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Showing posts from September, 2019

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vol. 6: The Hourman and The Python" (2008)

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"Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vol. 6: The Hourman and The Python" (I stumbled upon a good-sized box filled with a variety of graphic novels at an estate sale. No official count as I've just been pulling from the box when I find time to read one.  Afterward, I post the book and go from there.) "Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vol. 6: The Hourman and The Python"  Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, Guy Davis (Illustrator) Vertigo (2018) 200 pages This is an atypical crime noir mystery that takes place in the early 1940s.  The colors are dour and dark and really captures the seedy times of New York.  Our hero, Wesley Dodds, alias The Sandman , is a smart, fairly refined, slightly pudgy solver of murders.  He dons a gas mask when skulking about the city for clues, both as a disguise and to serve a real purpose.  Sandman has a special weapon that sprays a sleep-inducing, truth-telling gas at his intended suspects.  No superhero razzmatazz going on here,  Wesley D

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Stranger In Town" (1978)

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"Stranger In Town" - Bob Seger (1978) This was Bob Seger's follow-up to his mega-monster album, "Night Moves" (1976) and he pulled it off like David Blaine changing coffee to coins.  "Stranger..." also sold beaucoup copies going platinum in less than a month.  Four songs charted in the top 30.  (Two I really like and two that disagreed with me even before heavy rotation.)  But aside from those two eye-rollers, the rest of "Stranger In Town" is cream.  My only complaint is there's too much Pledge and polish.  Don't get me wrong, I like this album a lot.  But it's missing the urgency of "Fire Down Below."   Or the raw isolation of "Main Street" ...one of the best things he's ever done.  Bob's dirty blue-collar hands may not have been manicured yet...but they certainly have been washed. But look, this was 10 years in the making.  No over-nite success story here.  Seger paid more than his sha

I Went...SI--SI--SIRIUS...All The Way Home (again)

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(a short jaunt) "Dogs" - Pink Floyd / "Animals" (1977) I mean...who doesn't like that long stretch of echos that fade into what sounds like a hurt and frightened dog?  Like echoes calling from a long and empty hallway.  It's all very ominous.  Great lyrics.  And David Gilmour's soloing.  Wow!  “Animals" is my third favorite Pink Floyd album ahead of even  “Pipers..." and “The Wall”  But let there be no doubt, I love all things Floyd.  This was Pink Floyd's 10th album.   "All The Children Sing" - Todd Rundgren / "Hermit of Mink Hollow" (1978) This lead-off track and everything else on the album for that matter is all Todd Rundgren.  The vocals.  All the instruments.  The man is a control freak and a perfectionist in the studio.  His long discography has always been a little hit or miss for me and my pocketbook.  But I own this one, his 8th album, and love it as much as his highly touted "Someth

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."The Soft Machine" (1968)

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"The Soft Machine" - Soft Machine (1968) Psychedelic prog is the point of order here.  This was Soft Machine's debut album and is an example of psychedelic ideas drifting into early prog-rock.  Very avant-garde.  And it's really good for not having any guitar spankage thrown in the pot.  I wasn’t aware until later that Soft Machine was a three-man band.  The drumming of Robert Wyatt is entertaining as fawk.  And bassist Kevin Ayers'  presence is strong...sometimes making his bass sound like a guitar amped.  Very cool.  They both sing...Wyatt, being the main vocalist.  But it's the trippy and experimental organ burns from Mike Ratledge that really gives the songs their psych stamp.  However, there's plenty of ideas to go around from everyone.  “The Soft Machine” is a mind-flip and demands repeat listens.  It's an essential album and I especially enjoyed side two. Honestly, it was the gimmix pinwheel gatefold that put this on my want list.  I

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "Go Set The Watchman" (2015)

