Time Waits For No One - Songs 1974

Another mix in my Songs 1974 series of music from my collection released that year. As usual, very subjective, very personal.

1. The Rolling Stones - Time Waits For No One (It's Only Rock and Roll)
2. Neil Young - Walk On (On The Beach)
3. Big Star - September Gurls (Radio City)
4. Brian Eno - Cindy Tells Me (Here Comes The Warm Jets)
5. Hall & Oates - 79's Scenario (War Babies)
6. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (Pretzel Logic)
7. Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us (Kimono My House)
8. Roxy Music - Out Of The Blue (Country Life)
9. The Kinks - He's Evil (Preservation Act 2)
10. Queen - Killer Queen (Sheer Heart Attack)
11. Lou Reed - Sally Can't Dance (Sally Can't Dance)
12. Rod Stewart - Sweet Little Rock 'N Roller (Smiler)
13. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (Diamond Dogs)
14. New York Dolls - Babylon (Too Much Too Soon)
15. T. Rex - Teenage Dream (Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow)
16. Todd Rundgren - A Dream Goes On Forever (Todd)

I Just Wanna Testify - Songs 1974

Songs 1974
Let's get it on... it's time to get down. Part 2.

1. Ramsey Lewis with Earth, Wind & Fire - Sun Goddess (Sun Goddess)
2. Average White Band - Person To Person (AWB)
3. Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman (Fulfillingness' First Finale)
4. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Natty Dread (Natty Dread)
5. Toots & The Maytals - Take Me Home Country Roads (In The Dark)
6. Al Green - Take Me To The River (Al Green Explores Your Mind)
7. Santana - Mirage (Borboletta)
8. Taj Mahal - Why Did You Have To Desert Me?  (Mo' Roots)
9. Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different (They Say I'm Different)
10. Ohio Players - Skin Tight (Skin Tight)
11. Bill Withers - The Same Love That Made Me Laugh (+'Adjustments)
12. Bobby Womack - Lookin' For A Love (Lookin' For A Love Again)
13. Barry White - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe (Can't Get Enough)
14. Swamp Dogg - The Mind Does The Dancing While The Body Pulls The Strings (Have You Heard This Story??)
15. Parliament - Testify (Up For The Down Stroke)

Trying to grok it again - Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, 1961

I first read this in April 1975. I've decided to revisit some of the books that I read in my twenties that I think influenced me and to see how they hold up. I had always kept track of my readings in notebooks and then had transferred the lists to documents on my computers. I was eventually able to have a fairly accurate list of my readings from about 1970 that I could add to Good Reads. So now I'm going back and looking at some of those books.

I started this re-reading project scanning my Good Reads list and my book shelves. I've always been a big science fiction fan and Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein and is considered a classic. I saw that it was available from the public library as an e-book and immediately downloaded it. I first read this book in the early 70's while stationed on board a Navy ship. Science fiction paperbacks were traded throughout the ship while we were at sea and I read several of Heinlein's earlier books. This book was a lot different.

Later I read it a second time in 1976 along with many more of Heinlein's later books. I just recently finished reading it again some 40 years later and what did I think? First of all it felt very dated and actually had some very cringe worthy moments.

On The Verge - Songs 1974

I was back home living in the city and going to Temple U after four years overseas and this was the sound of Philadelphia. Funk, soul and disco from albums in my collection released in 1974. Party music. Let's get it on... it's time to get down. Part 1.

1. Funkadelic - Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On (Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On)
2. B.T. Express - Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) (In Yo Face: The History of Funk Vol. 2)
3. James Brown - My Thang (Make It Funky: 1971-1975)
4. The Isley Brothers - Live It Up (Part 1 & 2) (Live It Up)
5. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Lively Up Yourself (Natty Dread)
6. Average White Band - Pick Up The Pieces (AWB)
7. Barry White - You're The First, The Last, My Everything (Can't Get Enough)
8. Eddie Kendricks - Boogie Down (Boogie Down!)
9. Labelle - Lady Marmalade (Nightbirds)
10. Rufus - Tell Me Something Good (Rags To Rufus)
11. Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin' (Fulfillingness' First Finale)
12. Parliament - Up For The Down Stroke (Up For The Down Stroke)
13. Dionne Warwick & The Spinners - Then Came You (New And Improved)
14. Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat (The Disco Box, Vol. 1)
15. Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye (The Disco Box, Vol. 1)
16. M.F.S.B. - T.S.O.P (The Sound Of Philadelphia) (The Disco Box, Vol. 1)

Wishing You Were Here - Songs 1974

The first set of my Songs 1974 series of music from albums in my collection released in 1974. As usual, a very subjective and personal view of the year in music from my perspective and my collecting.

