Wednesday, July 29, 2009

10 albums a day #3


The Alarm - Electric Folklore Live (1988, CD)
Alison Kraus - Now That I've Found You: A Collection (1995, CD)
Amber Dust - Without Windows (2006, mp3 download), Good Things Bad Timing (2008, mp3 download)
America - Greatest Hits (1975, CD)
Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks (1990, cassette)
Annie Lennox - Diva (1992, CD)
Anthony Phillips - The Geese and the Ghost (1977, LP)
Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant (1967, CD)
Asia - Asia (1982, LP)

I still want to get The Alarm's Declaration, which a co-worker of mine had long ago and which I listened to several times. It's a great album. The Alison Kraus compilation is made up of her earlier stuff, some of which when she was still with Union Station. Her original version of "When You Say Nothing At All" is still the best. All the cover versions are just hatchet jobs. The two Amber Dust albums were downloaded from their website; next time they release a CD I'll have to buy it so I don't feel like such a freeloader (or freedownloader). The soundtrack from Twin Peaks has some great music, although I will admit it probably isn't for everyone--full versions of tracks of which often only a snippet was played on the show, and the album that introduced me to Julee Cruise.

The America CD was another fill-in-the-blanks purchase, all their big radio hits. I've always liked Annie Lennox's voice, even when she was with Eurythmics. I bought Alice's Restaurant so I would have my own version of that song on CD. I got the Asia album used and it's one of my 80s nostalgia records. I have their second album also but I haven't ripped it yet.

Album count: 28.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

And they adopted Twiki

Oh man, that's horrifying.

10 Albums a day #2


All by The Alan Parsons Project, all on LP except where noted.

Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976)
I Robot (1977)
Pyramid (1978)
Eve (1979)
The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)
Eye in the Sky (1982)
Ammonia Avenue (1984)
Vulture Culture (1984)
Stereotomy (1985)
Ultimate (2004, CD)

That last one is a compilation I bought during the time when I didn't have any way to rip & burn LPs to CD, and I wanted some APP to listen to in my truck (which has a CD player but not a cassette player). I guess I first noticed APP in 1980 with the Friendly Card album and the songs "Games People Play" and "Time," both of which got played on the radio quite a lot. The first one of theirs that I bought was Eye in the Sky as a new release in 1982, then I worked my way back from there and bought the remaining ones as soon as they were released. Back in the 80s, finding a copy of Tales was quite difficult. I think the one I have was a re-release (with a different cover from the original) when they were all over the radio around 1984, which was the year that their two best-selling (I'm guessing) albums were released.

I never got Gaudi because I was disappointed with Stereotomy, but having since read comments about it, I'm planning on getting it eventually, and I'll buy anything else they put out if they ever put out new stuff. Both Parsons and Woolfson are still active and in fact I've been following Eric Woolfson's updates to his newest recording project on Facebook, and Alan Parsons' updates on Twitter*.

So The Alan Parsons Project has long been a favorite of mine. Things I especially like about them: Woolfson's voice, frequent recording of instrumentals, use of electronics, and the frequent use of a saxophone on many of their instrumentals and instrumental bridges of their songs. Several of their songs are among my overall favorites.

Album count: 18.

*As you know, I use Twitter just to list what I've recently ripped. Back when I ripped all those APP records, I noticed that I had picked up a "follower," and was amazed upon investigating that it was Alan Parsons!

Monday, July 27, 2009

10 Albums (or so) a day #1



Since I have not had much inspiration to post anything lately, and I don't want the blog to go completely dead, I'm going to steal and slightly alter my friend Brer's shtick and simply post 10 albums a day from the digital collection. To begin with, these are only albums which I have ripped, from CD, cassette or LP. And then perhaps later, if necessary, I'll get into the LPs which I have not ripped or am not planning on ever ripping. Links provided for the albums I've posted on specifically.

The 3 M's - The 3 M's (1970, LP)
4 Non Blondes - Bigger, Better, Faster, More (1992, CD)
10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe (1989, CD), MTV Unplugged (1993, CD)
808 State - Ex:el (1991, CD)
Agent Orange - When You Least Expect It (1987, CD)
Air Supply - Greatest Hits (1984, CD)
Al Stewart - The Best of Al Stewart (1992, CD)

I used to like 10,000 Maniacs a lot. I grew out of it. I originally purchased In My Tribe on LP, then later got the CD. 808 State is sort of techno-dance, and I'm not certain why I bought it. I think I heard one track playing in the music store that made me curious. Agent Orange was a sort of surf-punk group that I learned about from a sampler CD. Air Supply was one of my favorite groups when I was in high school, I grew out of that, too. My wife actually purchased this CD, but I am not averse to hearing them turn up in the shuffle, as long as it isn't too often. Everyone should have an Al Stewart compilation. "Time Passages" is another saxophone song.