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"Go Set A Watchman"...Harper Lee (2015) 277 pages Jean Louise (Scout) is all grown up now, in her twenties anyway, and living in the big city.  But she returns to her small town for a visit with her father, Atticus Finch and a few of her friends and family.  I was hoping this was going to be all warmy and feelie, but as someone once said...”You can't go home again.”  The writing is still in that familiar Harper Lee rhythm, though.  There are a few flashbacks of Scout when she was still tomboy-ing around, enjoying the summer freedom with her brother Jem and neighbor, Dill .  Dill, you remember, was the kid with the classic line, “I'm little but I'm old.”   But sadly, those moments are few.  Mostly, the story is about Scout seeing Atticus through different eyes.  Not as the knight in shining armor who once...shot a rabid dog coming down the street toward her.  Or the man who staunchly defended a wrongly accused black man of a terrible crime.  Or even

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Environments 9" (1979)

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"Environments  9" (1979) Of the 11 "Environments" albums recorded between 1969 and 1979, disc 9 is my favorite and the only one I really care to own.  The cover alone is worth the price of admission.  The hyperbole is hilarious!  “Better than booze, safer than pot” —Life Magazine.  ”Highly addictive” —High Times.  Well, which is it?  Safe or addictive?  Well, it is definitely safe.  The record sounds like you think it sounds.  No music.  Just nature.  Gentle sounds of the "Pacific Ocean" on one side.  A little bit of "Caribbean Lagoon" ambience on the other.  There have been many imitators, but sound recordist Irv Teibel was the first to capture the natural sounds and bring it to the masses on vinyl. If you love reading, this album is a great way to knock out an hour.  About 10 minutes in, I grabbed a book I was working on and did some serious page-turning.  It's perfect for reading.  No distracting beats or time changes.  No ja

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols" (1977)

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"Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols" - Sex Pistols Until recently, I've always thought of "bollocks" as a British way of saying "bullshit."  And that's pretty spot on.  The first definition Google brings up, however, is...” testicles.”  Which is quite funny in its own right.  Whatever your poison may be, in 1977, the punk rock band Sex Pistols offended the hell out of everybody.  I'm not going to regurgitate the importance of this album.  The internet is full of essays galore about the band's legacy.  I'm not about to say the Sex Pistols are the best punk band ever.  Or even the first punk band ever.  But there should not be much argument, "Never Mind The Bollocks..." was a jumpstart in the way we think about our music and the various directions that rock music went from there.  It is an essential album and one I wanted to possess if nothing more than to check off another album from my “must own” list.

I Went...SI--SI--SIRIUS...All The Way Home (again)

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(a short jaunt) "Back Where I Started" - Box Of Frogs / " Box Of Frogs"  (1984) I never knew who did this song until now.  It's like a lost classic rock song.  " Box Of Frogs" is an album I find in bins all the time.  I thought the album was just another new wave album released by another new wave band that seemed to pop up on new wave shelves like Flash .  But no!  This group is made up of former Yardbird  members.  Plus several guest guitarists like Rory Gallagher .  Earl Slick .  Alumnus Jeff Beck even kicks off his boots.  Nothing fancy, but no prisoners either.  If the rest of the album sounds anything like this, I'm down. "Simple Sister" - Procol Harum / “Broken Barricades” (1971) "Simple sister got whooping cough. Have to burn her toys." Unlike "Whiter Shade Of Pale"  that quite rightly rips your heart,  "Simple Sister"  takes it out more precise like Cristina   Yang in the

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Future" (1967)

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"Future" - The Seeds (1967) The Seeds third album... "Future" ...is a bit of early garage-psych.  And if not the band's best, it is at least my favorite.  The L.A. band,  The Seeds , weren't the most skilled and Sky Saxon's  voice at times sounded like an angry Sonny Bono had built a nest in his throat, but what they lacked in A-level talent, they made up for in sheer commitment.  There are a number of interesting psych tracks that will make your lava lamp feel at home.  “Flower Lady and Her Assistant” is an outstanding atmospheric spin.  " Now A Man" is an excellent example of garage-psych.  "Six Dreams" has the beginnings of what Alice Cooper would take to the next level.  But it is the last track, “Fallin'” ...that finds the band at their most psych-seediest.  At nearly 8-minutes, Saxon's repetitive refrains backed by harp strings, organ, and other weird noises and beats make for mind-stealing fun.  Sky Saxon s

