1000 Day Album Challenge (#98) The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (1991) [07.04.24]

in the beginning, you really loved me / but I was too blind and I couldn't see
but now you've left me, oh, how I cry
you don't miss your water, till your well runs dry…

if I’m not mistaken, I bought this as a Christmas present to myself back in 1991. I think it was the first big box set that I bought. this is a nine disc collection that includes close to 250 songs. it is essential listening to appreciate southern soul in 1960s. in terms of both quality and volume, Stax Records was second only to Motown in releasing soul music in the 1960s.

the artists featured on this set include Otis Redding, Booker T & The MG’s (the label’s house band), Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, William Bell, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, and Eddie Floyd along with dozens of other artists. I remember I listened start to finish when I first bought the collection. I’m not sure if I ever did that again, but I might have. at a minimum, I’m sure I intended to.

this includes the a-side, as well as some of the b-sides of every single from the Stax/Volt catalog from 1959 to 1968. I probably already had all or most of the Otis Redding songs in my collection, but I had very little of the rest. maybe I had all of the Sam & Dave on a compilation.

it’s a nine CD history lesson that is worth more than the price of admission.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #TheCompleteStaxVoltSingles

[still in catch up mode. life has gotten in the these last ten days. three different countries, four different beds, and @marymacsjds falling and breaking her should two days ago. this night take me more than a few days to get back on pace. we’ll see how it goes.]

1000 Day Album Challenge (#97) The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms (1980) 
[06.04.24]

there′s a kid I know but not too well / he doesn't have a lot to say
well this boy lives right next door and he / never has nothin′ to say…

as I listen to Crazy Rhythms today I wonder why I didn’t obsess over this album in college. this feels right down the middle of the plate for so much of the music I embraced during the eighties. I owned a white vinyl version. I  dug it and it was certainly something I listened to a fair amount. there just happened to be so many artists, bands and albums I obsessed over during the eighties. 

I love their version of Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey) for The Beatles White Album. sometime I after I aged into being a genuine Beatles fan which did not begin to take hold until my late twenties. I never disliked The Beatles, but I never bought any of their records so my experience with listening to them was quite a bit random. I never took that deep dive.

The Feelies were one of those bands that you had to dig a little bit deeper to discover. since I was always digging at the time they were an obvious discovery for someone like me, but they easily could have been one of those bands that would have fallen through the cracks for me. for example, one would assume that I fully checked out The Fall, as a number of my friends at the time did. I did not. I guess it’s impossible to listen to everything. one of the things that fascinates me about music is that I could listen to music every waking hour and never hear all of the music that has been created that I would love given the right circumstances.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #TheFeelies #CrazyRhythms

1000 Day Album Challenge (#96) Keith Richards: Talk is Cheap (1988)
[05.04.24]

you made the wrong motion / drank the wrong potion
you lost the feeling / not so appealing…

when it comes to The Stones I’ve always been a Keith guy. isn’t everybody? I was aware of Mick’s earlier solo efforts, but didn’t really pay much attention to them. I was immediately interested when Keith put out a solo album.

I would never suggest Talk is Cheap should rank alongside any of the best albums by The Stones, but it solid enough to rank above their worst and for a band that has been making music as long as they have their batting average is super high.

if I were putting together a playlist of my favorite Stones’ songs I would include Take It So Hard and Keith’s poisoned love letter to Mick, You Don’t Move Me. I love You Don’t Move Me and have been known to give it multiple consecutive plays. I would slot it with Happy and Before They Make Me Run as the greatest Keith songs.

ultimately I would have to say that Talk is Cheap is a worthy supplement to any Stones’ fan’s obsession.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #KeithRichards #TalkIsCheap #TakeItSoHard

playing a little catch-up. Mary Mac and I have had a long day of traveling on Wednesday into Thursday. we have been chilling out at a little ecolodge at Playa Manzanillo in Costa Rica for a few days before returning to San Juan del Sur. I will be making four posts today or five over today and tomorrow to get back on pace.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#95) Graham Parker & The Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks (1979) [04.04.24]

ain't got no idols for the screen today
although they make a lot of noises they got nothing to say
I try to look amazed but it's an act
the movie might be new but it's the same soundtrack…

Squeezing Out Sparks came out during the spring of my sophomore year of high school. I doubt there were more than a handful of albums that I listened to during high school and college as much or more than it. London Calling is the only one that comes to mind.

