The College Crowd Digs Me

"Johnny The Fox" - Thin Lizzy (1976) This was Thin Lizzy's follow-up to their break-out album aptly named  "Jailbreak."   "Johnny The Fox" is filled with a lot of hard and catchy wrecking-ball riffs and harmonious guitars from Brian Robertson  and Scott Gorham up and down the board and mixed with the heady melodic stuff that Phil Lynott sells so well.   The drumming of long-stay Brian Downey is solid, per usual.  Thin Lizzy  has a unique hard rock style that's difficult to describe, but it's a rock-solid niche that hits that sweet spot.   And front to back, "Johnny The Fox" (1976) is a needle-drop banger.   But it's an album I rarely see.  I always check the "T" bins at record shops but seldom, if ever, come across one. (I'm still looking for a "Vagabonds..." but that's another story.)   Thin Lizzy  never hit the market in the States quite as strongly as they did across the pond, but their later a...

  "The Ark" - Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde (1968) I recently added another early psych album to my collection a few weeks ago.  The 1968 Chad & Jeremy offering… "The Ark" …was hiding in the used bins of The Record Ship , and I was extremely excited to find it.  I have “Of Cabbages And Kings" (1967), which was the duo's first dive in the psych pool, and it was pretty good.  “The Ark" is better. It was produced by Gary Usher , who went so beaucoup over budget he was fired.  Critics dug it, but the album went absolutely nowhere in the market.  "The Ark" might have lost money, but it's a fine square to spin.  The songs are all psych-dusted, and very much a snapshot of the times.  Baroque-ish and dreamy in nature.  Of course, a sitar sometimes raises its hand.  There is some speaker bouncing and other effects going on.  And the vocals are notch.  The spin has an overall heady vibe that's quite beautiful and the kind o...

  "Fleetwood Mac" - Fleetwood Mac (1975)       "You can play this record anytime you like.  There's a turntable in my basement if you think you might."   I didn't really need another copy of Fleetwood Mac's  second eponymous album, aka "The White Album," but I just couldn't let the early hype sticker go by.  This was the first of a few hypers to show up on this, the band's tenth studio album.  Little did Reprise know that this new incarnation of Fleetwood Mac  was about to blow up the radio.  And this very simple sticker used to help promote the album shows the label's hedge.   The album had a $10 tag stating, "plays fine, but side one scuffed."  And it definitely had an ugly scuff.  I couldn't feel anything, but the scuff looked nasty.  Bad enough...I took the record up to the counter and asked about it.  The fella holding down the fort asked if I wanted to play it...or told me I could bring it back i...

"Elephant" - The White Stripes (2003) This was on my want list for a very long time.  I wanted an OG copy and the last time I ever saw one, the album corner was banged up pretty badly.  I'll let things like that go sometimes, but I wanted the cover to be as nice as the vinyl so I passed.  That was at least two years ago.  People are just holding on to their copies.  Anyway, I found one on eBay.  I put it on my watchlist and received a discount offer about a week later.  The price was fair and shipping was only $4.00.  I don't play the shipping-gouge game.  I'm a cheapskate when it comes to shipping and will not dance. "Elephant" was The White Stripes'  fourth studio album and is a great spin front to back as everyone knows.  I never tire.  And, of course, it has the awesome riff-worm "Seven Nation Army" that still gives me a smile when I hear Wichita.  This album also has Meg's first lead vocals ( "In The Cold, Cold Nig...

"A Mexican wind blows in  breaking  the hold Angelinos  have on their halos."  ~ Geoffrey Cushing-Murray ~      Every person has that one song that rings all the bells for them.  Has all the right vibes.  Checks all the boxes.  And you can't explain it.  It just does.  And for me, that song is "Hot Night In A Cold Town."   And what a surprise, while listening to a KSHE playlist one night, I heard "Hot Night In A Cold Town" ...not just John Cougar's familiar version which is the one that hooked me in the first place.  But a Steppenwolf version that John Kay laid down.  And also a version from Uriah Heep.  All three artists recorded that song for their own albums.  All within the span of a year and a half.  And I enjoyed each one.  It was written by Geoffrey Cushing-Murray , along with his partner Richard Littlefield.  He's written other songs too, of course.  Most notab...