ALBUMS

• ALBERT KING/ OTIS RUSH: DOOR TO DOOR: 1969: 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: It was time to get caught up a little on my 1969 recordings. This came out in 1969 but the two blues giants had recorded the material years earlier. Albert King was big at the time of it’s release and Chess records which had slumped somewhat in the 1960’s was in the middle of a comeback.

• VANILLA FUDGE: ROCK & ROLL: 1969: 1  STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: The things you do when you set some silly goal- in this case listening to 1969 albums. I made the mistake I won’t make next year of listening to the best of the best right off the bat. There are still some decent ones still left to hear I am sure but then there is this- the last album by Vanilla Fudge. Self indulgent garbage. A painful listen.

• 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS: BULL OF THE WOODS: 1969: 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: The last album by the 13th Floor Elevators. Roky Erickson passed away last month- the psychedelic spaced out sound they were famous for is still evident here. Good stuff but not their finest album.

• BUCK OWENS: THE BUCK OWENS SHOW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS: 1969: 1 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Not a big fan of live albums in the first place but if it were an album of all Buck it would have been alright- but it’s not- it is his traveling show at the time and you get Susan Raye, The Hager Brothers and Buck’s boy Buddy Allen who he tried unsuccessfully to make a star. At least it wasn’t a painful and annoying listen. Buck’s performances were fine.

• THE BEATLES: PLEASE PLEASE ME: 1963: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS:

• BOB DYLAN: GREATEST HITS: VOLUME 2: 1971: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS:A double album of ‘greatest hits”- more of a ‘best of’- this is much more satisfying than the first Greatest Hits in 1967- digs deeper into the catalog. Highly recommended.

• BOB DYLAN: PAT GARRETT AND  BILLY THE KID SOUNDTRACK: 1973: 2 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Not a major Dylan work- the soundtrack has a lot of instrumentals on it the key song that has become a Dylan staple- “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”

• BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: BORN IN THE U.S.A. 1984: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: I was listening to Thriller yesterday and while walking was thinking of what to listen to in my IPOD and I thought another big album from that era- Bruce’s monster. My favorite songs on it tend to be the ones that weren’t hit singles- No Surrender and Bobby Jean. There were seven singles on this album- the last one was released a year and a half after the album came out. It’s a great album even though the songs were played to death on the radio.

• FOALS: WHAT WENT DOWN: 2015: 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS:  I asked Eclectic Music Lover- my rock and roll Doctor- to give me a few albums of this decade to listen to- it is a fact that I don’t listen to much music from this century and no doubt I am missing out on some great stuff. I am going to made an effort to get a little more up to date. He mentioned one group and said the vocalist sounded a little like Bono- it wasn’t this band- from England- but to me the vocalist here reminded me a little of Bono. In doing a little research on them they have 5 albums out- I enjoyed this album- which went to #58 in America on the album charts- their most successful so far.  Will have to give this and their catalog some attention- liked this a lot on first listen- there was only one or two songs that didn’t seem to connect. One listen really isn’t enough to say though. From what I am reading it sounds like even though they’ve only had 5 albums their sound tends to change a bit from album to album. My next listen from Eclectic Music Lover will be- The Sabotours.

• X: LOS ANGELES: 1980: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: X’s debut album is their best and most famous one. Rolling Stone ranks it as #286 on their 500 Greatest Albums list. I especially love hearing John Doe and Exene Cervenka sing together. They even do a cover of The Door’s Soul Kitchen- that I prefer to the original. The title track, Johnny Hit and Run Pauline, Your Phone’s Off The Hook, But You’re Not- are favorites but I enjoy every song on this album. X deserved more success than they ended up having. This album didn’t even make the Top 200 album chart. The compilation on X I’d recommend is Beyond and Back which came out in 1997. Their music a combination of punk and folk. I saw them a decade ago and it was the loudest concert I’ve ever attended. My ears were still ringing a week later. Not a good thing. I was seriously concerned that I had damaged my hearing.