1235. Independents: The First Time We Met
1236. James Ingram: Everything Falls Apart
1237. Luther Ingram: (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right
1238. The Best of the Ink Spots
1239. The Ink Spots
1240. The Ink Spots' Greatest Hits
1241. Inner City: Big Fun
1242. Inner City: "Do You Love What You Feel" 12-inch
1243. Inner City: "That Man (He's All Mine)" 12-inch
1244. Insect Surfers: Wavelength
1245. International Submarine Band: Safe at Home
1246. Intruders: Super Hits
1247. INXS: Kick
1248. Gregory Isaacs: Out Deh!
1249. Gregory Isaacs: Private Beach Party
Mixworthy: "Do You Love What You Feel" and "Good Life," #1241; "Promise Is a Com-
fort," #1249. I know I've included the Intruders on one or two soul compilations
circa '69-73, also the Independents, I think, but I can't remember which songs from
looking at titles, indication enough that both are fairly ordinary.
I mentioned the International Submarine Band's Safe at Home a couple of days ago,
something I had coveted since reading the Gram Parsons entry in Woffinden/Logan's
encyclopedia: "an album which is assumed to represent the beginning of country-rock
and copies of which now change hands for a king's ransom." I'm not sure at what point
I bought the Woffinden book--sometime around the end of high school or beginning of
university--but that was likely the first time I became aware that such a thing as
really valuable records existed. "'King's ransom'--wow, that sounds impressive, I
think I'd like to have one of those." When I found a sealed copy of Safe at Home at
Toronto's Around Again a few years later, I remember getting all worked up that I'd
stumbled over this once-in-a-lifetime discovery, even though every conceivable sign--
the price (a very paltry ransom of seven or eight dollars), the "DJ Copy - Not for
Sale" stamp on the record, the fact it was still sealed, the oddly unreal look of
the cover art (which was in actuality the only legitimate thing about it), the sheer
fortuitousness of it all--suggested it was a fake. I wanted to believe: "Who'd ever
bootleg something that no one except me even knows about?" The most ridiculous part
of the story was when I had the album with me back at class that day, and I eagerly
shared all the details of my good fortune with Viveca Gretton, my great fantasy-land
crush through most of university. I want to say something like "I'm not sure what
kind of reaction I was hoping for" at this point, but I think I do know, and that's
the really sad part: "The International Submarine Band's Safe at Home? The one that
changes hands for a king's ransom? That's so amazing! I need to reevaluate you--let's
get married."
________________________________________________________________________________
1250. Isley Brothers: Rock on Brother
1251. The Very Best of the Isley Brothers
1252. Isley Brothers: Doin' Their Thing
1253. Isley Brothers: Forever Gold
1254. Isley Brothers: Timeless
1255. Burl Ives: Junior Choice
1256. Burl Ives: Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
1257. J.J. Fad: Supersonic: The Album
1258. The World of Susan Jacks and the Poppy Family
1259. Jackson 5: Greatest Hits
1260. Bill Jackson: Long Steel Rail
1261. Janet Jackson: Control
1262. Janet Jackson: "Nasty Cool Summer Mix" 12-inch
1263. Janet Jackson: "When I Think of You" 12-inch
1264. Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation 1814
Mixworthy: "Shout," #1250; "Twist and Shout," #1251; "I Want You Back," "ABC," and
"I'll Be There," #1259; "When I Think of You," #1261; "Escapade," #1264.
I'm not that big an Isley Brothers fan--they're maybe the most obvious instance of
HOF status being conferred on someone for having stuck around forever--but there's
something very neat and tidy about the continuity between the five albums listed
above. "Shout"'s on the first, "Twist and Shout"'s on the second, "This Old Heart
of Mine"'s on the third, the fourth has "That Lady," and "It's Your Thing" is on
the last; five LPs, one famous song on each, no overlap anywhere...The two Janet
Jackson picks are questionable. My interest in her has suffered something of a mal-
function over the years--her brother, her sister, her father, her formula, the cal-
endar--but I'll list them anyway. She hasn't had a major meltdown yet, none that
involves courts, rehab, or public weeping, anyway, and I guess that counts for
something among the women who dominated pop music in the early '90s.
