Stairway to Eleven Episode #12: The 1975 Roundup

00:00:00There's a podcast that's sure all that rocks hard is gold. And they're climbing the stairway to 11. When they get there, they know the record stores are all closed. But online they can get what they came for.

00:00:30Oh, and they're streaming the Stairway to 11.

00:00:39Hello, and welcome to the Stairway to 11 podcast. My name is George.

00:00:44This is John. And I'm TR.

00:00:47Welcome to episode 12. We've been doing this for about a year now. Congratulations, guys.

00:00:53Yeah.

00:00:55And in the spirit of that, or perhaps not even just because we decided to, we're going to do things a little differently tonight. Today, we are going to talk about albums from 1975. So we're not each just picking one album. We each get to talk about, I don't know, as many as five of our albums that we like from 1975. So get your notepads out because we're going to be talking about a whole bunch of albums from 1975 and you might want to take notes.

00:01:25So to kick it off, we're going to go to TR. All right, gentlemen, this was actually a pretty challenging effort because there were a lot of amazing albums that came out in 1975. And I will start by saying that I am picking albums that I am extremely familiar with, that I love, that I've listened to hundreds of times, that are really,

00:01:55kind of my DNA at this point. And so, and I'm going to start with one of my favorites. And that is Scorpions in Trance. It's really actually one of my favorite albums by them. I know I've started in this podcast with Flight of the Rainbow. This is definitely better than that. But I agree, actually, because the band coalesced even more on this album. And I really love pretty much everything on this album.

00:02:25It starts with Dark Lady, goes into Entrance, Life's the River, Top of the Bill, Living and Dying, Side 2, Robot Man, Evening Wind, Sun in My Hand, Longing for Fire, and the instrumental chill-out tune Night Lights, which is just a really cool Uli Roth song. And so I got this album. I'm trying to remember how I kind of got into the Scorpions.

00:02:53I know like I was into stuff like that came on blackout and I was I like that stuff and I got to give a shout out to my buddy Alex who really got me into a lot of music and his brother was older than him and he had all kinds of records and we'd always go over and raid his collection and listen to that stuff and anytime I got into a band I would ask Alex hey man what should I listen to and he'd like he'd say

00:03:23start at the beginning and work your way up okay so that's what i did and i did that with

00:03:30you're going to hear that on a lot of these where i started at the beginning and work my way up

00:03:35that's what facini always says you go back to the beginning that's right and that's what i did so

00:03:41so yes scorpions in trance is one of my favorites i love it and and i think i as soon as i was into

00:03:49I got Love Drive and I got Blackout. And then I started going backwards and started the first album, Lonesome Crow, and worked my way up. And I just remember at first, I think I talked about this in the other one when I talked about Flight of the Rainbow, Uli Roth. I felt like his songs were kind of weird, you know, because if you come into the Scorpions with their stuff that came out on Love Drive and Blackout, you kind of think, well, who's this psychedelic weirdo guy?

00:04:19like playing all this wacky stuff. Why is Jimi Hendrix in the Scorpions? Exactly. Who's the hippie? Yeah, exactly. Who is this guy? He's making all these weird sounds and he's kind of like singing kind of funny and but yeah, so I yeah, I worked my way up to this and I have to say I unfortunately by the time I got this album, they had censored the cover so I was a little disappointed about that but you know, what can you do? Yeah, I remember so for me the Scorpions I probably first

00:04:49of them when Love It For Sting came out. I may have heard some before that, but I just remember that was probably the first one that caught my attention. However, I do recall scanning the Columbia House Record and Tape Club things and seeing the cover for Blackout and going, whoa, what is that? Here's a guy with forks in his eyes. That's crazy. I don't really know this album.

00:05:17I don't really know much Scorpions at all because my Scorpions background is really just the early mid 80s I just never ventured back to be honest with you I listened to this when we were doing Flight of the Rainbow because I was trying to justify Flight of the Rainbow somehow and I was like I mean listen to the stuff around this this other Uli stuff right I did as I recall you kind of were like this is not bad no ultimately it was all right but I was trying to compare it with the other Uli stuff I was trying to figure out

00:05:47I was trying to understand the Uli period. I was like, all right, is this the best one? Or is this one the best one? And so I did listen to this not that long ago, and I did like this one. All right. Well, that's my first pick. All right. Well, John, what do you got? So I could blow up TR's list already if I wanted to. Do it! And I'm thinking if I blow it up, it doesn't mean he still can't. I got backups. He's still going to talk about it.

00:06:18Well, no, but the way he wanted to do it. So I was going to start out with something that you guys have not listened to, but it would only last maybe a minute because you wouldn't have anything to say about it. So maybe perhaps. So I'm going to blow up his list just slightly. So he will not be able to do a twofer. Unless you really are dead set on doing a twofer. If you are, I'll go elsewhere.

00:06:47No. Do what you do. All right. So the door is open. I'm going to go with a band that released two albums in 1975. And that band would be Rush. What? Get it out of the way. That's right. And the album I'm going to go with will be the most obvious pick. That's Fly By Night, their second album. It's also the first album to feature Neil Parrott on drums.

00:07:17I think it's safe to say it was when the real Rush showed up. Writing wise, I'm not discounting their first album, but their first album was very Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath like. Yes, this album sounds like Rush, if that makes sense. At least the Rush from the mid 1970s. This album came out in 1975. Oh, that's right. These all came out in 1975. Wait a minute. What? That's weird. We both picked an album from 1975. Is that possible? That's so weird.

00:07:47So I guess in a nutshell, it's a hard rock album. There's some progressive stuff going on here a little bit. And I think you could even say it's a little bit of a proto-metal album. It's not metal by any means, but there's some heaviness to this album that influenced a lot of metal bands that followed. I guess the featured song off this album would be the song that anyone who's listened to FM radio or classic rock has heard, and that's Fly By Night. I think that would probably be the signature song off the album for all fans.

00:08:16Not just hardcore fans. In terms of how I got into this album, I don't know. I was already listening to Rush and wasn't a super fan at first. And I was, and I'm hoping my very good old friend I haven't seen in so many years, Jim Rossi, we lived across the street from each other for a little while. He was a big Rush fan. I was a big ACDC fan. And it was just like, we were always competing with each other. He was a Raiders fan. I was a Niners fan. We competed in sports all the time. We both loved the jam.

00:08:46So that's just never going to change anything. But we also loved music. And in an odd sense, he had told me one day that he came to enjoy ACDC. And I told him, I said, dude, I'm a huge Rush fan now. And I can thank you for that. So I probably heard it when we were all hanging out on the street when we were kids. Probably heard it off of all the world's stage. Because that's what a lot of people had when I was growing up. And those live versions are just amazing off the album.