Album count: 8. Like I said, 10 or so. There will be 10 next time.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Another odd one

The aulochrome, probably the newest addition to the saxophone family, is a chromatic* aulos made up essentially of two soprano saxes.

You can see a video of it in action here, also in which is explained some of the interesting points about the instrument. I must say I wasn't terribly impressed by the video; he spent too much of his 3 1/2 minutes just jacking around with it and not enough time seriously playing it. Some of the honks that he produced made me flinch. Still, I'd be interested in seeing/hearing a serious performance with it. It must be very difficult to play.

*Capable of playing half-steps, or semi-tones.

Well, that's encouraging

Got a sax today. I put it together and slapped a reed on it, then went into the bathroom to make some noise. I ran a couple of scales and then a couple of bars of "Night Train," and I heard my daughter call through the door, "Daddy, you're not horrible. You can come out of the bathroom."

Also....

I went to Sam Ash this morning and got a couple of books and some reeds. They didn't have the reeds I wanted to try, so I'll have to order some. I did get some reeds, although they were not my first choice but I'm sure they'll still work for me. Got some soaking now to break them in, but didn't do any real practice today because all my reeds are still new.

Several years ago, when I still had an old sax in the house, I played around with one of those Rovner ligatures and I liked it WAY more than the traditional metal lig, but it has become misplaced as well. Wherever it is, it's probably with the mouthpiece that I also misplaced. I also want to get another mouthpiece; I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the stock mouthpiece that came with this horn, but that may change as I use it. Anyhow, mouthpieces are like guns & ammo: you can never have too many.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Yothu Yindi - Tribal Voice (1992, CD)

Several years ago, at a previous job, a co-worker came in one day with a box of CDs that he no longer wanted and was selling for a dollar each. I eagerly went through the box and as soon as I saw this one, I knew I had to have it. I had never heard of them before, but my instincts told me that this was going to be a good one.

Yothu Yindi (which means "child and mother" in the Yolngu language) is a mostly Australian aboriginal band who do a mixture of western rock music and their own versions of traditional aboriginal music. They are the only band I have ever heard use a didgeridoo in rock music.

Tribal Voice was the second of their six albums (the last released in 2000), and includes their biggest hit, "Treaty." Understandably, their music is often political in nature, but they have worked to promote understanding between aboriginals and non-aboriginals, and the core group is backed up by numerous musicians from both groups.

I can't think of anything more to say about it, except that it has some really great, interesting stuff and it quickly became one of my favorite albums. Some members of the group have been connected with tragedy and violence, and you can read all about it if you want at Wikipedia, and learn more about them at the Yothu Yindi website.

Amazon has this CD new starting around $30 and used starting around $3, with sound samples of all tracks.

Amazon link: Tribal Voice

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Dealing with management and customers

This: Support Should Never Be Necessary - The Daily WTF is hilarious. One thing that I learned when I worked for many years as a pager tech was that any time management passed a new stupid rule down to us, the best way to get rid of it was to follow it fanatically until management got sick of hearing about it.

I've also never believed that "customer is always right" nonsense. In my entire working life, the customer has almost always invariably been wrong.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Stuff I've been doing

Well, I haven't posted anything in two days, but I've been keeping busy. I'm getting kind of burned out on blogging and am starting to turn toward more productive and creative pursuits. So lately I've been...

1. Using Facebook - It's nice to be keeping in touch with people I actually know or have known.

2. Busily researching the current state of affairs in the saxophone world; reading and pricing various brands and learning all I can about what's available and what I can afford.

3. Re-reading my complete Sherlock Holmes collection. This will make my third time in about 20 years, I think.

4. Downloading jazz mp3s.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Amber Dust

Describing themselves as "alt folkie something or other" is the duo/sometimes trio known as Amber Dust. From their website:
Jesse Nickerson, Shayne Greene and Mike Harvey formed Amber Dust in April of 2005. For the next several months, the band rehearsed and worked on bits of songs, in hopes of understanding the direction that was to be taken.

The recording sessions for what would later become "Without Windows" began in December of 2005. Due to the fact that there were only 3 members of Amber Dust, rehearsing the songs with all instruments was completely impossible. Most of the songs only contained a handful of ideas before they were put to tape. It was only through multiple overdubs that most of the tracks began to take shape. Recording continued until late October of 2006. In all, about 18 tracks were recorded.

