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10:49 a.m. - October 12, 2007
New Purchases 2007, Part One (Of Many)
Well, it is music week. I did find a lot of neat videos today, and I think music week WILL be extended for some 80�s video fun and some hard rockin� metal video fun, but now I want to explore a bit of what I have bought in 2007.

I�ve had some changes in my life this year, BUT there have always been tunes. And since I moved to Minnesota, I�ve even bought MORE tunes, but I think that�s because I�m compensating, or something.

So anyway, I�m going to look at my purchases in alphabetical order, kinda. Not on this list are any mixes that people have given me, even though I cherish them so (that includes anyone who had the good taste to give me entire CDs (just don�t tell the RIAA, OK?(I don�t have the scratch for the lawsuit(quadruple parenthesis, Vickster!)))) and compilations will be listed when I reach something in alpha order. For example, The Ace Of Cups is on the new Nuggets set, so that set will be in the section of �A�s�. Why? Because, that�s why. You can handle it, right? I thought so. You�re a big essay reader.

ABBA - Do I want to hear it? No. No. I�ll admit, I�m enthralled by the blas� European voices and the shiny, shiny production of ABBA. I had a bunch already, but I added some to my collection that somehow I had waylaid: �The Name Of The Game�, �Money, Money, Money� and �The Visitors�.

Love Is The Song We Sing : San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970. I am going to review this for the Geeks Of Doom, and I thank Eve and Dave for allowing me to ramble on about things once in a while there. Anyway, basically, I think it�s well worth the dough to buy it, flower children. Peace!

Adam And The Ants - Finally, �Picasso Visita El Planeto De Los Simios� wound up on iTunes. My Ants collection is complete! Well, the ones I like anyway. What�s not to like about a Cubist painter emulating Charlton Heston.

The Adverts - I had �Gary Gilmore�s Eyes� and �One Chord Wonders� on some punk compilations, but I knew that their albums (especially Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts) were quite worthy. So iTunes had a collection, and picked some of the best songs on there. If you�re a fan of rock and roll, songs like �Bored Teenagers� and �No Time To Be 21� will resonate. And if you�re not a rock and roll fan, then�well, I can�t be rude to my guests.

Al Green - I bought two songs. I have some others, but man, I feel lame for not having a whole lot of Al Green. This will be rectified, probably in 2008, because that�s when I�ll have the clearance to buy more tunes.

Alcatrazz - My new buddy Whystinger mentioned this band in a post, as he was looking for their version of �Hiroshima Mon Amour�. I found it on iTunes, and told him that Ultravox (the John Foxx version) did it first in the 70�s. So I bought that, and I remembered they did a tune called �Island In The Sun� that had about 6 plays on MTV. Of course, even then, I put together that the singer for Alcatrazz was one of the singers in Rainbow. Yep. Right after Ronnie James Dio left, they hired Graham Bonnet, and he lasted one album and one SHOW before he was kicked out for being a drunken oaf. Ah, well, that�s rock and roll, I guess. But gee, someone not getting along with Ritchie Blackmore. Do tell!

Alice In Chains - Someone gave me an Alice In Chains song in a mix (OK, I think I�m 75% sure who it was, but my mix CDs are still in Indiana, and I�m not there, so I don�t want to credit falsely), and I realized that I had sold those CDs back and didn�t have any in my iTunes, so I had to buy �Rooster�, �We Die Young�, and �Man In A Box�. The rest I could really live without, and I am quite nicely, thank you.

The Alley Cats - They had a kick ass performance in Urgh! A Music War and I looked for some tunes by them. Basically, I found the single �Nothing Means Nothing Anymore�, which they did in the movie.

Urgh! A Music War - It may not be legit, but you can go buy a CD of all of the songs in the movie, even the ones that were not on the 2-record set or the CD culled from the 2-record set, and even songs that aren�t in the prints of the movie they show on cable. Just click here but I will deny knowing you if the Feds come a-knockin�.

The American Breed - They had one hit that has resonated oh these many years since. It was �Bend Me Shape Me�, and most of their followups did diddly-poo, mostly for a good reason. So, yeah. But a little factoid I just read was that two members of the band later joined Rufus. Well, knock me over with a feather�

Cold Heat - This is a compilation of rare funk singles from the late 60s and early 70s. I mean RARE, as in, �How in the heck did people think to compile these songs!�, which isn�t a dig on the quality, it�s just a dig on the way music is seemingly disposable, or was back before it was converted into 1s and 0s and saved on hard drives all over college campuses everywhere. Damn, this is good stuff if you like to get into a groove.

