My Musical Evolution – Page 30 – Mapping Influences Over Time

My Musical Evolution – Part 123 Academy Days More REO

I added these REO Speedwagon albums like this because they were part of the Academy Days but their impact was not so great. As you may recall, my interest in REO Speedwagon began on a “date” to Cedar Point The Amazement Park. Hi Infidelity was a great album and I followed what would be my usual procedure of backfilling the catalog. I’m still surprised that I never considered doing this with Kansas.

In a short space of time, I acquired the REO Speedwagon albums you see above on factory cassette of course. This might demonstrate the importance of thes records. I have yet to get any of them on Compact Disc. So, i haven’t heard these albums since the Academy Days or shortly thereafter. I did go investigate them on Amazon.com a few weeks ago. I must admit that I’m very curious to get them and listen to them again. I wonder if anything will strike a chord.

Allan had one of the live albums that they had out at that time I think it might have been You Get What You Play For. I vaguely remember Golden Country and some story about the telephone ringing during a moment of marijuana consumption or something. That album like the ones above, were very different than Hi Infidelity. After all, those records were made during the late 1960’s and mid 1970’s. The sounds and themes reflected that. So at first, they were rather disappointing at second they were rather forgettable. That may be too harsh. The fact is that I have not yet felt motivated to replace those lost cassettes.

I do plan on checking them out again. I’ll be sure to let you know what I find out. As for right now, here are the few that stick out.

Golden Country

Riding The Storm Out

Son Of A Poor Man

Back On The Road Again

Being Kind (Can Hurt Someone Sometimes)

Flying Turkey Trot

Keep Pushin’

You know what, after just listening to these few, I may have been premature. There are some good things to take away here.

My Musical Evolution – Part 122 Academy Days Abracadabra

Today, I’m a little surprised that my entry into the Steve Miller Band was this album Abracadabra. I won’t be ashamed though. I wasn’t and don’t claim to be any kind of music critic or scholar. I like what I like and I won’t make excuses. Nor will I chastise you for not liking the stuff I like. In fact, if you look at my media library, you’ll find that a lot of the artists that are hailed by critics and scholars are not present. For example, I cannot stand to listen to Bob Dylan. OK can’t stand is too harsh. I can stand to listen to him, I just think his stuff is horrible. It doesn’t connect with me in any way. I’d rather listen to A Flock Of Seagulls and I will not apologize. I don’t like olives either. I keep trying them every few years to see if my taste buds have evolved. They have in the past. I grown to like several things that tasted bad to me at one point. I’ll listen to Bob Dylan again in a few years to see if anything happened.

Abracadabra, the song was on the radio and Friday Night Videos. I liked that song and after listening to the cassette a few dozen times, I grew to like the whole thing. At that time I really wasn’t aware of the rest of the Steve Miller Band’s work. I’m sure that along the way I had heard some their more iconic songs. I just didn’t really connect those dots just yet.

Listening to Abracadabratoday for the first time in a very long time. It has the qualities that I would expect. It sounds very Steve Miller-ish. As you’ll see, in a few years I’ll pick up a greatest hits CD and shift away from Abracadabra but today, this is sounding pretty good and It keeps me wondering why.

Keeps Me Wondering Why

Abracadabra

Give It Up

Young Girl’s Heart

My Musical Evolution – Part 121 Academy Days Hanging On In Quiet Desperation Is The English Way

I am still amazed that there ever was a time when I didn’t know of Pink Floyd. As much as I loved Kansas, Boston, Styx, and Journey, Pink Floyd would eventually eclipse them all. I began The Academy Days the year that The Wall was released. I remember sitting in Mrs. Lind’s Biology lab freshman year and another kid singing “We don’t need no education” it seemed silly to me. The use of the double negative only re-enforced the need for education. I didn’t know that was Pink Floyd. I didn’t know anything about The Wall. In a couple of years I’d be completely immersed in it but that comes at the end of The Rise And Fall Of ’84.