00:09:16It really is leaps and bounds from the first album from Rush. And I want to prove that because I do have some notes. I want to prove how this album was drastically different, not just in the drums. And I'm not knocking John Rusty. That wasn't the reason because he had the quicksy. He couldn't physically play anymore. He was ill or something. No, we're going to do the lyric game. Oh, here we go. Here it is. Rush from the Rush album.

00:09:44I'm going to read the lyrics. I don't know if you'll know these. But TR, I think you might know these. Oh boy, here we go. Here we go. This should be the height of intellectuality. Yes. This is how we, that's how Rush changed. Hey baby, it's a quarter to eight. I feel I'm in the mood. Hey baby, the hour is late. I feel I've got to move. Hey baby. That is from the song. In the mood. Now, let's fast forward.

00:10:16I'm going to read this and let's see how this goes. Across the river Styx, out of the lamplights, his nemesis is waiting at the gate, the snow dog, ermine, glowing in the damp light, cloak black eyes shimmering with hate, by Tor and the snow dog, square for battle, let the fray begin. Ooh yeah. Ooh yeah! Yeah, that is the song. You get the impression, like, that could have

00:10:44I've never come out of the first album. The Ooh Yeah did, but not the other parts. Yeah, well, that's right, yes. The Ooh Yeah, for sure. That is from the song by Tornisodog, which is, I would say, if you're a hardcore fan, probably one of their most beloved songs. Yes. Their whole catalog. So I had to read that because this album is a drastic leap for the band. It's not one of my favorite Rush albums. It's probably in the top 10. They've got 19 studio. I don't count the covers album as one of their albums.

00:11:14Yeah, I wouldn't either. So I would put it probably around eight, maybe. But that doesn't mean anything. That's that eight between eight and five and between eight or four is like the slimmest of margins. So my favorite songs off the album are, I said, by Tornisodong and I have another song called Beneath Between and Behind, which I think is a fabulous song, which I've never got to see them play. I think Tiara and I were just a little too young to see that live. Didn't they play the instrumental version of that in one of the medleys?

00:11:44I thought it was Anthem. Oh, maybe it was. Okay. Yeah, I can't remember. Every time I say the word Anthem, I want to go Anthem off of all the world's stage. Anyway, I won't belabor it anymore. I think it's a fabulous album if you're a Rush fan. There's great songs like Fly By Night, the song Anthem, like I just said, Best I Can, is kind of like a song from the first album, but it's got a new little groove to it. In the Mood is another great song that has a little bit of the first album. In the end, excuse me, yes.

00:12:15Yeah. Well, in the end, it is basically a Zeppelin-esque type riff on it. Making Memories is a cool acoustic track. Rivendell harkens back to the, is it Lord of the Rings, I believe? That's where the elves live. Yep. So it's got the iconic owl cover, which when you look at it, it's not a fan, like, well, that's a dumb cover. When you're a fan, you're like, you're a fan, you're like, ah, ah, all that stuff. That's right. Anyway, that's my first

00:12:43First pick. A great album from 1975. Rush. Yes. Fly by Night. All right. No, go. Definitely. Like, this is one of my favorites, too. And when I first got this album, like I said, my buddy Alex was like, go to the beginning, start from the beginning. And, of course, this was like in the early 80s. So for me to go to the beginning, the most cost-effective way for me to go to the beginning was to buy archives. Oh, yeah.

00:13:13The Three Disc Set. And I can't remember how much it cost me, but it was like, you know. It was dirt cheap back then. Yeah, it was like maybe $12.98 for three records. Yeah, because it was a third album. Yeah. And I'm thinking, man, that's a good deal. I gotta do this. And so I got archives, which unfortunately, so it was budget all the way. So you didn't get any of the lyrics. You didn't get anything else. And so it wasn't until later on when I,

00:13:43When I found out that like when I saw like pictures of the original album, the Inner Sleeve, which had all the lyrics with little drawings from Neil Peart on, he would do this for all the records that they did where he, when he wrote the lyrics, he would have these little illustrations and he'd write it all out. And they're getting progressive with By Tour and the Snow Dog, where you start with Roman numerals on,

00:14:13on each of the sections.

00:14:15And the battle, which is the third section, has sub-Roman numerals.

00:14:21So it's, okay, the battle and the sub-Roman numerals, part three of Bitor and the Snow Dog.

00:14:29And it's written on the album, it says, of the battle.

00:14:32But if you look at Neil Peart's actual lyrics, it just says, the battle.

00:14:36And the sub four sections are challenge and defiance, the seven, four war of furor aftermath and him of triumph, which you don't see on the regular record. You won't, you don't see the sub paragraphs of the Prague stuff. So track four, section three, subtitle four. Yes. Wait, subset. What was it again? From back to school subset B. Do you remember that when he was in class?

00:15:06All I remember

00:15:09The triple ending?

00:15:11No, it was when

00:15:12What's his name?

00:15:13The screaming guy

00:15:13Sam Kinison

00:15:14Sam Kinison, yeah

00:15:15I like you

00:15:16What was World War II about?

00:15:18No, Korean War

00:15:20Or Vietnam War

00:15:20Korean War

00:15:21And this girl's

00:15:23Well, it was this

00:15:24And he's

00:15:24Is she right?

00:15:26That's what some people like to say

00:15:29Yeah

00:15:30Oh, man

00:15:31We miss you, Sam

00:15:32Yeah, we do

00:15:34So anyway, yeah

00:15:35John, of course

00:15:36I'm bored with this pick and one of the other cool things that the inner sleeve of it was so after I got archives I went and bought one of the original pressings of the album that actually had the inner sleeve with all the diagrams and notes and everything and the inside of that says for best results play this album. All I've really got to say is I like Fly By Night that's a good song and I see that track three must have somehow been retroactively

00:16:06based on Decibel and Philly, because that's called Beneath, Between and Behind. That sums up Philly. Oh, boy. Great song. The live version of that on Exit Stage Left is awesome. Exit Stage Left. All righty, then. My pick, released on the third pre-anniversary of my brother's birth, is Queen's A Night at the Opera. Didn't see that coming. No. How you guys didn't pick this,

00:16:36your first pick. I don't know. This is the greatest album ever. Make my 17 picks because I knew you would pick it. Yeah, I know. That's why I chose it because I knew you guys wouldn't and you'd leave it for me, which is fine. This is a great album by a great band. Queen is one of my favorite rock bands and this is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, Queen album. They pretty much do no wrong on this album. So Death on Two Legs, gotta love that one. Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon,

00:17:06It's kind of, I don't know, old-timey sounding. Laysing on a Sunday afternoon. But it's cool. I'm in love with my car, Roger Taylor's Contribution. Okay, dude, but you know, still a good song. John Deacon comes up with You're My Best Friend. It's pretty cool. One of my favorites. Sorry, I like that song. It's all good. Track five is one of, if not my favorite tracks on the album, and that's called 39. That's a Brian May song.