"Without Windows" was released on November 30th, 2006. Since the release, the album was voted #33 in the Altcountrytab.ca Gambler Awards. The album received an "A-" rating from Hippo Press album review columnist Eric Saeger. Amber Dust took December and most of January to relax and regroup. During this time, due to a change in location almost 2 hours away, Mike Harvey felt it was best to leave the band. There were no hard feelings, and he is still very much involved with Amber Dust behind the scenes. The rest of the band decided to stick to two members and leave the primary piano spot open, should Mike ever decide to return at a later date.

Work on the follow up to “Without Windows” began in March of 2007. After working on new songs, it became apparent that the EP “Good Things, Bad Timing” would be the first release to come from the recording sessions. In early 2008, the band handpicked 7 songs out of the many that were recorded, and on April 15th, 2008, the EP was released. The decision to work towards a somewhat traditional alt-country EP came after a guest musician A.J Piga recorded several pedal steel tracks for the songs. The band was so thrilled with the results, that the songs for the EP were picked based on the direction that things seemed to be going.
More country than most (cough) "country," but with influences coming from all directions. Ryan Adams, Wilco, J. Tillman, Fleet Foxes, Richard Buckner, Damien Jurado, Sun Kil Moon, Nick Drake, Red House Painters, The Tea Party, Tom Waits, Danzig, Depeche Mode, Bonnie Prince Billy, South San Gabriel, Chris Bathgate, David Bazan/Headphones, Iron & Wine, Jeff Buckley, Josh Ritter, M. Ward are all listed as influences on their MySpace page.

Really nice stuff. Their 2006 album Without Windows and their 2006 EP Good Things/Bad Timing are both available for free download from their website. The download includes album art and lyrics. Just click on the Amber Dust discography.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Random 20

Haven't done one of these in a while. See if anything on it strikes you as interesting, surprising, or whatever.

1. Pink Floyd - When the Tigers Broke Free (ripped from a dupe tape that I made of a former house-mate's single which I think is probably somewhat collectible by now)
2. Hüsker Dü - Beyond the Threshold
3. America - A Horse With No Name
4. Kevin Carlberg - Morning After (This is one that came already loaded on my mp3 player and it's really nice.)
5. Alan Parsons Project - Stereotomy Two
6. (Skipped. Some guilty pleasures I will take to my grave. Well, not really. I'll leave it on here so someone can come along after I'm gone and be surprised. Or disappointed. Or maybe horrified.)
7. Wall of Voodoo - Blackboard Sky
8. Rush - In the End
9. Pink Floyd - Don't Leave Me Now
10. Timbuk 3 - Friction
11. Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades (two in a row!?)
12. Indigo Girls - Get Out the Map
13. Pink Floyd - In the Flesh (lot of "Wall" stuff today)
14. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
15. Jimmy Smith - Strut
16. The Mamas & the Papas - Do You Wanna Dance
17. Stevie Nicks - Ooh My Love
18. Suzanne Vega - As Girls Go
19. The Righteous Brothers - On This Side of Goodbye
20. Marillion - Going Under
21. Autocreation - Dark Smile

Mid-year update

Got my numbers the other day. Through the end of June I have read 70,214 meters with 63 errors for an accuracy rate of 99.91%. I'm ranked #13 out of 26. I really should be around #10 because some of them above me have transferred to other departments and therefore won't be eligible for any ranking at the end of the year, but for now they're still on the list. Also there should be more like 35 people instead of 26 but with all the transfers that have been going on we can't keep a full staff. We do have 5 or 6 temps working plus 3 (I think) new guys who aren't on the list because they just started. So we are around 35 right now, but several of them are not permanent employees.

So anyway, I have a shot at making the Top 10, but it will be close. Last month was my best month ever, with only 4 errors.

There's an odd one...

Until now I didn't know there was such a thing.A straight alto sax.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Favorite Favorites, Part II

I got sidetracked for a while on Facebook today, playing around with some music widget. So here's another installment of the favorites list.

