THE NYLON CURTAIN  -  BILLY JOEL

YEAR:  1982
LABEL:  Columbia
TRACK LISTING:  Allentown,  Laura,  Pressure,  Goodnight Saigon,  She's Right On Time,  A Room of Our Own,  Surprises,  Scandinavian Skies,  Where's the Orchestra
IMPRESSIONS:  It's the early Reagan years in America and Billy made an album about the bleak outlook for the American Dream that we would do better than our parents.  This album is one of Joel's personal favourites and he laboured over it more than any other album before.  It is a quite ambitious project in that it tackles many of the concerns of the early 1980s.  From the opening factory whistle, Joel announces the decline of the American steel industry and many other industries, in fact, with the anthemic "Allentown".  Coming only a year and a bit after the murder of John Lennon, "THEY NYLON CURTAIN" has its fair share of Beatles and particularly Lennonesque aspects; none more prominently than the terrifically Beatles-like "Laura" which is a more successful homage than the rather laboured "INNOCENT MAN" album to come later.  Joel's singing voice in "Scandinavian Skies" either consciously or unconsciously takes on a very John Lennon-like timbre and delivery; all this along with the drum riff from Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover".  The dawning of the hedonistic consumerist paradise of the 1980s was already on Joel's mind in the sharp, biting wit of "Pressure".  The long-delayed acceptance of Vietnam veterans perhaps got it's primal start in the intensely moving "Goodnight Saigon".  "A Room of Our Own" sounds like a lost Elton John song; if you listen to this song and can't hear Elton John in every note you simply aren't familiar with Elton John.  I wonder why La Reg never covered it?  I suppose Elton figured that Billy Joel had already covered a song Elton himself had never even done so there was no need.  Or something.  "Surprises" is no doubt written about his wife Elizabeth as was "Just the Way You Are" but it is the antithesis of that earlier song in that it documents the messy break-up of that relationship in a Marvin Gaye-"Here, My Dear" juggular vein.  The album winds up with the melancholy "piano man" torch song "Where's the Orchestra" sitting alone back in the smoky piano bar after hitting all the stops through the land of the Nylon Curtain.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Allentown,  Laura,  Pressure,  Goodnight Saigon,  A Room of Our Own,  Surprises
FACT SHEET:  THE NYLON CURTAIN is Billy Joel's eighth album and was produced by Phil Ramone.  It is one of the first albums to be recorded, mixed and mastered entirely digitally.  The album was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy Award.

NEGOTIATIONS AND LOVE SONGS 1971 - 1986  -  PAUL SIMON

YEAR:  1988
LABEL:  Warner Bros.
TRACK LISTING:  Mother and Child Reunion,  Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard,  Something So Right,  St. Judy's Comet,  Loves Me Like A Rock,  Kodachrome,  Have A Good Time,  50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,  Still Crazy After All These Years,  Late in the Evening,  Slip Slidin' Away,  Hearts and Bones,  Train In the Distance,  Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,  Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes,  You Can Call Me Al
IMPRESSIONS:  Once more we have basically a greatest hits album - which I don't like to do except when I don't really own "actual" albums by an artist and this is one of those times.  This is basically the only Paul Simon cd I own and I'm OK with that.  Even though it makes the cardinal sin of omitting "American Tune" from the track list!  I'm pretty sure this collection has been deleted in favour of newer "best of" cds but this is the one I prefer (again, I'd like "American Tune" added to it).  I mean come on, the cover photo of Simon in fedora with film noir shadows falling across him can't be beat by the generic covers of later greatest hits albums.  Grumpy ole Paul knocked out some substantial hits in the 70s and 80s period covered here before he co-opted African music on "GRACELAND" (which frankly left me cold as a Franco & OK Jazz fan).  As 80's yuppies and critics were lauding GRACELAND as groundbreaking and original, I was thinking a chap named Peter Gabriel had been there before and managed to retain his own musical identity rather than simply copying another musical style.  But here we have the post-Garfunkel and pre-Graceland Paul Simon - the one I grew up hearing in addition to the old Simon & Garfunkel records I loved.  Simon's 70's work always showed him as a bit of a magpie with the slightly reggae rhythm of "Mother and Child Reunion" (named after a chicken and egg dish he spied on a menu), the slightly latin sound in the bouncy hop of "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" which bounces like a basketball in that very same schoolyard or the pseudo-gospel of "Loves Me Like A Rock".  On this collection we also get the "nice bright colours" of "Kodachrome" (very S&G sounding), the jazzy sound and playful lyrical exercise of "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" and the masterpiece solo Simon of "Still Crazy After All These Years" (possibly my favourite song on the album).  I'm also a huge fan of the subdued and biographical "Hearts and Bones" which delineates Simon's marriage to Carrie Fisher ("one and one half wandering Jews") and the smokestack railway sound of "Train In the Distance".  Simon sweetly marries the surrealist painter Magritte with a loving evocation of 50's doo wop groups ("The Penguins, the Moonglows, the Orioles, the Five Satins...") which somehow works with the rocking chair atmosphere of this wonderful song.  Then we come to the African explorations of "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (nicely dueting with Ladysmith Black Mambazo) and the delirious silliness of "You Can Call Me Al" which is just plain joyful.  And then, of course, I prefer having this cd because I'm pretty sure Fink lost his copy.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Mother and Child Reunion,  Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard,  Loves Me Like A Rock,  Kodachrome,  50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,  Still Crazy After All These Years,  Slip Slidin' Away,  Hearts and Bones,  Train In the Distance,  Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,  Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,  You Can Call Me Al
GUEST ARTISTS:  Ladysmith Black Mambazo (vocals on "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"),  Cissy Houston (backing vocals on "Mother and Child Reunion"),  the Dixie Hummingbirds (vocals on "Loves Me Like A Rock"),  Phoebe Snow (backing vocals on "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover),  Patti Austin (backing vocals on "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"),  the Oak Ridge Boys (vocals on "Slip Slidin' Away"),  Jeff Porcaro (drums on "Train In the Distance"),  the Harptones (vocals on "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War"), Youssou N'Dour (percussion on "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"), Adrian Belew (guitar synthesizer on "You Can Call Me Al")
FACT SHEET:  NEGOTIATIONS AND LOVE SONGS is a greatest hits collection spanning the years 1971 and 1986.

CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD  -  PAUL MCCARTNEY

YEAR:  2005
LABEL:  EMI
TRACK LISTING:  Fine Line,  How Kind of You,  Jenny Wren,  At the Mercy,  Friends To Go,  English Tea,  Too Much Rain,  A Certain Softness,  Riding To Vanity Fair,  Follow Me,  Promise To You Girl,  This Never Happened Before,  Anyway
BONUS TRACK:  I've Only Got Two Hands (hidden track)
IMPRESSIONS:  That old duffer Macca was not really on my radar when this album came out.  While working at the Hellmouth we "overhead played" McCartney's previous releases typified by that horrendous 9/11 "Freedom" song and the word I used to describe his output then was "insipid".  That's why "BACKYARD" is such a gobsmack because it's incredibly listenable from start to finish and the only embarrassing moment in it occurs when he rips off "People Get Ready" for the first verse of "Anyway".  Or should I call that "homage"?  Somehow it doesn't feel like we're meant to recognize the Curtis Mayfield song but instead it seems more like an "unconscious plagiarism" instance a la George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" or the Rolling Stones' "Has Anybody Seen My Baby".  Other than that, "BACKYARD" is Macca's strongest album in years . . . probably decades.  A great deal of credit for this goes to producer Nigel Godrich who was used to producing Radiohead and Beck and really had no fawning reverence for the ex-Beatle.  This was apparently just what McCartney was looking for when he asked Godrich to produce (at the suggestion of the eminent Sir George Martin, no less).  Apparently, Godrich was fairly blunt and wouldn't allow McCartney to skate by with sub-par material.  In Macca's own words, Godrich "...refused to allow me to sing songs that he didn't like, which was very cheeky of him".  McCartney was reportedly taken aback at first but then upon listening to the results knew he'd made the right choice in producer.  This album has the paradoxical quality of sounding very fresh and energized while at the same time sounding very Beatlesque to me; however its done in such a way not to sound like a pastiche but instead as emerging from McCartney's natural creative bent.  He wasn't copying anybody when he was with the Beatles and Godrich has somehow allowed McCartney to tap that same wellspring.  But all the credit cannot go strictly to the production end because McCartney provides the tunes which would sound good even stripped down and acoustic.  Godrich has managed to kick McCartney up his geriatric bum and enabled the old rocker to sound like the old fab lad whose creativity knew no bounds.  Just when I had counted him out, too!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Fine Line,  How Kind of You,  Jenny Wren,  At the Mercy,  Friends To Go,  English Tea,  Too Much Rain,  Riding To Vanity Fair,  Follow Me,  This Never Happened Before,  I've Only Got Two Hands
FACT SHEET:  CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD is Paul McCartney's 13th solo album.  Paul McCartney plays a great many of the instruments himself.  The album was nominated for three Grammy Awards including Album of the Year.  "Friends To Go" is inspired by and dedicated to George Harrison.  The cover photograph of a young Paul McCartney playing guitar in his family's back garden in Liverpool was taken by his brother Mike McCartney(aka Mike McGear) and was originally titled "Paul Under Washing" before being retitled "Our Kid Through Mum's Net Curtains".    