00:17:36And I'm so happy that when I saw Queen with Adam Lambert that he came out

00:17:42with a chair on the catwalk all by himself and played this song.

00:17:46It's so cool. It has, Brian May is like an astrology PhD or some sort of science, physics, whatever, PhD.

00:17:55And this song is about, what do you call it? When you travel faster than light, time slows down.

00:18:02Right.

00:18:02So in the song, all these people are getting in this rocket and they're flying away out into space to save the world or the universe or whatever, whatever they're going for. Research doesn't, I don't know if it really says, but the thing is that while they're gone, everybody ages and dies and they come back and their grandchildren are there to meet them and they're still young. And it's such a cool song and it's just catchy as hell. So one of my favorite Queen songs, Sweet Ladies.

00:18:32Okay, Seaside Rendezvous is another one like Lazy Nana Sunday Afternoon. It's kind of a Freddie. Hello, my darling. Side two, though, the Prophet song. This is probably one of their most underrated, unknown songs because it's not one of those radio hits that they play, but it is a fabulous song. If not for the song that everybody knows, Bohemian Rhapsody, this would probably be the epic from this album. I highly suggest if you don't know the Prophet song.

00:19:30I have to admit I'm not familiar with this

00:19:32But I obviously know Bohemian Rhapsody

00:19:35There's nothing, not a bad note on here

00:19:38Yeah, I definitely have to check it out

00:19:39because I do appreciate

00:19:42Ryan Mays playing

00:19:43It's amazing

00:19:44Yeah, he's an incredible guitar player

00:19:47I'm not sure why I never got into them

00:19:48I just, I don't know

00:19:49I think, like I said before

00:19:51when we talked about Innuendo

00:19:53I think some of the show-tune-y

00:19:56kind of sounds on their records

00:19:59kind of turned me away

00:20:00but there was plenty on there

00:20:02was good that I probably would have liked. So I think I need to delve into that a little more. Yes, I highly recommend it. All right. Yeah, while I'm not a Queen fan, I know a lot of this album already because, one, it's hard not to have heard most of this album or a significant part of it because it did get significant airplay. But I know a little bit of the deeper cuts, and it's good. I like it. I am, I will say, Bohemian Rhapsody has become my stairway to heaven for

00:20:32If I never heard it again, I wouldn't care because they have plenty of other music I'd rather listen to, to be honest, because it's so overplayed.

00:20:39But at the same time, when it comes on, you can't help me like, okay, fine.

00:20:45But then all of a sudden you're in it.

00:20:50No, actually, I do change the channel.

00:20:52Damn you.

00:20:54I do.

00:20:55I'm not going to lie to you.

00:20:55I do.

00:20:56Humbug.

00:20:58Okay, Scrooge, Mick.

00:21:00Brush.

00:21:01Oh, so now I'm Scrooge and Bah humbug because I don't want to hear it for the 9,000th time of my life. I'm just playing with you. Calm down. My God. It is overplayed. But there's a lot of other great stuff off this album. When you told me about some of the tracks, when you saw them live, George, I went back and listened. I was like, these are damn good. Now, I am on record. I think I told you this, George. Their live show. God, when is that video from? It was a recorded show, I think maybe in the late 70s.

00:21:30They play 25 or 30 songs and there's a video of it out there and I watched it one night. I'll watch any live show from any rock band as long as they're not dirty hippies. I'll watch it. Wait, they're all dirty. No, I'll watch any live show and I watch a lot of documentaries even for bands I don't like just because I like that stuff and I already knew they were all great musicians but everyone always focuses on Brian May and Freddie Mercury but the other two guys are no slouches. Roger's a great drummer. He never gets any credit.

00:22:00for how good he is. He's undervalued for sure. Oh, without question. And on that, and I'll, while we move on, I'll look up the name of the video because it really is good. The quality is good on it. And I love old grainy videos from the 70s. Just something nostalgic about them. Yeah. That I like. And I like them because I hate 80, mid 80s video. Well, then it got too grainy, right? Because it was all VHS and it was just terrible. Well, no, remember they went from film to video. So remember you went from,

00:22:30We went from Exus Stage Left, which looks grainy, to Grace Under Pressure. I'm referring to Rush here. And that video is too sharp and it's too brittle looking because they went to video as they're recording. Now they're back to film. Anyway, this Queen concert's amazing. And I guess I don't get the name, but all the songs from this album that they played on that were just outstanding. So while I'm not a super fan, I do like this, what I've heard. Excellent.

00:22:59I knew you'd take this, George. That's probably why we didn't take it. Plus, we don't have the history like you do with it. From here on out, it's pretty iffy. You might have some of mine. You might not. I don't know. It's hard to say. But probably at least one or two of them you probably don't. Yeah. And no correction here. I just wanted to see what his degree is. He's an astrophysicist. Astro-something. Astrology or something. Astro? Did I say astrology before? Astrology is a little different.

00:23:29Oh, that's not what I meant. Astronomy, right? Astronomy, yes. Yeah. No, he'll read your palms. Yeah. You're a Virgo. Hmm. Interesting. Okay, so. Do you like to walk some beaches at night? I like pina coladas. So my next album, and I'm not picking the obvious ones here yet. I'll get to them if nobody else does, because you almost have to. But my next album is Journey. They're self-titled first album.

00:24:00And this is a very different journey than what came later with Steve Perry and their 80s output or even their late 70s output. Because this stuff is very much a remnant of Neil Sean had just come out of Neil Sean and Greg Rowley had just come out of Santana. And you could tell because this stuff is jamming.

00:24:28It's not really, it's almost, there's some jazz elements to this. It's kind of progressive. There are a couple of tracks that are instrumentals. Greg Rowley is the lead singer on this stuff. And I love this stuff. It's certainly not as radio friendly as what they became, but I really love the jams on this and just how great, like Neil Sean is as a guitarist. He would, he's still a great guitarist now.

00:24:58But back then, he was just tearing it up. And so songs like Of a Lifetime, In the Morning Day, Kahootek, which was a song about a comet that was going through back in the 70s. That's an instrumental track. To Play Some Music, which is a pretty jamming, catchy song. Topaz, another instrumental track. Am I Lonely Feeling, Conversations. And then Mystery Mountain to kind of close it off, which is a pretty cool tune that builds and builds.

00:25:28builds. Just a favorite of mine. Again, this was one of those deals where Alex really wasn't into Journey, but I took his advice of, hey, start at the beginning. And when I listened to this album, it was like nothing like Escape. But I was pleasantly surprised by how cool and different this album was. So, TR, would you say that their career has been on a journey to where they are now? Maybe so.

00:25:58I don't know any of these songs.

00:26:00Yeah, I'm probably, it would not surprise me, George, because this album is kind of obscure.

