527. Mitty Collier: Shades of a Genius
528. Bootsy's Rubber Band: Ahh...The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!
529. Bootsy's Rubber Band: Bootsy? Player of the Year
530. Bootsy's Rubber Band: This Boot Is Made for Fonk-n
531. Bootsy: Ultra Wave
532. Bootsy Collins: What's Bootsy Doin'?
533. Judy Collins: Golden Apples of the Sun
534. Judy Collins' Fifth Album
535. Judy Collins: Who Knows Where the Time Goes
536. Judy Collins: So Early in the Spring
Mixworthy: "So Early, Early in the Spring," #534; "Both Sides Now," #536. Judy
Collins' Fairport Convention and Joni Mitchell covers aren't viewed with the same
disdain as, say, Joan Baez's hit Band cover, but they're not exactly treasured,
either--you won't be seeing a "Where is the love for Judy Collins?" thread on "I
Love Music" in the near future. I think she does fine by both songs--I haven't
listed "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," where her artiness does lose some of the
original's warmth, but it was her version of "Both Sides Now" that was the hit,
and therefore the version I knew first, so I'll go with that one. Two for Judy,
none for Bootsy. I said it once before, but it bears repeating--I'm the funkiest
man alive.
The first four Bootsy Collin albums (released in consecutive years--he was churning
them out like Woody Allen), like the Brides of Funkenstein albums already listed and
all the Funkadelic, Parliament, and Parlet albums that will follow, were given to me,
sometimes used and sometimes new, by Vinyl Museum Norm. Their basement was full of
P-Funk and its related spin-offs round about 1981, all of it going for 99˘. I was
curious as to how much some of that stuff might sell for online--according to one
site I found, generally between $10 and $25 an album. Or at least that's what they're
asking, anyway. Does anyone actually pay that much? Again, I always view these fig-
ures as delusional fantasies on the part of the sellers. If there actually is someone
out there who'd say "Here's $100 for your Bootsy Collins records," I'd a) reconsider
my policy of never again selling records, and b) ask the person if there's any inter-
est in a few boxes of beautiful baseball cards dating to right after the '94 strike.
________________________________________________________________________________
537. John Coltrane: Black Pearls
538. John Coltrane: Giant Steps
539. Coltrane Jazz
540. John Coltrane: My Favorite Things
541. Olé Coltrane
542. Coltrane's Sound
543. The Best of John Coltrane
544. John Coltrane: Alternate Takes
545. John Coltrane Quartet: Africa/Brass
546. Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard
547. Coltrane
548. John Coltrane Quartet: Ballads
549. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
550. John Coltrane: Impressions
551. Coltrane Live at Birdland
552. John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
553. John Coltrane: Ascension
554. John Coltrane: First Meditations (For Quartet)
555. John Coltrane Featuring Pharoah Sanders: Live in Seattle
Mixworthy: "My Favorite Things," #540; "Chasin' the Trane," #546; "Out of This
World," #547; "Afro-Blue" and "Alabama," #551; "Part 1 - Acknowledgement," #552.
I tried to treat this literally, by checking the songlist for a tape I made two
years ago for a student of mine--a saxophone player with the school band who asked
if I'd record some music by "that guy you played...you know, the guy"--but I guess
I didn't keep it. So these are the six songs that jump out immediately. I could
spend the next couple of days going through each album and filling out the list
with my next four favourite, but I'll leave it at that. In general: outside of "My
Favorite Things," I prefer the Impulse stuff to the Atlantic, and, like a lot of
people I'm sure, he starts to lose me after A Love Supreme (though not totally).
It was my first-year roommate at university, Tom Mayock, who first played John Col-
trane for me. It was a compilation, I think. Trying to piece together the exact
sequence of events that led to me ending up with 19 albums is difficult, but I know
that the turning point was when he sent me a copy of A Love Supreme after my second
year. (I think I'd already acquired My Favorite Things on my own by that point;
Tom dropped out in spectacular fashion after failing all but one of his first-year
courses, which, I probably don't need to add, was not a measure of anything except
the fact that he never wanted to be there in the first place--one of the smartest
guys I've ever met.) The really bizarre thing--this part of the story mystifies me--
is that I had to pick up the album (there were two, actually--one of the live records
the other, I think) from Paul McGrath, a guy who covered pop music for The Globe and
Mail years ago. You'll see a quote from Paul on that famous full-page ad for the Ra-
mones' first LP, the one that mixed ecstatic raves with horrified aneurysms; Paul's
quote was one of the most horrified. I think he was a friend of Tom's brother, and
that's as much as I can figure out--why was I picking up these albums from him?!
