it isn't quite the same thing as the real deal (although i doubt it could be that different), but black label is becoming my new cheap beer. maybe. i don't know. pbr holds a place in my heart, always has, always will. but black label ain't bad and the price is certainly reasonable. also, i get to haul 24 cans around instead of 30 at a time. doesn't seem like it should make that much of a difference, but hey, you walk a few blocks with a thirty pack and see how it goes. i guess we've all probably carried roughly that amount at some point though. well, whatever, hooray black label. way to be cheap.
the only better deal i got this week was on this stack of records sitting next to me. you guessed it, they were free. i know a few people with too many records. this bunch looks pretty decent, and he didn't make me take all he wanted to get rid of, so i had some choice. i mostly have things i've heard of or have heard before, with a couple other things thrown in for fun, just because they looked interesting. i forget the whole story about this vinyl, but i remember that my friend somehow obtained roughly a pickup bed's worth of assorted stuff from some dude a couple years ago. mostly dead-related. no dead records in my part of the haul, of course; that isn't the sort of thing people give away. several records, however, on which members of the dead play. also, keith and donna's album that came out when round records was still going. has a picture of their baby on the front, and it is one of the most unhappy looking babies i have seen who is not crying. i am curious to hear it and all the other stuff; i only have one record i've actually ever listened to before that i don't have a copy of (csny 4-way street; glad i never bothered to pay for it now). since i have been listening to tea leaf green almost exclusively for like two weeks (have i mentioned they're really good? yeah? good.), i think i might switch things up and spend tonight listening to this stack, probably 15-20 albums in there. i'm not doing a whole lot else... carling and free records it is. come along for the ride; i'm sure you want to read what i think about a bunch of old albums someone was willing to part with for no compensation. features include a very questionable-looking roger mcguinn solo record and an inherently suspicious ray manzarek album. can you tell i'm bored?
starting out with a david bromberg record called wanted dead or alive. i had heard of the dude, but i don't remember what i had even heard. this is one of those record that has like four people from the dead playing on a bunch of it. i grabbed like three bromberg albums in the bunch, so hopefully it turns out alright. if not, shit, i didn't pay for it. so far, it is alright. music is good, but the dude has a weird voice. hard to describe. first song was kind of bouncy an upbeat, but this next one is straight up blues and the voice is a lot better when he isn't so much trying to sing. the blues requires more in the way of highly emotive speaking than singing in my opinion. either way, the cover combined with the words to the first few tracks reveals a distinct humor element. i can appreciate it when it is done like this - where the music is no joke but some words are kinda silly. this is why zappa and primus kick ass but tenacious d can kiss my ass. i am supportive of music having an element of comedy, but not so much the other way around. just not my thing, with the possible exception of dennis leary's "i'm an asshole". anyway, i just managed to look up bromberg's wikipedia, and it turns out he's from philly. far out. currently living in delaware, something we can all aspire to. decent guitar playing in my book (jerry plays on most of the record, but he is so easy to pick out i know who is playing what), style is seriously eclectic. translation: this is a record i enjoy listening to, but will not often be the right record at the right time. nothing better than when that works out. but overall i like it, and i'm glad it isn't terrible, cause i have like three of the dude's albums now. lots of instruments on most tracks, really well arranged. one of the records is live and i'm curious how many people play on that. right now the arrangements on these blues tracks remind me of goodnight ladies on transformer. nice minimalist reading of statesboro blues on here with a bunch of other shit worked in. crazy version of kansas city, very big band yet still bluesy. this is a record i will put on again sometime.
time for this ray manzarek business. i heard a different solo album of his while my friend was giving me all of these records, and it was totally over the top. operatic vocals, very proto-electronica at the time. this one so far sounds like he just wanted to keep playing the music the doors did, but he gets to be jim. oh, and not be in a band with jim. the opener is like some sort of a rock and roll samba. some cool percussion. i guess i can kind of dig it. i thought this one would be equally ridiculous given the album art and the fact that it is called 'the golden scarab'. and yes, all visible skin on mr. manzarek is painted gold on the cover. as things progress, it is definitely extremely doors-esque but doesn't sound like anything they would have actually played. or maybe it just seems like that because jim was so distinctive in writing and voice combined with a little synthesizer technology development. i think the song that is playing now actually was a really old doors song that never made it to record for them.
as mentioned, these record reviews are brought to you by carling black label beer. confusing thing about this beer: carling is like the budweiser of britain, so that is the immediate association. in two places on this can, it says "carling canada" and has a big maple leaf. however, lower on the can, it says product of the u.s.a.. strange, but cheap. i like that. it should be up there in use with strange, but true. gotta find a way to work it in a little more.
the manzarek record has quickly degenerated into mediocre cheese. if the music and songwriting were better, okay, if things got way cheesier, okay, but this is just lukewarm and uninteresting. enough of that shit. i'm not going to throw the record out, but i'm not gonna put it on again real soon i do not think.