WOODFACE  -  CROWDED HOUSE

YEAR:  1991
LABEL:  Capitol
TRACK LISTING:  Chocolate Cake,  It's Only Natural,  Fall At Your Feet,  Tall Trees,  Weather With You,  Whispers and Moans,  Four Seasons In One Day,  There Goes God,  Fame Is,  All I Ask,  As Sure As I Am,  Italian Plastic,  She Goes On,  How Will You Go
BONUS TRACKS:  I'm Still Here (a hidden track which starts 30 seconds after "How Will You Go" ends)
IMPRESSIONS:  The Finn Brothers always seemed to be playing leapfrog.  Split Enz had Tim but not younger brother Neil until a band shake-up left room for the youngster to join.  After several years, Tim would leave Split Enz for a solo career and Neil would carry on briefly as the band's leader before disbanding to form his own band Crowded House which released two albums to great commercial success.  Then, by the time of Crowded House's third album "WOODFACE" who should suddenly join the band but Tim Finn!  Until the next album, then he was gone again.  Crowded House would carry on for a while before disbanding and -- you guessed it -- Tim and Neil would team up for several albums under the Finn Brothers moniker.  As well as carrying-on with separate solo careers.  Oh yeah, but then there was Tim's mini-supergroup Alt . . . and that Pajama thing Neil's doing now . . . as well as having reformed Crowded House for a couple recent albums.  Whew!  Who can keep track.  But it doesn't really matter as the Finn Brothers are better together than separately and "WOODFACE" is my favourite Crowded House album as, to me at the time, it was something of a Split Enz Mach II.  A statement on the "LOVE THAT ALBUM" podcast declared side one of "WOODFACE" to be one of the best side ones of any album.  Well, it is certainly pretty damned good.  The album didn't do nearly as well in the US as it should have owing mainly to the bone-headed decision to release "Chocolate Cake" (a good song, don't get me wrong) as the first single; not the best choice when you had such monumental songs as "Weather With You", "Fall At Your Feet" and "Four Seasons In One Day" to choose from, for Pete's sake!  "Fall At Your Feet" and "Four Seasons In One Day" remain some of my favourite songs by the brothers along with torch song "All I Ask" (the first song a Neil Finn composition with the latter two collaborations between the brothers).  
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Chocolate Cake,  It's Only Natural,  Fall At Your Feet,  Weather With You,  Whispers and Moans,  Four Seasons In One Day,  All I Ask,  She Goes On
FACT SHEET:  WOODFACE is Crowded House's third album.  After the second album "TEMPLE OF LOW MEN", Neil and Tim Finn wrote songs together intending to release as a Finn Brothers album.  After these songs were recorded, Neil Finn rejoined Nick Seymour and Paul Hester to write and record the third Crowded House album; however the record label rejected most of these songs as unsuitable.  Neil asked Tim if they could use the songs the brothers had recorded for the Crowded House album and Tim (now stating that he was joking) said "Sure, but only if I can join the band".  Regardless, the record was recorded with Tim a full fourth member of Crowded House.  "All I Ask" was used for AIDS Awareness adverts in Australia.  Tim would leave the band during the UK tour for the album.  Nine songs were recorded for WOODFACE before Tim Finn became involved and were not included on the album:  "Anyone Can Tell", "Left Hand", "Dr. Livingstone", "Sacred Cow", "I Love You Dawn", My Telly's Gone Bung", "Time Immemorial", "Fields Are Full of Your Kind" and "My Legs Are Gone".  All but the last two songs were included on the 1999 rarities collection "AFTERGLOW"; the final two songs still remain unreleased.  Again, hilariously, New Zealand's favourite sons and their band Crowded House's album "WOODFACE" was named #3 in the greatest Australian album list. 

THE DIVINE ONE  -  SARAH VAUGHAN

YEAR:  1961
LABEL:  Roulette
TRACK LISTING:  Have You Met Miss Jones?,  Ain't No Use,  Every Time I See You,  You Stepped Out of a Dream,  Gloomy Sunday,  What Do You See In Her?,  Jump For Joy,  When Your Lover Has Gone,  I'm Gonna Laugh You Out of My Life,  Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams,  Somebody Else's Dream,  Trouble Is A Man
IMPRESSIONS:  More Sassy so soon?  You can never have too much Sarah Vaughan.  This is an intimate sounding album with Sassy backed by a small trio of piano, trumpet and drums only and beautifully represents the pared-down sound she established once she moved to the Roulette label.  This is only the second album she made during that brief but important portion of her career; her first Roulette album "DREAMY" sadly remains unissued on cd as is the case with the criminally un-reissued "SNOWBOUND" album!  I first encountered some of these tracks on a 1991 compilation cd called "SARAH VAUGHAN THE ROULETTE YEARS VOLUMES ONE & TWO" which cherry-picked songs from her three-year stint at the label.  The floating head on the album cover gives a sense of the quieter aspect of Sarah's Roulette work as the listener imagines the singer with her small trio ensconced in the solitude of the recording studio laying down track after track of superb jazz standards; although many of the selections here are lesser-known songs -- even those by such well-known songwriters as Rodgers & Hart, Nacio Herb Brown & Gus Kahn, Hal David or Duke Ellington.  This is an album perfect for anytime:  late-night quietude or sunny afternoon spring-cleaning listening!  Although I must admit I can never hear "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams" without immediately thinking of the famous Bing Crosby blooper!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Have You Met Miss Jones?,  Ain't No Use,  You Stepped Out of a Dream,  Gloomy Sunday,  Jump For Joy,  I'm Gonna Laugh You Out of My Life,  Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams,  Somebody Else's Dream,  Trouble Is A Man
FACT SHEET:  THE DIVINE ONE is Sarah Vaughan's 16th album (more or less, it's difficult to gauge these things) and her second album for the Roulette label.  Sarah is accompanied by the trio of Jimmy Jones (piano, arranger), Harry "Sweets" Edison (trumpet) and Don Lamond (drums).   

