The Ethel Merman Disco Album

I wonder if Ethel Merman was spotted as Studio 54 doing lines in the bathroom.  I'm sure she would be a terror on the dance floor.

For Thanksgiving - I Actually DO Have a Record with a Turkey on the Cover

Rhino released a compilation of songs from some of the worst movies of all time.  Most of these are early rock and roll gems.  I actually play this without looking down upon it,.

Record Store Day Black Friday 2015 List

For those of you dear readers outside the USA who may be unaware.....

The Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday is what's known as Black Friday.  This is not as evil as it sounds.  It's traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year.  The day that retailers go from being 'in the red' to being 'in the black.'   To ensure the most foot traffic in their stores, major retailers offer extreme limited bargains.  Competition has become fierce.  Retailers open their doors earlier and earlier each year.  It got to the point where stores now open on Thanksgiving evening.

There's been quite a backlash against this practice.  One local camping chain announced this year that they wouldn't even open on Black Friday at all,  Instead they're giving their employees the day off and encouraging them to go outside.

Record Store Day began offering up a special release day to be part of the madness.   The special releases aren't nearly as impressive as the regular record store day that happens in April




This year's list is out.  Meh I say.   Nothing on it that would make me want to leave the house.    Looking forward to a day with a fire in the fireplace surrounded by family and leftovers.   If you're inclined to spent your Black Friday in a line.   See the following link for the list.

Record Store Day Black Friday 2015 List

Can You Survive a Shangri-Las Song?

The Shangri-Las were the bad girls of the girl group scene.  They hung out with toughs, defied their parents, wore leather and had thick New York/bad girl accents.  This made them my favorite girl group of the era.

They were best known for their bad girl lust for a bad guy epic The Leader of the Pack.  .

Not many people they sing about survive.

The Leader of the Pack perished in a motorcycle accident.
The Give Us Your Blessing kids died in a car crash.
The mom in I Can Never Go Home Anymore died when the kids ran away to get married.
etc, etc.

There entire recorded output left a string of unfortunate 'accidents' throughout the five boroughs

In this single, Long Live Our Love, the singer is praying that her soldier boy comes home from the war unscathed.   The odds are not good.

A previous owner of this record wrote 'Our Song - Terry + Kerry' on the label.  I hope he's OK.

Ringo's First Solo Success

When The Beatles broke up, we worried about Ringo.  The other three had experience in songwriting and singing.  Ringo was given one song per album, usually written by Lennon/McCartney.  Out of the entire Beatles catalog, Ringo only composed two tunes.  Don't Pass Me By on the White Album and Octopus's Garden on Abbey Road.  If the film Let it Be is any indicator, it looks like George helped him quite a bit with the latter.

John and Paul immediately set off with successful solo careers as expected.  George had such a backlog of tunes written that didn't make it to Beatles records that he immediately released the epic All Things Must Pass to popular acclaim.

But what about Ringo?   His first solo album, Sentimental Journey, was a goofy compilation of old standards.  The followup, Beucoups of Blues was a trip to Nashville to record country songs.

He actually managed to put out some pretty hot singles during this period.

Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy b/w Early 1970 (Apple 1972)

A rockin' A Side that is one of Ringo's signature songs.  Produced by George Harrison.  The B Side documents Ringo's feeling about the other three Beatles post breakup.

Ringo Starr - Back Off Boogaloo b/w Blindman (Apple 1972)

Another rockin' A Side produced by George Harrison.   This one came about during the period when Ringo was hanging out with Marc Bolan.   (Ringo took the photo on the cover of T.Rex's The Slider LP).  The single bristles with T Rex type energy.  And dig that picture sleeve.

For some reason, the drums are mixed very loud on all four of these sides.

With a little help from his famous friends, Ringo managed to put out two hit LP's following these singles.  Ringo and Goodnight Vienna.

My Rack o' Records

Shoved into the back corner of the upstairs of my house, lies the music room.  This is my home office, man cave, playground and vinyl storage room.   

The shelving is from Per Madsen design.  Sadly (for me at least) he retired.   He made a good product.   Each cube is modular and stacks nice and sturdy.  The drawers you see house my 45's.  I need to get some more of those drawers as many additional 45's are stored in that black box in the center and the white boxes you see on the left.

On the right is my upstairs 'B' system supporting one of my trusty Technics SL-D2's.   A low wattage Kenwood amp drives some Sony bookshelf speakers.  Not as nice as the downstairs system, but it does the trick in the small room.

At last count there were about 4,000 LP's.  Sometimes my kids will have sleepovers and sprawl on the floor watching TV.  They are advised in advance:  "If there's an earthquake, run!"

Patti Smith - My Generation

Patti Smith was held in high regard in the early punk scene.  Unlike many of her contemporaries, she still idolized her rock star heroes and wasn't shy about it.  This was a refreshing contrast to the other punks at the time who called the rock stars of the past 'dinosaurs.'   Her first single on a major label featured a live cover of The Who's My Generation.

 No longer hoping she dies before she gets old, the line was changed to 'I don't need this f**king s**t.'  When she performed the song on Saturday Night Live, it was changed to 'I don't need this censorship.'

Notice: "My Generation" contains language the might be considered objectionable.

Ventures in Relational Space

Somewhere between The Velvet Underground and Tom Verlaine lies....