Cherry Picking Time ( #BOTB Results )

 

       Still looking for my fix of cherry flavors.  I've been having to settle for cherry coke, but that's fine.  While I search for some cherry for me, here's some cherry results for you...

Battle of the Bands Results

            My most recent Battle was a showdown between Tommy James and the Shondells (which most of you knew) and The Good Rats (which is a much lesser known band), each with their own "cherry" flavored song.  I like TJ's "Sweet Cherry Wine" much better now than when it originally came out--especially knowing what the song is about.  I always liked the song, but it struck me as light pop and not as edgy as what I was mostly listening to back then.  And even though I like the James song better now, this was not my vote.

          The Good Rats have long been a favorite band of mine and to me the song "Cherry River" is one of their best.  I can remember so many late night drives when I'd have this song cranked up on my van stereo.  Seems like the appropriate kind of song on occasions such as that.  So, as I'm sure you can guess, my vote goes to The Good Rats, who in this case were good, but not good enough for the win.

Final Vote Tally

Tommy James    8 votes

Good Rats          4 votes

******************

Next Battle ????

       Since I've got an especially busy schedule over the next few weeks I'm not going to commit to any Battle until July 1st.  If I can manage, I'll try to visit everyone else's Battles.  I'll probably have very little access to being on line for most of June.  So, see you when things get back to normal.  Or kind of normal...

Writer's Lament (#IWSG) (#BOTB results)

The best thing about being sick is staying in bed and sleeping all day.  And that best thing is not really a good thing.   I'd rather just sleep at night like I normally do...

         I'm going to keep this as brief as I can since I've been very sick over the past few days and still not up to staying in front of the computer for very long.  Picked up this nasty bug somewhere--maybe from the pneumonia shot I got last Wednesday or maybe from just being at the doctor's office.  Whatever the case might be, I feel lousy right now and I'm ready to crawl back into bed.  Tomorrow will be another--and hopefully a healthier day.

       The results from my Battle of the Bands post are on down the page, but first my post for The Insecure Writer's Support Group...

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 

The co-hosts for the February 7 posting of the IWSG are Stephen Tremp, Pat Garcia, Angela Wooldridge, Victoria Marie Lees, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!


February 7 question - What do you love about the genre you write in most often?

        Well, sad to say, aside from blogging I haven't been writing anything for quite a while.  Nada!  Zilch!   I've been thinking a lot about writing, but I think about a lot of things and thinking doesn't amount to doing.  Oh, I've been doing lots of other things so all of that might add up to life experience which in turn makes for good fodder for future writing.  But I've been in a sort of a slump--a burn out phase so to speak.  And I've been doing other things that take away from writing time.

       However, when I am writing non-blog stuff then I tend to like to write memoir.   What I love about memoir is that it is real and something that I can readily connect with.  It's something that I enjoy sharing.  It's like when my mother used to tell me stories about her younger days or I used to tell my own kids stories about when I was a lad.  To me, history is important.  I didn't always understand that when I was a high school student plodding through what I thought was useless information.  Now I'd rather learn about history to see how events and people in the past brought us to where we are now and to recognize the mistakes that are being repeated repeatedly.  

       I hope my own personal history doesn't include a me who didn't record enough of my own life and got too busy to write.  But then on the larger scale it probably doesn't matter that much.  Still it should matter to me now.  That's why I need to write.  Again.  More than blog posts.   

Battle of the Bands

      My most recent Battle of the Bands (found here) featured three different band "theme songs."  I had a difficult time coming up with three actual bands so I did have to resort to using two themes from cartoon shows where the characters played in bands.

       This battle did not turn out in any way as I expected.  In fact I was somewhat shocked!   As some of you might have guessed my pick was for the theme of the one real band The Good Rats.  After all I did say they were "one of my favorite rock bands of all time."  And the Rats made a decent showing with voters.  I figured The Archies would win this Battle and the Pussycats wouldn't capture a single vote.  Boy, was I wrong!

Final Vote Tally

Archies                                    2

Josie and the Pussycats        8

The Good Rats                        7

Next Battle on Thursday February 15th

      I will surely be better by then.  Might or might not post anything before that time.  Or I might go back to doing some actual writing.

