The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of the Great Ipod Shuffle

Spring is almost upon us and that means yard sales and good stuff cheap.  I'm totally psyched.

The Police – Every Breath You Take/The Singles – Back in the day, when the Police were still a touring band, they were considered the coolest thing going.  And Sting, Mr. Nine Hour-Tantric Sex himself, was the brains behind the group.  That said, chinks, for me anyway, started to appear in their armor.  I saw them live and their opening act, the Go-Gos, out played them.  (There was an unproven rumor that the girls were not wearing underwear; however, we were in the back of the arena and couldn’t substantiate this.)  Also, Sting had a smug, I’m-better-and-smarter-than-my-audience attitude.  Then, there were the lyric snippets from Syncronicity like “hey, hey Mr. dinosaur, how come you’re not around anymore” and “over the din of our Rice Crispies”.  It was almost enough to make me burn my Dune video cassette.  The music:  “Don’t Stand So Close to Me “86” does not improve on the original, but the rest of the CD does provide the singular highlights of the group.  A worthy introduction.

The Great Ipod Shuffle Rides Again.

Continuing my adventures in building an all-inclusive Ipod music collection on the cheap.

Rod Stewart/Downtown Train, Sections From the Storyteller Anthology – Rod the Mod.  I wish that some record company could put together a Rod Stewart anthology that was not only cost effective, but gave an accurate representation of his best work.  The anthology it’s culled from is comprehensive, but it’s not something you’ll find bargain hunting.  Plus Rod Stewart has been on a few labels and that always makes it hard to assemble a coherent selection.  Most of his current best of’s give short shrift of his most compelling and best work - the first four albums released in the States in the 1970’s.  One of which, Every Picture Tells a Story, is one of the great rock albums of all time.  After that, it’s a few good tracks here and there.  It’s easy to see why Rod was targeted by the punks in the '70's for being the epitome of the bloated rock star.  Take out a few stellar tracks and the rest was hard to listen to more than once.  The only older song on this compilation is “Stay with Me”, a song he did with Faces.  A standout on this CD is Rod’s (and Jeff Beck’s) version of the Impressions’ “People Get Ready”.  No “Maggie May” though, the first 45, I ever owned.  L  Oh, and the cover is pink.

Abbott and Costello meet the Great Ipod Shuffle

These were a buck a piece.  :)

Blood, Sweat and Tears /Greatest Hits – This is a good compilation from a group that didn’t know whether it wanted to be Chicago or Weather Report.  “Spinning Wheel “ was so prevalent back in the day that I remember it being performed by the Muppets on Sesame Street.  That said, their first album, Child is the Father to the Man, when Al Kooper was in charge, is the one to listen to.  It successfully melds a number of different types of music and still sounds fresh today.  The David Clayton-Thomas stuff (like Spinning Wheel) is fine, but the quality suffered with each successive album.  "Lucretia Macevil" sounds like treading water to me.

Jean-Pierre Ramphal /Bach Flute Sonatas – Ramphal singlehandedly made the flute a more popular instrument than what it had been and is justly considered one of greatest flute players of all time.  Consider that someone like James Galway, the current most popular flutist, pads out his The Essential.. album with dross like The Pink Panther, Annie’s Song, and Baby Elephant Walk.  Galway is a fine flautist, but why do we have to endure a whole CD full of his interpretations of pop music.  Waltzing Matilda?  Really?  It’s beneath him.  Ramphal did some jazz stuff with Claude Bolling but, as far as I know, never covered Beauty and the Beast.  Please check out the Partita in A minor.

The Great Ipod Shuffle That Ate Cleveland

More treasures from the thrift stores.  Caveat Emptor about buying CDs in a thrift store or flea market:  Check to make sure the disc is not only in the case, but also is not horribly scratched up.  Can’t recall how many times I’ve come across a CD I’ve been looking for, my heart skips a beat (yes, I get that excited) and I find the CD is either missing or badly scratched.

Ray Charles Greatest Hits Volume Two – Couldn’t believe my eyes, when I found this one.  Frank Sinatra called Charles the only true genius in popular music.  He had the ability to effortlessly go from music style to music style enriching each genre he touched with his brilliance.  The CD covers most of his sixties output and has a few of my favorites, notably Busted and Hit the Road Jack.  It also includes a few cuts from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, an album, along with Greatest Hits Volume One, I am anxious to get my hands on.

Elvis Costello/My Aim is True – Elvis’s first album, when he had this manic energy and was lumped into the punk category because he was so, so angry.  Well, as everyone is aware, Mr. Costello was not a punk, but a nuanced songwriter who has had an amazing career.  This is the Rhino re-issue, which is a two-disc set.  The great thing is that in addition to the original album, Rhino also includes an extra CD which includes, live performances, alternate takes and studio outtakes.  If you like Costello, it’s an interesting listen.  My Aim is True includes the classics, Alison, Less Than Zero, Mystery Dance and (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes.  The latter song doesn’t end up on many compilations.

