Right now our largest ‘pile’ is compact discs, then cassette tapes, of all things.
When the time comes for an audio ‘spring cleaning’, you have to choose the tunes that stick around. The rest are donations to the nearest suitable charity.
The questions is: Trash or stash? We’ve gathered a handful of albums from our youth, wondering which pile they should land in. We’re busy procrastinating as this list grows larger.
You should send notes about your pile or our pile and who should go…
Backtracks - Trash or Stash?
In late 1977 Journey got a lucky break when they found Steve Perry and added him to the band lineup as their new lead vocalist. Around that time Roy Thomas Baker was putting the finishing touches on The Cars debut album, and we know how that turned out. Journey manager Herbie Herbert put Thomas Baker under contract to produce the fourth Journey album, Infinity.
The writing was a joint effort of the entire band, plus Matt Schon, the father of guitarist Neil Schon. Schon and Perry wrote a majority of the tunes and contributed to the others. Recording sessions in San Francisco and Los Angeles produced the fourth album from the group. >>read
The motivation for the sixth album from The Alan Parsons Project is related to belief systems, whether they be religious beliefs, political beliefs or belief in luck (as in gambling). Generally, the premise is linked to the universal idea that there is someone looking down on us all. The album title is the expression that is often used in military and surveillance contexts.
That’s straight from the horse’s mouth, the Alan Parsons Project website. The album began after singer and songster Eric Woolfson heard the phrase “eye in the sky” on three separate occasions in the same day. This intrigued Woolfson, and the ‘Project’ began another project. >>read
Dave Mason got to play in Traffic on his way to this album, a record that should have made him an absolute star. It didn’t quite happen, but lots of people think that it definitely should have. He took the long way to get to his shot at mainstream fame, spending years honing his skills and talents, learning from and playing with some of the finest musicians in rock history. The songs and the album are packed with fantastic vocal harmonies and sparked with audio energy and passion. Mason’s skills and talents are mostly overlooked, so don’t let his undeserved invisibility in rock talk circles stop you from enjoying some of the very best pop slash rock music of the Seventies. >>read
When he heard his first Beatles song, Paul Rodgers was a teenager playing for The Roadrunners, a local band in Middlesbrough, England. The band members at the time included Micky Moody (Whitesnake) and Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and The Attractions). They performed assorted cover songs at halls and clubs in the area. In 1967 they had played out the local music scene so they changed the band name to The Wildflowers and moved to London. After some minor success, they began touring, however, relationships within the band deteriorated and they soon disbanded without making any recordings. >>read
Here comes the part where the preacher’s son grows up to become a global phenomenon as a shock-rock singer and musician who dearly wants his rockstar character to be elected to public office. He dreams up and produces one of the first story-line promo videos on MTV. The project is deemed a success and the game of music promotion suddenly has a brand new playing field.
In 1972 Deep Purple was recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as being the “globe’s loudest band” when a concert at the London Rainbow Theatre reached a volume of 117 dB. Three audience members were ultimately rendered unconscious.
So, in answer to the album title, “The World’s Loudest Band” for starters. And we realize that this release is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Deep Purple. >>read
In the Steve Miller book of dreams there may be a chapter about his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame being placed at the world-famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, right in front of the iconic Capitol Records building.
As a youngster growing up in Milwaukee, Miller took a liking to music due to his mother, Bertha, a talented, jazz-influenced singer. His father was a physician and pathologist, and jazz fan plus he was an accomplished amateur studio engineer. >>read
We are not sure how Robin feels about it, but throughout his musical travels he has been tagged as ‘the white Jimi Hendrix’, and most rock followers would agree that his talent and style make him deserving of the comparison.
His early years growing up in London uncovered his musical talents, and at age 17 he started playing with a band – The Paramounts. The history of the group is somewhat mysterious. Some remember the beginning of the outfit was known as “The Raiders” at the very end of the 1950’s when the youngsters were teenagers. >>read
Pat Travers first picked up the guitar at age 12 after he attended a local concert that included Jimi Hendrix. Rock guitarist, keyboardist, and singer from Toronto, Travers started playing in bands early in his teens; his first bands were the Music Machine, Red Hot, and Merge, which all spent time in clubs in and around Quebec area. >>read
The idea came from Gary Morris, the manager of Midnight Oil. He suggested that the Farris Brothers change the name of their band to INXS, making them somewhat ‘inaccessible’, a mix inspired by the British band XTC and Australian jam makers IXL. The two bands were touring together in 1978, making the rounds on the Oz pub and club circuit. The three Farris brothers, Jon, Tim, and Andrew agreed, as did fellow band members Kirk Pengilly, Garry Gary Beers and Michael Hutchence. >>read
In Swindon, England, Richard Davies gravitated towards music at an early age. When he was eight his parents presented him with a radiogram, a combination radio and record player, which included records from drumming legend Gene Krupa. Soon Davies was an aspiring drummer, listening to military marching songs to develop a technique. In due course Richard began taking drumming lessons and messing around with all types of keyboards. >>more
From his classic rock music to his public persona, Ted Nugent has made some lasting and assorted impacts. Mr. Nugent has been in the news lately, and the spotlight has been focused on his political ambitions. The latest newsworthy buzz puts Ted in a campaign up against none other than Kid Rock. The younger rocker’s name was reportedly dropped at a Michigan Republican party convention. The Michigan Republican committee member who first came up with the idea of Kid Rock as a Senate candidate said he has no inside info on whether the musician is interested in running. >>read
Johnny Rotten sometimes wore a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words “I hate” scrawled in ink above the band’s name. Apparently, he was not a huge fan of progressive rock music. In that respect, Pink Floyd had become the objects of publicity stunts and campaigns by the brash young punk music crowd. The artists and fans of the new offshoot of music were growing, and soon it became a turning point in the timeline of rock. It was new and arrogant and outlandish, and in the mid-seventies, it began an explosive growth spurt that began in London. >>read
Recent Comments