The Cars - Candy-O

Another Cars album. Think I only have the two. It's a good record. I didn't recognize any of the song titles but I remembered the songs when I heard them. I like the Cars okay. They aren't one of my favorite bands but they have a lot of good songs and they were on heavy rotation on MTV back before it started to suck. Record was in great shape. Plays great. Jacket's good. Probably the best all around condition of anything I've played so far which is a god damned shame considering I can't get Highway 61 to play. So. Moving right along.

[wikipedia]

Thompson Twins - Into The Gap

I played this the other night when Amy's friend Julie, who I've known long enough now that I can call her "our friend Julie," was visiting. I grabbed it at random out of the 80s bullshit pile. Amy, Julie and I were all surprised by how many of the songs we actually recognized. For such a totally 80s band (look at that hair...) I was surprised by how well it stood up. It was a fun listen. Probably didn't hurt that we were all drinking. Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor... uh... other stuff. Good stuff.

Jacket's in great shape, better than most. Record cleaned up just fine. Played great. I'd actually listen to this one again, so, win all around.

[wikipedia]

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is true

This is my favorite Elvis Costello album. All my favorite songs of his are on it. It was in pretty great shape, cleaned up nicely (not that it really needed it), and plays great. When the first track, my very favorite Elvis Costello song, "Welcome to the Working Week" came on, James started shaking his butt and dancing like crazy. It was cute as hell and made me really happy to see.

UPDATE 6-26-14

Hall & Oates - Private Eyes

Couple things. One: My mom claims to be a Beatlemaniac. But judging by the condition of her Beatles records and Private Eyes by good old Daryl Hall and John Oates, it's clear where her priorities are. This thing is fucking pristine. Flat as a pancake, not a scratch on it. The jacket's a little moldy but the LP looks like it's fresh off the shelves of Sam Goody.

And two: There are a lot of things that stand the test of time. This album is not one of those things. Man, wow, not good. I told myself I was gonna listen to every playable record all the way through at least once. But I'm listening to Philadelphia's finest right now and I don't know if I can make the long hard slog to the end. Back when I was a kid I loved Hall and Oates. But man, I don't know if the nostalgia is enough to help me soldier through this one. Woof.

[wikipedia]

The Cars - Heartbeat City

So I played the Beatles, which Amy was fine with. Then I played Willie Nelson which she thought was weird, but came around to. Then I put the Cars on and she looked up, said, "I'm going food shopping." Then left. So that's what the Cars are good for.

This album was in surprisingly good condition considering that the inner sleeve had water damage. Part of it was even stuck to the LP itself. But it cleaned up nice. No scratches. Plays great. It's still the Cars, though.

[wikipedia]

The Police - Synchronicity

The cover of this one is weird, different from the version I've seen other places. Maybe it's a re-release. At any rate, this was the last studio album the Police ever made together. All solid tracks. I think it's probably safe to attribute the influence of the song Synchronicity II to my later love of the strange and macabre. Pretty sure it was after I first heard that song that I started reading Poe and Lovecraft. I guess I had pretty sophisticated taste in music for a little kid. This came out when I was eight. And even if this is a rerelease, I remember clearly being into the Police as early as fifth grade.

Sophisticated... I mean. Look, I have already copped to the fact that Sting is king of the Tools and all Toollandia. And lines like:

"If we explode the atom bomb,
Would they say that we were dumb."

I mean, look. I'm not claiming the Police are high-art. But I'm totally unashamed of my love of their work. And they beat the entire wardrobe off any of the shit that's new NOW...

Shit. I'm doing old man rant.

Police good. Okay?

Updated Saturday May 10, 2014

Man, I love the Police. The title of this one is fake French intended to mean "white reggae" which is a pretty apt description of the Police. I had no idea that's what it meant when I was a kid. I loved every single thing the Police ever did, and I was also pretty into reggae. Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, I loved all that shit.

But I never really connected the dots until I met another kid in high school who was also into the Police who gave me a free ticket to a Sting concert (and a ride to the show, that guy was awesome). On the way there we talked about the band and he said they were basically an English reggae band and I realized he was right. I'd been listening to them forever and never even thought of that.

That car ride to the Sting concert at the Garden State Arts Center was also the first time I heard Use Your Illusions. That was an awesome time, back before I realized Sting was a tool.

Yeah. Good times.

[wikipedia]

The Police - Outlandos d'Amour

KA-mothercuking-BOOM! Ladies and gentleman, we have hit pay dirt. If the Police albums are the only ones I can get to play, this will have all been worth it. I don't give a god damn what anybody says. I don't care about the ridiculous pretentious pseudo-French album title. I don't care about how goddam awful Sting went and got when he didn't have Stewart Copeland around to talk him down off his ego. That was years after this. Outlandos d'Amour came out when I was three, when everything was still awesome and things had not yet started to suck. This is one of the best fucking albums of all time. Every single song on it is incredible, even the love song to an inflatable love doll.

Maybe not that one.

MAYBE.

[wikipedia]

Prince - Controversey

Hate to break it to you buddy, but the most controversial thing I see is that mustache.

[wikipedia]

Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles

Ok, so... here's the thing. I loved the Police. Still do. I totally loved them and everything they did except for the 1986 version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" which sucked in a way only exceptions to incredible bodies of work can.

So I was amped when this album came out, amped in the way only a precocious ten-year-old can be when his musical idol finally comes out with a solo album. It was a good album. I still think it's listenable. "Shadows in the Rain", "Consider Me Gone", "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free", this is a solid album. His next solo album, ...Nothing Like the Sun was, in my opinion, just as good. "The Lazarus Heart", "Englishman in New York", "We'll Be Together": strong work.

I need to make this next part very clear. I had no way of knowing he was going to unleash the horror that is "Fields of Gold" upon the world. Okay? How the fuck was I supposed to know in 1985 that he was gonna shit all over everything the Police ever did, and go on about his life pumping out volume after volume of shitty dentist's office music for another twenty plus fucking years?!?

I had no idea he was gonna turn 50, get into tantric sex and start boning 20-year olds!

I was just a kid!

I liked the Police! That's all!

NONE of what came after this is my fault!

[wikipedia]