I remember being excited at the time that it finished #1 in The Village Voice’s Annual Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll. there were more than a few great records that could have easily won the poll that year – the U.S. version of The Clash, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, Nick Lowe’s Labour of Lust, The Buzzcock’s Singles Going Steady. in hindsight, my personal choice would be Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

I don’t return to Squeezing Out Sparks nearly as often as London Calling. I’m not sure why. do I think it won’t live up to my memories? yet each time I listen I love it start to finish. somehow I’m actually more likely to listen to Howlin’ Wind (1976) or Heat Treatment (1976). maybe I burned myself out on it. I know I didn’t listen to either Howlin’ Wind or Heat Treatment nearly as much when I was a kid.

all I know for sure is that Squeezing Out Sparks is a far better record than most of the big albums of 1979. I checked out a list of the albums that hit #1 that year and this is vastly superior to all of them except Bad Girls by Donna Summer. the total duds (from my perspective) that I’m sure plenty of people in my age range still enjoy and/or look back upon fondly – 52nd Street (Billy Joel), Blondes Have More Fun (Rod Stewart), Minute By Minute (Doobie Brothers), Breakfast In America (Supertramp), and The Long Run (The Eagles).

it is not my intention to judge anyone else’s musical tastes. I feel like I’ve been done with that for more than two decades now. prior to that the meme about judging people based on their record collections was a dead center bullseye for me. I’m just laying out some of the boundaries of my musical interests. I never quite rejected the mainstream, but especially from about 1978 into the 1990s let’s just I actively chose not to engage.

in my little word, Squeezing Out Sparks was a multi-week or maybe even multi-month #1 record. the 16 year-old version of me couldn’t understand why this wasn’t a big hit. I guess the 60 year-old version can’t understand that one either.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #GrahamParker #GrahamParkerAndTheRumour #SqueezingOut Sparks

1000 Day Album Challenge (#94) John Lennon / Yoko Ono: Double Fantasy / Stripped Down (1980 / 2010) [03.04.24]

this one’s for Gene, Eddie, and Elvis…and Buddy…

I never bought Double Fantasy when it was current. I might not have owned it until my forties. I can’t say I disliked the music at the time, it was just that I was pursuing other musical interests. John Lennon was not really on my personal musical radar until later and even then it was more about Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Imagine (1971).

when I finally bought Double Fantasy I found it quite listenable. yes, I dug John’s cuts more than Yoko’s but it’s not like I would skip through the album to only listen to John’s music.

apparently, John was always self-conscious about his vocals so they were always heavily processed. when the Stripped Down version of Double Fantasy was released in 2010 I loved hearing John’s vocals without reverb and other effects.

I also loved hearing a lot of the studio chatter between takes. this version feels very personal to me. I was surprised as I did a bit of research this morning to find out that Stripped Down is not universally preferred. it seems like there are quite a few who prefer the original 1980 release.

I’m also a fan of Let It Be…Naked (2003). what can I say?

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #JohnLennon #YokoOno #JohnLennonYokoOno #DoubleFantasy #StrippedDown

1000 Day Album Challenge (#93) Kiss: Alive! (1975) [02.04.24]

you wanted the best and you’ve got it! the hottest band in the land – Kiss!

there was a time when Kiss was my favorite band and this was my favorite record. that time probably didn’t last until even my sixteenth birthday, but my love for kiss burned hot and furious for several years during my teens.

they were the first band my brother, Steven and I saw live. it was sometime in 1977, not long after our family had moved to a house in the North Jersey suburbs. my dad and one of the regulars at the family bar took us to see them at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.

I can’t say that I have any distinct memories of the show itself. I do remember the story my dad told about taking us to the show. the guy who took our tickets as we entered the arena asked my dad if he had ear plugs with him. my dad answered, “no. why?” the ticket guy responded, “you’ll see.”

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day…

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #Kiss #Alive #RockAndRollAllNite

1000 Day Album Challenge (#92) The Rolling Stones: Aftermath (1966) [01.04.24]

spendin' too much time away / I can't stand another day
maybe you think I've seen the world / but I'd rather see my girl…

Aftermath began the Stones creative peak that would continue through Exile On Main Street (1972). it was the their fourth British studio album and the first to include all Jagger and Richards originals. it was the sixth album in the U.S. as was the practice at the time, the record company would take some of the tracks from the British original and then add singles to the mix. Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) was their first album with the same release date and track listing in both the U.K. and the U.S.

Paint It Black was a bit of a soundtrack for me to a particularly memorable acid trip from college. I was with my roommate Laurie and her good friend Karen. we had rented some videos and a VCR. no one at college owned a VCR and they were readily available at the video store at the time. one of the videos was a collection of performances from the British TV show, Ready, Steady Go, which I was aware of from the Generation X named after the show. in addition to Paint It Black we watched Baby Please Don’t Go by Them on constant repeat. we ended up taking a long walk through town that concluded with us hanging on a swing-set for quite a stretch.

side one is filled with a number of hits and highly recognizable Stone songs like Paint It Black, Stupid Girl, Lady Jane (the tune borrowed by Neil Young), and Under My Thumb. even with all these well known songs it was the virtually unknown, Think that had me dancing around the kitchen this am.

