The College Crowd Digs Me

"Dawn Explosion" - Captain Beyond (1977 )      I like Captain Beyond .  I have their self-titled lenticular album as well as their follow-up.  Both are equally enjoyable.  You can't go wrong with either.   But as for their third and last album,  "Dawn Explosion," I just never had much interest in picking it up.  Mostly because of weak reviews I've read, and plus, you just don't see this square out in the wild very often.  But I'm glad I finally did.      The previous two Captain Beyond albums are filled with hard rock and a cool prog-psych mindset.  It would be four years before the band released their third, and last album... "Dawn Explosion" in 1977.  A long time to wait to satisfy the studio itch, and perhaps a bit risky, but it's a worthy effort.  Both sides have a couple of tracks that really grab the golden ring, while others sometimes slide into the classic-rock lake that other band peers wer...

"Fraser & Debolt" - Fraser & Debolt (1971)     Upon examining the front cover, Fraser & Debolt's  eponymous album gives no hint that it might be listed in the Acid Archives .  But in the Acid Archives she be.  Along with Ian Guenther and his amazing violin,  this duo created a wonder of a square.  Not necessarily a gem for everyone, but something magical is definitely going on here.        The music has been described as a mix of hippie country and acid folk, and although there is nothing psychedelic that I can specifically point a finger at, the cool vibes are in the air.  I don't know much about this Canadian duo,  Allan Fraser and Daisy Debolt,  but on their debut, they sound like a couple who have just fallen and trust each other unfettered.  Their hearts are still catching rainbows and falling stars, and the music keeps no secrets.   Fraser and Debolt sing together with reckless...

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (2009) Paperback, 543 pages NO SPOILERS:      No need for any book-reading snobbery here.   Lee Child's mass-market Jack Reacher creation is fire.  It ticks all the boxes.  This particular story is a thriller first and foremost, but the mystery that unravels is a sweet ride as well.   In  Gone Tomorrow,   Reacher encounters plenty of ducks, dodges, and louies along the way, and we tag along as he breaks it all down and adds it all up.  Reacher's experience in various combat methods and ability to quickly strategize any situation are top-notch.  I t's all about the justice with this guy.  There are no fences to straddle.  Reacher is the good guy, and we like him.       Lee Child novels may be a wee bit formulaic, but it doesn't diminish the enjoyment.  In this page-turner, Reacher finds himself on a late-night subway ride where he notices an unusual passenger who...

"Love" - Love (1966)       Finding  Love's  debut album in one of the 2 or 3-dollar boxes on the floor at Spektrum Muzik, located in the Delano District, was a pretty cool and unexpected surprise.   It was the latter part of May, the first of June, right before the weather started getting hot.  Just sitting in one of their bargain boxes.  It was an original copy with some expected ringwear, but there were no seam splits, and the spine was clean and readable.  The album had someone's name written on the front cover up in the top-right corner, but it was small and fairly neat.  Usually, a name on the front is a deal-breaker, but honestly, I hardly noticed it.  As for the vinyl, it looked almost VG, but for a weird, hard crumb stuck in one of the grooves on the very first track on side one.  It was tiny, but I could feel it.  Still, for less than a Lincoln, I thought it might be worth it to take the record home and try to res...

"Electric Mud" - Muddy Waters (1968 )     "Electric Mud" is the album where Muddy Waters went psych.  Still the blues, but with rock guitar distortion and fuzz.  A little more guitar juice.  Muddy does all the singing, and he shares the guitar work with his band.  Apparently, this album alienated many of his fans, ala Dylan, and maybe I get that, but it's all biscuits, gravy, and hot coffee to me.  "Electric Mud" is a fun spin, and it rocks out wicked.  The best of both worlds.  It was 1968, and this square is fire.      I'd been looking for a copy of  "Electric Mud"  with the black cover for a very long time, and I didn't want to listen to it until I found one to spin for myself.    This is an original copy pressed in Germany on Chess Records.  The vinyl is very clean, but with a couple of light scuffs, and it sounds really good.  It is the black cover album; the white cover albums are the mor...

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (2003) Softcover, 935 pages NO SPOILERS:      The novel  Shantaram is an ambitious adventure loosely based on events that occurred after the author  Gregory David Roberts escaped from a prison in Australia.  Trying to avoid discovery, he finds himself swallowed up in Bombay, India, where the story begins.  Whether this is a 'true' story or one that has been carefully crafted and roadmapped doesn't matter.  It rings the bell of authenticity, and I was all in.         The exotic atmosphere of Bombay is captured in the traffic-heavy city as well as the crammed-together, slum-like villages.  The prose pulls it all in so tightly I could almost feel it, taste it, and smell it.  It's heady stuff.  Descriptive and emotive, dozens of characters pass through the pages, and I never lost track of a single one.  It's beautiful here and dangerous there.  Sometimes both. ...