NEWS FROM LAKE WOBEGON  -  GARRISON KEILLOR

YEAR:  1983
LABEL:  PHC
TRACK LISTING:  Me and Choir,  A Day In the Life of Clarence Bunsen,  Letter From Jim,  Fiction,  The Living Flag,  The Tollefson Boy Goes To College,  Tomato Butt,  Chamber of Commerce,  Dog Days of August,  Mrs. Berge and the Schubert Carillon Piano,  Giant Decoys,  Darryl Tollerud's Long Day,  Hog Slaughter,  Thanksgiving,  The Royal Family,  Guys On Ice,  James Lundeen's Christmas,  The Christmas Story Re-Told,  New Year's From New York,  Storm Home
IMPRESSIONS:  Around 1984 I had a fantastic college professor for my Mass Media class - Dr. Denis Mercier - who, in order to demonstrate something which I can no longer remember, played for us in his lecture hall "The Tollefson Boy Goes To College" by Garrison Keillor.  At that point in my life I had never heard of Keillor or his radio programme "A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION" and was thus totally ignorant of his "News From Lake Wobegon" readings.  I was completely captivated.  Keillor's voice was spellbinding and his story was both warm and funny.  Naturally, at the end of class I asked Dr. Mercier where to get that album and he showed me the "butter box" of four cassette tapes which comprised the four volumes of "NEWS FROM LAKE WOBEGON" which make up this album.  The four volumes are divided thematically into "Spring", "Summer", "Fall" and "Winter".  I've since heard many, many Keillor monologues and many, many episodes of his radio show but none hold that special place in my heart as this collection and his "GOSPEL BIRDS" tape which I bought at the same time . . . I believe I got them at the Waldenbooks store on Route 70 (now long gone) back in those early to mid-80s.  There was something just so right about the packaging of that original cassette box which made it look like a Land-O-Lakes butter box.  I now, of course, have it on cd and it's just not the same.  The album starts off with one of Keillor's greatest ever monologues:  "Me and Choir" which is as near to a half hour long as makes no difference -- and is one of the greatest monologues I've ever heard.  There's the genuinely hilarious "Tomato Butt" which recalls a summertime youth and the expertly-observed "Thanksgiving" with all the faults and foibles -- as well as the heart of family.  Then the entire collection ends in winter with another of my all-time favourite stories:  "Storm Home".  Ever since hearing this story, I too have achingly longed for a "storm home" of my own.  These recordings are around 30 years old now and they've grown to become treasured classics to me; as comfortable and rewarding as a beloved old book.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Truthfully?  Every one of them.
FACT SHEET:  NEWS FROM LAKE WOBEGON is a 4 volume collection of monologues by Garrison Keillor taking from his weekly public radio show "A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION".  PHC has been running in its present format since 1974 (although it uses the name of a previous unrelated show which began in 1969).  PHC is a live radio variety show broadcast live usually from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota every Saturday afternoon from 5 to 7 pm.  The show takes its name from the Prairie Home Cemetery of Moorhead, Minnesota near Concordia College.  This album compiles Keillor's most well-known and beloved feature of A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION:  his "News From Lake Wobegon" monologues which describe events in his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average".  Each monologue always begins with another Keillor catchphrase:  "Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon; my hometown...".        

TUBTHUMPER  -  CHUMBAWAMBA

YEAR:  1997
LABEL:  Universal
TRACK LISTING:  Tubthumping,  Amnesia,  Drip Drip Drip,  The Big Issue,  The Good Ship Lifestyle,  One By One,  Outsider,  Creepy Crawling,  Mary Mary,  Smalltown,  I Want More,  Scapegoat
IMPRESSIONS:  For some reason, Chumbawamba and their single "Tubthumping" (and consequently their entire album "TUBTHUMPER") has gotten the reputation as something of a joke; a one-hit wonder novelty band.  This seems more a demonstration of the ignorance of those holding this view as to the true nature and history of this band.  A band with what some would call extreme radical, almost anarchist political convictions, Chumbawamba had already produced (in their own Do-It-Yourself manner) nine previous albums during the previous 15 years before their mainstream "discovery" with this album.  The band was lambasted as sell-outs by their own fans when they signed to EMI before making this album much like the earlier controversy when the Clash signed to a major label and seemingly "betrayed" their punk aesthetic.  Far from a novelty record, TUBTHUMPER is a seriously accomplished, hook-heavy album which pairs social message with "...dance beats, pop hooks and football chants..." in the words of Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine.  This, in effect, sugar-coats the possibly bitter social messages and slogans so they go down easily.  Speaking of the Clash, Chumbawamba mixes a cocktail of music with audio clips and sound effects much like Mick Jones' post-Clash project Big Audio Dynamite so successfully did; and there's some room for comparison between the two bands.  TUBTHUMPER plays straight through like some sort of anarchic dance suite that also gives the impression of being a concept album:  it's us against the them of oppressive governments, callous capitalist fatcats and fascist rascist bully boys.  All this to the drunken-sounding bar brawl of their hit single-led album.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Tubthumping,  Amnesia,  Drip Drip Drip,  The Big Issue,  The Good Ship Lifestyle,  One By One,  Outsider,  Mary Mary,  Smalltown,  I Want More
FACT SHEET:  TUBTHUMPER is Chumbawamba's tenth album and won the 1997 Penguin Award for Album of the Year.  In July 2012, the band announced they were breaking up after a 30 year career.      