      Have you evaded sickness this year?   What is your biggest distraction from doing things you want (or need) to do?   Do you enjoy reading memoir?  

Band Theme Songs: Hey, Hey It's Us! (#BOTB)

The Monkees (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What's Your Theme Song?

       You might have seen this question on other blogs or elsewhere and perhaps you've come up with an answer already.  But why not ask it again?   If everyone had to have their own theme song, what would your theme song be? 

        Perhaps you'd pick an already existing song that you felt described you well or maybe a song that had some special meaning for you.  If you had a talent for writing songs you might write your own with lyrics specifically dealing with yourself.   You might be so fortunate to know someone who could write a song for you or if you could afford it, you could commission a songwriter to compose your personal theme.  There are a number of options here.

      Would you want a song with lyrics?  Or how about a melody that would serve as your theme song?   Like Prokofiev did for his musical composition Peter and the Wolf you could use specific instruments that fit your profile--a haunting oboe, a harmonica, or even a human whistle perhaps.  Lyrics could actually paint a word picture of who you are while a melody might set a mood or evoke an aspect of your personality.

      I think I'd like to write my own theme song. Otherwise I'd have to think long and hard about my own theme song based on an existing recording.

        What might you choose for your own theme song?


Battle of the Bands

Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some blogs there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

Band Theme Songs

       There have probably been many band theme songs before The Monkees hit the scene, but I'm still not coming up with many.  The theme from The Monkees television show is the most exemplary of the kind of song I'm thinking of.  If you don't remember this theme then you can find it here, but please don't vote on it for my Battle today as I'm sure it would likely win since it is so iconic.

         The premise of this Battle is three band themes--songs that introduce the group and tell a little something about that group.  The themes are all short which is why I'm going with three choices.  Take a listen and vote on your song preference.  Hope you have fun with this...


The Archies  "Everything's Archie" (1968)

        For a group that was not exactly "real" The Archies managed to put out a few albums that actually had songs that hit the charts.  "Sugar Sugar" was their biggest charting hit, but they cranked out a number of other songs that received a fair amount of radio play. The theme song is not much on the lyrical content, but it's a silly opening theme so what else does anyone need.  There's a big Beach Boy influence in this that I detect.  What do you think?   Take a listen and tell us...

       






Josie and the Pussycats "Josie and the Pussycats"  (1970)

       The Pussycats' theme does a good job of laying out who the characters of this Archies spin-off from the early seventies are and what the show is about.  The band was originally a prefabbed group like the Monkees with a lot of help from studio musicians.   Over the years Josie and crew has reappeared in various incarnations on television as well as a feature film in 2001.   Take a listen to their theme to see how it grabs you...





The Good Rats  "We Are the Good Rats" (1968)

       The Good Rats were a real band and not a television fabrication though it might have been interesting to do a show based on these guys.   I first came upon this group in 1970 when I was in college and became enthralled with their sound--this is one of my favorite rock bands of all time.  The Rats never quite made it to gain wide exposure despite fifteen albums and a hard rocking tour schedule of mostly bars in New York and New Jersey.  They maintain a hard core fan base to this day, continuing under the leadership of Stefan Marchello, the son of the late band founder Peppi Marchello.   For your consideration, here is the Good Rats theme song from their first album...







Time to Vote!

        Hope you'll find a preference of what you like best among these three choices.  Which song version do you like best?   You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.  

        Please vote on your favorites by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

 ‘YOUR DAILY DOSE’ 

 'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

The Doglady's Den 

Angel's Bark  

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Cherdo on the Flipside 


Winner of this Battle Announced on Wednesday February 7th

         That will also be the day of my Insecure Writer's Support Group post.  Come back next Wednesday for a double dose of fun all wrapped up in one.

Who Will Win the Election (#BOTB Results)

      Failure can be a means to an end as much as it can be the end of meaning. If we try to make sense of things that don't turn out the way we want then we might in the end lose our senses.  The preppers--the survivalists who want to disappear off the grid rather than be just another pawn in the big machine run by dictatorial government--might not be as loony as some might believe.  Who knows what will come next in the United States?  I haven't been real optimistic in the worldly sense, but I do believe something better will come, if not with the current election, then somewhere down a different road.   And it will be the road less taken...