Anyway, I have an amazingly vivid memory of listening to A Love Supreme for the
first time--it's kind of corny, but absolutely true. When I put it on, I'd been up
for some 30 hours finishing an essay, my last one of the year--a weird badge of hon-
our among university students, something I used to be able to do easily, whereas now
I have difficulty staying awake through a two-hour movie. A great calm always settles
over you when the school year finishes--I still experience it today as a teacher--so
as I listened along to "Part 1 - Acknowledgement," half hypnotized by its tranciness
and half drifting in and out of sleep, it felt like I was in the middle of some mean-
ingful brush with serenity. And then, towards the end, the chanting: "a love supreme,
a love supreme..." I clearly remember wondering if I was hallucinating when the chant-
ing started up; a voice was the last thing I expected to hear, and there was a flat,
druid-like quality to it that seemed to belong to the world of hallucinations. (If it
had been 1991 instead of 1983, I'd have been checking under the bed for Bob from Twin
Peaks.) It remains one of the great musical moments of my life, right up there with
similarly life-altering encounters with "Cowgirl in the Sand," Taxi Driver, and The
Catcher in the Rye. Over time, "My Favorite Things" has become the song I play most
often, and I'm fairly sure I've listened to that more than any other piece of music
I own. I think it's one of those works of art that contains the world--it's Ulysses,
it's Citizen Kane, it's "Guernica," it's one of the great achievements of human his-
tory. (Please don't ask me if I've read Ulysses--work with me here.) And I'll stop
there, because I have to keep a few superlatives in reserve for Black Vinyl Shoes.
________________________________________________________________________________
556. Communards: Tomorrow
557. Perry Como: Como's Golden Records
558. Company B
559. Company B: "Fascinated" 12-inch
560. Concrete Blonde
561. John Conlee: Forever
562. Arthur Conley: Sweet Soul Music
563. Ry Cooder: Paradise and Lunch
564. The Best of Sam Cooke
565. This Is the Sam Cooke
566. Alice Cooper: Killer
567. Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits
568. Chick Corea: Before Forever
569. Chick Corea: My Spanish Heart
570. Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose
571. The Best of Bill Cosby
Mixworthy: "Fascinated," #558; "Twistin' the Night Away," "Sad Mood," "Having a
Party," "Bring It on Home to Me," #564; "Elected," #567. Radio has killed "Sweet
Soul Music" for me.
It was my second-year roommate at university, Sir Monti Rock IV, who first played
the Communards for me...just kidding. Only one Alice Cooper song. Loved him when
I was 11--I still remember my grade 6 music teacher, Mr. Weedmark, bringing in
School's Out one day (also whichever Cat Stevens album has "Morning Has Broken")-
but even "Elected" is a close call; it gets by on a few bonus points for being de-
finitively Nixonian. But I've got the same radio problem with "School's Out" and
"I'm Eighteen" as I do with "Sweet Soul Music," and all in all, the Dolls, Slade,
T. Rex, the Sweet, and just about every other famous glam name all sound so much
livelier to me today. Of course, Alice Cooper wasn't really glam--he was half-glam
and half-metal, and that's the problem. He didn't possess the almost preternatural
knack for pop music that the others had, but neither was he anywhere near as gargan-
tuan as Led Zeppelin. Some of his best stuff, like "Hello Hooray" and "No More Mr.
Nice Guy," just sounds kind of pleasant. I liked his recent Staples commercial,
although it's almost comical that he should feel the need to rewrite history for
the sake of his daughter and his corporate sponsor: he did say school's out for-
ever, plain as day.
________________________________________________________________________________
572. Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True
573. Elvis Costello (four-song British EP lifted from the first album--just in
case you're perplexed)
574. Elvis Costello: This Year's Model
575. Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Armed Forces
576. Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Get Happy!!
577. Elvis Costello: Taking Liberties
578. Elvis Costello: Trust
579. Elvis Costello: King of America
580. Coulson, Dean, McGuiness, Flint: Lo & Behold
581. Count Five: Psychotic Reaction
582. The Life & Times of Country Joe & the Fish
583. Cover Girls: Show Me
584. Cover Girls: "Don't Stop Now" 12-inch
585. Cowboys International®: The Original Sin
Mixworthy: "Girls Talk," #577; "Sleep of the Just," #579; "Psychotic Reaction,"
#581. Should I go listen to Cowboys International®'s "Thrash" to see if it makes
the cut? That's not a real question; I just wanted an excuse to use their trademark
symbol again.
I'll leave Elvis Costello for my crosstown rival. I'd also include "(What's So Funny
'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" if I had it on record, possibly "13 Steps Lead
Down," too. (Used brilliantly in an episode of The Larry Sanders Show. Hank's immortal
line upon being introduced to "Elvis": "I don't think so.") There was every reason in
the world for me to have become a big fan, but I didn't. Again, evidence that I tried
lingers on the shelf...The Country Joe album was probably the single dumbest decision
I ever made as a record buyer. Nothing wrong with the music itself: "Who Am I" and
"Janis" are nice, and "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die-Rag" is word-perfect (but too
gimmicky as music to warrant inclusion above). I bought it sometime in the late '70s
on a jaunt to Burlington Mall with my parents. I remember I had to choose between
Life & Times and Freak Out!--improbably still sitting there in a bin, ten-plus years
after release, and as far as I can tell that would not have been a later pressing--
and I opted for Country Joe. If only the cashier had clubbed me over the head until
I changed my mind.