The Classic Vinyl Record

With the passing of Michael Jackson, an musical legend and era has ended. You didn’t have to really like Michael Jackson or his music, but you had to respect what he accomplished in his musical career.

My brothers and I all remember where we were when we first saw the Thriller video. It was in the basement at a friend of our parents house. They had cable and MTV (which my parents didn’t get until a few years ago).

Many people are buying albums by Michael Jackson, but some of you may want vinyl records. You can buyMichael Jackson vinyl records at Musicstack.

Led Zeppelin is one of those bands that I just don’t listen to very often. I haven’t played this record in probably over 2 or 3 years. Don’t get me wrong, I like Zeppelin, but they are a band that has a few songs that get massively overplayed by classic rock radio stations.

Led Zeppelin’s first, self-titled album (also known as 1) is a great album. It has songs on it that have lasted over these last 40 years. “Good Times Bad Times”, “Communication Breakdown” and of course “Dazed and Confused”. You can buy Led Zeppelin – 1 at Musicstack.

But Zeppelin is more than just the 10 songs or so that you hear on the radio. They were a rock band on the verge of metal (for the time) and were heavily influenced by blues. They also had the musical abilities to pull off just about any style they wanted. Jimmy Page actually learned how to play the 10 string steel guitar just for a song on this album, “Your Time is Gonna Come”. That is amazing.

It originally received some bad reviews when it was released in 1969, however, it’s obvious that no one listened to the reviews. The album went to #6 in the UK and #10 in the US. It has also gone 8X multi-platinum in the US. Rolling Stone named it #29 on it’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Wikipedia says;

Led Zeppelin’s [album] cover, which was chosen by Page, features a black-and-white image of the burning Hindenburg airship. The image refers to the origin of the band’s name itself: when Page, Jeff Beck and The Who’s Keith Moon and John Entwistle were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, “It would probably go over like a lead balloon”, and Entwistle allegedly replied, “…a Lead Zeppelin!”

If only all great ideas were that easy.

The track listing is as follows;

Side One:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me (MP3 available with Flash)
4. Dazed and Confused

Side Two:

1. Your Time is Gonna Come
2. Black Mountain Side
3. Communication Breakdown
4. I Can’t Quit You Baby
5. How Many More Times

“You Shook Me’ and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” are perfect examples of the blues influence on Led Zeppelin. Both were written by Willie Dixon. “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” was written by Anne Bredon.

I love Blind Guardian. They are one of my favorite bands. I was so excited when I picked this album up on vinyl. A Night at the Opera by Blind Guardian is a two disc set, and is a nod to Queen’s A Night at the Opera in style as well as name. There are a lot of layered and overdubbed vocals like Queen.

I am a big fan of power metal and progressive metal. And Blind Guardian fits right in there in those categories. This album was actually named the Best Metal Album of 2002 by Metal-Rules.com. Some people might call this intelligent metal, as it is not just guys playing three chords over and over. There are arrangements, styles, choirs and more to make this more than just a metal garage band. Plus, their lyrics are almost all based on much more than death or hate or anything like that.

Blind Guardian – A Night at the Opera Track Listing:

Side A

1. Precious Jerusalem – About the final days of Jesus
2. Battlefield - Based on the Song of Hildebrandt
3. Under the Ice – About Cassandra in the Iliad

Side AA

1. Sadly Sings Destiny – About the Messiah in the Old Testament and the Crucifixion
2. The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight – From Tristan und Isolde, a Wagner opera
3. Wait for an Answer – a Story by Hansi Kürsch, the lead singer

Side B

1. The Soulforged – From a Dragonlance fantasy novel
2. Age of False Innocence – About Galileo Galilei
3. Punishment Divine – About Nietzsche’s insanity

Side BB

1. And Then There Was Silence – Based on Homer’s Iliad

You can see that the subject matter is so much more than your average metal band sings about. Hansi Kürsch sings with so much passion too, that it makes everything just sound awesome.

Buy Blind Guardian – A Night at the Opera at Musicstack.

Yes! You gotta love Uncle Ted. I love his music, and crazy enough, agree almost totally with his political views.

But this blog isn’t about politics, it’s about music, and I don’t think anybody loves playing music as much as Ted Nugent. From playing with The Amboy Dukes, solo, Damn Yankees, and then solo again, he has done nothing but put out great Rock & Roll.

This is one of the greatest rock artists of all time. He doesn’t need drugs or alcohol to have a good time or to write great music. He writes what he knows.

Cat Scratch Fever was released in 1977, hit #17, and went platinum in September 1977. Although there are many people out there who do not like The Nuge, due to the sexual nature of his lyrics, or his political views, or his feelings about our 2nd amendment rights, or the fact that he kills and eats animals (”venison is the perfect food”), there are still enough out there to buy his albums and make him a successful musician for the last fifty years.

