On the Playlist 27MAR2019…

Debut album of The Police - "Outlandis d'Amour" playing today. This was actually precipitated by a video of a street musician band doing a cover of the song Roxanne that got me thinking about this album. In particular the song Roxanne which is one of my most favorite and also hated songs by The Police. Let me explain as there is a story about this song and my feelings about it. When I went to university I went to a 3 day weekend orientation "camp" the summer before I started. I went to the university in my hometown of Edmonton and lived at home. This camp was in the on campus residences over a long weekend. The idea was to get students used to campus life. It was run by more senior students who showed us all around the campus and explained what student life was about. It was a very wild weekend as they introduced us to the wild side of student/campus life as well. Some disclosure here needed. In Alberta at that time the drinking age was 18 so most first year students at university were legal to drink. So, on campus there were student bars etc. and at parties drinking was part of the life. I had skipped a grade in my earlier grade school education so I was only just 17 at the time. This didn't stop me though as id'ing was pretty lax. I actually went through most of my first year at university underage. Back to my story. On my floor at this weekend camp we had a senior leader who definitely knew how to party and we had a good time. He was also totally enamored with the song Roxanne and played it repeatedly and quite loudly in our area of the residence. He especially liked to sing along with it at a rather early hour of the morning. So I recall getting woken up very early to the sound of our leader singing Roxanne each morning of the camp. It is a good song don't get me wrong but I still kind of also hate it as well for that reason.

The Police - Outlandis d'Amour

On the Playlist 25MAR2019…

Watched the movie Bohemian Rhapsody recently and enjoyed it. Although it felt a bit flat and boring. Got me thinking about some of the other band members of Queen and in particular Roger Taylor. I ended up putting his album "Fun In Space" on. This was a solo album release in 1981. I loved the playfulness of the songs on this album. You can tell that Roger had fun recording this right down to the obscure reference to the use of 157 Synthesizers on the album. All of the tracks have a playfulness to them that I enjoyed. I particularly like the first track "No Violins". Also love the cover and artwork done by Hipgnosis. A fun listen.

Roger Taylor - Fun In Space

On the Playlist 22MAR2019…

OMG! I can't believe I have been doing this for over nine months now and haven't mentioned the Beatles yet. So, was on a forum and people were talking about the newly mastered version of "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" and I got to thinking about that album and decided to put it on. I have the newly mastered version of it but honestly don't really notice the difference. I have always loved this album for two reasons, it is an album and not just a collection of catchy tunes like most of the other earlier Beatles Albums and secondly it has some strangeness on it that I enjoy. If you have been following these posts for any amount of time you know I like music that is a bit different. So is this the best Beatles album? I know there are a lot of arguments out there about this. I would say it is. Although some of my favorite Beatles songs (Michelle, Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby) are not from this album. As someone who loves concept albums this is the original and one of the best. 

Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

On the Playlist 20MAR2019…

The Rolling Stones and "Beggars Banquet" on the playlist today. Been a while since I have heard Sympathy for the Devil so decided to put it on and crank it. My kids sort of like this song but also roll their eyes when I put it on and crank it. When they were younger, and still believed dad was cool, they used to beat box along with me on the rhythm when I played this in the car. I think this may be one of their better albums and Sympathy for the Devil is arguably one of their better songs.

Now for my Rolling Stones story... I had a colleague at work, Bill, when I was in North Carolina who had an extra ticket to their concert at Duke University. It was free but the catches were two-fold, it wasn't a great seat and I would have to “baby sit” his 14 year old son as he had better seats elsewhere. He also suggested we tail-gate beforehand so I was in since this was shortly after I moved to North Carolina and I was keen to experience tail-gating. We showed up at about 10 in the morning for the evening concert and proceeded to hang out most of the day. The party got going later in the afternoon when the BBQ showed up. Finally show time came around and we packed up the party and moved to the stadium. We got to our seats and not only were they not great they were terrible. There was a set of steps and railings directly in front of us so we couldn't see anything and furthermore there was constant traffic of people going back and forth. I was a bit bummed by it all but an afternoon of "several" beers and some good BBQ and I wasn't going to make a big deal of it. A couple minutes before the show started someone official came up to us and asked to see our tickets. Once they had verified we had tickets and were in the correct seats, they apologized for the terrible seats and asked us to follow them. We were led down onto the floor to a couple seats that were on the aisle three rows from the stage. Bill's son and I were both pretty happy with this turn of events as we had better seats than Bill and the rest of our group. We lasted about 10 seconds after the concert started and were up standing on our seats and had an amazing time at the concert with the band no more than 15 feet away from us. Main recollection other than the great time we had was how old the band members looked - very old and haggered! I guess that is what the rock and roll lifestyle will do to a person. And that is my Rolling Stones story. 