It was some time after that excerpt in Biology that I’d get my formal introduction to Pink Floyd. That introduction would come from a guy named Chip. Chip was my cousin Flavia’s boyfriend for a while. That was how I met him. To me, Chip seemed like some kind of pop music scholar. He always had cool music. In fact I think that he had some input in all those albums that Flavia was buying me for Christmas.

Somewhere during The Academy Days Chip gave me a copy of Dark Side Of The Moon on cassette. I really liked Dark Side. The orchestration and production of such cool songs was impressive. I would listen to it now and again but I was still a few years away from my true Pink Floyd awakening. I consciously remember thinking a couple things about Dark Side back then. I recall thinkng about how skilled they were to create such a thing. I also remember that it was an album that you could NOT put on then go to sleep. Although much of it is soft and soothing, each side has raucous elements that will wake you up.

Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon Here it is at it was intended to be heard. One long amazing piece.

My Musical Evolution – Part 120 Academy Days Here Comes A Bikini Whale!

Is this New Wave? I seemed to pick up a lot of this so-called new wave stuff. Like Adam And The Ants and Devo, there was a certain electronic understatement with The B-52’s. It almost sounds amateurish compared to the likes of Kansas or Styx. Still the music was infectious.

I wonder if a group like The B-52’s would get any attention from a record company today. It seems that the era of the garage band working hard and making it big are gone. Music acts appear to be carefully crafted products of record companies. Kind of like The Monkees back in the 60’s. Guy’s like Justin Beiber don’t spend years playing bars, honing the craft and developing chops working towards that big break. He was probably picked out of a lineup at the local mall at an open casting call.

How do you even begin to write a song like Rock Lobster? I tried to get my sisters to listen to The B-52’s when I was home for the summer. They hated it. I made sure to bring that up again 10 years later when my sisters were singing Love Shack. Yeah, these are the Rock Lobster guys.

Planet Clair

Dance This Mess Around

Rock Lobster

There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)

Downtown

I still prefer the original but this is interesting.

My Musical Evolution – Part 119 Academy Days Messin’ With The Kid

Have you ever gone to a movie an have no prior knowledge of it what so ever. Vermont Academy would occasionally have bus trips to the movies. space was limited. A sign up sheet would go up on the wall. You could sign up and then be bussed to a not so nearby city to see a movie.

Back in the early 80’s the huge multi-plexes with stadium seating didn’t exist. In southeastern Vermont, if there was a theatre, it was a small one screen operation. The cinema in Keene, NH might have had three screens. One movie night Adam had signed us up. We were going to go see The Blues Brothers. He was pretty excited about it. I hadn’t heard anything about it. I went in as cold as you can get.

The movie turned out to be a really entertaining experience and the music was intriguing. A week later, I convinced my Aunt to go back with me to see it again. I warned her about the bad language ahead of time. I think she enjoyed it as well.

Shortly afterwards Adam picked up Briefcase Full Of Blues and it became a staple of our listening content. I remember Elwood’s opening. “Well here it is the late 1970’s going on 1985..” . I also remember thinking that 1985 sound like a long way off. It wasn’t

I Can’t Turn You Loose

Hey Bartender

Messin’ With The Kid

(I Got Everything I Need) Almost

Rubber Biscuit

Soul Man

B Movie Boxcar Blues

Flip Flop And Fly

I know that there are several flavors of what is classified as Blues but to me this is the best. I love the horn section and the uptempo stuff. I know that some folks don’t consider this blues at all. They are more Delta oriented with the likes of Robert Johnson and B.B. King. Give me Chicago blues!

My Musical Evolution – Part 118 Academy Days Worth Mentioning

We have been exploring My Musical Evolution through the Academy Days. So far it has been about the albums I owned back then. In the interest of being thorough, there were still a few artists and songs that should be included. John Lennon was killed my sophomore year and his album Double Fantasy was getting a lot of attention. I didn’t own Double Fantasy. Even now, I only own a Greatest Hit collection. Lennon had a bunch of good music but I’m firmly entrenched in Team McCartney. I think it actually might be because of his life as an activist. I’ve always been turned off by artists turned activists. It isn’t the message, it is the path. I guess it bothers me that people will pay attention to the beliefs and opinions of a person not becuase they have devoted time and study to a cause but because they have a hit single. I’m not saying that artists shouldn’t have opinions, I just don’t like the idea of artificially adding value to that opinion with non-related stardom.

