The College Crowd Digs Me

"Batman And Robin" -  The Sensational Guitars Of Dan & Dale  (1966) "Batman And Robin" was a cash-in money-grab, no argument there, but the music doesn't sound throw-away.  The songs are much better than I expected.  It was only after bringing this puppy home that I learned the musicians were made up of members from The Blues Project and from the Sun Ra Arkestra including Sun Ra himself!  Nothing on here sounds that good, but the music is tastefully tight and sounds like they were having fun kickin' it.  Tom Wilson , who produced Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground, wears the cap on this one, too. Mostly all instrumentals, "Batman And Robin" is a fun kitschy square with groovy organs, horns, and surf-like guitars jousting back and forth sounding like a jukebox at an Austin Powers street dance.  "It's 1966, baby.  Does my superhero costume make you horny? Yeah!"    Plus how can you not love the artwork?  It's a twofer....

"Flashes" - Ill Wind (1968 - Rei 2022) This is some West Coast cosmic cream delivered from the East Coast Boston band… Ill Wind .  Their only album, "Flashes" has a little bit of an early Jefferson Airplane aura, but I mention this only to put you in the right ballpark.  They have their own stamp.  Mentioned in both Acid Archives and Richard Morton Jack's  psych bible ,  Ill Wind  sprinkles a nice spoonful of psych seasoning that surround each song in a variety of subtle jams and jellies giving the mind-sack a little ticket to ride.   The square begins with a feel-good hippie puff that sounds very much of the time, but from there quickly slides into the deeper, jammier, smokier side of the pool.  It's a good spin that improves with each listen.  Unfortunately, when the band released their first run of pressings in June 1968, (about 10,000 copies) they were all found to be defective having an annoying repeated section.  ...

"Epic Forest" - Rare Bird (1972) Rare Bird was a prog-rock band from the UK that just never got much of a push in the States.  That's why most of their albums are harder to find around here.  If you were expecting prog-bank like their first two albums on this one, you might be a little disappointed.  But as for me, I dug it.  On  "Epic Forest" ...the band's third album, they turn slightly away from the prog realm and offer up an unexpected early 70s "classic rock" treat.   There is still some nice jamming here and there, but that dog's on a much shorter leash.  However, the instruments bang just fine on this square and the vocals are great as well.  Sometimes recalling YES and other times CSN .   It's a pleasure either way.   There are no real stand-out tracks exactly,  but I really dug the flow of the album.  It's a needle drop set-it-and-forget-it spin.  Everything on the square is easy to war...

"The Papas & The Mamas" - The Mamas & The Papas (1968) Last month, I picked up a couple of new albums and as I was heading to the register, I saw a Mamas and Papas album in the used bin and grabbed that too.  I always wanted a copy...primarily for the gimmx cover and this one was in really nice shape but for a bb hole and was only a few bucks.  The front cover is horizontally split to allow for silly combinations of the band member's faces.  Meant to mess with your head while passing the pipe, I'm sure.  This particular album cover matches up the faces really well.  Better than most.  Often they get misaligned from being rough-handled, but this one was treated kindly. I always thought of The Mamas and Papas as a singles band rather than an album band, but this square felt like a legit album.  I was hoping for some psychage and this one delivers a few.  The songs are a little darker with odd arrangements and beautiful vocals and harmo...

The College Crowd Digs Me Snowy White   (Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy) "It's funny how these things happen,  but they're pretty loose most of the time when they do." ~ Snowy White ~   Jamison Newlander  ( Alan Frog -  "The Lost Boys") "Kill your brother. You'll feel better." Jamison Newlander     Henry Lee Summer "I just always have played music.  For better   or worse, I banked my whole life on it." ~ Henry Lee Summer ~  Courtney Gains ( Malachai -  "Children Of The Corn") "It's an iconic line at this point.  People scream that to me still to this day." ~ Courtney Gains ~ A big thank you to everyone who dropped by The College Crowd Digs Me this year. Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK    

"Head Hunters" - Herbie Hancock (1973 )      I'm not up too much on my jazz, but I do pick up some things here and there.  Herbie Hancock's "Head Hunters" is one of those albums I've had on my radar.  It's some early representations of jazz fusion and certainly one of the most successful.  At one time it was the largest-selling jazz album of all time.  One of the things that make the square so tasty is the seamless blend of funk that mixes into the jazz.  No big thing nowadays, I suppose, but back in 1973 the idea was almost blasphemous.  "Head Hunters" is jazz-whipped and funky. It grooves and trips and jazzes off in all the right places.  There are jazz improv breaks throughout the songs, for sure, so Herbie doesn't bite the hand that feeds him.  But he does gnaw on them a little bit.  Jazz purists might have been taken aback, but as for the rest... ...give me some more candy! I'm glad I waited until actually spinning the...

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (2012) Softcover, 486 pages   NO SPOILERS:      Author Daniel O'Malley takes a familiar trope and turns it the fawk on its noggin.   In The Rook , we meet Myfanwy (pronounced Miff-un-ee) Thomas, a member of a clandestine government of "special" agents, who discovers she has amnesia via instructions she left for herself to read should this circumstance ever occur.  With this premise quickly laid out, Myfawny takes the reader on a thrilling adventure that is grossly graphic and totally unpredictable.  Like a Scully/Mulder/Jason Bourne hook-up, The Rook is one coffee-spitting idea after another.   The main characters, good and bad, are easy to take a shine to.  The bombardment of ideas and sticky situations are non-stop.  And the clever web of mysteries Myfanwy finds herself caught in is both dangerous and amusing.  For an author's debut, Daniel O'Malley takes it to the house.   I...