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Showing posts from January, 2020

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Safe As Milk" (1967)

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"Safe As Milk" - Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band (1967) “Safe As Milk” is 'Safer Than Trout' and yet still feels like a balancing act where only the listener is in danger of falling.  It's unpredictable.  At times strange.  But always the music is played with precise intent.  This is bluesy grit psych dust with your eyes blindfolded and your hands in a bowl of chilled grapes.   And it's very entertaining. There is really nothing new I can add to this Beefheart epistle other than this lame-ass wordplay I've attempted above.  And for me, cherry-picking songs from this album is futile because favorites change as often as the weather in Kansas.  Still, it's fun to try.  So, on this day anyway, I'm going to suggest...the garagey "Zig Zag Wanderer" with its swimming bass runs.  And I never tire spinning the fuzzed-out "Dropout Boogie."   The dirty-blues opener "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do" with Beefheart

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "Finders Keepers" (2015)

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"Finders Keepers" - Stephen King (2015) Hardcover, 434 pages NO SPOILERS: I liked the second part of this "Mr. Mercedes" trilogy a little better than the first.  But unfortunately, it's not the ' juicy'   Stephen King stuff.  If you're a King fan like myself...you're allowed to quibble.  “Finders Keepers" is just a good, not great, SK offering that gets a little higher bump simply for a few pretty dang clever and exciting scenes.  Even when the maestro spins just an average yarn, he still spins it like nobody's business. As I said, "Finders Keepers" is the second doorstop in the  “Mr. Mercedes" trilogy.  However, the story can be approached as a stand-alone without the reader being lost in back story.  Here we find a psychopathic book-lover from the 1970s upset that his favorite author has retired to the point of being a recluse.  When he hears rumors that the author has been stockpiling his unpublishe

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Out Of The Frying Pan" - Wynder K. Frog (1968)

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"Out Of The Frying Pan" - Wynder K Frog (1968) Nothing to overthink here.  Just a whole lot of tasty and familiar 60s Hammond organ tapping and wailing all around your ears.  A little jazzy.  A little funky.  A little psychy.  And a whole lot of groovy.  The album is a smile-maker and blah-taker.  Wynder K. Frog (aka Mick Weaver ) makes a joyful and funky instrumental album to spin in the background or crank it be damned.  I enjoyed the album both ways.  Mostly familiar covers but with a couple of originals that hold their own quite well.  "Out Of The Frying Pan” is a perfect snapshot of the times.  Imagine Goldie Hawn bikini-dancing with "make love, not war" slogans on her body and you'll get the idea.  Most of the album hits that spot.  Wynder K. Frog gets added help from members of The Grease Band and a few horns from the Bluesbreakers.  This is another fun album that can be had for pennies and I enjoyed the love beads out of it. (wink-wink)

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Landing On Water" (1986)

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"Landing On Water" - Neil Young (1986) Oh yeah.  I'd heard all the negative buzz.  The album is extremely synth-driven and not at all what fans expected.  Neil Young's "Landing On Water" can be found in bargain bins everywhere for about an Abe so...might as well dance.  I wanted to have my own taste.   And guess what?  It’s not terrible!  In fact, once you accept the techno turn Young made, a few of the songs are quite good.  "LOW" is a far cry from "Harvest"  Or "Harvest Moon" for that matter.  But the lyrics are pure Neil and the tasty guitar burns can still be found.  “Hippie Dream” is just a killer Neil Young gem.  It's dark and throws a wicked dart at the time-passages of CSN.  Great fiery guitar that's way too short.  Many believe the song was directed specifically at David Crosby.  It's a great song, if not a bit mean-spirited.  Guitar sounds mean, as well. The head rocker "Drifter"  is an

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vol. 8: The Blackhawk and The Return Of The Scarlet Ghost" (2010)

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"Sandman Mystery Theatre, Vol. 8: The Blackhawk and The Return Of The Scarlet Ghost" (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. 8: The Blackhawk and The Return Of The Scarlet Ghost" Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, Guy Davis (Illustrator) Vertigo (2010) 224 pages All of these graphic Sandman Mystery Theatre novels have a gritty pulp vibration that drops you smack into the 1940s.  Our Sandman hero is a rather ordinary, nondescript fellow.  He's educated, but not annoyingly so.  He's brave, but not fearless.  He's kind, but not drippy.  And he's pudgy with no plans on hitting the gym.  Sandman is more-or-less your average Joe, but with a head for mysteries and a strong desire to right wrongs.  Not with muscles and spee

