R.E.O. Speedwagon. 1973 Epic (1971) (LP). Orange label. I was talking with Purple Peak Jeff recently and he was telling me how much he likes the first two albums from REO. This at a time when I've formally declared 'Keep on Loving You' *the worst song of all time*. But we all know that there's a huge difference between 1971 and 1980, especially in cash driven America. OK, I'll give it a shot then! And PPJ is right - it's much better. Definitely music of the Midwest, coming from the University of Illinois area. I like the way guitarist Gary Richrath jams on the rhythm guitar almost in a proto-metal way. 'Gypsy's Woman's Passion', 'Sophisticated Lady', and the 10 minute plus 'Dead at Last' are the highlights. Unfortunately REO brings a lot of boogie to the table. I never could get into this aspect of bar rock, complete with honkytonk piano. We all have different filters, and PPJ has always shown more tolerance to it. Very good on the whole but not enough to keep. (Sep)
George Harrison - Wonderwall Music. 1968 Apple (LP). A late straggler from the RT collection. Soundtrack from a rather bizarre film, the album is noteworthy due to its mix of East and West, with an emphasis on the former. As straight listening it's rather dull but has its moments. An old colleague used to love this album, but he really loved the film more. I can appreciate the associative thinking regarding that. (Sep)
The Kudzu Band - Chittlin' Circuit. 1976 De Vine (LP). Ran across this at a thrift shop. Never heard of this Georgia based band before so I picked it up. When checking for condition, it sounded pretty cool so I went for a full listen. Not bad at all. Definitely southern rock - slightly heavy - with additional synthesizers and flute. A little bit of boogie rock too. Not going to keep it, but worth hearing for sure. (Sep)
Max Webster - A Million Vacations. 1979 Anthem (LP). As noted on the Mutiny Up My Sleeve post, I picked up one more Max Webster at the thrift shop and this was it. Very similar but perhaps a -1 off. Just a little too much pop and not enough invention. I don't see this as a grower like the other one. (Aug)
King Harvest - Dancing in the Moonlight. 1972 Perception (LP). Real oddball here. I'm likely to buy anything on the Perception label, as they're uniformly collectible. King Harvest are a French based band made up of American expats. The music is a mix of styles, but mostly soft rock. However the cover implies biker psych rock. Weird. Worth hearing but not going to keep. (Jun)
Head East - Flat as a Pancake. 1975 Pyramid (LP). Thrift shop find. Not in the best shape unfortunately. However I bought it because it has become increasingly impossible to find and expensive. This was Head East's debut, and was released privately in the St. Louis area. 'Never Been Any Reason' became a big local hit, so A&M signed them up and released the album to a much larger audience. Head East were something of a household name in the late 1970s and early 80s. The album starts off great with the hard rocking 'Jefftown Creek'. But mostly this is boogie and bar rock, the kind of music they played on Wet T-Shirt night. Not bad at all, but not really my thing. (Jun)
*Supertramp - Breakfast in America. 1979 A&M (LP). Now here's an album I never thought I'd reconcile with. To me it was the epitome of the type of music I didn't care for in the late 70s. Annoying in fact. I bought this copy primarily for resale (even as a mass commodity, this album gets a quick 15 every time). But I'm holding onto it for now. Seems every track here was a hit at the time. And the closer 'Child of Vision' is actually proggy. I'll be damned. (May)
Box of Frogs. 1984 Epic (LP). Much was made of this release when it came out. Ex-Yardbirds guys playing classic rock and roll. Rock critics have always been annoyingly conservative when it comes to new music. Politically they are uber liberal and musically the exact opposite. It makes no sense. Prog rock, for example, is the ultimate thorn in the side of a rock critic. It wasn't until only a few years ago they hesitantly suggested that Rush wasn't so bad after all. Maybe. And the rising heavy metal tide was not welcomed either. Not at all. They would roll their eyes and effeminately state "music for neanderthal macho men". Right to my face in fact. Thanks. The Rolling Stones - now THAT is what rock music is "supposed to be". Period, and it's not debatable. Box of Frogs were the darling of these "analysts". Back to the basics. But the production was all 80s. "See, we keep up too" they'd claim. All of that to say, Box of Frogs isn't a bad album and I can appreciate what they're doing here. They have plenty of guest guitarists (speaking of the Stones...), and that's where the album shines. But the songwriting is really dull and predictable. An average album in aggregate. (Apr)
*Ten Wheel Drive - Construction #1. 1969 Polydor (LP). One could make an argument that New Jersey's Ten Wheel Drive are proto to this list! It's a mix of hard rock, horn rock, jazz, blues, etc.. Not too much progressive, but worthy of inclusion for that list. (Apr)
*Good Rats - Tasty Seconds (Cover of Night). 1996 Uncle Rat (CD). Thrift shop find (Apr). Apparently this was Good Rats' comeback album after a 15 year hiatus. Similar in construct to the Good Rats I know from the 70s, except it's far more muscled up and less reliant on boogie rock. Borderline heavy metal, this packs some meaty hard rock guitar and boozed up vocals. The band is completely revived here, and the energy level is infectious. Features an all star cast of Long Island's most known hard rock and metal figures. Nothing groundbreaking here, but there really wasn't much like this in the mid 90s. Kind of reminds me of the obscure Californian hard rock band Kai Kln. This CD is a "limited edition" and appears to have been released privately to an ever shrinking fan base.
