Buster Poindexter: Buster Goes Berserk

Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite time of year is Christmas time and one of my all time favorite Christmas movies is Scrooged starring Bill Murray and that some of my favorite quotes from the movie are spoken by David Johansen as the Ghost of Christmas Past ("Niagara Falls Frankie Angel", "Which floor?" and "Go back to Jersey you moron!").  David Johansen, the cross dressing lead singer for the New York Dolls decided in the late 80's to pull a 180 degree switch, adopted the persona of Buster Poindexter and started releasing albums completely unrelated to his New York Dolls discography.  His most well known release was the first Buster Poindexter album which contained the hit "Hot, Hot, Hot".  This album has his version of "Hit the Road Jack" which also became a minor hit but that's not why you listen to this album.  It's a little lounge, a little Carribean, a little swingin' bluesy and Johansen's voice lends itself particularly well to all of it.  Many of the tunes are covers of songs from the 40's but ends with a couple of originals that meld in well with the rest of the tracks.  This is a good record to throw on the turntable on a snowy Sunday.  I'll keep this one.

The Clash: Combat Rock

According to Aria, who sat and listened to this with me, she likes it because it's not really hard rock but it's also not Disney music.  Not to mean that she doesn't like Disney music, she just happens to like this because it isn't.  Make sense?  Her favorites on here are Should I Stay or Should I Go and Rock the Casbah (though she pronounces it as Rock the Cash Bar).  She is also a particular fan of Red Angel Dragnet.  She was horrified at the lyrics to Straight to Hell and refers to it as Straight to Not-Heaven.

As a kid I recorded Rock the Casbah off the radio multiple times on my little Sony Cassette recorder.  It's only now that I write this do I realize what the song is about.  Religious fundamentalism trying to control the populace.  Some things never change.  For those new to the Clash, this is as good as any an album to start with.  No two songs sound alike.  Their musicianship and creativity far out pace your typical punk band and their music-with-a-message was pretty much un-heard of for groups like this back then.

Mick Jones went on to form Big Audio Dynamite and had a hit with the song Rush back in 1991, just as I was graduating high school.  Sadly at the time I wasn't interested in hearing anything new and the Clash roots of BAD was lost on me.  Joe Strummer died suddenly in 2002 of heart arrhythmia after a very active career which even included a stint with the Pogues filling in for Shane McGowan.  I've got a couple more Clash albums in my collection, sadly I don't yet have a copy of London Calling.  I think I had one once but cleared it out with some other albums in the 90's when I was more stupid than I am now.  I look forward to adding that one back into the fold and to listening to the other albums in my collection soon.

Ella Fitzgerald: the Rogers and Hart Song Book Vol. 2

Going through some records today on this lazy Saturday.  Mostly lazy because I'm shirking all sorts of responsibilities and tasks that I really should be doing.  Listening to Ella singing some of the greatest songs ever written reminds me that every once in a blue moon I should really slow down and just be human for a little while.  It also reinforces my rationale for visiting thrift stores and coming home with $.25 gold in dusty, basementy smelling piles of mildewed records needing a bit of cleaning, some new record sleeves and plastic protectors.  I just spent 45 minutes in  a different place, a different time and I didn't even leave my couch except to get this laptop.  The song I was looking most forward to on here?  Blue Moon.  Nobody sings it like Ella... nobody.  

Lonnie Mack: The Wham of the Memphis Man

I never would have heard of this guy if it weren't for Stevie Ray Vaughan.  He was a huge influence on Stevie and Stevie, in turn, helped Lonnie's album get re-produced on Alligator Records to be discovered by a new audience.  It's been quite a while since I've listened to

Lonnie Mack: The Wham of that Memphis Man

Sound-wise, instrumentation-wise, style-wise, this is pure 60's rock and roll Memphis style.  It's actually quite surprising given Lonnie Mack's many talents and versatility on the guitar that he wasn't a more well known, house-hold name.  If you think of some of the more well known yet mediocre players of the time it makes it even more surprising that Lonnie Mack is relatively obscure.  Unlike Dick Dale, Duane Eddy and Link Wray, Lonnie Mack is also a very competent vocalist along the likes of Ricky Nelson or Jerry Lee Lewis.  This is a great album with some real virtuosic playing, great rhythm and soul music and one that needs to be heard by more folks.

