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Saturday, April 23, 2022

Teasing with T's ( #AtoZChallenge )

      Teasing you with some great music in the T category, we get closer to the end of this Challenge.  This will be a somewhat long post because there are a lot of T artists.  Read on--I've got T in the bag.

#AtoZChallenge 2022 Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter       Traffic and the Turtles are with my vinyl collection no longer .  The same goes for Richard Thompson, 10CC, Robin Trower, and the truly peculiar psychedelic sound of The Tea Company.  Still the T's have a strong representation in my collection.  Just look at these T's...

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





Thirteenth Floor Elevators  "Easter Everywhere" (1967) and a bunch of other albums by this great group.---  In 1969 I acquired an 8 track cartridge version of Easter Everywhere and was amazed and befuddled by this arcane sounding group. I didn't know much about the group I was listening to and there were no liner notes to help out.  The album stuck in my head even after the 8 track was defunct.  Years later I started reading about the 13th Floor Elevators and became all the more curious.  Searching far and wide in my cross-country travels I could not find anything from this group.  And then all of a sudden in the late eighties I started finding cassettes and albums by the group.  Every one of those that I would find that I did not yet have I would buy to add to my collection.  Now I was obsessed.  Later I started locating CD versions of the albums and I bought those.  The Elevators epitomize the psychedelic spirit and sound.  I'm a big fan of this group as well as its co-founder the late Roky Erickson.  This music is not for everyone, but when you hear it you know who you are.


The Troll  "Animated Music"  (1968)  If you're looking for weird then look no further than this album by this short-lived group from Chicago--I give you The Troll.  A bit of Iron Butterfly mixed with Beatles, New Vaudeville Band, and whatever else you might scrape out of the record closet.  This is another find from the cut-out bins at Green Acres Discount Store in Alcoa TN.  I recall seeing quite a few copies of this one so I guess the record company had a lot of them to get rid of.  It was a fun find for me that gave me hours of listening pleasure.






Tee and Cara   "As They Are"  (1967)  This album is one of my favorite cut-out bin finds.  I recalled having heard their version of the Beatles song "Hard Day's Night" on the radio in 1967, but never saw the album anywhere.  Then in the early seventies I found it being sold for an absurdly low price in a cut-out bin. Needless to say I snatched it up.  This duo should have achieved music greatness.  This is some of the sweetest harmonizing of any pairing of singers.  As They Are is one of my all time favorite albums. Too bad they didn't make any more albums than this.  I'd never give this one up.  It's mine!





Thorinshield (1968)   I believe I paid a quarter for this album.  It was in a cut-out bin somewhere and it was inexpensive and it seemed kind of interesting.  It's a typical album of the late sixties.  Nice songs with a pleasant sound.  Maybe it's kind of collectible now. At least I've collected it. 



The Tragically Hip (EP) (1987)  My second wife Susan really liked the name of this group.  They took the name from a skit in a Michael Nesmith movie called Elephant Parts.  We bought some of their albums on cassette when we were working in Canada and we both liked the group's sound.  This vinyl was sent to me by the group's booking agency when I was inquiring with them about booking a tour in the U.S. southern states.  Due to lack of resources I never booked that tour, but I got a nice vinyl EP from the inquiry.




The Touchables Soundtrack  (1968)    "All of Us" by Nirvana   I've always been curious to see the movie this soundtrack comes from. The cover art intrigues me.  I sure it's probably a pretty bad movie judging from the reviews I've read, but still.   I've listened to this soundtrack so many times and it's not all that bad.  Unfortunately I couldn't find many cuts from the album so I've linked to my favorite by the group Nirvana which is not the same-named Seattle group that came later.


Third Ear Band "Alchemy" (1969)  And now for really weird, here's a band that sounds ethereally like some kind of world music mish mash.  In my first year at the University of Tennessee I saw this album advertised in the university's newspaper The Daily Beacon. It was an instrumental group that included an interesting sounding line-up of a percussionist playing an odd assortment of drums, a cellist, an oboist, and--wait for it--a violin player and that's all I'll say about that since I've mentioned my interest in violin music repeatedly over the course of my series.  This is music I mostly listened to alone since it was so weird and often in an altered state of mind.  






Bonus 8-Track Cartridge!   Robbin Thompson  "Robbin Thompson"  (1976)  When I moved to Richmond VA for a while in 1980 I was living a short distance from a Baptist church that I attended a few times.  I heard from someone that Robbin Thompson went there sometimes.  I only had a vague notion of who Thompson was, but later I learned that he had been with one of Bruce Springsteen's early bands and they often played at each other's performances.  Though Thompson often played at clubs around Richmond, I never saw him perform.  However in the late eighties I was surprised to find this 8-track at a Walmart in Alcoa TN in the record department's cut-out section.  The tapes were 10 for a dollar so I bought a bunch of them.  Thompson, who passed away in 2015, has collaborated with many well known artists over the years.  A few months before his passing, the state of Virginia named Thompson's hit "Sweet Virginia Breeze" as the official state rock song.   A pretty cool honor.