00:26:05I'm trying to think if any of this, if any of this even got onto, I have to think about Captured, which was their live album.

00:26:13None of this is on that album.

00:26:14I don't think anything from the first three albums are on Captured, if I'm not mistaken.

00:26:20I can't recall offhand, but I'll have to look at that.

00:26:22But the bottom line is after Perry joined the band, it was Forget About All That Stuff,

00:26:28which is unfortunate. Let's just make some money. Yeah. Well, it was kind of hard to deny the vocals and some of the kind of, I don't know if I'd call it pop leanings, but it was certainly more pop than this, which this first album is. It was AOR, I would say at first. Yeah. It started to become pop, but they were AOR on the first album with him, I would think. Yeah. So I'm not as familiar with this album. I have listened to it.

00:26:57And I do know about it. So it's funny. Neil Schoen, when he joined Journey, was, I believe, 16. Not Journey, Santana was 16, if I'm not mistaken. 16 or 17, yeah. Yeah. And he went to high school. I think his high school was like a mile from my high school. Oh, really? Yeah. Now, I'm not that old. But he went to Aragon, as far as I can remember. And I went to a place called Sarah. So they're all local boys. They were on the radio all the time in the Bay Area. All the time.

00:27:27Like they were everywhere else, but I'm a huge Craig Rawley fan. I was just, as soon as when Escape came out, I was like, eh. When I went back and was able to digest it more than when I was like 12 or 13, because you don't know anything when you're 12 or 13. I prefer his vocals more, even though I know Steve Perry's a better singer. I just like the soulfulness more from Craig Rawley. Although I have to admit, I thought they traded off great when they did sing.

00:27:55Yeah, I would agree. Like some of the tracks where they were singing, where they were both singing, I think was really rich. Like it gave it like a whole nother dynamic. I really enjoyed that kind of element to like that mid period journey before Roley left the band and was all just Steve Perry. I kind of, I kind of missed some of those songs where, where you got that, you know, and Steve Perry would take those higher notes that he couldn't do and just would elevate the song.

00:28:24And it just kind of, I felt like it was a good combination. But if you like some of the more popular Santana stuff where Greg Raleigh sings, then you'll probably dig some of this. It's got a little more, I think, fusion based to it too, wouldn't you say? With the prog and I never know to call it jazz or fusion. I think they kind of strayed the line a little bit. Well, yeah, especially the two instrumental tracks. But yeah, that's true. To me, it's just a whole different. So that should be Journey.

00:28:54and everything after that should be like Journey X or Journey AD because it's like a whole different band. Well, yeah, almost. I don't know. The second album and the third album were still kind of similar to this. Yeah, I think so. And I guess other than George Tickner, who I think, I don't think he was on the second or third album, it was the same guys pretty much. Yeah. Plus, they have one of the great drummers from that era. Yeah. Ainsley Dunbar. So it's a good band. Yeah. Excuse me? Dunbar.

00:29:24Dunbar. Dunbar? Why do I know? Is that from? What is that? Dances with Wolves. Oh yeah, that's right. Dunbar. I'm like, Dunbar. I remember, but I don't know where it's from. Yeah. I thought you were going to all of a sudden just start saying Tatanka or something like that. Yeah. All right. That's a good pick, T.R. It is. Thank you. George, do you have more to say about it? No, I do not. I have absolutely nothing left to say about that. Okay. Good idea. No, meaning.

00:29:54You don't have anything to say about that? Not at all. No, if you had something to say, that would be great to add because I didn't have as much to say about it. Although I do know the album. Where to go? Should I just go straight to the top or talk about an album you guys have never listened to? Let's talk about an album you guys probably haven't listened to. Okay. All right. I got two of them. Let's go with this one. My album also from 1975. That joke's already dead now. Well, so I'm going to pick an album from who I consider

00:30:25one of the greatest, and I'm not a guitar player, but I do consider him one of the greatest guitar players ever to live. If not, maybe. Jeff. But. Mm-hmm. You know? Wait. That's a different show, isn't it? What? Nothing. He said Jeff, and he got the first part right. Yes, I'm going with Jeff Beck, Blow by Blow. Yes. Nice. His second album, I guess you could say, as a solo album.

00:30:54artists, if that's what you want to call it. But let's be honest, all those albums from all those bands, there were bands and there were collaborative groups. So I guess we can call this his second actual solo effort. It's his first in a trilogy of kind of jazz fusion instrumental rock albums. And if you're not familiar with it and you like guitar, then I would suggest you listen to it. While jazz fusion or fusion rock might not be your thing,

00:31:25And I know some Fusion fans kind of thumb their nose out of it. He's not true Fusion. It's Jeff back on guitar. The dude went from playing in the Yardbirds to doing his own thing to all his blues groups to now doing Fusion. And he did everything great. I'm a disciple and I'm not even a guitar player. I just think he was a fabulous guitarist. And I feel like he deserves more credit than he got. Although guitarists, I know whether guitarists, you guys play guitar, whether you like

00:31:56He's at the top of the pantheon of guitar players. He's one of them. Oh, yeah. Definitely one of them. And this album features some of his most incredible performances. The featured song, the song you probably don't know the name, but you've heard is Freeway Jam. It's very distinctive. It's got that kind of little drum shuffle at the beginning and then the bass beats in it. You feel like you're kind of stuck in traffic.

00:32:24before you get to his signature riff, which is just otherworldly. He's got other great songs on the album. He's got some covers. He does an incredibly emotional version of Because We Ended As Lovers by Stevie Wonder. I'll leave the guitar shop talk to you guys, but it's almost like he's barely touching the strings to get that emotion. I know it's all in the hands. Nobody can play like a certain player because it's all

00:32:54they play. I get that. And he just absolutely kills that song so much. On there, Thelonious is also another Stevie Wonder cover. He's got it. He always had covers on his albums and he always made them sound great. But She's a Woman by the Beatles is on there, which is great. Airblower is awesome. He's got a song called Constipated Duck. That is sticking out to me. But if you say that you're not a Fusion fan, but you just want to hear his playing,

00:33:25It's well worth getting into it because it leads into then Wired, which is another great fusion album. And then the one I like the most, There and Back, is also the least favorite of most fans. But I like There and Back the best of the three. But this is a super album. I love it. I got into Jeff Beck because, believe it or not, Risky Business. In the movie Risky Business, when the night when Tom Cruise takes his father's Porsche out, do you guys remember that?

00:33:54and he's cruising around in the Porsche and there's that real kind of mellow, ethereal song playing in the background. It's Jeff Beck, The Pump. And then the car goes into the lake. Yeah, that's awesome. I never saw that movie. Oh, really? What? That was one of those slip through the cracks, just never saw it. Oh, man, that's a classic. Obviously, I've seen a bunch of pieces and clips. Actually, that's when Tom Cruise was enjoyable, in my opinion. It was 80s films, like all the right moves.

