*Picture of a few of the albums in the B&V music library

I was always pretty reluctant to join my wife and daughter on the whole “social media” thing. I am not on Facebook nor will I ever be for much the same reasons that I never read those “Christmas Newsletters” (aka brag rags) that came with the Xmas cards. I don’t particularly care if little Timmy went to band camp. If you’re still sending those things out in your Christmas cards, you’re not “blessed,” you’re a blowhard. The reason I was drawn onto a few of the social media platforms was simple and probably easy to guess, rock and roll.

My wife and/or daughter were constantly showing me things that the Stones or the Cult were posting on Instagram or Twitter. It was mostly really cool band pics, but not exclusively. Many times it was an announcement of an impending tour or album. Having access to that kind of “inside information” was too intoxicating a draw for me. In the old days I read about these things in Rolling Stone, a magazine I let my subscription to lapse recently (I’d subscribed since my college days but there’s nothing of interest in there any more), or hear on my local radio. Max Floyd would come on the air and say, “We’ll have that new Springsteen record next Tuesday… we’ll play the whole thing at lunch time.” In the days of highly automated, overly controlled programming you’ll be lucky if they play a Springsteen song other than “Born To Run” on the radio.

As tends to happen on social media, you start getting followers and in turn start following people. Most of the folks I follow are like-minded rock and roll fans much like you, my esteemed readers. I’ve noticed many of these rockers like to post stacks of albums with the inevitable caption, “this weekend’s listening.” They must have very forgiving wives… I’ve never really done that here on B&V but it did give me pause. I listen to music on a lot of different platforms – vinyl (preferred), CDs (I still dig them), MP3s (because its mobile), and even now the dreaded Spotify. When I like something I hear on Spotify, I do go out and buy it, I wanna keep the artist whole. And currently I’m living in a rental house so a lot of my “stuff” is in boxes in storage which makes the ostentatious “stack of albums” display harder.

I have to admit, I do miss the old days when you’d start pulling records out of your record crate(s) and when it was all over you had a stack of records on the coffee table or on the speakers, a living monument to your listening activity. I guess how you listened to or how you made your album selections depended on how you stored your music. In the early days, I had so few records, I could sit and listen to my whole collection in one sitting. They were haphazardly arranged and stacked between my dresser and one of the speakers. It wasn’t hard to listen to Some Girls, Van Halen’s debut, ZZ’s Deguello, and the few other records I had all in order. Pretty soon that stack got bigger and bigger. I finally went to Peach’s records on 75th and Metcalf when I was in high school and bought my first record crate. I think for my generation, that’s when you knew you were a “serious” collector… “Yes, I’ve got a record crate, I’m serious.”

At first, like many people I know, the albums were randomly placed in the crate. But then my OCD kicked in… there had to be a better way to organize all of this rock and roll. I know people who arrange their albums chronologically (which I think is impossible, I mean, where do greatest hits go?), alphabetically and in some cases by genre. I’m a simple alphabetic arrangement guy… AC/DC, Ryan Adams, Aerosmith, Airbourne, Alice In Chains… all the way to Neil Young and ZZ Top. You get the picture. Not only do they have to be in alphabetic order, but each artist’s LPs have to be in chronological order. Highway To Hell in front of Back In Black followed by For Those About To Rock and so on. Pretty soon I’ll be washing my hands repeatedly and pissing into milk jars that I keep in my attic home office but until then, let’s rock… in a strangely organized way.

When I’d pull a stack of records there were no rules. As I flipped through the crate I’d randomly pull records that caught my fancy – new stuff, stuff I hadn’t listened to enough, or just something I felt I wanted to hear like, well, Van Halen’s debut. Somethings never change. Although, I have to admit, the alphabetic lay out of my album collection often led me to an alphabetic tour through my music, a habit that has stuck with me to this day. I’m not anal-retentive, one album from the A’s, one for the B’s, on to Z. I just grab from one letter and then move on until I find the next one.

Seeing all these guys on the social media, showing their stack of albums recently played and being in a quarantine lockdown, I decided to keep track of what albums I listened to over the last week… on a journey through my record collection. In truth I started this last Thursday, so it’s a touch more than a week, but whose counting? Many times I’m listening to my MP3 player on shuffle, as background when I’m working but for the most part I’m listening to a whole album. In the last week I embarked on one of my OCD alphabetic trips through my record/CD/MP3 collection of music to sample some stuff. And like I said before there were different reasons I picked these records – revisiting some new stuff, some old stuff and some just random stuff for the hell of it.