(Just Like) Staring Over

Woman

Watching The Wheels

I don’t know exactly how it got started but somehow The Dukes Of Hazzard Theme got associated with Adam and Me. I should rephrase that. I have no idea. Was it something we decided? Did somebody else think of it. What I do know is that I ended up with the 45 and we used to play it. I’m going to jump ahead with little story about The Dukes Of Hazzard Theme and rootbeer. One of the things Adam and I used to do was make homemade rootbeer. I never thought of making soda before and I don’t know if Adam did this frequently or if it was his first time too. Basically using rootbeer extract, yeast, water and a bunch of sugar we made naturally carbonated rootbeer. It took about an hour to cook up then a couple of months to age and carbonate. It was the best tasting stuff ever. We made 2 or 3 batches during the Academy Days. I don’t think you can get that brand of extract anymore. So we had our own brand of distinctively tasting rootbeer. Now fast forward to the mid 1990’s. I’m cleaning the basement of my house on Cortland Ave. I put a randomly selected mix tape into the boom box while I’m down there cleaning. I also am drinking a can of generic rootbeer. The music is playing I’m cleaning. I have nio idea what song will come up next. This mix tape was one out of dozens. I put the broom down to take a sip of my rootbeer. At that exact instant The Dukes Of Hazzard Theme comes on the tape and in those first few notes, the generic rootbeer in my mouth is transubstantiated into our glorious homemade rootbeer. It was shocking. I can’t explain it. That one mouthful was exactly how I remembered it. Sadly, it was generic again on the next sip. It just goes to show you how powerful the mind is and the effect that a song can have on our reality. I was so blown away by this experience that I called Adam right away and described it to him. Some songs are linked to people, some are linked to moments in time and some are linked to sugary carbonated beverages.

Joe Jackson – Steppin’ Out

Jackson Browne – Somebody’s Baby

Another movie trip we made was to see Fast Times At Ridgemont High It was full stuff that high school kids thought was funny. We all wanted to have pizza delivered to a classroom. This song stuck out.

Pure Prairie League – Amie

There is something really nice about this song. I used to sing it to a girl named Annie changing Amie to Annie of course.

Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes

Styx -The Best Of TimesMy cousin had the Paradise Theater album and I was able to enjoy it a little bit.

My Musical Evolution – Part 117 Academy Days People And Places

If I had to depend on 30 second samples, I never would have bought Departure which would eventually become my favorite Journey album. I really like Open Arms from the Heavy Metal soundtrack. I loved the Escape album that I got for Christmas. I bought Infinity and Departure at the same time from Columbia House and when they arrived, I was disappointed. These albums didn’t have that Escape feel. They seemed a little undercooked or not quite finished. It was a more 1970’s sound that I wasn’t expecting or ready for.

I had put them aside and went on to other things. Allan had convinced me to give Wheel In The Sky from Infinity another listen. It was months later, in May when my mind was changed. I was at my Aunt’s house in Vermont. I was home alone and was going to wash the dishes. I put Departure in the tape deck in the other room. I was washing away only half listening to the album while I worked. We got to the 4th track People And Places. At first since I wasn’t actively listening, I wasn’t quite sure what I was hearing. When I gave it my full attention, I was drawn in by the vocal work and subtle arrangement. I stopped what I was doing and let the song finish. When it was over, I hit rewind and started People And Places over again. This time I stared out the open window. I looked north at the green of the tree covered mountains, a cool breeze carrying the scent of spring to me. I played People and Placesa few more times in that perfect setting wanting that moment to last. For a moment I was one with the universe. I’m not certain why that was so important. Maybe it was the realization that it was just a couple of weeks away from the end of my junior year at Vermont Academy and I was unsure about what would follow graduation. I was pretty sure that I’d be headed back to Indiana. I just wasn’t sure how I could leave these people and places behind.

Any Way You Want It

Here is the most popular song on this album and my least favorite.

