1000 Day Album Challenge (#98) The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (1991) [07.04.24]

in the beginning, you really loved me / but I was too blind and I couldn't see
but now you've left me, oh, how I cry
you don't miss your water, till your well runs dry…

if I’m not mistaken, I bought this as a Christmas present to myself back in 1991. I think it was the first big box set that I bought. this is a nine disc collection that includes close to 250 songs. it is essential listening to appreciate southern soul in 1960s. in terms of both quality and volume, Stax Records was second only to Motown in releasing soul music in the 1960s.

the artists featured on this set include Otis Redding, Booker T & The MG’s (the label’s house band), Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, William Bell, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, and Eddie Floyd along with dozens of other artists. I remember I listened start to finish when I first bought the collection. I’m not sure if I ever did that again, but I might have. at a minimum, I’m sure I intended to.

this includes the a-side, as well as some of the b-sides of every single from the Stax/Volt catalog from 1959 to 1968. I probably already had all or most of the Otis Redding songs in my collection, but I had very little of the rest. maybe I had all of the Sam & Dave on a compilation.

it’s a nine CD history lesson that is worth more than the price of admission.

[still in catch up mode. life has gotten in the these last ten days. three different countries, four different beds, and @marymacsjds falling and breaking her should two days ago. this night take me more than a few days to get back on pace. we’ll see how it goes.]

1000 Day Album Challenge (#97) The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms (1980) 
[06.04.24]

there′s a kid I know but not too well / he doesn't have a lot to say
well this boy lives right next door and he / never has nothin′ to say…

as I listen to Crazy Rhythms today I wonder why I didn’t obsess over this album in college. this feels right down the middle of the plate for so much of the music I embraced during the eighties. I owned a white vinyl version. I  dug it and it was certainly something I listened to a fair amount. there just happened to be so many artists, bands and albums I obsessed over during the eighties. 

I love their version of Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey) for The Beatles White Album. sometime I after I aged into being a genuine Beatles fan which did not begin to take hold until my late twenties. I never disliked The Beatles, but I never bought any of their records so my experience with listening to them was quite a bit random. I never took that deep dive.

The Feelies were one of those bands that you had to dig a little bit deeper to discover. since I was always digging at the time they were an obvious discovery for someone like me, but they easily could have been one of those bands that would have fallen through the cracks for me. for example, one would assume that I fully checked out The Fall, as a number of my friends at the time did. I did not. I guess it’s impossible to listen to everything. one of the things that fascinates me about music is that I could listen to music every waking hour and never hear all of the music that has been created that I would love given the right circumstances.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#96) Keith Richards: Talk is Cheap (1988)
[05.04.24]

you made the wrong motion / drank the wrong potion
you lost the feeling / not so appealing…

when it comes to The Stones I’ve always been a Keith guy. isn’t everybody? I was aware of Mick’s earlier solo efforts, but didn’t really pay much attention to them. I was immediately interested when Keith put out a solo album.

I would never suggest Talk is Cheap should rank alongside any of the best albums by The Stones, but it solid enough to rank above their worst and for a band that has been making music as long as they have their batting average is super high.

if I were putting together a playlist of my favorite Stones’ songs I would include Take It So Hard and Keith’s poisoned love letter to Mick, You Don’t Move Me. I love You Don’t Move Me and have been known to give it multiple consecutive plays. I would slot it with Happy and Before They Make Me Run as the greatest Keith songs.

ultimately I would have to say that Talk is Cheap is a worthy supplement to any Stones’ fan’s obsession.

playing a little catch-up. Mary Mac and I have had a long day of traveling on Wednesday into Thursday. we have been chilling out at a little ecolodge at Playa Manzanillo in Costa Rica for a few days before returning to San Juan del Sur. I will be making four posts today or five over today and tomorrow to get back on pace.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#95) Graham Parker & The Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks (1979) [04.04.24]

ain't got no idols for the screen today
although they make a lot of noises they got nothing to say
I try to look amazed but it's an act
the movie might be new but it's the same soundtrack…

Squeezing Out Sparks came out during the spring of my sophomore year of high school. I doubt there were more than a handful of albums that I listened to during high school and college as much or more than it. London Calling is the only one that comes to mind.

