Category: Pop Culture

Turntables & Vinyl #6 – “Re-Spin” Led Zeppelin & Van Halen

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Ever since I started the whole resurgence in my vinyl collection which started from nothing just 10 months ago, I have been trying to put together “The List” of all the albums that are a must have for my collection.  The list is long and it is going to be expensive to put together.

For me, albums from the 70’s must be in vinyl as that was the medium of choice at the time.  That means that I need to have Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, early AC/DC, Queen and of course KISS, just to name a few.  I am off to a good start with KISS thanks to the box of records I mentioned back in the first Turntables & Vinyl post.

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The 80’s is the decade I grew up in and fell in love with music so there has to be a ton of vinyl from those years as well.  Def Leppard, Van Halen, more AC/DC, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Ratt and any other rock band from that era.  The collection is growing, but the list doesn’t seem to get smaller.

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“My First Time” with The Police’s ‘Synchronicity’

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My First Time is about the ‘first’ album I received or bought for a band and sadly, my first album for The Police was ironically their last.  MTV had played their previous songs quite often and I loved “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, but it wasn’t until “Synchronicity II” that I finally decided to actually buy one of their records.

I picked up the cassette for ‘Synchronicity’ back in 1983 and later I did pick up their entire collection on CD by buying their box set which had all their albums.  I have since sold all the previous copies and when I was out vinyl shopping last year, I found ‘Synchronicity’ and snatched it up.  It cost $8 which was about the same price I paid for the cassette back in the ’80’s.

The Police were not an ordinary pop rock band.  For me, their lyrics were intelligent and not the bubble gum crap that was on the radio.  The songs made you think and look deeper into what they were saying.  At least they did for me.  It was the first time I felt music could be smart.

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‘Album Cover Album’ Edited by Storm Thorgerson & Roger Dean – Book Review

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I have had this coffee table book for at least 7-8 years.  My wife knows of my love for music and she got me this book on album covers that mostly covers the 50’s to the 70’s. Thankfully, there aren’t that many words and it is mostly a picture book as that is all I can really handle.

Album artwork was really at its peak in the 70’s and the book commemorates that era with this great collection of album covers. The collection was first released in 1977 and has been updated many times since.  This edition from 2008 was the newest edition at the time. They included a Preface by Peter Gabriel and an additional Foreward by John Wetton of King Crimson.

One of the coolest things about the book is it is edited by two of the masters of album artwork.  First you have Storm Throgerson, the founder of the company Hipgnosis and they were famous for their album covers for Pink Floyd among others.  He also does an additional Foreward.

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My Sunday Song – “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban

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For My Sunday Song #30, my wife chose “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban.  This is the final selection of her 10 part series.  Hard to believe it has already been 10 weeks.  I guess that means I will have to start thinking of songs for the next 10 weeks.

Now back to the song, the song is off his second album ‘Closer’ and was released back in 2003.  The song was #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and made it as high as #73 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It even was nominated for a Grammy but didn’t win.

My wife was unable to write a post this week as she has been so busy preparing for my youngest daughter’s 10th birthday party and then to top it off my daughter got sick with the flu which we had to reschedule the party for another weekend.  So I will write up the final song she chose and I am sorry as it won’t be as good as what she would say and it won’t even be about why she chose the song.  It will be about her and my girls.

What an amazing and inspirational song.  Josh Groban has such an amazing and powerful voice. This version of the song is so moving and when played at the right moment can bring you to tears like if it was played in some sort of video montage.  Come to think of it I think I used it in a video I did for my wife for Mother’s Day one year.  I am sure it made her cry as it probably did me as I was putting the pictures together for the video.

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Steve Martin’s “King Tut” – The 45 Single (1978)

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When I was going through the box of vinyl that inspired my series “Turntables & Vinyl”, there were quite a few 45 singles.  One of those singles was from a comedian that released a single about King Tutankhamun (King Tut).  That person was Steve Martin.  The “Wild & Crazy” guy is quite talented and he can kill it on the banjo.  He can also sing (don’t let this song be the judge of that singing though).  There is no banjo playing on this version sadly, but on the flip side you will here it.

The song was a satire of how the King Tut artifacts were turned into a traveling museum that went around the world back in the 1970’s for people to see and experience.  Apparently, Steve found this funny at how popular the exhibit was and how commercialized it had become.  I guess he thought he might as well capitalize on its popularity as well.

The song was released in 1978 and actually did quite well as it sold over one million copies and charted as high as #17 on the Billboard Hot 100.  One cool fact is the band backing him were members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and they called themselves the Toot UnCommons for this project (get it!!).

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My Sunday Song – “You Keep Me Hanging On” by Kim Wilde

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My Sunday Song #29 is the song “You Keep Me Hanging On” by Kim Wilde.  It is hard to believe my wife has only one more week after this one.  How time flies.  Now I have to actually think of songs again!  I will now turn it over to my wife to explain the special meaning behind this song and maybe why the Kim Wilde version over the Supremes (which drops the “g” on Hanging)???…Enjoy!

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is a 1966 song written and composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. It was a Billboard Hot 100 hit in late 1966 for the American Motown group The Supremes. Over the years, various artists have covered this song; however, my absolute favorite is Kim Wilde’s version. Wilde released “You Keep Me Hanging On” on her album Another Step in 1986. This song became the biggest hit of Wilde’s career.