00:34:24I heard this song the pump and I got there and back and lo and behold Simon Phillips is on drums who I've been a fan of since then you know I I have there and back and I have sin after sin by priest I'm like who's this drummer it's amazing he had to be really young at that point well he was 19 when he did sin after sin by priest yeah so that was 77 so he was 22 23 on this album and he's playing with Jeff Beck he's playing with priest and Jeff Beck by the age of 23 and then Pete Townsend a couple

00:34:54And then Joe Satriani. Played with freaking everybody. Yeah, that's right. George, I forgot he played with him. And is it on? Does he play with them on the third album or second? Yeah, third album. I think he's on that. Extremist? No, the one before that. T.R. I've drawn about him. Flying the Blue Dream. Yeah. I think he's on that album, if I'm not mistaken. I have to look. Anyway, I won't belabor it because I don't know if you guys have listened to this album, but if you're a guitar fan,

00:35:24I would suggest you give it at least one spin just to hear his magic song. Sounds good. Yeah, so I have to admit, John, well, first of all, when we talked about Satriani's album and I picked Surfing with the Alien, and you rightly said, I said, well, this guy was one of the first instrumental guitarists. And you said, well, not quite, because Jeff Beck was doing that a few years before. And you're right.

00:35:51And so this, I didn't really, I've listened to this album maybe only a handful of times. And I have to admit, I really need to give this more spins because I think I would appreciate it more now than I did earlier. I think I got kind of hung up on his tone a little bit because I feel like his tone was, he didn't have a real fat sounding like tone. I think it was more, he was,

00:36:21He always played kind of strats and that kind of stuff. And so I don't know that I ever kind of warmed to his tone, but I need to listen to his technique and his song structures a little more and get over the tone so that I can really kind of absorb it more. But it's funny you say that because on the cover, he's playing a Les Paul. Oh, is he really? Strats are for babies. Oh, well, so much for what I was thinking about. He played both, I think. I think he's known for his strats because those are all his famous pictures. Yeah.

00:36:51He did play a Les Paul II for a while. You have to ask. We'll have to ask our friend Joe. That's right. Our good buddy Joe Insaldi. He's a huge Beck fan. So yeah. Yep. No good choice John and I definitely need to go back and listen to that some more. Yeah I've been made into as well especially since he passed. Yeah and like I said if Fusion's not your thing I have become a Fusion fan not so much a Jazz fan more Fusion because that's a little different. I'm starting to now venture a little bit into Pat Metheny stuff.

00:37:21Okay. Yeah. A little bit. Like him. Just a little. I like John McLaughlin a lot. So I like Mahavishnu Orchestra. They're just insane. A little bit into Return to Forever. These are all the, not cliche bands, but the. Well, the genre. Traditional bands that you should get into. But I also listen to a ton of metal fusion. That's my real thing. So. And George, it was a good call mentioning Joe Saturani because he did. Yes, he did play on Flying in a Blue Dream on one song. And he was on another.

00:37:51One Two. I just read about it. Is it like strange, beautiful music? Or is there love in space or something like that? Oh, that's... He did four tracks on the side for Joe. I'm a fan. That got by me. That's... He shoots his scores. Oh, wait. So, no to both those albums, though. Oh, okay. But you did get two of them right there, George. You got Flying Up With a Dream and then The Extremist.

00:38:21He's also on Time Machine, which I'm wondering what he plays on Time Machine now. It's a duel. It's like a compilation and live album. Yeah. And he's on Super Colossal. Oh, that's the one. Yeah. Oh, wow. Which you're in the right period. But now I need to find out what he plays on. This is so stupid because I know all his stuff. I have all his protocol stuff, his fusion band. He's been playing with Derek Sherinian for years. So I'm like, I love him. I'm like, wow. Yeah. I forgot about all this. Yeah. Well, the guy's played on,

00:38:51a ton of stuff. Yes. It's kind of ridiculous how much he's played on. And so many of our favorite bands. This guy's been there. And you're talking about Simon Phillips. Simon Phillips. Yeah, right. He's on... Okay, T.R., I'll tell you the songs. This is kind of wild. So he's on off the first album of Time Machine. He's on Banana Mango 2. And he's on the Woodstock Jam. Which the Woodstock Jam is just a waste of time. Yeah, that is really kind of just saying, eh. Anyway.

00:39:21Yeah.

00:39:23Yes.

00:39:24Moving on.

00:39:26All right.

00:39:26My pick.

00:39:28Surprisingly also from 1975.

00:39:32That's a really good year.

00:39:33Yeah.

00:39:34Alice Cooper's.

00:39:35Welcome to my nightmare.

00:39:37I knew this was coming.

00:39:39Yeah.

00:39:39His debut solo studio album.

00:39:42And it's mid seventies.

00:39:44He's starting to get a little funky.

00:39:47Particularly the title track.

00:39:48Welcome to my nightmare.

00:39:49It's got some,

00:39:50It's got some schwag to it, but I went back and checked this out again, and I actually like most of these songs. I didn't remember that I did, but obviously the title track, Welcome to My Nightmares, Stone Cold classic. You hear it all the time. The Black Widow. That's a ripper. I dig that one. Only Women Bleed. Say what you will about that one. It's a well-known track. It's a little more on the ballady side. I like Department of Youth. It's a cool deep track. Cold Ethyl. You gotta love

00:40:21He did. That's one of those songs that Alice really made people go, what? And I'm not going to go into more detail about that. But then a couple more of the deep tracks years ago and Steven, because I did not remember this, but this is a concept album about this guy, Steven. And the Wilson. Yes, of course. Wow. He was like, he was years old. Alice Cooper was the prophet that foretold the coming of Steven Wilson. Well, he actually, he remixed it.

00:41:00The Awakening is kind of a filler thing. And Escape is the last track, and it's okay. It's not as good as some of the others, but it definitely beats a couple of other tracks that I didn't mention. This was produced by Bob Ezrin, by the way, who would soon after this go on to do Kiss's Destroyer. Wow. And like a billion other.

00:41:20things, but well, yeah. So yeah, it's just, it's not like my favorite Alice Cooper album, but it's definitely got some tracks that I totally dig. And Vincent, there's a cameo by Vincent Price on devil's food, which the song itself, not a fan, but I'm a huge fan of Vincent Price. So anytime he gets, comes into play, I'm down with, I'm down for that. So I feel like I need to spend more time with this. You should. I know. I like Alice Cooper. I've seen him. I don't know how many times live. He's great live every time. I always have fun.

00:41:50And I know most of the songs, but I feel like I just have never spent enough time with both versions of his band, which obviously one was the original band. And then it's my understanding that this happened. Did they all decide to do solo albums at this time? We were talking about this the other day. Yeah. And then it's kind of like the kiss did Cooper. Yeah, that's right. That's where I heard that. I couldn't remember. And I just find that absolutely hilarious.