I remember being excited at the time that it finished #1 in The Village Voice’s Annual Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll. there were more than a few great records that could have easily won the poll that year – the U.S. version of The Clash, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, Nick Lowe’s Labour of Lust, The Buzzcock’s Singles Going Steady. in hindsight, my personal choice would be Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

I don’t return to Squeezing Out Sparks nearly as often as London Calling. I’m not sure why. do I think it won’t live up to my memories? yet each time I listen I love it start to finish. somehow I’m actually more likely to listen to Howlin’ Wind (1976) or Heat Treatment (1976). maybe I burned myself out on it. I know I didn’t listen to either Howlin’ Wind or Heat Treatment nearly as much when I was a kid.

all I know for sure is that Squeezing Out Sparks is a far better record than most of the big albums of 1979. I checked out a list of the albums that hit #1 that year and this is vastly superior to all of them except Bad Girls by Donna Summer. the total duds (from my perspective) that I’m sure plenty of people in my age range still enjoy and/or look back upon fondly – 52nd Street (Billy Joel), Blondes Have More Fun (Rod Stewart), Minute By Minute (Doobie Brothers), Breakfast In America (Supertramp), and The Long Run (The Eagles).

it is not my intention to judge anyone else’s musical tastes. I feel like I’ve been done with that for more than two decades now. prior to that the meme about judging people based on their record collections was a dead center bullseye for me. I’m just laying out some of the boundaries of my musical interests. I never quite rejected the mainstream, but especially from about 1978 into the 1990s let’s just I actively chose not to engage.

in my little word, Squeezing Out Sparks was a multi-week or maybe even multi-month #1 record. the 16 year-old version of me couldn’t understand why this wasn’t a big hit. I guess the 60 year-old version can’t understand that one either.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #GrahamParker #GrahamParkerAndTheRumour #SqueezingOut Sparks

1000 Day Album Challenge (#94) John Lennon / Yoko Ono: Double Fantasy / Stripped Down (1980 / 2010) [03.04.24]

this one’s for Gene, Eddie, and Elvis…and Buddy…

I never bought Double Fantasy when it was current. I might not have owned it until my forties. I can’t say I disliked the music at the time, it was just that I was pursuing other musical interests. John Lennon was not really on my personal musical radar until later and even then it was more about Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Imagine (1971).

when I finally bought Double Fantasy I found it quite listenable. yes, I dug John’s cuts more than Yoko’s but it’s not like I would skip through the album to only listen to John’s music.

apparently, John was always self-conscious about his vocals so they were always heavily processed. when the Stripped Down version of Double Fantasy was released in 2010 I loved hearing John’s vocals without reverb and other effects.

I also loved hearing a lot of the studio chatter between takes. this version feels very personal to me. I was surprised as I did a bit of research this morning to find out that Stripped Down is not universally preferred. it seems like there are quite a few who prefer the original 1980 release.

I’m also a fan of Let It Be…Naked (2003). what can I say?

1000 Day Album Challenge (#93) Kiss: Alive! (1975) [02.04.24]

you wanted the best and you’ve got it! the hottest band in the land – Kiss!

there was a time when Kiss was my favorite band and this was my favorite record. that time probably didn’t last until even my sixteenth birthday, but my love for kiss burned hot and furious for several years during my teens.

they were the first band my brother, Steven and I saw live. it was sometime in 1977, not long after our family had moved to a house in the North Jersey suburbs. my dad and one of the regulars at the family bar took us to see them at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.