________________________________________________________________________________
1265. John Jackson: Step It Up and Go
1266. Mahalia Jackson: I Believe
1267. Mahalia Jackson: Silent Night
1268. Mahalia Jackson's Greatest Hits
1269. Marlon Jackson
1270. The Original Soul of Michael Jackson
1271. Michael Jackson: Off the Wall
1272. Michael Jackson: Thriller
1273. Michael Jackson: Bad
1274. Millie Jackson: Caught Up
1275. Millie Jackson: Feelin' Bitchy
1276. Milt Jackson
1277. Milt Jackson: Bag's Groove
1278. Rebbie Jackson: RU Tuff Enuff
Mixworthy: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," #1271; "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin',"
#1272.
Spent: "Rock With You," #1271; "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Smooth Criminal,"
#1273. "Human Nature" was superseded by S.W.V.'s "Right Here (Human Nature)," and I
never had any use for any of the other hits, "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" especially.
The only thing I can think to say about Michael Jackson at this point is to note how
amazingly little has changed over ten years' time. Everyone had their say about him
in Radio On when the singles from Dangerous came out, and then we did it all over
again in '94 and '95 when the first molestation case broke. Other than his ever wors-
ening physical disfigurement, everything's more or less exactly as it was a decade
ago...Too many Jacksons to keep track of. My favourite by far is still Reggie.
________________________________________________________________________________
1279. The Jam: In the City
1280. The Jam: Sound Affects
1281. The Jam: Absolute Beginners
1282. The Jam: "Town Called Malice" 12-inch
1283. Ahmad Jamal: At the Top: Poinciana Revisited
1284. Ahmad Jamal: Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival 1985
1285. James: Strip-mine
1286. Elmore James: Original Folk Blues
1287. Etta James Sings
1288. Etta James: Her Greatest Sides, Vol. 1
1289. Harry James: Harry's Choice!
1290. Rick James: Street Songs
1291. Sonny James: You're the Only World I Know
1292. The Best of Sonny James
1293. The Best of Tommy James & the Shondells
Mixworthy: "That's Entertainment," #1280; "Dance With Me Henry," #1287; "Crystal
Blue Persuasion" and "Crimson and Clover," #1293.
I always liked "That's Entertainment" a lot, but the Jam's early-80s heyday, when
they were charting like the Beatles in England, coincided with the years when my
friends and I were most immersed in the N.Y. Dolls, the Stooges, the MC5, and all
the other pre-punk touchstones. Consequently, the first thing that comes to mind
when I think about the Jam is making fun of them--they somehow came to represent
everything we considered effete and contrived and generally lame about new wave,
especially anything out of Britain. Ten years later, when Scott Woods and I wrote
the '70s book, we made fun of people who worried about things like whether the Jam
were new wave or punk. Now another ten years have passed, and I'm like the befud-
dled slacker kid in the Homerpalooza Simpsons episode; I don't know who I should
be making fun of...For all the complaining I've been doing about bad HOF picks in
these entries, I haven't yet suggested anyone who should be in there, so here goes:
Tommy James should be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. In a very short time, he put
his name on a handful of records that were better art, and that will long outlast,
anything from the combined works of Solomon Burke, the Dells, ZZ Top, Brenda Lee,
Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, and Earth, Wind & Fire. "Crimson and Clover,"
by almost any objective standard, is one of the greatest and most striking pop singles
ever made; subjectively, I consider "Crystal Blue Persuasion" and "Draggin' the Line"
to be almost as good. And then there's "I Think We're Alone Now," which I'm a little
tired of but is great nonetheless, and, two huge arguments in his favour, "Mony Mony"
and "Hanky Panky." I'm really sick of them, but within the genre they belong to--
sports-arena anthems, wedding-reception favourites, whatever you want to call it; I
nominate better-that-Billy-Idol-covers-this-or-else-he-might-cover-the-Doors-instead--
they're as enduringly popular as "The Twist." His chances of ever getting voted in
are about equal to my own, though; the day that 3rd Bass, Bruce Hornsby, and Yar-
brough & Peoples go in, Tommy James will still be waiting...When this entry gets
filed, there'll be a photo overhead of The Best of Tommy James & the Shondells.
The cover will be red; my copy is blue. I have no explanation.