DISCOVERY  -  DAFT PUNK

YEAR:  2001
LABEL:  Virgin
TRACK LISTING:  One More Time,  Aerodynamic,  Digital Love,  Harder Better Faster Stronger,  Crescendolls,  Nightvision,  Superheroes,  High Life,  Something About Us,  Voyager,  Veridis Quo,  Short Circuit,  Face To Face,  Too Long
IMPRESSIONS:  Don't you just love French musical robots?  Whether they intended it or not (and I think they DID), the album title is always pronounced by me "Disco (pause) Very".  Daft Punk, following up their influential first album (which had a "Chicago House" sounds as opposed to DISCOVERY's synthpop/disco house sound) from four years earlier, reigned at the tippy top of noughties house music.  I was never really into that genre but managed to pick up some of the best house albums through the years and this is definitely one of them.  The thing I enjoy most, apart from the obviously hook-heavy music, is the tremendous sense of humour to all the songs.  I think this album slightly makes up for the French love of Jerry Lewis and proves that sometimes they actually have a good sense of humour.  There is, of course, a load of disco tropes to be heard here as well as other seventies "sounding" musical devices.  The album creates such a particular soundscape that it served as the sole soundtrack of the Japanese anime film "Interstella 555:  The Story of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem" which . . . yes . . . I also own.  Listening to this album is just such a pleasant experience; I think the word "giddiness" has been used.  Thomas Bangalter described the vibe of the album in a Remix magazine interview thusly:  "This album has a lot to do with our childhood and the memories of the state we were in at that stage of our lives. It's about our personal relationship to that time. It's less of a tribute to the music from 1975 to 1985 as an era, and more about focusing on the time when we were zero to ten years old. When you're a child you don't judge or analyze music. You just like it because you like it. You're not concerned with whether it's cool or not. Sometimes you might relate to just one thing in a song, such as the guitar sound. This album takes a playful, fun, and colorful look at music."  Regardless, it's an indispensible album of the noughties.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  One More Time,  Aerodynamic,  Digital Love,  Harder Better Faster Stronger,  Nightvision,  Something About Us,  Voyager,  Veridis Quo,  Face To Face
GUEST ARTISTS:  Romanthony (vocals on "One More Time" and "Too Long",  Todd Edwards (vocals and production on "Face To Face")
FACT SHEET:  DISCOVERY is Daft Punk's second album.  Daft Punk are robots.  Or else they're French electronic music duo Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter.  The album provides the soundtrack to the "INTERSTELLA 555" anime film by Leiji Matsumoto and Toei Animation.  The album's departure from the sound of the previous HOMEWORK album confused and annoyed some fans but critical reception was usually extraordinarily good.  Q Magazine rated it 5 out of 5 stars (a rarity), Resident Advisor rated it the fourth best album of the decade, and Rhapsody as well as Pitchfork Media both rated it #12 of the best albums of the decade.  The album was also nominated for a 2001 Penguin Award as well as both "Something About Us" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" were also nominated for Song of the Year.   

10 FROM 6  -  BAD COMPANY

YEAR:  1985
LABEL:  Atlantic
TRACK LISTING:  Can't Get Enough,  Feel Like Makin' Love,  Run With the Pack,  Shooting Star,  Movin' On,  Bad Company,  Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy,  Electricland,  Ready For Love,  Live For the Music
IMPRESSIONS:  Loathe as I am to include "greatest hits" albums on here, that eventually occurs in certain cases and here is one of them.  This is the only album I own by Bad Company (with the exception of some live reunion cd released in the last decade).  But more importantly, this is a "Sizzler album" with nostalgic connotations to my mind.  This album means to me heading to Guppy's condo after work most nights to hang out and drink copious amounts of vodka.  Guppy was called "Guppy" cuz she drank like a fish; the only things in her refrigerator were a bottle of Absolut and some lemons!  But for some reason, one of the albums we listened to A LOT there and at the time generally (this was circa 1991) was this Bad Company "Best Of".  It's always seemed odd to me how this very English rock supergroup had all these cowboy-sounding songs; but England has always had more of a lingering love affair with the Western than we indigenous Yanks.  Be that as it may, this album is chock full of great songs which practically define the term "70's classic rock" and the eponymous song "Bad Company" is one of my all-time favourites.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Can't Get Enough,  Run with the Pack,  Movin' On,  Bad Company,   Electricland,  Ready For Love
FACT SHEET:  10 FROM 6 is Bad Company's first "greatest hits" album culled from their first six albums:  hence the title referring to 10 songs from 6 albums.  Those albums being:  BAD COMPANY (1974), STRAIGHT SHOOTER (1975), RUN WITH THE PACK (1976), BURNIN' SKY (1977), DESOLATION ANGELS (1979) and ROUGH DIAMONDS (1982).  The personnel of "supergroup" Bad Co. included singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (from Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (from Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (from King Crimson).  10 FROM 6 has been certified double platinum.      

