Sunday, August 16, 2015

AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock" (1977)



Hello Friends, 

Great song to kickstart your Sunday hangover!

Surely Bon Scott and the boys were no strangers to an epic hangover or two back in the day!

If this song doesn't melt your face, you don't have a face!

\m/


Wednesday, August 12, 2015

JEFF The Brotherhood - "Black Cherry Pie" (2015)


Hello Friends,

Great new song by Nashville, Tennessee's JEFF the Brotherhood from their 2015 release, Wasted on the Dream. 

Aren't we all?

Hey friends, does that flute-playing sound familiar? It should! Its none other than Jethro Tull frontman, Ian Anderson, contributing his flute skills to this track!


Sunday, August 9, 2015

Mac Davis - "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" (1973)


Hello Friends,

You've got to really hand it to Mac Davis here in this song.

I mean he's laying it all out there for you ladies!

Please, don't get hooked on him, his denim jacket, his side burns nor his massive belt buckle!  

He'll just use you and set you free!

Don't get clingy and whatever you do, don't use the "F" word around him... Its a HUGE turnoff! 

(The "F" word = Family!)

I wonder if anyone ever made this their wedding song without realizing what the song was really about? Answer: Probably!

A Solid Gold classic!  They don't make 'em like this anymore kids!

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

KADAVAR - "Last Living Dinosaur" (2015)


Hello Friends,

Sweet riffage from our favorite German hard rock band of the moment!

We cannot wait to hear the new album, Berlin, by these guys!

Sounds like they're picking up right where they left off with 2013's remarkable, Abra Kadavar.

\m/






Saturday, August 1, 2015

Prog Rock Saturdays: Going for the One

nice ass!

Yes - "Going For The One" (1977) - Atlantic Records

Hello Friends,

It's another Summery Prog Rock Saturday here at the ol' Vinyl in the Valley Headquarters and tonight we're back with some classic lineup Yes on the turntable.

Going For The One is the band's eighth album and their first after a three year hiatus due to extensive touring and the releasing of various solo albums.  It also marks the return of Rick Wakeman who left the band after differences over Tales for Topographic Oceans. And while not as proggy as some of their earlier prog classics, Going For The One would be the last truly listenable prog album by the band.

The album would crack the top 10 in the U.S. and reach number 1 in the U.K. 

***************************************************************************************************************
Fun Fact: Hey kids, when Going For the One reached # 8 on the Billboard album charts in August of 1977, which album occupied the # 1 spot for a solid four months?

If you guessed Fleetwood Mac's Rumours buy yourself a drink!
***************************************************************************************************************

Things get started with the title track, probably one of their most accessible songs since 1971, a five-minute and thirty-second rocker featuring some blistering Steve Howe slide guitar playing.  Its like a kick-ass workout song for some late seventies prog nerd with sweatbands and oversized headphones.


That's at the right speed, kids.  Jon Anderson's vocals were actually that high!

Next up is the eight minute, New Age-y sounding, "Turn of the Century" which may or may not be vaguely about Russian artist, Marc Chagall, and how he grew distant from his wife when he moved from Russia to France in the 1920's to become a famous and important artist! 

Side One closes out with Chris Squire's (R.I.P.) Parallels.

Side Two kicks off with the short, sweet and airy ballad, "Wonderous Stories" which sounds like it could be a love theme on Game of Thrones.  Winter is Coming, friends! 

The album closes with the 16 minute, Awaken, which in our opinion is a little too long and little too underwhelming but overall the album has held up alright for over 30 years.

For the sleeve art, the band would get Hipgnosis to design the cover art, a stark departure from the fantastical and otherworldly brushwork of artist Roger Dean. The album definitely looks more like Wish You Were Here than it does Fragile.

By the end of the Seventies, Progressive Rock was on its way out and on its way to becoming more of a punchline in the rock & roll history books.  Never Mind the Bullocks would be released in October of '77, just two months after Going for the One.  Yes's next album, 1978's Tormato, would be a fucking disaster and don't even get us started about 1980's Drama which would attempt to merge Prog-rock with New Wave in a way no one asked for!  It would also feature The Buggles(!) on lead vocals and keyboards!

But that's for another Summery Saturday, kids!

RATING: 4 and here you stand no taller than the grass seas out of 5
  

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Belle & Sebastian - "Perfect Couples" (2015)


This is a long one friends!

From the excellently-named album, "Girls in Peacetime Want To Dance" from Glasgow's Belle & Sebastian.

Enjoy!

Friday, July 24, 2015

The Easybeats - "Friday On My Mind" (1966)


TGIF Friends,

Is there a better way to get pumped up for a Friday night than with The Easybeats?

Doubt it.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Black Lips - "Funny" (2014)



Hello Friends,

Great song from Hotlanta's own, Black Lips.

Modern Garage Rock at its best!

"Funny" is from their 2014 release, Underneath the Rainbow.  Enjoy!