This Week's Music Rotation Playlist

About a month ago, when I found myself the proud owner of a secondhand stereo turntable, I began to rediscover that magical experience of playing records. I also rediscovered the relaxing fun of flipping through records old and new in the shops. As far as I can tell, there are about a half dozen decent stores in my area that deal in used records. And used is what I am looking for. Cheap and cheerful. Naturally, I'm looking for vinyl (and the sleeves) in very good condition, but I can make small concessions since I'm not willing to dish out a lot of cash. 

I've assembled a comfy little collection to get started (see earlier posts to learn what I've bought) and I'll go a bit more leisurely about building on that. A couple of more desirable records I want command higher prices, even those in used condition, so I'll be patient and wait for the right ones to come along. Those two are Dressed To Kill, by Kiss, and Damn The Torpedoes, by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. The Dark Side of the Moon album, by Pink Floyd of course, is one that I'd be willing to fork over a bit more for a brand new re-issue. That classic disc deserves a better treatment so I can fully appreciate its high fidelity without any surface noise from hundreds of plays. 

Most of this past week's playlist is comprised of tracks from my recent vinyl acquisitions. Canadian rocker David Wilcox plays his guitar with joyful abandon on Out of the Woods, an album I'd never owned before. The song Hot Hot Papa is among my faves off this record. A rambunctious and blistering performance. 

Jefferson Starship briefly operated without Grace Slick on vocals, and their impressive album Freedom at Point Zero demonstrated their ability to carry on without her presence at the mic. Though the song Jane is my favourite on the record, Rock Music is a whole lot of fun, too... a true party classic... even if it's largely unknown. 

All Mixed Up by The Cars is an 80's gem, not quite as famous as Good Times Roll or My Best Friend's Girl (all off the first Cars album), but resplendent with Cars hooks and fills galore. Like a breath of fresh air out of that wonderful decade. 

Fleetwood Mac, on their legendary Rumours album, didn't slip up on a single track therein. Among my faves on there is You Make Loving Fun, a light and funky and sexy song with Christie McVie on vocals. Her smooth, warm, mature style suits the piece perfectly. And guitarist Buckingham inserts his melodic licks into every nook and cranny to great effect.

Def Leppard's tune Switch 625 is unique in the band's catalogue... it may have been the first (and only?) instrumental the Leps ever recorded. But correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, it's a great rocker - off the High and Dry album - that I had never heard until just a while back. Oh, by the way, this one wasn't on vinyl, but CD instead.

Fast as a Shark is a rip-tearing speed metal track by Germany's Accept. Not for the faint of heart, this pummeling tune features the guitar mastery of Wolf Hoffmann and the powerful and distinctive vocals of good ol' Udo. This appears on a compilation CD in my collection. 

Foreigner continued their reign of the radio airwaves back in the 70's with Headgames (from the album of the same name), a guitar-and-synth heavy song led by the formidable Lou Gramm belting out heady (not really) lyrics. Among my favourite Foreigner tunes. 

Then we've got Waitin' For The Bus, by that l'il ol' band from Texas, ZZ Top. An early tune by the trio, this one really packs a southern wallop of bluesy rock. The groove is undeniable, the harmonica heavenly, Billy's axework chilling... wooo!

Tracklist:

David Wilcox... Hot Hot Papa

Jefferson Starship... Rock Music

The Cars... All Mixed Up

Fleetwood Mac... You Make Loving Fun
Def Leppard... Switch 625

Accept... Fast as a Shark

Foreigner... Head Games

ZZ Top... Waitin' For The Bus

Sorry, Charlie... a Belated Charlie's Angels Anniversary Wish

It was yesterday, September 22nd, back in 1976, that Charlie's Angels debuted on network television. I was only twelve at the time - but I was a fan from day one. Something about those swimsuits. And guns.

The originals: Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Kate Jackson

The gimmick of the popular show was the never-seen boss Charlie (voiced by famed actor John Forsythe), who only communicated over speaker-phone with his crime-fighting "Angels". The program went on for five seasons, over one hundred episodes, weathering some casting changes along the way. The same way that comedy hit Three's Company suffered a bit through its revolving door of key personnel, Charlie's Angels was never quite the same after the original line-up splintered. 

Like every red-blooded tween-teen boy, I enjoyed the eye-candy onscreen as the detective-action show played out. At that age, what boy can really put into words what was going on with the hormones. There were discussions in the schoolyard concerning our favourite Angel. Opinions flew. Sometimes it got rough.

Jaclyn Smith was my favourite Angel from start to finish... and she was the only actress to hang in there for the show's entire run. Smith seemed to be the most glamorous and yet least flaky of the trio. Correction: on the least flaky front, I guess Kate Jackson wins that contest hands-down, though she was the most prim one of the bunch, always opting for the pantsuits and other less-revealing (dowdy, even) attire, while the other two strutted their stuff. Sex sells... and the Neilsen ratings proved it. 

