Bloody hell, I've amassed quite a backlog. I need to set a one week limit for these things. Okay, let's get into it.
Buck Owens - The Best Of Buck Owens
Grandpa Jones - Everybody's Grandpa
Growing up as a kid in the 80's, my gramma was always watching Hee Haw, which meant that I was always watching Hee Haw. I thought it was the corniest shit ever. It was not until just a couple years ago that I started appreciating classic country music more, and soon found myself gravitating to old Hee Haw re-runs on YouTube. Guess what- it really is the corniest shit ever, but I love it! The comedic aspect was terrible, but they knew that and embraced it. I can't quite bring myself to completely embrace that aspect of it, but I can certainly appreciate the great country music guests that were featured on the show. And of course, the cast were all great musicians in their own right. So begins my quest to collect their records...
Jimmie Rodgers - No One Will Ever Know
I picked up this album from Folk Arts Rare Records the same day I got the above two records. I thought I was picking up a record by the legendary father of country music Jimmie Rodgers. I thought the face on the cover looked a little, erm, wrong, but... it was cheap so I said "what the hell". Turns out, there is another crossover pop/country star Jimmie Rodgers who is not so legendary. Whoops! Oh well. He's not terrible, but it was a bit of a disappointment haha.
Paul Beaver & Bernard L. Krause - The Nonesuch Guide To Electronic Music
And now for something completely different! The cover of this album was in terrible physical condition, but I've always been huge fan of electronic music generally, and love the very early starts of the genre. But honestly, it was a bit of a let-down. It really turned out to be more of a technical manual with accompanied recordings of various basic electronic sounds. Sine waves, oscillators, etc, etc. An album of bleeps and bloops and not much focus on composition. Still a neat record, though, I don't regret getting it.
The Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
The Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children
The Moody Blues - On The Threshold Of A Dream
What can I say, I've been a massive fan of the Moodies, ever since I was a young kid. For whatever reason, I've never owned much by them on vinyl, so I've been working on building my Moodies collection. What's nice about that is that they are cheap and plentiful in every record and thrift store you'll ever visit haha.
Nazz - Nazz III
I'm a big fan of Todd Rundgren. Well, anything before Utopia 😂. Particularly do I love his original band, Nazz. Up until recently, I'd only had the first Nazz record. Now I have Nazz III, which has always been my favorite. So good!
Princess Nicotine: folk and pop sounds of Myanmar (Burma), Vol. 1
I've had this record for a long time, but rarely listen to it. I suppose I was inspired to bring it out by watching the latest season of White Lotus, which is set in Thailand. It's a bit of a challenging listen. My wife yelled from the living room, "what's that noise?" That, my dear, is some sounds our Western ears aren't entirely accustomed to. But I dig it, I should listen to it more often...
Lucinda William - Sweet Old World
I just love this re-recording of her classic album! I might be in the minority here, but I think her voice is even better now than ever. I saw her live in Del Mar just last year, and she rocked, she's still got it.
Joy Division - Still
This bring us up to today. =whew= Really need to do this every week haha. Anyways, like the Moodies, I've been a huge fan of Joy Division. That's probably the only similarity between these two bands😂. The Moodies hit me as a younger boy- Joy Division found me as an angsty, gloomy teenager and they hit a nerve in me big time. I still come back to them fairly often- probably more often than I do the Moodies. What does that say about me, I wonder? Gloomy Gus, I guess? Guilty as charged...
This particular record I have actually had since I was a teen, one of my first. Somehow it has survived all these years over many moves, many culls, many adverse conditions. Note the frayed top of the album. This was a result of a girlfriend's cat using my small stack of records as a scratching post. When I first bought it, it survived a 2 hour car ride in a hot trunk laying flat. At the time, it seemed to appear slightly warped, and when I played the first song from it ("Exercise One") I was convinced it was. But actually, that's just how the song is supposed to sound 😂. I pulled it today, and it sounds great and is in great playable condition!
