October 2022 Purchases – Vinyl & CDs

Happy Halloween!! October was not a good month for me. It was mostly Tricks and few Treats! The tricks were that I was recovering from an appendectomy and after two weeks of that, I caught a virus and then a bacterial infection and was sick for 2 more weeks. My motivation is now at all time low and I have no desire to write or even buy as my energy level is completely wiped. I haven’t written much at all this past month and don’t know when I will get back in to a full time mode, if I ever do. It was hard enough to even put this simple post together, but I am trying.

This month might be my smallest number of purchases in quite some time, but doesn’t mean it doesn’t have what I think are some really sweet Treats! I did get to one record store during the month on the sole day in between recovery and illness where I felt good. It didn’t last that long because by the afternoon, it all went down hill. Noble Records was having their 3rd Anniversary Drop and what a drop it was. I picked up a Kiss Bootleg. More to come on this one down the road, but this is a 1981 reissue of a 1978 bootleg of Kiss My Axe 1978.

While there I picked two albums I had reviewed in my You Pick It Series that won for albums I had never heard before. I grabbed Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass which was the owners personal copy. It is so clean and even includes the poster!!

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You Picked It! – George Harrison – ‘All Things Must Pass’ (1970) – Album Review

Alright…You Picked It! And this one wasn’t even close. The winner had the first vote and never looked back. The winner was George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass” which is now over 50 years old. Crazy! Here are the results.

  1. George Harrison – ‘All Things Must Pass’ – 10 votes
  2. Oasis – ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory’ – 5 votes
  3. Bryan Adams – ‘So Happy It Hurts’ – 2 votes
  4. Gnarls Barkley – ‘St. Elsewhere’ – 1 Vote
  5. Harry Connick Jr. – ‘Blue Light, Red Light’ – Sadly, 0 votes

Thanks to all for participating. The May choices will be up on Saturday!

GEORGE HARRISON – ‘ALL THINGS MUST PASS’:

I like the Beatles, but as far as solo albums have gone, I haven’t really followed any of the Beatles outside of the Beatles. Yes, I know a lot of Paul’s and John’s stuff, but Ringo definitely no and George I was a little turned off his music due to the song “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You”. I was not a fan so I never went back to listen to his older stuff. I thought it was about time I did so I included it on the list. Now, if I would’ve known then that the album was actually 3 albums in one, I might not have picked it, but I am so glad I did and it won.

Recently, the 50th Anniversary Edition of the album was released and if I’m not mistaken, my brother-in-law, Ryan Williams, had a hand in putting it together as he does a lot of work with Dhani Harrison, George’s son. That alone was another reason I wanted to check out the album. He did say going through boxes and boxes of never before released tracks was rather incredible.

I had to use the CD back cover as that was the best picture I could find with all the songs that was legible. We are going in vinyl order on the review
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You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in April?

You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple! Now, if you want to cast more than one vote, comment on the Twitter and Facebook post and you could get up to 3 votes on your favorite pick.

There are a few simple rules I have put in to place in my selections.  They are…

  • One has to be a new release (within the last month)
  • One has to be one I have never heard before (new releases don’t count for this one)
  • One has to be from a genre I don’t normally listen to at all or very often
  • And the last two are choices from my collection that I haven’t reviewed before

What are the 5 albums you ask?  Funny you should ask because I have those right here…

  New Release – Bryan Adams – ‘So Happy It Hurts’

  Never Heard Before – George Harrison – ‘All Things Must Pass’

  Not My Normal Genre – Gnarls Barkley – ‘St. Elsewhere’

  From My Collection – Oasis – ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory’

  From My Collection – Harry Connick Jr. – ‘Blue Light, Red Light’

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in April, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!!

Friday New Releases – August 6, 2021

It’s August! Can you believe it!! The Summer is winding down, but thankfully the releases aren’t. My kids will be going back to school and one off to college and since this is depressing me I need to drown my sorrows in new music and wouldn’t you know it, there are few here that will hopefully help me get through it okay. They are marked in Blue. Let me know what you want to hear and let me know what releases I may have missed because it is known to happen. Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a little time with me. I hope you find something great to hear and also have a wonderful weekend. See you next week at the same Bat Time and same Bat Channel (yeah that was as lame as it sounded in my head, but I left it).

