The College Crowd Digs Me

"Ram" - Paul & Linda McCartney (1971)       I'm still catching up on my "new arrivals" box, which goes back to October.  I'm slow, I know.  But I give almost every album I bring into the house at least a couple of active listening spins before moving on.  Often, a particular album will hang around the turntable even longer.  Busy is as busy does.  (I'm talking like young Forrest Gump as I type that last sentence.)   But it's all good one way or the other.      As for Paul and Linda McCartney's "Ram," it was rescued from a nearly full box of albums marked at $1.00 each.  Giving this square a good once-over, I would say the cover was VG.  There are corner dings and a mild bit of ring wear, but no splits or tears. No watermarks.  As for the vinyl, it looks VG and played VG+ after a couple of laps with my spinclean.  This will make a good player copy, and I'm cool with that.      I'm not a ...

"Back From Rio" - Roger McGuinn (1991)      "Back From Rio" was an album I'd been looking for...for longer than I thought would be necessary.  Not an easy album to find, though CDs are aplenty.  This was Roger McGuinn's sixth studio album and the one where all his cool cat friends showed up to cast their lot with the jingle-jangler.  And a lot of love can be heard on this album.  It's fun and special.      The album has the 12-string McGuinn magic all over the square, making everything a whole lot better.  (See what I did there?)  Not perfect, but nothing to skip either.  A fun one to spin.  A couple of original Byrd-peeps make an appearance.  Elvis Costello contributes a great song.  Michael Penn and even Stan Ridgway help butter the bread.  And there are other musicians that contribute, as well, but it's Tom Petty and a few of his bandmates that really shine the light on Roger McGuinn.  No sur...

"The Baroques" - The Baroques (1967)      In 1967,  The Baroques were walking their walk, bringing some early psychedelic desserts to an underground hookah house somewhere, I'm sure.  Not a lot of bells and whistles, but their self-titled album has its moments.  The square has a folky-garage-pop delivery that falls right in my wheelhouse.  The album has a few fuzz-bomb jammers.  There are a few atmospheric janglers with vocals that invoke a hint of the Brummels.  And there are a couple of songs a bit off-center, as one might expect, but even those arrive at a good place.  One of the earlier psych albums to be released, and a grower in the best of ways.         Not nearly as baroque as their name suggests, but the album does cross off a few Ts.  And the songwriting is especially good.  The album is often described as dark, and its cover suggests that, but that doesn't quite capture its essenc...

"Astral Yacht" - Astral Yacht (2025)      Hailing from the little cornhusker state of Nebraska, Astral Yacht is the creative duo of Derek Fisher and Jacob Pavlik .  This self-titled album brings a variety of heady fuel to provide safe passage on the psychedelic mind train.  The music is atmospheric, hypnotic, fuzz-speckled, and spacey, all with a good psych-dusting to sweeten the pot.        The influences heard here are many, but Astral Yacht has very much its own distinct way of delivering the mail.  It's not a concept album, but the tracks do flow nicely from one song to the next.  Different, but never drifting too far away from the picnic basket.  To be sure, this square is a neo-psych demogorgon with a few upside-down treats to be devoured. "Astral Yacht" - Astral Yacht (back) "Astral Yacht" - Astral Yacht (insert front - back) Favorites include: "Short-Circuit Mind" "Concentrated Skies" "Dreamer" "Follow Th...

"Then Play On" - Fleetwood Mac (1969)      This isn't the "early" early  Fleetwood Mac blues rock, which I never really had an ear for.  However,  "Then Play On,"  the band's third studio album, is an almost spiritual revelation.  There is an overall lysergic dusting that's hard to finger, but it's there.  Guitars are floaty and moody and often beautiful. And when the jamming arrives, the tracks are also welcome and enjoyable.       Mac doesn't abandon blues rock completely, but they do allow room for new ideas to stretch its legs.  It's like the neighbor from across the street who visits, drops off her tasty green-bean casserole, and leaves.  Only to come back later with some chocolate Oreo pudding.  And I really dig it when the neighbor drops by for a few minutes, and I'm also glad when they bring something different.  It makes for a groovy day.      Best of all, the album has a timeless ...

7 Favorite  Books  I  Read  In  2025 "Every book is a new book if you haven't read it!"   And so, let us begin. Sarum: The Novel Of England by Edward Rutherfurd (1987) Paperback, 1035 pages      Sarum, England, also known as Salisbury, is home to Stonehenge and the famous Salisbury Cathedral. The novel takes us from the Stone Age to the mid-twentieth century, introducing a variety of characters across many generations.  Sarum is over a thousand pages, but don't let that discourage you. The book reads easily and is a fun and fascinating page-flip. (full review) Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King  (2017) Hardcover, 702 pages      Sleeping Beauties is not exactly horror.  It doesn't have a significant thrill factor.  However, the novel's idea is interesting.  The story is okay for what it is, but the characters are just not developed enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.  So...