They say old habits die hard.
Although I have largely moved into the aughts and most often listen to MP3s,
when I can I still greatly enjoy shopping at the used CD stores. It's the
thrill of the hunt, I guess. (I don't ever expect to duplicate my 800+
album collection, but I hope to get most of my favorites. As far as I know,
some, like Tonto's Expanding Head Band, have never been released on CD.)
I've noted the passing of Gary Brooker, vocalist and keyboard player for
Procol Harum, one of my favorite bands from back in the day, and not long
ago I purchased the expanded edition of Broken Barricades. It
includes some slightly interesting bonus tracks, an excellent concert
broadcast from WPLJ in April of 1971, and another concert from Swedish
radio in October of that year. (Has it really been fifty years? Yikes!)
While shopping with an Amazon gift certificate, I've noticed many releases
of multiple classic album packages that come from Great Britain. The
Beach Boys' Sunflower with Surf's Up, Jefferson Airplane's
Volunteers, Bark, and Long John Silver, and Commander Cody's
Tales From the Ozone, We've Got a Live One Here!, and the
eponymous Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. The latter being
an excellent mix of Western swing, country, rockabilly, and boogie.
I'm also currently reading Star-Making Machinery: The odyssey of an Album
by Geoffrey Stokes. It chronicles in great detail the creation of Commander
Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, and along the way the inside workings
of the music business. Published in 1976, it is of course dated, yet still
an very interesting read.
It took a couple of years, but I no longer have the feeling that I'm missing
something when 10am rolls around. I continue to enjoy many of Captain Jack's
10@10 sets (thanks, Cap'n!), with the Beatles' covers sets being particular
stand-outs -- a testament to the song-writing of Lennon & McCartney. I think
they were like two draft horses, each of which pulls in a different direction.
But when you yoke them together, they plow a straight furrow. Lennon was serious,
McCartney more light-hearted, and the combination created great works.