Andrea True Connection - Ah, yes, �More, More, More�. You know the story � adult film star turned disco queen. Now, she lives a quiet normal life. Well, she�s an astrologer, so perhaps not �normal�, you know. But this song just makes you want to dance the night away.

Andy Gibb - Any child of the 70�s knows Andy Gibb (I am a child of the 70�s and a teen of the 80�s, which siblings from the 60�s � and know you know�the rest of the story). The question is, do you need Andy Gibb in your collection. The answer for me was �Yes! Yes I do!� But I don�t try to sing like him. I know my limitations.

Ann Peebles - She did the original version of �I�m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down�, and while I don�t have the original version, the version I have is a very tasty live version that shows she still has what it takes.

The Apples In Stereo - I had three CDs by them a while ago, and sold them back. But then they released a new record this year, and I went back and found some of the songs I had liked from the CDs that I prematurely sold back, and then someone sent me an entire CD. They�re very pleasant, tuneful, and quirky, which is right up my alley.

April Wine - I think when I watched the first 24 Hours of MTV, April Wine must have stuck in my head, because now I have both �Sign Of The Gypsy Queen� and �Just Between You And Me�.

Arcade Fire - Now, I thought their first album was OK, and the single �Keep The Car Running� was OK, but I didn�t see a lot of good reviews for Neon Bible so I�m staying away until my fears are waylaid.

The Archies - Oh, who doesn�t like the Archies? I mean, I even have the theme song of the cartoon here. They ain�t the Archies without the Jughead beat, dig?

The Association - Always been a fan, even though they�re not the hippest bunch of fellers. I�m a sucker for pop songs with harmonies, you know. I think I did get one of the best titles of all time when I bought �Rose Petals, Incense, And A Kitten.� What more do you want?

The Au Pairs - I�ve prattled on about them for a while. So go buy.

The Babys - Dang it, someone gave me a Babys song in a mix, and I had to get �Isn�t It Time�. I�ve got a weakness.

Bad Brains - Punk rock, historically, was a very white male type of music, but one of the best early US hardcore bands was a bunch of African � American Rastas from DC. Their early work, and their I Against I album, produced by Ric Ocasek of all people, just kick serious hiney. Secret weapon? Bassist Darryl Jenifer.

Badfinger - Such a tragedy. They had hits but not happiness, especially when the hits dried up. It took forever for their music to get on CD, and now much of it isn�t on iTunes (legitimately) . But the best of the stuff they did, not just the hits, but the album cuts, show they had what it took.

The Band - I got Before The Flood, which was the live album with Dylan and The Band back in the mid 70�s. Some pretty good stuff, as The Band draws out a lot of the best of Dylan, and then they rip through a lot of their best tunes as well, including some of the ones from the Basement Tapes.

Midwest Funk: Funk 45�s From Tornado Alley - See, Flyover land CAN be funky. Woot! Again, I�m glad this stuff has been preserved, somehow. You know what I would love to do one week? I�d spend it in the vault of CBS records to find out what�s in there!

Battles - I read decent reviews about this in Rolling Stone, and there has been some buzz, but it�s not really my cup of tea when all is said and done. Nothing wrong with it � the stuff just doesn�t move me. And music needs to modulate me from point A to point B. But on listening to this again, right now, I think I�m warming up to it. Yes, you are looking live at a man changing his mind.

Bauhaus - Yeah, I�m late to this party. Actually, the wonderful thing about iTunes is that you can dibble and dabble without fully committing. See, that was my issue � I didn�t like them enough to fully commit, but I don�t have to now. This just in, Bela Lugosi is still dead.

Bay City Rollers - Oh, yeah, of course I had to fill in my collection. It�s just too kitschy-kitschy-koo to pass up. Shang-a-lang y�all!

The Beach Boys - I had a lot of Beach Boys stuff already, but wanted to fill in some odds and ends from some of their earlier albums and some from the �Brian�s Back!� era of 1976-77, before he went away again and the records really got bad. There�s a quirky innocent charm in that 76-77 stuff, even if it�s not up to the standards of a decade before. It makes you feel good, and that counts for something, right?

The Beat Farmers - A few of their later albums have trickled onto iTunes. I didn�t really like some of the stuff later in their career, but they had some good moments, and those are the moments I bought. (I just edited that sentence because I had �a lot of some of the stuff� and I was too chicken to leave that in. Of course, I once pulled off a triple-negative in a sentence when I was flustered � so there!)

Anyway, that�s enough for now. As you can see, I�ve bought a veritable pile of tunes, so Music Week will be going on for a while as I explore them. Toodles!

 

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