Going Home which closes the U.S. version of Aftermath was the revelation to me when I bought the album. I’m almost certain that I had neither heard it or read about it at the time. it is an 11-minute blues inspired jam. it’s the longest song the band ever recorded. I instantly dug it. I think my initial reaction was along the lines of, “WTF is this?!”

I guess they could have been a pretty decent jam band in addition the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.
#1000DayAlbumChallenge #TheRollingStones #Aftermath

1000 Day Album Challenge (#91) Minutemen: Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat (1983) [31.03.24]

a ton of white boy guilt, that's my problem…

SST Records, started by Black Flag guitarist, Greg Ginn, was among the most important labels in my personal musical world at the time. three of the five bands (Black Flag, Minutemen, and Hüsker Dü) who had released records on SST by this time were or would soon be among my faves.

I likely had heard of the Minutemen before this record but I don’t believe my curiosity had been piqued until then. I’m pretty sure I didn’t buy any of their previous records until after their final studio album, 3-Way Tie For Last (1985) was released.

listening to Buzz or Howl… now I think I was attracted to the controlled chaos of the band. to some extent I heard them as Talking Heads with an edge, both musically and politically. while Talking Heads pursued an interest in African rhythms I feel like the Minutemen had more a thing for jazz which was cool with me.

I’m certain that I was ready for more after Buzz or Howl… and I think they were too. their ambitions certainly reached beyond the hardcore scene out of which they grew.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #Minutemen #BuzzOrHowlUnderTheInfluenceOfHeat

1000 Day Album Challenge (#89) Manu Dibango: Soul Makossa (1973) [29.03.24]

mama ko mama sa maka makossa / mama ko mama sa maka makossa
mama ko mama sa maka makossa…

I believe this record entered my life during my late thirties or early forties. I felt like I remembered the song from when I was a kid, but that memory seemed too fleeting to be certain that it was genuine. if I heard it I certainly didn’t recall that the artist was Manu Dibango, a saxophonist from Cameroon.

Soul Makossa is one of the most important records in the development of disco and dance culture. it was the first record to break in the clubs and then become a Top 40 hit. it reached #35 on the Billboard charts. it was unearthed by the legendary David Mancuso, who discovered it in a small record store in a West Indian neighborhood in Brooklyn. it became a staple at his party, The Loft, and was subsequently played by the Chief Rocker, Frankie Crocker on WBLS.

subsequent generations might recognize it because of Michael Jackson interpolating the soul makossa chant within Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ featured on Thriller. that section was then sampled by Rihanna in Don’t Stop the Music. it has gone onto be sampled dozens of times.

New Bell is the other can’t miss track here. I don’t mean to be dismissive to say that it follows the same formula as Soul Makossa. when a formula works it worlds. New Bell has a driving rhythm with some fantastic sax played over the top of it. for a dancefloor it should be like honey to a bee.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #ManuDibango #SoulMakossa #DavidMancuso #TheLoft

1000 Day Album Challenge (#88) King Sunny Adé & His African Beats: Juju Music (1982) [28.03.24]

call me darling, that's my number / tell me anything you want from me
only you have to give your love to me / 365 is my number now…

King Sunny Ade’s Juju Music was my first foray into African music. his sound is sweet, gentle, and compelling. I ended up buying all three of the albums he released in this period on Mango, an Island Records subsidiary. the other two were Synchro System (1983) and Aura (1984). I think because it was my first this was the album I’ve returned to the most often.

I saw King Sunny & His African Beats live in NYC sometime during this period. I believe it was in the summer of 1984 at either The Ritz or Irving Plaza, two venues that I’ve seen more shows at than any others. it was a very long show. I’m not sure if my memory is exaggerating the length, but I believe it was three to four hours.

years ago, I remembering reading an article about King Sunny in which he as quoted as saying that the band’s shows in the West were quite short compared to their shows back in Nigeria. he said something to the effect of “back home we are just getting warmed up around the four hour mark.”

what I remember clearly is that it was hypnotic. the band size was 20+ and a rather large number of members were drummers and percussionists. I had never experienced the power of talking drums in person. I don’t specifically recall, but I imagine I spent a great deal of time with my eyes closed. with that many people I stage one loses the need to focus on what individual players are doing.

just before I typed that line my eyes were closed as I got lost in Ma Jaiye Oni, the lead track on side two of the vinyl version of Juju Music. (which is not to say I’m listening to it on vinyl. I’m streaming it on YouTube Music.)

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #KingSunnyAde #KingSunnyAdeAndHisAfricanBeats #JujuMusic