time to check out this keith and donna record. too much donna from the get go, i wish she would just take it easy. she's touring with the zen tricksters these days. if they played close, i might go. the bass is really good, i wonder who is playing. john kahn; i should have guessed. looks like he only plays on this track though, that is too bad. shit, this reminds me some guy gave me a jerry band disc today. i should play that later too. we'll get there. i have a feeling that this whole record is gonna be a little too much donna. keith sure as shit shouldn't sing. his piano is hardly even audible thus far, which is too bad because he could still play pretty damn well in 75 when this came out. things are getting a little better on the album, sounds like apocryphal janice joplin with way better keyboard work. the baby on the sleeve is named zion. seriously, who the hell names their kid zion? who does that?
time for another carling black label ad. this beer is brewed by g. heileman brewery, who you may know from such hits as old style. they are one of the milwaukee breweries that got by alright and managed to swallow up other regional brand naming rights.
hah! i was about to give keith a bunch of credit and suggest that he should have played more organ instead of piano all the damn time. turns out it was merl saunders on the organ for that track. i guess he should have played more organ in the dead too, only problem is he wasn't ever in the band. for all the praise heads heap on the 70s, i think the band would have been way better, and admittedly way different, if merl was in the hot seat for a spell. that isn't a job you can really recommend to anyone though. i hope bruce hornsby and tom constanten say a prayer of thanks and supplication every day of their lives. the curse is so strong that it killed off the keys dude from dark star orchestra.
surprisingly, the album itself is pretty much exactly what i expected. nothing blows me away, but it is all pretty decent music. i was hoping for a little more cheese on this record, a la keith's "let me sing your blues away" off wake of the flood. working in a little sax now, but nothing as outrageous as that track. most of the songs are things the dead could conceivably have played with the godchauxs in the band, but ones i'm glad they never did. just filler. nothing bad, but nothing good either.
gonna give this roger mcguinn thing a go. looks like he mostly plays other peoples' music on this one, but the guitar and vocals are absolutely unmistakable. something to be said for that. the man does what he does. makes me interested in hearing the one byrds album i picked up, the notorious byrds brothers. we'll see about that sometime.
man, all these records i was skeptical about but willing to give a shot make me look forward to the flea market in the park across the street. next weekend, i believe, is the first one of the year. can't wait. wish i had a little more money to throw around, but i'm sure i'll make a good pickup or two.
man, mcguinn can do dylan like few can. i've heard a ton of people do knockin on heaven's door, but this is somehow just so right. i feel like zimmy would put some kind of stamp of approval on this. bitchin pedal steel, and someone is playing perfect rhythm section piano. and god, that guitar. any time you have someone with an immediately distinctive tone, you are probably dealing with a worthwhile guitarist.
the following announcement has been paid for by carling black label beer: my cats are super fuckin pretty and little.
whoa, the music just took a turn for the soulful. works out alright. rocking, but a nonstop gentle country caress from mcguinn's guitar, all the while approaching a genre not immediately congruous with what normally goes on for the man. the result is very late beatles; something that could have made it onto let it be (it isn't like that record couldn't use a little help here and there). now things are just straight folksy byrds style. i didn't need more of this, if i wanted the byrds i would probably put on one of the umpteen (not marked) byrds albums i already have. some silly string arrangement on this, and it is just unnecessary and overdone. someone probably told mcguinn that, and whoever it was probably got fired. the album cover has roger leaning on a wall of recording equipment, looking very pleased with himself/coked out, and the lettering is that definite 70s conception of the future style. at least the guy can play and sing, even if his writing is hit or miss. well, i guess he didn't write a bunch of this, so i have to critique is song selection, and whatever just played was a poor choice.
now he is actually showing a little maturation in his guitar playing. i love how the guy plays, but it is always kind of the same stuff more or less. this track features his neil young guitar (thankfully not vocal) impersonation, and it sounds great. stuff neil himself could be proud of. i was discussing neil young with a buddy today, and damn if the dude isn't one of the all-time greats. makes me want to throw some on, but i'm gonna play at least one more new record before that i think. might actually play the second record of four way street, they do a pretty psychedelic southern man, and i wonder what cowgirl in the sand sounds like; it is actually kind of short compared to the version i am most familiar with.
alright, one more new record i'm gonna talk about for tonight. gonna make it the brewer and shipley album with one toke over the line on it, see if they have anything else to offer as a pretty typical folk duo at the height of psychedlic scene exploitation. these dudes look ridiculous. but i do love one toke over the line, and it sounds fabulous on vinyl. the guy i got it from didn't know they did this song, but i did tell him. he seemed a little regretful, so i offered to give this one back, but he let me keep it. we'll see if it is worthwhile. one toke is the lead track with good reason. what is not to like? my old mp3 of the song is off the fear and loathing soundtrack, and the beginning is the monologue listing all of the drugs in the case, and wasn't a bad addition at all. the rest of the tracks proceed apace; the whole thing is like simon and garfunkel for people who were too cool for simon and garfunkel. or maybe people who had taken a vow to not listen to simon and garfunkel for like ten years. this album is as good as any other album i've bought for just one song i knew and loved.
but that's enough for now. if you didn't really read anything that's cool. i'm mostly just amusing myself as best i can. lots of things i should do, but nothing i want to do. this was a fine alternative. listened to some decent tunes, but probably nothing i'm going to push on anybody. i'll probably wind up playing more tlg before i go to bed. just can't shake that addiction. they're playing here again, during my exam period. i think i will probably go anyway.
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