I can’t say that I have any distinct memories of the show itself. I do remember the story my dad told about taking us to the show. the guy who took our tickets as we entered the arena asked my dad if he had ear plugs with him. my dad answered, “no. why?” the ticket guy responded, “you’ll see.”

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day…

1000 Day Album Challenge (#92) The Rolling Stones: Aftermath (1966) [01.04.24]

spendin' too much time away / I can't stand another day
maybe you think I've seen the world / but I'd rather see my girl…

Aftermath began the Stones creative peak that would continue through Exile On Main Street (1972). it was the their fourth British studio album and the first to include all Jagger and Richards originals. it was the sixth album in the U.S. as was the practice at the time, the record company would take some of the tracks from the British original and then add singles to the mix. Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) was their first album with the same release date and track listing in both the U.K. and the U.S.

Paint It Black was a bit of a soundtrack for me to a particularly memorable acid trip from college. I was with my roommate Laurie and her good friend Karen. we had rented some videos and a VCR. no one at college owned a VCR and they were readily available at the video store at the time. one of the videos was a collection of performances from the British TV show, Ready, Steady Go, which I was aware of from the Generation X named after the show. in addition to Paint It Black we watched Baby Please Don’t Go by Them on constant repeat. we ended up taking a long walk through town that concluded with us hanging on a swing-set for quite a stretch.

side one is filled with a number of hits and highly recognizable Stone songs like Paint It Black, Stupid Girl, Lady Jane (the tune borrowed by Neil Young), and Under My Thumb. even with all these well known songs it was the virtually unknown, Think that had me dancing around the kitchen this am.

Going Home which closes the U.S. version of Aftermath was the revelation to me when I bought the album. I’m almost certain that I had neither heard it or read about it at the time. it is an 11-minute blues inspired jam. it’s the longest song the band ever recorded. I instantly dug it. I think my initial reaction was along the lines of, “WTF is this?!”

I guess they could have been a pretty decent jam band in addition the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.
#1000DayAlbumChallenge #TheRollingStones #Aftermath

1000 Day Album Challenge (#91) Minutemen: Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat (1983) [31.03.24]

a ton of white boy guilt, that's my problem…

SST Records, started by Black Flag guitarist, Greg Ginn, was among the most important labels in my personal musical world at the time. three of the five bands (Black Flag, Minutemen, and Hüsker Dü) who had released records on SST by this time were or would soon be among my faves.

I likely had heard of the Minutemen before this record but I don’t believe my curiosity had been piqued until then. I’m pretty sure I didn’t buy any of their previous records until after their final studio album, 3-Way Tie For Last (1985) was released.

listening to Buzz or Howl… now I think I was attracted to the controlled chaos of the band. to some extent I heard them as Talking Heads with an edge, both musically and politically. while Talking Heads pursued an interest in African rhythms I feel like the Minutemen had more a thing for jazz which was cool with me.

I’m certain that I was ready for more after Buzz or Howl… and I think they were too. their ambitions certainly reached beyond the hardcore scene out of which they grew.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#89) Manu Dibango: Soul Makossa (1973) [29.03.24]

mama ko mama sa maka makossa / mama ko mama sa maka makossa
mama ko mama sa maka makossa…

I believe this record entered my life during my late thirties or early forties. I felt like I remembered the song from when I was a kid, but that memory seemed too fleeting to be certain that it was genuine. if I heard it I certainly didn’t recall that the artist was Manu Dibango, a saxophonist from Cameroon.

Soul Makossa is one of the most important records in the development of disco and dance culture. it was the first record to break in the clubs and then become a Top 40 hit. it reached #35 on the Billboard charts. it was unearthed by the legendary David Mancuso, who discovered it in a small record store in a West Indian neighborhood in Brooklyn. it became a staple at his party, The Loft, and was subsequently played by the Chief Rocker, Frankie Crocker on WBLS.

subsequent generations might recognize it because of Michael Jackson interpolating the soul makossa chant within Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ featured on Thriller. that section was then sampled by Rihanna in Don’t Stop the Music. it has gone onto be sampled dozens of times.