I Went...SI--SI--SIRIUS...All The Way Home (again) #29

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(a short jaunt) "Texan Love Song" - Elton John / "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" (1973) I have the gatefold album with the full-color multipage booklet inside.  It's a great one to own for the packaging alone.  You'll find “Daniel” and “Crocodile Rock” here.  “TLS” ...I don't remember.  It's buried on side two (I looked) and probably for good reason.  It's atypical of what we've come to expect.  EJ throws down some mean country swang and belts out enough cowboy sarcasm to drip off your saddle.  Hey, but the song's pretty good.  Does Elton really scream “goddammit” on this record? Twice?  Thrice?  Whatever.  But he sounds a bit like Peyton hollering for Brad Paisley to get off his finger when he does.  This was Elton's 6th album before his blow-up “Goodbye Yellow...” "The Voice" - The Alan Parsons Project / "I Robot" (1977) Sure, the vocoder “voice” sounds b-movie sci-fi. 

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Psych-Out" Soundtrack (1968)

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"Psych-Out" - (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1968) "Psych-Out"  was one of many psychsploitation, drugsploitation soundtracks that seemed to flood the market in the late 60s/early 70s.  A few of them were pretty good.. others not so much.  They were all quick cash-ins.  And to that end, "Psych-Out" is one of the better offerings.  The big hitters on the album are Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Seeds .  One of the songs being the 8-plus minute killer gem, "The Worlds On Fire" by SAC .  However, it's The Storybook that brings five floaty psych-pop spankings only available on this album that make the hunt worth it.  There is also a blatant copy-cat song  "Ashbury Wednesday" by a fictitious band, Boenzee Cryque  that sounds way too much like "Purple Haze."   It's fun, though.  (see if you recognize the frontman in the clip below) For a short period, it seemed every movie studio was trying to get on the

TCCDM Dig and Flip: "The Garden Of Last Days" (2008)

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"The Garden Of Last Days" - Andre Dubus III (2008) Hardcover, 535 pages NO SPOILERS: The story reads fast.  But this is not a fast-paced story.  It's a few days before 9/11 at a prominent boobie-bar in sunny Florida.  It is there we're introduced to three strangers whose paths briefly cross.  A single-mom, strip club dancer.  A construction worker recently separated from his wife with a restraining order hanging over his head.  And a young jihad terrorist with life-changing plans. The story is told from multiple POVs and although none of these people are especially likable, the author does a great job of letting us into their heads.  Of helping us understand the choices they are making.  Andre Dubus III  knows how to bang out entertaining sentences, for sure, however when the last page arrives...you're left feeling a bit cheated.  Like when you're binging on a tv series and the show gets abruptly canceled.  Huh?  What?  Still, I don't regret pic

TCCDM Pulls One Out..."Some Tough City" - Tony Carey (1984)

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"Some Tough City" - Tony Carey (1984) Tony Carey held more than his own while with Rainbow .  Check out "Tarot Woman" from their killer album, "Rising" (1976) for a refresher.   And his Planet P Project  albums have always been an under-appreciated prog dip.  And this, Carey's third solo album, is another satisfying offering.  This time a bit of AOR pop-rock.  Each song filled with street characters who seem to always pull the short straw.  Those people living lives defined by a whole lot of “just abouts & almosts.”  Carey observes and reports with a songwriter's heart.  Think Mellencamp with a keyboard. This isn't a five star must own, by any means, but it is a pretty good album and that's from someone who usually doesn’t trip easily on the 80s stuff.  I had already fallen in love with Tony Carey's classic radio songs... ”A Fine Fine Day” and “First Day of Summer”  both on this album.  Both absolute pop-rock gems.  B

I Went...SI--SI--SIRIUS...All The Way Home (again) #28

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(a short jaunt) "Straight Brother" - Asylum Choir / "Asylum II" (1971) "Daddy dropped the ball in the bowling hall 'cause he bet on a loser and took a fall for mother." I'm not familiar with this album, but this song here is a tasty little lost gem.  Leon Russell kicks it off, but dang if Marc Benno doesn't have a great little break-in voice in the middle.  I have their first album.  The one with the infamous "toilet paper" on the cover.  And it's quite good.  However, the two had long split up before this, their second album ever got flushed. "Colours" - Donovan / "Live & In The Studio" (2009) For whatever reason, Donovan could never quite drop the mic here in the States.  Regarded more as a singles artist rather than an album artist unfairly so.  But as we all know, the rock-n-roll gods don't play favorites.  Whadyagonnado?  Still, this groovy troubadour need make no apologies