Van Halen-Diver Down

The best thing about listening to Van Halen on vinyl (as opposed to CD) is that you can actually hear Michael Anthony's bass.

"Diver Down" is possibly my favorite  original era Van Halen record. It's not necessarily their best, but I have always enjoyed it. Sure, roughly half of the tracks are cover songs, but they are all done the right way in that the band has kept the integrity of the originals and yet they sound like Van Halen songs.  The band are extraordinarily talented when it comes to covering Kinks songs, with the album opener "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" kicking things off in high gear. Their modernized "(Oh) Pretty Woman" is pure fun and "Dancing In The Streets" puts a great rock spin on a classic tune. Hey, I even like "Big Bad Bill" and the outro of "Happy Trails" is a funny, surprisingly good closing charmer.

But the originals hold up as well. "Little Guitars" is a bona-fide classic in its own right (even if I do still think it sounds like Dave Roth is singing about an etch-a-sketch). "Hang 'Em High" finds the band firing on all cylinders and the slightly bluesy groove of "Secrets" adds another jewel to the crown of this record.

Some VH fans rate this as a low point for the band, but for me this is the one from the Roth era I can listen to and enjoy at any time no matter what my mood. I'm not a fan of the musical interludes, and yes, it would be nice to have a few more originals on the record but I'm not complaining. "Diver Down" is just a fun listen and sounds so good on vinyl. On CD Van Halen sound a little thin but hearing them on vinyl again reminds me not only of how awesome they sounded back in the day but also how superior this medium really is.

4 1/2 out of 5 Daves.

Stevie Nicks-Bella Donna

Best nap I've had in years. Honestly, isn't this the one that every Stevie Nicks fan points to as a high water mark? Isn't it considered a classic, must have record? I don't see it.

To be fair I am no more than a casual fan of Nicks or the band that birthed her, the Peter Green-less Fleetwood Mac. but some of their stuff is really good. I just couldn't get into this particular record. It's mostly slow, boring left over hippie hallucinations mixed with a few new songs by people who were having hit records at the time which makes for an uneven, uninspiring and desperately dull record.

Okay, "Edge Of Seventeen" is a classic song, as is "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around". And the version of "Leather And Lace" here rivals the original. But the rest of the stuff? ZZZZZ....ZZZZZ....

2 out of 5 Daves.

Queen-Hot Space

Ah, Hot Space, Queen's much maligned 1982 effort. An album that saw the band boldly experimenting with funk after the huge success of "Another One Bites The Dust" a few years prior. At the time Queen were still mostly thought of as a rock band who liked to experiment with style, but still keeping rock and roll  (or glam rock anyway) as its heart. The rest of the band's releases would see much more experimentation and artistic shifts to the point that now, in 2013, Queen is remembered as a pop rock/art rock band bordering on progressive.

But that's now-not 1982. In '82, this record confused many and angered most. So the question is, when listened to in the light of the band's full career, does it hold up better? Can it be viewed as an important step in the band's evolution or is it just the product of a really bad idea and/or shot at a money grab?

Unfortunately, it still mostly sucks.

"But, but, it has "Under Pressure" on it...with David freakin' Bowie!!!"

Yes it does, and that is a classic song, no doubt. However, it was released as a single the previous year and is slapped on the end of the record as an afterthought, so it's doubtful that it was intended for release on this project. Also Vanilla Ice stole and wrecked it so that's a wash.

Look, almost all of side one is a disaster. "Dancer" has some decent guitar work but that's about it. When the best song of the five is the Roger Taylor song, you know you're in trouble. No, no, I love Roger, I'm just sayin'.

Side two fares a little better, beginning with "Put Out The Fire", a much needed rocker courtesy of Brian May. The rest of the songs do sound more like the Queen we know and love, but there's nothing else that stands out. Every song sounds like what it is...filler. There are a few bright spots, but by the time this disasterpiece is all over even "Under Pressure" feels like too little too late.

Hot Space? More like Hot Mess. I have been a Queen fan for over 30 years, but even I can't get on board with this one.

1 1/2 out of 5 Daves.

Frank Sinatra-September Of My Years

Ol' Blue Eyes. The Chairman Of The Board. Frank. One of the 20th century's most iconic performers turning in one of his most popular records of the era (number 5 on the Billboard chart). "September Of My Years" is just that, it's Sinatra about to turn fifty looking back on his youth and life lived through these chosen songs. Every song on this record in one way or another deals with aging and reflection. There is little humor here and much regret. The listener can almost get the visual of the man himself with a drink in his hand, beside the fire late at night. There is a small, weary, weathered and knowing smile creeping around the edges of his mouth as he remembers the sensations of youth and a sadness in the eyes knowing that it can only live now in his memories and the future is (perhaps for the first time) in question.

This album was recorded in 1965. Think about that for a moment. The world was just around the corner from becoming very turbulent indeed. In this country a cultural and political power shift was happening and it favored the young. The old guard was put on alert-and Frank knew it. Oh, he'd be all right, he'd been the Chairman longer than the boy from Tupelo became the King after all. He'd tough it out and come out the other end. But it wasn't going to be easy.

