It was starting to feel like fall here in the Upper Perogie Belt, but now we’re back to crack-dampening heat again. It’s incredibly cruel. There are various Octoberfest (sometimes Oktoberfest) beers on the shelves, the high humidity had disappeared, and the temperatures were dropping to a more civilized level. And today it’s hot and sticky and gross again. Stupid Obama…
Clive Bull has been on vacation for two weeks, and I’ve been listening to his fill-in hosts, while I’m at work. You know, since I pay two British pounds per month to have access to the full-show podcast, I need to get my money’s worth.
And the replacement guys aren’t bad, but there’s something missing. Clive is laid-back, and his show is quiet and soothing. But there’s more going on than meets the ear… He has a talent for asking the callers questions that are slightly askew, and makes them go off on tangents they hadn’t intended. He also gets his little dry and sarcastic digs in, which I appreciate.
The new guys aren’t as good at doing all that stuff. Clive, like most seasoned professionals, makes it look easy. And I wish he’d hurry up and get back to work. ‘Cause when he takes time off, my ten-hour shifts seem hyper-extended. And I can’t have that.
I’ve started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer via Netflix streaming. I needed a new show to get into, and had tried a couple of others without luck. But Buffy seems to be sticking… so far, anyway.
I watched a season of it, back when it was on regular TV, and liked it. But I got off-track somehow. Netflix has all the early seasons available through their cool-ass Watch It Now service, so I’m gonna use Buffy and her vampire-kicking pals to fill-in any stray hours I might have lying around.
I feel better having a show to watch, if I wanna. I was starting to feel… adrift. But Buffy will be my anchor.
You know what would be a great cell phone app? Something that would cause your phone to get really, really hot, like a George Foreman grill, making it possible to cook burgers and hotdogs on it. In fact, the Foreman people might want to develop it. What do you think? Pretty good, huh?
Do you have any ideas for new applications? Tell us about it, won’t you? Use the comments link below.
I’m currently blasting a shockingly good Hoodoo Gurus two-disc anthology, called Ampology. I’m a power pop fiend, and don’t think the Gurus get the respect they deserve. In fact, I suspect they’re pretty much forgotten at this point.
And that’s a goddamn crime… The Ampology collection shows how great they were, even after they’d started flying beneath the hipster radar. Really strong stuff: consistent, fun, and rockin’. And, of course, out of print. <sigh> Most of their regular albums are still easily obtainable, though.
And speaking of music (sorry Buck), there’s something going around Facebook right now, where you’re supposed to list your Top 15 favorite albums of all time, in fifteen minutes or less.
You’re limited to only one album per artist, so you can’t just list fifteen Rolling Stones records, or whatever. And the fifteen minute part is important. It’s supposed to be the fifteen albums that jump IMMEDIATELY to your mind. This will cut down, I guess, on people getting all pretentious and listing stuff for other peoples’ benefit, etc.
I generally ignore crap like this, but last night I gave it a shot and below is what I scribbled in my notebook. I undoubtedly forgot some stone-cold classics that I’ll probably remember while driving to work today. But these are the fifteen that immediately popped into my tiny Duke head.
The Replacements “Pleased to Meet Me”
Nick Lowe “Basher”
Boomtown Rats “A Tonic For The Troops”
Buzzcocks “Singles Going Steady”
Eels “Daisies of the Galaxy”
Elvis Costello “Armed Forces”
Beatles “Rubber Soul”
The Jam “Greatest Hits”
The Clash “London Calling”
The Kinks “Kink Kronikles”
Donald Fagen “The Nightfly”
Beautiful South “Carry On Up the Charts”
Dinosaur Jr. “Green Mind”
Graham Parker “Passion Is No Ordinary Word”
XTC “English Settlement”
Yeah, that’s far from accurate, but I do fully and completely love all those albums. There are big problems with it, though. There’s no Dylan or Randy Newman or Neil Young, or a bunch of other greats who should probably appear. But I stuck to the fifteen minute thing…
If you’d like to post your fifteen off-the-top-o’-yer-head albums in the comments, please feel free. Or make it five albums in five minutes… Whatever’s cool with me.
