1294. Jan & Dean: 20 Rock 'n' Roll Hits
1295. Jarmels: 14 Golden Classics
1296. Keith Jarrett: Bop-Be
1297. Keith Jarrett: Standards, Vol. 2
1298. Jason and the Scorchers: Fervor
1299. Jason and the Scorchers: Still Standing
1300. Jazz All Stars: Midnight at Eddie Condon's
1301. Jazzy Jeff: "King Heroin (Don't Mess With Heroin)" 12-inch
1302. D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince: He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper
1303. Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
1304. Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
1305. Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing at Baxter's
1306. Jefferson Airplane: Crown of Creation
1307. Jefferson Airplane: Volunteers
1308. Jefferson Airplane: Bless Its Pointed Little Head
1309. The Worst of Jefferson Airplane
1310. Jefferson Airplane: Early Flight
1311. Jefferson Starship: Spitfire
Mixworthy: "Let Me In," "Come Up the Years," and "Run Around," #1303; "Today,"
#1304; "Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon," #1305; "We Can Be Together," #1307;
"It's No Secret," #1308; "Runnin' 'Round This World" and "Mexico," #1310.
Spent: "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" (#1304) are great--as I mentioned in
Radio On, when I made a list of my 100 favourite songs sometime around grade 9, I had
"White Rabbit" at the top--but because classic-rock stations have decided they're the
only two songs the Jefferson Airplane ever recorded, they're on life-support right
now. I still go with "Somebody to Love" for my students on Grace Slick's birthday.
It's more accessible than anything I've listed, I figure they may recognize it from
the Jim Carrey movie, and it doesn't end by exhorting the kids to feed their heads,
advice that runs counter to the Ontario curriculum. I'm pretty sure the only other
J.A. song I've ever heard on Toronto's Q-107 is the instrumental "Embryonic Journey,"
one time.
Yes, the Jefferson Airplane match up with almost anybody for me. It's their sound
that I love--the folk-rock drone, the harmonies, the fact that at their strangest,
they usually managed to come up with melodies that lifted even their most pretentious
songs back to life. (No argument here--they definitely knew how to get pretentious.)
The Worst of Jefferson Airplane was also one of the first half-dozen albums in my col-
lection, and that proved to be an excellent gateway into the regular-issue LPs I went
on to buy a few years later. A quick ranking of the first five: 1. Jefferson Airplane
Takes Off; 2. After Bathing at Baxter's; 3. Surrealistic Pillow/Volunteers/Crown of
Creation. The first two are mostly great from start to finish, the other three have
strengths and weaknesses in almost equal measure. Not sure why, but I passed on Bark
and Long John Silver a number of times. I wish now I hadn't--I bet there's at least
a song or two on each worth saving. Jefferson Starship wasn't bad; Starship was easy
to confuse with Survivor, Sheriff, and Michael Sembello; happily, they seem to have
called it a day before Ship ever materialized.
_______________________________________________________________________________
1312. Jellybean: Just Visiting This Planet
1313. Jellybean Rocks the House!
1314. Billy Jenkins with the Voice of God Collective: Scratches of Spain
1315. The Best of the Jesters
1316. Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy
1317. Jesus and Mary Chain: Some Candy Talking
1318. Jesus and Mary Chain: Darklands
1319. Jesus and Mary Chain: "April Skies" 12-inch
1320. Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses
1321. Jethro Tull: Living in the Past
1322. M.U. - The Best of Jethro Tull
1323. The Jets
1324. Jets: "Curiosity" 12-inch
1325. Jets: Magic
1326. Jets: Believe
1327. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: Up Your Alley
Mixworthy: "Never Understand" and "My Little Underground," #1316; "Teacher," "Fat
Man," "Living in the Past," and "Nothing Is Easy," #1322.
Something just died inside me: I would appear to like Jethro Tull twice as much as
the Jesus and Mary Chain...The funniest thing about Psychocandy to me right now is
thinking about how I used to get upset at staff who'd get upset whenever I played it
in the record store. I put "Never Understand" on a CD-700 this past summer, and as I
listened to it in the car, I was just shaking my head: what were they thinking when
they recorded that, and what was I thinking when I assumed people who'd come in to
browse through albums would want it playing in the background? Full credit for auda-
ciousness, then and now, but what a bizarre, ear-splitting din. My Psychocandy review
for Nerve was almost as over-the-top as the album itself--an accurate enough expres-
sion of how I felt at the time, that here was something I'd unknowingly been waiting
forever to hear, but if I tried to read it right now, I wouldn't be able to make it
through two sentences...I don't know Living in the Past nearly as well as M.U.--M.U.
goes back to high school, Living in the Past I bought a few years ago--but it's the
earlier compilation that seems to be more highly regarded (you know, among people who
regard Jethro Tull albums at all), so there's probably a song or two I could add from
there. I'm listing "Fat Man" for the same reason I listed "Best of My Love" earlier:
Boogie Nights. Nothing captures the apocalyptic decadence of disco, pornography, and
cocaine like a crazy-mad Ian Anderson flute solo...Jets albums that never saw the
light of day: Dream, Reach, Soar, and Fuck It, We're Out of Here.
________________________________________________________________________________
1328. David Johansen
1329. David Johansen: In Style
1330. David Johansen: Here Comes the Night
1331. Elton John: Honky Chateau
1332. Elton John: Caribou
1333. Elton John: Greatest Hits
1334. Elton John: Rock of the Westies
1335. Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II
1336. Johnsons: Break Tomorrow's Day
1337. Jesse Johnson's Revue
1338. Jesse Johnson: Shockadelica
1339. Jesse Johnson: Every Shade of Love
1340. Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers
1341. Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume II
1342. George Jones: Golden Hits
1343. George Jones: Greatest Hits
1344. The Pick of...George Jones
Mixworthy: "Rocket Man," #1331; "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," #1333;
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight," #1335.
