Some Words from the Bird

  Listen Here! Well, here we are! Listening somewhat close to chronologically, we have just come up on the NUMBER ONE album on the list. Those of you paying attention will remember that the second greatest album (according to this list) was 'Pet Sounds', and I found myself disappointed. Will this be the fate that befalls us now, dear reader? I doubt it. Let's dive in and see where this takes us... a quick look at the track listings reveals many songs that I am already familiar with, but there may be a few pleasant surprises coming up.   The album starts of with the title track. On the headphones you can really pick up a lot of studio trickery going on. It seems very thin at times, and then the horns are quite clear. Paul's bass sound is steady, but the rest of the sound is in motion throughout, I believe the vocals are moving from one ear to the other as the song progresses. There is lots of ear candy from the audience.  Suddenly, we are into track two "With A Litt...

 Listen  here! Greetings, Readers! I am beyond excited for this album. I recall doing a quick scan of the list at the beginning of my musical odyssey and seeing Love. I had never heard of Love. I wanted to listen to the album right then and there. But I have waited. And since I am proceeding extremely slowly on this adventure, it has taken years to get to this point. Album 54. "Forever Changes".   I did some quick reading about this one, there are all kinds of tantalizing tidbits associated. There is talk of heroin, spooky castles, flower power and darkness. I'm in! I started listening as I began typing this little introduction, and had to turn the music off, because I was getting distracted trying to put my thoughts into words. I'm going to give this one a good listen, and then I'll come back to you. Wait a second, you waited two years for the last post and you can't give me an hour so I can come up with something to say about this album? Pushy! Settle down, ...

  Listen  here ! Hello again! I love it when I look up the next record on my list and it is by a band that I enjoy, but the album is one I have never heard of. Such is the case for the Who's second studio album "A Quick One".  A quick glance at the track listing reveals that I am only familiar with one of the offerings. I will expand on that shortly.   The album starts off with a song, "Run Run Run", that has the classic Who sound to it. I really like the way the bass and drums are so prominent. The rhythm guitar is right in step and any lead lines seem like window dressing to pretty the tune up, as opposed to being the showcase. The music sounds so … solid.    The next track is "Boris The Spider". This is the song I knew previous to listening to this record. In fact, my daughter and I would put on an animation video from YouTube based on this song when she was just a toddler. We watched that video around fifty times at the least. Funnily enough...

 Well, another season has come and gone since I posted. I'm hoping that I will do so with more regularity at some point. There are some fantastic albums approaching on my list. As promised in my post regarding "Having A Rave Up", we are talking about the Yardbirds again. This album is a little quirky from the perspective of a guy trying to have a musical journey with some friends on his obscure and little read blog. You see, it is listed as "Yardbirds" in some circles and "Roger the Engineer" in others. The "Roger" title comes from the drawing on the cover, and it caught on. I believe this is the correct album. Further to that, when you go to Spotify ( I'm cheating and listening online), there is  a mono release and a stereo release, and Wikipedia has a US release listed etc. etc.  So, for the purposes of clarity, I am going to listen to the Stereo tracks that appear in the middle of the Spotify offerings for "Roger the Engineer...

 Hi there! I just pressed play and was greeted by the Memphis Horns putting out that sweet Stax Records sound. Unsurprisingly, Otis is backed by Booker T and the MGs, which is a recipe for a fine album (in my humble opinion). Remember how much we enjoyed "Otis Blue"? Of course you do, how could nineteen other fantastic albums erase that one from our memory?  This album followed up on the success of "Otis Blue" and a crossover concert at the Whiskey a Go Go which brought the Soul sound to the west coast and opened the ears of a predominantly white audience. Sadly, this was to be his last solo offering prior to his death. Redding was killed in a plane crash just after recording his famous song "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay". It's a sad and all too familiar story. But he released this album, and we are going to listen to it, so lets get down to business.  "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" leads off the album with the aforementioned horns. Th...

 Hello again! This is post number 50! Looking back over the older posts, I see that I have been at this for six years. And this is the 10 percent mark. This task may never get completed if I don't get my butt in gear. If you have read along with me up to this point, thank you for your time. If you are just stumbling across this... welcome!  When I was an early teenager, my slightly older uncle had a cassette tape of Zappa's "Sheik Yerbouti". My adolescent mind was overjoyed to hear bad words and barely veiled sexual innuendos. I have listened to much of the essential Zappa over the years, in fact, an old beat up vinyl record of  "Overnite Sensation" is one of my prized possessions. So I'm a fan. Today we check out the first album recorded by the Mothers. One look at the cover, and you can tell we are on the express train to the psychedelic trappings of the then swelling counterculture. But don't use the word Hippie... Frank wouldn't like that. ...