Robbin Thompson  Band "Two B's Please"  (1980)  With another entry by Robbin Thompson comes this album which I have on cassette and CD.  I had thought I had a copy on LP vinyl as well, but I couldn't find it.  This album has Robbin and his band with a very strong selection of songs.  This is really a great album that is worth a listen.  This should have been a big hit in my opinion. 


           
      Which of these entries are your cup of T?    Are there any artists that you are particularly obsessed with?   What other artists in the T category come to your mind?






29 comments:

  1. Not a single artist here that I recognize.

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    1. Jamie, I've been doing pretty well at presenting artists you don't know!

      Lee

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  2. Me too. Not a single artist. But there are some very cool songs here. Very VERY cool series of posts!!!!!!!

    You are right: Sweet Virginia Breeze should have been a hit. It is not new musical territory, but it is tight and catchy, and I suspect I'll be hearing it all day in my head now.

    Sixgun McItchtyfinger

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    1. 6-Gun, "Sweet Virginia Breeze" was a hit in Virginia, but I can understand why. I think his song "Candy Apple Red" was even better and should have gotten more nationwide recognition.

      Lee

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  3. I had something burned from the 13th FE, maybe You're Gonna Miss Me, years back on a mix cd. Other than that (and knowing the name of The tragically Hip), you got me on this one.

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    1. CW, the Elevators are now stuff of legendary status in the rock music world. Not widely known, but appreciated by those who do know about them. Tragically Hip did get a bit of play in the states and their albums were fairly widely available. I got most of my CDs by them through one of the mainstream record club services.

      Lee

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  4. I will third the not knowing any of these names.

    I do have a Fabulous Thunderbirds album. I also have a Tanita Tikaram, though"Twist In My Sobriety" is the only song I like on it.

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    1. Craig, The title "Twist in my Sobriety" sounds interesting. Never heard of the artist though.

      Lee

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  5. The only group that I've even heard of at all is Tragically Hip, just because of its rather dramatic name. It's cool that you have so many eight track cassettes. My dad gave me an eight track player in the mid 1970s but the thing never really functioned so that was the end of that.

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    1. Alice, I guess I only have 4 8-track tapes left out of all the many I had. No point in keeping them if I can't play them so I just kept 4--unless I find more somewhere.

      Lee

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  6. The only band that sounds familiar of these was The Tragically Hip.

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    1. John Holton, they've gotten some radio play and media attention.

      Lee

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  7. Living near Canada sometimes I listened to Canadian stations that would play the Tragically Hip. It was a shame their lead singer died a couple years ago.

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    1. PT, You'd likely hear Tragically Hip on Canadian stations, but not so much on stations in the U.S.

      Lee

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  8. I have only vaguely heard of of couple of these Mr B . . . your last one made me think of the Tom Robinson Band rather than the Robbin Thompson Band

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGrnEc_3mYo

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    1. Rob, I don't remember the Tom Robinson band. They must not have had much of a presence here. Just like Robbin Thompson didn't have any presence where you are.

      Lee

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  9. I'm sorry to say I have never heard of any of these groups. But I'm also not a huge music fan. I know that sounds weird. It's not that I don't like music, but I only listen when I'm in the car. Even then my mind just turns it out after a couple of minutes.

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    1. Janet, I've heard a number of people say they don't listen much to music. I certainly don't listen to it like I used to back when I was buying all the music I still have. Now I mostly listen to talk radio or classical music. I didn't think many people would know the artists I have been featuring in my vinyl series.

      Lee

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  10. None that I recognize on your list. Where on earth did you find all these folks?

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    1. Oops, forgot to mention my Tenors, Anyone? cd. It includes Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti, Patinkin, and Tucker.

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    2. Patricia, after I started buying music on my own I was always on the look out for the unusual or the music my friends didn't already have.

      I think I have some operatic compilations that feature tenors on CD and cassette. Back before the nineties I didn't much care for operatic style music.

      Lee

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  11. What an eclectic array of music you have there! I remember my 8 track cartridge deck in my first car. My first cartridge was The Commodores! Those were the days. It's nice you have some vinyls too.

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    1. Linda Sue, eclecticism runs throughout my music collection. I love variety in my life and music offers so many choices. The Commodores were a great group that I didn't really start listening to until I bought a greatest hits CD in recent decades. Just about every one of their songs is a winner.

      Lee

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  12. I like "The Tragically Hip" and Train - "Meet Virginia" or "Drops of Jupiter" both are favorites.

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    1. Diedre, I don't have any Train, but I like their music. My oldest daughter had one of their albums on CD and I've listened to that one a few times.

      Lee

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  13. Tragically Hip would be the one on this list I am familiar with

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    1. Mike, they gained some traction in the nineties. They were a good group in their genre.

      Lee

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  14. Blogger is acting up and won't let me sign in! Love the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. And The Tragically Hip, of course, being Canadian. I should have mentioned them under B -- another great Canadian band is Blue Rodeo! Deniz at The Girdle of Melian

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    1. Deniz, I remember the group Blue Rodeo and might have even bought a cassette by them. Apparently didn't listen to them enough for them to register with me.

      Lee

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Lee