My 50 Desert Island LP's (40 - 31)

After much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, may I present 40 through 31.

40) THE OUTLAWS – The Outlaws (1975)

This one should incite gales of derisive laughter from the crowd, to which I reply cleverly with a resounding “BITE ME”. I love this record. I love the triple guitar thing – one can never have enough guitars, can one? Anyway, this LP proves the whole you-can-never-be-as-good-as-your-first-release theory. In my opinion, the cream of the songwriters in this crop was Henry Paul, based on his output after this release (check out his tribute to his iconic pal, Ronnie Van Zant, “Grey Ghost” for proof). But all the guys had a hand in writing these tunes. All the songs on this LP are full of energy, melody and pretty darned good playin’. Non-hit standouts are “Song in the Breeze”, “Cry No More”, “Knoxville Girl” and the ridiculously good instrumental leading off side two, “Waterhole”. They never put out a consistently good release again, suffering from the standard band malaise that habitually prohibits bands from reaching greatness and longevity, but this is a great rockin’ record.

39) TOWER OF POWER – Tower of Power (1973)

To simply call Tower of Power a funk band is to do this wonderful band a a real dis-service. This LP is my favorite by the band, by far. My late pal, “Joltin” Joe Connolly & I would play “So Very Hard to Go” in heavy rotation on our imaginary radio station. My idea of a night out on the town was a trip to the So. Windsor Ten Pin Bowl to play air hockey with my buddies Steve, Doug & Chuck, but I still understood what “What Is Hip” was all about. “This Time It’s Real” was my buddy Steve’s tune whenever he found a new gal (which happened a lot). “Clever Girl” was a slick little piece of 70’s soul. Throughout each tune, the staggering, explosive, soon to be legendary TOP horns – Greg Adams, Steve “Doc” Krupka, Lenny Pickett, Mic Gilette and arranger extraordinaire Emilio Castillo the lineup for this classic LP.   

38) JOHN MELLENCAMP – Scarecrow (1985)

By the time this LP came out, I had spent some time in Colorado and driven the heartland several times. This LP really connected with me. I liked this new guy John Cougar Mellencamp OK from songs like “Jack & Diane” but this album made me listen a bit closer. I realized this guy had a real voice. “Rain on the Scarecrow”, “Minutes to Memories”, “The Face of a Nation” & “Small Town” all spoke in a more serious voice that brought my attention to things that had never touched my life in New England, but now resonated because I had experienced it a little bit. Drive I-70 cross-country sometime. “Lonely Ol’ Night” and “ROCK in the USA” although different from each other in tempo, were grounded in the same heartfelt close-knit Midwest sensibility that I had learned about and come to respect. I still think this is his best LP; he earned the title “the Voice of the Heartland” with this release. Subsequent releases, although VERY good, never quite reached this benchmark for me. Also, if you happen to have the 45 for “R.O.C.K.” do yourself a huge favor, flip it over and check out the FAN-DAM-TASTIC cover of “Under the Boardwalk”.

37) THE DOOBIE BROTHERS – The Captain & Me (1973)

My favorite Doobies LP. It has lost some of its luster over the years, but that doesn’t diminish the rest of the songs on this disc. ”China Grove” used to be my favorite song on the LP and I don’t need to hear “Long Train Runnin’” again anytime soon, but they are still fine songs. “Clear as the Driven Snow”, “Evil Woman” and the closing medley “Ukiah/The Captain & Me” are all songs by a band hitting its stride: driving, powerful and confident. These songs sounded great coming out of my buddy Mark Frechette’s 8-track or out of my parent’s stereo. Many years later, Susan & I passed through Ukiah in Northern California. Whenever I think of the lake above that beautiful town, I hear its namesake song as the soundtrack. “Cajun Woman” & “South City Midnight Lady” were both nice ballads featuring nice picking by Patrick Simmons. The original lineup of the Doobie’s never reached these heights again.

36) WARREN ZEVON – Excitable Boy (1978)

I have to give credit where credit is due. I used to go to the Record Express store across the street from the grocery store where I worked in 78. One of the clerks that worked there became an overnight jock on WPLR - "Trapper" Dave Calabrese. Anyway, we became acquaintances and he’d drop me some knowledge on new releases. I walked in one night and he was jazzed about a new release in particular (or zooted) and played me this disc. I was hooked. “Lawyers, Guns & Money” and “Roland” immediately spliced themselves into my consciousness. I have been a rabid-dog fan ever since. Zevon has released better LP’s as a whole, but if I were stranded on a desert island with only 1 Zevon disc from which to choose it would HAVE to be this one for the visceral reaction it made me have then and still gives me now. P.S. You really have to play this record loud to “feel” it.