00:42:20that is okay. Well, if we're going to do this, just give you a heads up. Nobody's going to know that it's different. And that's exactly what ends up happening. That's right. We did talk. I just, I apologize for not remembering. I can't remember. It's a different podcast. So if you need to, uh, what John's talking about, go to the metal heads podcast, episode one 49 and understand. Yeah, but it's good. I like all this stuff, but I feel like I need to spend more time with it to absorb it more, even though I know most of it. So.

00:42:50Yeah, good stuff. I have to admit, I really, other than like the hits, I know very little Alice Cooper. And like John, I've seen him a number of times because it seems like he's opened up for a lot of bands that we've seen. But, and I've always enjoyed his shows and what they, what he plays and everything. But I have to admit, I never really got into Alice Cooper. I don't own a single Alice Cooper song in my collection.

00:43:19The perfect opportunity to go back and do a deep dive and get yourself straightened out. As a matter of fact, maybe I do. Yes. Start at the beginning. Start at the beginning. Work your way up. Start at the beginning. Skip the first one. Oh, you guys were just talking about how. What was he called Alice Cooper before this or the band? What was the band called? The band was called Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper. Okay. But the singer's name was Alice. Okay. And then.

00:43:49This was a solo effort on his part? Yes. So the first one, two, three, four, five, six, seven albums were the band. This was his eighth album and the first as he never went back to the band. But if you are going to listen, I would say skip to album three, love it to death and move forward from there. Okay. So, but he still called it Alice Cooper. Yes. Okay. So it all looks like Alice Cooper, but the reality is once he hits this album, it's really just,

00:44:20It's really just Alice Cooper

00:44:22Okay

00:44:23Yep

00:44:23Got it

00:44:24Okay

00:44:26Cool

00:44:26Alright, report back

00:44:28Alright, what do you got next?

00:44:29Well

00:44:31Well, since John took one of my two first, I'll take the other

00:44:34Boom

00:44:35Yes

00:44:36It's Rush

00:44:37Caress of Steel

00:44:39What? They put out two albums in one year?

00:44:41Yeah

00:44:41Hey, there's more than one band that did that in the 70s

00:44:44That's right

00:44:45I'd be very sarcastic when I say that

00:44:46And I'm pretty sure we're going to hear about those other bands

00:44:48But I can't get off of this. So yeah, Rush, Carissa Steele, their third album. And this is where they really start to turn into the prog band that we love from the mid-70s. And this was the first album where they actually had a full side of an album as a song. And that song has, again, a bunch of Roman numerals for all the sub parts of the song.

00:45:18So they're really getting into the prog thing when you've got Roman numerals.

00:45:22So this album has Bastille Day.

00:45:25I think I'm going bald, which is kind of a dumb song, but it was based on a kiss kind of concept.

00:45:31So it's a stinker.

00:45:32We can say it.

00:45:34It's a constipated duck.

00:45:35I think it is, but it's a stinker.

00:45:37Yeah.

00:45:38I don't think.

00:45:39Yeah.

00:45:40If I had to pick a Rush song that I should just be an instrumental to be honest.

00:45:44I think you're right.

00:45:46But it's followed by a really good song called Lakeside Park, The Necromancer, which starts getting kind of prog and weird, and then The Fountain of Lamb Neth, which has a number of parts to it on the finals and the second side of the album. And yeah, so this, again, this was part of Archives, and later I went and bought the Gatefold album, which has all of the lyrics all shown along with some pictures of the band.

00:46:16And I was glad I got that because to me, like, you get so much more when you can actually look at the lyrics and read the album and you get some cool pictures of the band. And so the artwork is awesome, too. Well, yeah, Hugh Syme, who would go on to do most of their covers, did the cover for this album. And so, yeah, this to me, I mean, a lot of.

00:46:45I would say, obviously, this is not most Rush fans' favorite album. Not even the Rush. But I do like this album, and I really like parts of the Fountain of Lambeth a lot. But you can tell that they're kind of transitioning into what they're becoming. And the albums that would come after this, I think, were certainly a lot more solid and felt a lot more, I don't know, maybe consistent or focused. I don't know how to put it.

00:47:15But I still feel like this, you have to make this album to get to the other albums. And so this is one of my, one of my, I love All Rush pretty much, even though we've had discussions about some of their latter day output that I'm not really too excited about. But yeah, this is my pick number three. I know Bastille Day. And I'm familiar with, I think I'm going bald, literally. But like this album, the hardcore fan.

00:47:45It hates it, but still understands the album. And then the other hardcore fan of the group, because you got a number of different hardcore Rush fans. There's sub-genre hardcore fans in Rush. It sounds silly to say it, but it's really true. But then there's a group of people who really love this album a lot for what it is. They know it's not their best, but like TR said, this is a transition album. If this album doesn't happen, they don't get forced to make 2112 with the label pressure. And I always thought this album was

00:48:15was not as tight as Fly By Night and certainly not as refined as 2112, but it is the blueprint for 2112. It really is. Songs like you mentioned, Bastille Day and Lakeside Park are definitely Fly By Night-esque type songs. The Necromancer is when you get to finally hear Rush. They started to do this with By Tour, but they take it a step further on the Necromancer. You get to hear the jammy version of the band, the technicality of the band.

00:48:45and the power of the band.

00:48:47And even the dynamic aspect.

00:48:49There are some parts where they bring it right down.

00:48:51Yes.

00:48:52But when you get to part two, since we're talking Roman numerals.

00:48:55Yes.

00:48:57That would look like a capital I or like a lowercase LL colon under the shadow is just unreal.

00:49:07This is the solo.

00:49:08Alex is soloing is great.

00:49:10It's heavy.

00:49:11And then we get to the fountain of Laminth.

00:49:15And I always like to overemphasize that name because I'm like, what the hell does that mean? It's not Opeth. It's Lamneth. It's Lamneth. Before there was Opeth, there was Lamneth. The third part, No One at the Bridge, is if not their greatest unknown deep cut, then it's two or three. It is just incredible. It's my favorite, second favorite Alex Lifeson guitar solo. It's just,

00:49:45That alone could be a standalone song and it would be one of their great songs, but it's part of the suite. It's just unreal. It's I listen to the I go right to was it like 525 on the song because I have it all as one song because I can't break it up. That's stupid, right? You listen the whole song. This is how it is. You don't break up 2112. This crap breaking it up for radio play. You just don't do that. Yeah, no, I'm with you, John. That is and I remember it. So I got the as a guitar player. You go out and you get the

00:50:15a rush book that has everything. And I remember the first time that I looked at the music for that to try to like figure out how to play and just how cool that whole thing is. Like the arpeggio notes of the picked intro to that. Oh, it's so kind of ominous and dark yet atmospheric and ethereal at the same time. Exactly. So, yeah, I, yeah, that's, it's definitely one of the high points on the album. I agree.

