Band Of Horses - "No One's Gonna Love You" (2007)

Happy Friday!

We're feeling a little sappy today friends!

Really good song from Band of Horses' second record, "Cease to Begin".

Things start splitting at the seams and now...

Love To Love You Baby

Donna Summer - "Love To Love You Baby" (1975) - Oasis Records

Hello Friends,

Sultry sounds from the turntable tonight!

Love to Love You Baby is not only Donna Summer's first release in the U.S. (her actual first release, Lady of the Night, would only be released in the Netherlands) but it also remains a seminal release in the Disco movement of the 1970's.

The title song takes up all of Side One and boy-oh-boy is it a doozy!  A sexy, sultry and sweaty disco opus featuring Giorgio Moroder & Pete Bellotte's sparingly calculated production values with plenty of wah-wah guitar, boogieing bass lines, futuristic-sounding synthesizers and Summer's breathy and sensual vocals with orgasmic moans and ecstatic groans aplenty!

Whereas Side One is an epic of the early disco era, Side Two is a bit of a mixed bag containing more soulful ballads and less speed- and sex-fueled dance tunes.

Immediately, the party comes crashing to halt with the heartbreaking ballad "Full of Emptiness".  A great and incredibly sad song sung with unmistakable sincerity by Summer. It does come off as a bit of a buzzkill, however.

"Need-a-Man Blues" gets things (temporarily) back on track with Moroder's signature electro-funk instrumentation doing what it does best lying just below the surface!

"Whispering Waves" is another pretty ballad but ITS KILLING US.  Its sounds like a 1970's Massengill commercial!  What the hell happened to the spazzy, swirling up-tempo sleaziness of the album's first side??  My boner is slowly turning into tears!  (Although, for whatever its worth, there is some pretty nice guitar work going on here.)

Thank god that "Pandora's Box" gets us back to at least a mid-tempo shuffle!!  It actually starts out reminding us of Rundgren's "Hello Its Me", but ends up being more of a straightforward R&B song.

The side ends with a country-twinged reprise of "Full of Emptiness" (which would have been an amazing "come down" to the album if everything leading up to it was as high energy as the title track!)

As a whole, this album doesn't really work which is to be expected, historically speaking. Donna Summer was new to the scene as was the genre that she would eventually dominate!  Just the fact that a disco/dance track would take up all of a side is pretty amazing (in 1975 the only bands doing this would be prog rock/art rock bands like Yes, Genesis or Pink Floyd!)  This album captures her and Moroder in their relative infancy with Love To Love You Baby setting the table for the next half decade or so of greatness!

RATING: 4 do it to me again and again you put me in such an awful spin out of 5

Cat Scratch Fever

Ted Nugent - "Cat Scratch Fever" (1977) - Epic Records

Buckle-up fuckers and iron those loin clothes, we've got some classic Nugent on the turntable tonight!

Cat Scratch Fever is the Nuge's third solo album. Unfortunately, we've been so spoiled by Ted's great self-titled solo debut from 1975 that this record, which by all standards was better well-received, seems to pale by comparison.

Cat Scratch Fever does mark the return of vocalist & rhythm guitarist, Derek St. Holmes, back into the fold (he was replaced by none-other-than Meatloaf on 1976's Free For All LP!)

Of course, this album owes its ubiquity in no small part to its lead-off track, the titular "Cat Scratch Fever".  Sleaze rock at its absolute best!

Side One is also home the thought-provoking, "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" and "Death By Misadventure", an ode to the death of Rolling Stones' founding member, Brian Jones.

"Live It Up" is just OK and the side closes with the terrific instrumental (and Nugent live staple), "Home Bound". No matter what your opinion of old Ted may be these days, there's no denying he was one of the best in-your-face, blues-based hard rock lead guitarists. Sort of like a redneck Jeff Beck.  

Side Two kicks off with the galloping buzzsaw guitar sounds of "Workin' Hard, Playin' Hard".

"Sweet Sally" is forgettable, but "A Thousand Knives" is pretty amazing.

"Fist Fightin' Son of a Gun" seems to have Nugent doing his best Chuck Berry impression and the closer, "Out of Control" is decent, but by this point, the cock-rock schtick is getting a little tedious.  Its certainly not a bad album by any stretch.  Its a great record to put on while crushing beers, changing your oil and burnin' some steaks.  If you're feeling existential and seeking out some answers to life's great mysteries, well then, Cat Scratch Fever is probably not the best place to start!

RATING: 3.5 gettin' it from some kitty next door out of 5

Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip - "I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper" (1978)

Hello Friends,

We're listening to some awesome 70's space disco tonight!

And, yes friends (in case you were wondering), this Sarah Brightman is the same Sarah Brightman that's a famous opera singer.  She was 18 when she recorded this space disco classic!

Enjoy!

Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track - 1977 - RSO Records

Hello Friends,

Its a muggy Summer's night here on Vinyl in the Valley and we're working up a healthy sweat listening to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack double album.

One of the most successful soundtrack album's of all time, the album captures the disco phenomenon at its apex.  Most of the tracks were either written or performed by The Bee Gees and features some of their biggest all time hits: "Stayin' Alive", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", "More Than A Woman" (with a Bee Gees and a Tavares version), "Jive Talkin", "You Should Be Dancing" & "If I Can't Have You" (performed here by Yvonne Elliman.)

Other songs that round out the collection include Walter Murphy's classical-disco mash-up, "A Fifth of Beethoven"; David Shire's disco instrumentals (disco-mentals?) "Manhattan Skyline", "Night On Disco Mountain" (another classical mashup) and "Salsation"; Ralph MacDonald's frenzied "Calypso Breakdown" (which to us sounds like The People's Court theme music from the 80's); Kool & The Gang's "Open Sesame"; KC & The Sunshine Band's "Boogie Shoes"; Philly-soul legends MFSB's "K-Jee"; and everything culminating with a 10+ minute disco classic, "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps.

A great sweaty and somewhat sleazy record for a great sweaty and somewhat sleazy evening!

RATING: 4.5 ways of killing yourself without killing yourself out of 5

Just Wanna Rock & Roll

Jose Feliciano - "Just Wanna Rock 'N' Roll" (1975) - RCA

Hola Friends,

Chillin' and grillin' tonight on Vinyl in the Valley.

The coals are poppin', the bugs are bitin' and the Tecate is flowin'.

We're crankin' up some Jose Feliciano on the patio turntable.

Now we love, LOVE, LOVE Feliciano's 1968 record, Feliciano, but on 1975's Just Wanna Rock 'N' Roll, the singer-guitarist takes a stab at a straight-up rock & roll album and, for the most part, it falls pretty short.  We find Feliciano to be at his best with his laid-back approach: finger-picking his acoustic guitar against an easy-listening Latin-tinged rhythm background.  And, of course, his unmistakable English-as-a-second-language vocals.

The album ends on a pretty strong note however with the acoustic instrumental, "Affirmation" followed by the album's closer-- a gorgeous take on The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Flying Burrito # 1 (Not That Kind of Guy)".

RATING: 3.0 I'm Your Toy, Mama, I'm your Little Boy out of 5

Spent Time Feelin' Inferior Standin' in Front of My Mirror... Every Picture Tells A Story

Rod Stewart - "Every Picture Tells A Story" (1971) - Mercury Records

Hello Friends,

We've got some classic Rod The Mod on the turntable tonight!

Every Picture Tells A Story is Stewart's third record as a solo artist.  It would be his first number one record in both the U.S. & England.  It features Ronnie Wood on guitars, Ian McLagan on organ, Andy Pyle on bass and Micky Waller on drums. 

Of course, its a great album.  Practically a greatest hits record!  Think of it as a Faces record in all but name actually! (Even Kenny Jones and Ronnie Lane make "cameo" appearances!)

Its a blend of varying styles of rock, country, blues, r & b, gospel & folk, as well as a blend of originals and covers.

Side One kicks off with the Stewart & Wood-penned title track, "Every Picture Tells A Story" followed by the ballad, "Seems Like A Long Time" (which sounds a lot like "Handbags & Gladrags, part 2") and also featuring a KILLER Ron Wood guitar solo.

Stewart then rocks a swampy barroom version of the Elvis Presley hit, "That's All Right". Pub rock at its absolute finest!

Things simmer down considerably with his respectful (if not a little middle-of-the-road sounding) take on "Amazing Grace".

The side concludes with a then-unreleased Bob Dylan track, the acoustic "Tomorrow is a Long Time". Very good and very rootsy.  This is Rod Stewart for Wilco fans, friends.


Side Two kicks off with "Henry", a short classical guitar piece featuring Martin Quittenton, that blends right into the Stewart & Quittenton-penned classic rock masterpiece, "Maggie May" which, incidentally, contains one of our all-time favorite rock lyrics: "The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age..."  Ouch!

Stewart's folksy "Mandolin Wind" is next, followed by the utterly amazing, "(I Know) I'm Losing You", a ballsy, rocking-take on The Temptations 1966 Motown hit.

The album concludes with a cover of Tim Hardin's folky classic, "Reason To Believe".

Stewart's raspy vocals are the real story here.  Hitting all the right notes through a variety of song styles.  An amazing record featuring an amazing collection of musicians!

Classic!

RATING: 4.5 getting enough of the things that keep a young man alive out of 5

The Go-Go's - "Vacation" (1982)

Happy July 4th Weekend Friends!

No celebration of 240 years of 'Merica is complete without some fun in the sun, burning steaks, patio-pounders and various explosives!

Its a good weekend for some Go-Go's as well!

Enjoy!