Keep the Rest of the Collection--For Now at Least ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

        Keep the rest of the collection is the way I see it now.  I've gotten rid of a lot of good memories and good music so maybe that's enough.   Even if I don't play these records now, maybe someday I will.  So I'll keep the ones that remain. 

       Did I really get rid of my King Crimson albums?  I guess I did because I don't see them on my shelf now.  Those were classics, but I got rid of a lot of classics over the years.  Looking over what remains on the shelf, it's kind of surprising to see how many albums I still have under the letter K...

Links to the music are included throughout the post if you want to hear the music.

Terry Knight & the Pack  "Reflections"  (1967)   Terry Knight was a so-so rock figure who managed a few minor releases in his early music career.  Then he hit the heights after he broke up The Pack and turned them into the supergroup Grand Funk Railroad.  During his stint as manager/producer for Grand Funk he also produced huge albums for the group Bloodrock.  After his meteoric rise in the seventies, his star descended as he developed less successful groups and had a bout with cocaine addiction.  In the eighties he settled into a more mundane existence as he worked in advertising sales for a weekly newspaper in Yuma AZ.  In 2004 he was stabbed to death by his daughter's drug addled boyfriend.  The "Reflections" album is one that I found in some forgotten cut-out bin back around 1970.  It's not a particularly great or memorable album, but somehow it now seems to have some sort of rock and roll historical significance.  

Kaleidoscope  "A Beacon from Mars"  (1968)  When I saw this album in some now forgotten cut-out bin the cover art first caught my attention. The purchase was clinched when I flipped the album over to see a line-up of eclectic instrumentalists that reminded me of the Incredible String Band--all sorts of weird and intriguing instruments.  There at the head of the group was violin player David Lindley who has appeared on albums by many other artists such as Jackson Browne.  Not only was there a violinist leading the group, they had in the song line-up "Louisiana Man" by Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw.  A discounted album such as this was something I would rarely walk away from.  And I've decided to keep it now because it is an excellent album.

Kensington Market  "Aardvark" (1969)  The cover art on this album certainly stands out and everything else about the album intrigued me as well. The album's producer cinched it for me.  Felix Pappalardi was a name I had already known from his work on albums by Cream and Mountain.  If he had a hand in the Kensington Market album then I figured the music would probably be good.  And at a dollar I figured it was a chance expenditure worth taking.  I would call the album psychedelic Beatlesque pop.  It's a very pleasant album that I've listened to often over the years and it still sounds pretty good to my ears.  A keeper.

Doug Kershaw  "Douglas James Kershaw"  (1973)  I was familiar with Kershaw's song "Louisiana Man" before I knew who Doug Kershaw was.  Then I started hearing about Doug Kershaw as I would see him on television shows.  This Louisiana born Cajun was a bit of a wild man of an entertainer--"The Ragin' Cajun" they called him.  Since he was a fiddle player, I was a fan.  After I heard the song "Best Years of my Life" on the radio, I had to have the album it came from.  The song was not his typical style as it was more of a rock song, but it was damn good.  And the album is a good one.  I saw Doug Kershaw in an interesting concert at the Civic Center in Gatlinburg TN sometime in the seventies.  The concert was a line-up of songwriters who were somewhat well-known at the time, but now I don't remember who they were.  I'd know them if I could remember their names.  In 1981 I saw Kershaw perform again, this time on an outdoor stage at the Texas State Fair.  It was a somewhat brief performance, but it was a free attraction at the fair and a totally unexpected surprise for me.

The Kinks  "Second Time Around" (1980)   "Celluloid Heroes"  (1972)  The Kinks were one of my favorite groups of the sixties British Invasion.  My mother had bought me their "Greatest Hits!" album for Christmas in 1965, but apparently I got rid of that one somewhere along the way because I don't find it now.  I don't remember where or when I acquired the two Kinks albums I still have, but I'll keep them because they're the Kinks.

John Klemmer  "All the Children Cried" (1969)       "Touch" (1975)   One of the early musicians in the "Smooth Jazz" movement, John Klemmer is not one of my favorite jazz artists, but the album was a cut-out for a cheap price.  At the time when I saw it I didn't have much jazz in my collection so I figured I might as well pick this album up.  It's a good one by a respected artist.  Might as well keep it I guess.  Bonus:  I can't recall for sure where I got the "Touch" 45 record, but I think it was a give away at a fair somewhere.  I'll probably never play it, but I'll keep it.  It's like a novelty of sorts now.

         Anything among these albums ring a memory bell with you?   Do you have much jazz in your music collection?   Are there any artists under K that you'd like to recognize?