Rambling bout my Favs from the past: Velvets, Beefheart, Stooges, Beatles, Elton, Neil, Zappa

Beginnings of the Ramble

Roaming around the office singing along with my walkman cranked up, my mind wandered into the direction of my fav bands / musicians of all time.

Ultimate hi-fidelity!!!!
Rock on dude...so's I tried to think of my top 5 - in order. I kept changing my mind on the #1.

Beefheart? Les Rallizes (my recent favs)? Velvets?

in the past
long long ago
i would have
(probably)
had these as my #1
at some point in time.

Beatles - the first...I devoured Beatle books, listened to them all the time. I hate to say it now, but I may have had Paul as my #1 Beatle when I first got into them. Now it's either John or George. They have dropped way down my list, but I will still listen to them on occasion, and will still d/l Beatle boots. I'll admit it: I'm still a pretty big Beatles fan.

Elton John - overtook The Beatles around grade 8. Elton's 70s period was absolutely the best AM shit going around. I love his voice...I lost interest in Elton for a bit, but he's made a nice comeback, and I respect him more all the time. He sounds like a good bitchy egg...

The Velvets / Lou Reed - I probably got into Lou first, but not totally sure. That was many beers and doobies ago...Really got into the 1st album, then went totally apeshit playing air guitar to "I Heard Her Call My Name", from White Light / White Heat (1967), completely got into the quiet acoustics of the 3rd album (1969), and loved trying to dissect "The Murder Mystery"..."Candy Says" is still one of my all-time fav songs. And "Loaded" still sounds incredible. Every song = hooks, and Lou's Doug's voice sounds great. Incredible legacy...

The Stooges / Iggy Pop - obviously...still a fan of Iggy, but The Stooges were the best! The first side of Fun House (1970) always blew my mind...I love that fucking echo (or sterile...dry...whatever it is) sound!!! Raw Power!!!! I (still) love Raw Power (1973). I even ordered Iggy's autobiography drunk and depressed down and feeling low in Toronto, and when Ig's book finally arrived, it made that day shine a little bit brighter for that day anyway...

Frank Zappa - FZ was #1 for quite awhile. I got into his huge output and lost my selves in many different directions...so versatile, so intelligent, such an incredible guitar player...still a massive fan, but FZ is probably out of the top 5 now...too many bad albums, and some pretty embarrassing lyrics, but it's all part of the
project / object
and FZ is still a fav, and I'll still read any books that come out on him. Last one - Barry Miles: Zappa...also read FZ's auto many many times. Wasn't as disappointed as many others...

Captain Beefheart - discovered the Captain after getting into FZ, and the Beefer has now edged past FZ in Harvey Dog's Fav Musicians / bands hi-fidelity list. I am completely fascinated by Mr. Van Vliet, and find him quite impenetrable...always something to discover about him...the possibilities...did Beef have tons of acid trips as a teen??? mere gossip tmz-style???? I also love his art (hahahaha - I accidentally wrote "heart" instead of "art" - does that mean I have a crush on Beefheart???? Shut up Freud!!!!!!)....he could be my current #1...maybe....

Neil Young - Neil's always hovering in my top 5, if not top 3...and even #1. I find his output absolutely incredible, and he has a touch...that is MAGIC! I even find fav songs in his lousy 80s albums...loved Reactor...liked Hawks & Doves...but so many truly classic albums...fav? tonight's the night? rust never sleeps? after the goldrush? on the beach? even his recent stuff is pretty good. I did find Archives disappointing...there are so many boots out there with better unreleased stuff - BUT - hey, the music is still primo! Neil's still probably in my top 5. You could substitute "Neil Young" for "Bob Dylan" and it'd be about the same.
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up and comers....

Les Rallizes Denudes has made my top 5, most likely knocking FZ out...I love the sound of these guys with electricity buzzing through my brain and a soft gentle voice floating above the feedback fury...I listen to them very very regularly and when the guitars hit my ears I know I'm loving the next hour or so...awesome awesome
fucking AWESOME band!!!!!

Julian Cope - moving on up moving on up
love his books on krautrock & japrock!!! also his music is catchy as hell, and I love his voice.

Groundhogs - only recently got into them, and I think they're underrated, and Tony McPhee's guitar playing and singing brings a rock and roll shiver down my spine...split is my fav...

Fushitsusha - more electric guitar messy fury from japan courtesy of keiji haino, fushitsusha are moving on up out of nowhere...can't believe I only recently got into them, thanks to Tokyo Flashback!
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I Still Love You, Where ya Been???

