2112. Martha Reeves
2113. Regina: Curiosity
2114. Steve Reich/Kronos Quartet/Steve Metheny: Different Trains/Electric
Counterpoint
2115. Django Reinhardt: Selection
2116. Django Reinhardt: Django
2117. Django Reinhardt/Stéphane Grappelli: Quintet of the Hot Club of France
2118. R.E.M.: Chronic Town
2119. R.E.M.: Murmur
2120. R.E.M.: Reckoning
2121. R.E.M.: Fables of the Reconstruction
2122. R.E.M.: Life's Rich Pageant
2123. R.E.M.: Dead Letter Office
2124. R.E.M.: Document
2125. R.E.M.: Eponymous
2126. R.E.M.: Green
2127. R.E.M.: Monster
2128. The Best of Ginette Reno
Mixworthy: "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)," #2118; "Radio Free Europe," #2119; "(Don't
Go Back to) Rockville," #2120; "Driver 8" and "Life and How to Live It," #2121; "It's
the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," #2124; "Beautiful Second Hand
Man," #2128.
Six songs, three with parentheses--Yes, I Was a Total R.E.M. Sap (And I Guess I Still
Am, to a Degree). I actually thought I'd be listing more than six, but looking over
the albums one by one, even half of what's above would be enough: "Rockville" and
"Life and How to Live It" are old favourites that I haven't taken the time to relis-
ten to, and "It's the End of the World" is borderline spent. Six is a much more accu-
rate reflection of how obsessively I listened to those first five records, though,
and the extra songs also stand in for a couple I'd take post-vinyl: "New Orleans In-
strumental No. 1" and "The Great Beyond" for sure, maybe one more. I never expect to
like anything by R.E.M. anymore, and probably haven't going as far back as Document,
so I'm surprised by how often I do; even something as marginal as Reveal, which I
found cheap a while back, has a couple of songs I like a lot. It wouldn't be fair to
call them the ultimate one-idea band, because a) they mess around enough that there's
a certain amount of variety and change through the years, and b) anyone who hates them
might want to know what exactly that one idea is, and I'd be stuck for an answer. ("Uh,
parentheses?") For me they've always had more of a one-mood/one-amorphous-feeling ap-
peal: what I liked about "The Great Beyond" was the same thing I liked about all those
unintelligible fragments on Murmur. If you have no use for slavish devotion to surface
beauty, then you have no use for R.E.M.; that's about the beginning, middle, and the
end of what they have to offer. I still find it puzzling that "Losing My Religion,"
which to my ears has very little of that beauty--and no parentheses--is the song that
opened up a much larger audience for them, and also brought around at least one crit-
ic, Greil Marcus, who had despised them up to that point. But I'm glad it allowed
them to spend some time at the top of Billboard for at least a while...If I had to
start grabbing albums off the shelf as fire made its way up the stairs (shudder),
I'd very quickly try to salvage the two French Django Reinhardt imports I mentioned
a while back (#2115/#2116). They're old, they're great, and they're in perfect shape.
I hope to be old, great, and in perfect shape myself someday. I'm currently working
on old.
________________________________________________________________________________
2129. Replacements: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
2130. The Replacements Stink
2131. Replacements: Hootenanny
2132. Replacements: Let It Be
2133. Replacements: Tim
2134. Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me
2135. Paul Revere & the Raiders: Greatest Hits
2136. Boyd Rice/Frank Tovey: Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing
2137. Buddy Rich: Drummer's Drummer
2138. Lonely Weekends With Charlie Rich
2139. Charlie Rich: A Time for Tears
2140. Charlie Rich: Lonely Weekends
2141. The Original Charlie Rich
2142. The Fabulous Charlie Rich
2143. Charlie Rich: Boss Man
2144. Charlie Rich: Greatest Hits
2145. Charlie Rich: You and I
2146. Rich Kids: Ghosts of Princes in Towers
2147. Cliff's Hit Album
2148. Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
2149. Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers: Jonathan Sings!