       But enough rambling.   On with the results of the November 1st Battle of the Bands...

Battle of the Bands Results

       Let me start right in with the results.   I took the ill-advised route of pitting a very well known song by a popular group up against an unknown song by an essentially unknown group.   The latter pick was a song that took me several listenings to appreciate and that should have told me something right there.   I know when someone asks me to listen to something that they like a lot and I've never heard before, I'm often somewhat resistant to that song.  I think that's partly what happened here.

       My guess is that many of the voters were already locked into a vote for Green Day because that's the song they knew best and they didn't have patience to give the unknown factor a real chance.  I understand how that works because I'm the same way much of the time.   The Good Rats were at a disadvantage from the git go, but under those circumstances I think they did fairly well.

Final Vote Tally

Green Day      17
Good Rats       11

The Election Prediction?

      Considering the fact that Hillary Clinton has President Obama, the Department of Justice, and most of the media and the world of celebrities on her side she is at a definite advantage.   It's an unfair and unreasonable advantage in my opinion, but that's just the way it is.  Despite those incredible odds Donald Trump has made an incredible showing and it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could win this election.

        Did my Battle of the Bands predict anything at all?  Firstly, my thought is that "American Idiot" represents Hillary Clinton mainly because of the anti-Bush sentiments coming from a songwriter, Billie Joe Armstrong, who is a Democrat supporter.  Some voters went by the title to suggest that the song better fit Trump.  Similarly, as in most elections, voters will go by superficial things and not the meat of the platforms the candidates represent.  This means the presidential vote based on this BOTB outcome could go either way, but if we went strictly by Battle voting we might surmise that Hillary will win the election.

        However it is a much closer outcome when I take out votes the were submitted by those not from the United States.   Using only American voters in the Battle the count for Green Day is 10 with 8 coming in for Good Rats.  And some of those voting for Green Day indicated they preferred Donald Trump in the election.   From what I extrapolate regarding comments and what I think I know of those who voted in my Battle I think that puts Donald Trump in the lead for the election.

         So in the final analysis I will prognosticate a win for Donald Trump in the upcoming election. If this is the case I see it as a win for God and His people.   On the other hand we must take into consideration that "Satan...is the God of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4).   Make of it what you will.

        If you haven't done so already, don't forget to vote in the presidential election.  It's going to take a lot of legitimate votes to outnumber all of the fraudulent votes that have been cast.

   Next Battle of the Bands post will be on Tuesday November 15

         Be here next Tuesday for my next Battle of the Bands which will likely be the next post I put up on Tossing It Out unless I think of something that needs to be said in the interim.  My next song will depend on the outcome of the election.   I've got a few in mind and whatever the song it will be a great choice.  Mine always are.  But that is my opinion to which I am entitled to have--so far at least.  Which in a side note, I got kicked off Quora for my one and only response to a question answer on that extremely biased site.  I'm not sure how I got on Quora--I guess I accepted an invite.  Now that I've been kicked off those are just more silly email notifications that won't distract me from getting other more important things done.

        Do you think my prognostication makes sense?   Do you have an issue with anything I've said in this post?    What is your vision of the United States in the years to come?

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Rockin' the Vote! (#BOTB)

      Can we trust the political polling that we see reported in the media?   For the most part the comparative results seem to be in a fairly close range, but I wonder how accurate this polling is.  There could be factors that the pollsters aren't taking into account, especially in this current presidential race as unconventional as it has been.   I guess we'll get a better idea after the upcoming election and the analysis of the polling that will undoubtedly follow.  In the meantime, please participate in the following unscientific election poll and let's see if a Battle of the Bands can serve as a predictor of the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race...

The Premise of This Battle

       I'm taking a risk on this Battle as I am using a song likely known to most or all of you by a group that you likely know--and some of you have indicated on past battles it's a group that you like.   For my other entry I'm using a song probably unknown to any of you by a group that you are most likely unfamiliar with.

       These songs could theoretically be theme songs for each candidate.  In my mind I've associated each song with either Clinton's or Trump's campaign.  They are not actually songs used by either campaign, but they certainly could have been.  I won't tell you which song I've connected to which candidate--at least not until the results post next week--but I'll let you make your own designation.  And please don't be uncomfortable with playing along as this is merely intended to be a fun unscientific poll.

