And the first album listened to this year is...

... also the first album I ever owned, "The Captain and Me", the 1973 album from the Doobie Brothers. As a nine year old still living back east, 'Long Train Running' totally captivated me. What a groove this song had (though I didn't realize at the time that was what was capturing my attention) and it rocked! That summer, the family headed west (or "to the moon" as I liked to put it). My birthday rolled around in September and this is what I wanted. Sears had all albums on sale for $3.33 (!). I bugged and bugged my father for this record. We may have gotten there the last day of the sale. But, damn it, I had my first record. And the whole family got to listen to that sucker at least once a day. The record is long since unplayable (I'm on copy #2) but I do still have the first record I ever owned, 37 years later...

I also got into the first two Aeromith albums today. While the first one tipped you off these guys were good, "Get Your Wings" brought the funk. They dropped down into a lowdown in da street groove with attitude. Right outta the gate, 'Same Old Song and Dance' and 'Lord of the Thighs' showed some serious teeth. Tight grooves, a bit of horns, a bit of snarl, and serious guitars. This was a whole 'nother ball game! All kindsa great stuff on there. The real hidden gem is 'Woman of the World'. I can't remember them really doing anything else like it. Man, this record sure does have my turntable excited... that needle's just jumpin' through side two...

Albums listed to since last post; "The Captain and Me" (Doobie Brothers), "Aerosmith", "Get Your Wings" (Aerosmith). Total listened to: 3. To go: 682 (364 days)

2011: The Year of the ALBUM

Happy New Year everybody! It's that time of year again for resolutions, fresh starts, page turning, and alla that other symbolic shit. 2010 was fulla highs and lows, like I guess every year is. Lots to be thankful for and lots left to do for this year. The blog started slow, picked up the pace in the middle, and kinda faded at the end of 2010. Things really went in both directions for me at the end there. I guess that's called "balance".

Anyways, in addition to the previously promised project (which is still on the agenda), this year, I'm going to listen to my entire album collection! Big deal, eh? Well, there's 685 albums to listen to. There are also a good number of double albums and a few triples there as well. There's records I've never listened to! There's some I haven't heard in over 30 years! Now, the plan here is to listen to them all by the end of the year. Also, it hasta be VINYL; no listening to the CD instead to help the count. How does it relate to this blog? Well, for one, I will NOT be writing about every album. I will update which albums I've listened to since the last post and how many I have left to go. Maybe there'll be a story to go along with some of them. We'll see. And let's not forget that I will probably purchase a few more as the year goes on. I will, for the most part, listen to them the way I have them filed; alphabetic and chronologic (how else am I gonna find this stuff), but not strictly. I'll print out a list so I can check off what I've already listened to.

So, between this, my memorabilia photography project, and any other musical rambles, this SHOULD be an active year for the blog. Time will tell, won't it. I guess it's time to drop the needle in da groove...