The Who/Who’s Better, Who’s Best – It’s rare to find a CD in the thrift store from a major musical player like the Beatles, The Who, Elvis Presley or the Rolling Stones (I saw Steel Wheels, but I gladly passed on that).  I found this disc and because my CD collection of the Who was sorely lacking (I only had the crappy Millennium Collection), I picked it up.  Way back in the day when I had a record collection, I had every Who album (including bootlegs) I could get my hands on.  Today, well, not so much.  Combining this CD and the Millennium Collection, I was able to put together a decent overview of the group (still nothing from Quadophenia on either CD).  The Who has a lot of compilations, seeing that their music is so ubiquitous, but it is hard to find a decent one.  Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy is probably the best because it includes most of their great singles from the sixties.  Checkout Happy Jack (included on these and most collections) for why Keith Moon was special as a drummer. 

Son of the Great Ipod Shuffle.

Came back from the local thrift store with a few discounted treasures:

Led Zeppelin IV – There’s not much to say about this album.  It’s probably their best and a watershed album for Led Zeppelin and rock music in general.  It contains Stairway to Heaven, the single most overplayed rock song on the face of the earth.  Back in the day, you couldn’t find a high school yearbook that didn’t quote Stairway to Heaven and at most proms it was the class song.  I downloaded all eight tracks and IMHO When the Levee Breaks is the standout track.

The Best of Blondie – I used to own this as a cassette a long time ago and at one point had a crush on Deborah Harry.  This is a great career sampler.  A few of the older songs were remixed and I recommend checking those albums.  The great thing about Blondie is that when they added a disco beat to their songs (around the time of Paralell Lines, another good album), they were smart enough to be seen as making a wry commentary on the times, as opposed to just cashing in on a trend (See the Electric Light Orchestra, Rod Stewart, etc. etc.). 

Gordon Lightfoot /Gord’s Gold – Gordon Lightfoot is regarded as a poet laureate in his native Canada and these songs I assume were gold records there.  He had a few hits stateside, but was never given much respect by rock critics here in the states.  Rock critic Robert Christgau likened him to Chad of Chad and Jeremy fame. Hey, at least he never recorded a disco song!   There are a few good songs here (Carefree Highway, Sundown, and some of the older re-recorded ABC stuff) and thankfully, the CD does not include The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  That song is a load.

More of the Great Ipod quest

The Ultimate Bee Gees – The Bee Gees have had a target on their backs from rockers ever since Saturday Night Fever.  Their songs from the soundtrack of that movie ushered Disco into the mainstream of radio playable music.  Even though they were around for years (and Jive Talkin is kind of disco-y), they get credited for Disco.  Now back in the day I liked to go to discos, it was nice to get dressed up and go out.  I had this cool silvery shirt that I liked to wear and kept in my closet for years, even when a retreated back to flannel.  Back then every hotel lounge and restaurant that had the space had a disco, which cheapened the whole experience considerably.  Saturday Night Fever and the Bee Gees were the gateway (there I go using that word again) into disco for the common folk (Read: anyone who didn’t live in Manhattan).

The Bee Gees (the bald guy, the bearded guy who sang with Streisand, and the other guy) pre-dated the Beatles and had some great songs pre-Disco like Massachusetts, I Started a Joke, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, etc.  They even had a few hits after disco.   I bought the 2 set CD at Target (it was on sale) and honestly, I can say that I like the majority of the songs in small doses and once there on the Ipod mixed with thousands of other songs, they’re bearable.

Greatest Hits (The Monkees) – First of all, RIP Davy Jones.  Second, the Monkees had a place in my then 8 year old life and I’ll always have room for some Monkees’ songs.  Thirdly, I absolutely hate The Monkees Theme.  Gah. 

The Monkees have had more Greatest Hits packages than regular albums and this is a decent one.  It has Goin Down, a Mickey Dolenz take on James Brown and most of the good hits.  I miss Daily Nightly, Shades of Grey (or is it Gray) and some of Nesmith’s better songs.  The last few tracks on this album document the Monkees as a trio, duo and re-united band.  Needless to say, I did not include these on my Ipod.  In memory of Davy Jones I’ll play Day Dream Believer and I Want to Be Free.

The Great Ipod Shuffle Redux

I may have touched on this before, but Greatest Hits or Best of collections serve several functions for the consumer.  They can provide a nice gateway into an artist’s work and serve as a springboard for further discovery.  They can also sum up (sometimes well, sometimes not) why a musician was popular (or not) in the first place.  For me and my goal of the ultimate Ipod collection, it’s a cheap way (if I’m scouring yard sales or thrift stores) of getting the best cuts into my own personal rotation.

The Best of Kansas – What can I say about this group.  They’re a nadir in American progressive rock and I would just as soon listen to Styx.  Out of this collection (thank God, I only paid a dollar for it) I managed to put three songs on my Ipod.  Dust in the Wind, Carry on My Wayward Son and (this was a stretch) Point of Know (cute spelling) Return.  I think I got my money’s worth.  When I was in high school, in order to get to know our classmates better, we had to talk to a single classmate, get to know them and talk to the rest of the class about them.  All I remember was this girl loved Kansas and carried the album, Leftoverture around with her a lot.  Gah!!

