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.