Sucking in the 70's: Volume 11

     Sorry about the delay between posts - I was on vacation and was rushing around trying to get stuff done before I left.  As for this week's post, I know it may seem like overkill to keep putting out 70's compilation.... and maybe it is.  But before you judge, please listen to the newest volume.  In particular, listen to the Pointer Sisters' take on Steely Dan's Dirty Work.  Don't get me wrong, the original is pretty good, but the Pointer Sisters version is just sublime.  Maybe it's because I first heard it while watching Gaslit, the series about the Watergate break-in (I know the Pointer Sisters' version was released several years after Nixon resigned, but, it works so well), but it's really affecting in a way that the Steely Dan version never was.  Also, all the previous volumes are available as are all the Saluting the 70's compilations.

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Are You Ready?	Pacific Gas & Electric
Funky Business	Cherokee
The Time for Peace is Now	Fantastic Shadows
Smiling Faces Sometimes	The Undisputed Truth
Chairman Of The Board	Chairmen of the Board
Free Ride	Edgar Winter Group
Westbound #9	The Flaming Ember
If I Can't Have You	Yvonne Elliman
Pick Up The Pieces	Average White Band
(Every Time I Turn Around) Back In Love Again	L.T.D.
Nightbird	Labelle
Dirty Work	The Pointer Sisters
Why Can't We Live Together	Timmy Thomas
Turn Back The Hands Of Time	Tyrone Davis
Goin' Down	Allen Toussaint
Baby Let Me Kiss You	King Floyd
Love Land	Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
Love And Happiness	Al Green
Bound	The Ponderosa Twins Plus One
Maybe	The Three Degrees

'80's Torch and Twang - Disc 6

     As I age (and age - just had another birthday), I find myself dwelling on the passage of time a lot more than I used to, particularly the difference in how I perceive events now from 20-30 years ago versus how I perceived them when I was young.  Basically, I think I pretty much perceived everything prior to the mid 1950s as ancient history when I was an adolescent and post-adolescent.  Whereas today, I still think of events that happened 30-35 years ago as, well, relatively recent events.

     And the same kinda goes for music.  There are definitely albums I liked in the 1990s that I don't really listen to anymore and some even sound a bit dated, but it's still different than listening to music in the 1980's that was made in the 1940's.  For one thing, there's very little music from the 1940's that you would have heard in the 1980's unless you actively searched it out or it happened to be in a commercial or popular movie.  Whereas now, when I show my students the top 20 hits from 1983 or 1984, most of them have heard probably half of the most popular songs from the 1980's.  

       Nonetheless, in putting this compilation together, I sometimes wonder how 18-21 year-olds are likely to perceive the music.  It's really less about whether they like it or dislike it, but is it seen as "ancient" or "old-timey"?  So if anyone happens to play this for a young'un that they know, please ask them what they think of it. :) 

      Hope everyone likes the last volume of the compilation.  Was a lot of fun making it and I'm always open to making one more volume if there's enough artists that I forgot to include in the first six volumes.

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Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)	Steve Earle
The Rodeo Song	Garry Lee & Showdown
Blanket Of Sorrow	Jason & the Scorchers
That Very First Kiss	Carlene Carter
Lay Down My Old Guitar	The Lonesome Strangers
There's A Guy (Country version)	Kirsty MacColl
Faded Love	Willie Nelson & Ray Price
Back On Your Side	Chris Isaak
Creatures Of Love	Talking Heads
Steel Guitar Rag	John Fahey
Big Big Love	The Eddys
Wheel Hoss	Ricky Skaggs
Stampede	The Raunch Hands
Black Bart	The Johnnys
Six Feet Into the Country	Joe Henry
Lovin' On The Side	Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I Won't Need You Anymore	Randy Travis
Big House Part III	Tex & The Horseheads

'80's Torch and Twang - Disc 4 and 5

     I know my memory isn’t what it used to be, especially when it comes to events more than 35 years ago (and people’s memories are always selective).  Still, I am pretty confident that back in the ’80s, music aficionado types (i.e. college djs – especially White college djs) often described their musical tastes as some variation of “I like everything except country and metal”.  Sometimes, rap would also be lumped in there as well.    

            But, still, it seems like there was a lot more leeway for bands, including punk bands, back then to indulge their rootsy inclinations and release a couple of twangy songs on an album or even an entire record of roots music.  I’m sure there must have been some backlash from fans and I’m also guessing that fans were more likely to indulge, and enjoy, “countrified” music more when it didn’t have the trappings of mainstream country music.  Plus, there was no social media for people to complain – or hear complaints – about such things.  Still, the complaints I remember hearing seem to focus much more on bands selling out.

                Hope people like the 4^th and 5^th installments.  And since the Minutemen grace the artwork on Disc 5, it's worth noting that D. Boon listened pretty much exclusively to country music as a youngster.  If I recall correctly, Buck Owens was a particular favorite.