00:50:44Totally. Not only is it, I think, one of the great deep cuts, it's probably one of my 10 favorite songs. Because to me, it's a standalone kind of overture in Temples of Syrinx off of 2112. They can be standalone songs in themselves. To me, that's one of my 10 favorite songs or moments in their whole catalog. It really is. It's just that freaking good. Anyway, George, are you familiar with the album Caress of Steel by Rush?

00:51:13I've listened to it, but like I said, the only one that really jumps out to me as something that I am familiar with is Bastille Day. I've definitely listened to it a number of times, but just like in the background. Okay. It's an interesting song because it's very metal-esque for them. Yeah. Just listening to you guys talk, I'm like, I gotta go back and do my Rush Deep Dive again. You should be on Rush Deep Dive 24-7. I understand.

00:51:42With breaks for other bands. And sleeping and eating. There are no other bands. No, I'm with you there. All right. What do you got, John? All right. We've waited long enough. Here it comes. I know it. Not yet. Wait for it. Stay on target. George, TR, you've turned off your scanner. Is everything okay? It's okay. I'm using the force. Aren't you? Make sure.

00:52:12Anyway, I might be stealing one from George here, but let's do this one. Because it's proggy and it's metal-esque. My third pick's going to be Black Sabbath Sabotage. No, I didn't pick that because I kind of figured you'd go there. Yeah, well, I was waiting for you to pick it. That's why. I was being a gentleman and letting you have it. That's a bunch of bull. Anyway, sixth album from Black Sabbath.

00:52:42And the last in a line of six really good albums from them before they decided to let the drugs and the money and let the drugs do the talk. And it finally took over. Yes. At this point, because they somehow made Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, which is my favorite black Sabbath album and is my third favorite metal album of all time. People say, it's not metal. Yeah, it is. Go listen to Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath and shut up. It's also kind of proggy. And so is this album.

00:53:12This album's got some metal-esque moments. It's got some hard rock moments. It's definitely got some heavy. What's that, George? It's definitely got some heavy. Symptom of the Universe. Hello. Oh, yeah. So, yes, that's a featured song off this album. I think the two songs that probably most people have heard are Hole in the Sky and Symptom of the Universe. Hole in the Sky. Take me to heaven. And just the way it starts, it just sounds so big and massive. And it's kind of the sister album to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. I think they kind of go together.

00:53:42a little bit. It's by far the weakest of the first six albums. With that said, if you have a scale of up to five, it's in the forest still with those albums. I could see where some people might say it's not as good as the others. There's a couple stinkers on this. I don't like Am I Going Insane Radio. I do like that. Tell me people. Okay, maybe not. Just kidding. I do like it. I just talked myself out of it. Oh, okay. You're right. The instrumentals are, eh, can leave them or

00:54:12Take Em or Leave Em. It's kind of weird the second song in the album's instrumental, but then it leads into Symptom of the Universe, which is one of the great Sabbath riffs of all time. And that is a serious Chunk-a-Chunk-a. Oh, Chunk-a existed. Exactly. And that's not proto-Chunk, that's full-Chunk. Exactly. Yeah, what else can I say? I didn't realize the album was based on the fact that they were suing, there was former management label, everyone was suing everyone at this time, and the band felt they were being sabotaged. You took my cocaine. Yeah.

00:54:42So they call the Savakots, which I think is a great thing to do. I will say another song on here, I think that's kind of somewhat forgotten because the studio versions, it's good, but it's not great. And that's Megalomania. It's a good song. But if you listen to the live version of the past lives, what the beep, it is incredible how good it is. Because they take out all the orchestration, obviously live, they can't do it. And it's big and massive.

00:55:11So that's my number three pick. Killer Sabbath album. And that's, the wheels come off after that. Then it goes rough for two albums. Yeah. I don't really have much else to say about it. Hole in the Sky, Simped on the Universe. Am I going insane? Those are my jams. Yeah, I have to admit, like, I kind of got into early Sabbath late because I got hooked on Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. And while I was familiar with the hits,

00:55:42from early in their career, like Paranoid and Iron Man and all that kind of stuff. I just felt like that earlier stuff didn't have the same level of sophistication that Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules kind of had for me anyway. I.E. Ronnie James Dio. Exactly. And so now I did go back a few years ago and started listening to all that early stuff and discovered like how awesome a lot of that is.

00:56:11I need to listen to more of it because I think one of the first of all, I owe me as a guitar player is just awesome. He's just incredible. And the stuff that he does, few people can come up with like riffs like that. And, and then, and then being able to solo like he does, it's pretty staggering to think about his talent and what, you know, what he brought, which is the riffs and the solos, which is pretty amazing.

00:56:41Because you could have gotten by with one or the other of those, but he brought them both. And so, yeah, I definitely need to listen to that older stuff a lot more because I haven't really. And that is a sin. I know it is. I will suggest OTR, believe it or not, you don't have to go back to the beginning and work your way up. What? Because you're a prog guy like me. You really can go to Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage because they are there. That's their proggy.

00:57:11They're the fathers,

00:57:13they're the godfathers of doom,

00:57:14but they don't,

00:57:15they didn't have necessarily a lot of doom.

00:57:18I love volume four.

00:57:20Yeah.

00:57:20Volume four.

00:57:21And then obviously master reality is where you get the most of it,

00:57:24but they kind of were still just a hard rock metal bit.

00:57:28They're metal.

00:57:28I know people like the other blues band.

00:57:30Yeah.

00:57:30Well,

00:57:32okay.

00:57:32We know they're based in blues.

00:57:33That's the first album,

00:57:34especially.

00:57:35Yeah.

00:57:36But if you want where they get a little more experimental,

00:57:40I'm not talking about technical ecstasy and never say die experimental. That's not a music experiment. That experiment has failed. Exactly. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage. Those are my two favorite from that period. I know it's sacrilege to most Sabbath fans, but I just like the injection of slightly off-center weird and the proggy aspects. And one of the, I know we're talking mostly about the music, but the album cover I thought was like,

00:58:10It's kind of interesting, right? Because they're standing in front of a mirror, but the mirror is reflecting the same image as looking at you. So it's kind of strange. And then I think Bill Ward always regretted wearing his wife's red leggings on the front of that. That's just, what is that? Yeah. So it's got a similar cover to Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, which is there's the front cover and you have to flip it over and see the reverse of the front on the back. And I think they do the same with this one.