21. Big Country - In a Big Country
22. Mike & the Mechanics - Silent Running
23. Mr. Mister - Take These Broken Wings
24. Alan Parsons Project - Old and Wise
25. Alan Parsons Project - Don't Answer Me
26. Alan Parsons Project - Days are Numbers
27. Alison Kraus - When You Say Nothing At All
28. Angelo Badalamenti - Audrey's Dance (one of the few instrumentals on the list so far)
29. The Band - The Weight
30. Blue Oyster Cult - Shooting Shark
31. Bob Mould - See a Little Light
32. Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (Yes, this is one of the worst songs ever. I don't care.)
33. Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays
34. Brian Setzer - The Knife Feels Like Justice
35. Brian Setzer -Bobby's Back
36. Brian Setzer -Maria
37. Brian Setzer -Haunted River
38. Roxy Music - Avalon
39. The Cult - Brother Wolf, Sister Moon
40. The Cult - Black Angel

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Writing

I have also attempted to make a real start on the next installment of The Hunter Chronicles. Yes, I have been kind of busy today for not feeling at all well, but I got home about 1:00 so I've had plenty of time. Usually, these kinds of stories are set in the big, famous cities. Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about such cities, and would not be able to instill an air of authenticity in the story if I tried to write about them. So...as they say, write about what you know. Here's a sample paragraph.
A river worms through the heart of the city. The city fathers have gone to great expense to make it look pretty and authentic, authentic meaning that restaurants and shops selling food and goods typical (so they say) of the area can trap plenty of tourists and make plenty of taxable dollars. Wide sidewalks line both banks, curving in tune with the water and wrapping around downtown like a broken horseshoe. In the daytime, visitors from far-away lands wander the paths to marvel and remark on the natural beauty of a river in the middle of a big city. In the nighttime, all the lost and lonely souls who have nothing better to do wander it as well; some of them more lost than others, and hungry for the blood of those who are only lonely.
I decided if I was going to write something, I should just start writing and worry about making it good later. I have even managed to work a quick mention of a water meter vault into this one.

Favorite Favorites, Part I

I don't know if it's the heat, or I'm starting to get sick, or just the summer blahs (I get summer blahs, never fall or winter blahs), but I am feeling worn out. I had my hardest foot route yesterday, and was expecting my hardest motor route today, but due to a scheduling problem and that two of the trucks are in the shop for new brakes, I got put on a different route that I have never done and it was really easy. So I should be feeling pretty good today, but I'm not. Also, I'll be doing that hardest motor route tomorrow.

So anyway, I started grabbing some songs that I especially like and adding them to Winamp. I've been wanting to go through the whole thing more or less systematically and make a playlist of all my most favorite favorites. I don't think I can define what could earn a song a spot in this list; these are songs that for some reason strike a particular emotional chord in me. Feel free to use this list to psychoanalyze me if you want. Or just look them up on YouTube or Amazon and listen to them for yourself.

As I said, I started going through the collection and adding songs, and in a few minutes I already had 60 songs. Here are the first 20. This list is constantly subject to change, and is not anywhere near finished yet. These fall in no particular order.

1. Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
2. Stroke 9 - Little Black Backpack
3. L'arc-En-Ciel - Ready Set Go
4. L'arc-En-Ciel - Shine
(3 and 4 are abbreviated versions which I audio-ripped from episodes that I had recorded with my DVD recorder. They are, respectively, the opening themes to Fullmetal Alchemist and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit--both anime).
5. Mr. Big - Shine (Not the same song as #4, just the same title. The closing theme to Hellsing, but this is the full album version which I bought from Amazon).
6. David Wilcox - Eye of the Hurricane
7. Nathan Hamilton - Two Penny Vengeance
8. Robert Earl Keen - Corpus Christi Bay
9. Stan Rogers - Northwest Passage
10. Macy Gray - I Try
11. Annie Lennox - Why
12. B-52's - Revolution Earth
13. Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat
14. Cowboy Junkies - Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning
15. 4 Non Blondes - What's Up
16. 4 Non Blondes - Spaceman
17. Cheap Trick - Surrender
18. Commodores - Sail On
19. Dave Mason - We Just Disagree
20. Dobie Gray - Drift Away

There could be other songs by these artists that I will add later as I remember them, or hear them in the shuffle and am reminded of them.

Another fox sighting

It has been a year and a half since I reported that I had seen a gray fox here for the first time. Well, I saw another one this morning. It ran right across the driveway in front of me as I left for work before daylight.

It never even spooked the dog. Maybe her hatred of other canines doesn't extend to foxes. Or maybe it's a...a ghost fox! Yeah, I think I'll go with that.

Just in case you needed another reason to hate Yoko Ono

Via Collecting Vinyl Records:
YOKO ONO was the reason Paul McCartney and John Lennon never reunited to make music again.

The two Beatles had planned to reform the band in 1974 until Yoko once again came on the scene, according to a new book.

