequently bought the entire Time/Life collection of 70's hits. I was mortified by the idea of it, but I did it, and we all love it. Some great tunes.

Someone gave me Queen's greatest hits CDs but it covers the 80's (abyssmal) and not enough of A Night at the Opera/a Day at the Races, so I've been thinking of breaking down and buying those.
 
Al Stewart-I have him, too! Could have sworn I was the only one who liked him. Love Bad Company and ARS. Boz Scaggs reminds me of Bone and so do the Stones. I can still hear him yelling "Sta-o-o-o-nes!" I also love Average White Band for the sheer danceability.

I read an article this summer about how all the music you remember from high school is the music to pick when driving, especially long distances. And that's so true-it really makes the miles fly. (Having a lead foot helps too.)
 
Kim I always thought that was a joke about your having the Time/Life 70's collection. What are some of your faves from that?
 
Domo arigato, Grac(i)e-san.
 
Speaking of Loudon, I heard him on the Mountain Stage on WV public radio a couple of weeks ago (while driving...NPR is my over-the-road listening choice, generally), and he was hilarious!

When I was in HS, I didn't listen to very much music...Scott was into Styx, Billy Joel, Boston, Asia, and jazz, so I listened by osmosis. I was about a decade behind, wishing I was a folk singer. Now-a-days I have to have my Parrothead music...and I am crazy over the new Buffett release. I just hooked up my fancy new speakers so that I can listen to Radio Margaritaville from my computer!
 
I waiting for Hansmann or Ian to come clean and admit to owning/repurchasing an Air Supply ablum.

They were too into Yes and Genesis; it made them suspect in Indiana.

And it bears noting, again, that our resident musicologist/egghead was(is?) big on the Motor City Madman and NRA posterchild, the Nuge.
 
Do I hear an echo in blogburg?

Okay, okay. But that was pre-Cat Scratch Fever--like when he was an Artist, man. And before he was publicly associated with firearms. And I haven't (yet) bought the CD.

By the way, what was that "album rock" station in Pittsburgh that rather pretentiously aimed for the highbrow rock listener? That's where I first heard "Free For All"...while sitting in a beanbag chair in the dark, wearing puffy, vinyl, padded headphones of a size suitable for air traffic control.
 
WDVE--just spotted it in Mr. Anonymous's wandering post. Then there was WPEZ, which was more top 40, right?

The DJ Striker McGuire was invited to play music at a jr. high dance one year (ca. 1975?) and showed up about 1-2 hours late.
 
I remember Striker McGuire--and his sidekick Jane! That was when FM was starting to be "cool".

Julianne as a Parrothead do you decorate a Palm Tree at Christmas?
 
I just picked up a couple of CDs that I had as LPs back in High School.

Genesis - Selling England By the Pound
King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black

I had not heard either in over a decade or more (possibly 20 years). So it was a real time warp listening to these again. I must say I was a bit disappointed with the Genesis CD. I found it was lacking in the sonic department. The mix to me seemed tinny and quite muddy.

The King Crimson disc was a whole different matter. This this just kicked my ass all over again. Listening to it all these years later, it is really amazing how precise this band played. It seems like this album is the blueprint for many math-rock bands that followed in the 90's - Don Caballero, Helmet and several others. Matter of fact, you can tell this disc was a fave of those boys in Metallica.

I've been catching up on several older albums lately, but most go back to my college years. So Tim, there are no Air Supply, Elton John, Lynyrd Skynrd, Jim Croce or other 70's heroes in the Hansmann Music Archive.

I did pick up a T. Rex collection a few years ago and it became an instant fave. But I missed them completely back in the day.

Little known fact here....I did not like rock or any music until 1977.

(Currently listening to the Legendary Shack Shakers)
 
Hey, all you Genesis fans may be interested in this.
 
Chicago IX - Greatest Hits vol 1.
The soundtrack to my life 1970-1975.
 
Nell - as any real Genesis fan will tell you, a reunion would only be complete if Peter Gabriel were on vocals. Adding Steve hackett on guitar would be an added bonus.

let me know if these two join up for a tour. I think the last book in the Bible kicks in the next day.
 
Nell--I have plans for a Parrothead tree when the northern and southern estates merge...Richard doesn't do a tree at the moment, and I don't have time to create one for him this year!

My tree is going to have red boas and gold beads this year in honor of my girls' choruses' rendition of Santa Baby...it's so cute, Nell... you and the girls would love it!

I did manage to decorate my music studio for my Parrothead passion! The wall color is "sunset beach" and I have posters and postcards from M-ville and the OBX, and a neon palm tree!!!! It helps me change my latitude and my attitude!!!
 
I join my friends in being a total record collecting Geek. I repurchased Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and it holds up a lot better than Captain Fantastic which I burned and remembered every single word (although I hadn't had the LP since about 1980. It didn't hold up as well.

I have purchased most of the early Tom Waits stuff- which Noker and Chip turned me onto- but that may have been my Freshman year of college. Of course that stuff holds up.

I never much cared for Led Zepplin (although i think that was due to some High School Tribal issue). I got a box set of theirs last year and it's....okay. I could just never get too much behind them.

Earlier this year I was listeneing to the Stones' Exile From Main Street over and over again. It's full of flaws, but lot's of fun. The lyrics more than verge on offensive. But, I don't think I had that record in High School. I re-purchased the Stones' Some Girls, which I like but it just seems more like nostalgia.

I burned Wings' Band on The Run and liked it okay, but really like junk food- nothing sticks. I had a lot of Wings records. I think , above all, I listened to Beatles records. I purchased the remastered All Things Must pass, but it's so over-produced that it gives me a headache.


I just can't enjoy any of the "progressive rock" from the 70's.. I don't think I really liked it then, but if you were a boy with longish hair, it was required of you to know the words to "Roundabaout" I had some Genesis records, but didn't really like them (inhale jokes anyone?)
 
Ian, I thought you would have repurchased the first Blues Brothers album by now.

Many of my older music discoveries go back long before the high school years. It's a great thing to listen to original recordings by Elmore James, Solomon Burke, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Junior Parker, Buddy Guy and many others. It is so very clear to hear the early beginnings of rock on many songs by these artists. It's also quite clear which rock artists lifted styles and melodies from these blues greats.

Here are a few other artists that have been spining on the home radio station:

Flying Burrito Brothers
Pretty Things
Jellyfish
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
Bob Dylan
Squeeze
the Shins
and several others....
 
Oh yeah, I've been listening to a lot of stuff that pre-dates High School, but I didn't really listen to this stuff in those days. How about Ramblin' Jack Elliott? Julianne? He's odd, but cool. When I can stand the lo-fi, I listen to the Carter Family. I like those Johnny Cash American Recordings records.

I listen to a lot of 1950's Bebop.

This guy I know who's in his twenties asked me what new stuff I listen to. I felt really old. Hey, maybe that's a new topic.
 
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