The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet

On the Playlist 14JAN2019…

Listening to Midnight Oil this afternoon. Was a bit torn as to which album to listen to. I have two favorites and decided on "Blue Sky Mining" to listen to. I think I like this album better than their international hit album "Diesel and Dust' that was released prior to this album. I became a fan of the band after they appeared at the Clayoquot Sound protest in April of 1993. I had heard of them prior to this but this is when I remember being impressed by them. The lead singer, Peter Garret, trained as a lawyer and has for his whole career been an activist for aboriginal rights and various conservation causes. He has even been a member of Australian parliament. I like their music as it usually features a prominent driving beat and a good mix that ensures the vocals are also prominent. Their music definitely includes an activist message so the vocals are important.

Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining

On the Playlist 20DEC2018…

While technically not the 20th yet I am going to take advantage of being on the West coast and trust most readers won't see this till the 20th. Another must listen Christmas album going back to a huge name in rock and pop music - Phil Spector and the compilation album "A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector". Originally released in 1963 it was not an instant success but now is 142 on the top 500 albums of all time list by Rolling Stone. The album gives the wall of sound treatment that Phil Spector was famous for to a bunch of Christmas favorites as sung by artists he was working with at the time. A classic holiday album!

A Christmas Gift To You From Phil Spector

On the Playlist 19DEC2018…

Another great instrumental Christmas album today to follow-up with the one from yesterday with The Ventures and "The Ventures Christmas Album". Appropriately and simply named the music is guitar rich in the style of the Ventures. The best track on the album in my opinion is Frosty the Snowman set to the tune of Tequila. Yes, sounds strange but it works - trust me! This album is fun and playful with interesting takes on a log of the holiday classics.

The Ventures - The Ventures Christmas Album

On the Playlist 17DEC2018…

Continuing on with the Christmas theme I was listening to Nick Lowes "Quality Street - A Seasonal Selection For All the Family". I loved the name of this album as it is a throwback to my childhood and Quality Street chocolates which were a brand of chocolates that we would get around Christmas time when I was growing up. What I really enjoyed about this album is that is was very Christmassy but didn't have any Christmas standards except Silent Night which was a really different version that didn't sound like the usually sappy version. So while this is most definitely a Christmas album it sounded new and different. Although I know of Nick Lowe this is the first music I have from him and really enjoyed so I think I will need to look into more of his music. I really like this one and recommend it. 

Nick Lowe - Quality Street

On the Playlist 12DEC2018…

As you might guess I am going to roll with the Christmas theme for as long as I can. On the playlist today is an album from Elvis Presley but unfortunately not "Elvis' Christmas Album" but rather "Christmas Peace". The former album was alluded to yesterday as it is the highest selling Christmas album in history. Today's album is a compilation of reissues put together long after Elvis passed away. It is a good collection of a lot of Christmas standards in a 2 CD set. Perfect to put on and get into the Christmas spirit with Elvis and what could be wrong with that. The first CD includes pretty much the whole holiday repertoire in chronological order while the second CD is more gospel and inspirational music that is not the traditional Elvis rock music.

Elvis Presley - Christmas Peace

On the Playlist 31OCT2018…

What else would be playing today but Pink Floyd and their album Ummagumma. In particular the studio album and the track "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" which contains a whole variety of strange sound effects. This track was by Roger Waters. Basically the studio album was a free for all where each band member got half an album side to do whatever they wanted. This album has been called the worst of rock excess but I have always kind of liked it myself.

Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

Halloween bonus on the topic of the worst of rock excess. This album also by Roger Waters called "Music From the Body" truly is horrible and is the worst excess ever. It is actually a soundtrack to a documentary film "The Body" which still doesn't make up for how bad it is. This album is made up mostly of sounds from the human body including slaps, breathing, laughing, whispering and yes even flatulence. I bought the album at the height of my LP collecting days as it was from a Pink Floyd member. I still have it!

Roger Waters - Music From the Body

On the Playlist 24OCT2018…

Listening to Yes and their album "Drama" today. This album from 1980 is from the middle of their history and resulted in a breakup of the band. This is their tenth studio album. I have a couple of their albums and didn't realize how many albums they have released. This one is a bit 80s pop music but then what wasn't at that time unless you were into the punk rock. I always loved their album covers and this one is no exception.