Spent: Everything else by Elton John. I had planned on putting "Tiny Dancer" here, my
favourite Elton until it started to get played to death in the wake of Almost Famous,
but my copy of Madman Across the Water must have gone to Randy.
I guess I should be writing lots about this group, but there's nothing here that
means much of anything to me. I've made reference to my indifference to virtually
all blues music so many, many times in the past, I'd be happy not to bring it up
yet again as I work my way through this. But I feel conspicuously silly leaving all
these Elmore James and Lightning Hopkins and Robert Johnson LPs uncommented upon--
I'm sure it must seem odd at the very least, and, if you love that music, maybe even
insulting. Luck of the draw: I'd glad I connected so easily with doo-wop, a rich and
complex world that opened up to me and that I was able to investigate and internalize
for a few years in my 20s, but with blues it just never happened...My copy of David
Johansen is autographed, but unlike every other autographed album I have--the Richard
Berrys I've mentioned, Fire of Love, another half-dozen--I have absolutely no recol-
lection of this ever taking place. I saw David Johansen at the El Mocambo sometime
in the mid-80s, and that's obviously when it happened, but I don't carry any memory
at all of actually watching him sign. It's such a complete blank, I'm wondering if I
didn't get someone who worked there to get it signed for me. I must have thought I'd
prove the fundamental seriousness of my fandom to Johansen by getting him to sign one
of his own LPs rather than one of the Dolls'. I probably needed to think that last
part through a bit more.
________________________________________________________________________________
1345. Jill Jones
1346. Jo Jones Band: The Jo Jones Special
1347. Marti Jones: Unsophisticated Time
1348. Marti Jones: Match Game
1349. Marti Jones: Used Guitars
1350. Oran "Juice" Jones
1351. Quincy Jones and His Orchestra: The Quintessence
1352. The Best of Spike Jones and His City Slickers
1353. Tom Jones: The Golden Hits
1354. Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits
1355. Scott Joplin Ragtime, Vol. 3
1356. New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble: Scott Joplin: The Red Back Book
1357. Duke Jordan: Flight to Jordan
1358. Joy Division: Warsaw
1359. Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
1360. Joy Division: Closer
1361. Joy Division: "Atmosphere" 12-inch
1362. Joy Division: Komackino
1363. Joy Division: Still
Mixworthy: "What's New Pussycat?" and "It's Not Unusual," #1353; "Disorder" and
"She's Lost Control," #1359. The two best songs from Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits
are listed back with Big Brother.
Is there anyone who listens to Joy Division past a certain point in his or her life?
I played Closer a few million times my second year of university, but once I put it
away a year or two later, that was it--my guess is it hasn't been played since. It's
not just that I don't listen to Joy Division anymore--that's true with much of my
collection--it's that I have a hard time imagining a situation today where I would
listen to them. Those albums seem to me to be locked within their moment more than
any music I can think of. I was originally going to list five songs by adding "At-
mosphere" plus something from Closer and Still, but I gave "Isolation" a try, and
it sounds as foreign and remote as I should have guessed it would. "Disorder" and
"She's Lost Control" I'm pretty sure of, so I'll let them stand. Unique sound, im-
pressive records, perfect for a 21-year-old's bad year. At 43, not so useful...
That's right, you heard me, now close your mouth, 'cause you cold busted!
_______________________________________________________________________________
1364. Joy of Cooking
1365. Junior: Sophisticated Street
1366. Jr. Gone Wild: Less Art, More Pop!
1367. Junkyard
1368. Big Daddy Kane: Long Live the Kane
1369. Paul Kantner/Grace Slick: Sunfighter
1370. Kashif: Condition of the Heart
1371. Katrina and the Waves: Walking on Sunshine
1372. Katrina and the Waves
1373. Katrina and the Waves: Break of Hearts
1374. Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra: The Beat of the Big Bands
1375. Thomas Jefferson Kaye: First Grade
1376. K.C. and the Sunshine Band
1377. K.C. and the Sunshine Band: Part 3
1378. K.C. and the Sunshine Band: Who Do Ya (Love)
Mixworthy: "Get Down Tonight," #1376; "Keep It Comin' Love," #1377. (Close, if you're
a fan, "Huh?" if you're not: "When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves" from #1369.)
I'm listing the two K.C. songs to avoid a shutout--they could just as easily be clas-
sified as spent. Scott Woods and I approached Harry Wayne Casey to write a preface for
our '70s book, cornering him in some Toronto club out by the airport during his early-
90s "If Not Now, When? If Not This, What Else?" tour. We must have given him a couple
of sample chapters--in any case, we never heard back from him. He probably had people
hounding him all the time for their book projects--just couldn't find the time. Our
publisher made contact with our second choice, Rick Neilsen, and we never heard back
from him, either. Scott and I really wanted Matt Groening, but that one never made it
out of committee...Joy of Cooking and First Grade are part of the Christgau subset. I
couldn't hum you a note from either...Just to be really nitpicky: 1) Why would Paul
Kantner give himself first billing over his wife on Sunfighter? Wasn't Grace Slick
easily the more famous of the two circa 1971? 2) The well-meaning Jr. Gone Wild title
completely misses the point--the implication is that art is one thing and pop another.
Not so.