My 'Important' Records
Published August 27, 2003
Every record collector has a few records that are 'special': bought during life-altering circumstances or maybe during a difficult time in life. Or heck, maybe some nutty karma-tidbit tossed the record into your hands.
I've got several such records and every time I listen to them I'm launched back to 'the day'.
Spyboy - Emmylou Harris
The high point of the Lilith Fair show I went to was supposed to be Natalie Merchant. At least that's what I told myself. I liked the headliner Sarah McLachlan, had heard Lucious Jackson ("Naked Eye" maybe?) on the radio, and knew of Emmylou Harris. But the only tune I managed to attach to her was "Evangeline", and that was from the movie The Last Waltz.
So maybe, after seeing (and hearing) both Emmylou and Buddy Miller play backup band for Syd Straw on that tiny 'first stage', I should have known something special was up for that day.
Emmylou Harris and her band Spyboy hit the main stage later that day and proceeded to blow the roof off the place. The combination of the muscular rhythm section, Miller's chiming guitar and Emmylou's angelic voice was just perfect. The high point of the set was the elegaic "Maker".
Human Fly - The Horseflies
At a 10,000 Maniacs show one year (the Blind Man's Zoo tour, I think) I got a couple of big surprises. One was the unannounced warmup appearance of Adrien Belew. The second was getting to see an unknown band from Ithaca, New York called The Horseflies. I was just mesmerized by their sound: dirgy pop, percussion, and sorta-bluegrassy banjo and violin. They had the look too. Especially the violin player whose eyes tended to roll back in her head during intense passages.
Creatures of Habit - Knots and Crosses
Yet another warmup band experience. This time at the Club Casino in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. This is the kind of place where if the warmup band is less than stellar, they are ignored in a blizzard of loud chatter, beer drinking and trips to the bathroom.
This did not happen to Knots & Crosses.
What instead came to pass was a crowd (there for headliners Cheap Trick!) that was stunned into silence by the powerful voice of Carol Noonan. Think of maybe Janis Joplin without the rasp. Spicing this up were the backing vocals which twisted around Noonan's not unlike John Doe to his Exene....but all slowed down in an almost country kind of way. The set closed with an acapella cover of "Gimme Shelter". The place went nuts.
(Unfortunately, Creatures of Habit is out of print...so you've got to settle for either the compilation There Was A Time or one of Noonan's excellent solo records)
8:30 - Weather Report
Freshman year of college...long before I ever thought of listening to any kind of jazz. Nearly every afternoon, a guy a few doors down from my room would crank the same tune. A very melodic thing with lots of interesting starts and stops. I never actually went and asked him what it was (it was the 'scary' room in my section...lots of noise, yelling, and slamming of doors - at any time of the day or night)...but I did walk by once during the 'daily play' and see the album cover lying on the floor. It was a very colorful thing depicting some people lined up to get into a show.
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- My 'Important' Records
- Published: August 27, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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I'm not crazy for anything else that The Crash Test Dummies have released but their album "God Shuffled His Feet" resonates deeply with me. I listened alot to this album when my father was very ill, and I found alot of comfort in it. that dude gets derided alot for his voice and the mmmmmm song, but yo, those are some great lyrics on that album. I was also friends with/dating a whirling dirvish of a girl who flashed through my life leaving an indelible mark on my psyche, and this record brings me back to that time.
Also, the trilogy of the Replacements "Pleased to meet me", Husker Du's "Candy Apple Gray", and Slayer's "Reign in Blood" (!). They were in a constant loop, and when I listen to those albums now, I can still remember how the new cassettes smelled when I opened them (not as good as fresh vinyl, but still pretty nice), and the color of the late afternoon summer/fall shade in my room. And coming home looped off of my gourd and cranking them on my headphones into the wee hours.
And oh yeah, that Tanya Tucker cover is pretty hot.
Bricklayer waxes nostalgic - nice to see. I like those you mentioned as well, though I can live without Slayer.
mmm. emmylou harris. mmm. buddy miller.
Isn't this what music collecting is all about? I look at my collection, which seems to always hover right around 1500 CDs, and there are still only a handful that I really consider "important" in the same way you illustrate above. How is it possible that out of all the countless thousands of CDs I've heard in the past 15 years only a certain number are really, truly, spectacularly special to me? I'm going to have to think about this. I may have to post my own version of Mark's post in a couple days . . .
And Tarkus! I love the Tarkus suite. How can you not love a story about an armadillo tank?
I'm the same way w/ vinyl(although I don't have near 1500 yet), only a few are special to me and I prize.
The main cause of this is the $1 bins at record shows. I'll buy albums I woudln't usually buy for a buck, listen to them once or twice, and file them away.
One more thing about Slayer and the smell of new cassettes: I used to associate that smell with "EVIL", because I mostly bought vinyl, and when I opened "Reign in Blood", with the spooky artwork and lyrics, it actually scared me, and I associated the scent with my fear. Of course, I now listen to bands that make the fellas in Slayer look (and sound!) like fully badged Eagle Scouts, but it took a little while to get over that little quirk (still working on most of the other ones), and I came to love the smell of a fresh out of wrapper cassette as surely as I loved the scent of a women (or puppy). The aroma of cd's just doesn't do anything for me, though. A Christina Aguilera scratch & sniff would be all that!
You know what? I was just smelling a brand new cd (Karl Hendricks Trio-"The Jerks Win Again"-highly recommended!) and I figured out, it's the smell of the booklets that I really like. This journey has been highly revelatory.
New Al Pacino film: "Scent of a Booklet"
At this point in my life, I can only think of a few albums that have lasted over time.
1. Mineral - End Serenading - this album is one of the finest I own. It is my winter album. The winds start to get a little colder toward the end of fall and I am forced to break it out.
2. Temple of the Dog - It is funny to me that this album has remained even though many Pearl Jam and Soundgarden albums have not.
3. Acid Bath - When the Kite String Pops - This is one of the few remaining albums from my metal days. It is melodic in spots and Dax Riggs has one of the most eccentric ranges from singing to crooning to screaming.
I don't feel like getting into extreme circumstances that have put these in my heart forever, but they should remain forever. I need to work on this and think of more.
you're right tom, this really is what collecting is all about...at least to me.
I do have others that have special meaning...but i didn't want to run on for too long.
it was kinda of fun to see just what popped into my head.
it'd definitely be fun to hear other folks' stories like this.
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Fascinating and strange selections Mark - another fine post!