Writer Peter Ames Carlin said McCartney really missed working with his legendary songwriting partner so he flew to New York to see him.

In his book, Paul McCartney: A Life, Carlin says that he made a surprise midnight visit to the Burbank studio where a coke-fueled Lennon was recording.

John reportedly said: "Someone give me an E. Or a snort."

The book claims that along with Stevie Wonder on electric piano, Lennon and McCartney jammed until the small hours that night in the Spring of 1974.

The session went so well that Lennon invited McCartney and wife Linda to join him and then-girlfriend May Pang at his rented home in Malibu.

Pang told Carlin she heard Lennon talk about getting "the guys back together" for a concert.

But the reunion dream died as soon as Lennon confided to McCartney that he had recently met his estranged wife Yoko and that she wanted to see him.

The book claims that that conversation led to Lennon getting back with Yoko - and the concert that fans around the world would have dreamed of never happening.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Saxophone stuff

About 10 years ago I decided to start playing around with my old alto sax again; I went so far as to purchase some needed accessories and a vintage mouthpiece which produced a much better tone than the stock piece did. I was getting into it pretty good and then my niece asked if she could borrow it for band, so being the good-hearted uncle that I am, I gave it to her (but kept the vintage mouthpiece). She has since stopped using it but now her younger brother uses it. It wasn't a great sax anyway, I don't remember what it was exactly but I think it was one of those cheap Bundys. It couldn't have been a very high-grade sax because my parents bought it for me as sort of a going-to-college gift.

I once also had an old Buescher alto, vintage c. 1950 or so, and they were supposed to be pretty good saxes in their day, but unfortunately I don't have it anymore and I think my parents may have given it to some other cousin or someone when I wasn't looking.

I since misplaced that vintage mouthpiece but it should be here somewhere. I have an idea of where it might be but digging into that spot is going to involve moving a lot of stuff that hasn't yet been unpacked from the house move; I might try it this weekend.

In the last several years as I have been getting into being a serious jazz fan, I have really been getting the bug to have another go at the saxophone. Since I am about due for a mid-life crisis I think a sax would be a good thing to get. For the past several days I have been researching them on the internet to try and find a good starter sax, probably used, something in a good student grade to get me started, and maybe get something better later if I improve enough to justify it. I'll probably get a Yamaha YAS-23. If it needs any work, I know of a little hole-in-the-wall place that works on wind instruments that I can take it to. It's a place that was recommended to me by another sax player who takes his horns there when they need work. I'd really like to get a bari sax but they are freakin' expensive. Maybe if I keep my eyes open I can find one cheap in a pawn shop, but I doubt it.

Anyway, I found a couple of interesting sax-related websites. First, the Xaphoon Pocket Sax. You can download and listen to a bunch of music played on the pocket sax here. Looks interesting, but the fingerings are like a recorder rather than a sax. I know the fingerings for the recorder, but I never became very proficient with it. I am very intrigued by it, though.

Second, did you know there is a maker of high-end saxophones right here in San Antonio? It's called Orpheus Musical Instruments. Their horns are a little out of my price range, unfortunately.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Best of Black Oak Arkansas (1977, cassette)

Garbage. Total, unremitting, irredeemable garbage.

This is one of those times that I wish I could find my old Rolling Stone Record Guide, because I know it was the scathing two-liner of a “review” in that book that made me buy this tape out of sheer morbid curiosity.

From Wikipedia:
The group, originally called "The Knowbody Else", was formed in 1965 in Black Oak, Arkansas, by Jim "Dandy" Mangrum (vocals), Rickie Reynolds (guitar), Stanley Knight (guitar), Harvey Jett (guitar), Pat Daugherty (bass), and Wayne Evans (drums). Their first PA system was stolen from a local high school. Members of the group were subsequently charged in absentia with grand larceny and sentenced to 26 years at the Tucker Prison Farm (this sentence was later suspended). This led to their retreat to the hills of rural northeast Arkansas where they lived off the land and refined their musical style. Some of their influences during this time were The Beatles and The Byrds.

The Knowbody Else moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1969 and signed a record deal with Stax Records. Their self-titled debut album, and their only album with Stax, was largely ignored by the populace. During this time the band became interested in psychedelia and Eastern spiritualism which, combined with their Southern Baptist upbringing, contributed to their sound.
You have got to be kidding. I don’t know if this is serious or satire. “Refined their musical style…”? Eastern spritualism? "Ignored by the populace"? (Who writes like that?) I hardly know how or where to begin.