Yes - Drama

On the Playlist 22OCT2018…

Carlos Santana playing right now. Listening to his album "Dance of the Rainbow Serpent". This is a 3 CD set of a nice mix of his music from a variety of his albums. Always loved his sound with the laid back vibe and slightly latin guitar sounds. Great for a Monday afternoon of getting stuff done.

Carlos Santana - Dance of the Rainbow Serpent

On the Playlist 2OCT2018…

A bit of the Dead today. Got a new CD recently which honestly I bought because I like the cover and heh, you can always use a bit more of the Dead in a music collection. Listening to Grateful Dead - Pacific Northwest '73-'74. Fairly standard sets here with an extended version of "Playing In the Band" that goes on for 46 minutes. Pretty much a sucker for native art from the Pacific Northwest.

Grateful Dead - Pacific Northwest '73-'74

I was looking at a print the other day from one of my favorite Pacific Northwest Artists - Roy Henry Vickers. I have one of his limited edition prints and this one would have been a great addition to a collection for any Deadhead. Not cheap but way cool.

Roy Henry Vickers - Grateful Dead Post

On the Playlist 1OCT2018…

Back in the office after what seems like an eternity of travel. Didn't do much music listening on this batch of travel. So yesterday put on some music and was listening to Lennon Legend - The Very Best of John Lennon. This is from the trove of CDs that my wife had and is one of the few that was able to rip through without any problems. A nice mix of favorites by John Lennon.

John Lennon - Lennon Legend the Very Best of John Lennon

On the Playlist 12SEP2018…

Post yesterday got me thinking about another band from my experience at the Rock Cirkus - Blue Oyster Cult. I have a lot of tapes with their music but when I searched the digital library I only found one - "Veterans of the Psychic War" which was from a scene of the Heavy Metal Movie. The scene featuring this track was of a grumpy NY cabbie. Love the final line "two-day ride with one hell of a tip". Anyway, put the Heavy Metal Movie Soundtrack on for a big dose of 1980s rock. I'll have to add some Blue Oyster Cult to my next music purchase on Amazon.

Heavy Metal Soundtrack

On the Playlist 11SEP2018…

Carrying on the thread from the other day listening to the second ever album I ever purchased and another one that was heavily influenced by my older cousin - Heart - Little Queen. Although the band hails from the Seattle area it was when they moved to Canada that they had their earliest success. Little Queen is their second album (sort of) after Dreamboat Annie. The heart of the group (bad pun there) are the two sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. Their first album was recorded in Vancouver at Mushroom studios which is just a couple blocks down from the apartment I own there. 

I remember seeing them live at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium at the Rock Circus on August 26, 1979. I would have been 14 years old at the time and worked at the stadium as a hawker in the stands. The Rock Circus was absolute mayhem and I made about $400 that day which was a lot of money back then. The hawkers were absolutely forbidden from going down on the floor of the stadium but we all knew that we was where all the serious stoners and drunks were and thus where the real money was to be made. So, we would ditch our uniforms and go down there anyway. Just had to keep an eye out for our supervisors and not get caught. I made several large tips from people who were so out of it they had no idea what they were doing - ah the 70s. It was quite eye-opening to say the least. Good thing my parents had no idea what it was all about as they would have freaked out!. Working as a hawker in the stadium during the summer lead to a part-time job in the winter working at a concession stand at the hockey rink next to my high school as it was run by the same company. I made some good impressions with my hard work ethic at the stadium. Worked at the stadium one more year before moving on to better jobs but none quite as fun since I attended every major event at the stadium for 2 years. 

Heart - Little Queen

On the Playlist 5SEP2018…

A carry on from yesterday's post. As I was thinking about how groundbreaking the music of Jean Michel Jarre was and his use of electronics, it got me thinking to how far music has come and specifically with the very first samplers and sequencers and how ubiquitous they are in music now - so much so that there is now an app for the iphone that replicates the functions of one of the very first sampler/sequencer the Fairlight CMI. Jean Michel Jarre was one of the first to use it but the first mainstream artist to use it was Peter Gabriel. He formed the first company to distribute these machines in Europe and first used it on his third solo album (a great album in itself). With that backdrop this evening I was listening to Peter Gabriel's fourth solo album also know Security as it has some amazing effects and samples on it and most of them done with the Fairlight CMI. A couple tracks stand out for me on this album including "San Jacinto", "I Have the Touch" and "The Rhythm of the Heat". This was also one of the very earliest fully digital recordings ever made.