        Are you ready?  Here we go then.  After listening to the songs below please tell us:

1)   Which song do you like best and why?

2)   Which song do you think works best for which candidate (Trump and Clinton only)?  

3)    Are there songs that you think would be better for each campaign?  
       
Battle of the Bands
     

     Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens twice each month on the 1st and 15th.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.




Green Day "American Idiot"  (2004)

        The group Green Day or their song "American Idiot" probably don't need introduction to most of you.  This song, which was released during the presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry, was Billie Joe Armstrong's anti-Bush statement.  The song and the album of the same name later inspired a musical production which ran on Broadway for about a year and continues to be performed around the world. When asked by an VH1 Storytellers' audience member if anyone who voted for George W. Bush was an "American Idiot," Billie Joe Armstrong replied: "No, just a misinformed idiot."   The video I've used includes lyrics if that's any help to you.  Also, if it helps, Billie Joe originally had come out as a Bernie Sanders supporter, but now he's changed his support--I'll leave it to you to figure who he supports now.






The Good Rats "Why the World Should Love the United States of America" (2013)

          Sometimes referred to as "the world's most famous unknown band," The Good Rats have been around the New York City area music scene since 1964.  I first discovered them in 1970 after the release of their first album in 1969.  The album became a personal favorite, but when nothing by them caught my attention after that first release, I figured they had disbanded.  In the mid-80's I discovered a number albums by the group released after 1974 which I thought were even better than the first.  They became a favorite group of mine from that point on with their excellent hard-rocking albums with tasty musicianship.

         This song I'm using for my Battle was a new one to me that I discovered when looking for appropriate America-themed songs to match up for my final election series post.  After several initial listenings to the song it began to take hold of me.  Then I watched the video on my big screen TV with better speakers and the entire experience hit me hard.  I felt a swell of pride for the U.S.A. as the iconic images flashed by on the screen.  As the final part of the video played, the part showing the grave markers and the workers and the people who make up the nation, I began to cry.  It was strange, but I was so filled with emotion.

        Since that viewing I've watched many times and continue to feel waves of emotion, love for country, and a certain fearful sadness of where our country could be heading.  This has become my personal rock national anthem.  In the final scene we can see kids sitting on the floor with their grandfather Peppi Marchello, lead singer and original band member, who died on July 10th 2013,  not too long after their final album was recorded.  "Why the World Should Love the United States of America" is on this last album Afterlife released in 2014.   I encourage you to watch the video to see how the images affect you.

       



Time To Vote!

        Which of these two songs do you prefer?   If you don't like either then try to play along and tell us which song you think is the least innocuous to you.

        Then, if you are willing to play along with my polling survey, tell us which song fits the candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump the best.   After you've given your opinion on that, please tell us if there are any songs that you can think of that would be a better choice as a candidate theme song.

       My polling experiment won't work unless you are willing to help out by giving your opinions.  There are no right or wrong answers here--it's just your opinion!  Don't worry if you don't live in the United States or don't plan to vote, all opinions are welcomed.  Thank you in advance for helping me out with this.

Winner Announced Monday November 7th

        After I've tabulated the votes and analyzed the answers to the bonus questions, I'll compile the data into my results post which will appear on Monday November 7th, the day before official election day in the United States.   Provided that we get cooperation in the voting for this Battle, we might actually come up with a prediction about the outcome of the presidential election.

        I look forward to seeing how this Battle turns out.

        Are you reluctant to express your opinions to others regarding politics?   If so, why?    What do you think about this particular Battle?   Do you trust the polling in this election?   Are you looking forward to the end of this election of 2016?

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Music and Words Award (#MWA)

        I've been given the Music and Words Award by Michele from Angels Bark which is one of  the great blogs that participate in the bimonthly Battle of the Bands event.   The Music & Words Award was created by blogger, Miss Andi, to acknowledge and link people who love music so much that they blog about it. She gives out 5 awards each Friday. The purpose is to feature great music blogs from all over the world and artists from all genres.

Once the award is accepted, there are five steps:

1.  Link back to the person who nominated you
2.  Answer the questions with words AND music
3.   Pass the award on to 5 bloggers who inspire you with their posts about music
4.  Tag your post with #MWA, for Music & Words Award so that we can all find you down the line
5.  Quote these 5 steps and the award icon in your post. You can display the icon on your sidebar as well.