So is it any wonder, given the circumstances, that "September Of My Years" turned out the way it did? How could it have been otherwise? He did sing more upbeat songs and release more varied collections during this period, but this may well be the most important one. This isn't the confident, swaggering, ring-a-ding-ding swinging Frank we all think of today. This is a mature Frank, a wistful Frank, an older, wiser, melancholy Frank. But still very much alive.

What's on display here is what makes Sinatra great. See, his secret is not his voice (good as it is) or the songs (good as they are). It's the unique phrasing and delivery-the ability to inhabit a song, and as a non-writer performer, choose songs that you can relate to, perhaps even songs you have lived. And that is the genius of this record. It includes the all time classic "It Was A Very Good Year" and some other great songs such as "September Song", "Hello Young Lovers", "It Gets Lonely Early" and "Last Night When We Were Young". Class stuff.

If there is a flaw to this record it's that it feels overly long, even clocking in under 45 minutes. That's 13 songs of somber. But that complaint is minor when there is so much to appreciate here. If, that is, you are in the proper mood, have done a little living yourself, and are willing to listen with an open mind.

41/2 out of 5 Daves.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts-I Love Rock And Roll

I forgot how good this record is.

Everyone knows the title track. Big huge chorus, guitars slightly grittier than they need to be and sing along lyrics about a care free wild night out. Pop and rock thrust together in a perfect marriage of questionable intent. Safe enough for the parents but hip enough for kids in the know. Pretty classic song, but what of the rest?

Well, the title track may be the stand out here, but there are no shortage of bright spots. Joan's tough NYC girl vocals and bad relationships have shades of the Ramones, and the band grooves like a tighter, cleaner and poppier New York Dolls. The classic 45's covered here ("Crimson and Clover" and an under appreciated Dave Clark 5 song "Bits and Pieces") plant one foot firmly in classic rock and roll while the production and post punk attitude set the songs perfectly in the time. Fortunately the material has aged well and still sounds great.

I really like some of the other album tracks like "Victim Of Circumstance", "Nag" and "(I'm Gonna) Run Away"-(pun intended?)- and they are prime candidates for getting stuck in the noggin just as much as "I Love Rock And Roll" itself.  About the only flaw is the lame out Christmas track at the end. Surely some label exec. thought it would be lucrative to have a modernized version of "The Little Drummer Boy" by one of it's happening artists to cash in on in December. Bad idea, worse result. but the of the package is pretty darn good.

Bottom line: This record is an early 80's classic that came from the all too short time period after punk petered out and disco died, but right before new wave cheesed it all up and hair metal got so silly. There were a lot of great records from this era and this is one of the best.

4 out of 5 Daves.

Bobby Shad and the Bad Men

This is the kind of musical experiment that could only have happened in the 1970s. It is described on the cover as "a 65 piece rock workshop" and that's just about as apt as anything.

Bob Shad, for those unaware, was a big shot producer/ record label owner in the 1960s, working with such artists as Patti Page, Dizzy Gillespie, Lightnin' Hopkins, The Platters, Janis Joplin and Ted Nugent. Odd list. Odd album.

Basically what we have here is a full on orchestra, not a classical orchestra, but the kind you expect to hear in a 70's movie providing the theme music to the actions of the baddest cat keepin' the crime off the streets. Add to that The Amboy Dukes (Nugent's former band) and some of rock's most classic songs and you have, well, this. It's hard to tell if the intent behind this record was to expose rock and roll to a larger more mainstream audience, or to try and open the eyes of rockers by exposing them to something different in a way they could understand it. No matter, neither goal was accomplished. What did happen is a unique, oddly enjoyable LP that shouldn't work at all but somehow does.

As mentioned above, this sounds like the soundtrack to the greatest 70's spectacle never made. Acid rock meets "Shaft" in an NBC movie of the week starring the Jackson 5.  We get groovy, almost jazzy/soulful versions of "Whole Lotta Love", "Pinball Wizard", "No Time", "Up On Cripple Creek" (that's what I said...What?), "Instant Karma" and "I Want You Back". Okay that last one sounds mostly the same but you get the idea. Oh, and did I mention that the songs are all instrumentals as well? Kinda like super groovy elevator music.

The whole thing is amazingly silly, and yet still kinda awesome. Go into it as a grizzled rock purist and you will hate it. But keep an open ear and a smile on your face and you just might be surprised. You see, for all the ridiculousness of this project, the musicianship and arrangements are quite good. Bobby Shad and his Bad Men really were some baaaaad cats, they just got wrapped up in a whole lotta cheese.

This one is out there folks. Worth finding.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Daves.

WELCOME

If you've stumbled upon this blog you obviously have an affinity for vinyl records as I do. This blog is an effort to discuss some of the cool/weird/obscure/interesting records I have found and/or inherited. My collection is fairly large and there's a lot of stuff from all time classics to the all but forgotten. This blog will feature a sampling of all.

Each weekend I will pick a different record at random to listen to and write about. Hopefully I can clue people in to something they have never heard before, or inspire a lively discussion in the comments section. Or, perhaps it'll just be good for a laugh.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. First review up soon!