Also, don’t forget the phone app Question.
I need to get ready for work now, eat a Mandy Patinkin frozen meal, and get my big riffled ass out of here. But before I call it a day, I’d like to alert you to a brand new blog authored by our old friend lakrfool. Check it out, here.
He plans to update the site once a week, so please bookmark it, or add it to your feed reader, whatever. lakrfool is a great guy, and funny as hell. You won’t be disappointed.
And that’s that. Have a great day, my friends.
I’ll be back tomorrow.
Now playing in the bunker
Please contribute to Yurtathon 2010!
first for the first tine!!!!!
or time
Good Afternoon Surf Reporters….
aah, not gonna reach and make a fork joke outta the tine. Enough forking around here anyway.
I’ll cheat and do the first 5 albums that pop into my mind;
Boston – whatever their first album was
Van Halen 1
Steve Vai – The Ultra Zone
Led Zeppelin – Runes
Heavy Metal Soundtrack
The last one may be cheating, but then I said screw it… I got the digitally remastered version when it first came out and I listen to that album a LOT!
Ya know, a really useful app would be one that uses the built in GPS to find stuff I lose… like my car keys, my screwdriver, or my kid’s stuffed animals….
…or finds really hot chicks that I actually stand a chance of going home with…
crap, now I wanna change my answer. I was originally thinking of Rock albums, but now I’m thinking about Beastie Boyz, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, NiN…
Unfortunately I am a bit on the retarded side of the spectrum when it comes to knowing anything about music, so I will save you all time and not post anything. Although I do love me some White Stripes.
I got nuttin’ for today….sorry. (Not different from any other day, I s’pose)
This was a tough exercise, but here goes:
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Bruce Springsteen – The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
Paul Simon – There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
The Clash – The Clash (U.S. Version)
The Jam – Setting Sons
Graham Parker & the Rumour – Squeezing Out Sparks
The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Chuck Berry – Golden Decade
Elvis Presley – From Elvis in Memphis
Elvis Costello – King of America
Paul Westerberg – Eventually
Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
Boston – Boston
…dammit, I left out The Who – Quadrophenia – can I sub that for Pere Ubu?
“Wrecking Ball”, Emmylou Harris
“Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”, Lucinda Williams
the Beethoven Cello sonatas performed by Jaqueline DuPre
“Fox Confessor Brings the Flood”, Neko Case
The soundtrack to “All Over Me”
Those are the ones that spring to mind in one minute.
I was never big on buying albums and CDs. However, if I did it would be country and I know that makes buttholes pucker around here. So I’ll spare you….except for one…Dierks Bentley’s new CD “Up On A Ridge”. If you like bluegrass and country, you will love it. It’s outstanding. And he’s easy on the eyes, ladies. mmm. mmm. mmmmm.
How ’bout an app to make stupid people disappear before you come in contact with them– whether it be on the road or in person. Half the population would go up in app-smoke. Or at least in the ‘Burg.
Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
David Bowie – Changes
Travelling WIlburys – Volume 1
Beatles – Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band
Pink Floyd – The Wall
Tony Bennett – Duets
Frank Sinatra – Trilogy
Crazy Heart Soundtrack
k.d. lang – (forgot title – 4 CD set)
Elton John – Honky Chateau
Carole King – Tapestry
Queen – A Night at the Opera
James Taylor – Greatest Hits
Glenn Miller – In Memorium
What can I say? I like Big Band, and Classic Rock…
How about an App that alerts you when your boss is coming so you’re not thinking of albums on an open web page when I should be working on a freaking spreadsheet?
OK Computer – Radiohead
Parklife – Blur
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
Exile On Main St – Rolling Stones
Revolver – Beatles
69 Love Songs – Magnetic Fields
If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle & Sebastian
Joshua Tree – U2
too busy. will complete later. difficult.
Five in five:
Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Morcheeba – Big Calm
The Creatures – Boomerang
Boards of Canada – Geogaddi
In no particular order but the order they popped into my mind:
1. “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols”
2. “Murmur” R.E.M.