I picked up Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent over at Musicstack (of course). This is pure American Rock. Play it loud, play it fast, and have fun. (I am not supporting the no morals lifestyle, just talking about it.)

Cat Scratch Fever Track Listing:

Side One:

1. Cat Scratch Fever (MP3)
2. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
3. Death by Misadventure
4. Live It Up
5. Home Bound

Side Two:

1. Workin’ Hard, Playin’ Hard
2. Sweet Sally
3. A Thousand Knives
4. Fist Fightin’ Son of a Gun
5. Out of Control

The title song ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ has been covered by a lot of people; Nitro, Motörhead, Pantera and even Homer Simpson. It is also the 32nd best hard rock song of all time according to VH1.

Ted Nugent is also a writer, from hunting (Blood Trails I and II), to cooking (Kill It and Grill It), to gun control (God, Guns & Rock and Roll), to politics (Ted, White, and Blue).

‘Ted Nugent for President – 2012′

I just read this post on TechDirt about how young people prefer the sound of MP3’s to other types of media. They actually like the sound of MP3’s! Well, this is why ‘young people’ don’t have a drivers license or are allowed to buy alcohol. Because they can’t think!

The post author believes this is sort of funny because audiophiles are always complaining about how MP3’s will ruin music. I’m not sure it will ruin music, but I do believe that poor quality will produce engineers an sound people with a bad idea of what music should sound like.

By the way, this started well before MP3’s, it started with the consumers buying stereos with only a three band EQ.

I love this comment made on the post;

“MP3 Sound “quality”

Believe me, you don’t need to have an expensive audiophile sound system to hear how obviously superior vinyl is. Even a crappy system will fill the the room with three-dimensional sound compared to the one-dimensional, tinny, transparent bass of MP3s. This post confirms what I already predicted-that after a few years of MP3s being the dominant medium, pretty soon people wouldn’t even know what recorded music was supposed to sound sound like. The dumbing down of our culture is nearly complete.”

Ha! That’s good. MP3’s are convenient. Extremely convenient. But that does not mean they sound good. Kids are just getting used to a certain sound, and then thinking that it is best. The same thing happens with those of us who listen to vinyl, we are used to that sound. To a point, even after not listening to vinyl for years, I still think it sounds better.

I love John Cougar Mellencamp, or John Mellencamp, or John Cougar, whichever you choose. My wife loves him to. He writes great American rock music; music born in the heartland of the US.

This album gets its name from the title track “Rain on the Scarecrow”, which is about farms that have been in families for generations that are being taken away. You can buy “Scarecrow” at Musicstack.

Of course, “Small Town” is the biggest and most well known (but didn’t chart the highest) track off of this album. It charted at #6 along with “Lonely Ol’ Night”. “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” hit #2 in the US Charts. The album itself also went to #2, was named #95 on Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Albums of the 80’s.

I love the second track, which is just Mellencamp’s grandma singing along with a guitar. When artists do that, it says to me that they care about the music, and family, and not about commercialized and packaged music.

One thing about this album, is that the labels are on the wrong side. Side one label is actually on side two and vice versa. If only that made it rare and worth about $25,000 I’d be set.

Some of these songs are more applicable to America today than they were twenty years ago. For example, the lyrics of “Face of the Nation” are so appropriate to what is happening in the US today.

Track Listing:

Side one:

1. Rain on the Scarecrow
2. Grandma’s Theme
3. Small Town (MP3)
4. Minutes to Memories
5. Lonely Ol’ Night
6. Face of the Nation

Side Two:

1. Justice and Independence ‘85
2. Between a Laugh and a Tear
3. Rumbleseat
4. You’ve Got to Stand for Something
5. R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.

Merry Christmas! Since it is now December and my wife has been playing Christmas music nonstop for almost two months now, I figured I should put up a Christmas album.

My wife loves Johnny Mathis. He does have a very distinctive voice and way of singing. It’s very smooth.

This was actually released in 1963 under the name Sounds of Christmas from Mercury Records. In 1971, it was re-released through Columbia as Christmas with Johnny Mathis. Although this version left out two songs from the original, “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Have Reindeer, Will Travel”.

Although I think the packaging is a little scary, this is a good album. As I said above, Johnny Mathis has such a unique voice, you can’t help but like the music.

This album will never be a collectors item I’m sure, but, If you like the traditional, family gathered around the fireplace and turntable type Christmas, then you should have this in your collection. You can get Christmas with Johnny Mathis on vinyl at Musicstack.

The track listing is as follows:

Side One:

• The Sound of Christmas
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas [MP3 using a Flash Player]
• A Marshmallow World
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
• Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Side Two:

• The Secret of Christmas
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• Carol of the Bells
• Christmas is a Feeling in Your Heart
• Hallelujah Chorus

If you love Christmas music like my wife does, and you don’t have this, then you need to go to Musicstack (link is above) and pick this up.