1. Chicago - Wishing You Were Here (Chicago VII)
2. David Bowie - Rock 'n' Roll With Me (Diamond Dogs)
3. John Lennon - #9 Dream (Walls and Bridges)
4. Electric Light Orchestra - Can't Get It Out Of My Head (Eldorado)
5. John Cale - You Know More Than I Know (Fear)
6. Gordon Lightfoot - Carefree Highway (Sundown)
7. Gram Parsons & Emmy Lou Harris - Hearts On Fire (Grievous Angel)
8. Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight)
9. Stevie Wonder - Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away (Fulfillingness' First Finale)
10. Bob Marley & The Wailers - No Woman, No Cry (Natty Dread)
11. Ken Boothe - Everything I Own (Everything I Own)
12. Jesse Colin Young - Light Shine (Light Shine)
13. The Hollies - Air That I Breathe (Hollies)
14. Cat Stevens - Oh Very Young (Buddha & The Chocolate Box)
15. Bob Dylan - Forever Young (Planet Waves)
16. Eagles - Ol' 55 (On The Border)

Vinyl Spins - First Reggae

It was cold up on the third floor today but I got some work done while spinning the hot reggae sounds of The Harder They Come soundtrack album featuring Jimmy Cliff released in 1972. This was the first of many reggae albums I would own on vinyl. I saw the film in a neighborhood repertory theater, the Band Box, in 1973 with some friends and then went looking for the album.

I came to love the reggae sounds and built a large collection on vinyl and eventually CDs. In the mid to late 70’s we regularly saw Jamaican reggae bands play live at Grendel’s Lair on South Street in Philly where we spent many long sweaty smoke filled nights on the dance floor. Also one of the highlights of my live music experiences was seeing Bob Marley and the Wailers in concert.

I had made several cruises to the Caribbean islands during my time in the Navy including Jamaica. I heard and saw a lot of calypso, ska and other good time island sounds available to the tourist and servicemen but no dreadlocks, spliffs or hard trance reggae dub beats.

Traveling Light - Songs 2016

The mix of my Songs 2016 series of music from albums in my collection released in 2016. A very subjective selection.




All albums released in 2016.

1. Leonard Cohen - Traveling Light (You Want It Darker)
2. Shovels & Rope - St. Anne's Parade (Little Seeds)
3. Bon Iver - 33?God? (22, A Million)
4. Cass McCombs - Bum Bum Bum (Mangy Love)
5. Alejandro Escovedo - Farewell To The Good Times (Burn Something Beautiful)
6. Passenger - Anywhere (Young As The Morning Old As The Sea)
7. Sarah Jarosz - House Of Mercy (Undercurrent)
8. KT Tunstall - Turned A Light On (Kin)
9. The Lumineers - Cleopatra (Cleopatra)
10. Hamilton Leithauser - In A Black Out (I Had A Dream That You Were Mine)
11. Ryler Walker - The Roundabout (Golden Sings That Have Been Sung)
12. Itasca - Buddy (Open To Chance)
13. Steve Gunn - Heavy Sails (Eyes On The Lines)
14. Ages and Ages - I'm Moving (Something To Ruin)
15. Regina Spektor - The Light (Remember Us To Life)
16. Lera Lynn - Fade Into Black (Resistor)

Four Generations

Katie with her mother, her grandmother and her great-grandmother. Philadelphia, Spring 1985. In the backyard of the house on Evergreen Avenue, Chestnut Hill.

Four generations of moms.

There was a container full of toys in the living room in a vinyl covered foot stool that we played with when we were kids. Katie sat there on the floor that day and played with the same toys.

Vinyl Spins - Album Cover

I think this is the only album I’ve ever purchased where I knew nothing about the band, the producer or anything else other than I liked the cover. The Chocolate Watchband’s The Inner Mystique, released in 1968, was their second album and would eventually be considered a classic of garage rock and psychedelia.  I bought this album in one of those small head shops that were popular back in 1968 that also sold a few albums along with the bongs, scarfs, posters and incense. So I was browsing the album bin and came across this one. I must have been stoned or something. Later I probably spent too much time pondering the list of dedications on the back cover.