The fact that Black Oak Arkansas, and particularly the lead (cough) “singer” Jim “Dandy” Mangrum got a record deal and released enough albums to eventually hack together a “best of” compilation is strong evidence that there is something fundamentally wrong; not only with the music industry, but with the universe as a whole and the nature of reality itself.

The band are not bad. I said irredeemable; perhaps I was too hasty. Their rendition of “Dixie” is probably the best thing on the album, but only because Mangrum (ahem) “sings” only at the beginning (with a lot of help from what sounds like a real chorus), and the rest of the 3 1/2 minute piece is instrumental rock that riffs on the the theme of “Dixie.”

Mangrum--for lack of a better descriptive--"sings" like someone who lost the audition for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and he is obsessed with himself, having titled one song after himself and mentioning himself in others. His attempt at profundity (“Lord Have Mercy On My Soul”) sounds like it was written by a pretentious but untalented 7th-grader. His rendition of the Beatles’ “Taxman” should make any real Beatles fans want to roll up their sleeves and begin slitting throats (or at least, his throat). Note: I am not a real Beatles fan, but even I see visions of blood and fire.

Nine tracks. Playing time, a mercifully brief 30 minutes. Although written up glowingly on Wikipedia, I assume by someone who was a member of the band or related to them, they left not even one song for classic rock radio to remember them by. Even Ram Jam and Mountain did at least that much.

No links this time. You’re on your own. Now that I have ripped this tape, listened to it and written about it, I am going to delete all the files (except maybe the last two minutes of “Dixie”), and use the cassette for a shotgun target.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Heart - Dreamboat Annie (1976, LP)

I must admit first that I have not heard every Heart album, but from the ones I have heard, their first is still their best. This is the album that produced two of their biggest hits, which are still mainstays of classic rock radio: "Magic Man" and "Crazy On You." Those are two of the harder-rocking tracks on the record, but they are not typical of the entire record. The songs span the range of rock, soft and hard, with even maybe a subtle hint of country here and there. My own personal favorite is "(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song."

This is an original print of the album from Mushroom Records. Some bigwig at Mushroom must have stupidly decided that their music couldn't stand on its own, so they took this photo of the bare-shouldered Wilson sisters for the cover and tried to portray them as lesbian lovers. The sisters, having never had any inclinations toward incest, were understandably outraged, so much so that they broke their contract with Mushroom. The record label then took a bunch of unfinished stuff that was left over from the Dreamboat Annie sessions and released it as the album Magazine. This brought a lawsuit from the Wilsons which resulted in the court forcing Mushroom to allow them to finish the tracks to their satisfaction and re-release it on their new label. Because of this, there are two versions of Magazine: the first from Mushroom and the second from Capitol. It was this incident which inspired Ann Wilson to write another of their big hits, "Barracuda."

Anyway, this is a great album without a weak song on it. It's still widely available and in print, with a sales rank at Amazon of around 2500. I didn't get a perfect rip of this one, with some artefacts left over here and there, so I might go ahead and get the CD sometime just so I'll have a flawless copy of it. If you like Heart but you don't have this album, you should definitely get it.

Amazon has sound samples of all tracks.

Amazon: Dreamboat Annie

You don't say...

Today was brutal. They decided to spring a surprise meeting on us this morning so I didn't actually hit the ground until about 7:15. I finished about 12:30. That may not sound too bad, but man it was hot. I went through a 1.5-liter CamelBak, plus another 40 ounces of water and 30 ounces of "gatorade." And I had forgotten my bandanna, so I didn't have anything to wipe the sweat off my face. Just as I finished and was loading my stuff up for the trip back to the office, my cell phone rang. It was my wife.

"Be careful," she said, "It's very hot outside."

I was speechless.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

I just noticed this

Marina Sirtis is in Death Wish 3. Pre ST:TNG.

Huh.

UPDATE:


UPDATE 2: And Tim Russ (Tuvok) is in Death Wish 4.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

R.I.P. John Keel

You're not going to hear about this from the MSM since they're still too busy fawning over that other guy, but John Keel has died.

Keel was (and still is, and I'm sure will remain) a big name in the field of Forteana. He was an author, journalist, and studier of anomalies of many sorts. Cryptomundo has been covering his recent death here, here, here and here.

At last!

I finally finished editing those &^%$#@! John Klemmer records. There is something about the timbre of his tenor sax that makes it incompatible with pop/click filters. I had to go through and manually take care of all the noise instead of just letting the filters do it like I usually do. They aren't perfect, but they're as good as I'm going to get them. I only took so much care with them because I like them so much. Side 2 of the last record was almost perfect, and I zipped right through it a few hours ago.