The big star of the show, at least early on, was pin-up girl Farrah Fawcett-Majors (then wife of Six Million Dollar Man star Lee Majors). Despite huge viewer response to Farrah as an Angel, she left the show after just one season. I'd forgotten that she was gone that early in the series. 

Cheryl Ladd stepped into Farrah's shoes, so to speak... as her character's sister. How convenient. Both blonde bombshells, so why not? Ladd continued in her role until the end of the series. Nice job. 

When Kate Jackson bugged out after three seasons, another smart and attractive blonde, Shelley Hack, was added to the cast. Ambitious to do more film and television work, Hack moved on after just one season, leaving a gap once again. And that's when Tanya Roberts took the spotlight. Just for the one and final season, but still... this was the launchpad to her becoming a Bond girl in A View to a Kill in '85, and much later, a role on That 70's Show. Easy on the eyes, but very vacuous, so not a lot of star power. 

David Doyle was the sort of dorky sidekick who lent a helping hand in the Angels' operations, usually working behind the scenes but occasionally out in the field with the ladies. 

The show helped break down barriers in the TV world. Angie Dickinson on Police Woman got the ball rolling in the 70's, passing the baton to the Angels. A cast starring mostly women as strong characters paved the way for further female cop action shows in a genre... and the TV realm in general... that was male-dominated. Cagney and Lacey were next up in 1981, then as the decades passed, the gates were wide open for such opportunities. A more recent show that is a favourite of mine is (or was... not sure if the show is kaput) The Bridge, the Danish production about the brilliant though socially stunted police detective Saga Noren character. 

Charlie's Angels lives on today through TV syndication, DVD releases, and a modern - though short-lived - film franchise. I wasn't crazy about the first Angels movie so I never bothered with the sequel. Neither did anyone else. Still, we'll always have the old TV show. 

Single And Loving It... I Can Drive 45rpm

As I dusted off my newly-acquired - secondhand - LP records to try out on the new - again secondhand - turntable, I remembered that I had a  stash of 7-inch singles tucked away. Actually, they were stored in plain sight, on a living room shelf, in a neat leather-bound album from decades ago (from my mother). 

There are less than twenty of the little 45rpm records, but there is a story behind nearly every one of them. I know I owned more than these back in the day, but I must have done something stupid with them... like firing them down from the top of the stairs onto the hard basement floor. Just for kicks. Stupid, stupid. I know I had a Beatles single with Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey. At the time, I hated that song. But if I still had that, I'd spin it with pleasure. Such a collectible that would have been! I also had some K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Foreigner and Trooper and others... all gone. Sob.

There are a few Paul McCartney discs, one a single-sided, white label 33rpm demo of Coming Up (Live at Glasgow) from 1980. I have that same tune on a regular 45 as the B-side to the studio version of the song... original picture sleeve... a little crinkled, but intact. There's also Old Siam, Sir from '79, which I recall loving and playing a lot, paired with Arrow Through Me, which I have zero memory of. Good ol' Pauly. 

Speaking of collectible white label demos, I have Everything Works If You Let It, by Cheap Trick. Single-sided, and 1980. A good year. I was a huge Trick fan at the time so everything I could get my hands on... I did.

The only Alice Cooper of any kind that I ever owned is my 45 of Clones (We're All), with Model Citizen on the flip-side. Great songs off a very unusual - techno-punkish, sorta - album, a real departure for the Grand Ghoul of rock'n'roll back in 1980. 

Then there are my first BeeGees purchases: Night Fever/Down the Road on one, and Stayin' Alive/If I Can't Have You on the other. Though I was more about the heavy guitars back then, I still got my jams on when some primo disco like this came along.

I confess I latched onto some pretty sappy pop stuff back then, and I'll admit to liking Captain and Tennille, that odd duo who ruled the airwaves (TV and radio) in the 70's. When I popped open my ancient 45 album, I was surprised I didn't have the enormously popular - and my fave tune - Love Will Keep Us Together. But I do have Lonely Night/Smile For Me One More Time. I'll have spend an evening soon playing all of these singles to refresh my failing memory. 

My first Motown buy was Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit Sir Duke, a funky boppin' tune with He's Misstra Know-It-All on the flip. Sir Duke remains a fave Stevie song of mine.... can't recall the other one, but I'll get it spinning soon. 

Ah, then a very nostalgic movie theme song by Carly Simon... Nobody Does It Better, my favourite James Bond tune, the opening piece from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me. I saw that flick in the theatre when it premiered... my first Bond picture on the big screen, and after loving it, I purchased this song to re-enjoy over and over. The B-side is After The Storm.

