"New" Vintage Vinyl and In the Listening Room

Things have sort of been picking up musically lately. Until recently, I've had a sort of lazy approach to listening... just popping on any old CD now and then as I tap away at my laptop or whatever. Not very focused on the music or on anything else, for that matter. I can probably blame this malaise on the weird pervading gloom that's settled over the world during this pandemic.

But when something on my Discogs wishlist finally came up for sale at a reasonable price and not too far from home, I jumped on that. Just a couple of days ago, my record order arrived in the mail, and I'm stoked to give these albums a solid listen. First off, I got a compilation called Best of Stampeders, with twenty hot tunes that are the highlights of the 70's Canadian rock band's career. And since I didn't want to break the bank, but I did want something extra special, I nabbed the classic Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The Stampeders are a band I first heard on a beloved 8-track tape of mine when I was a kid in the late 1970's. Their rousing New Orleans was one of my favourite tunes on that tape, and though I have re-acquired that old K-tel album - this time on vinyl - I wanted a fuller representation of the Stampeders. Months ago, I was curious enough to check out a bunch of their music on Youtube and was pretty impressed, occasionally even bowled over, by their other stuff. Of course, I already knew Sweet City Woman, a radio staple ever since those olden days. But the rest of it was new to me, and I especially liked Wild Eyes, which certainly deserves its place on this Best Of record. That plus Rocky Mountain Home and Running Wild are immediate favourites among a lot of strong material on this 1977 LP. Though the record and sleeve show some visible wear, the LP plays clean without any problems. I'm very happy with this purchase.

Green River, by CCR, has long been considered their best album. For many years, I've had a Best Of CCR in my collection, whether on tape or CD, so I've known a few of the songs from Green River, including the title track. Yet Bad Moon Rising is the only song that I really enjoyed enough to play a lot. I even used to jam to that on guitar. So on Green River there are a lot of songs that are new to me. I've yet to spin this record, but will do so later today. I'm looking forward to CCR on the headphones, accompanied by a nice cold one.

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As for my listening habits over the past while, it's been a mixed bag. Australian queen of dance music Kylie Minogue just dropped the first single, Say Something, from her upcoming album Disco. I have to say that even though she has sort of returned to her roots (a good thing, if done right), this new tune is lacking. The sound is so sterile, so cold, and devoid of any real instrumentation, that it's hard to like it. Two albums ago, Kylie's music turned hyper-produced with far too much in the way of digital interference with her voice, not to mention very chilly, studio-generated backing music. This new Kylie needs more groove and warmth (her last album Golden came close), like she had right up into the early 2010's. So I will not jump on the pre-order bandwagon for this one. I'll wait for more advance singles to get a better idea of how this album will sound.

While watching an episode of the new show Devs, I heard a very cool song that I had to search a bit for online. In the end, I learned it was Oh I Wept by 70's rock group Free. I think the only Free song I've ever known was All Right Now, which I feel I've heard enough. But this other one... wow, very chill and soulful. In fact, as I first listened to it during the show, I tried to analyze it and guess who it might be... some sort of cross between Steppenwolf and Cream, that sound and era. I was in the ballpark but couldn't get on base.

During a bit of Youtubing, I stumbled down a rabbit hole to find (for the second time, I think) Caro Emerald doing a funky, jazzy swing pop song called Back It Up. A very pleasant blend of genres that is really easy to listen to. This led me to A Night Like This, similar in vibe but with more of a Latin-American tempo and sound - very fun and dancy.

Earlier in the week, I had a little record-listening session. I didn't play full albums, but instead just did album sides - I chose a side with songs I really wanted to hear and slapped that on the player. Then on to another album's side. And so on. I didn't have a lot of time, so I only put on half of the first Steppenwolf album, then on to Elton John's Greatest Hits (1974). Cool oldies.