Tim Buckley - really was into Tim at one time...read a book on him, love his singing...i'm a fan of the latter dirty funk albums...and his posthumous live albums rock!!

Kevin Coyne - like him even more than Tim...his voice eases into my head like an old drunken friend, and I want to listen to his words and what he has to say...and he's still probably top 15...like Mott the Hoople...huge Mott fan....

The Guess Who!!! How could I forget them? I was a huge Guess Who fan - still am! Burt's last album rocked pretty good...

The Who!!!??? They were prob top 2 at some points...maybe #1??? Maybe. Well down the list now, but they will always be a fav.

Miles Davis!!!! Someone else I have been super into for 3 decades now...still look for shows from the 70s online...Coltrane, not quite up to Miles, but pretty fucking close...

Bintangs are sounding pretty good in my ears right now!!!
There are so many!!! Time to listen to 20 albums at once now!!!

Can!!! What about Can!!!!

Bowie - was also really into Bowie -
can't stop!!!!

Ash Ra are up there --

The Doors (hey I was a high school male suffering from depression, so of course The Doors!)

The Kinks!!!! OM fucking GOD!!! The Kinks are probably top 5 of all-time!!!!! How did they slip my mind!!!!!!!!!!!

Jethro Tull ---- massive fan, especially in high school - still a fan!!!

Funkadelic!!!!!!!!!!!
That's it - I've lost my mind, I must go blow up my stereo!!!!
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Thin Lizzy & Springsteen not particularly liked, Oh What a Feeling discussed, Teenage Head on youtube!!!

Question: Why don't I like???

a) Thin Lizzy more? I'm listening to "Vagabonds" disc 3 right now, and it's good..."Parissiene Walkways" is fantastic - what's on right now...really good...but, there's something about his voice that just doesn't quite do it for me. I mean, I love non-singers...singers with no range...fuck, I'm one myself! It's like with...

b) Bruce Springsteen. No matter how much I've tried (and I've tried too hard) I just don't get it. I don't get all the hype...

I don't get all the praise...

I don't get it at all...I mean there are some songs of his I really really like, but when it comes to albums they leave me feeling cold. The River (1980) is probably my fav...I guess...Like Phil Lynott someone I can't get past the voice.

c) I would give the nod to Thin Lizzy actually.
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OK...I was going to edit the above, but fuck it.
Let it stand shouted the editor across the room buzzing flies lingering over shit looking for an edible...

let's move on to today...

driving to Masset and back, listening to Oh, What a Feeling! A Vital Collection of Canadian Music (1996)
4 cds of canadiana and i'm a proud canadian!!

of course, i recognize pretty much everything and it looked good at a glance
BUT
after listening to the first disc and a half
my verdict is: disappointment

I was all ready to travail in nostalgia, and for the first bit,
yeh
it was pretty good...a nice mixture of classics with cool one-hit wonders ("Roxy Roller"), but by the second disc...
well...i mean
Loverboy, Bryan Adams then Corey Hart????
That stuff sounded like shit back in the day to me, and...it still does! No revision for any of these guys! The Payola$ sounded pretty great coming after this unholy trifecta!

Then Honeymoon Suite came on with their 1 crappy hit, and I said to the Guru: "What's next? Glass Tiger?", and sure enough --- here came Glass Tiger with their slightly better lameass hit. We finished with Maestro Fresh Wes letting his backbone slide, and that was alright...looking at the songlist, it looks like disc 3 is "not bad", but disc 4 looks downright abysmal!! [aside: hey, did I ever tell about the time JK and I were almost in fights with Honeymoon Suite and Glass Tiger! Of course, on different nights. We might have been drunk...]

They should have gone back farther (pre-1968) and taken in all types of music - not just based on AM plays or sales...where's early Paul Anka? That happy Polish polka dude who's won 76 junos? No punk? No Canadian jazz? Is there absolutely no quality avante-garde, experimental shit from Canada? I'm listening to Harmonium's 1 st album from 1974, and it's sounding pretty beautiful to these ears and they're nowhere to be found, either.

Hahahaha...I just gave it 2 1/2 ** on Rate Your Music and it dropped it's rating from 4.11 to under 4 (3.97)...hahahahaha...the power of the internet!!
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Here's another band that didn't make it on to Oh What a Feeling! Teenage Head doing a great song: "Infected" in 1982. I saw Teenage Head tons of times growing up, and they were always great. thanks bobzmyuncle!

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