I have a newer Lonnie Mack Album, Strike Like Lightning as I believe his career experienced a resurgence due to his collaborations with SRV.  I really want to pull that one out and give it a listen but as I have to head off to the grocery store right now I'll have to leave that for another day.

The Who: Who's Next

This listening was inspired by a young lady's Dr. Who T-shirt which was a take off of this album cover.  Again, this is another record that I got from my mother's record collection back in 1986 or 1987.  I was never much of a Who fan, I have NO idea why.  This album never got a lot of play and so I figured that I would slap on

The Who: Who's Next

I'll be damned if not every song on this album is a classic.  Seriously, not a single dud on this album.  Some band's have a "Best Of" record where the first two songs are really good and then the rest are just songs that the band likes.  This entire album could be a best of.  In fact, I should check and make sure that's not what this is. 

Side A

1. Baba O'Reily
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain't For Keeping
4. My Wife
5. The Song is Over

Side B

1. Getting in Tune
2. Going Mobile
3. Behind Blue Eyes
4. Won't Get Fooled Again

My only problem with listening to this album is that I can't get friggin' David Caruso's face out of my head when I hear it.  Every CSI show has used a song off this album and it will take many, many listens for me to stop associating these guys with CSI.  This is straight ahead, in your face Rock and Roll... more than Zeppelin (though Zeppelin is still my favorite due to their diversity, instrumentation, mystique, etc) and more than anything out today.  If you are looking to pick up ONE album by the Who, make it this one.  It makes me want to go listen to my other Who albums to see if they're as good as this but I'll have to leave that for another day.

Men at Work: Business as Usual

Good lord, I haven't listened to this whole album since I was probably in 6th grade.  And at that time I only had it on cassette tape.  I remember being in college at the Vermont Public Radio Record Sale and they were trying to get rid of all the unsold albums that they were left with after the sale.  I was so excited when I found

Men at Work: Business as Usual

Granted, I also found "Cargo" and whatever their third album is called, I was excited to find all of them. 

I really came into my own musically when I was in the 4th grade.  I had a babysitter named Lisa who was a big Men at Work fan and that made me a Men At Work fan.  I got both Cargo and Business as Usual for Christmas that Christmas and with it came a Panasonic Slim Line RQ-2735 Portable Cassette Player/Recorder (remember these?)

I would play my Men at Work tapes but would also use the recorder to get songs off the radio that I liked.  I had a cassette tape full of half copies of Land of 1,000 Dances, Ghostbusters, Eye of the Tiger and anything by Huey Lewis and the News.  They were half copies because I would never catch the song at the beginning.  I would always scramble to get my recorder ready, tape in the right place and so often my recording of the song I wouldn't start until the second verse.  Sometimes the stars would align and I would be sitting there just as a song came on, my tape would be all cued up and I would catch it sooner than I had on a previous recording.  I wouldn't go back and erase the first copy of the song because it would be in the middle of the tape and I wouldn't want to accidentally record over anything else.... phew... my life was hard.

It's hard to say which MAW tape I would play the most. I even had a hard time deciding which one to listen to today.  It's not like the difference between Boston's debut and subsequent follow-up, I've always liked both albums the about the same.  I suppose this one won out because when I read the title "Who Can It Be Now" I immediately got the song in my head and it's still there now.

I really liked setting this down on the turntable and giving it a spin.  Even without the visceral nostalgia effect it was really interesting to hear this album with another 28 years of listening to and making music under my belt.  I had forgotten that much of the music of MAW involved saxophone and flute (what is it with Aussie bands and saxophone?  MAW, INXS, maybe it was just the 80s, Huey Lewis, anything from Lethal Weapon...).  Besides the usual "Who Can it Be Now" and "Down Under" the first side also has "I Can See It In Your Eyes" and "Underground".  I think I first became aware of vocal harmonies with Underground as I would often try to sing with the higher vocal on the chorus.  I had much more success this time.  Also love the harmonic minory bass/guitar riff on this one.  Still remember all the words I thought went to the song but most likely aren't actual lyrics.  I never could figure out what Colin Hay was saying. 

