Melanie — Born to Be
A long, long time ago, I had the much-less-sought-after Woodstock Two soundtrack album. I’m pretty sure I got it at what was, for me, a life-changing garage sale. For whatever reason, despite my love...
Vinyl Distractions
Meat Loaf — Bat Out of Hell
In 1977, when “Bat Out of Hell” was released, I was 16, and this album was a goddamn cultural phenomenon. It’s surprising now to find that neither the album nor its singles went to...
John Mayall — The Latest Edition
This 1974 release from John Mayall (without the band name) was my first foray into Mayall, after years of simply ignoring the band. While considered legendary, given their lack of hits I had truly...
John Mayall — Moving On
So it happens that I’m touching on this one before I leave the ‘M’ section of my collection, but in fact this begins a long series of “catch-up” entries – the records that I’ve...
John Mayall’s Blues Breakers — Crusade
I do wish there were some consistency as to whether “Blues Breakers” is one word or two, but perhaps that’s a lot to ask of British musicians. On this album it’s two words, so...
John Mayall — Blues Breakers
For the longest time, I just paid no attention to John Mayall. My British blues was mostly filtered through The Animals and the like – that particularly British turn on R&B. For my blues,...
Christine McVie — Christine McVie
Following the alphabetization I learned in elementary school, Christine McVie should have come before Manfred Mann. But . . . that’s not what I did, so here she is. In the course of my...
Dave Mason — Certified Live
Prior to the Dave Mason & Cass Elliott album, I had no real interest in Dave Mason. I was never a fan of Traffic (I have an active distaste for Steve Winwood’s voice). I...
Dave Mason & Cass Elliot — Dave Mason & Cass Elliot
Hey, remember when there was that pandemic? When everything was dark and scary, and we were actually in a lockdown and unable to go about our daily lives? As I’m writing this, the omicron...
Things We Said Today