"The Cry of Love" by Jimi Hendrix (1971)

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"Bourbon-and-Coke-possessed words and 'Haven't I seen you somewhere in Hell?'"

My Favorite Tracks:
Freedom, Night Bird Flying, Angel, Belly Button Window

My Overall Rating of the Tracks Separately:
REQUIRED LISTENING (4/4 stars).  Seriously, if you haven't heard every song on this LP, you owe it to yourself to check them out.

What could I possibly say about Jimi Hendrix that hasn't been said already?  Absolutely nothing, that's what.  Along with Chuck Berry, he's the most influential electric guitarist of all time.  We all agree he's awesome - except for one friend of mine who shall remain nameless.  This friend makes the following statement about Jimi's music: "I really dig his voice, I just don't care for his guitar playing."  It should be noted that said friend also says the EXACT OPPOSITE thing about Led Zeppelin.  To each his own I guess...

So, instead of trying to write something new about Jimi Hendrix, I'm gonna tell you how I happened to pick up "Cry of Love" on vinyl.

Every year, I check out my town's tiny section of the multi-state "world's largest yardsale."  I have always found titles that just don't pop up on the cheap at our local peddler's malls and used record stores, and I am always faced with some impossible decision like do I get "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett or do I get "Forever Your Girl" by Paul Abdul.  Seriously, that was a really hard decision.  (I ended up choosing JJ and now have a good degree of buyer's remorse.)

Point is, there's always good music to be found.  Last year started slow.  The first area we hit was full over vendors who were overpriced and understocked.  But then when we popped into the next shanty town of folks selling the crap they didn't want anymore, I hit paydirt.  I noticed a small stack of about twenty LPs on a table.  The small stacks are the best.  You can flip through them quickly and move on if there's nothing to be found. 

I asked the guy how much his records were.  I always base whether it's worth my time on the price point, not the which artists I see on top.  It's been my experience that EVERYBODY who bought records always had that one left-field LP that was not like anything else in their collection.  So, even if it's 95% Andy Williams and Sha-Na-Na, a small stack is always worth checking out if the price is right.  Sometimes it doesn't pan out; sometimes it's Pink Floyd's "Meddle."

So, I asked the guy how much his records were.  "A buck each."  A dollar is my sweet spot (I have literally spent hours at a time flipping through piles of dollar records) so I dove in.  Within the first three I found the Beatles' double LP collection of later singels.  JACKPOT!  At this point, the day is already a success.  But I kept digging.

I found Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kiss LPs that I didn't already have.  I'm a passive Kiss fan, but I pick up pretty much anything of theirs at the right price.  I don't know what it is about Kiss, but they trigger something deep in the lizard brain of the dirt mall population.  I swear, I have heard this statement at least three times.  "My records all cost (x), except for the Kiss records.  They're all (some multiple of x)."

I was a happy lad.  And then I came across a loose record in the pile.  I'm not usually big on sleeveless vinyl, but this one was Jimi.  "Would you take fifty cents for this one without a jacket?" I asked.

"Depends.  Who is it?"

My brain sighed.  "Um... Jimi Hendrix?"

There was a long pause.  "Sure."

Me out loud: "Cool."  Me inside my head: "AWESOME!!!!"

I gave the guy a five and got a buck fifty back.  I used the buck at the next place I stopped to pick up "Purple Rain" still in the shrinkwrap.  They also had "Hotter than Hell," which is one Kiss record I do really want.  Unfortunately, the lady told me that everything was a dollar except for the Kiss records.  They were all ten.

Up next, we keep rockin' the early seventies with Aerosmith's self-titled debut.

"Just a Game" by Triumph (1978)

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Filed Between: Randy Travis and The Troggs

"We wait and watch and wonder just which puppet they'll select... It's just a game and all I can do is play."

Key Tracks:
Movin' On, Just a Game, Hold On

My Overall Rating of the Tracks Separately:
HIGHLY Recommended (3.5/4 stars)

Every time I find music I haven't heard by Triumph, I really enjoy.  It's always big and ballsy and a good bit smarter than most of its peers.  They are a lost jewel in the crown of classic rock.

So, why didn't they make it into the canon?  I think it comes down to four letters: R - U - S - H.  Let me describe a band to you - they're a Canadian power trio who sometimes use keyboards and sometimes address philosophical and/or political subject matter.  They also happen to have a great song about the music business.  Sound familiar?  Just so you know, I was actually talking about Triumph.  On paper, they look like long lost man-in-the-iron-mask twin brothers, but they're really not all that close at all.  Triumph is more like... well, nobody.  They are always their own band.

I happened across them when a late night DJ on our local Clear Channel classic rock station went on a tirade about how good and underappreciated they are and then he spun one of their songs (which I assume resulted in a flailing because it wasn't The Black Crowes).  I had to check them out. So when I got into vinyl they were high on my radar. I was not disappointed.

Do yourself a favor, go check out Triumph.