AT MISTER KELLY'S  --  SARAH VAUGHAN

YEAR:  1957
LABEL:  EmArcy
TRACK LISTING:  September in the Rain,  Willow Weep For Me,  Just One of Those Things, Be Anything (But Be Mine),  Thou Swell,  Stairway To the Stars,  Honeysuckle Rose,  Just A Gigolo,  How High the Moon,  Dream,  I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,  It's Got To Be Love,  Alone,  If This Isn't Love,  Embraceable You,  Lucky In Love,  Dancing in the Dark,  Poor Butterfly,  Sometimes I'm Happy,  I Cover the Waterfront
IMPRESSIONS:  Sarah Vaughan's first live album is an easy and swinging affair with the Divine One bantering easily with the audience.  The cd release has, of course, given us much more of the original performances including one or two lyrical flubs by Sassy (despite using lyrics sheets as stated by the emcee at the beginning of the concert).  This album was fairly early in the live LP stakes but it still sounds fresh and modern without any sense of archaic production.  As I've said, Sassy swings the up-tempo songs and sounds really on point vocally in the ballads as well; she sounds really involved in the performance.  She expertly lays back in the tempo of such songs as Fats Waller's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" or Johnny Mercer's "Dream" with a confidence and assuredness of masterly control that is astonishing.  John Bush of Allmusic states it rather better:  "her unerring sense of rhythm carries her through every song on this set, whether the occasion calls for playfulness and wit ("Thou Swell," "Honeysuckle Rose") or a world-wise melancholia ("Willow Weep for Me")" and that the album captures her at her "best and most relaxed".  There are also some nice surprises on display i.e. her slowed-down version of the usually frenetic "Just a Gigolo" or her playful imitation of Ella Fitzgerald's scat singing on "How High the Moon". 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  September in the Rain,  Willow Weep For Me,  Thou Swell,  Stairway to the Stars,  Honeysuckle Rose,  Just a Gigolo,  How High the Moon,  Dream,  I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,  It's Got To Be Love,  Embraceable You,  Poor Butterfly,  I Cover the Waterfront
FACT SHEET:  AT MISTER KELLY'S is Sarah Vaughan's first live album; it was recorded between August 6 - 8, 1957 at Mister Kelly's Club in Chicago.  Sarah Vaughan's trio includes Jimmy Jones (piano), Richard Davis (double bass) and Roy Haynes (drums). 

BONA DRAG  -  MORRISSEY

YEAR:  1990
LABEL:  Sire
TRACK LISTING:  Piccadilly Palare,  Interesting Drug,  November Spawned a Monster,  Will Never Marry,  Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference,  The Last of the Famous International Playboys,  Ouija Board Ouija Board,  Hairdresser On Fire,  Everyday Is Like Sunday,  He Knows I'd Love To See Him,  Yes I Am Blind,  Lucky Lisp,  Suedehead,  Disappointed
IMPRESSIONS:  Somehow I'd totally missed the Smiths the first time around.  It was the music of solo Morrissey I encountered first here on this oddball collection I got from the BMG Music Service back in 1990.  And I quite enjoyed the rococo songs herein and found myself spinning them fairly frequently.  Also my mother was a fan.  It wasn't until years later that my dear wifey Lisa* gave me pretty much the entire recorded output of the Smiths.  However, it is with my wifey that my favourite story about Morrissey occurs -- and my one degree of separation with the nutball.  {I hope I get the story right; I haven't heard you tell it in years so let me know if I get it wrong, dahling.}  Lisa* and some friends were waiting in line to see Morrissey but La Mo was very, very late.  When he pushed his way through the waiting crowd without making eye contact or apologizing or doing anything other than acting surly, my Lisa*, in order to express her displeasure, started yelling "JOHNNY MARR!  JOHNNY MARR! JOHNNY MARR!" and instituted a chant amongst the throng.  Love it!  And hey, I love this compilation cd too.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Piccadilly Palare,  Interesting Drug,  November Spawned a Monster,  Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference,  The Last of the Famous International Playboys,  Ouija Board Ouija Board,  Hairdresser On Fire,  Everyday Is Like Sunday,  Yes I Am Blind,  Suedehead,  Disappointed
GUEST ARTISTS:  Graham "Suggs" McPherson (vocals on "Piccadilly Palare"),  Kirsty MacColl (backing vocals on "Interesting Drug")
FACT SHEET:  BONA DRAG is a 1990 compilation cd of songs selected from Morrissey's previous solo albums dating from between 1987 to 1989; this is not a greatest hits compilation but is a sampling of his non-album singles and b-sides.  During this period, Morrissey focussed on releasing singles that were stand-alones and not from any album; it was this cd which collected some of them (and other material) onto an album for the first time.  This change in "policy" occurred after the release of Morrissey's 1988 album "VIVA HATE" when the artist decided that, rather than produce a follow-up album he would release a string of singles before working on the next album.  Thusly, Morrissey released top ten hit singles "The Last of the International Playboys" and "Interesting Drug" followed by "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" throughout 1989.  Soon realising that he would not in fact be able to put together an entire album of new material soon enough, Morrissey scrapped this strategy and decided to put together a compilation album of singles and b-sides instead.  In May 1990, he released the single "November Spawned a Monster" and the following October released the single "Piccadilly Palare" and the "BONA DRAG" album on the same day.  The album contains the strongest material from Morrissey first three years as a solo artists including "Suedehead" and "Everyday Is Like Sunday" from the "VIVA HATE" album.  "BONA DRAG" was the first album to break Morrissey into the US charts:  "Piccadilly Palare" and "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" both hit #2 on the "Modern Rock" charts, with "The Last of the International Playboys" hitting #3, "November Spawned a Monster" making #6, and "Interesting Drug" at #11.  Wikipedia states:  "Bona Drag launched Morrissey's career in the US, and in many ways it marked the turning point after which he became less popular in the UK but achieved increasing success in America."  The title "Bona Drag" is "Polari" slang for "nice outfit"; the slang form is highlighted on the opening track "Piccadilly Palare".  The cover photo is taken from Morrissey's video for "November Spawned a Monster"; his shirt was optically altered from black to red.  In 2010, an expanded edition of "BONA DRAG" was released including 6 new bonus tracks of outtakes and different mixes of "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" (edited in the middle section), "Piccadilly Palare" (including an extra verse circulated on bootlegs), "Interesting Drug" (fades into "November Spawned a Monster") and "Suedehead" (edited to remove guitar fade on the intro).  The new edition features Morrissey's jacket changed back from red to the original black again.  I have it not.     

