Here are the albums we listened to, with some commentary that I wrote as each was being played:
Paul McCartney & Wings Band On The Run
This is the best post-Beatles McCartney album, bar none. Paul and Linda's vocal harmonies may not be in the same league as the magical blending of Macca, Lennon & Harrison but they still sound pretty good together and you can really tell they're enjoying themselves.
I like how he has incorporated sections of previous songs into "Picasso's Last Stand", even though I'm not too fond of the song itself. Glad he didn't close with that one...
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five", on the other hand, is a brilliant endpiece and I like the way he's tacked the chorus to the opening number, "Band On The Run" to the end.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Damn The Torpedoes
This is Petty in his prime, creating the early seventies template for American rock and roll, putting his nasally voice on the line, as definitive and ultimately recognizable as the greats: Jagger, Dylan, Fogerty, Springsteen.
There are some cool guitar bits hidden throughout the record. That Rickenbacker Petty sports sounds sweet but you've got to listen close to hear the essential elements, else they blend so smoothly into the over-all sound that you don't notice them.
The Heartbreakers playing is tight and solid as a rock here, grooving each song in it's own unique way but never losing that modernized-60's folk rock feel.
Roy, my reviewing partner, says of Damn The Torpedoes:
"It's cool, man. I had this on 8-track. My ex-brother-in-law gave me that 8-track. He also gave me Dark Side Of The Moon. I gave him 5 dollars apiece for them."
"So you bought them," I noted, "They weren't 'given' to you."
"I bought 'em. I had money to spend in New Mexico."
"So which did you like better?" I asked. "Dark Side Of The Moon or Damn The Torpedoes?"
"I like 'em both the same."
"But if you HAD to choose?"
"I'm not that way. I don't see one thing as being 'better' than the other. My stepmother didn't raise me that way."
"Okay, but tell me this," I continued, "How would you rate Damn The Torpedoes in relation to Tom Petty's other albums?"
"It's a good album," was Roy's response, "It's much better than his other albums. What do you think?"
So I told him what I thought...
Yeah, it's his best album, I agree. But I don't think there's too big of a quality gap between it and his other records. I wouldn't say it's MUCH better, but it's the one I'd pick if I could only pick one.
Tom Petty definately belongs in the upper-tiers of great American rock music icons, right up there with Springsteen if not Dylan, above lesser voices like Seger and Mellencamp. And yet, even as I acknowledge his right to keep such hallowed company I must also confess that I'm rarely in the mood to listen to his music. Don't know why that is...same thing with Steely Dan. I should remedy that in regards to both Petty & Steely Dan.
Soon, I promise.
The Alan Parsons Project I, Robot
Call me a nerd. Call me a geek. If an appreciation for sci-fi concepts stolen from Isaac Asimov novels and applied to keyboard saturated semi-pretentious prog rock makes one a geek, then I plead guilty as charged.
Truth be told I loved this album as a dysfunctional, escape-dreaming teenager when it first came out, just as I adored Parsons' debut, Tales Of Mystery & Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe even a little bit more, but I fell away from the fan-fold with the release of their third album (I think it was called Pyramid) and I clearly remember disliking Eve. In all of Parsons' music since I, Robot the only thing I really like is the song "Time".
The vitriol still flows, however, in "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You".
The very fact that this song became a major hit is testimony to the crankiness of the human race and the assumption that everyone has someone to detest.
Alan Parsons sure knows how to mix instruments (and their levels) into a compelling sound. He was, after all, the man behind the boards for Pink Floyd's production masterwork Dark Side Of The Moon. If you get a chance, check out his work on Al Stewart's seminal recordings Year Of The Cat and Time Passages.
I relaize that there are legions of rock fans out there who would insist that once you bring into a song a choir the size of the one currently gigging in the Mormon Tabernacle you've more or less neutered that songs eligibility as a "rock" record. And that choir shows up at the window of several tracks on I, Robot...But what else would you expect from a self-professed CONCEPT ALBUM?
I don't worry too much these days about whether or not it's "rock", and I don't guess I cared much back then, either, cuz whatever it is, it sure sounds good through headphones.
Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets
Just the other day I made a comment about how the Allman Brothers' Eat a Peach was an incredible album considering the band had just lost a key member (Duanne Allman). Likewise, A Saucerful of Secrets is a sophomore effort doomed to be remembered as the first "Post-Barrett" Floyd release. But surprisingly it meets the challenge head-on and delivers a batch of fresh psychedelia that's richer and, IMO, even more satisfying than the lighter, more innocent fare on The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.
Back in the early seventies, capitalizing on the massive success of Dark Side Of The Moon Harvest records released both Piper and Saucerful as a double album which they called A Nice Pair. Consequently there was a period of time when I was blissfully unaware that these were two seperate albums...which is kinda strange, seeing as how there really is such a different "feel" between the two...and though I enjoyed the first record in the set (Piper) I always thought the second Saucerful) was the more satisfying listening experience.
I still feel that way.
Steve Miller Band Abracadabra
I'm not typically a big Steve Miller fan but I do remember liking this album quite a bit when it first came out (MTV had played the title song's video to death and I was working in a record store at the time, so I picked it up with my discount). I haven't listened to the thing in YEARS and I suppose I'd forgotten what it was about this particular album that caused it to stand apart, above and beyond Miller's other records.
It is an uneven affair, though, now that I hear it anew. The vocal harmonies on the opening track, "Keeps Me Wondering Why", remind me of what I liked about it. "Something Special" is some of his best songwriting, but then there is fluff like "Give It Up", a ska-fueled exercise in tedium that gets old very quickly (although I gotta admit that the a capella introduction is pretty cool).
There's an earnestness to Steve's voice that matches the clean sound he uses on his guitars which is endearing at times and annoying at others. Examples of both extremes can be found in "Never Say No". His voice fits pretty well in the verses but then loses all momentum in the tacky chorus.
One thing's for sure...Oklahoma sho nuff do love dem some Steve Millah...He makes a yearly stop at the OKC Zoo Amphitheatre every summer and the crowd is always as huge as the pot smoke that hovers over them is thick. A dive bar band in Oklahoma who can't play at least one or two Miller songs will likely not be invited back for a second performance.
Personally, I don't get it. I mean, yeah, the guys a talented guitarist and has a knack for writing infectuous if lightweight hard pop songs...but to go see him EVERY SINGLE YEAR like a lot of Okies do...Nope. Ain't-a gonna do it.
Charlie Patton Founder Of The Delta Blues
I just gotta be in a certain mood to enjoy most blues music, but when it comes to the pioneers, like Patton and Robert Johnson, hey, I can dig that just about anytime.
The Mighty Lemon Drops Laughter
I wish I didn't have to admit this, but the Mighty Lemon Drops brand of late 80's alterna-rock just has not aged very well. Not saying that it doesn't have a few redeeming qualities, but I have to wonder what it was about them that inspired me to buy 3 of their albums "back in the day".
A great band name, that's about all they've got going for them...ahh, but that's a tad harsh. " Heartbreak Thing" is actually pretty good, even if it does sound like something I've heard before in more than one other song.
Maybe it's the singer's distanced almost deadpan delivery that detracts...most of the music is pretty decent, but for some reason these songs don't impress me like I remember they once did. Pedestrian chord progressions so simple a beginner could have written them and hey, howzabout a little emotion in that vocal delivery?
The sad thing is that Laughter is the Lemon Drops album I thought was the best of the three I had. Now I can't bear the thought of listening to the other two.
Believe it or not there were critics who had the audacity to compare the Mighty Lemon Drops to Joy Division. That's like saying "kitsch" and "timeless" have something in common.
I don't think so.
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