New Bell is the other can’t miss track here. I don’t mean to be dismissive to say that it follows the same formula as Soul Makossa. when a formula works it worlds. New Bell has a driving rhythm with some fantastic sax played over the top of it. for a dancefloor it should be like honey to a bee.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#88) King Sunny Adé & His African Beats: Juju Music (1982) [28.03.24]

call me darling, that's my number / tell me anything you want from me
only you have to give your love to me / 365 is my number now…

King Sunny Ade’s Juju Music was my first foray into African music. his sound is sweet, gentle, and compelling. I ended up buying all three of the albums he released in this period on Mango, an Island Records subsidiary. the other two were Synchro System (1983) and Aura (1984). I think because it was my first this was the album I’ve returned to the most often.

I saw King Sunny & His African Beats live in NYC sometime during this period. I believe it was in the summer of 1984 at either The Ritz or Irving Plaza, two venues that I’ve seen more shows at than any others. it was a very long show. I’m not sure if my memory is exaggerating the length, but I believe it was three to four hours.

years ago, I remembering reading an article about King Sunny in which he as quoted as saying that the band’s shows in the West were quite short compared to their shows back in Nigeria. he said something to the effect of “back home we are just getting warmed up around the four hour mark.”

what I remember clearly is that it was hypnotic. the band size was 20+ and a rather large number of members were drummers and percussionists. I had never experienced the power of talking drums in person. I don’t specifically recall, but I imagine I spent a great deal of time with my eyes closed. with that many people I stage one loses the need to focus on what individual players are doing.

just before I typed that line my eyes were closed as I got lost in Ma Jaiye Oni, the lead track on side two of the vinyl version of Juju Music. (which is not to say I’m listening to it on vinyl. I’m streaming it on YouTube Music.)

000 Day Album Challenge (#87) Gang of Four: Solid Gold (1981) [27.03.24]

they say our world is built on endeavor / that every man is for himself
wealth is for the one that wants it / paradise, if you can earn it…

during my college years I only began to dabble in the funk that would become a much larger part of my musical landscape after graduating. I was more ensnared by the angular funk of bands like Gang of Four.

as much as I love their debut, Entertainment!, this is without a doubt the funkier record. I think I was more likely to listen to this all the way through at the time. I think I did a lot more needle dropping on Entertainment! – Damaged Goods, I Found That Essence Rare, and At Home He’s A Tourist, in particular.

Dave Allen’s bass keeps driving this record from one tune to the next. even though I’m also a fan of their next album, Song of the Free, they were never as great without Dave Allen who left the band after this album. he went to for Shriekback, who I’m sure will also make this list at some point. his funky bass lines are one of the keys to their appeal too.

key tracks: Paralyzed, What We All Want, Outside the Trains Don’t Run On Time, Why Theory?, and He’d Send in the Army

1000 Day Album Challenge (#85) The Mekons: The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll (1989) [25.03.24]

destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late
the battles we fought were long and hard
just not to be consumed by rock n' roll
capitalismos, favorite boy child, we must apologize

Fear and Whiskey (1985) was my entry point into the Mekons world and if you say that is The Mekons best album I’m not gonna argue, but as time has passed, The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll, is the album that I’ve returned to most often. it is a truly great punk rock album.

