music Archives - Page 105 of 268 - Ramblin' with Roger

Everybody owns the album 2

Only 12.5

Here’s the followup to the video about the albums that everybody owned if they had started buying vinyl in the 1970s and 1980s. He notes that if it’s not in HIS collection, it’s not on his list.

Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. LP, CD. Not only do I have the first one, but I also have the second one. I Want You.
Aqualung – Jethro Tull. LP. Like a lot of music, this has a specific recollection. Aqualung.
Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits. CD. The nice thing about some greatest hits collections is the inclusion of some live takes, which makes you feel as though there’s a reason to buy the compilation. The Boxer.
Who’s Next – The Who. LP, CD – the CD has extra music from the Lifehouse project. Won’t Get Fooled Again.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – the Beatles – LPs (US, UK), CDs (standard, mono box). No, I didn’t get the 50th-anniversary version. I have covers of Sgt Pepper by Big Daddy and Cheap Trick as well as a MOJO compilation. Getting Better.

Imagine – John Lennon – LP, CD. The album with How Do You Sleep AND the title track. Gimme Some Truth.
Machine Head – Deep Purple – LP. I have no recollection of buying this. Did someone give it to me? Smoke on the Water.
Graceland – Paul Simon. LP, CD. I actually sent my copy of the CD to a friend of mine because he had NEVER heard it. I bought the 35th-anniversary version hoping that it’d have the 6-minute version of Boy in the Bubble that was on a 12-inch; alas, no. The Boy in the Bubble.
Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits – do not have, and somehow was unaware of its existence. Now I do have his Greatest Country Hits that came out in 1990, a decade later, with six common songs, The Gambler being one.
Eliminator – ZZ Top. LP. I always wished I could do that spinning guitar thing they do. Or grow a beard that long. Sharp Dressed Man.

Saturday Night Fever OST – LP, CD. My then-girlfriend’s son gave me grief about having a disco album. Teenagers! If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman.
Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi. Never owned. I own no Bon Jovi, except tracks on a few compilation albums. You Give Love a Bad Name.
Doors Greatest Hits. A couple of odd Morrison tracks included. Break On Through (To the Other Side).
Appetite for Destruction – Guns ‘N’ Roses. Never owned. Sweet Child o’ Mine.
Band on the Run – Paul McCartney and Wings. LP, burned CD. I was happy that Paul’s post-Beatles career finally seemed assured. Let Me Roll It.

Dec. rambling: Fact-Resistant Humans

Lyn Lifshin was a great American poet

Prayer for America.

The real lesson of Afghanistan is that regime change does not work.

This is what Cambridge protesters said about Boris Johnson’s general election win. Roger Green, 73, convener of Stand up to Racism Cambridge, said the election result was greatly disappointing. He said: “It’s a knockback for people that we’ve ended up with a racist prime minister.”

Throwaway Kids: We are sending more foster kids to prison than college.

Living through the era of school shootings, one drill at a time.

My own private Iceland re: tourism.

Misusing ROMANS 13 to embrace theocracy.

Wars waged by ostentatiously Christian leaders in Washington have done enormous harm to their co-religionists half a world away in the Middle East.

Frankly Speaking: Child Marriage in the US.

Emotional Baggage. The Verge delivers an inside look at the working conditions at Away, every millennial’s favorite luggage brand. The picture ain’t pretty.

Borowitz satire, still true four years later: Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans.

3 Ways to Make A Difference: Changing The World With Political Awareness.

“Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom democracy and sustainable human development. ”
– Kofi Annan

CBS features the Baha’i Faith in “World of Worship” series.

Helping the homeless: Australian charity turns empty parking lots into safe pop-up accommodation.

Church says it wiped out over $5M in medical debt, but healthcare costs remain big-picture problem.

Answers from an actual lawyer: Can I use that music, image, or clip?

Hank Green reading the First Chapter of A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor.

Malcolm X.

Sesame Street characters do impressions of other Sesame Street characters.

Now I Know: The Postal Workers Who The Kid Who Wrote on the Walls and Didn’t Get in Trouble and Not Even Baby Yoda Knows How to Drive and The Day It Accidentally Rained Flying Whale Blubber.