3. “Let it Be” Replacements*
4. “Gimme Back My Bullets” Lynyrd Skynyrd
5. “Oh, Inverted World” Shins
6. “Unknown Pleasures” Joy Division**
7. “White Album” Beatles
8. “Nevermind” Nirvana
9. “Meat Puppets II” Meat Puppets
10. “New Day Rising” Husker Du***
11. “The Stooges”*****
12. “Singles Going Steady” Buzzcocks
13. “War” U2
14. “New York Dolls”
15. “Talk Talk Talk” Psychedelic Furs
*I’d list “Tim” too, but we’re only allowed one per artist.
**I’d list “Closer” too….
***I’d list “Zen Arcade” too….
****I’d list “Fun House” too….
Lakrfool is a very welcome addition to the blog world. Thanks for the link. He’s wonderful.
H
Squeeze-Sweets from a stranger
The Police -Zenyatta Mondatta
The Specials -More Specials
Boston-Boston
Alice In Chains-Dirt
yikes I don’t know ANY of Gretchens …I must be really old or a geek or something
The Beatles – Sgt Pepper
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
Japan – Tin Drum
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Echo And The Bunnymen – Songs To Learn And Sing
Oasis – What’s The Story Morning Glory
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing
Led Zep – IV
Cream – Disreali Gears
Gorillaz – Demon Days
The Human League – Travelogue
I’d love to have tried to sound clever by including Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue but I’ve listened to it about 10 times and it still sounds like a tin of cold sick being bashed against a madman’s head.
Jenny: Perhaps not geek enough! 😉
Goldfrapp’s been around for about a decade now. “Felt Mountain” is their first album, released in 2000. I think it came directly from outerspace, actually, hence why it’s not exactly mainstream. Their subsequent “Black Cherry” was far more palatable to general pop sensibilities (for the record, I like that album too, but I like “Felt Mountain” more).
Massive Attack and Morcheeba were part of the British trip-hop scene in the mid-nineties. I like more than a few albums by these two bands. Massive Attack recently released an album called “Heligo Land” that I totally dig too. It was a tough call between that and “Mezzanine”. By the way, if you’ve watched “House” then you’ve heard Massive Attack. The song used for the opening credits is called “Teardrop”, from “Mezzanine”.
The Creatures are the band Siouxsie-Sioux and Budgie formed on the side when not creating music as Siouxsie and the Banshees. Now I know you must have heard of Siouxsie and the Banshees!
I don’t know how to explain Boards of Canada. It’s electronic music. I found them when I was trying to figure out the music being played in the background of those freaky “Salad Finger” cartoons from awhile back.
It must be me, but some of these lists sound like the “Blues Singers in the Kitchen” exercise we did recently…I don’t think I’ve heard of 1/4 of these groups!
I won’t bore everyone to tears with my list of my favorite Classical music composers…
Apps that we need:
1. a dog training whistle (for the annoying little yappers next door)
2. Air horn app. (see #1)
3. An app that causes your phone to explode if you’re texting while driving.
4. An app wrinkles the space-time continuum and allows us to enter an alternate reality.
5. An app that alerts us when the “HOT” light comes on at Krispy Kreme!
Gretchen, Yep I know Siouxsie and the Banshee’s. But the rest I will have to Youtube ! Thanx for the music lesson!
Jenny: I have most of the albums by the Police too. I’m partial to Reggatta de Blanc.
Didn’t you recently have a phone that got really hot and lead to all sorts of stupidity?
Does someone here use or used to use Vonage? Thinking of changing my business line over.
Not in particular order, and not 100%. Just the impotant ones that came quickly. I would have to take weeks of relistening and analysis to get it proper.
