The first album I want to share is The album My Way by Major Harris. This was a pretty blind buy on my part. I knew I had heard of Major Harris before in passing, maybe heard a song by him but didn't really remember what he sounded like. Without even getting into the detail on this album take a second to soak in all that cover art. I mean right off the bat you know this is going to be worth a listen. I will put it right on front street here and tell you, that this album cover is a little misleading. When I look at this I am expecting some deep and heavy funky vibes. Something you'd play while cruising around the seedy side of the city at night. Sadly you will not get that pimp like soundtrack this cover so excellently conveys, however it's not a bad record. The album does still have some funk elements mixed with soul, but it has a very heavy poppy disco sound to it. The music is pretty upbeat and the first track on the album, Each Morning I Wake Up, is probably a song you have heard before. It could possibly be the best Saturday morning cleaning the house song I have heard. Actually you could say that for this whole album. The vocal on this album are pretty decent which is to be expected from someone who was once in the R&B/Soul group The Delfonics. It's definitely a smooth buttery delivery, but the lyrics do tend to come off as rather generic. The album isn't a jaw dropper but it's for sure worth a listen and fun. I would call it a nice album to throw on and do some spring cleaning. It's got some grooves to keep you moving and it has a very regenerative and happy vibe to it. I'll be honest though I mostly bought it for that badass cover art. It'll look great hanging on my wall in my vinyl picture frame.
Major Harris - Each Morning I Wake Up
Next on the list is an album that was another total blind buy for me. Again I really just based if off of the cool looking cover art. I did do a quick Discogs search for it to see what I was getting into, but did not want to be the guy in the thrift store playing YouTube videos at full volume. Lucky for me this turned out to be one of the best picks from this haul. There really wasn't much information I could find about this artist known as Kyle. I did manage to find out that his full name is William Kyle Eidson II and he is a former member of 60's garage rock group Sin-Say Shuns. He was on the same label as Billy Joel's early album "Cold Spring Harbor" album. Further reading suggest that Kyle was a pretty decent rival for Joel's album. to be fair thought Joel's album was not mastered at the correct speed, and even though the album was later re-mastered "Cold Spring Harbor" and Kyle's "Times That Try A Mans Soul" both failed to gain any traction due to Gulf + Western (a parent company of Paramount) being indifferent to the albums. However the indifference projected toward this album was not warranted by any means. The lyrics are deep and meaningful and deal a lot with, as the title would imply, everyday inner struggle but also carries a hopefulness to them as well. There are a few songs that tread into the religious side of things like the song Soul Smith, but don't let that sway you from passing on the song as it blooms into a full on jam with backing strings and some great guitar riffs. The song Think I'm Gonna Rain is a song about feeling down and out that I could easily see in a movie where the character is finally letting out all the emotion. The song sways from a dark ballad to emotional volcano of sound and vocals that make you want to yell along. This album is full of great tracks and every song feels fresh and quite relatable. It comes across as very honest, raw, and pulls no punches. This is what really makes this album shine. The music is very well produced, and ranges from straight up rockers like Black Gets Blacker, to slower folky country ballads like The Reason. When listening to this album there is no doubt of when this album was made (1971), It's got the 70's sound all over it. If you are a fan of 70's rock, this is a gem that you really should not miss.
