Crap, now I like an Osmonds song.  Damn you, Kevin, damn you to hell.

That Chicago song was one of the few of theirs I actually liked.

These date from my youth, and can all be found on YouTube:

Climax - Precious And Few
Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes
Christie - Yellow River
And of course,
Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime (dig the jug, man)

Man, don’t get me started!  I actually have that Osmonds song and suggested it to my buddy for a band we’re trying to put together.  Frankly, it rocks - what can I say?

Steely Dan is probably one of my top three favorite bands.  If you’re not a Dan fan, take a look at some of the musicians who’ve been part of the SD experience, some time.  Wow!

Embarassing, though, eh?  I just picked up a 9 CD Dionn Warwick collection.  I also have huge collection of 70’s/80’s stuff - the music that percolated through my brain when I was growing up.  Anyone need a copy of Robbie Dupree’s “Hot Rod Hearts”?  Don Johnson’s “Heartbeat”?  Yeah, it’s that bad at my place.

Kevin, you should talk to my buddy Mark, at Mississippifarian.  He’s a collector of “out there” stuff, too, and could probably hook you up with a lot of cool stuff in almost any genre.

Tracy, I have a great quasi-Reggae cover of Summer Time by Shaggy and Rayvon.

Also, one of my folders for the music collection is called “Guilty Pleasures.”  We’re dorks!  Dorks, I tell you!

Ripley, no I really like Steely Dan, but I know a lot of people (including my wife) who dismiss them as the equivalent of elevator music. I haven’t much cared for their comeback albums.  Actually, I’m not big on anything post-Aja, but I really like everything before it.

And, Ripley, btw, I was going to tag you for this but didn’t see any music posts on your blog.  Let me know if you want to be added.

Hey, I saw Sly and the Family Stone live in the early 70s. But I didn’t inhale.

Tom Jones anyone?

Take on Me, Aha (still my all-time fave music video, well, ecept for the one where Chris Walken goes around dancing on stuff)

Muskrat Love, Cpt & Ten.

Wake me up, Wham

In the college days after a long night of partying and just as the sun came up we’d play Starbuck’s Moonlight Feels Right and sing along with the line “we see the some come up on Sunday morning” ... we’d be launching empty beer bottles off the balcony and into the ravine out back. It’s quite the embarrassment that I recently downloaded that single from iTunes. What was I thinking?

Tom Jones anyone?

My wife and I decided to splurge and go see him in Vegas when we were out there several years ago and it was one of the best shows I’ve seen in my life. We were both amazed how much we loved it.  It was surreal (blue-haired women yelling, “You’re delicious!”), the venue was all sparkly (MGM Grand) and, damn, even in his later years that motherfucker could still belt ‘em out.

we’d be launching empty beer bottles off the balcony and into the ravine out back

That’s better than my college days.  My off-campus roommate and the semi-punk-rock alcoholic who lived downstairs used to hurl beer bottles into the apartment complex’s parking lot between cars.

I generally do a fair bit of music blogging, but I haven’t blogged much of anything lately.  If you search “Friday Night Drinking Club” at my place, you can see and download my Random iTunes bits, if you’re inclined.

Oh, and search “Sinners” and “Reggae”, if you want some short compilations of trance or reggae.  (I haven’t made any of those in quite a while.)  I suppose I should just re-post the links to make it easier.

Take on Me, Aha

Ooh, good one - now there was a great song and video.

You all may be familiar with them, but Pravda Records in Chicago has released three awesome collections called K-Tel tributes:

Tom Jones anyone?

Yes, please! I also love the Aha vid, but I draw the line at Mustrat Love. For shame. For shame!

I was going to put up “Ghost in You” by the Psychedelic Furs, but I know they’re held in fairly high regard by some critics.  I tend to just dump all new wave into the “trash” category, but I’ve always kinda liked the Furs. Before they did “Pretty in Pink,” which is totally icky-making.

I love that Len song!  The lyrics are completely nonsensical, but whatever.

Butter tart, anyone?

Oh shit, how could I forget Bandstand! by Barry? Sheesh, that and anything from the Rocky movie soundtrack.

And one more. My rock and roll debut, made while in 8th grade with our band, High Voltage was done while I belted out Hold The Line.

I’m no longer a tenor, but I could sing the shit outta that song as a kid.

It’s quite simple for me to generate several titles which are ripe for embarrassment. I have many melodies which deposit themselves in my frontal lobe, fortifying themselves like neurological stalactites. They never leave. Some of them have been there for 30 years. I sing them when cycling in noisy traffic.