Since we at B&V are not ready to come out of our quarantine cocoon (I want to see how it goes before I head to a bar), I realized that listening to a stack of records might be all I have to do this rainy, long Memorial Day weekend. If not a stack of records, I can always fall back on my Memorial Day, start of summer playlist, Memorial Day Kicks Off Summer: Go-To Summer LPs (Beach Boys Need Not Apply) to put me in the summer mood.

Here’s my stack of records from the last week (8 days). I’ve put links to any accompanying posts for the selections, in case you’re bored this weekend and feel like reading:

A

• Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters – I’d put this one away after reviewing it and just had to return to it. It’s genius (Review: Fiona Apple, ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’ – Genius Unleashed).

B

• The Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man – I’ve been really into the Byrds since I saw the documentary, ‘Echo In the Canyon’ (Movie Review: ‘Echo In The Canyon’ – Flawed, Enjoyable Look at Cali ’65-’67). This is their debut and it’s amazing folk-rock.
• Black Sabbath, Vol 4 – Because sometimes you just need some fucking metal.
• David Bowie, Diamond Dogs – I felt I needed to hear this one for some reason. The deep tracks “Candidate” and “Rock and Roll With Me” really jumped out at me which is sometimes why I do this exercise, spelunking for deep tracks.
• Buffalo Springfield, Again – Another band I’ve gotten into since ‘Echo In the Canyon.’ Or better said, got back into.

C

• Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas – I’ve been working my way through Cohen’s catalog in reverse chronological order. I really like his late work and this album is no exception. I urge everyone to check out Cohen’s last three or four albums (LP Review: Leonard Cohen’s Posthumous ‘Thanks For The Dance’ – A Haunting Elegy).
• Eric Clapton, Just One Night – I really needed to hear a live album and this was the one I grabbed. It’s Clapton’s best live album in my humble or not so humble opinion.
• Crosby, Still, Nash, Daylight Again – This one was probably another that grew out of ‘Echo In the Canyon.’ Crosby, Nash and Stills all feature in the documentary. Crosby was in such a state during the making of Daylight Again it was originally slated as a Stills/Nash album. They even brought in Art Garfunkel and Timothy B. Schmit of Eagles fame to sing Crosby’s high harmonies. The record company insisted Crosby be brought in and he comes up with one of my favorite songs of his, “Delta.”
• Gene Clark, Gene Clark (aka White Light) – After hearing Gene’s phenomenal No Other (LP Review: Ex-Byrd Gene Clark, ‘No Other (Deluxe Edition)’, Forgotten 1974 Masterpiece), I had to start digging through his catalog. This one is remarkable.

D and E

I skipped D and E. Nothing by Dylan, Depeche Mode or the Eagles caught my eye… there’s more to choose from of course, but I kept moving. See, I’m not totally OCD.

F

• Free, Fire And Water – The oft-overlooked  band (in America at least) that was a precursor to Bad Company. Paul Rodgers on lead vocals, Simon Kirke on drums with Andy Fraser on bass and the doomed but brilliant Paul Kossoff on guitar. This is their most well known record because of “All Right Now.” “Mr. Big” and the title track are pretty epic as well.
• Peter Frampton, Frampton’s Camel – I really got into Frampton’s back catalog after hearing his All Blues (LP Review: Peter Frampton, ‘All Blues’). I don’t know why Camel wasn’t a bigger hit. It has all the ingredients that made Frampton Comes Alive the monster it became. I love the tone of his guitar.

G

• Billy Gibbons, The Big Bad Blues – Gibbons goes solo but keeps up the usual greasy, dirty blues. Its awesome (LP Review: Billy F Gibbons, ‘The Big Bad Blues’ – Blooze Rock As Greasy As A Bacon Sandwich On Wonder Bread!). You can’t go wrong with a great guitarist and the blues.
• Grateful Dead, American Beauty – Simply one of the greatest albums of all time. Lookback: Grateful Dead’s Americana 1970 – ‘Workingman’s Dead’/’American Beauty’.

H

• Buddy Holly, Gold – Great package of 50 tracks from Buddy Holly. I just borrowed this from my father, of all people. Holly belongs with Elvis, Chuck Berry and the late, great Little Richard on the Rock and Roll Mount Rushmore. I’m blown away by how good Holly was and how long it took me to get around to listening to him.
• George Harrison, Cloud Nine – My brother was always a huge fan of Harrison’s work. I’ve only gotten into him in the last few years. I should have gone for one of his older works, but I hadn’t heard this great LP for a really long time. The title track is a great bluesy thing w/ Clapton and Harrison trading licks.
• Jimi Hendrix, People, Hell, Angels – They’re doing some really great work with Hendrix’s vault stuff.

