August has drifted by on the winds of early autumn. The leaves are turning to their fall colours, most of the summer birds have flown, and the temperatures have been pleasant, giving us our first real summer-like weather. Along with all of those events, I have been doing my due diligence, listening to the letter “R” with a few more or less random other albums tossed into the mix.

Eddie Rabbit Horizon

Eddie Rabbit The Best Year of My Life

I started the week and my journey through the letter R with Eddie Rabbit. While he is not a go-to artist, he does have some listenable songs. The lead song on the album Horizon is “I Love a Rainy Night,” which was a big radio hit for Eddie Rabbit. Like much of his material, “I Love a Rainy Night” is a crossover song, charting on both the Country charts and the contemporary music charts. “The Best Year of My Life” is not the best album of my life; in fact, it wasn’t the best album of Eddie Rabbit’s life. I turned out to be the album that marked the end of Rabbitt’s crossover success. “The Best Year of My Life” struggled to #22 on the Country charts and barely made a ripple on the Contemporary Music charts. The remainder of Eddie Rabbit’s career charted primarily on the Country charts.

Adam Again Dig

Leaving R for a moment to listen to an album that would be on my deserted island list. The highlight for me is the song “River on Fire,” which has to be one of the greatest breakup songs of all time. Gene Eugene based this song on his divorce from Riki Michele and used the fantastic image of a river on fire as a metaphor for their relationship. That imagery is based on the real river on fire, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Rascals Time Peace

Time Peace is a collection of songs from the early years of The Rascals and was their most commercially successful album. Music critic Robert Christgau regarded the album as representative of New York City’s rock music at the time. I enjoyed the single “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore.” I confess that I am not a big fan of their music, but it is an enjoyable snapshot of some of the music of the era and how it served as a stepping stone for the music to come.

The Who Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy

Take a deep breath and dive into another deserted island record.

This album is more like a greatest hits compilation than a regular release.

1. “I Can’t Explain” (non-LP single) 2:05

2. “The Kids Are Alright” (US edit) 2:45

3. “Happy Jack” 2:12

4. “I Can See for Miles” 4:06

5. “Pictures of Lily” 2:43

6. “My Generation” 3:18

7. “The Seeker” (non-LP single) 3:11

Total length: 20:20

Side two

No. Title Writer(s) Length

1. “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” (non-LP single) Roger Daltrey, Townshend 2:42

2. “Pinball Wizard” 2:59

3. “A Legal Matter” 2:48

4. “Boris the Spider” John Entwistle 2:28

5. “Magic Bus” (extended version) 4:33

6. “Substitute” (UK version) 3:49

7. “I’m a Boy” (extended version)

While I have listened to this album dozens of times, this was the first time I began to hear the details and focus on listening intently. The one song that really stood out to me with fresh appreciation was “I’m a Boy.” I heard the details in John Entwistle’s bass playing; the man was a monster with four strings. I highly recommend watching Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who on the streaming service of your choice. I rarely make a road trip without exclaiming that “I Can See for Miles,” Alberta is an excellent place with kilometres and miles of big country vistas.

I am tempted to write some more song synopses, but due to the 20-minute rule, I am going to stop here and encourage you to sit down and give this album some time to pay attention to the details.

Jerry Reed Oh What a Woman

Jerry Reed recorded some great songs over the years; unfortunately, this compilation is not the best record of his career in music.

Del Reeves The Wonderful World Of Country Music

“The Wonderful World of Country Music” is a 1969 compilation album by country singer Del Reeves, released on the Sunset label. The album features some of Reeves’ popular tracks, such as “The Girl on the Billboard.” They don’t make novelty songs much anymore; they used to be a staple of Country and Western music. Every country artist had to have one silly song and one gospel album! 

p.s. That’s not true, but it sounds plausible.

Gerry Reeves Golden Guitar Favourites

This album emerged from a small collection of several boxes of albums that I purchased several months ago. There were some Canadiana gems, including this album. While this is not top-ten material, it provides a good snapshot of Canadian music in the 1970s. The federal government, through the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, has mandated that all broadcasts in Canada contain a certain percentage of Canadian content, which has fluctuated over the years but is generally between 35% and 40%.

While many chafed at this perceived intrusion of the government into our music listening habits, it did have a positive side, as it gave many smaller acts a chance to have their music heard. Gerry Reeves would fall into that category. He never had a big radio hit, but he did record some music that showcased his guitar picking. He was a better guitar picker than me, and recorded more albums than I have. As of today, I don’t play the guitar and have never made a record, butmy Dad did, and Gerry Reeves did.

King Crimson Earthbound

This album was on sale in RCP, so I snagged it because I like King Crimson. I should have researched it before I paid. It was recorded to a cassette deck in a truck parked in the alley behind the venue, and sounds exactly like that. I am willing to forgive some shortcomings in live recordings, but Earthbound has too many shortcomings to forgive. I will return Earthbound to the store for in-store credit.  Robert Fripp refused to acknowledge Earthbound as an official King Crimson album, I don’t blame him.

Graham Parker Squeezing Out Sparks

Squeezing Out Sparks is an album that has been on my want list for a long time and was overdue for a sit-down listen. It received good reviews when it was first released, and I agree with them. I need to give Squeezing Out Sparks another listen because I enjoyed the first go-round and want more of it.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven

Their live show made a good impression, and I may trade Earthbound for one of their other albums on vinyl. It is hard to describe what they do, but they do whatever it is that they do, they do it very well. CanCon or not, this album qualifies as excellent Canadiana.

Jim Reeves God Be With You

Jumping back into the alphabet, we have a stack of Jim Reeves to plow through. My Mother-in-law liked his music, and I can’t play his records without thinking of her. He made a lot of gospel records, so I invite my wife, Valerie to listen with me. Making more good memories.

Jim Reeves Songs To Warm The Heart

Same as above, it warms my heart.

Jim Reeves He’ll Have To Go

I am going to take the lazy way and quote Wikipedia for this album.

“He’ll Have to Go is a compilation album recorded by Jim Reeves and released in 1960 on the RCA Victor label (catalog no. LPM-2223). The album included two No. 1 hits: “He’ll Have to Go” and “Billy Bayou.”

Unlike other Jim Reeves albums, this was a compilation of previously issued non-LP singles and EP tracks. In 1962, RCA reissued this album in “electronic stereo” (RCA LSP-2223 (e)). All twelve songs, including the title track, were presented in “electronic stereo” even though “He’ll Have To Go” was issued in true stereo on a 1960 single (RCA 61-7643, 1960), and true stereo masters existed for five other songs.

In Billboard magazine’s annual poll of country and western disc jockeys, it was ranked No. 4 among the “Favorite C&W Albums” of 1960.”

The Who Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who

I gave this Amazon-released show a plug above and will now provide a review. It’s good, now go watch it.

That’s it for this week. Happy listening to everyone, and a tip of the hat to those who made it this far down the blog.