Now.... the very first vinyl record I ever bought with my own money: Daydream Believer/Goin' Down, by The Monkees. This 45 is so ancient and worn that I almost hesitate to subject my new turntable needle to its crunchy grooves. Maybe I won't play it, and just hang onto it as a nostalgic piece. Still has the plastic 45rpm-adapter in the centre-hole. 

Being a big ol' Rush fan, I bought up a few singles, mainly for the picture sleeves: Vital Signs and New World Man; The Body Electric with Between the Wheels; and 1985's Big Money paired with Red Sector A (Live)... long before that live track became available on any CD. So there was that, too. 

Then there's what could have been a sharp collectible worth a few coins: a limited edition gatefold of Def Leppard's Love Bites with Billy's Got a Gun (Live). That B-side must have been a bit of a rarity back then. This gatefold edition included full lyrics from the entire Hysteria album, from which Love Bites was lifted. Sadly - and mysteriously, I discovered some water damage on the package. No clue how that ever happened, since that disc has been stored safely in a plastic bag since I bought it in '87. Oh well, it's not like I love these songs a whole lot anyway. 

Can't wait to spin these records real soon!

"Got My Kiss Records Out" - Rediscovering Vinyl

Oh, I wish that were true.... I wish I owned even just one Kiss record (Destroyer and Dressed To Kill are both on my wishlist) so I could honestly say that. The story here is that a used turntable came my way recently and after only a little hemming and hawing, I accepted. After all, it was free. (Oh, and by the way, the title of today's post is actually a line from the Cheap Trick song Surrender - so credit goes to the band, not me, okay?)

I have owned a handful of vinyl LPs for several years, mainly for the purpose of framing and displaying the cover sleeves on my walls - even though I had no record player. Hey, the LP cover wall art looked pretty spiffy, so don't laugh. There is also a small bunch of 7" singles that I've kept from my childhood and teen years... stuff like The Monkees, Stevie Wonder, BeeGee's, Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Captain and Tennille (yes!) and some Rush. A few collectible promo discs in there, too. So I've got over a dozen LPs (including a couple I recently picked up) and about the same number of 45's to keep me busy for a while. And I'll keep my eyes peeled for yard and garage sales for cheap acquisitions. 

On the one hand, I wonder what the hell records I'd even buy now... I mean, I already own pretty much all my favourite music on CD. And I've already been the record route back in the 70's, then sold those off and "upgraded" (more like downgraded) to cassette tapes (simply smaller and easier to tote when moving from city to city) in the 80's, dipped my toe in the 8-track tape waters but didn't take the full plunge, and then re-bought a lot of those same albums yet again on CD. While CD's usually offered pristine sound and a highly reliable playback system, I often found there was something lacking. It wasn't always easy to put my finger on it, but it felt like a warm tone or a true "room presence" (if that makes any sense) was sacrificed for the sake of sonic clarity. For some musical artists, this didn't make a stitch of difference. Did Motorhead songs really lose much in the new medium? Or Metallica? See what I mean?

Guys like Sting and Peter Gabriel embraced the CD medium so they could produce hour-plus albums of jazzy-pop-world music that sounded like the ultimate listening experience. Hey, I was blown away when I first heard Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles CD. That was an early reference point for the pro-digital camp. But now it leaves me kinda cold. 

It looks like I've come full circle, back to the vinyl I used to cherish decades ago. As a teenager, I'd huddle in my basement bedroom with my low-end all-in-one (radio, amp and turntable) system, a gift from my aunt, with the little plastic speakers bouncing off the floor as I cajoled the tone arm to stay in place on my copy of Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell record. At least now I've got a significantly better stereo setup with my Sony turntable and CD player, Technics receiver, and JBL speakers. Simple yet effective.

And while it was initially a dream-come-true when digital downloads of every song in the world became reality, it didn't take long for me to detect the flaws in MP3s... the lower sound quality (especially compared with CD's), the often muddy and choppy audio blurriness. I again craved higher resolution sound, occasionally locating WAV and FLAC files that came closer to the real thing... but not quite. All of these lack the frequency range of factory-pressed records and CD's. 

My nearly 1000 CDs seem a bit meaningless to me sometimes, and I ponder selling off (or giving away, since hardly anyone bothers with them anymore, what with the easy access to digital streaming music via Spotify and its brethren) a bunch of them. I mean, I haven't even looked at, let alone played, my jazz, classical, Motown - or rap - CDs in years. Even electronic music and movie soundtracks have taken a back seat. I've sort of settled myself into a comfortable groove (note the record metaphor there) drifting between hard rock/metal and a bit of dance-pop. A curious combination, you might say, but it works for me. Actually, for a few months now, it's only been rock and metal. 

