The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Six

On the sixth day of Gheorghemas

Big Gheorghe gave to me:

Six Vinyl Discs

Five golden (Cream Yellow, really) cylinders for Squeaky

Four players playing

Three Nutty Squirrels

Two Chilean bangers (literally)

And a British lass slingin’ hot meat

Long time no write. Apologies for the output in 2019. Was it two years ago GTB featured a series on everyone’s favorite albums? Maybe three. You might be surprised that nothing was submitted from the 904, but now it’s time, but with a little twist. Not my favorite, but more or less the first six that I got to know very well, and loved. Some still would be in my fave basket if I had one. Not all though. No judging, as I was a young'n. To think I was my middle child's age is both depressing and eye-opening. It's hard for me to envision any of my kids sitting in a room listening to albums, one after the other. In that respect, maybe I was pretty hip. 

Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell (1977)

We’re back in Oneida, NY, in the basement with the bar, beer on tap, and all the fixins. Remember now that I have three older sisters, the two oldest at the time in their high school years and slightly more than casual fans of music, mostly of the classic rock variety. Seven or eight years old am I. This must be my intro to the music my parents would never listen to. “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights”, the must play wedding song of the 80’s and 90’s brings me back to the basement with my sisters blasting this album, singing, screaming the lyrics as I either sit there pissed off because I want to watch Dukes of Hazzard or slightly amused. And because I was an immense Yankee fan and watched most of each game that I could before being directed to hit the hay, I knew Phil Rizzuto and knew him well and wondered… “Huh? What? That’s Phil Rizzuto?! How’s that? What does this have to do with baseball? I’m confused.” And I never looked at or listened to The Scooter in the same way again. Evolution eventually brings me to never being pissed off anymore, and not only amused but diggin it, to the point I listen to the album incessantly learning every word to every song. There’s a chance I’d even sing ‘em out loud to honor my influencers. Though new to music I had heard enough songs on the radio in my mom’s pinto to know this was not the normal collection of tunes, but didn’t learn this until a couple of years ago.

The Cars - The Cars - 1978

Same sitch, or setting anyway. But no sibs. My memory doesn’t tell me how this album ended up on top of the turntable, but it did. This was the first record that I considered mine. Since there were probably less than twenty or so in the crate, consisting of a few Elvis, Frank, Bee Gees, ABBA, Willie, Statler Brothers. Yup. As a young lad, that was all rubbish. Little did I know my mom’s taste was unquestionable, and the sisters' not too shabby either. Not all records included the lyrics – this one did, and my early onset OCD did not permit me to just listen to one random song – I had to listen to the whole thing, in order, lyrics in hand. The memory was better in those days so in no time I’d have each one down. Bye Bye Love = best song. Cars = underrated. Ric Ocasek = Outkicker of coverage, even as a wealthy rock star. But rest in peace Ric. Deep Track rec: All Mixed Up

REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity (1980)

Wikipedia: “They named the band REO Speedwagon, from the REO Speed Wagon, a 1915 truck that was designed by Ransom Eli Olds. Doughty (band member) had seen the name written across the blackboard when he walked into his History of Transportation class on the first day they had decided to look for a name.” (Please post other possible monikers in the appropriate section below. What if shop P.E. had been his next class? Or Physics? Business Law? We could really have fun a lot of fun with this one guys)

Before starting this exercise, it was my expectation to listen to this album that I was almost addicted to some 40 years ago,  and get pulled back in, maybe even wonder aloud why I've let it continue to be a distant memory, but couldn’t have been more wrong. Embarrassing. Don’t Let Him Go…decent. Tough Guys, okay. Everything else, garbage. Pop. Soft rock. Love ballads, led by Keep on Loving You and Take It On the Run. I was 10 years old so ease up. Who doesn't remember, among us older guys, the popularity of this album though? Take It On the Run took over the airwaves and no one that I knew showed anything but love for Kevin Cronin's chops. 

Rush - Moving Pictures (1981)

The trio from up north, eh hosers? Any band that I became a fan of was due to the influence of someone else and in this case a neighbor I hung out with who was two years my elder, David H. So I was a follower, big whoop. Dave’s parents were young in comparison to my parents. Rock’n Roll baby – they had it, along with an epic collection of Playboys. An aspiring drummer himself, David was big into the Canadian Rockers, Rush. Neal Peart… “Dude, check out this kit man!” How the hell did we see it though? It wasn’t YouTube. He must have had a video of some kind, Betamax. It doesn’t matter…Moving Pictures was purchased and like any other album I invested in, learned every single word, riff, drum solo. My air skills ran deep, and still do if I’m being honest. Just ask around. And speaking of deep…Deep Track rec: The Camera Eye; YouTube Rec: YYZ...shown here. 

Foreigner - Foreigner 4 (1981)

Night Life. Juke Box Hero – I never tire of this song. Urgent, with Junior Walker’s sax solo. Fun fact – Mark Ronson’s stepdad is none other than Mick Jones, co-founder, eventual dictator, and sole remnant of original ensemble. Mark Ronson btw is a scalding hot songwriter/performer/producer. Other fun fact – Thomas Dolby plays the synthesizer in mega-hit Urgent. Lots of good trivia you pick up with these projects. The “band” is still together after all these years, and in fact will be touring in 2020! The band consists of the aforementioned Mick and a dozen or so other musicians and singers not to include Lou Gramm. Foreigner without Lou Gramm. Yeah, no thanks.

I am not sure why, but over the last fifteen years or so I’ve all but stopped downloading/buying music. Absent the occasional Spotify requests do I ever go back and listen to this stuff, but am going to make the point to do so at least here in the short term. There are lots of other good songs that bring back memories, both good and bad. This album, like these others from ’81 were listened to a ton in ‘81/’82/’83… ’82 was the year our family moved from NY to VA, devastating for me at the time. Of course it turned out unicorns and rainbows but I wanted to maim my parents at the time.

The Who - Face Dances (1981)

In the late 70’s Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown on some FM channel coming most likely out of Syracuse was pretty regular listening for me steering me towards many bands of the time. You Better You You Bet stuck and stuck quickly. Not one of their better reviewed works, “neither triumph nor failure” according to Rolling Stone, I didn’t have anything to compare it to so what the hell did I know as a mere young man of 11? Not much. But what happened more often than not, and in this case, my next trip to the K-Mart where these purchases were made would be spent looking for others titles of The Who, The Cars, REO, Journey, etc etc…So I can only thank Casey.

Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (1973)

I’ve gotta thank Steve Flanagan for this one, and many others from the early mid-70’s including Aerosmith and Queen. My best friend from kindergarten, Pat Flanagan had four siblings himself, but all older including two older brothers, Danny and Steven. Steve was the first cool kid that I knew. Every boy worshiped him. Sharp kid, funny – dry and sarcastic, an all-world smart-ass. Tall and lean, good looking, and athletic as all get out, scoring 45 in one 7^th/8^th grade game for St. Pat’s. He was smoking cigarettes by twelve, which tragically led to his death while living in NYC. Falling asleep in his bed with a lit cigarette, the fire that ensued killed him and very nearly his brother Danny. Only about 25 at the time, this was a devastating loss for all that knew him. It put his mom into a tailspin as it would most. My parents were Steve’s godparents, my sisters were very close with him too. Crushing loss. Whenever hanging at their house, Steven would have something wailing from his room, and oftentimes this. And when he’d leave the house, Pat and I would go in his room and do the same. It was in Steve’s room I first met Aerosmith, Queen,Styx, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and groovy posters.