#IMPOTUS

‘Not Mere Misers, But Actively Cruel’

With yet another Mar-a-Lago trip, the bill for his stays at his own resorts tops $118 million.

His Personal Pathology Is America’s Foreign Policy.

The Evangelical Deal with the Devil.

In his America “Christian” is no longer a religious faith.

Lyn Lifshin

Lyn Lifshin’s obituary. She was a great American poet who passed away on December 12th, 2019. The Albany Public Library Foundation honored her with a Literary Legend award in October 2019.

Please read an excerpt from LIPS, BLUES, BLUE LACE: ON THE OUTSIDE, an autobiographical essay. She was cremated in Virginia. There will be a memorial for her at the Unitarian Universalist Society in Schenectady in spring 2020.

EOY, EOD

The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2019

50 Years Ago, the First Internet Message Was Dispatched from UCLA.

What did this year mean for civil rights and liberties? Four ACLU attorneys tell us.

TCM Remembers video.

The best films of 2019 according to Wired and Vogue.

Rotten Tomatoes: The 200 Best Movies of the 2010s. I’ve seen about 80 of them, at least two of which I actively dislike.

The Decade in Content. The memes, viral videos, social media phenomenons, and TikTok zombies that defined the 2010s as much as movies, TV, or music did.

Saturday Night Live: home for the holiday.

Music

Coverville 1290 and 1291: Coverville Countdown 2019 part 1 and part 2.

When a Scandal Stinks Like a Whale on the Beach – Mangy Fetlocks

One Voice: A Holiday Presentation by The USAF Band.

How Sweet to be an Idiot – Neil Innes

Hold My Hand – THE RUTLES

Linda Ronstadt isn’t just a legendary singer. She’s also a fierce defender of migrant rights.

Albums in everyone’s collection (?)

14 of 15

elton john greatest hits The late Dustbury linked to a video called “Albums that are in everyone’s collection.” Lists like that usually generate lots of comments, mostly in the “What about album X or Y or Z?” mode. The compiler’s response was, of course, “Well, I had to save SOME for ROUND 2 down the road.” Which he has since done, but that will be for another time.

The guy from “For the Record” says these are albums you probably picked up if you were buying vinyl music in the 1970s or 1980s.

Business As Usual – Men at Work. I have on LP. I’ve since seen Colin Hay, the lead singer, on the TV show Scrubs. Down Under.
Thriller – Michael Jackson. LP, CD. “I don’t know anyone over the age of 25 who hasn’t gone through at least one copy of Thriller,” Dustbury opined. He was corrected. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.
Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits. CD. In fact, this was among the very first CDs I purchased. After receiving four Beatles CDs c 1987, I bought a compact disc player. I needed more CDs, and went out and spent $50. So Far Away.
Invisible Touch – Genesis. CD. Land of Confusion.
The Best of Blondie. CD. Dustbury: “There was a time when I had a marked aversion to Greatest Hits sets.” When I started getting CDs, it was quite the opposite. I owned a couple Blondie LPs, so buying the greatest hits CD made sense.

IV – Led Zeppelin. LP. I must have bought this nearly a decade after it came out. My Stairway to Heaven OD was THAT great. Black Dog.
Breakfast in America – Supertramp. LP, b. Take the Long Way Home.
Greatest Hits – Elton John. CD. Another album I bought in that first purchase. This is the FIRST greatest hits album for the artist, but there are LOTS more of them, none as good. Daniel.
Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd. LP. I bought this much later, certainly after I bought The Wall. It was on the Billboard album charts for more than a decade and a half. Time.
Bat Out of Hell – Meat Loaf. I do not have this album. Well, unless someone gave it to me when they were dumping their vinyl. Paradise by the Dashboard Light (duet with Ellen Foley).

Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen. LP, CD. My late brother-in-law John bought me the CD. Glory Days.
Abbey Road – The Beatles. LPs (US/UK), CD. Here Comes the Sun.
The Stranger – Billy Joel. LP. I had all of Joel’s albums up to that point. So it wasn’t MY fault that he was almost dropped by his label before this album, his fifth, became a hit. The Stranger.
Boston – Boston. LP, b. More Than A Feeling.
Hotel California – Eagles. LP. Dustbury: “I went out of my way to avoid Hotel California, and still do.” I actually can appreciate that. Wasted Time.