So, is it an album?  Yes.  There's a clear vision and definitely a hand guiding everything here.

Up next, sweeeeeeeeeeet!  We get to check out my vote for the best guitarist of all time!

"Two for the Show" by Kansas (1978)

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Filed between: Judas Priest and KC & The Sunshine Band

This one's a double-live LP, so...

SIDE I
Rating: Above Average (2.5/4 stars)
Best Track: Icarus - Borne on Wings of SteelKicks of with: a heavy dose of instrumental superprog
Sounds like: a collection of the band's most proggy tunes.  It even has their proggiest hit - Point of Know Return.  This side highlights Kansas' weakness on tracks like Song for America, but also their strengths when they can balance the synths with raging guitars, as heard on Icarus.

SIDE II
Rating: Above Average (2.5/4 stars)
Best Track: Carry on Wayward SonKicks off with: a crashing drum beat
Sounds like: straightforward hard rock.  The guitars lead the charge here and the synths are just used for accents and flourishes.  They even crank the preachy Portrait (He Knew) up to a fun level by playing it heavy and fast.

SIDE III
Rating: Above Average (2.5/4 stars)
Best Track: Mysteries and MayhemKicks off with: the famous riff from Dust in the WindSounds like: a bunch of fingering exercises.  It's all about showing off technique here.  There's an extended acoustic guitar solo AND an extended piano solo.  And they're back to back.

SIDE IV
Rating: Average (2/4 stars)
Best Track: [not available]
Kicks of with: organs fading in
Sounds like: two excruciatingly long songs.

So, is it an album?  Yes.  "Two for the Show" isn't great, but it's consistent.  Honestly, Kansas seems to function better when they're not trying (and often failing) to weave a thick, thematic web with a studio album.

Up next, we continue in our exploration of late-seventies power rock with a band that should have been more popular.  It's "Just a Game" by Triumph.

"Don't Look Back" by Boston (1978)

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"It's a new horizon and I'm awaking now."

Key Tracks:
Don't Look Back is everything that's great about classic rock.  So is Feelin' Satisfied. It should've been just as big of a hit.

My Overall Rating of the Tracks Separately:
Recommended Listening (3/4 stars)

"Don't Look Back" is a sophomore effort that delivers the inverse result of BTO's "II."  Where "II" was hurried, frazzled and disconnected, "DLB" was given time to gel.  Boston actually took a few years after their first mammoth release.  They took so much time that their label eventually released this second LP before the band was done with it.  Surprisingly, the results weren't at all bad.

But time's not the only issue at work.  Brad Delp's vocal range is amazing.  Tom Scholz is a guitar player's guitarist.  How amazing?  Well, lemme tell ya.  There are what sound like some pretty interesting, proggy keyboard solos on this record.  But then when you read the liner notes, you see the statement "No synthesizers used / no computers used" and you realize that all those solos are done on a guitar.  And then you have to immediately lift the needle and play it back again in disbelief.  BTO had some talent, but they didn't have Boston talent. 

So, room to breathe and superior musicianship lead (astonishingly) to a superior product - at least in this case.  There are also examples of the opposite.  Anybody heard "Chinese Democracy"?

So, is it an album?  Yes.  There is a singular sound to the vocals, the guitar and the narrative voice.  That absolutely makes for an album in my book.

Up next - okay, I get the point!  We're still hard and heavy into jock rock, only this time we get real synths (instead of... um... fake ones?).  It's "Two for the Show," a double live release by Kansas.

"II" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1973)

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"I love to work at nothin' all day."

Key Tracks Good Songs:
Blown, Let It Ride, Takin' Care of Business

Obvious Filler & Swings-and-Misses:
Everything else

My Overall Rating of the Tracks Separately:
Average (2/4 stars)

"Sophomore slump" doesn't begin to describe BTo's second release.  There was either a dearth of creativity here or no editorial process whatsoever. It sounds like every idea anybody had got thrown into the mix without regard for whether it fit in or worked. 

The best example is Welcome Home.  The verses sound like bad Steely Dan.  The choruses sound like bad Black Sabbath.  The outro is a bad impersonation of dixieland jazz using electric guitars.  The song works out exactly as well as it looks on paper. 

Every member of the band wrote separate pieces for "II."  And apparently, whoever wrote it sang it because there are three different singers on it's paltry eight tracks.

Really though, none of that is surprising.  BTO put out their first five LPs over the course of three years.  That's a lot of music, and evidence of a monumental difference in the musical landscape of forty years ago.  These days, you won't see three releases over the course of five years from a given artist (not counting re-released "bonus" editions with only one or two new tracks).

But BTO's business plan clearly worked.  "II" went platinum on the strength of two songs.  They must have known what they had with Let It Ride and/or Takin' Care of Business and just phoned in everything else.

So, is it an album?  No.  This is a prime example of just killing time for half an hour because an LP sells for more than a really good double-sided single.