I

Skipped it.

J

• J. Geils Band, Nightmares…and Other Tales From the Vinyl Jungle – This album is like the soundtrack of a great 70s house party. Upbeat, fun and rocking, this is one of my favorite J. Geils LPs. “Must Of Got Lost” is my favorite track of theirs. And I can’t say enough about Magic Dick on harmonica.
• Jane’s Addiction, Nothings Shocking – I forget how heavy this album is. “Ted, Just Admit It…” about Ted Bundy has always been a favorite.

K

Skipped it. Considered some Lenny Kravitz but didn’t go there for some reason…

L

• Little Feat, Sailin’ Shoes – Phenomenal album… funky, slide guitar, Lowell George. One of the all time greats.
• The Long Shot, Love Is For Losers – Billie Joe Armstrong’s busmen’s holiday. Boy, is he having fun here (LP Review: ‘Love Is For Losers’ From The Longshot, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong’s New Side Project). Great blast of energetic punk-ish rock with an Ozzy Osbourne cover thrown in for good measure.
• Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul, Men Without Women – This album is a primer in rock and roll, soul and R&B. Essential listening.

M

• Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers – Jonathon Richman’s debut album. Jerry Harrison later of Talking Heads as well as David Robinson later of the Cars are both in the band. This is a great overlooked band… critic’s darlings, though.
• Van Morrison, Three Chords and the Truth – I never know, after it’s been a while, when I return to an album if it’s going to be as good as I remembered it when I reviewed it. This one is… LP Review: Van Morrison’s New, All Originals, ‘Three Chords & The Truth’ – A Laid Back Groove.

N

• Harry Nilsson, Nilsson Schmilsson – A masterpiece from an underrated singer.

O

• Ozzy Osbourne, Ordinary Man – I still love this one. It’ll definitely be on our “top LPs of 2020” list… Review: Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Ordinary Man’ – A Simply Extraordinary Album!.

P

• Pearl Jam, Gigaton – This album gets stronger with every listen (Review: Pearl Jam’s First LP In 7 Years, ‘Gigaton’ – My Conflicted Thoughts).

Q

I skipped Q, although I did have a hankering for some Queen. As you’ve noticed the number of albums that I’ve pulled form the later letters were less than when I began. There was no plan, that is just how it happened.

R

• Lou Reed, Berlin – One of the bleakest yet most utterly fascinating albums ever (B&V’s 10 Favorite Grim And Sad Albums).

S

• Starcrawler, Devour You – This is a band to watch… I love this album (LP Review: Starcrawler’s Sophomore Effort, ‘Devour You’).

T

• Television, Marquee Moon – A shimmering guitar masterpiece.

U

• U2, Songs of Experience – The second of two themed albums, I hadn’t returned to this since I wrote about it, LP Review: U2’s ‘Songs Of Experience,’ Battling Ambition and Expectations, which is usually a bad sign. I had to go back and hear it again… the critics excoriated this album but I think there’s some stuff to like. If Bono would get over his grasping for current relevance and just get back to rocking it’d cure a lot of ills. The Edge’s guitar is M.I.A. Plug the guitar into the amp, riff and sing, it’s easy. Bono’s soaring voice helps elevate a lot of this Coldplay-esque material. Bono’s current playlist, “Songs That Saved My Life” has that same malady – trying to be current and hip. There’s no way that anything that Kanye West has recorded saved Bono’s life. C’mon man.

V

Skipped it… although you’d have thought I’d be putting Van Halen’s debut album on, but I like to confound people.

W

• Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones – I’ve been working my way through Waits’ catalog (actually chronologically) as I was late to this party. This was the first of his really experimental albums and I was afraid it’d leave me cold. I loved it… especially on the headphones after a couple of drinks.

X

I like the L.A. punk band, X, but didn’t feel like listening on this pass through…

Y

• Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Colorado – I can’t stop going back to this album. Neil is just always better with Crazy Horse. This is his best since Psychedelic Pill, which was naturally with Crazy Horse. I miss Frank Sampedro pushing Neil into epic guitar duels, but this album reminds me that Young is like pizza – when Neil is perfect his LPs will change your life. When he’s good, like he is here, he’s really fucking good.

Z

• Warren Zevon, Transverse City – I will admit, this is one I added this morning as I was writing this. It’s a concept album but a great and oft overlooked LP in his catalog. Worth checking out.

That’s it folks. What are you listening to this weekend? Let me know! Stay safe and healthy out there. And, of course, Happy Memorial Day.

Cheers!