Fun_People Archive
13 Feb
A fun collection of disks...
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 95 00:35:16 PST
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: A fun collection of disks...
[While we're waiting for our regular record reviewer to return from the rain
forest... -psl]
From: robert@rockmore.com (Robert D. Poor)
Friends and Victims:
I just bought a batch of CDs at Tower Records. I went in with the intention of
purchasing an old Meters disk, but they didn't have any. Pity. Instead, the
muses spoke to me and I ended up buying this bizzare assortment of CDs. And
while I have no particular reason to think this list is of any interest to you,
that's not enough to prevent me from sending it anyway:
Roy Buchanan: Buch and the Snake Stretchers. Jimi Hendrix, Danny Gatton and
other guitarists dead and living owe a large debt to Roy Buchanan. Not only is
this some of the finest electric guitar work of all time, but the original
album was packaged in a burlap bag. Guess who stencelled each and every one of
the bags with an industrial spray gun? I hear the original albums are now
selling for $150 each. I should have snagged some then...
Captain Beefhart: Safe As Milk. I like this album because Beefhart and his
entourage were still figuring out how to play; it has none of the slickness of
his later albums. This particular release from One Way Records includes 8 (!)
bonus cuts; if my memory serves me, some of the bonus cuts are from his
"Strictly Personal" album originally release on Blue Thumb.
Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home. In my early music listening days, I
listened to melody, chords, arrangement, beat, and everything except the
lyrics. So back then, I couldn't understant all the fuss about Bob Dylan. He
sang out of tune. He played all over the beat. The chords were juvenile. The
melody was non-existant. It took me a long time to tune into the impact of
songs like Gates of Eden or Love Minus Zero. But now I have, so I must return
to early Bob Dylan. It was a tossup between "Bringing It All Back Home" or
"Highway 66 Revisited."
Neil Diamond: Classics. Released in 1983, this "best hits" collection captures
most of his earlier gems without touching on his rapid slide down that
followed. "Kentucky Woman," "Cherry Cherry," "Solitary Man," "I'm A Believer"
(the three chords should have been a dead giveaway, but I just now learned that
he wrote it), "Shilo" and thanks to Pulp Fiction and Urge Overkill, "Girl,
You'll Be A Woman Soon." What a collection!! Best of all are the set of
sideburns he's sporting in the photo.
Randy Newman: Twelve Songs. I wish people hadn't made such a fuss over "Short
People" or that other bands hadn't butchered "Momma Told Me Not To Come" in
their covers. But they did. Pity, because most people will never know what a
great songwriter Randy Newman really is. I think Twelve Songs shows off his
talent beautifully. And Ry Cooder's slide work is icing on the cake. "Let's
Burn Down the Cornfield" is one of my all time favorites.
Antonio Carlos Jobim: Wave. 'Nuff said. But I'll say more anyway: Bass by Ron Carter.
The Hollies: The Hollies' Greatest Hits. Like the Neil Diamond collection,
this catches the Hollies prior to their aweful "Air That I Breathe" era. But
"Bus Stop," "Carrie-Anne," "Stop, Stop, Stop" "On a Carousel" "Look Through Any
Window" are plenty to keep me happy.
The English Beat: What Is Beat? Okay, so I can't afford full discographies and
I resort to buying "best of" albums. But what a collection on one album:
"Mirror in the Bathroom" has to be one of the all-time best rock songs of the
'80s. "Tears of a Clown" -- great cover. "I Confess" remix by Jellybean. A
live version of "Stand Down Margaret."
This will keep me off the streets for a while...
© 1995 Peter Langston