Metallica – Ride the Lighting
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Winston Zeddemore: A Cartoon Classic – Demos
Me – FunkRockPhoney
The New Pedestrian – Exit Stage West
The Spinning Gumdrops – The Fabulous Spinning Gumdrops
Acid Bath – When the Kite String Pops
Clint Black – Greatest Hits
Avalanche – El Angel Caido
Dream Theater – Falling Into Infinity
Megadeth – Cryptic Writings
Black Sabbath – Volume 4
Blind Guardian – Imaginations from the Other Side
Electric Light Orchestra – Zoom
Slipkknot – Slipknot
I did this the other day, after the other galf did hers…
In no particular order…
1. Little Earthquaker – Tori Amos
2. Lonely is an Eyesore – 4AD Various Artists
3. Music For The Masses – Depeche Mode
4. Louder Than Bombs – The Smiths
5. The Sensual World – Kate Bush
6. A Passage In Time – Dead Can Dance
7. Lincoln – They Might Be Giants
8. Copper Blue – Sugar
9. Pretty Hate Machine – Nine Inch Nails
10. Iris – Miranda Sex Garden
11. Achtung Baby – U2
12. Peepshow – Siouxsie & the Banshees
13. Document – R.E.M.
14. The Lion & the Cobra – Sinead O’Connor
15. Apple Venus I & II – XTC
Followed by abut 50 others, each just as worthy to be in the top 15…
other HALF, not other galf…
… stupid fingers…
Oh I have to cheat. take away slipknot and replace it with Joe Satriani’s “Crystal Planet”.
I’m such a fool.
Thank you for the pimpage of the blog Mr. Kay. You are one of the good ones.
15 in 15
DIO- Holy Diver
Black Sabbath- self titled
Pink Floyd- The Wall
Led Zeppelin- Houses of the Holy
Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Stadium Arcadium
Jane’s Addiction- Nothing’s Shocking
Soundgarden- Louder Than Love
Descendents- Somery
Lagwagon- Hoss
RZA- Liquid Swords
Vivaldi- 4 Seasons
Slayer- Reign In Blood
Ramones- Anthology
Helmet- Meantime
I am glad to see tha “The Wall” and “Wish You Were Here” mad eit without me having to cheat.
Jenny: I’m with you. Gretchen, even after you’ve ‘splained things I still don’t know who or what you’re talking about.
I chalk it up to age. I’m a bit of a geek, so it’s not the lack thereof. It’s just…did I say age? Yeah, that’s it. Damn.
15 in 10, without compendiums:
Jackson Browne – The Pretender
Dire Straits – On Every Street
Joe Cocker, et al. – Mad Dogs & Englishmen
Tom Petty – Hard Promises
The Grateful Dead – Shakedown Street
John Hiatt – Slow Turning
Paul McCartney & Wings – Venus and Mars
Joe Walsh – There Goes The Neighborhood
Bonnie Raitt – Give It Up
The Beatles – Revolver
Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Blvd.
Toy Matinee – Toy Matinee
Keith Richards – Talk is Cheap
Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled His Feet
The Who – Tommy
Now I’m going to go listen to some of you younguns’ music. I really enjoyed Here Come The Mummies, which was referenced here a while back. Let’s see what else I can discover, thanks to you all.
I already want to revise my list of 15, but I’ll have to let that one stand… Not that any of them suck, but there are better choices popping into my head.
No Pixies, no Who, no Bob Mould fronted bands, no Dino Jr, no Stones/Exile…dammit
@CADude – wow – nice to see Keith Richards “Talk is Cheap” on your list. I LOVE that CD. I aspire to be an Xpensive Wino.
I know this wasn’t a question but me and my girlfriend have been watching Supernatural. It’s a good show, you might like it if you haven’t already seen it. I just now got into it. It seemed kinda melodramatic to me at first but it really is fun to watch.
CADude: I’m going to be 38 next month. I ain’t exactly a spring chicken. But I do know everyone on your list excepting John Hiatt.
not melo…. just a lot of drama.
I would like to raid Swami Bologna & icecycle’s CD collections, save the redundancy
I don’t think I could do 15, and now I feel it might be tainted but maybe I’ll try later.
I agree about the heat. It was in the mid 70’s in OKC last week (people were wering sweaters) and now it’s back to ball sweat city.
I did see that when I’m in cincy next week the temp swing is like 30 deg per day. I’m cool with that.
Stupid Obama.
I do enjoy blaming people for shit they have no control over. Like did you here Pete Rose killed Ray Combs?