35) BILLY JOEL – Storm Front (1989)

This one makes me think of Susan. As you may or may not know, my wife & I differ quite greatly when it comes to music. One of the few artists that we have always both loved is Billy Joel. This album came out when we were first dating. I was also DJ-ing parties and such on weekends so it got a lot of reps on the old CD players. I love “list” songs and “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is an all-time favorite for me. I put “Shameless” on the tapes (a 2 tape set – don’t tell me I wasn’t smitten) I used to propose to Susan. In the days before IPods (at least at our house), I always used to bring a mini-duffel filled with CDs to play when we would go for a long road trip. 3 discs always stayed in the satchel we used to fill with CDs because we never tired of them and both Susan & I loved them: The Moody Blues – Seventh Sojourn, John Fogerty – Blue Moon Swamp and this one. We have finally seen him together (we’d each seen him once before we had met) in concert (with Elton John) a couple of years ago. Each song on this disc reflects Joel’s transition from the “angry young man”; the songs on this disc are more mature and multi-faceted than some of his earlier releases.

34) PAUL SIMON – There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973)

This disk, up until the release of Graceland, was THE perfect Paul Simon LP. Every song on this disc is amazing; don’t forget this is 1973. Simon was exploring boundaries on this one, as every song had a different vibe:  “Kodachrome” = Brilliant Pop. “Tenderness”: as much soul as a Jewish dude from NYC could legally display at one time back then. “Mardi Gras”: a love song to NOLA. Listening to Annie Lennox cover “Something so Right” is the only way to improve on Simon’s stellar original here. “St. Judy’s Comet” is a tender lullaby to his young child. “Love Me Like a Rock” = Tongue in Cheek Gospel (?). “It Was a Sunny Day” was Simon’s take on Caribbean sounds, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Buffett record. “American Tune” is my favorite. It is a genius take on Simon’s perspective of America in ‘73, warts and all, but still hopeful. Weary, but not resigned to failure.  Give this LP a listen if you don’t have it. Listen to the beautiful marriage of music and lyric that is this record.

33) JACKSON BROWNE – The Pretender (1976)

Jackson’s first three releases, although containing a couple of humorous rockers and a pop tune or two, tended to be very introspective, personal contemplations. With this release he was still very thoughtful but began to develop his arrangements a bit, expanding his band and incorporated two stellar vocalists to create a brighter sound with a broader appeal. The title track is the obvious talisman, we’ve all heard it. But try “The Only Child” his upbeat life lesson to his the young son, Ethan. The album kicks off with “The Fuse”, featuring Lowell George on slide which musically symbolizes the song’s lyric: “Through every dead & living thing time runs like a fuse, and the fuse is burning…”. My favorite song on the disc is my favorite song of all time, “Daddy’s Tune”. Bittersweet yet rocking; sentimental but not whiny; grand in scope and yet intensely personal - ALL AT ONCE! If there was ever one rock tune I could use to encapsulate my entire life in 3 plus minutes, it would be this absolute gem from The Pretender.

32) TRAFFIC – Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys (1971)

The fourth LP I ever bought (1^st was Tapestry/Carole King 2^nd was Shaft Soundtrack/Isaac Hayes 3^rd was Fragile/Yes). Couldn’t say I wasn’t an eclectic (strange) kid. I heard “Low Spark” on ‘DRC FM one night and was immediately smitten. After buying the record I found there wasn’t a stiff song in the bunch. The line in “Light Up” – “The skirt that you’re wearin’ is way past your knees” painted a delicious mental picture in my 13 year old male mind. “Rock & Roll Stew” – I still am not sure to this day what a f*&ing transom is, but I was sure glad Capaldi was sitting in one “all night long, playing cards and rockin’ right on”. “Rainmaker” & “Many a Mile” were both serious tunes that appealed to my bleeding-heart-in-training mentality when I was 13. I played this LP out, and ultimately lost it (and several others) somewhere after a night of drunken DJing (move AWAY from the turntable) at a friend’s house. My buddy Neal used the title tune for a FB Tune of the Day “House of Pain Week” entry and had a great write up – check it out (click on the image to enlarge it so you can read it easier).

 Couldn’t have said it better me ownself, Nate.

31) THE DOORS – L.A. Woman (1970)

My favorite Doors’ disk through and through is their swan song, L.A. Woman. I have conflicting thoughts when it comes to this disk: I love to think of the Doors reaching their peak with this release, but I simultaneously feel wistful because Morrison’s death prohibited us from ever experiencing what the next evolutionary step would be for these 4 talented artists. I knew the hits “Riders”, “Love Her Madly” and the title track from radio and my very first music purchase: a two tape cassette compilation called Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine) prior to ever buying complete recording. However, because we were lucky enough to have 3 really good FM stations (WCHN, WCCC & the BEST, WPLR) in the Hartford market, I had heard all the cuts on this LP often enough that I didn’t have to actually buy it to love it. It was quite a revelation to hear the entire record on a true high fidelity sound system via CD player after my wife bought me the Doors complete studio recordings boxed set for XMAS of 99. It was “stoned immaculate”.