1. John Denver-“Blow up Your TV” I love the part about eating a lot of peaches and finding Jesus on your on own. What is more American than that?
2. Annie: the Musical- “It’s a Hard-Knock Life.” I was beside myself when Jay-Z sampled from this musical chunk of my adolescence. Is nothing sacred?
3. “Facts of Life” theme song-I am nervous for even mentioning this one.
4. CW McCall: “Convoy” This was one of my first 45 singles. I could lie and say that my first record was something from Chubby Checker or the Beatles, but no, it was the theme song from a movie that glorifies truck driving and stars Ali McGraw and Kris Kristofferson.

Damn, I forgot this one too. This is dedicated to Betty.

Oh, and

5. Barry Manilow: “Mandy” You gave and you gave without taking. (Sigh).

Havin’ My Baby? My mother hated that fucking song. Not really a guilty pleasure, more of a “fuck that song sucked” addition.

6. Manfred Mann’s “Blinded By the Light”

As many of you may know, they are not singing about being “revved up like a douche,”

Mark is correct.  It’s actually “wrapped up like a douche.” So many people get that wrong.

Oh man, this is going to take some thinking.  I’ll let you know when I post mine. 

Crazy Horses does rock.  And it’s also completely nuts.

Humboldt, that was just mean! ;-)

“Wrapped up like a douche,” “revved up like a douche…”

We ought to have a misheard song lyrics post sometime. I’ve heard some doozies.

Didn’t Springsteen write Blinded By the Light?

Another one that totally owned me:

How come all of these clips are “no longer available?”

Didn’t Springsteen write Blinded By the Light?

Yeah, but in his original version it was “wrecked up like a douche.” I think that’s NJ slang for peeing yourself when you get too drunk. Manfred Mann thought that was a little too crass so he tweaked it in his version.

Oh, and all of the videos work for me.  I played them all at the same time and it was a total mindfuck.

I see we all have some in common.  Thanks, Kevin, for allowing us to come out of the closet and purge:

Carpenters - any and all.  I still own all the original records and have most on CD.

Barry Manilow - Mandy and Could it Be Magic.

Afternoon Delite.

Thank you.  I feel like a new woman.  All open and free!

Sorry for hijacking da thread, but I saw Cyndi and Patty perform this as a duet, still one of my guiltiest pleasures.

I posted the Stars on 45 “Beatles Medley” yesterday before I knew all of this magic was in the air.  Stars on 45—-the extended version.

(Fran Drescher voice) Love the Psychedelic Furs!  LOVE THEM!!!

Although sometimes love just ain’t enough.

OK, that’s the ONLY Chicago song I like, especially the little marching bit for the coda.

But if ANYONE proclaims “the hidden greatness” of ‘80s-era Chicago, I’m gonna come over and your place is gonna look like Terry Kath’s living room.

I used to own that “Crazy Horses” album.  Loved it!! I thought the Osmonds rawked!  Course that was back in ‘72 when I’d wake up early on Sat. morning to watch all the great cartoons like The Osmonds, the Jackson 5, Fat Albert, Josie and the Pussycats, the Brady Kids, the Archies and Scooby Doo. And then there were all those psychadelic Krofft shows… Man, I look at what my kids are watching today and almost cry.  Where’s the great music? Where’s the blatant racial stereotyping? (ahem… the Charlie Chan cartoons?)

As for my guilty pleasures, they’re mostly all those great 70s power pop songs.
1. The Knack - My Sharona
2. Sweet - Little Willie
3. Bad Company - Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy
4. Men at Work - Who Can It Be Now? (I can listen to that song every day.  Kill me now)
5. Anything by Cheap Trick before 1983

Here’s one:

Rick Astley-“Never gonna give you up”

Eddie Grant-“Electric Avenue”

Cindy Lauper- “Girls just Wanna have fun”

NKOTB “Please Don’t Go Girl”

DeBarge- “Rhythm of the Night”

Alternates:

Lionel Ritchie- “Dancing On The Ceiling”
Billy Ocean- “Caribbean Queen”
Dexys Midnight Runners- “Come-on Eileen”
Hall and Oates “Out of Touch”
Oakridge Boys- “Elvira”
Boston- “Something About You”

And any Jheri Curl R&B;Group from the 80’s-90’s

Dear god let me stop now

Deuce, not douche.

It’s “cast loose like a deuce”.  As in a worthless card in a poker hand.

Duh, “cut loose like a deuce”.