Ram (Archive Collection)
Paul and Linda McCartney
2012
Almost everybody who mattered hated this album when it came out in 1971. While the single, Uncle Arnold/Admiral Halsey went to number one and the arrangement earned McCartney a Grammy, most critics panned the album, sometimes harshly. The other Beatles hated it too. Ringo Starr famously said that Ram didn’t have one good song on it.
But there were extenuating circumstances. For starters, McCartney was in the process of suing his former band mates so he could legally quit the Beatles. As the world watched, the Beatles were breaking up — formally, legally and permanently. Although it had been in the works for years, this was an event as tragic as the Great Depression for music fans. And here was Paul McCartney, paying lawyers to drive the final nail in the coffin. He wanted out. That’s why anything McCartney released from that moment forward would be forever held to a higher standard and ultimately compared to the Beatles. Read more…
2112 Deluxe Reissue
Rush
December, 2012
The deathgrind band Caninus, was fronted by two female pit bulls named Budgie and Basil. These canine performers were recruited to handle the band’s lead vocals, harmonies and presumably write the lyrics. And they worked for Alpo. Few realized at the time, how cleverly this multi-species collective had turned the tables on Rush, a band whose lead singer, Geddy Lee, hits lots of notes that only dogs have ever heard.
Fans get pissed off every time a critic happens to mention the freakishly high voice of Rush’s first, best and only lead vocalist, Gary Lee Weinrib, aka Geddy Lee. And they should, because Rush, despite the critical knocks, is a very successful and long-standing rock and roll institution. The band has been recording and touring without interruption for the better part of 40 years and has scored more consecutive gold and platinum records than any other rock band with two exceptions — the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Nice company. Geddy has every right to smile and give me the finger. Read more…
Aqualung 40th Anniversary
Jethro Tull
November, 2011
In the dark days predating MTV, YouTube and Google, we knew a lot less about the bands we loved. Almost everything you gleaned about a band came from their cover art and liner notes, along with the scant coverage you might pick up in a few rock publications like Rolling Stone, Creem, and Circus. That’s probably why, some of us rock and roll kids in the 70s did not understand that Jethro Tull was not a person.
It usually went down something like this. You and some friends are huddled up behind the high school sneaking a smoke and talking music. Someone asks if you like the new Jethro Tull album and before you have a chance to think better of it, you open your stupid mouth and blurt out, “I think he’s great!” Everyone laughs and you scurry home for dinner before anyone asks you about Lynyrd Skynyrd. Read more…
Tenology (4 CD; 1 DVD Box Set)
10cc
November, 2012
Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème , collectively known as 10cc, defy easy classification. Like many rock bands from the 70s, 10cc had four members and for the most part worked within the standard bass, drum, guitars, keyboards and vocals line up. What made them hard to get your arms around, however, was their democratic approach to recording. There was no identifiable leader. No cocksure lead vocalist. No Stratocaster wielding guitar hero. Each of them was a multi-instrumentalist. They all wrote, collaborating in random combinations and they could all sing. So it’s no surprise that none of them ever really emerged as a star and I doubt many people remember their individual names.
Native Englishmen who did well at home, 10cc didn’t have many hits in the U.S. (I’m Not in Love, The Things We Do for Love, possibly Wall Street Shuffle). When it was all said and done, the band logged a lot of airtime on album rock radio, sold a boatload of records and made their mark with more than a decade’s worth of smart, catchy songs. But they always were a strange little band. Let’s start with the name, derived from the average amount of spunk a dude dispenses upon climax. Funny? A little. Clever? Maybe. Clinical? I’d say so. Juvenile? No question. Interestingly enough, those four adjectives do a decent job of summing up the band’s music. Could that have been intentional? Read more…
Rumors Expanded Edition (3 CD)
Fleetwood Mac
Released January, 2013
I’ve heard people talk of a future where mp3s and ipods become obsolete and digital media is stored directly in the human brain. Sounds nuts until you realize it has already been done. Until you realize that you already have this capability. Until you discover one day that all you have to do is think of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, and within microseconds synapses begin to fire, connections are established and the DJ in your mind starts to play the tunes. But your brain doesn’t play the album in the correct order. It begins with Don’t Stop and plays the damn song four or five times in a row until you start to fantasize about hearing anything else. Dreams, You Make Loving Fun, Go Your Own Way, and Gold Dust Woman follow, each of them so painfully familiar, so tired of revealing themselves to you and having nothing new to offer. Each of them wishing they could finally pack up thier multi-platnimum hooks and harmonies and retire. My point? Listening to this record is a lot like driving home from work and realizing you can barely noticed the journey.
Celebration Day
Led Zeppelin
2012
On September 25, 1980 Led Zeppelin drummer, John “Bonzo” Bonham, died in his sleep after throwing back the equivalent of 40 shots of vodka inside a 24-hour period. The band was in the midst of rehearsals for a U.S. tour at the time. Ironically, a homebody at heart, Bonham’s binge drinking that night has often been attributed to depression over the prospect of leaving his family for an extended tour. As it turned out, he left them for much longer than expected.
And that was it. Without warning, the band that defined heavy metal, with their unholy alchemy of rock, blues, funk, progressive and folk influences, suddenly imploded and were no more. Since their decision to disband, Led Zeppelin’s remaining members have continued to work. Page, Plant and Jones all released solo records, a few records together, and a variety of records with other artists and bands. But with the exception of their under rehearsed,train wreck performances at Live Aid, in 1985, and at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show in 1988, they never worked as Led Zeppelin again. So their decision to reunite in 2007 for a single concert, with Jason Bonham (Bonzo’s son) on drums was a surprise to say the least. The concert was played in tribute to the man who signed them and made them stars, Atlantic Records founder, Ahmet Ertegun.
Brian loves South Jersey for its proximity to four metropolitan cities, the Jersey shore, the Pocono Mountains and some of the nation's most congested roadways. When he's not marketing education, or on a treadmill, BK spends most of his free time spinning vinyl, writing and playing guitar. Brian writes a classic rock blog at Justriffin.com and edits Planet Zombo. 
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