Good Rats - Ratcity in Blue. 1998 Uncle Rat (1976) (CD). Thrift shop find (Mar). I've mentioned my college dorm room floor in the past. Our Resident Hall Monitor, the same gentleman who turned me onto early Genesis, was from Long Island, New York. Not a common background for Texas Tech sitting as it does in hardcore West Texas. Like most college listeners, his tastes in music were very eclectic, and one of his favorite bands were local heroes (to him) Good Rats. I heard them as humdrum hard and boogie rock myself. This is not one of the titles he had, or that I borrowed I should say, but it's pretty much humdrum hard and boogie rock. Ah well. There's is some decent guitar work, and I would qualify the album as good overall. Nothing more, nothing less. No more room for albums such as this. Though credit to the title which is a fun sendup of the Gershwin classic.
*Demon - The Plague. 1983 Atlantic (LP). Demon are most known as one of the original NWOBHM bands. I haven't heard their first two albums (I did eventually), but that's obviously where the metal component must exist. Because on their next two, including The Plague, there's some light hard rock guitar and a lot of synthesizers. Funny I was just reminiscing about Saga's World's Apart and The Plague pretty much follows the same model. It's more obviously progressive, and has a bit more of a hard rock component. However it's not as punchy and catchy as Saga were in those days, and that's most likely why The Plague was the only original American release Demon were to ever achieve. Besides, having a moniker and emblem such as Demon did the band no favors, as anyone would expect metal here, and then not receive it. Personally this album comes at a good time for me, perfectly capturing an era that I'm currently reliving. And how about that cover? Talk about predictive! (Feb)
The Doors - Other Voices. 1973 Elektra (1971) (LP). Picked up in trade late last year. I've been wanting hear these post Morrison Doors albums for some time. A college chum played me Full Circle way back then, but I recall little about it. Based on what I'm reading, I can pass on a revisit. And that's primarily because Other Voices, which is supposed to be better, isn't really all that good either. The easy out here would be to just state it's The Doors without Jim Morrison, so how could it be good anyway? Well... plenty of bands have survived tragedy only to improve from there. I could very easily see this album being the next Doors release after LA Woman. It's not like Morrison would go "Gee guys, I'm not so keen on 'I'm Horny, I'm Stoned'". Now he'd for certain sing it better than Ray or Robby, but the song still stinks. I do like 'Ships w/ Sails' and 'Hang On To Your Life', but not enough to keep. Too bad, as this is a very fine glossy German gatefold. Speaking of which, this copy isn't in Discogs. It's on Elektra (instead of Exulta), but it doesn't have a label code. In fact, the label looks exactly like the Exulta release with a different moniker. According to the history of the Elektra label and label codes in Germany, that would place this release between 1973 and 1975. I don't care enough to add it though. Unless it doesn't sell at the next record show... (it did) (Jan)
The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons. 1967 London (LP). This is the second copy I've had float in here. The first was from a collection buy at the end of 2019. It wasn't in very good shape, so when this much nicer LP showed up in RT's collection, I pulled it aside for another listen. My opinion remains unchanged. I find this album fairly static and boring, and the radio hits here are more annoying than pleasurable. It's a first pressing on Monarch and still in shrink. It'll sell... (Jan)
* - Keeping for the collection
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