Another "MacGyver" moment

(The handheld computer thingies we carry have an elastic strap on the back to make them easier to hold).

Co-worker: Did you get a new strap?

Me: No. The old one tore so I just took it off, punched a new hole through it and screwed it back on. Happened one day when I was out in the field.

Co-worker: How did you do that?

Me: Swiss Army knife.

Co-worker: Wow. That's pretty cool.

Sigh. It's getting harder and harder for me to take anyone seriously who doesn't carry at least some kind of multi-function pocket knife. Personally, I always carry the Swiss Army knife (Tinker model), a Leatherman Wave and a S&W kerambit (for serious cutting jobs and to open bags of Corn Nuts). I also have a Swiss Army "cybertool" model which I don't carry all the time but which has proved indispensible on occasion. I frequently use the tweezers on the Tinker to remove splinters and thorns from my hands while working, and I don't know how I could get by without it.

Passport - Man in the Mirror (1983, LP)

I have slowed way down on LP ripping because I'm having to manually edit some records and I'm waiting until I finish before I do any more. However, this is one that ripped perfectly.

Passport is a fusion group fronted by German saxophonist and composer Klaus Doldinger. Arguably fusion, perhaps. "Fusion" being a term used to describe music that is jazz with elements of pop/rock, or pop/rock with elements of jazz. If one can consider this album fusion, then I suppose it is the first album of that genre that I ever purchased. Used, somewhere, back in the 80s. My own tastes in fusion run more toward groups like the Pat Metheny Group and Weather Report.

Doldinger has been a member of, or fronted, several other groups besides Passport. He started back in the 60s and is still active today. This record leans more heavily toward pop than jazz, and is a mixture of instrumentals and songs with vocals. The first track, "Glass Culture," is an instrumental that sounds like it could have come from an Alan Parsons Project album.

The current line-up of Passport, according to Wikipedia, consists of drums/percussion, guitar, keyboards, bass, and of course Doldinger himself on tenor sax. It looks like they are much more popular in Europe than they are here. My opinion is that this is not a great fusion album, but it isn't bad for (somewhat) jazz-flavored pop music.

This is my only Passport album but I would not be averse to aquiring more. I'm just not going to go out of my way for any of them. Please feel free to recommend others if you are a Passport fan.

Amazon has sound samples of all tracks.

Klaus Doldinger website (warning: flash-heavy, and in German)
Amazon link: Man in the Mirror

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Brief vacation

I never announce these things before hand, because I think using a blog to announce that one will be away from home for several days is somewhat foolish, but we took a trip to Port Aransas over the weekend. This is a big shark's mouth outside the entrance to one of the tourist traps. I took quite a few pix with a real camera (film and everything!), but I also took a few with the cell phone so I'd have something to post as soon as we got back. Above are the kids, daughter just sitting there, son posing as a bit of meat caught between the teeth.

We hit both the State Aquarium and the Lexington this time, third visit to the aquarium for my wife and I, second for the kids. Second trip to the Lexington for my wife and I, first time for the kids. My son pronounced the Lexington "awesome." They've added a lot to the ship since we visited it the first time in 1993 or '4; we caught the film about the fighter pilot this time and it was pretty cool. The model ship just below was made completely out of brass, it was quite impressive. Looks like I managed to catch the sign on the wall too, so we can see it is supposed to be the U.S.S. Texas.


The model immediately above was wood, but I don't remember the name of it.

We ran into brief, scattered showers on the way back, beginning about Sinton, and saw either showers or evidence of recent rain all the way home. It was a nice trip back.

We hit the beach a couple of times, too, but I really only did that for the kids. The beach doesn't really excite me very much anymore. I saw something that I considered fairly close to stupid (although that is not uncommon). Sunday evening at the beach, a bunch of fish started jumping out of the water about 100 yards from shore. Everybody started running out there so they could stand where all the fish were jumping. I told my family, "There may be a very good reason for those fish to be jumping like that. Something might be chasing them." Anyway the beach was in very good shape this time. Sometimes it's full of seaweed, but this time even the free beach was really clean.

Oh yeah, we also caught the fireworks show on Saturday night. I always enjoy that.

P.S. For the out-of-staters: the aquarium and the Lexington are in Corpus Christi, not Port Aransas, but we have a free place to stay in Port A and it's a short drive to all the good stuff in Corpus.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Thursday night random 20

It's the end of the work week for me, tomorrow being a holiday, and I took two days vacation so I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday. The heat has been beating me down lately, although today wasn't too bad because I did a motor route and didn't do much walking. Still, I'm almost too tired to think.