I can do no better than the liner notes to the 2001 rerelease:

“The first cut, "Memphis, Egypt," which anyone not examining the package thinks of as "Rock 'n' Roll," confronts the beast and calls it a beast--"the Devil," to be precise, "Capitalismos, favourite boy child," his "foul breath" like "fine perfume." Was it really that parlous, that soul-consuming, that bad? Nah, but that's how it felt, and so Steve Goulding keeps pounding and Jon Langford keeps declaiming and the feedback keeps yowling till it swallows Tom Greenhalgh's recitation and everything else in its wake. Segue to Sally Timms reminiscing about a more literal prostitution in "Club Mekon," and then to Greenhalgh, who seems to give it up to the forces of evil with "Only Darkness Has the Power"--which is in fact the nakedest love song the Mekons ever recorded, one of the nakedest love songs anyone ever recorded, candid and vulnerable and romantic and doomed.
If I say the album never gets any better, don't be too hard on the Mekons, who we know have never made a fetish of consistency--those are three of their best tracks ever, yet Rock 'n' Roll is so strong it nearly matches them anyway. My nominations would be the closing "When Darkness Falls," a grim answer song to "Only Darkness Has the Power"; "Amnesia," where a slave ship "takes rock 'n' roll to America"; the nihilistically devil-may-care "Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet"; and the Greenhalgh-shouted live staple "Heaven and Back," left off the U.S. major-label debut by the arbiters of taste at A&M but included on the Blast First version and this one. Lesser songs nip at the beast's heels in an exuberantly embittered celebration/critique of capitalism's big beat--cf. "Someone," where "the studio's empty but the beat goes on"; "Learning to Live on Your Own," with Timms throwing "rock 'n' roll songs on the fire" in her existential rue; and the failed liberation scenarios of "Cocaine Lil" (drugs) and "Empire of the Senseless" (culture). If the Mekons were going to serve the false god of rock 'n' roll, they were going to give him what for in the bargain." (https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cdrev/mekonsro-not.php)
#1000DayAlbumChallenge #TheMekons #TheMekonsRockNRoll

1000 Day Album Challenge (#84) Al Green: The Belle Album (1977) [24.03.24]

don't make no difference to you / well, it's all right with me…

despite not being a believer I have frequently been moved by singers who feel the presence of the Lord – Aretha, Prince, and my personal fave, Al Green. The Belle Album was Reverend Al’s last great album of the seventies and one of his last primarily secular album for years. it plays out as his personal struggle between the sins of the flesh and his love for Jesus.

I am personally more likely to believe and appreciate someone’s religious impulses when I feel that struggle is genuine. Prince is the only other artist who makes me feel like the carnal and spiritual share equal footing for them.

Al makes that tensions quite clear in the lead track, Belle: “leaving him has never ever really crossed my mind / let me say just one thing / I'd never go so far
cause it's Him no matter who you are / Belle / oh it's you that I want, but it's Him that I need.”

I’m not sure this is the album to win over any new converts, but if you love his classics - Let’s Stay Together, I’m Still in Love with You, Call Me, Living for You - then you really need to discover The Belle Album. it’s underrated and not discussed nearly enough.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#82) The Harder They Come (Original Soundtrack Recording) (1973) [22.03.24]

many rivers to cross / but I can't seem to find my way over…

this was the reggae album I knew best when I headed to college in the fall of 1981. I knew Bob Marley well enough, but didn’t own any of his records at the time. I had seen Peter Tosh live in Central Park the summer before my junior year of high school. so I was already developing a taste for reggae.

I always filed The Harder They Come under Jimmy Cliff in my record collection even though it is technically a compilation. six of the twelve tunes were his and only Toots & The Maytals scored more than one other than Cliff.

I still think it’s a wonderful introduction to early reggae. I also highly recommend the film that Cliff starred in. I saw it twice in and around my college years - once with subtitle and once without. I suggest subtitles just in case. I recall struggling a bit without the subtitles.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#81) New York Dolls: New York Dolls: (1973) [21.03.24]

when I say I'm in love / you best believe I'm in love / L-U-V!

if you are or have ever considered yourself a punk rock fan and don’t know the Dolls then you have a lot of catching up to do. the Dolls were a bit too early for the scene at CBGBs that was ground zero for the birth of the punk rock movement, but they are still very much an essential band on that musical continuum.