I’ve talked about sound quality between vinyl and CD before (see this post on why vinyl records sound better than CD’s), so this story really caught my eye. If you haven’t heard, Mudcrutch is getting back together. For their new album, they are releasing on standard CD, vinyl and uncompressed CD. What? I’ve never heard of an uncompressed CD.

Apparently, it is an audiophile version that is straight from the masters that the vinyl is recorded from. although compressed, it is not nearly as sqaushed as standard CD’s. This means that the sound is much better, more dynamic and more expressive. The following is a quote from producer and engineer Ryan Ulyate;

Standard CDs are designed to play back well on the many different systems which exist today such as iPod, car, radio, computer and home. To make it sound as good as possible on all these different systems, compression is added. What compression does is to make the CD sound louder. Too much compression can make the music sound harsh and distorted. Producers and artists today compete to make their recording sound louder and some have pushed the limit with as much compression as possible. Some have gone too far. On the other hand, without any compression, a CD would not sound as loud as other albums. This would be especially noticeable on iPods and other mp3 players and when played back to back with compressed music, uncompressed music would sound less impactful and not ‘jump out of the speakers’ which is the effect most producers are going for when they add compression. [You can see the effects of crappy sound and compression on the new Metallica album Death Magnetic.]

Great, so why don’t other artists and engineers do this? I believe that first of all, the majority of people don’t really care how their music sounds, otherwise we wouldn’t have such high sales of iPods. Second of all, there is a lot more money involved in putting out three versions of the same album. However, it seems that some people (like Mudcrutch) get it, and are willing to spend the money for their music to sound true to what they wrote.

I pulled out some Yes yesterday. I really love prog (progressive) music, new and old. Yes is one of those bands that just broke barriers and paved the way for whole genres of music to come. As a musician, prog music gives me what I want, as it is technical, emotional, experimental, and a whole list of -al’s that make it much more interesting to listen to than ordinary pop music.

So I got out the Relayer album and gave it a spin. It’s been a while since I listened to this. Rick Wakeman had left the band prior to this album, and was replaced by Patrick Moraz. Although, Vangelis (wrote Chariots of Fire, member of Aphrodite’s Child) almost joined. That would have been pretty cool.

You can find Yes – Relayer at Musicstack.

In 1975, Relayer went to #5 on the Billboard Pop album chart. Although there are only three songs (two that are nine minutes, and one that is twenty one minutes), there were three singles released that were taken from the existing songs.

Track Listing for Yes – Relayer

Side one:

1. The Gates of Delirium

Side two:

1. Sound Chaser

2. To Be Over

Singles:

1. Soon (MP3)

2. Sound Chaser (Single version)

3. The Gates of Delirium (Studio run through)

This album is a lot different than some earlier Yes stuff. Patrick Moraz was using prototype synthezisers not yet released, and some of the percussion used were things out of junk yards like brakes and other metal car parts.

Relayer met with a lot of mixed feelings. Some said “This isn’t the Yes sound”. Other, more rational people, said “This is pretty experimental, let the band do what they want, it sounds cool”.

The main piece, The Gates of Delirium, is actually based on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, so maybe that means you should read the book before listening.

I really like The Tubes. I do think that a lot of their later stuff was much more pop than their earlier work. I love the original self titled album. It’s very different and almost prog.

The Completion Backward Principle is a pretty good example of 80’s New Wave, leaning towards pop, and it does have some good songs on it. It was the 6th studio album put out by the band, and it made it to #36 in 1981. The single, Talk To Ya Later went to #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. You can buy The Tubes at Musicstack.

This album is supposed to be a little stab at corporate America I believe. The back cover has all of the band members is suits, looking very professional and yuppie-ish, with important sounding jobs appointed to them. For example;

Bill Spooner – Analyst, Guitar, Vocals

Michael Cotton – Trend, Synthesizers

Fee Waybill – Motivation, Lead Vocals

Roger Steen – Development, Guitar, Vocals

Prairie Prince – Systems, Drums

Vince Welnick – Accounts, Keyboards, Vocals

Rick Anderson – Policy, Bass

Haven’t we all heard important sounding titles that really don’t mean anything?

The Completion Backwards Principle Track listing

Side One

1. Talk To Ya Later
2. Sushi Girl
3. Amnesia
4. Mr. Hate
5. Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman (mp3)

Side Two

1. Think About Me
2. A Matter Of Pride
3. Don’t Want To Wait Anymore
4. Power Tools
5. Let’s Make Some Noise

Overall, I don’t listen to this album very much. I really like The Tubes original and older stuff. It was much more experimental and almost on the verge of prog. This is a great album though, if you are into early new wave, and 80’s pop.

By the way, Fee Waybill has also appeared in the movies ‘Xanadu’ as a rock singer, a little known movie call ‘Ladies and Gentleman, the Stains’ as lead singer for the band The Metal Corpses, and also in ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ as one of the Three Most Important People in the World.