Totally random:

1. Marillion - White Feather
2. Steve Forbert - Romeo's Tune
3. Camper van Beethoven - Sweethearts
4. Carter Family - Will the Circle Be Unbroken
5. Sheriff - When I'm With You (not a guilty pleasure--I freakin' LOVE power ballads and I don't feel guilty about it in the slightest)
6. Spencer Davis Group - Gimme Some Lovin'
7. Shriekback - Running on the Rocks
8. Hawkwind - The Island
9. *
10. Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix - Time Centre
11. REO Speedwagon - Time for Me to Fly (I still love singing along with this one)
12. Youngbloods - Get Together
13. Alan Parsons Project - You Don't Believe
14. Kenny & the Kasuals - Everything Seems Fine
15. The Original Rag Quartet - Ragtime Nightingale
16. Suzanne Vega - Knight Moves
17. R.E.M. - Carnival of Sorts
18. Billie Holiday - Please Tell Me Now
19. Saafi Brothers - Altered Future
20. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - The Wheel

*The track that turned up at #9 is one of my own which I committed to tape way back when, and was created with a Casio CZ-101, a Korg Poly800II, a Korg DDD-1 drum machine, an old Korg sequencer and a Radio Shack four-track mixer. It's not fit for anyone but myself to listen to, but the title is "Something Kinda Blue."

Shriekback - Big Night Music (1986, CD)

Woo hoo! I now have a digital version of Shriekback's Big Night Music, thanks to a reader who I have already thanked privately and profusely. I have not heard every one of their albums, but it seems to me that they produced two really fantastic albums: Oil and Gold in 1985 and this one from 1986. After this one, some of the primary members of the band quit, and although their lead singer/songwriter stayed with the band (he basically was the band by that time), their music seemed to get less imaginative and more formulaic.

It's hard to pick a favorite between the two. The music, if you are not familiar with them, is heavily electronic dance pop, but the lyrics are very intelligent and imaginative, and the music tends toward the darkness. Barry Allen's vocals make him sound (as I've said before) like he's always smiling an evil smile. These guys deserved to get a lot more famous than they did.

This one's out of print. As of this writing, new copies at Amazon start around $120, used ones around $20 (but I can guarantee you that will change). They have sound samples of all tracks.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Kenny and the Kasuals - two compilations from Eva Records

Well, to begin with, the album cover photo to the right is a horrible picture, and looks retouched to me. With the lead singer appearing as some sort of slightly less demented older brother of Alfred E. Neuman, one must wonder how they ever did anything. The photo below left is a much better one, in my opinion.

Kenny and the Kasuals were one group that I read about in Acid Trip: The Complete Guide to Psychedelic Music and about which I was intrigued. They cut one album in 1966 of which there were only 500 copies pressed. It was called The Impact Sound of Kenny and the Kasuals Live at the Studio Club. It later became extremely collectible and demanded sums in the hundreds of dollars. Collectors referred to it simply as Impact. It was later reissued in the late 70s and the reissues don't have any collectible value, however I have never been able to find even the reissue anywhere.

Back in the 80s I would often special-order albums from the big Hastings catalog that they kept out on a shelf for customer reference. There was nothing by this group in it. So I asked the manager about them. He had never heard of them but said he's keep an eye open. Several months later I was in the store and he brought out one of these pictured albums and asked me if I was still interested. I bought it. A few months later he showed me the other one, so I bought it too. This was only one instance of him going out of his way to hunt something down for me that impressed me a lot and is one reason why I kept going back there.

These two records are two more compilations from Eva Records, who specialize in obscure, mostly psychedelic bands from the 1960s U.S. They have no collectible value but are the best I could come up with.

Kenny and the Kasuals started out as The Illusions and were apparently quite popular in the Dallas area during the mid-60s. They cut several singles, all in mono, as was their only album and as are these two compilations. They did a lot of covers of popular songs and some originals. Some of their originals are quite catchy and I enjoy hearing them turn up in the shuffle.

Eva Records had at one time issued a CD of both of these albums on one disc, but it is no longer available.

The lead singer, Kenny Daniels, was drafted and served a tour of duty in Viet Nam, which pretty much ended their musical career. They did reform later and played on the nostalgia circuit, and a version of the band lead by Daniels is still active today. Much more information can be found at the official Kenny and the Kasuals website. Full liner notes for these two records are below. Click for the large versions.

You can visit my tumblr site to hear their song "Nothing Better To Do."