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Disc 4

Angel From Montgomery	John Prine
Baby Out Of Jail	The Knitters
I'm Still Dreaming, Now I'm Yours	The Jayhawks
Wild Bill Jones	Alison Krauss & Union Station
Animal Husbandry	Hickoids
Like An Outlaw (For You)	Social Distortion
Spinning	Fetchin Bones
Lottery Brazil	Souled American
Wearing the Robes of Bible Black	Giant Sand
Get Your Feet Out Of My Shoes	The Boothill Foot-Tappers
Sound of the Rain	Rank And File
Paradise Of Lies	The Stars Of Heaven
(Don't Go Back To) Rockville	R.E.M.
Love At The Five & Dime	Nanci Griffith
Do You Believe Me Now	Vern Gosdin
Misguided Angel	Cowboy Junkies
One More Goodnight Kiss	Greg Brown
I Spent My Last $10.00 (On Birth Control and Beer)	Two Nice Girls

Disc 5

Wreck Of The Tammy Anne	Stompin' Tom Connors
So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)	Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
Mister Love	Re Winkler, Anne Harvey & Ree Van Vleck
Blind Love	Tom Waits
The Partner Nobody Chose	Guy Clark
Girls Night Out	The Judds
Time for Me to Fly	Dolly Parton
Big Lizard [Explicit]	The Dead Milkmen
Corona	Minutemen
Whitewater	Béla Fleck
I'm Only Human	Dave Edmunds
One Time One Night	Los Lobos
Straight A's In Love	Peter Shelley
Hayride to Hell	The Hoodoo Gurus
The Old Man Down The Road	John Fogerty
Love Is	Emmylou Harris
Want You By My Side	Darden Smith
The Road Goes On Forever	Robert Earl Keen, Jr.

More '80s Torch and Twang

   

A 2011 Guardian article discusses the release of the 1988 Johnny Cash tribute album, "Til Things are Brighter" by many British performers and the career difficulties faced by Cash at the time, including being dropped by his longtime label, Columbia.  The author notes Cash’s appreciation of the project and how it ultimately re-energized him.  While the article does fail to mention the popularity of The Highwaymen supergroup Cash was in (with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings) in the mid-1980s, it reminds me of how the career comeback for 50’s artists like The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, and Jimmy Scott only really became a thing in the 1980s.  (I’m excluding Elvis’ comeback special for several reasons, mainly because it was only 10-12 years after his heyday.) 

           Now, I’m not going to claim that Cash’s albums from the 80’s are masterpieces, but there’s a definite charm to the Brand New Dance cut on this compilation from his Johnny 99 album.  I’d also recommend K.D. Lang’s Shadowland, Uncle Walt’s Band’s An American in Texas, and, of course, George Jones’ I Am What I Am. 

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Nebraska Bruce Springsteen I'm No Stranger To The Rain Keith Whitley I Feel The Blues Moving In Del McCoury End Of The Line The Traveling Wilburys Gun Sale at the Church The Beat Farmers On The Wings Of A Nightingale The Everly Brothers Cowboys from Hollywood Camper Van Beethoven Like Calling Up Thunder The Gun Club Now and Forever Blue Rodeo Turn It Around Bob Neuwirth As The Crow Flies Uncle Walt's Band West Texas Waltz Joe Ely Brand New Dance Johnny Cash Our Little Angel Elvis Costello Busy Being Blue K. D. Lang Have You Forgotten The Del Fuegos If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will) George Jones Here Comes A Regular The Replacements

 

Your Roots are Showing: Immersed in '80s Torch and Twang

     

A couple of years ago, I happened to be watching both Halt and Catch Fire as well as Red Oaks, two shows set in the 1980s.  I generally liked the vast majority of musical choices, but the near complete lack of anything remotely twangy on either show got me thinking about how the rootsy music of the 80s, whether it be mainstream country fare or the various strains of alternative country (even though it wasn't called that then), seems very underappreciated today.  Maybe it's because I'm a Gen Xer, but it does seem like both 70s and 90s roots music maintains both more cache and more popular appreciation.   To remedy (well, as much as I possibly can) the situation, I decided to put together a six volume compilation - volumes 3-6 will follow over the next three months.  I did, however, make a decision not to include any of the artists that were on my '90s and '00s alternative country compilations.

           I should also note that there are probably at least 2-3 vinyl rips on each disc and the quality does vary a bit.  But it's still a lot better quality than listening to it on a cassette player in a car so don't complain to management unless it's really bad. :)  Lastly, I thought I should recommend a couple of the albums that I relied on to put together the compilations.   I highly recommend the Mekons' Honky Tonkin' and the Long Ryders' State of Our Union from the first disk and The Meat Puppets II Blasters  and Ted Hawkins' Happy Hour.

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Disc 1
Country Death Song	Violent Femmes
Five Feet High And Risin'	Tracey and Melissa Beehive
Heart Attack	Beat Rodeo
Pledge Of Love	The Del-Lords
Venice Skyline Rag	Pete & The Bigshots
Lights Of Downtown	The Long Ryders
Oh Darlin'	The O'Kanes
Every Angel In Heaven	Gene Clark & Carla Olson
The Way We Make A Broken Heart	Rosanne Cash
Heart to Heart	Skeeter Davis,NRBQ
Diamond Hill	Butch Hancock
Dark Glasses	Ben Vaughn
Crazy Country Hop	The Skeletons
Who's That Knocking At My Door?	The Dreadful Snakes
Crazy Over You	Foster And Lloyd
Misery	The Bodeans
Prince of Darkness	Mekons
Shut It Tight	T-Bone Burnett
Disc 2
The Lubbock Tornado (I Don't Know)	Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band
Punk Rockin' Honky Tonk Girl	The Blue Chieftains
The Long Bow	Bill Monroe
Thirty Years Of Farming	Fred Eaglesmith
Let There Be Love	Dave Durham
They Never Will Know	Marshall Crenshaw
So Blue About You	True Believers
Track You Down (His Master's Voice)	Green On Red
Tennessee Plates	John Hiatt
Nothing Can Stop Me Loving You	Lone Justice
Lost	Meat Puppets
All Falls Away	The Silos
Ain't It Strange	Drivin N Cryin
Wild and Blue	John Anderson
Border Radio	The Blasters
Happy Hour	Ted Hawkins
Misfits	Neil Young
The Catfish Song	Townes Van Zandt