Had a one-man vinyl listening party a couple of weeks ago and I'd wanted to post the results, but didn't find the time. Too much other stuff going on. SO!
I started off with a couple of singles I'd picked up recently at Dave's Music Mine on the Southside. Great little music store. I go there quite frequently. On rare occasions, they'll leave some records outside after closing time as a giveaway, but I don't believe they do that anymore. A few things I've gotten from them came from those boxes.
First off was Summertime Blues, by The Who. I saw this and had to have it. Phenomenal song for a cover, and it's on Decca, so it's mainly a collectible. But the magic continued onto the B-side. That's a song called Heaven And Hell, and it was penned by the late, great John Entwistle. After hearing his song My Wife from the album Who's Next, I had long been curious to hear more of his material. It's a straightforward but nonetheless excellent Mod-era track that deserves to be remembered.
Also playing was Love Rollercoaster by the Ohio Players. Seventies disco/funk at a very classic point. Highly enjoyable (also pronounced "AAAAAAAARGH!") as was the B-side, It's All Over. A classic soul/funk breakup song, It's All Over is just as good as its A-side, like, legit.
Now for the big one. The Black Keys. Brothers. Two discs of vinylicious hard blues-rock, the Akron duo get high marks on every category in my opinion. Everlasting Light is the perfect lead song, a light-but-stompin' love song with Dan Auerbach doing an atypical but fitting falsetto vocal. I had to listen close to make sure it was him, since it was so unexpected, but dang, it fits so well. Side A is all hits: Everlasting Light, Next Girl, Tighten Up and Howlin' For You (the latter two being the singles issued for this release), Sides B and C are slower but still interesting, and Side D wraps it up nicely. Holy crap I cannot get over how almost perfect side A is.
The Brothers package also comes with a poster (helpfully labeled as such, like the rest of the packaging) with lyrics on the back, and a copy on CD. Nice touch; I'm told that copies of their older albums one a single slice of vinyl come with a coupon for a free MP3 download, which is also good.
Last up, since I was heading out that evening, was Blow By Blow, by Jeff Beck. I was surprised to discover two Stevie Wonder covers on side B (Cause We've Ended As Lovers and Thelonius) as well as a Beatles cover on side A. It's an instrumental jam album, primarily, but it's good stuff. Mid-70's mildly-to-heavily arty rock, with a prog or jazz feel to it. It's well worth checking out. Listening to this album also answered a longstanding rock question for me: what the hell was the song WRRK would play every time someone asked for Jeff Beck?
About thirty seconds into Freeway Jam, I realized that I was listening to it. I remembered the riff, but it doesn't start right at the beginning of the song. It took a moment for the lightbulb to come on. Man, that brought back some memories.
A very productive Saturday, indeed. I'd like to do so again this Saturday, but we'll see how things go.
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