77 X 3 = ?

It has been an eclectic bit of listening this past week. Everything from modern psych/rock to modern classical. Autumn is stretching out and getting cooler. This time of year also means I get back into scale model building. I am working on a Massey Ferguson 2680 tractor at the moment. The biggest challenge for me is not trying to make every little detail appear in the model. For example, much of the engine is hidden, so I really don’t have to replicate every tube and wire under the hood since no one will see it.

While I am puttering about with the model, I like to put on a record to while away the time. This week, Erik Satie’s music fulfilled that task very well, along with a few others. So, without further ado, let’s get into the music.

Santa Esmeralda	Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Santa Esmeralda	House of the Rising Sun
Sea Cruise	Sea Cruise
Dan Seals	San Antone
Neil Sedaka	Neil Sedaka’s Greatest Hits
Erik Satie, Aldo Ciccolini	Piano Music Of Erik Satie, Vol. 2
Area	Maledetti (Maudits)
77’s	Ping Pong Over The Abyss
77’s	All Fall Down
77’s	The 77s
Del Shannon	Golden Hits/The Best Of Del Shannon
Long John Baldry	It Still Ain’t Easy
Erik Satie, Aldo Ciccolini	Piano Music Of Erik Satie, Vol. 3
The Prayer Chain	Communion

Santa Esmeralda were a staple of my DJing days. They were good at putting some energy into the room, and people didn’t really care if it was brilliantly crafted records or not. A kissing cousin to “Please Don’t Let Me Be Understand” was “Rasputin” by Boney M. Santa Esmeralda hasn’t aged well, according to my ears. It is still high-energy music and could probably still inject life into a sluggish dance floor. It just didn’t inject anything into my music room.

Speaking of dance floors. Sea Cruise released an album of Beach Boys cover songs called “Sea Cruise,” which featured a 12-minute Beach Boys medley. It was distributed in 27 countries and was very successful. They may not have generated much enthusiasm at the Grammys, but this is still a fun beach party album. Crafted by the pairing of Jay Boivin and Germain Gauthier, who also did the soundtrack for the movie “Pick-up Summer”. I enjoyed listening to Sea Cruise and will have to keep it in mind for possible use at future dance parties, beach or no beach.

Next up is Dan Seals. What I knew about Dan Seals could be summed up as nada. Wikipedia to the rescue: “Danny Wayland Seals was born in McCamey, Texas. Dan’s childhood nickname, “England Dan,” was given to him by his older brother, Jim Seals (later of Seals and Crofts). It was also Jim’s idea to incorporate the name “England Dan” into England Dan & John Ford Coley. The nickname was a reference to the fact that, as a youngster, Dan had fixated on the Beatles and briefly affected an English accent.”

Dan didn’t cover Beatles songs or even attempt to emulate them with his music. After his partnership with John Ford Coley ended, he moved to Nashville and reinvented himself as a country musician. He was very successful, starting with the country-oriented music on the album Rebel Heart. My favourite song by Dan Seals is on the Rebel Heart album, “God Must Be a Cowboy.” His second album is the one on the turntable, San Antone. I really liked listening to San Antone; it had a good overall Country and Western feel. A bit softer, showing its roots in the 1980s “Nashville Sound,” but still a good album.

Neil Sedaka’s Greatest Hits. What can I say about Neil Sedaka? Neil has had a long and storied career in music. He started with a couple of 1960s standard hits, including “Calendar Girl“, “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” His popularity ebbed and flowed over the mid-1960s to the present day. He has had as much success writing songs for other people as he has had recording songs for himself. Neil Sedaka’s Greatest Hits is a 1977 compilation album consisting of his most popular songs from his trilogy of Rocket albums from 1974 to 1976. The Rocket Record Company is a record label founded by Elton John, along with Bernie Taupin, Gus Dudgeon, Steve Brown, and others, in 1973. The company was named after John’s hit song “Rocket Man“. There are a couple of top-ten well-known standards, such as “Love Will Keep Us Together” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” which is the second recording of this song. Sedaka had a hit with this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two significantly different arrangements. Between 1970 and 1975, it was a top-40 hit three times for three artists: Lenny Welch, The Partridge Family, and Sedaka‘s second version. The song was also adapted into multiple languages, most notably in Italian and French. Not too shabby of a career, eh!

Speaking of Italy, I was recently in Italy and went into a record shop, where I asked the teller to recommend a good Italian prog band. He flicked on a light in a back room, showed me a bin of records, and flipped through, showing me a couple of examples. I picked the one with what I thought was the best cover art, Maledetti (Maudits) by the band AreA. I had no prior knowledge of Italian music beyond the one and only band from Italy in my collection, Premiata Forneria Marconi. When I finally arrived home, I eagerly unpacked the trip albums and put the AreA album on first. I found out I got exactly what I asked for: Italian prog. Maledetti has some good prog music, but it also has some really weird shit. On Discogs, they are listed as “an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, and experimental group.” Yup, they are definitely experimental. I think I have met my quota of Italian prog bands; it’s time to move on to something else.

The 77s, 77’s, 77s, 77s Unplugged, Seventy Sevens, The 77’s, The Seventy Sevens, The Seventy-Sevens

Discogs shows I have 15 albums by The 77s, one of my favourite bands. I feel very fortunate to have seen them perform live; it was exhilarating. Of those 15 listings, only three are for vinyl, which I am going to chat about eventually. Six are for cassette tapes and six are on CD. 3+6+6=15. The first CD I have by the 77s is “The Seventy Sevens,” from 1992; prior to that, I had them on vinyl or tape. I have “All Fall Down” and “The 77’s” on both vinyl and tape. I have Tom Tom Blues on cassette and CD. After 1995, they are all on CD. Plus, there are more released by them that I don’t have and would like on any format available.