The one odd track on this side, even when I was a kid was "Helpless Automaton" which was sung by Greg Ham, the instrumental heavyweight behind Men At Works music (think sax part for Who Can it Be Now, flute part for Down Under and keyboard parts for everything).  It's a fun tune, very phrenetic with inventive instrumental parts.  It also screams 80s sci-fi, Blade Runner and the like.

The second side on this album got less play in my day.  "People Just Love to Play with Words" was always a fun listen but "Be Good Johnny" was my favorite.  I had forgotten how cool the intro was and I must not have been the only one for the intro to the final School of Rock song with Jack Black was based heavily on the Men At Work song.  Listen to them back to back and you'll see what I mean.

The other three tracks on this side, "Touching the Untouchables", great slow groove ala first Dire Straits album with a great sax/guitar descending line, "Catch a Star" sort of a slow groove reggae type of thing (again, very 80s), and "Down by the Sea", kind of a trippy tune that is very well crafted but the three songs here are filler when it comes to the stronger tracks of Who Can it Be, Down Under and Be Good Johnny. 

Wanting to fully relive my trip back to 4th grade I'm going to want to pull out Cargo and give that a listen as well but the kids have friends over, are using Sculpey clay and I'm going to have to save that one for another day.

Boston: Don't Look Back

Finally, one in keeping with the intent of the project. I know I skipped a couple of days, I was on a camping trip.  Having to listen to extra albums to make up for lost time isn't realistic, especially since I also have to add watching Blade Runner to my list while watching the kids and renovating the house.  I did finally sit down and grab a record, I decided on one that I've never actually sat and listened to all the way through.  I was very excited to do so as I was inspired by an earlier listening.  I sat and listened to

Boston: Don't Look Back

Boston's second album had its issues.  For one thing it had to follow one of the most amazing debut albums of all time.  Second, Epic records was pushing really hard for a sequel, harder than Tom Scholz was willing/able to work.  Boston's debut album had basically been written over the course of 10 years or more, Boston's second outing was forced out of Scholz in only two years.

Although the album spawned one of Boston's biggest hits (and a great tune that really gets stuck in your head) Don't Look Back, the rest of the album is really pretty good, just not very memorable.  I think that I used to play the first track on the album and then let the rest run out while I was doing other things.  It would then end up back in its sleeve and back in the collection.

So I made myself sit down and listen to it.  Open ears, open mind and nothing else to do to distract me.  It really is a good album.  I happen to think that if I hadn't heard Boston's first album and had a chance to listen to this one on its own for a while it may be an album that would be on the top of my play list.  Sadly though, as Scholz puts it, you can't lose your virginity twice.  The album is good but doesn't have the same kick and genius as the first.

The song Don't Look Back is one that Scholz had on the back burner already, it came from the era of the original songs for the debut album and it sounds it.  It's fresh and original, it has its own sound.  Each of the other songs on this album don't have that same sound, they tend to re-hash riffs and motifs from the first album just arranged in different ways.  Again, without having listened to the first album I may have really liked this one.

This album gives us Boston's first slow song, A Man I'll Never Be.  The second song on the album, The Journey, is apparently Scholz's favorite, I'll have to give it another couple of listens before I feel the same way.  Just like Smokin' on the first album, Party was written by both Delp and Scholz and much like Let Me Take You Home Tonight, Used to Bad News is the only purely Delp penned tune on the album.  Let Me Take You Home Tonight is one of my favorite tracks on Boston, again, it will take me a couple more listens of Used to Bad News in order to feel remotely the same.

Some bands release one album with one decent song on them and are never heard from again.  Boston could have released Don't Look Back only and have been listed among the great one-hit-wonders.  The title track and the very cool album artwork is worth the price of the album alone (for me the price was $0 as this is another I received from my mother when she ditched her collection).  While I didn't listen to the album much as a kid, I used to sit and stare at the album cover and insides forever (it's a gatefold cover though it is only one album). 

But this was not a one hit wonder band.  This is one of America's greatest Rock and Roll Band and deserves their spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I think the best use of this record is to put it on immediately after listening to the first, not as a second album but as a continuation of the first.  Think of them together as Boston's double album and you've got yourself a good hour and a half of listening bliss.

I thought I had Boston's Third Stage lying around somewhere but I can't find it.  I do hope to track it down as I would like to see how much Scholz's writing changed in the 10 years between that release and the first album.  But I'll have to leave that for another day.