2150. Jonathan Richman
Mixworthy: "Johnny's Gonna Die," #2129; "Kids Don't Follow" and "Go," #2130; "Color
Me Impressed" and "Within Your Reach," #2131; "I Will Dare" and "Answering Machine,"
#2132; "Left of the Dial," #2133; "Alex Chilton," #2134; "Just Like Me," #2135;
"Life's Little Ups and Downs" and "It Makes Me Want-a Cry," #2142.
As surprised as I was that I didn't feel the need to list more R.E.M. songs, I'm even
more surprised to have so many by the Replacements. It's not that I play their albums
any more frequently than R.E.M.'s--I really don't listen to either of them anymore,
though I know I'll be much more inclined to go with the Replacements on the radio. (I
threw in "Color Me Impressed" two shows ago and it sounded great. Playing R.E.M. on a
college station in 2005 would just somehow feel unseemly.) Again, the list is essen-
tially what I would have posted 18 years ago--first Al Gore and I would have invented
the internet, then I would have posted--with no second-guessing and no relistening.
There's such an immense likeability factor attached to those first few Replacements
records, and such a indelible gift for melody coursing through even the songs that
are meant to be foreboding ("Johnny's Gonna Die," "Go")--that to me they're a band
that doesn't drag around any of the baggage synonymous with the Amerindie mid-80s:
noise as schtick, artiness, self-righteousness, etc., etc. There was hardcore, there
was pigfuck, there was obscurantism, and there was the Replacements. That they probab-
ly hung around a couple of albums too long doesn't diminish their stature in my eyes,
nor does whatever Paul Westerberg is up to today (the two CDs I have of his both have
their moments)...The eight Charlie Rich albums are, not surprisingly, attributable to
Peter Guralnick's chapters on him in Feel like Going Home and, especially, Lost High-
way. If you're in the right frame of mind, The Fabulous Charlie Rich is as evocative
a mood piece as you'll ever find. I have to break in with another Sigue Sigue Sputnik
interlude. I won't repeat the whole story, because anyone who knows me has heard it
way too many times already--and if that means you, click through immediately!--but
the punchline is that my copy of Fabulous bears the following inscription: "Rich Rich
Rich and Rich Rich Rich and Poor Poor Poor Poor You - Great Regards and Much Ado Ado
Ado - Tammy Degville XXX." It's all written in a very neat vertical column down the
right-hand side of the cover, shaped nicely to the contours of Charlie's forehead,
nose, and chin. The fabulous Martin Degville: much more mindful of autograph tidi-
ness than those people from the Gun Club.
________________________________________________________________________________
2151. Tommy Ridgley: The New Orleans King of the Stroll
2152. Stan Ridgway: The Big Heat
2153. Righteous Brothers: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
2154. Billy Riley: Sun Sound Special
2155. Cheryl "Pepsii" Riley: Me, Myself and I
2156. Terry Riley: A Rainbow in Curved Air
2157. Ritchie Family: African Queens
2158. Johnny Rivers: Meanwhile Back at the Whisky À Go Go
2159. Johnny Rivers' Golden Hits
2160. The Very Best of Johnny Rivers
2161. Sam Rivers: Fuchsia Swing Song
2162. Sam Rivers: Contours
2163. Sam Rivers: The Dedication Series, Vol. XII: The Trio Sessions
2164. Marty Robbins: Long, Long Ago
2165. Bobby Rydell/Robert and Johnny/Sonny Till & the Orioles: La grande storia del
ROCK
2166. Paul Robeson: American Balladeer - Golden Classics Volume One
2167. Paul Robeson: A Man and His Beliefs - Golden Classics Volume Two
2168. The Historic Paul Robeson - Golden Classics Volume Three
Mixworthy: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," #2153; "Secret Agent Man," #2159;
"Poor Side of Town," #2160; "Hear My Heart Beat" (Robert & Johnny), #2165.
My copy of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' is about as legitimate as Brady Ander-
son's membership in the 50-home-run club, but rather than hold off for the Spector
compilation I have, may as well list the title song here. I've stood in various
record stores holding a copy of the Righteous Brothers' best-of on Verve numerous
times over the years, everything from high-priced originals to midline reissues to
well-worn used copies; because every key song except for "Ebb Tide" is on the Spec-
tor collection, and because I've never found the right combination of price and
condition, I've always put it back in the bins. I'd estimate that between 10 to 15
minutes of my life has been spent looking at that Righteous Brothers LP and think-
ing, "I should just go ahead and buy this and get it over with." Somewhere along the
way, I hope God's mysterious purpose in making sure I never own this album will come
into the light and reveal itself.