  • 81cTmHct8aS._SX522_   Night Ranger – ATBPO – (Frontiers Records): Night Ranger has been going strong this last decade and putting out some great material, maybe even some of their best, but can that streak continue? Who knows, but I do know I will be listening to this one first thing in the morning. The boys still can kick some ass and I need a good ass kicking right now…wait…something sounds strange about that last sentence…oh well.
  • A1qNoCdOfeS._SS500_  Colin Hay – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself – (Compass Records): Colin Hay’s solo work has been hit or miss, but I am always eager to hear as there is usually something I can grab hold of and enjoy. The former Men at Work singer has been putting out music for about 40 years and I will continue to tag along for the ride.
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You Picked It! – The Traveling Wilburys – ‘Traveling Wilbury’s Volume 1’ – Album Review

Alright…You Picked It! And this one was really, really close. It was a tie most of the way through between Weezer’s ‘Van Weezer’ and The Traveling Wilburys ‘Traveling Wilburys Volume 1’. The winner, barely, was The Traveling Wilburys ‘Traveling Wilburys Volume 1’ which is one in my collection. The votes were as follows:

  1. The Traveling Wilburys – ‘Traveling Wilburys Volume 1’ – 7 votes
  2. Weezer – ‘Van Weezer’ – 6 votes
  3. John Lennon – ‘The Plastic Ono Band’ – 4 votes
  4. Fugees – ‘The Score’ – 2 votes
  5. The Beatles – ‘Rubber Soul’ – 1 Vote

Thanks to all for participating. The July choices will be up on Saturday!

THE TRAVELING WILBURYS – ‘TRAVELING WILBURYS VOLUME 1’

In what could quite possibly be the greatest supergroup of all time, The Traveling Wilburys is made up of some of the most iconic singers/musicians in the business. In 1988, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan joined forces and became the alter egos of The Traveling Wilburys – Nelson Wilbury (George), Lefty Wilbury (Roy), Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. (Tom), Otis Wilbury (Jeff) and Lucky Wilbury (Bob). And the band came about because George Harrison needed a B-Side for his 1987 album, ‘Cloud Nine’ and he had asked them to help and one thing lead to another and here we are.

Their debut album came out on October 25, 1988 to massive critical acclaim and even garnered them a Grammy nomination. Selling over 3 million copies it is said that it revived the careers of Petty and Dylan, but really! I don’t know if that is true as they had never really gone away. Regardless, it was cool moment in music history.

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The Original vs. The Cover – “Come Together”

For this version of The Original vs. The Cover, we are going to discuss a Beatle’s Song, “Come Together”.  I have always been nervous about talking about the Beatles because it is holy ground and plus what hasn’t already been said about them.  However, I love this song and there are some great versions out there and I thought it was about time I did something on them. So we are going to compare the two versions of “Come Together”, the Beatles and Aerosmith.  Two heavy weights in the music world.

“Come Together” came about because Timothy Leary wanted Lennon to write a campaign song for him off this phrase, but Lennon was unsuccessful and a good thing to as Leary’s campaign run for California governor came to an abrupt end when he was arrested for pot possession (hell, he would be celebrated today).  He might have been unsuccessful with the campaign song, but he did succeed with this version of the song.

An interesting story behind the song, Lennon was sued by Big Seven Music Group which was the publisher of Chuck Berry’s song “You Can’t Catch Me”.  They argued that the song was too similar to the Berry song and I am guessing the lawsuit had some merit as the band settled out of court.  Now there are no writing credits other than Lennon & McCartney on this song still today so it must have been all about the money up front.  Too bad they didn’t fight for a writing credit.

THE BEATLES

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My Sunday Song – “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles

For My Sunday Song #58 I am going to tackle my favorite Beatles song, “Here Comes the Sun”.  Notice I said my favorite and I did not say the best.  I don’t want anyone getting a hair up there tail because I said the best.  My intention is to not start an argument as I know there are many people passionate about their Beatles.

The song was recorded in 1969 and released on their album ‘Abbey Road’ the same year. The song only features three of the Beatles, George, Ringo & Paul as John was recovering from a car crash.

Lyrically, it is a very simple song but musically there is a lot going on.  Paul did the bass, of course and Ringo on drums while George did everything else, and I mean everything else.  He is credited with both the acoustic and electric guitars, the harmonium, and introducing the band to a Moog synthesizer (which might have looked like something below).
Wall of MOOG
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Friday New Releases – February 24th

There is a lot of Rock albums out today and I am super excited and hope I can get through them all.  Frontiers Records normally does 4 albums every month but today they bring us 5 albums that could keep me very busy.  I have highlighted in Blue the ones I am most excited about.  I am sure there is something this week for everyone.

  • cover170x170-11  King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana – (Flightless Records):  King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are back after only one year and now they are top on my list.  I had never heard of them until I did a music challenge where I pick an album to listen to based solely on the band name, the album name or the album cover and I picked them.  Read about it here.  I found that album to be stellar and now they will be the first thing I listen to on this day out of all the new releases.  They are a very unique band and probably an acquired taste and the song “Rattlesnake” makes me a little worried about this release, but I will still listen.

  • 170x170bb-33  Mike Tramp – Maybe Tomorrow – (Target Records):  Mike Tramp keeps pumping out the solo music and he brings us a new one to enjoy.  The former lead singer of 80’s rock band, White Lion, has carved path in his solo work that is nothing like his former band and that is okay. He never disappoints.

Continue reading “Friday New Releases – February 24th”