The College Crowd Digs Me

"In L.A., it was The Wrecking Crew. And there was the equivalent in London as well.  I was a part of it." ~ B.J. Cole ~      Session musicians like B.J. Cole may never know when they'll be asked to come into the studio, or who they'll be working with, but the good ones, the very good ones, always know the ask is coming.  From Elton John to David Gilmour.  T. Rex to The Alan Parsons Project.  R.E.M. to Robert Plant.  And it must be a double-edged sword at times.  The anonymity of it all.  Only music aficionados of a particular song or album might know the names of everyone involved in the recording.  Perhaps a blessing and a curse.  But for the last six decades, London's B.J. Cole has been the premier pedal steel guitarist, called on when an artist needs a particular sound and vibe to enhance their song.        B.J. Cole has been adding his unique pedal steel flavors and flares in all the right measures si...

"Every One Of Us" - Eric Burdon & The Animals (1968 )      The album definitely has a smidge of ringwear front and back.  And by smidge, I mean, gangster whitewalls. There are no seam splits, but the darker album covers always seem to bring out the worst.  I would've left it behind, but the vinyl looked almost minty.  Played VG+ or better when I got it home.  And the songs are pretty good.  The music has a nice psychedelic dusting about it.  There are some jammin' fuzz burns and jazz flourishes.  A little experimental here and there, for sure, but overall, "Every One Of Us" is more acoustically driven than I expected.       As I said, the music sounds fine, but there are a couple of songs with spoken interludes in the middle.  And even that's not bad, the first couple of times you spin it.  Then it starts to wear out its welcome.   For me, anyway.  You'll want to pick it up for the song…...

"Phluph" - Phluph (1968)       Phluph (pronounced Fluff) is some cool organ-driven psych.  Much like The Doors in their approach, but without sounding the least bit dark or dangerous.  The music is pop-psych, less blues psych.  A little spacey, at times.  You've got some excellent organ-play shenanigans pushing things along with some guitar fuzz burns showing their head, which is always welcome.  Nothing here is a mindblow, but it's fun.  It's all a cool snapshot of the lysergic times and pretty good for what it is.            Think of Phluph's only album...as the square you needle drop early in the evening while friends are still coming in and out of the kitchen for a hit on the bong snake.  There'll be plenty of time for some Ultimate Spinach and other heavy hitters before the flavored Altoids have had a chance to kick in.  Phluph is an under-appreciated psych album that still flies under the ...

"Everyone Is Everybody Else" - Barclay James Harvest (1974 )      On  their fifth album,  "Everyone Is Everybody Else,"  the band leaves the proggy, symphonic Moody Blues sound they were  tagged with, stuffs it in their back pocket, and takes a different prog path.  Like travelers passing through the corners of Catan,  Barclay James Harvest bring a prog-pop CSN flavor to the wax.  Lighter on the prog to be sure, but I'm absolutely cool with that.  The harmonies are nice and confident, as ever.  The guitars bang when it's time to clock in.  And the beautiful Mellotron and other keys all help push things forward.         The song arrangements may not be as complex by prog standards, I suppose, but they are creative enough and definitely not cheap.  It's a really good square, yet nothing truly stands out.  Is that bad?  Not necessarily.  When the needle returned to its resting pl...

"Bravery Repetition And Noise" - The Brian Jonestown Massacre (2001 - Rei 2007)      Formed in San Francisco,  The Brian Jonestown Massacre's  8th album has an undertow of neo-psychedelia about it, as I was hoping it would, but this is on a different shelf, sounding both fresh and nostalgic.  The album is filled with layers of atmospheric glaze, both dreamy and moody, in various tempos.  Pop-sensibilities with an oddly lysergic dusting.  Plenty of heady levels to play with your senses.      The songs seem to swing easily from one trapeze to the next.  No dirtclods.  No speedbumps.  Just an introspective stroll through an empty park.  And though not what I usually gravitate toward, this may change.  There's a lot to like about "Bravery Repetition And Noise," and I'm sure I'll drop the needle on the bone from time to time just to feel that feeling again. "Bravery Repetition And Noise" - The Brian Jonestown ...

Stone Cold by C. J. Box (2014) Paperback, 398 pages NO SPOILERS:      Stone Cold is the 14th novel from the "Joe Pickett Series" created by author C. J. Box .  Each story stands alone, so don't be afeard.  Joe Pickett is a Game Warden, a family man with Boy Scout virtues and skills.  And Joe's job title might sound lame, but the action and pacing of the novel quickly put any reading trepidations to rest.  In this story, Joe Pickett has been requested by the governor to go to far corners of Wyoming to quietly investigate large land purchases made by some moneybag mysterioso and the small town he seems to have a grip on.  Oh yeah, and there are also rumors that this fellow might be involved in a murder-for-hire operation.       Our hero  Joe Pickett is smart and clever, and he likes to push the envelope.  He's not a bad-ass rogue, like say, Jack Reacher, but Pickett is easy to root for.  The story is more myster...