Kyle - Think I'm Gonna Rain
Fact: I am a music nerd and i love learning about music. One of the most obvious places that one can learn about music is by reading the notes in those seemingly useless booklets that you get with your music. Yes, those booklets are more than just a pretty picture to catch your eye and yell out "Buy me! I'm cool!" If you take a gander at the song writing credits and even read the thank you notes you can really find some interesting stuff. Sadly, with everything going digital is a dying trend, but on the plus side you can find nearly any obscure artist with very little digging. Reading song writing credits has always been one of my biggest joys and i think it's something that often gets overlooked. There are tons of songs out there that are covers of other peoples songs. Old blues songs are one of the best examples of this. Just do a quick search for blues cover songs sometime and there is bound to be something you'll find that you thought was an original. I picked up and album by Huddie William Ledbetter, or better known as Lead Belly. As I was listening to the album, which is filled with great blues songs by the way, I recognized one of my favorite Credence Clearwater Revival songs Midnight Special. For years and years I thought CCR had wrote that song. As I am writing this I looked into other songs that Lead Belly and the list of his songs that were covered by other artists is pretty impressive. Black Betty by Ram Jam, Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Nirvana, Gallis Pole (Gallows Pole) by Zeppelin, Goodnight Irene by Tom Waits just to name a few. Now I want to make something clear so I don't get attacked by the other more enlightened music nerds out there. Lead Belly isn't necessarily the song writer for some of these songs. Songs like Midnight Special are considered traditional folk songs, meaning they really don't trace back to a song writer, but he did make them popular, so in a way Lead Belly is a sort of cover song artist as well. I would really urge you to do some searches today about cover songs or samples that were used in songs. there is a great website called Who Sampled that makes this such a fun and easy task. I really think you'll be surprised at what you find and you just might even find some new favorite songs!
Lead Belly - Midnight Special
I don't have a lot to say about this band, partly due to laziness and partly due to not having too much to write about. I am not sure why someone would get rid of this album. It's a pretty great 80's metal record. Now when I say 80's metal that should instantly give you an overall vibe of what this record is. Lots of tasty riffs, cheesy lyrics, and visions of skin tight leather, big hair and spandex. Originally from Boston they were originally known as Axes and released their debut EP but due to legal trouble they changed their name to Mass(perhaps their home state had some influence on their name). In 1982 their first full length album was recorded but remained unreleased until Retroactive Records released it 28 years later. That is not to say that Mass was unknown until then. they did have some success in the mid to late 80's. The single Do You Love Me was a hit on Boston rock radio and the video did see rotation on MTV. Their third album "Take You Home' had decent sales and they fourth album "Voices In the Night" was produced by Michael Sweet of the 80's christian metal band Stryper. The band did take a brief hiatus in the 90's and started recording again in the early 2000's. Like I said earlier the album is very 80's hair metal sounding and there really isn't much as variation from song to song, which is pretty typical for a lot of mid 80's metal. The one thing I do love about the album is the guitar playing is really good and there are so hot shredders in there. I wouldn't say that this is a disappointing record, because it is fun for what it is, but it's no masterpiece of music. Just a couple of dudes having a good time making some MASSive sound. If you like bands like Poison, or Cinderella, or Whitesnake these guys will be right up your alley. I'm happy to have a little metal in my collection, and the cover is a piece of art. Love the colors.
Mass - Do You Love Me
Again there isn't much about this album. The back side of the album says that Bob Anderson was one of the northwestern Indiana's most well known fiddle players. This album was recorder in 1969 and a few years later Bob died from a heart attack while rehearsing some tunes for a dance later that night. The country ramblers broke up shortly after this album was made and seems as thought they all went their separate ways and moved to different states. One taking a job at Pennsylvania State university, another moved to Michigan and two other moving to Kentucky. Judging by the picture and title of the album you know this is going to be some barn raising bluegrass music. All of the songs on the album are traditional bluegrass songs but the musicianship is really great. It's easy to see why Bob and his ramblers were well liked. The playing is tight and the fiddling is enough to make you want to clear out the cowpies and have a good ol' fashion country get down. this was a total random pick. I do love some bluegrass music, but what really drew me to this album, aside that it was in a plastic seeleve and in immaculate condition, was the amazing cover. I mean just look at that picture! Those gentlemen aren't your hipster bluegrass darlings of today. These guys are the real deal. I have a feeling that this is one of those albums that will be displayed in my vinyl photo frame quite a bit.
Bob Anderson & The Country Ramblers - Turkey In the Straw
I think that is gonna conclude this go round! I have a lot more that I can post but I need to find the time to sit down and do some writing. I have so much cool stuff I want to share but, I just can't find the time or the patience to sit down and write. There are too many undiscovered bands out there that need to be listened to and too many loose records on shelves screaming "Brad! Come find me and buy me!" Is there a clinical word for music addiction? ...Ok google
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