in a sense they were the Rolling Stones of punk rock before it even existed. David Johansen and Johnny Thunders were the crossdressing versions of Mick and Keith. whereas the Stones began with a near slavish devotion to the blues and Chuck Berry the Dolls touchstone was the Girls Group sound of the sixties filtered though their outer boroughs trash aesthetic.

in addition to their own songs, they transform Bo Diddley’s little known Pills (1961) into their very own. I don’t think I knew Pills was a cover until much later. I doubt I heard the Diddley original until his Chess Box compilation was released in 1990. I fell in love with Bo Diddley during my college years, but I think one would have to be a Bo Diddley obsessive to prefer the original.

debut albums has become a bit of a theme here. It was not my intent when I started this project to focus on debut records but it’s where we’re at. New York Dolls is one of the very best and not to be missed.

I have three absolute faves – Personality Crisis, Looking for a Kiss, and Trash. as the times have changed they have each graced MixTapes, Mix CDs, and playlists I’ve made.

for fans, I would recommend Personality Crisis: One Night Only, the David Johansen documentary, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi. Mary and watched it about six months ago and both enjoyed it.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#80) The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy (1985) [20.03.24]

listen to the girl / as she takes on half the world
moving up and so alive / in her honey dripping beehive…

Ramones + Beach Boys + Feedback = Psychocandy or at least that’s what it seems like to me now. I don’t if I was too young to view it that way at the time. I just know the concept of that formula didn’t strike until years later. better still Jesus & Mary Chain are AM radio Top 40 hitmakers in a world in which the Velvet Underground were as big or bigger than The Beatles.

I certainly know that’s a world in which I would like to live. give Just Like Honey, The Living End, Taste the Floor and Taste of Cindy a listen and then tell me I’m wrong.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#79) Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw (1982) [19.03.24]

well I'll know right away by the look in her eye
she harbors no illusions and she's worldly-wise
and I'll know when I give her a listen that she's
she's what I've been missin', what I've been missin'...

pop perfection. is there such a thing? I’ve used that phrase to describe many songs in my life. every once in a while it even seems apt to describe an album that way. Marshall Crenshaw’s eponymous debut happens to be one of those.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that in a just world about half the songs on this lp should have been big big hits. maybe my tastes don’t match up well with those of the general public. likely he just didn’t receive enough support from the hype machine.

trust me, if you grew up listening to the radio in sixties, seventies, eighties, and maybe even the nineties I don’t see how you couldn’t respond to these tunes. they are well written and catchy as hell. even after all these years I can still sing along to most of these.

Marshall Crenshaw is one of those artists who seems to fallen through our pop cultural cracks. I can’t imagine that most people in the thirties or younger have even heard of him.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#77) Tony Allen with Afrobeat 2000: N.E.P.A. (Never Expect Power Always) (1985) [17.03.24]

when one road close another one go open..

afrobeat combines traditional elements of Nigerian music with elements of jazz, funk, and soul. it is safe to say that Fela Kuti with Tony Allen as his drummer for all intents and purposes gave birth to the genre from mid-196os through the 1970s.

I’m not sure when I first truly encountered Fela Kuti’s music but I bought N.E.P.A. in the mid-1980s at St. Mark’s Sound in NYC. in my mind’s eye I can still still see the iconic St. Mark’s Sound price label on the cover of my copy. I don’t think I bought my first proper Fela record for another 15 years or so.

I’m not sure I was ready at the time to fully embrace Allen’s electro funk take on the afrobeat sound. I certainly listened to it enough to remember it’s sound when I heard it sampled in the late 90s in the Rainer Trüby Trio Remix of Bobby Matos' Guiro Electro. as soon as I heard that record I thought “hey I recognize that.” I’m not sure how long it took me to peg it as as Road Close Dance Dub on the second side of this record, but I did soon enough.

when I returned to N.E.P.A. I was more than ready to dig these sounds. there were several landmarks along the way for me – finding the funk in the spring of 1989 which is a post for another day involving the JB’s Doing it to Death and getting turned onto House Music during my days in San Francisco which let me to embrace all kinds of electronic music.

for me this record is all about the two dub versions of the main tracks. at least for me, they are more expansive and both draw me immediately. I can listen to each over and over.