Q1: What does music mean to you?

        Aside from the aural and mental pleasure derived from listening to the sounds of music, for me music is about connections.    Music connects me to the artists who perform it, the composers who create it, and all of the other listeners who listen and enjoy just as I do.  Like a time machine, music can transport me to places in my own memories as well into the lives of others and history itself.  I can go around the world listening to music or I go into my own mind.  Music can connect me to emotional states, modes of thought, or physical action.   The listeners and the players of the music are connected by the music as David Crosby and his musical friends state in this song:




Q2: What is your first music-related memory?

        My earliest memories of music are most related to my parents performing their juggling act.  My father was always looking for the best songs to use in performances.  He would buy the musical scores for songs he wanted to use since in the 1950's there was usually a live band backing them and he wanted them to play what he wanted to hear behind the juggling act.   He would also buy the records with the songs so he could practice to the music that he expected the live band to play.  In case he didn't have the band, he'd have a recording with the songs to play during the show.  Those juggling songs are ingrained in my memory.

          Here is the song my father opened his act with:





Q3: What was the first album you’ve purchased yourself?

         In early adolescence I was interested in monsters and beach music.   The two genres coalesced in a series of albums recorded under the auspices of Frankie Stein and his Ghouls.  They were cheap albums, therefore with my limited funds affordable for me.  A few of these were probably my first album purchases if memory serves me correctly.  I bought them for the covers and the musical concept since I had no idea what they actually sounded like.  Filled with horror sound effects and acceptable musicianship, they got plenty of play on my turntable.  Eventually I realized that a lot of the songs appeared more than once on the album series, but with different song titles.  Oh well, it didn't matter all that much to me.

          Here is one example of the cover art and one song example--listen if you dare:

     





Q4: What was the latest music you purchased? (No online streaming or free downloads, I’m talking about cash here!)
       


        I haven't bought much music in the past many years--not because I didn't want to, but due to budgetary constrictions.   Besides that I don't listen to as much music as I used to.  However I couldn't resist a purchase last summer when my youngest daughter took me to a New Jersey record store that had a large selection of used vinyl.  She had gotten into vintage vinyl which I thought was pretty cool.  So I started perusing the bins as she did the same and I came upon a pristine copy of Good Rats...Live At Last, an album that I had once owned on a cassette that had long ago been eaten by a player in one of my past vans.  I consider this to be among the finest live albums ever so I had to buy this vinyl copy.   I'd actually been looking for it on CD for quite some time--not an easy thing to find.     Now I have the album.   And someday maybe I'll hook up my old turntable so I can listen to it.  But at least I do have the album.

       To my knowledge there are no direct cuts from this album available on YouTube, but here is a studio recording of the song that Good Rats uses to showcase the band members:





Q5: Which song did you listen to last? (No cheating, come out with the dirty pleasures!)

        Lately most of the songs I listen to are due to Battle of the Bands posts on my blog or the blogs of other participants.  Prior to composing this current post or outside of any of my own BOTB posts, I think the most recent song I listened to was Jackie Gleason and his Orchestra playing "Melancholy Serenade" which was the theme song from Jackie Gleason's television variety show.  I was listening to this after voting on the most recent BOTB post by John Holton.

         Here is "Melancholy Serenade":





          Those are my answers and now for the part that might get me in trouble.   At the moment I can't think of five bloggers to pass this on to who haven't received it already.  Of course, if you haven't received this yet then feel free to use it and if you want you can credit my blog.  Sorry if I sound lazy, but that's why I usually don't do these award things anymore.  This was about music though and how can I resist music?

          Have you done this music exercise yet on your own blog?   How often do you listen to music for the specific purpose of listening to music?    Do you still buy music?

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Super 8 Debut Albums

           Be sure to check out all of the other lists by going to DiscConnected where you will find the Linky list.

            I thought that it would be difficult to come up with eight debut albums, but the difficult part as usual was in narrowing it down to only eight.  I didn't.   So what I did was come up with four upon which there would be probably be wide agreement on.   After that I have eight debut albums that are special to me.   You'll probably notice that most of these are from the late 1960s and early 70s--that's just the way it is.

