Old Enough to Forget

The '60s, baby they were the best of times, they were the worst of times. On today's instalment of what the fudge were they thinking , we have the Tijuana Voices Sing Merry Christmas an album that's deliberately packaged to make you think this is The Tijuana Brass, or a cheaper knock off of Julius Wechter and The Baja Marimba Band. The difference was that Julius was on A&M the home of the Tijuana Brass and Mr. Alpert was the A in A&M. Whereas the Tijuana Voices were on Pickwick/33 a budget label, known for repacking stuff at a discount. Yeah we have the pseudo Mexican moustaches and sombreros that screams '60s kitsch. You could be forgiven for thinking this was Herb Alpert, at least that's what I'm telling myself, because I feel like I got suckered. Except that it's exactly what I had hoped it would be, so I guess it all worked out in the end. For all that it was a dollar well spent. Like I said, this delivered exactly what I was expecting to hear. T...

I found this one, and snapped it up. Sadly it looked to be in better condition than it actually was ... but I can stream it if I want to hear it without the Rice Krispie Players adding their own textures to the songs. It didn't matter, at least for the first few times that I played it in the basement. Don Ho, you know Mister Tiny Bubbles himself, was someone I knew of, more than I knew of. I always figured he was a one note joke and I didn't get the punchline. I had no idea what to expect, somehow in my mind I figured he'd be milking his 1967 hit, and signature song. "Tiny Snowballs" and the like. "Tiny Bubbles" from what I've read was originally penned for Lawrence Welk as a tie in to his champagne music. Mr. Welk passed, and Don Ho received it and scored a touchdown with it. Released in 1967 Do Ho nailed it with his easy listening collection of Christmas standards, "Silver Bells", "The Christmas Song", and a wonderfully slowed ...

The Monkees. These guys were my musical heroes. Accept no substitutes. As a kid I had no idea they were a manufactured band, and that the TV ran for only 2 years between 1966 - and 1968 and broadcast 58 episodes. I grew up on reruns in the early '70s and while I loved the show, it was the concert and performance parts of the show that I really loved. The songs were so good and even back then I found Davy Jones to be a little (ha, because he was short) irritating, and his contributions were limited to the cute songs and playing maracas. even if he could play four of them at a time ... which admittedly is harder than it looks - so is playing the tambourine but that doesn't mean I have to like it. By 1967 The Monkees were a pretty big deal, and by golly they were busy. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. was their third album in that year, and the second one where the boys were in charge. Often dismissed as inconsequential artists they had enough sense to bring in good s...

Number thirteen and still plugging away. I have notice though that I'm not keeping with the theme as consistently as I had expected. The intent of dropping a bunch of mini blurbs was to save me time and to allow me to put down some thoughts on albums without having to go too deep. You know, "Oh I liked this one." that sort of thing. But nope. My balloon is apparently very much full of hot air. Some of these are longer and I suppose I could have just blown a little more air into them and released them on their own. But I didn't, still I did get in a couple of short ones, so I'll take it as a win. Welcome to the summer baby. Get a drink, pull up a chair and let's waste so time shall we? Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf (1968) Max Webster - Live Magnetic Air (1979) Ian Thomas - Long Long Way (1974) The Grass Roots - Golden Grass: Their Greatest Hits (1968) Mel Tillis - Night Train to Memphis (1967) Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf (1968) Steppenwolf is one of those bands who...

All I knew about Country Joe and The Fish was what I'd heard on the Woodstock album I'd checked out from the library when I was still in high school. Of course watching The Omega Man on TV as a kid was a riveting experience, and seeing Charlton Heston sitting in a dark theatre watching Woodstock sort of stuck with me. That triple live Woodstock album was another beast altogether, although at the time I really didn't think all that much of the '60s stuff. It was hit and miss, but it was an interesting experience. There was some cool stuff on those platters, and some stuff that made my ears hurt. Then there was the absolutely mind blowing "The 'Fish' Cheer" by Country Joe McDonald. I'd never really paid attention to protest songs, but this ... this was something special. It was probably the first time I'd heard the word fuck in a song, and it was used so artistically that it stuck with me. It's really the only song I truly liked on that albu...

While this was not the first album by The Moody Blues, it was the first album to feature Justin Hayward, and John Lodge, and it was the one that put them on the map. It was also an album that was more or less commissioned by the band's label to showcase the Deram Sound System and it's ability to record in stereo. Yeah, that was a thing once upon a time. Released in 1967 this was a heady time for musicians and new and emerging technology. Earlier in the year The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper and suddenly there was a new way to craft an album under the guise of threading the songs into a cohesive ... concept. Thus, the concept album was conceived. Working in this newly discovered vein, The Moody Blues went big with their second release. Collaborating with The London Festival Orchestra the band was able to craft pop songs that were intricate and lush and still contemporary, at least contemporary as it was in 1967. Truth be told, some of the arrangements sounded like they were arra...

I can't say this was an album I'd heard when I was a kid. To be fair I was exposed to a lot of really cool music through my cousins Dean and Jeff and my Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Lloyd. Heck I remember Jeff having a Wayne Newton record and really liked "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" which I am not making fun of at all. I'm just using that to show that despite my penchant for B.T.O. and Brownsville Station's "Smokin' in the Boys Room" I was exposed to a pretty wide range of music. I mean my favourite record in my dad's collection was the clear red vinyl version of South Pacific . Heck, I played my Aunt's 45 of "Hitchin a Ride" by Vanity Fair about a hundred times. Okay, I've forgotten what I was doing.  Right, Sergio Mendes. Yeah, as a kid, never heard of him. As an adult, well that's another thing. I went through a phase where I got a lot of Latin Jazz, and his 1966 album The Swinger from Rio (that was apparently record...

Oh my stars and garters, look what the dollar bin coughed up. A 1967 first Canadian pressing of The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour . Yeah, this is a pretty awesome score. Too bad the 24-page full color picture book has been lost to the ravages of time. The vinyl itself though despite looking a little sketchy in a couple of places, particularly on the first side, turned out to play really clean with a few little pops here and there but overall this was a really pleasant surprise. The gatefold itself was obviously well loved by the previous owners, who marked their names under several of the songs. I'm guessing they were siblings who fought over ownership. Somewhere David, John, Ellen and Author ended up with nothing, and here I am 55 years later claiming sole ownership. Let that be a lesson kids. DON'T MARK SHIT UP WITH INK. Anyways, here I am geeking out and listening to the album for the first time in its entirety. Now, like a lot of people too young to have witnessed The Beatle...

Here we are, the last Sunday of the month. While two in a row, I wouldn't say I'm in a pattern, yet. It's at least setting a precedent. Five for Fighting No.2 is a bit of an odd bunch this time around. I still think it's pretty cool even if it is kind of all over the place. which is how I like it. I'm still working through the backlog of albums from the dollar bin, and a couple new sealed albums that I was pretty stoked to find. However, I've picked up quite a bit lately and little piles have started to build in the basement. Which usually means I'm going to get an ear full from the wife. The one album I was really curious about from this batch was the Mike Lesley one - good thing I'm not a cat. If I was I'd need more than nine lives. Anyways, here's the second instalment: Five for Fighting Mike Lesley - Mike Lesley (1976) James Taylor - JT (1977) Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant (1967)  Valdy - Country Man (1972) Real Life - Heartland (198...