#1000DayAlbumChallenge #TonyAllenWithAfrobeat2000 #NEPA(NeverExpectPowerAlways) #StMarksSound

1000 Day Album Challenge (#76) Pretenders: Pretenders (1980) [16.03.24]

you asked me for advice I said use the door /
but you're still clinging to somebody you deplore…

this was not part of the plan at all. on the first when I posted Marcus Garvey I decided to to create a file with 30+ album covers for the month of March. I even planned out the first 15 in advance. so I didn’t have a specific album chosen for today but I had more than 15 from which to choose. then earlier today I was cleaning up a generic 1980s rock playlist that I created ages ago. I came upon a chunk of this album in the playlist and started listening and was immediately drawn in. so here we are.

I have memories of listening to Pretenders on cassette in my friend Jeff Cohen’s car in the senior parking lot at Newark Academy. I don’t know if I actually bought the LP while I was in college or later. I’m pretty sure the first Pretenders album I bought was their third, Learning to Crawl which came out during my junior year of college. still this was the album that got me into the band.

not an all-time great debut. maybe just a notch below. still this rocks quite hard, harder than most New Wave bands of the era.Chrissie Hynde’s got more tough sexy swagger than just about any Mick Jagger wannabe I can come up with off the top of my head.

great song writer. great band. charismatic singer. as a great modern philosopher once said, “it’s only rock & roll, but I like it.”

added bonus: a great cover of a song written by her future Baby Daddy.

1000 Day Album Challenge (#75) No Rights Given Or Implied: The Original Samplers (1993) [15.03.24]

and say children what does it all mean?…

I don’t know when I first heard Double Dee & Steinski’s The Payoff Mix (Mastermix Of G.L.O.B.E. And Whiz Kid's Play That Beat Mr. D.J.). I must have heard it half a dozen times or so on the radio when I was home from school. I was blown away and knew I had to have it.

in 1983 Tommy Boy had sponsored a contest to remix G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid’s electro jam of the past summer, Play That Beat Mr. D.J. Douglas DiFranco and Steve Stein submitted their cut & paste masterpiece. if you have heard it then you knew the contest was over when ever the judges first listened to it. for a brilliant discussion of this check out Robert Christgau’s Down by Law: Great Dance Records You Can't Buy (https://robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/steinski-86.php)

Tommy Boy released The Payoff Mix and Lessons Two: James Brown Mix and Three: History of Hip Hop Mix as a promo-only record in 1985. each mix is constructed from dozens of samples and clearly stand alone as new pieces of music worthy of repeated listening and great attention. I don’t believe I have ever scene a copy in the field. it is the one record for which I ALWAYS kept an eye open.

finally in 1993 or 1994, I came across this bootleg CD released in 1993, No Rights Given Or Implied: The Original Samplers. it featured the Lessons as well as other brilliant examples of cut n’ paste productions – two other Steve Stein works credited to Steinski & Mass Media, Afrika Bambaataa’s Fusion Beats, The Latin Rascals’ Big Apple Production Vol. II - Genius At Work, Danny Krivit’s Feelin’ James and Say Kids (What Time Is It?) and Beats & Pieces by Coldcut (British DJs and producers, Jonathan More and Matt Black).

I couldn’t believe it. even though I was always on the lookout for The Lessons I had given up on ever owning them. I never really made the transition to CDs. at the time I might have owned no more than a dozen or two. I was strictly a vinyl guy. so even though I would have preferred to own Double Dee & Steinski’s The Lessons on vinyl I was fine with settling for a bootleg CD compilation that gave me ready access to these brilliant songs.