Some No-Brainers:

     Steely Dan    Can't Buy a Thrill (1972)     This album first hit my radar when I saw Steely Dan performing "Reelin' in the Years" on The Midnight Special television show in 1972.  They blew me away.  And when I heard the album I was even more impressed.  Since that album, Steely Dan has been consistent in the quality of their releases.  But if this had been their only release, they would have still made musical history on the merits of this one alone.

King Crimson    In the Court of the Crimson King  (1969)     One of the early progressive rock albums remains one of the best of the prog rock genre.  It's an amazing album and the group has a reputation for cutting edge music.

    Blood, Sweat, and Tears  The Child Is the Father to the Man (1968)    Chicago II is probably my

 favorite of the horn band albums, but BS&T I think surpasses Chicago's debut effort.   Blood, Sweat, and Tears' debut is phenomenal jazz-rock fusion.

 

    The Band     Music from Big Pink (1968)     In my opinion one of the top ten best rock albums of all time.  I am not the only one with this opinion.







Some of My Favorite Debuts:


      Good Rats   The Good Rats (1969)     I recall that I was in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Undergraduate Library perusing a classical music magazine in 1970 and I found a review of this album.   I thought it odd that they would be reviewing a rock album in a magazine like that so I figured the album must be good.  I found a copy in the University Bookstore and bought it.   It was good and I enjoyed it.    Years later I was looking through cassettes in the cut-out bin of a record store and found several tapes by the Good Rats.  I had not realized that the band had continued recording after that debut album.    The first album is not my favorite, but it is an excellent album.  On hearing the later albums the Good Rats became one of my favorite groups.  The Rats still play primarily in the New Jersey area and maintain a solid base of hardcore fans.




        Crazy Horse     Crazy Horse  (1971)     Primarily known as a back-up band for Neil Young, Crazy Horse has been around with various line-ups for many years.  The original band members released a very fine album in 1968 when they were called The Rockets.   This Crazy Horse album is the first released under this group name (without being Young's back-up band) and I'm going to call it a debut, though in a way it's not.  It's a superb album that adds Nils Lofgren and  Jack Nitzsche to the line-up and includes support from Neil Young and Ry Cooder.     Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want to Talk About It" is included on this album and has since been covered by many artists including Rod Stewart and Rita Coolidge.



         Grin (Nils Lofgren)   Grin (1971)   Grin was a band headed up by the very talented singer, songwriter, and musician Nils Logren.  He has been a singer and guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band for about 25 years in addition to his solo work.   His debut with Grin displayed his diverse skills as a songwriter.   This is an outstanding album.

Seals and Crofts     Seals and Crofts   (1969)     This duo had a string of huge hits throughout the 1970s.  Though they had been veterans of hit bands since 1958, they didn't make a real name for themselves until they embarked as a duo.   Their many commercial hits were wonderful examples of some of the finest in pop music, but this debut album to me is their real masterpiece.  Heavenly harmonies and mystical songs make this album an absolute joy to listen to.




       Spirit    Spirit (1968)   This is hands down one of the best, most tasteful, most well-rounded, finest musicianship bands in the history of rock.  I'll put them up against Steely Dan any day.   Their debut is a musical masterpiece and I just don't think there is any reasonable argument otherwise.  Spirit ranks as one of my favorite bands.

     The Police     Outlandos d'Amour (1978).   Before Sting and the Police became absolutely huge they were an edgy band that rode in on the New Wave rock music movement.   The album includes the controversial hit "Roxanne".   The entire album is simple reggae influenced rock and it's all good.

        Judybats    Native Son (1990)    This alternative rock band comes from Knoxville, Tennessee.   I have four of their albums and they are all excellent.  This debut is a truly outstanding effort that includes the Roky Erikson song "She Lives" which was also included on the tribute album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye.

          Rich Mountain Tower    Rich Mountain Tower  (1971)  One of the earliest records released in quadraphonic stereo sound, this has the feel of the harmony bands like Crosby, Stills, and Nash.   The band came out of Knoxville, Tennessee and has a sweet country soft rock sound.   Of the three albums this group made, this is the only one I've heard.  The album is a real gem..




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