________________________________________________________________________________
2169. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: I'll Try Something New
2170. Miracles: Greatest Hits From the Beginning
2171. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: Going to a Go-Go
2172. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: One Dozen Roses
2173. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: Anthology
2174. Smokey Robinson: Pure Smokey
2175. Smokey Robinson: A Quiet Storm
2176. Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts
2177. Smokey Robinson: Being With You
2178. Smokey Robinson: One Heartbeat
2179. Vanity & Smokey Robinson: Motown Interviews
2180. Vickie Sue Robinson: Never Gonna Let You Go
2181. Roches: Another World
2182. Sir Monti Rock III: A Piece of the Rock
2183. Best of Frankie Rodgers
2184. Jimmie Rodgers: My Rough & Rowdy Ways
2185. Jimmie Rodgers: A Legendary Performer
2186. Jimmie Rodgers: His Golden Year
2187. Tommy Roe: Dizzy
2188. Roger: Unlimited!
2189. Shorty Rogers: Short Stops
Mixworthy: "Mickey's Monkey," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," and "Way Over
There," #2170; "Ooo Baby Baby" and "A Fork in the Road," #2171; "The Tears of a
Clown," #2172; "Why Do Happy Memories Hurt So Bad," #2178; "Turn the Beat Around,"
#2180; "Love to See You," #2181; "Dizzy," #2187.
I definitely gave Smokey Robinson a privileged place in the pantheon for a time. I
guess it would have been the middle and later part of the '80s when I was putting the
six songs listed above on one mix-tape after another--it's harder to pin down when
exactly you were most interested in someone on the basis of music recorded years ear-
lier, as opposed to people you were immersed in during their peak years. One Heartbeat
dates to my time with Nerve and CIUT; I'm not sure if I reviewed it, but I played "Why
Do Happy Memories Hurt So Bad" all the time on the radio, a much richer song than
either "Being With You" or "Cruisin'." You've got to have Going to a Go-Go for "A Fork
in the Road," a B-side that lives up to its mystique; close call with (the overlooked)
"Way Over There" and "Ooo Baby Baby," but it's probably Robinson's greatest song. I
don't have any Vanity LPs, therefore sidestepping the difficult issue of where to file
the interview promo. (Smokey has a great bit about the importance of sad songs on The
Motown Story, an early box that's otherwise rendered useless--for taping purposes,
anyway--by all the intrusive interview clips.) I was actually surprised and somewhat
disappointed to learn about Robinson's former drug problems. I say "actually" because
the combination of pop stars and drug problems usually registers all the surprise of
a George Steinbrenner hissy fit--you can set your watch by such phenomena. But Smokey
always seemed like such an oasis of sanity and wisdom. Dylan's famous quote about Rob-
inson being America's greatest living poet (I may have read somewhere that the quote
is apocryphal, but I remember coming across the exact interview where he said it) is
the second most inspiring thing Dylan ever said about another musician, after his
breathless recollection of what it felt like when the Beatles took over the Colorado
airwaves in 1964...Just to clarify what most anyone will know anyway, the first two
Jimmie Rodgers LPs are by a different guy than the third. Rough and rowdy Jimmie Rod-
gers was the pioneering country singer, the one with the yodelly voice and all the
songs about trains; the other was the simpy whitebread folksinger who had pop hits
with "Honeycomb" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine." They were originally going to title
#2186 My Simpy & Whitebread Ways so as to clearly differentiate the two, but they set-
tled for His Golden Year instead when everyone involved agreed it was just as insult-
ing...Sitting in the car at some drive-in circa 1969, listening to CHUM and waiting
for the movie to begin. Heading the playlist that still occupies a small corner of
my mind: "Dizzy" and the Foundations "Build Me Up Buttercup."