Someday Soon

People And Places

I’m Cryin’

Departure

This song is basically Journey’s version of The Journey my favorite track from Boston’s Don’t Look Back

Good Morning Girl / Stay Awhile

Sometimes it takes a while for music to make that connection. The planets need to be in the right order or the environment just right. Departure is that album that made the leap from cast off to perennial favorite just because we were all in the right place at the right time.

My Musical Evolution – Part 116 Academy Days Journey Continues.

To the 1982 me, Journey was one my pillar bands. Kansas, Styx, Boston, and REO Speedwagon and Journey all seemed to fit well together. Is it a coincidence that they all are named after location or transportation related things? I drove my REO Speedwagon on a Journey from Kansas of the river Styx all the way to Boston.

After grooving on Journey’s Escape I had to get more. Fortunately, that Columbia House catalog had Infinity and Departure. I had to be close to fulfilling my obligation to Columbis House by now. These back catalog acquisitions were just the thing to do that. I feel that I should remind those of you that might frown on the notion of dealing with Columbia House so much. I was in a very small community where the nearest place to buy music was 30 miles away. There was no amazon.com or any other way to effectively get music unless you had a car and some time. During regular life on campus, I had neither.

I remember initially being disappointed by Infinity. It sounded much more 70’s and less polished that Escape. It was Adam’s older brother Allan than convinced me to give it another listen. He specifically mention Wheel In The Sky and Lights as really good songs. I put it on the back burner and went on to Departure.

Lights

Patiently

Wheel In The Sky

Opened The Door

Of course, Allan was right. This was a really excellent album. I just needed to work backwards through Departure to get to it.

My Musical Evolution – Part 115 Academy Days Journey Begins

Here is another spin off from the Heavy Metal Soundtrack. It was another in the Christmas presents from my cousin series and I am so grateful.

I was familiar with Open Arms from Heavy Metal but the rest of the album was just as good. Of course it is full of hits and radio favorites but it is the lesser traveled songs that deliver the emotional impact for me.

I recall looking at the album art and being mesmerized by the beetle shaped space craft and the stylized writing. I’m not sure how long it took me before I discovered that the cryptic runes made more sense sideways.

Since my cousin bought this for me, it was on vinyl and although it would ultimately not be my favorite Journey album but it makes an excellent starting point.

When I think back to the Academy Days, Journey is one of the bands that represents the foundation of that experience. The main difference between Journay and some of the other bands of that era like Adam And The Ants or The B-52’s is that I would continue to listen to Journey and eventually teach myself to play a few of their songs.

Don’t Stop Believin’

Stone In Love

Who’s Crying Now

Still They Ride

Open Arms

My Musical Evolution – Part 114 Academy Days It’s Showtime

Although I didn’t actually own any showtunes during the Academy Days, the musical was a part of my life at this time. VA did a musical every year. I always seemed to be involved at some level. Being at rehearsals night after night, it was difficult to not get into the music. The big standouts of that time were Damn Yankees [which did not include Ted Nugent or Tommy Shaw] and Guys & Dolls. I’m going to includeGodspell here even though we didn’t perform it. We did do an original gospel oriented piece and I was listening to my Aunt’s Godspell record at the time.

Some of the memories of doing the musicals are so clear in my head i can smell them. Here are a few to give you the flavor. We’ll see if this unlikely influence does anything down the road.

Whatever Lola Wants

Every once in a while, usually in some swanky instrumental, this song pops up and I cannot help but think of Amy Hepburn as Lola. Stunning.

Heart

A Little Brains, a Little Talent

The Game

Andy Griswold totally made this song in the Vermt Academy version “Four minds with a single thought.”
Those Were The Good old Days

Aloha Mr. Hand.

Years later I would find a both the Broadway version and the Movie version on Compact Disc.
On To Guys & Dolls. Not quite as attached to this one but it still has a few gems
Rocking The Boat

Luck Be A Lady

Woman In Love Don’t worry, Jean Simmons doesn’t spit blood in this version.

And finally Godspell

It’s A For The Best

On Willows

Day By Day