Ping Pong over the Abyss is the debut album by the 77s, released in 1982 on the Exit Records label. The front man for the 77s was Michael Roe, who seems to be a man of unlimited energy. He not only takes on lead guitar/lead vocals and lyricist for the 77s, but has also recorded as a member of the superband Lost Dogs, produced albums for several other artists, and released solo albums and collaborations with other artists, such as Mark Harmon.

The title of Ping Pong Over The Abyss comes from Allen Ginsberg‘s poem “Howl“, section 3: “I’m with you in Rockland / where you scream in a straight jacket that you’re losing the game of the actual ping pong of the abyss.” This title gives one clue as to why I like the 77s. They do not limit themselves to songs about falling in love, being in love, or falling out of love. It is true that they do write about love, but they do not paint themselves into a box of nothing but love songs.

The 77s incorporate Biblical themes into many of their songs, such as in “Pearls Before Swine,” a retelling of the story of Esau, who sold his birthright to his younger brother for a bowl of stew. “Pearls Before Swine” ends with the refrain “Veil of ashes.” I knew that “Veil of Ashes” was the name of another band that I enjoy listening to, but I did not know what those words referred to. Thanks to Google, I now know that it can refer to several things that could be interchanged in both the band’s name and the song by the 77s.

It can refer to concealing a dark or shameful truth.

It can refer to the contrast between beauty and decay: “Veil of ashes” can be used as a spiritual metaphor, drawing on the biblical image of receiving a “crown of beauty instead of ashes”.

Veil of ashes can also refer to a piece of fabric used to hold the cremated remains of a loved one, symbolizing remembrance and mourning.

I enjoy most of the material recorded by the 77s. Ping Pong Over The Abyss, All Fall Down, and The 77s are the band’s first three albums and the only three that I have on vinyl, sigh. In the 1980s, the powers that be switched our listening from vinyl to CD. At the time, I was OK with that and thought CDs were amazing. As time went on, I became less satisfied with CDs and started buying vinyl again. Anyhow, the first three albums from the 77s were pre-CD and are on vinyl and cassette. After 1987, their music came out on CD or cassette. After 1995, the 77s are available only on CD. They may have digital copies, but I never went looking for them. I like physical media.

The 77s’ material improved over time as their careers in music evolved. The lyrics became more profound, the music got tighter, and the music changed as they changed. These are not the three best albums in my collection and they are not what I would consider the three best albums by the 77s, but they are three good albums worth the listen to establish the evolution of the band from their youth, on Ping Pong, to their last album, Holy Ghost Building, which I have on CD and will eventually get heard when I start going through those recordings alphebetically.
Bottom line, I still enjoy listening to the 77s.

Golden Hits/The Best Of Del Shannon

This record gave me a serious earworm that was difficult to remove. The song that exerted that effect on me was “Hats Off To Larry.” This is not a song I would list in my top 100, if I had such a list. Earworms are a mystery by and large. Wikipedia tells us that “Researcher Vicky Williamson at Goldsmiths, University of London, found in an uncontrolled study that earworms correlated with music exposure, but could also be triggered by experiences that trigger the memory of a song (involuntary memory) such as seeing a word that reminds one of the song, hearing a few notes from the song, or feeling an emotion one associates with the song.” I don’t have a particular feeling or emotion tied to this song that I can remember. It eventually faded, but I was curious to see if writing about the song would retrigger a fresh earworm. It didn’t.

It Still Ain’t Easy. Long John Baldry is a staple of Canadian music, even though he is a transplanted Brit. I saw Long John in a bar in Red Deer sometime in the mid to late 1980s. I was thoroughly lubricated by the time he took the stage, and all I can remember is Ed taking down an album cover for promo and giving it to me, signed by Long John Baldry. Unfortunately, I no longer own that or remember anything else about the show. This album is a response to his most popular album, It Ain’t Easy. It Ain’t Easy is a good album, and It Still Ain’t Easy is still a good listen.

Communion by The Prayer Chain popped into my mailbox via Bandcamp. I occasionally get pokes from there, and some of it is really quite good. This album falls into that category. I have another album by The Prayer Chain. It is Shawl, on CD, and I haven’t listened to it for ages. I may get around to that, sooner or later, and it will most likely be the latter. Communion is a good album, and I wish The Prayer Chain, or their record company, would release it on hard copy. I may be slow to get around to listening to bands on vinyl, cassette, or CD, but I seldom revisit artists who are only available in digital format. I am relistening to Communion as I write this, and I am enjoying it even more than on the first listen.

Piano Music Of Erik Satie, Vol. 1-3 Aldo Ciccolini

I spread my listening of Erik Satie over several weeks because I know I wouldn’t be able to ingest large quantities in one go. Even doing that got to be a bit much, and I only sampled Vols. 4-6, as well as several standalone vinyl albums that I have. He was a very talented composer of modern classical music, and Aldo Ciccolini is well-suited to interpret his compositions. I will most likely return to Erik Satie’s music and listen to just one album in a studious, focused manner. Just one.

I received a lot of good music in my inbox this week, including Prayer Chain’s Communion. I will give a short shout-out for a couple of standouts that I listened to this week. I don’t have the time to do full reviews of albums due to the sheer quantity of music that I listen to. I am well past 500 albums that I have listened to this year. Those are albums that I have listened to start to finish. So much music, so littly time.

Charlie Nieland released the album Stories From The Borderlines from Shameless Promotions.