The b next to a couple albums means that I went to the library and burned a copy of the CD. Hey, I ALREADY own the LP. I was fighting what Mark Evanier called W.W.C.T.G.Y.T.B.N.C.O.S.Y.A.O., the World Wide Conspiracy To Get You To Buy New Copies Of Stuff You Already Own. Note that I DID succumb to that more than once.

Christmas: the waiting is over

The Dream Isaiah Saw

The Christmas waiting is over. Now you can open those presents. Grumpy Uncle Harry will be going home soon.

Understand that some folks don’t have any presents. There was a nice story in PostSecret recently. An overworked, injured waitress/mom wrote: “I wish Santa Claus was real, so on Christmas, no child would have to go without, and no parent would have to feel like they failed their child.” The bottom line: some folks sent money to a PayPal account.

“Santa Claus is real, and alive and well,” she wrote. “I’m overwhelmed by the love and generosity strangers have shown my family today… I’ve got what I need, so please remove my PayPal account from PostSecret, and I urge anyone who wants to help someone in need to get in touch with their local charities.”

Interestingly, our pastors have shown us in a series of sermons What Can’t Wait, such as repentance. The term, in some traditions, has meant literally turning one’s body in a new direction. Repentance can be rooted in Christian theology, of course. Still, the idea of turning away from things that aren’t working can be a powerful thing. Is that why people come up with New Years’ resolutions at this time of year?

I’m utterly fascinated by the decidedly mixed reaction to the Methodist church’s nativity scene depicts Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as separated and caged family. Like much of good art, it’s designed to make one think.

Music in December

The first three I’ve sung this month.

E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come by Paul Manz, which we do almost every Advent. My sister Leslie posted this version on Facebook.

The Dream Isaiah Saw, which is rooted in this familiar scripture:

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Gloria – John Rutter.

I didn’t sing Handel this year, but I have a half dozen times in the past: Handel Messiah (Christmas Portion) – Robert Shaw and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.

Robin and Maurice Gibb would have been 70

The working title for the film was Saturday Night

Bee Gees 1977 — Barry, Robin, Maurice Gibb, 1977

Robin and Maurice Gibb, fraternal twin brothers and 2/3s of the BeeGees, would have been 70 on December 22.

Maurice “died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack, while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine.” Robin had contracted pneumonia, went in and out of a coma, and “died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure” at age 64.

This leaves Barry as the only brother Gibb remaining, as I noted here. What more can I say about these guys beyond what I’ve already written?

I’ve always liked this anecdote: “When Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood was producing a movie about a New York disco scene, the working title for the film at that time was Saturday Night. Stigwood asked the group to write a song using that name as a title, but the Bee Gees disliked it.

“They had already written a song called ‘Night Fever’, so the group convinced Stigwood to use that and change the film to Saturday Night Fever… The string intro of ‘Night Fever’ was inspired by ‘Theme from A Summer Place’ by Percy Faith…”

While their disco-era music was fine, I always felt their earlier stuff is still somewhat overlooked. They never received a Grammy or An American Music Award before 1978. They did make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, based on the whole body of their work.

LISTEN

I decided to fill this, in part, with some BeeGees covers. Coverville has a necessarily incomplete list. Chart action is from US Billboard charts; some of these songs were bigger hits in the UK and elsewhere.

Bee Gees Medley – Perpetuum Jazzile, which popped up on that “next song” feature on YouTube
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – Al Green
More Than a Woman – Tavares, from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, #33 pop, #36 RB in 1978
To Love Somebody – Roberta Flack

BeeGees songs from SNF I had not previously linked to:

How Deep Is Your Love
Night Fever, #1 pop for eight weeks, #8 RB in 1978
More Than a Woman

Songs from the first BeeGees greatest hits album that I had not previously linked to

Holiday, #16 in 1967
I Started a Joke, #6 in 1969
First of May, #37 in 1969
Massachusetts, #11 in 1967
Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You
Tomorrow, Tomorrow – #54 in 1969; only on the CD, replacing Spicks and Specks