Peter Gabriel - Security

On the Playlist 31JUL2018…

After spending the better part of two days in a car "Comfortably Numb" from Pink Floyd's The Wall came into the rotation on the music player. I always remember discovering this album and the band Pink Floyd. My brother was always into the popular music while I went for the weird stuff. When The Wall came out it became a big hit and my brother bought it. Bit of background is that our mom is a school teacher. So when the lyrics "we don't need no education" came blasting out the stereo as my brother played the album my mom was not impressed and confiscated the record then and there. As a 16 year old teenager this response warranted some research on my part. Any album that could elicit that sort of response from my mom was definitely worth looking into and look into it I did. I actually started my interest in Pink Floyd with their early music and really enjoyed that. It was many years later before I actually owned a copy of The Wall but when I did I loved it and by that time I was old enough to really get into it and understand the full significance of it and how it fit into the bands evolution. Loved the movie when it came out as well as it made the album seem light in comparison. Would have to say they are my all time favorite major band and all because my mom confiscated my brother's album. Now that I have my own kids I have made it my mission to totally out weird them in musical taste and I play much more shocking stuff than they could even imagine. Ha ha!

Pink Floyd - The Wall - "Comfortably Numb"

On the Playlist 30JUL2018…

On the road in Northern British Columbia and have the tune playing. Luckily I loaded over 300gb of music onto my music player so there is lots to choose from. Another flashback to high school with "Deadman's Curve" and the version I prefer is by Nash the Slash. Nash the Slash was rather interesting in that he played electric violin with digital accompaniement while wrapped in bandages like a mummy. No one knew who he was but was reputed to be in another Canadian band called FM at the time. He unfortunately passed away from a heart attack in 2014. Loved his version of Deadman's Curve which was a standard on any of my cruising mix tapes in the day. So it felt oddly appropriate to play it while careening down the highway passing slow motor homes in Northern British Columbia.

Nash the Slash - Dead Man's Curve

On the Playlist 22JUL2018…

Weekend bonus! Hot here in SoCal so chilling out at home reading and listening to music. Today I've got Queen on the playlist. In particular "A Night at the Opera". First got into Queen in high school. In my grade 10 social studies class there was a girl I was interested in and so, being the awkward nerd I was, I schemed on how to get her attention. She was one of the drama kids which interested me even more. I noticed she had doodled on her pencil case the logo from this album. Aha, I had my hook. I had to do some research (forget how I did this as it was pre-internet) on what the logo was. Figured it out and got the album. Listened to it quite a bit. I had my own stereo system in my room at home and did a lot of taping. I learned some of the songs and in particular "Love of My Life" (yes, I was that corny). I made a point from then on to hum or sing that song under my breath when I was around her. Needless to say the ploy didn't work. Maybe if I had just talked to her. Ugh, I cringe thinking about my akwardness around girls at that age! Anyway, upshot is I liked the music and got more of their albums. Enjoyed their earlier albums when the small print always said "No Synthesizers!" Oh yes, this album also has another rather popular song on it called "Bohemian Rhopsody."

Speaking of Bohemian Rhapsody, later in High School, and once I had my driver's license and a car, I fell in with a crowd that was into going cruising on a Saturday night. This involved piling into several cars (this was very strategic as to which car you got into) and driving around town with the windows down and the music on. My car (1970 Chevelle 4-door) was usually the least popular in our group - I think I had too much wierd music on my mix tapes - but I didn't care. I had rigged up my Walkman to a set of battery-powered speakers since I couldn't be bothered to put a good stereo in the car. The routine usually consisted of going to 7-Eleven getting Slurpees and twizzlers (better eaten when frozen in the Slurpee). Trying to be obnoxious as possible at the 7-Eleven but not actually kicked out. Props for coming up with some crazy mix of flavors. Then driving downtown with the windows open. In winter this was important to be cool and required running the heater at full blast. There were a couple specific roads we would go down - a run up and down Groat road was definitely required. At some point Bohemian Rhapsody would come on the mix tape and we would all sing along. At any point when we hit a traffic light just right one of the cars would do a Chinese fire drill (yes, we called it that. My Kids cringe when I tell them that). When Wayne's World came out several years later it was a big hit in Canada because that was our High School experience encapsulated in the movie. Didn't hurt that both Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey were Canadian. Interesting the crowd I had fallen in with that were into cruising were the church youth group. We would go after our Saturday night bible study. Most of the people in the youth group turned up so they could go cruising after. The whole cruising scene was cool until there was an accident. No one was hurt but a car was totalled and the parents shut it down. My brother was in the passenger seat of the car that crashed and he had huge props for years because despite the car jumping a median and doing a flip before hitting a utility pole on the other side he was able to hold on to his Slurpee and not spill a drop. 

Queen - A Night At the Opera