The College Crowd Digs Me

"And it humbles you in ways that  you should be humbled because there are so many great players." ~ Gerry Polci ~      Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.  Everyone loves  The Four Seasons , the golden vocals of Frankie Valli , and the gazillion hit singles they released.  To some, they were The Beatles before The Beatles.  When the 70s arrived, however, the band was still loved but mostly forgotten.  Frankie was still pulling down solo hits now and then.  Good ones, but not the same.  But then some strange rock-n-roll magical thing happened, and The Four Seasons caught everyone by the unawares.  In 1975, the band released a new album, "Who Loves You," and it was like Boom Boom Mancini going fifteen again.  And radio loved'em.      Sure, the golden one, Frankie Valli , was still sounding great as ever, but as the 70s rolled on, new faces were beginning to replace old faces in the...

"Rare Bird" - Rare Bird (1969 )      I've been a fan of Rare Bird for a while now, but I had never heard their self-titled debut album, except for one or two songs on KSHE.  I'd been choosing to wait until I owned the square so I could actually drop the needle on it myself.  I recently picked this up for $10, and it doesn't disappoint.  It's as enjoyable as I had hoped.       Rare Bird's debut was on the earliest cusp of the Prog movement, one of the proto-prog puppies of rock.  Not prog-heavy, but something's happening, for sure.  There is a pretty broad spectrum of progressive rock out there, and Rare Bird definitely falls closer into the realm of Procol Harum than King Crimson, but believe me, Rare Bird sounds nothing like them at all.       One of the fascinating things about Rare Bird and their debut… is that there is no guitar to be found. And yet, you don't miss it.  It's like the guitar is ther...