The Best of Van Morrison – Here’s a collection that Van the Man put together himself.  This has some great career highlights (including songs from his time with Them) and functions as a gateway album.  Morrison made some phenomenal albums in the late sixties-early seventies that are under-represented here.  Astral Weeks, one of the greatest albums of all-time, has only one song in this compilation.  He was (is) a force of nature.  I remember reading an interview he did with Rolling Stone magazine where he said that Moondance was written with Frank Sinatra in mind.  That would have been great to hear.

Chronicles – Steve Winwood – No longer Little Stevie, this guy has been around forever with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith.  This collection highlights his solo work.  The phrase that comes to mind for these overplayed songs is “Familiarity breed contempt”.  They’re good songs, but you’ve heard them and most of “classic rock" so often, that you want to puke.  It’s sad, that great music, due to oversaturation, is now loathed (by me anyway).  For more interesting and slightly less played, music featuring Steve Winwood, check out his albums with Traffic. 

Moving Sale, Fish, Free or Best Offer.

Beyond the physical and mental toll of actually moving your stuff, do you know what the worst part of moving is for me?  Moving a tank of fish.  We’ve contemplated getting rid of them many times; either giving them away to the local Chinese restaurant or dumping them into a Koi pond not far from where we live.  There are a few other options I’ve contemplated,  but , of course, would never broach with my wife.

We’ve had these damn things for over 15 years.  They were originally a present to my son when he was a toddler.  They were feeder fish, about .25 cents apiece.  They are now as big as kraken.  When they’re hungry, they bring themselves to the top of the tank and stick their heads above water.  My wife can feed them individually.  If I try to do this, they swallow my arm, up to the elbow.  The cats won’t go near them for fear of being gulped whole.   

We’ve had to move them a few times in the past and it’s a bitch, yet we’ll keep them.  For now.

Zen and the Ultimate Ipod Collection

Joni Mitchell – Hits

The album title is a (probably deliberate) misnomer.   Joni Mitchell wasn’t a hit maker.  That said, she had a string of damned fine albums in the early seventies with Court and Spark being a personal favorite.  The problem with Joni is that starting in the late seventies she started following her own personal muse and recorded some generally hard-to-listen to albums (Mingus, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter).  Although some of this stuff is brilliant, she alienated a lot of her fan base.  Still, this album is a nice overview, but she was a true innovater and better served by a listen to her albums.

Marshall Tucker Band – Millenium Collection

After the Allman Brothers Band and Lynrd Skynyrd, these guys were probably the most interesting Country/Southern Rock band out there in the seventies.  They mixed jazz, swing, country, blues and rock into a nice listening experience.  They had a flute/sax player, which is cool.  Stuff like “This Ol’ Cowboy”, “Fire on the Mountain and their hit “Heard in a Love Song” still makes me smile when I hear them.  On the latter song, the contrast of gruff vocals and the lilting flute solos is smart.  This is a two album CD and is a lot from the band.  Plus it’s a European printing and lacks a lot of useful information (song writing credits, what album the songs came from, etc).  I paid two bucks for this and a dollar for Joni, so I’m not complaining too much.

French Wind Music/Beethoven Septet and Sextets/Mozart Flute, Clarinet, Horn Concertos

After symphonies and operas, chamber music is probably the poor stepchild in classical music.  It’s not a major draw in terms of money (unfortunately, the same can be probably said for all classical music).  There are some lovely, well-played pieces on all of these CD’s.  It’s a treasure trove of music you just want to relax with.  I picked up all of these at thrift stores for less than a couple bucks each.  The Mozart CD is a two-disc set.

As music continues to go digital, much good music can be had for a song (pun intended) and most CD acquisitions easily pass my IPod test (i.e at 1.29 a pop for most songs, if the CD has at least two or three good songs, you’re getting your money’s worth.  If you like classical, the sky’s the limit in turns of value.   As usual, thanks for reading.

The Ultimate Ipod Collection Part whatever.

All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra - The Electric Light Orchestra has an interesting history.  The group was formed out of the remnants of The Move.  Jeff Lynne, the main mover and shaker in the group, had the idea of having a small string section become a permanent part of the group.  The highpoint of this idea were the two albums, On The Third Day (which borrowed heavily from Edvard Grieg) and Eldorado:  A Symphony (the album with the Wizard of Oz cover).   Both albums were interesting, but slight, attempts to meld classical and rock. 

Lynne became increasingly bored with the concept and eventually kicked the string section to the curb.  At one point, the group got into trouble for having backing tracks playing on tape during their live show (for the Out of The Blue tour).  Lynne went as far as some reprobate rock artists of the late 1970’s and added disco (Gah!) rhythms to some tracks.  It got worse.  ELO’s music was a focal point on the Xanadu soundtrack.  Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, roller skates.   Jeff Lynne barely redeemed himself as (a lesser) part of The Traveling Wilburys.

As far as this album goes, I wanted a representative collection that included “All Over the World” if only because it was featured at the end of the movie “Paul”.  Unfortunately, it also has a ton of stuff from Out of the Blue on.  Ole ELO is better, if you can find it.  No Disco. No Crap.