THE GREAT MILENKO  -  INSANE CLOWN POSSE

YEAR:  1997
LABEL:  Island/Psychopathic Records
TRACK LISTING:  Intro,  Great Milenko,  Hokus Pokus,  Piggy Pie,  How Many Times?,  Southwest Voodoo,  Halls of Illusions,  Under the Moon,  What Is A Juggalo?,  House of Horrors,  Boogie Woogie Wu,  The Neden Game,  Hellalujah,  Down With the Clown,  Just Like That,  Pass Me By
IMPRESSIONS:  This was the first of the Joker's Cards I got into in a really big way (working backwards to RIDDLE BOX soon after) and this shows by the fact that I nominated it for a Penguin Award for Album of the Year.  The dunderheaded rap of ICP combined with an expertly hidden morality and some good ole axe murders made for a strange combination but one I found to be very amusing.  The mystique of the "Dark Carnival" and the six "Joker's Cards" melted this horror-fan's heart and the abundance of hooks melted my ears.  And how can you not love an album which starts with Alice Cooper introducing it?  And the fact that the whole album was made by Disney is just too hilarious to forget!  The title track is a monster "head-nodder" you can't help but move to -- as is the rather profound (for wicked clowns) "How Many Times?" which holds up as a stand-out track.  Seriously though . . . who was asleep at Disney that didn't realize what kind of album Insane Clown Posse was gonna produce?!?!?!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Intro,  Great Milenko,  Hokus Pokus,  Piggie Pie,  How Many Times?,  What Is A Juggalo?,  House of Horrors,  Boogie Woogie Wu,  The Neden Game,  Hellalujah,  Pass Me By
GUEST ARTISTS:  Alice Cooper (narration on "Intro"),  Steve Jones (guitar on "Piggy Pie"),  Slash (guitar on "Halls of Illusions"), Rich "Legs Diamond" Murrell (vocals, guitar on "Piggie Pie", "How Many Times", "Halls of Illusions", House of Horrors", "Hellalujah" and "Pass Me By"), Deb Agoli (vocals on "Intro", "Hokus Pokus" and "House of Horrors")
FACT SHEET:  THE GREAT MILENKO is Insane Clown Posse's fourth album and the fourth "Joker's Card".  The Great Milenko (in the "Dark Carnival" mythology) is a "Necromaster" illusionist who tricks people into "greed, envy and lust" and warns them against committing these sins.  The album was released by Disney-owned Hollywood records who quickly pulled the album from release laughingly stating that they didn't realize what the album's content would be -- despite the fact they spent a million dollars making it.  Island Records agreed to take the album and release it untouched.  The album features guest appearances by original horror-glam rocker Alice Cooper, the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones and former Guns N Roses guitar hero (and self-confessed ICP fan) Slash.  A song called "House of Wonders" was originally recorded for this album but didn't make it; instead winding up on the collection "FORGOTTEN FRESHNESS VOLUME 1 & 2"; this cd compilaton also features the "uncensored" version of "Piggy Pie".  THE GREAT MILENKO was produced by DJ Mike E. Clark who brought a stronger "rock" sound and better production to the album.  The strong sense of morality always hidden beneath ICP's violent lyrics always guaranteed that those punished with violence in the songs were guilty of such sins as bigotry, perversion, violence and injustice themselves; the innocent never get axed in an ICP song.  This quite clear theme throughout ALL the Joker's Cards assured my guessing quite early that Violent J and Shaggy were secretly Christians; a fact revealed in the final Joker's Card to some juggaloes' dismay.  In 2009, long-running horror magazine FANGORIA named "THE GREAT MILENKO" an iconic horrorcore album . . . whatever THAT means.  The album was also nominated for a Penguin Award for Album of the Year.   