In researching this song for My Sunday Song, I discovered that Reba McEntire covered the song in 1995 for her twenty second studio album, Starting Over. I am a HUGE Reba fan and while I am sure I have or had this CD, I do not recall her covering this song. Perhaps I heard it and loved Wilde’s version so much more that I just blocked it out. I will try to locate Reba’s version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. I’m curious now!

Traveling back to 1986 when Wilde released “You Keep Me Hanging On”. I was in high school going into my senior year and music was EVERYTHING! Music was my way of making sense of everything going on around me and this song was no exception. I would sing this song “loud and proud” and “over and over”. Now, I read the lyrics and this song could be applicable to so many things. Maybe you want to be set free from a relationship, which is likely the first thing many people would think about when listening to this song, but what about being set free from addictions, bad habits, anxiety, depression, self-destructive behaviors, sin, or anything that is keeping you from living the life you deserve. You try to break free from these things only to go back to them.

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Friday New Releases – March 3rd

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I can’t believe it is March already.  Damn, time flies.  Another Friday of great new releases.  Finally, Ed Sheeran is gracing us with his presence and a new release.  My oldest daughter could not be more excited.  I hope there is something on the list for you.  My most anticipated are highlighted in Blue.

  • 170x170bb-4  Ed Sheeran – Divide – (Asylum Records):  Yes, after a long wait we now have new Ed Sheeran music.  The kids is super talented and one of the few pop solo artist I will go out an get without hearing anything.  I looking forward to exploring this one for a long while and if the new song, “Shape of You” is any indication of what is to come, this will be great.

  • 170x170bb-72  Tokio Hotel – Dream Machine – (Believe Digital):  I am not sure when or why I stumbled across this German band, but I am glad I did.  What I like about them is how their style changes a little with each album.  They never keep it stale and boring.  It is always interesting.

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“My First Time” with Pat Benatar’s ‘Wide Awake in Dreamland’

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Pat Benatar had been around for almost 10 years by the time I got around to buying my first Pay Benatar album.  I had seen her videos and heard a lot of songs on the radio, but I had never bought an album.  That changed in 1988 with the release of one song…”All Fired Up”.

That was the song that did it for me.  I heard that song and finally decided to go out and buy the CD.  The album ‘Wide Awake in Dreamland” was My First Time with Pat Benatar.

Pat Benatar has one of the finest voices ever in Rock music, but for some reason I always hesitated buying her stuff.  There is no one out there with her octave range or her talent. This album showed me that she was untouchable when it came to vocals.  It was this album that caused me to go back and get her entire collection over the next few years.

I was out at the record store a month back and came across this album and had to have it on vinyl.  The cool thing about the album I found was that it was a “Promotional Only” album and not supposed to be available for resale.

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Bruce Fairbairn – Producer Extraordinaire #3

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In my producer extraordinaire series, this is the 3rd producer who helped create some of my favorite albums.  The first post in the series was for Robert John “Mutt” Lange and then second post was for Brendan O’Brien.  Both legendary producers.

Bruce Fairbairn didn’t have as long as career as the first two guys due to his untimely death back in 1999.  However, during his brief time, he crafted some of the most memorable albums of the 80’s & 90’s and the albums sold well over 65 million copies if you just count the platinum and gold albums.

It all started in back in Canada in the late 70’s when he started out producing for a band called Prism.  Prism had moderate success in Canada, but not much internationally.  In 1980, Bruce started production on the debut album for another Canadian band called Loverboy.  Loverboy opened the doors for Bruce with the bands international appeal. He produced 4 albums with Loverboy in the 80’s.  They were as follows:

  • Loverboy – (2x Platinum)
  • Get Lucky – (4x Platinum)
  • Keep It Up – (2x Platinum)
  • Wildside – (Gold)

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The Top 20 Songs of Ratt

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The band Ratt has been in the news a lot lately and not all in a good way. First with Stephen Pearcy releasing a great new solo album.  And second, the Ratt band mates have been feuding over who owns the band name.  It is sad and disgusting.  To me, Ratt is Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini, Bobby Blotzer, Robbin Crosby and Juan Croucier.  But the band is now two bands fighting over the name.

In one corner you have Stephen Pearcy, Warren MeMartini & Juan Croucier.  The other corner you have Bobby Blotzer.  Robbin Crosby passed away in 2002 and luckily isn’t witnessing this fiasco.  Based on what I have read, Bobby Blotzer will probably lose and Ratt will be with Stephen, Warren and Juan, but what do I know I am not an attorney.

Any other version is a cover band…sorry Bobby that is all your version would look like.  Plus, you were never a song writer on any of the songs so the Ratt sound and style didn’t come from you so not sure I would ever check out your version of Ratt.  I am sorry that was mean.  There were actually 2 songs you have writing credits on and your drumming in the band was actually great.  I still feel your version is a cover band though!!!

Because of them being in the news, I have been listening to their music and I realized they have a lot of great songs.  I figured why not do a list of my Top 20 Ratt songs.  I have gone through all their albums and I feel I have the definitive list of Ratt songs.  I was hoping to have songs from every Ratt album, but their 1999, self-titled reunion album sucked so much that I could  not in good faith include any songs.  Collage was a compilation of rarities and b-sides but mostly stuff from pre-Ratt and I wanted to stick with the main Ratt era.  Otherwise, here the Top 20 Ratt songs.

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