A couple of years ago, I treated myself to some audiophile Sennheiser headphones for Christmas. Best gift ever. Best purchase ever. Best investment ever. I actually prefer to listen with my beloved Senns over my still rockin' JBL speakers. The up-close-and-personal feel of headphones... the intimacy of the experience... that makes a huge difference in my listening sessions. And even my "crappy" early CD issues of Rush's A Farewell to Kings and Supertramp's Crime of the Century burst with new life as they play through my Sennheiser eargoggles. 

And yet... well, here I am. Records on my mind. All the time. I doubt I will collect vinyl as fervently as I did tapes and CDs when those were relevant. Though I gave my tapes (all but a few for the time capsule) the heave-ho about a year ago, I still have mountains of CDs filling my living room shelves. A bit of a burden, yes, and yet I know I'd only regret it if I let them go. There are certainly some dear ones, some rare-ish ones that I'll never part with. 

I see myself picking up some old favourite albums on vinyl simply to enjoy that more tactile and interactive experience. I already have a few favourites like the aforementioned Crime of the Century, Van Halen's 1984, Cheap Trick's first album, Beatles' Rubber Soul, Best of ZZ Top (1977), and a few James Bond movie soundtracks from the 1960's. I also have on order an old but highly playable copy of Sabbath's Heaven and Hell... so I can re-live those teen years with what is perhaps my fave album of all time. That might do for a while. Until I find a yard sale with bins full of $2 records. Then all bets are off.

I'm looking forward to this brave new world of old-school vinyl records. And who knows, maybe this'll be the nudge for me to cast off a bunch of those pesky little plastic discs full of corruptible data (CD data can deteriorate over time, apparently). Vinyl records, on the other hand, when cared for, can last pretty much forever. Consider the collectible Sinatra and Elvis from the mid-1900's. It's still out there. 

Now... time for a needle drop.

Great All-time Guitar Solos

I'm going to wax nostalgic today (wait, I always do that). Anyway... ah, those glory days of amazing 6-stringers, guitar heroes, fretboard wizards who wowed us both onstage and on record (or tape, CD, MP3, whatever your choice of listening media). Guitar-slingers were THE thing back in the 70's and 80's. Guitar music dominated that era; therefore a huge crop of guitarists existed to fill that need - and to create that need. Does that make sense?

A great guitar solo is like a little song within the song. Something memorable and easily replayed in the mind, hummed, and sung; something melodic works best but even more abstract and experimental stuff can burn itself into your brain. The best solo serves the song and truly feels like it belongs... enhancing the tune, adding colour and emotion... and not acting as an irritating interruption. I believe that Eddie Van Halen is perhaps the best as an all-around guitarist and composer. Van Halen songs are so much more than just a showcase or vehicle for the acclaimed string-bender's talents. Eddie wrote timeless - and very successful - pop/rock songs that will likely remain in the public consciousness for ages. 

There are exceptions to that melodic approach: like when a solo just tears it up... the guitarist's fingers flying at mach speed all over the place, displaying technical virtuosity and emphasizing anything from blinding aggression to blissful joy. Heavy metal, of course, is where we see this most often, since the music of this genre works mostly with extremes. Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer show us angry blistering guitar assaults within their dark and heavy songs. On the other hand, I often hear uplifting melodic soloing in the works by Van Halen (not all, but some), Queen, Journey, and Joe Satriani. Early doomy metal artists like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest presented more chilling instrumental breaks, taking the listener a bit deeper into the disturbed minds of the musicians... the guitar sound worked as yet another voice within the context of the song, adding atmosphere to the overall picture. 

Warren Dimartini of Ratt lays down a blistering rodent attack

Here are some of my favourites, not in strict order, but sort of close:

Hotel California, by The Eagles
Lay It Down, by Ratt
Jane, Jefferson Starship
Eruption, Van Halen
Jump, Van Halen
La Villa Strangiato, by Rush
Welcome to the Jungle, Guns'n'Roses
Meanstreet, Van Halen
Don't Stop, Fleetwood Mac
Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd
Dreamer Deceiver, Judas Priest
Baba O'Riley, The Who
Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Pat Benatar (guitarist Neil Giraldo)
Don't Fear the Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult
While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Beatles (Eric Clapton actually played the solo)
Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits
La Grange, ZZ Top
Voices, Cheap Trick
Don't Stop Believing, Journey
You Shook Me All Night Long, AC/DC
Blackout, Scorpions
Holy Wars, Megadeth
Every solo from the first Black Sabbath album... and those on Heaven and Hell, and....
Let It Go, Def Leppard
The Party, Max Webster
Deuce, Kiss
Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin

Here's a little selection of some of my favourites. Enjoy!