This became one of my favorite albums of the period and I always carried it around with me when I was spinning records in bars during the 80's for my 60's nights. 

An interesting note about this album is that the original band from their first album only played on side two here and also only played garage band style cover songs. The spacey psychedelic songs on the first side were performed by the producer and session players. It all sounded good.

Love Lies Bleeding - Songs 1973

Still more songs from albums in my collection released in 1973. The ninth mix of my Songs 1973 series.

1. Elton John - Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
2. Chicago - Feelin' Stronger Every Day (Chicago VI)
3. Cat Stevens - The Hurt (Foreigner)
4. The Beach Boys - California Saga (On My Way To Sunny California) (Holland)
5. The Band - Endless Highway (Moondog Matinee)
6. The Allman Brothers - Jessica (Brothers and Sisters)
7. Grateful Dead - Eyes Of The World (Wake Of The Flood)
8. Poco - Here We Go Again (Crazy Eyes)
9. Led Zeppelin - Over The Hills And Far Away (Houses Of The Holy)
10. Steely Dan - Bodhisattva (Countdown To Ecstacy)
11. String Driven Thing - Night Club (The Machine That Cried)
12. The Kinks - One Of The Survivors (Preservation Act 1)
13. The Rolling Stones - Star Star (Goat Head Soup)
14. David Bowie - Let's Spend The Night Together (Aladdin Sane)

Give Me Love - Songs 1973

More classic rock from my collection released in 1973.

1. George Harrison - Give Me Love (Living In The Material World)
2. Redbone - Come And Get Your Love (Wovoka)
3. Faces - Ooh La La (Ooh La La)
4. Frank Zappa - Dirty Love (Over-Nite Sensation)
5. Dr. John - Such A Night (In The Right Place)
6. Grateful Dead - Stella Blue (Wake Of The Flood)
7. Gram Parsons - Streets Of Baltimore (GP)
8. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Baby We've Got A Date (Rock It Baby) (Catch A Fire)
9. The Spinners - Could It Be I'm Falling In Love (Spinners)
10. Al Green - Call Me (Come Back Home) (Call Me)
11. Hall & Oates - Lady Rain (Abandoned Luncheonette)
12. Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song (Killing Me Softly)
13. Jesse Colin Young - Song For Juli (Song For Juli)
14. Paul Simon - Love Me Like A Rock (There Goes Rhymin' Simon)
15. Bryan Ferry - Piece Of My Heart (These Foolish Things)
16. The Rolling Stones - Angie (Goat Head Soup)
17. John Lennon - I Know (I Know) (Mind Games)
18. John Martyn - Don't Want To Know (Solid Air)

My Time Went So Quickly - Songs 1973

Songs 1973 series continues with some singer songwriter and pop from albums in my collection released that year.

1. Tom Waits - Ol' 55 (Closing Time)
2. Billy Joel - Piano Man (Piano Man)
3. John Lennon - Mind Games (Mind Games)
4. John Prine - Sweet Revenge (Sweet Revenge)
5. Linda Ronstadt - Sail Away (Don't Cry Now)
6. The Isley Brothers - Summer Breeze (3+3)
7. The Heptones - Book Of Rules (Book Of Rules)
8. Elton John - Daniel (Don't Shoot Me I'm The Piano Player)
9. The Kinks - Sweet Lady Genevieve (Preservation Act. 1)
10. Mott The Hoople - Ballad Of Mott The Hoople (Mott)
11. Roxy Music - Mother Of Pearl (Stranded)
12. Van Morrison - Hard Nose The Highway (Hard Nose The Highway)
13. Loggins & Messina - Watching The River Run (Full Sail)
14. Gram Parsons - A Song For You (GP)
15. Paul Simon - St. Judy's Comet (There Goes Rhymin' Simon)
16. Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run (Band On The Run)

Med Cruise 1972

Last week I found this book while going through some boxes up on the third floor storage area. I hadn't seen this in decades. A sort of yearbook for one of the many cruises I embarked on during my four years serving in the Navy.

When The Morning Comes - Songs 1973

More great music from albums in my collection released in 1973.