HELP!  -  THE BEATLES

YEAR:  1965
LABEL:  Capitol/Parlophone
TRACK LISTING:  Help!,  The Night Before,  You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,  I Need You,  Another Girl,  You're Going To Lose That Girl,  Ticket To Ride,  Act Naturally,  It's Only Love,  You Like Me Too Much,  Tell Me What You See,  I've Just Seen A Face,  Yesterday,  Dizzy Miss Lizzy
IMPRESSIONS:  This is not the HELP! album I grew up with; that was the US version which was truly a soundtrack album featuring instrumental pieces from the movie on half the album.  However, this is the "real" HELP! album and what's to be said about it that hasn't been said before.  Obviously it's got some solid mid-period Beatles numbers in it.  There's John Lennon's favourite Beatles song "Help!" which he preferred in its original slow-tempo, piano-driven ballad format instead of the commercial rocker it became; the song was Lennon's self-described "fat Elvis" song which was an unconscious cry for help by Lennon at the time.  Then there's apparently everybody ELSE'S favourite Beatles song "Yesterday" which is actually a solo track by Paul McCartney with no other Beatles present; the song was thought by its author to be somebody else's so he constantly went around humming the tune to everyone he met asking "What's this song?"  After everyone assured him that it was indeed a newly-written song and not someone else's, Paul assigned it the temporary title "Scrambled Eggs" before the lyrics were finalized.  Also featuring two George Harrison songs (of varying degrees of success) for the first time on a Beatles album since 1963's "WITH THE BEATLES".  A good, solid Beatles album.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Help!,  The Night Before,  You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,  I Need You,  Another Girl,  You're Going To Lose That Girl,  Ticket To Ride,  I've Just Seen A Face,  Yesterday
GUEST ARTISTS:  John Scott (flute on "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away)
FACT SHEET:  HELP! is the Beatles' fifth album and the "somewhat" soundtrack to their second movie; seven songs appear in the film.  The iconic cover photo is by Robert Freeman and DOES NOT feature the Beatles spelling out H-E-L-P in semaphore; they were supposed to originally but the correct letters did not look aesthetically pleasing so the fabs are in fact spelling out the letters N-U-J-V.  Of course, the Beatles being the Beatles, the original UK cover photo was reverse-printed so, if you hold it up to a mirror, the boys are spelling out L-P-U-S (i.e. "Help us").  "Act Naturally" was written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison.  "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" was written by Larry Williams.  "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" were written by George Harrison; all the other songs are by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  This is the last Beatles album to feature cover songs until "LET IT BE" in 1970 included folk song "Maggie Mae".  The song "Wait" was originally recorded for this album but instead ended up going on "RUBBER SOUL" when it was one song short.       

THE ROCKIN'EST  -  THE COLLINS KIDS

YEAR:  1997
LABEL:  Columbia/Bear Family
TRACK LISTING:  Hop Skip and Jump,  Hoy Hoy,  Beetle-Bug-Bop,  Just Because,  Whistle Bait,  I'm In My Teens,  Move A Little Closer,  Hot Rod,  Rock Boppin' Baby,  Go Away Don't Bother Me,  The Rockaway Rock,  Rock and Roll Polka,  The Cuckoo Rock,  Sweet Talk,  Hush Money,  They're Still In Love,  Make Him Behave,  Shortnin' Bread Rock,  Heartbeat,  The Lonesome Road,  Mercy,  Party
IMPRESSIONS:  I have never been a fan of "precocious youths"; usually because kid performers are nowhere near as good as they're touted to be.  When described as "remarkable for a kid" that means they're not equal to an adult level of performance.  The Collins Kids could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their adult peers and quite often outdo them.  Little Larry Collins was an acknowledged guitar master by age 10 who played his double-necked Mosrite with lightning dexterity while his older sister (by two years) Lorrie sang with adult-sounding forceful assuredness to match any female singer of her day.  While performing seemingly juvenile songs as "I'm In My Teens", it was only the subject matter that dealt with their ages; the songs were not children's novelty but straight-ahead, solid rockabilly which sounded more "grown-up" then a lot of their "adult" peers.  Larry's guitar mentor was Joe Maphis and the youngster learned his craft well.  Lorrie became the first girlfriend of teen idol Ricky Nelson and allegedly broke his heart when she broke up with him and married another guy.  Regardless of the "gimmick" of their young ages, the Collins Kids were the real deal; knocking out rockabilly belters on the stage of "TOWN HALL PARTY" which, when at their best, blew veteran performers right off the stage.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Hop Skip and Jump,  Hoy Hoy,  Whistle Bait,  I'm In My Teens,  Move A Little Closer,  Hot Rod,  Rock Boppin' Baby,  Rock and Roll Polka,  Sweet Talk,  Shortnin' Bread Rock,  Heartbeat,  The Lonesome Road,  Mercy,  Party
FACT SHEET:  THE ROCKIN'EST is a compilation of the Collins Kids' songs ranging from the years 1955 to 1959.  Lorrie and Larry became regular performers on TOWN HALL PARTY beginning in 1954 and also the show's TV version "TEX RITTER'S RANCH PARTY" from 1957 to 1959.  Larry is also a successful songwriter whose most famous composition is "Delta Dawn".  The duo reunited in 1993 for an English rockabilly concert and have performed together many times since.