Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow (1975, cassette), Wired (1976, cassette)
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat (1987, LP)
Jerry Reed - Best of (CD)
Jethro Tull - The Broadsword and the Beast (1982, LP)
Jim Croce - Greatest Hits (CD)
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (1967, CD), Radio One (1989)
Jimmie Rodgers - The Essential Jimmie Rodgers (CD)
John Cougar Mellencamp - Rain on the Scarecrow (1985, CD)
My only two albums from Jeff Beck start this list as I get back into the general collection. I really like these, found them both in a clearance bin sometime in the 80s and they still sound great. Since converting them to mp3 I have been trying to listen to them more often. I wish that more rock guitarists would have taken his example and recorded more solo/instrumental albums. I recommend both of these for instrumental rock that brings in influences from jazz, blues, funk, electronic music, the works.
You may know Jennifer Warnes as the woman who sang the 70s hit "Right Time of the Night," which I like, or "Up Where We Belong" with Joe Cocker or "I've Had the Time of My Life" with Bill Medley--and those last two songs I hope I never hear again. Nevertheless, she has a great voice, and this album is a collection of songs written by Leonard Cohen. Cohen is a great song writer, but in my opinion he should have stuck with writing and not recorded anything himself. Listening to him sing his own songs is an ordeal, to say the least. Anyhow, "Bird on a Wire" from this album was playing on the radio a lot and I liked it so I bought the album. One song was written by Warnes herself, but it sounds like it could have been written by Cohen. This is one of my favorite albums.
Jerry Reed is another childhood favorite. I never got into Jethro Tull much, I know have another record of theirs, titled A, but that may be it. I bought this one because a cousin of mine recommended it to me way back when. I might have another record or two that I accumulated used long ago but I'm not sure. I do enjoy this album quite a lot. The Jim Croce CD was more filling-in-the-blanks.
Radio One was a show that Hendrix recorded for BBC radio. My copy is a dupe tape made from a co-worker's CD. I'm not really a big fan of his, but I recognize his place in music history. Are You Experienced? was purchased because I felt that I needed to be able to study his music more closely than just casual radio listening. I think I have another one or two records from used sources that I haven't ripped.
I bought the Jimmie Rodgers CD for my own personal musical education. I don't really enjoy listening to the whole thing at one shot, but hearing him turn up in the shuffle now and then is fine.
Mellencamp is another one who I usually like hearing on the radio but I never got into him much. I might hunt down a "best of" compilation sometime. Scarecrow is a very powerful album, however, and it has several songs that I consider among the best (even though if the S ever HTF we're probably going to be on opposite sides of the political divide). I also have Uh-Huh on LP but I haven't ripped it.
Album count: 304.
Mellencamp's The Lonesome Jubilee is also a very fun album, and I like it as much as Scarecrow and Uh-Huh. Though you're right about the political divide. According to Mellencamp's publicist, neither Hillary nor Obama were quite liberal enough for him.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to hear good Jethro Tull, their older albums are the best, such as Benefit and Stand Up.
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