1. Hall & Oates - When The Morning Comes (Abandoned Luncheonette)
2. Bruce Springsteen - 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)
3. Billy Joel - Captain Jack (Piano Man)
4. Al Stewart - Nostradamus (Past, Present and Future)
5. Donovan - Cosmic Wheels (Cosmic Wheels)
6. Pink Floyd - Time (The Dark Side Of The Moon)
7. Dr. John - Right Place Wrong Time (In The Right Place)
8. Todd Rundgren - Sometimes I Don't Know What I Feel (A Wizard, A True Star)
9. John Cale - Paris 1919 (Paris 1919)
10. Mark-Almond - What Am I Living For? (Mark-Almond 73)
11. Lou Reed - Caroline Says II (Berlin)
12. Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do (Frampton's Camel)
13. Traffic - Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory)
14. Steely Dan - My Old School (Countdown To Ecstacy)

Give It To Me - Songs 1973

More Songs 1973

1. The J. Geils Band - Give It To Me (Bloodshot)
2. David Bowie - The Jean Genie (Aladdin Sane)
3. Bruce Springsteen - It's So Hard To Be A Saint In The City (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)
4. Al Stewart - Soho (Past, Present and Future)
5. Steve Miller Band - The Joker (The Joker)
6. 10cc - Rubber Bullets (10cc)
7. The Doobie Brothers - China Grove (The Captain and Me)
8. Faces - Cindy Incidentally (Ooh La La)
9. Little Feat - Dixie Chicken (Dixie Chicken)
10. Eagles - Tequila Sunrise (Desperado)
11. Todd Rundgren - Just One Victory (A Wizard, A True Star)
12. The Strawbs - Lay Down (Bursting At The Seams)
13. Steeleye Span - Alison Gross (Parcel Of Rogues)
14. Donovan - I Like You (Cosmic Wheels)
15. Traffic - (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired (Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory)
16. Hall & Oates - Everytime I Look At You (Abandoned Luncheonette)

Dark Money

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer, 2016

Read in October 2016 over the course of several days. This book was a revelation of things we have all come to believe over the years and the old saying of follow the money.

The book is about the reasons for the profound inequality found in the American economy and the extremely wealthy people with radical libertarian views behind this situation. They promote the basic conservative belief against so called Big Government in their attempt to alter the government of America and the basics of democracy.

The chief leaders of this anti-democracy conservative movement are the Koch brothers who fund the efforts of these organizations to reconfigure government to their benefit.

The book is well written and researched. It is extremely important in understanding the current attacks on American democracy.

Higher Ground - Songs 1973

A set of soul and funk songs from albums in my collection released in 1973.  The Songs 1973 series continues.

1. Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground (Innervisions)
2. The Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can Can (The Pointer Sisters)
3. O'Jays - For The Love Of Money (Ship Ahoy)
4. James Brown - The Payback (The Payback)
5. War - Me And Baby Brother (Deliver The Word)
6. Funkadelic - Cosmic Slop (Cosmic Slop)
7. Earth, Wind & Fire - Evil (Open Your Eyes)
8. Tower Of Power - What Is Hip? (Tower Of Power)
9. Kool & The Gang - Hollywood Swinging (Wild and Peaceful)
10. Isley Brothers - That Lady (3+3)
11. Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay (Fresh)
12. Al Green - Here I Am (Come And Take Me) (Call Me)
13. The Spinners - I'll Be Around (Spinners)
14. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (Let's Get It On)
15. The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again (The Three Degrees)

Gimme Danger - Songs 1973

This set of music from my Songs 1973 is all over the place.

1. Iggy & The Stooges - Gimme Danger (Raw Power)
2. Lou Reed - Oh Jim (Berlin)
3. Bob Marley & The Wailers - I Shot The Sheriff (Burnin')
4. War - Gypsy Man (Deliver The Word)
5. John Lennon - Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple) (Mind Games)
6. Stevie Wonder - He's Misstra Know It All (Innervisions)
7. George Harrison - Living In The Material World (Living In The Material World)
8. David Bowie - Friday On My Mind (Pin Ups)
9. Elton John - Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
10. The J. Geils Band - (Ain't Nothin' But A) House Party (Bloodshot)
11. James Brown - I Got Ants In My Pants (Soul Classics Vol. 2)
12. Kook & The Gang - Jungle Boogie (Wild and Peaceful)
13. T. Rex - Born To Boogie (Tanx)
14. Aerosmith - Somebody (Aerosmith)
15. The Band - Going Back To Memphis (Moondog Matinee)
16. Brinsley Schwarz - Play That Fast Thing (One More Time) (Please Don't Ever Change)