Old Enough to Forget

For a dollar I'll often take a chance on stuff I wouldn't normally poke with a stick. I've mentioned more than once I am terrible with genres, especially sub genres within a genre, and here's an album that is well outside of what I normally listen to - apparently this is House , and more specifically French House . What I know about house music I could fit into a thimble and still have room for a sandwich. What I have learned about French House is that Daft Punk, being from France, were fitted into the "electronic / house genre." I'll admit I really liked "Get Lucky" and it's weird to think that was ten years ago. The album packing was in immaculate shape, and even the vinyl cleaned up surprisingly well. This was from 1999 - it's cool it was released on vinyl as I'm pretty sure there wasn't a lot of demand for an actual record . Although, maybe in France they were being obstinate and insisted on vinyl ...after all, they were D...

I had always wanted to pick up a copy of this album, but I didn't. Not because I didn't like John Lennon, it's because I didn't want to hear the Yoko Ono songs. Yeah, I know it's a shitty reason, but it is what it is. We all know the history here, and that's what makes this so sad. I remember when this came out, and "Watching the Wheels" and "(Just Like) Starting Over" were getting some airplay and I really liked those songs - still do. I also remember reading there was disappointment in how John's "come back" wasn't doing as well as some had expected, and a lot of the early reviews pretty much shit on it. Everything changed December 8, 1980. Let's address the elephant in the room right off. The Yoko songs. I guess in terms of being artistic and taking chances and playing against the conventions of crafting listenable pop she was a master. Heck, I'll even grant that "Give Me Something" has a certain cha...

1972 was a good year for Mister Winter. In the spring he released Roadwork (which I really liked) and then that fall he'd release They Only Come out at Night with his new band The Edgar Winter Group. The group would feature a young Dan Hartman on vocals, bass, and guitar and a lot of other stuff (he was a wunderkind, his picture looks like it a yearbook photo), and Ronnie Montrose on guitar - a year later Ronnie would leave and start his own band - but it was here that Ronnie honed his rock chops. I'll be honest I got this for two tracks "Free Ride" and "Frankenstein" and if the other eight tracks blow chunks I'd still feel like I got my monies worth. Then again, I found this in the dollar bin - it was a risk as who knows what condition this thing would turn out to be in. Turns out that with a little spit and polish the record looked pretty good. The record leads off with "Hangin' Around" and it's a decent song, and as the first side...

On his third solo effort in 1985 Robert Plant pulled out all the stops, loaded up the synthecheesisizer, threw in a kitchen sink and pressed record. It's funny how at the time Robert Plant seemed like some old dude who'd been around forever and was enjoying a career resurgence with his solo career. He was re-inventing himself as an artist who took chances and wasn't afraid to embrace new trends. His previous album The Principle of Moments from 1983 had some killer songs on the radio that I liked and found irritating at the same time. Oddly enough when the Honeydrippers EP dropped it was massive, and there was something endearing about "Sea of Love" and this seemed to earn him a lot of goodwill with me as when Shaken 'n' Stirred came out I was intrigued by the video for "Little by Little" and really enjoyed the song. My old roommate Otto and I had pretty similar tastes in music, and he bought the CD and I think I played it once and dismissed it ...

One of the first albums I bought was Harlequin's 1979 debut mainly because my friend Andrew, who was a great guitar player (this is how I remember him), wanted me to learn "You are the Light" so we could play it together. Victim of a Song would become one of my favourite albums, and I did learn how to play "You are the Light". The combination George Belanger's distinct vocals, and Glen Willows' searing guitar work was a one - two punch that seemed to deliver over and over on that album. When the band dropped their new album in 1980 I was primed and eager to hear what the band had to offer. They didn't disappoint - the legendary Jack Douglas produced the album, and the first cut "Innocence" perfectly encapsulated everything that Harlequin brought to the table. Killer vocals, a killer guitar solo, and a killer hook. It was, and remains probably one of the best songs the band ever recorded. The bar was immediately set pretty freakin' high...

A band who can write a monster like "Mississippi Queen" must have deeper cuts just waiting to be discovered ... right? Let's find out. I found this in the dollar bin, and while it cleaned up okay, I didn't realize there was a pretty good wobble in the vinyl. I have a weight stabilizer and it helped a bit, although the first cut on each side is a little off until it moves in a bit - but it isn't too noticable. This really doesn't have anything to do with the album but it was part of my experience with the album so I'll allow it. The first thing that stood out was how tacky and well, bad the album design was. Sure, it was the early 70s an era of pretty much anything was allowed - or tried, but come on, this was also the era of really great Roger Dean covers, so having a cover with a blurry "action shot" of Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi surrounded by weird cartoon bird creatures that looked like angry McDonald's Fry Guys or worse technicolor ...

I was ten years old when I first heard Ian Thomas' "Painted Ladies" on my AM radio. I still really like the song, and throughout the 70s, he was the consummate singer-songwriter. Even his 1979 song "Pilot," which was equal parts irritating and cool with its quirky recorder (yes, a recorder) runs, was a song I kind of liked, but it wasn't a song I was too fond of. However, when Ian performed it on SCTV with Bob and Doug (his brother Dave), it took on a second life. I knew of Ian Thomas from many of his own songs, but also from the various covers of his songs by other artists, from Santana to Chicago. But it was Manfred Mann's Earth Band's retooling of "The Runner" that really floated my boat (oddly, I never did pick up a copy, and it is still on my list of things to look for one day). Fast forward to the summer of 1983, and I'm lining up to see the Strange Brew movie, and in the opening credits, Ian Thomas delivers the title ...