Hey Jeff I’ve emailed you an article on the HooDooGuru’s i had sitting on my desk!!! They’ve released an album this year and are touring here in Oz…so just a heads up…..
I love reading other folks’ favorite LP lists. Mine are pretty solid; I’m only listing favorite LPs that stand the test of time – ones I can still listen to today and get the same charge (or a rough fascimile of) that I got the first time I heard them:
1. The Monochrome Set – Colour Transmission
2. Daily Planet – Romance
3. Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Brain Salad Surgery
4. The Tubes – NOW
5. Material – Memory Serves
6. Wire – Pink Flag
7. Ian Dury & The Blockheads – New Boots and Panties
8. Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart – Bongo Fury
9. Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
10. Doll By Doll – Remember
11. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Best of (the one on Everest)
12. Tiny Tim – God Bless Tiny Tim
13. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III
14. BeeGees – Best of BeeGees (the early collection on Polydor)
15. Ride – Carnival of Light
Way back in 1988 or so I put togethere a little survey thing called “The Evil Twin Top 10” where I polled all my friends at the time about their top 10 favorites – I hand-typed up the results (this is pre-personal PC days, remember), designed the covers and made copies to send to all the respondents. It was a 40 page or so document, and it was a lot of fun. The lists were from mostly other record collectors and music promoter folks, and even include a few rock luminaries like Tesco Vee of The Meatmen and Johnny Riggs. My tastes have changed fairly radically over the years, but 4 or 5 that I listed above were on that list over 20 years ago, so some things never changed.
1. Gov’t Mule – Dose
2. Frank Zappa – The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
3. Stones – Exile on Main Street
4. Grateful Dead – Europe 72
5. Little Feet – Live From Neon Park
6. Steve Vai – Passion and Warfare
7. Yes – The Yes Album
8. M.I.R.V – Running Naked Through A Mine Field
9. Rory Gallagher – Jinx
10. Montrose – Montrose
11. Faith No More – Angel Dust
12. SuperSuckers – How The SuperSuckers Became The Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the World
13. Dylan – Blood On The Tracks
14. Led Zepplin – Hoses Of The Holy
15. David Bowie – The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and…
Hoodoo Gurus in WV!!! Holy crap! I often wondered how popular they were overseas. I went to the same school as the lead singer! How many of you can say that! They were friggin awesome live, too. I remeber them being support once but they had a better reception than the main act. In fact I can’t remember who the main act was!
Genesis: Selling England By The Pound
Metallica: Ride The Lightning
Megadeth: Peace Sells But Whose Buying
Cradle Of Filth: Midian
Bowie: Ziggy Stardust
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath
ELO: Eldorado
NIN: Pretty HateMachine
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes
Judas Priest: British Steel
Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies
Immortal: Sons Of Northern Darkness
Pantera: Far Beyond Driven
Andrea Bocelli: Sogno
Type O Negative: October Rust
Uncle_Wedgie has a rock solid list man. I could get very drunk listening thorugh all those.
And Debra, oh my dear dear Debra. i love you,r list.
How great that there is an Immortal fan out there. If i could have anyones list, including mine; i might take yours.
Other than that Tori Amos thing.
just quickly:
1 Gillian Welch-Time
2 Hem-Eveningland
3 Live-Throwing Copper
4 Counting Crows-August and everything after
5 Victor Wooten-A show of hands
6 Air-Moon Safari
7 Portishead-Roseland NYC (live)
8 Massive Attack-Mezzanine
9 Alison Krauss-I’ve got that old feeling
10 Lyle Lovett-Pontiac
11 Foster and Lloyd-The essential Foster and Lloyd
12 Tool-Undertow
13 KMFDM-What do you know, Deutschland
14 Bela Fleck-Tales from the acoustic planet
15 Dzihan and Kamien-Freaks and Icons
I’m a hipster in my own world, what of it?
Thank you Sam for having Massive Attack on your list! I think people were starting to think I was making shit up! 😉 Oh, and kudos for the Portishead shout out. I loved “Dummy”, though too many listens can depress.