Sunday, January 31, 2010

despite the fucking creepy end (yeah, I'm a fuckin dad!), this is a cool vid and reminds me of a great ride home from a shitty end of tour. we got the joey solo record in richmond heading back from austin. kudos trav!

Friday, January 29, 2010

grant hart ... vid from new album?



doubtful with the oz footage, but a great song regardless.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

still miss this band

xmastime n i were in the audience ... fuckers ...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Jack's thoughts on the top 50

This list seems to be significantly more interesting than the song list we did a couple years back. While the contents of the list were not necessarily surprising, a few things struck me:

The Clash debut narrowly beat London Calling.

This was actually a pleasant surprise. I had them at #2 and #4, respectively.

The Sex Pistols beat the first Ramones LP.

This appeared to be a situation of great records canceling each other out. All five 1970s Ramones LPs received votes, while Swindle deservedly received none.

Big Star batted a thousand.

The 3 Big Star records placed in chronological order at #27, #29 and #33. They were the only artist to claim 3 spots. This is quite impressive considering Rocket to Russia, Live at Leeds, Some Girls and Give ‘Em Enough Rope didn’t chart.

VU definitely benefited from the 70s letdown.

If Loaded had been released 9 months earlier, things would have been different. While there is no doubt that it’s a great record (I had it at #9), there is absolutely no way that it would place #6 in a best of 1960s list. My guess is that it would fall somewhere between 30 and 40. Would the third record (just as good if not better than Loaded) crack the top 25 of the 1960s?

The Beatles are still the best.

All 4 Beatles received votes for their solo work with Harrison and Lennon charting. McCartney received several votes for various records. Conversely, neither of Bill Wyman’s solo records nor Mick Taylor’s solo record received any votes.

Soundtracks and Excess:

Saturday Night Fever charted at #47. In addition, several other soundtracks received votes including those from The Harder They Come, The Kids are Alright, Jaws, Star Wars and Superfly.

Six of the top fifty are double LPs (including two in the top five) and one is a triple LP. It was not a subtle decade.

The following well respected LPs failed to receive even one vote:

Five Leaves Left – Nick Drake
No Dice – Badfinger
Damned Damned Damned – The Damned
Plastic Letters – Blondie
Go Girl Crazy – The Dictators
In the City – The Jam
All Mod Cons – The Jam
The Cry of Love – Jimi Hendrix
The Madcap Laughs – Syd Barrett
Tumbleweed Connection – Elton John
(GI) – Germs
The Last Waltz – The Band
Shake Some Action – Flamin’ Groovies
Teenage Head – Flamin’ Groovies
All six of Tom Waits’ 70s LPs.

While top honors could go to Big Star (3 selections) or The Clash (two in the top five), I begrudgingly have to give it to Bob Dylan. In addition to Blood on the Tracks charting at #3, six more LPs received votes (it could be seven; I’m assuming that all of the votes for At Budokan were meant for Cheap Trick). This is pretty impressive considering the 70s may very well not even be Dylan’s second best decade.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The GIHYB TOP 50 Albums of the 1970s

1. Exile on Main Street (The Rolling Stones)
2. Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
3. Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan)
4. The Clash (The Clash)
5. London Calling (The Clash)
6. Loaded (The Velvet Underground)
7. Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols (Sex Pistols)
8. Ramones (Ramones)
9. Who’s Next (The Who)
10. Marquee Moon (Television)
11. Sticky Fingers (The Rolling Stones)
12. After the Gold Rush (Neil Young)
13. Rumours (Fleetwood Mac)
14. Let it Be (The Beatles)
15. All Things Must Pass (George Harrison)
16. What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)
17. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
18. Hunky Dory (David Bowie)
19. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)
20. Tapestry (Carole King)
21. Leave Home (Ramones)
22. The Cars (The Cars)
23. Innervisions (Stevie Wonder)
24. Moondance (Van Morrison)
25. Déjà Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
26. Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
27. #1 Record (Big Star)
28. Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin)
29. Radio City (Big Star)
30. Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division)
31. Harvest (Neil Young)
32. Entertainment! (Gang of Four)
33. Third/Sister Lovers (Big Star)
34. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon)
35. Raw Power (Iggy and the Stooges)
36. American Beauty (Grateful Dead)
37. Van Halen (Van Halen)
38. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (David Bowie)
39. Off the Wall (Michael Jackson)
40. The Modern Lovers (The Modern Lovers)
41. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Devo)
42. Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
43. Quadrophenia (The Who)
44. Talking Heads: 77 (Talking Heads)
45. Transformer (Lou Reed)
46. Armed Forces (Elvis Costello and the Attractions)
47. Saturday Night Fever (various artists)
48. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Derek and the Dominos)
49. Darkness on the Edge of Town (Bruce Springsteen)
50. Pink Moon (Nick Drake)

thanks to all who submitted. great lists! and as always, thanks to jack, who put in the sweat at the end. let's hear from you.

my quick thoughts:

-as with the top songs from 1950 list, I'm starting to think we're only going to see surprises once we get to the later decades. classic rock bleeds all over this list. crucial acts like john cale and the stooges get ignored or get one entry based on multiple great albums that cancel one another.

-once again, the lack of female presence is astounding (2.5 entries out of 50???), given the talent base. i'm the first to blame, patti smith only received honorable mention on my list. we did, again, have an overwhelming male voting

-3.5 on the color scale. "what's going on" being pretty much everyone's go to record.

-bizarre note ... metal almost completely excluded in the golden age of the genre??? sabbath is really the only true metal record on the list (maybe van halen). i know the community now embraces "raw power", but i'm not allowing that revisionism here, and zep IV is about as pussy a record as most southern cal crap from the era (not that there's anything wrong with that! boz scaggs made my list!!!).

-true 60s dinosaurs only accounted for 9 entries. i'm not including floyd in that category, cuz they emerged in the 70s as a different (and way less interesting) beast. i think, as we move into the 80s, when classic rockers began to put out truly terrible records, we'll see some more inspired choices. also, given the demographic of voters, many came of age in the 80s ... i think that's going to be an interesting list.

-one funny thing, the last entrant was able to knock "hotel california" off the list. kudos to k.c. in germany!

the man is black


... on February 26, American/Lost Highway will release Johnny Cash's American VI: Ain't No Grave, the final volume in the series. February 26 would have been Cash's 78th birthday.

final??? i get the feelin rick rubin taped his last fuckin breath and will release that with bonus tracks next year

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

true story

the first time i heard "love will tear us apart", i'd heard OF the song, but never actually listened to it. can't remember the location, but when i heard the chorus lyrics "love will tear us apart ... again", i instantly thought i was hearing the post-punk equivalent of "let's twist again", and wondered what the original song sounded like.

top 50 albums of the 70s

wednesday! i promise. we had a late entry we couldn't refuse!!!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

vic

a beast ... just found this vid ... so fuckin sad

Friday, January 1, 2010

lordy

shame the band flipper never had a cartoon