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Showing posts from November, 2011

Lost Gem: "New York's Not My Home" - Jim Croce (1972)

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"And I had begun to doubt  all the things that were me." --> Jim Croce <-- Jim Croce's breakout album was "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" (1972) ...with the uptempo title track being his radio debut single. Three tracks from this album would become radio staples. The next year, Croce's follow-up record... "Life and Times" (1973) quickly went gold with another three singles taking over the airwaves. He had just finished recording the album... "I Got A Name" ...that same year with plans of a holiday release. Barely a week out of the studio, after doing a show in Louisiana, Jim and longtime partner Maury Muehleisen would tragically be involved in a fatal plane crash. Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen Made no difference whether you were a bruising truck driver or a scared young boy with a broken heart.   Redneck or longhair...it didn't matter. He was one of us and he was singing our life. LOST GEM:-->

Lost Gem: "Zero the Hero" - Black Sabbath (1983)

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"Impossibility. Impissibolity." --> Black Sabbath <-- "Born Again" (1983) is a pretty good Black Sabbath album...but receives even higher marks as a post-Ozzy album. Ronnie James Dio had a good run as the first Ozzy replacement. (four albums...the first one being diamonds.). But near the end of his tenure... Dio (may he RIP) was sounding a wee-bit tired and uninspired. Hence he cut bait. This allowed legendary screamer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple to be brought into the fold...(this move caused a nasty backlash from Sabbath fans...Dio wizards...and Deep Purple purists!) After one album... Gillan left. However, Gillan's banshee vocals wailing atop classic Sabbath thunder riffs sometimes worked. The album deserved better. LOST GEM:--> "Zero The Hero" ...is dark, heavy and catchy. Tony Iommi fires off blistering riffs and solos ...while Ian Gillan 's vocals give the song a fresh twist of metal magic. Nicely done. H