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "Revival" (2014)

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"Revival"...Stephen King (2014) 403 pages NO SPOILERS: This wasn't ' scary' scary.  But there are plenty of disturbing shadows to go around.  A young family preacher loses his faith and finds something else to take its place. (I'm a poet and don't know it.)  The story is entertaining enough.  The main characters are fleshed and are easy to visualize.  A third-string bar band musician and a traveling salvation tent healer.  Sort of.  On a given night, both can pull off a pretty good show.  It's about obsession and a little bit of addiction.  I'm glad I spent a few evenings reading it, but I felt the payout was a little lowball.  However, there is an image Stephen King describes near the end of "Revival" that really creeps me out.  Even now.  Not in my top-ten King books, how could it be, but if you're a SK fan, here's another book to scratch that itch.  "Reverend was right about one thing: people always want a rea

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Barbarella" (1968)

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"Barbarella  Soundtrack" (1968) I guess you could call this album part space lounge and part lounge psych.  Most of the tracks are instrumentals.  There are flourishes of light fuzz guitar, along with spanks of horns, (not too brassy) and hints of futuristic space grooves.  Some of it is really pretty good.  It's all mostly groovy utopian vibes intermixed with tracks that sound a little more authoritarian.  And these tracks sometimes interrupt the overall good vibes.  Yin and Yang, I suppose.  There are 4 tracks with vocals, all but one provided by The Glitterhouse .  There is some groovy rhyming going on.  Like 'Barbarella' with 'psychedella,' for example, crooned in a 'Space-F-ing is Fun' kind of style.  Way more campy than sexy.  But if spinning in the background, there's room for both.  The soundtrack was given new life in 2018 with a hand-numbered re-issue of "Barbarella" limited to 500 copies on the Varèse Sarabande labe

I Went...SI--SI--SIRIUS...All The Way Home (again)

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(a short jaunt) "Guns, Guns, Guns" -  The Guess Who / "Rockin'" (1972) This has an Elton John kind of intro before Kurt Winter applies some tasty guitar and that recognizable voice of Burton Cummings walks up to the plate.  Seldom heard, but one that rocks pretty legit.  Cummings could be the best part or the worst part of The Guess Who depending on how much he fed his self-indulgence.  When under control, The Guess Who was one of the best things to ever happen to AM radio.  "Godspeed Mother Nature.  Never really wanted to say goodbye."    This was the band's ninth studio album. "Sparks Of The Tempest" - Kansas / "Point of Know Return" (1977) As much as I like “Leftoverture,” I think I enjoy "POKR" a little better.  “Sparks of the Tempest” is a killer track with hard rock getting the upper hand over the prog side of things, but not deserting it.  That's violinist Robby Steinhardt doing

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."666" (1972)

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"666" - Aphrodite's Child (1972) "666" is a double album filled with almost 80-minutes of floaty prog-psych trippiness. A lot of ideas are going on here.  And everything works.  It's amazing.  One engaging idea after another.  And even in the albums' strangest moments, Vangelis, vocalist/bassist  Demis Roussos , and the rest of band's confidence just oozes out of the speakers and we can relax trusting   that wherever the music takes us will see us safely to the end.  It's all very peculiar, and yet all very easy on the ears. I remember finding my mid-70s copy last spring at the local record store  (Spectrum) with a $15 price tag and a note saying one of the records had a slight warp but plays fine.  The fella told me to take it home and if it didn't sound great...bring it back.  The album plays like a leviathan.  And I saw barely a lift in my cartridge.  Otherwise, the records play minty.  Close to it.  By the way...this is what an