Up next, we continue with the seventies power-rock and check out "Don't Look Back" by Boston.

"Come Out and Play" by Twisted Sister (1985)

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Filed Between: Stanley Turrentine and Bonnie Tyler

"Do you take this music to be your lawfully wedded rock?"

My Overall Rating of the Tracks Separately:
Don't bother.  Seriously, don't bother (unless you need a good laugh).

The liner notes are emblazoned with the following gigantic, all-caps text: "PLAY IT LOUD, MUTHA!"  And that's about as subtle as "Come Out and Play" gets.  If Alice Cooper were from New Jersey and had been kicked in the head by a mule as a child, he would be Dee Snider.

Speaking of...

Twisted Sister and their label apparently felt very strongly about Be Crool to Your Schuel (it was a single) - so strongly in fact that they recruited these people to play on it: Alice Cooper - backing vocals, Brian Setzer - guitar, Billy Joel - piano, Clarence Clemons - sax.  Are you shitting me?!  Little Steven didn't have that many stars singing on Sun City.  And the truly sad thing is, it's a terrible, terrible song.  They were clearly expecting another We're Not Gonna Take It; they made something that gets put in paper bags on front porches and set on fire.

Speaking of...

"Come Out and Play" also contains what has to be the most bizarre, confused cover song of all time.  IF John Mayer decided to remake I Kissed a Girl, it wouldn't be half as absurd as Sister's version of Leader of the Pack.  Yes, THAT Leader of the Pack.  Only since they're dudes (I think), they had to flip all the hims and hers around, so now it gets told from the leader of the pack's point of view.  Yes, THAT leader of the pack.  Had they never heard this song before?  Did nobody bother to mention to them that the leader of the pack eats it in a fiery crash and dies before the third verse?  Their solution was to flip it around at that point and make HER die in the crash because SHE's actually the leader of the pack (even though she clearly wasn't for the first two verses).  I'll give you a minute to digest that.  And that's exactly how much sense it makes.  But again, they must have really thought they had lightning in a bottle here because this was yet another single.

Speaking of...

Everything on "Come Out and Play" reeks of confusion and self-denial of Ed Wood proportions.  Most of the choruses are a single line that repeats over and over to varying degrees.  The lyric sheet describes these repetitions as ranging from "a lot" to "forever."  There's never one relevant thing said, but it's all delivered like it's new Gospel.

The sad thing is, Dee Snider clearly had a lot to say at this point.  "Come Out and Play" was released after his famous battle with the PMRC which culminated in a speech to a congressional subcommittee where he talked about the importance of artistic freedom and the pitfalls of personal interpretation of the works of others.  (Those concepts alone are far more interesting and intelligent than any moment on this LP.)  But "Come Out and Play" never hits on any of that - except for maybe the inane and virtually incomprehensible I Believe in Rock 'n Roll and the (misleading) warning on the back label that indicates the record has been rated "H" for humorous content.

So, is it an album?  No.  It's a mess.

Up next, we check an LP titled "II" that's NOT by Led Zeppelin.  Dang.  Instead, we let it ride with Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

"Centerfield" by John Fogerty (1985)

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"The dream was a song."

Key Tracks:
The Old Man Down the Road oozes unspoken menace.  I Saw It on T.V. is the song We Didn't Start the Fire aspired to be.  Centerfield TOTALLY rips off La Bamba, but it doesn't matter because it makes baseball seem interesting for four minutes.

Obvious Filler & Swings-and-Misses:
I completely understand why Mr. Greed had to get written.  I just wish it hadn't been included here.  Searchlight is a great idea for a song, but it just doesn't quite get there.

My Overall Rating of the Tracks Separately:
Recommended Listening (3/4 stars)

Here are some interesting facts about "Centerfield":

It's the only time I know of when an artist got sued for plagiarizing himself.

I know this particular copy is an early one because the last track is titled Zanz Kant Danz.  Later versions were changed to "Vanz" after Fogerty got sued (again) by his former manager Saul Zantz.

John Fogerty doesn't get nearly enough credit as a guitar player.

In tiny font, tucked away in the bottom corner of the back cover, is the following, seemingly innocuous, statement: "Also available on cassette and compact disc."

Seriously, John Fogerty doesn't get nearly enough credit as a guitar player.

So, is it an album?  Yes.  "Centerfield" is clearly the work of a man reflecting back over his life, warts and all.  Some of it is happy; some of it is incredibly pissed off.  Some of the reflections are explicitly stated throughout the course of a song; others are subtly woven in via a lyrical phrase or an appropriated guitar riff.  It begins with a meditation on death and ends with a vitriolic rant (but it's a very singalong-able rant); it is strewn with deep wells of hope and joy.  I think I'm going to go a step further and call "Centerfield" a theme album.

Up next, we get our third LP in a row from 1985.  This time, it's "Come Out and Play" by Twisted Sister.  No, that song's not on this record.  Neither is that other song.