00:58:40You see them from behind, don't you? Oh, I don't know. I think so. Okay. So, and that's like the Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath cover. In the front, you've got the guy dying in bed, and he's surrounded by demons, and the 666 on the headboard, and then you flip it over, and he's dying, and he's surrounded by angels. So, I always thought that was kind of cool how they did that with both album covers. Not the same, but similar takes off of the concept, so. Indeed. Alrighty. So, next, I am going to

00:59:10to go with Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic. Nice. Released 49 years ago this month. What? In 1975? In 1975. Wait, what? That's weird. It's their third studio album. And from my perspective, probably the apex of their period one music in terms of this album. I don't like all of the songs, but I like most of the songs.

00:59:43Toys. Toys. Awesome intro too. Yeah. Uncle Salty's okay. Adam's Apple's okay. But then you've got the timeless classic walk this way. Forget Run DMC or don't forget them because they're awesome. Am I supposed to scratch at this point? But before the Run DMC collaboration was the original version which was also awesome.

01:00:10And then the last song on the first side is their innuendo weenie song called Big Ten-Inch Record. Wink Wink. It's all right. I mean, for what it is. It's kind of a... They stole it from the Kiss catalog, but Kiss was like, dang, why didn't we think of that? Well, Gene had thought of it before and he had copyrighted it before anyone had written it, so he still got paid. Yeah, exactly. But then kicking off side two, even better, Sweet Emotion. That's probably one of my favorite

01:00:40old school Aerosmith songs along with Dream On. It's just, it's a classic. Followed by a song that I always forget about until I hear it on the radio and that's No More No More. And I love that song. You don't hear it as much as you should, but definitely a classic. Around and Round. That one kind of sounds like crap. That's one of the, the production on this is just terrible. I don't know if it's a good song. I know Rat did justice by the song title about a decade later, but yeah, I didn't care for that. But You See Me Cry,

01:01:10the last track on the album is another one that I don't know if it was a single, but it's all right. It's not bad. It's kind of ballady reminiscent of where they may go in later years. But lightly. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, this was 70s Aerosmith right here. If you need a place to start TR, start here. Okay. No. Yeah, absolutely. So of this album, and I'm looking at the set list after you talked about it.

01:01:41I know Walk This Way. I know Sweet Emotion. I know Big Ten Inch Rickard because, again, that was kind of a funny tune. And it was actually kind of like it has a 40s feel. Like it's like an old timey kind of band kind of thing. Yeah. Big bands kind of style. And it is kind of comical. Right. You know, she just loves my Big Ten Inch record of her favorite blues. And so, yeah, that always kind of made me laugh. So actually, this is a cover. Yeah. I did not know that.

01:02:09It was recorded in 1952 by Bull Moose Jackson. So that's why it's interesting. It's from Bull Moose. Yeah, that's big 10 inch Bull Moose. Yeah. So that's why it's so heavy on the innuendo in the 50s there, which even then that would have been like, whoa, yeah, slow down. We've got to censor this. No, I yeah, again, like Aerosmith is one of those bands that obviously you've heard all a lot of these songs a thousand times on the radio.

01:02:40I never got a single Aerosmith album. What do you have in your collection? You don't have any Black Sabbath. You don't have any Aerosmith. It's just a bunch of humble pie. Rush, humble pie, and all the Journey albums, and a few Sammy Hagar solo albums. Jeez, we really got to work on you. And pretty much all of Yes Catalog and the Genesis Catalog. Yeah. I bet you're regretting part of that Yes Catalog. Well, it's some.

01:03:09of it. Perhaps. I won't admit to all of it, but some of it. No, yeah, definitely. I'm sure like it bears listening to. So I definitely need to check it out. Oh, God, yeah. This is one of my early final purchases when I was a kid. I had this album. I loved it. And Toys in the Attic is just such a killer song. And I always that was always my favorite song on the album just because it never got the airplay like the other songs.

01:03:38But I felt it was just as much of a kick-ass song. George, I will lightly, depends on the mood, but I would say the next album, Rocks, is just as good if not better, too. That's another good album. Those two albums back-to-back are great. Rocks has Last Child and Back in the Saddle. Yeah, those are good, but that's no sweet emotion. Back in the Saddle's badass. It is. It's one of those songs that I hate in theory, and I don't know.

01:04:08change the channel when it comes on.

01:04:11So because it's just the whole like

01:04:13back in the sound.

01:04:15It's catchy, but it's also annoying.

01:04:17Well, it's one of the few songs

01:04:18I can actually stomach him doing that

01:04:20because it's it makes sense to do it.

01:04:23It's just not him go back like a dog

01:04:26like he does in the 80s at some point.

01:04:28But I will say those two albums back to back are.

01:04:31Yeah, great.

01:04:32That's their period right there.

01:04:33So no, it's a great pick.

01:04:35And I have it, I think, in my.

01:04:38Wait for it. Hold on. Yep. It's in my own number of mentions. So I'm glad you mentioned it. I've gotten called tonight anyway, because like I said, it was one of my first, I think it was one of my first 10 albums I ever had. This is one of those albums that launched a thousand other albums. This is a very influential album for a lot of guitar players that came up in the eighties. Oh yeah. First off, they were dirty stones. Yeah. Grimy, dirty. Just, yeah. Do you think the stones partied? Well, we're going to party twice as hard.

01:05:08Yeah, they really,

01:05:10well, I will say my opinion on Joe Perry has changed slightly based on how he treated Eddie Van Halen on that first tour early on when they toured together.

01:05:20No, Eddie was no saint.

01:05:21Don't get me wrong.

01:05:22But I, but I still think it's a great album.

01:05:26It's that whole period.

01:05:27It's great.

01:05:28Those first five, I think it's the first five Aerosmith albums are good.

01:05:33Unfortunately, my first Aerosmith album was done with mirrors.

01:05:36It's got Let the Music Do the Talking, which is what inspired me. There's some good songs on there. It's not bad. But yeah, it was. That was kind of their low point. Wait, was he back? Was Joe Perry back at that point, though? I can't remember. I thought Let the Music Do the Talking was a Joe Perry song. Yeah, because he did it on his solo album later on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because that was right before Permanent Vacation, wasn't it? Yes. Well, yeah, but like many years because it wasn't that many years. No, it was not. That was not long, wasn't it? Let's see.

01:06:06No, it was only two years. Oh, wow. Yeah. You couldn't get a bigger change in direction from a band. They got sober. Yeah. Yeah, because Rock in a Hard Place, I don't believe he's on that album. Yeah, because he left in 79. He left after the album Night in the Ruts, which is another play on words. Right in the nuts. Right in the nuts. Anyway. Yeah. All right. I guess I'm next, right? Correct.

01:06:36What is this? Four? Pick number four. It's my fourth pick. And I'm still not going to leap on the ones that we are, the elephants in the room that we all are not picking that we should be because we all- Well, you better hurry up because there's not many elephants left. Well, I'm just going to leave that elephant alone because I'm going to pick another one that I'm pretty sure you guys probably won't pick, but I like it. And that's Steely Dan, Katie Lide. This is their fourth album. It's their first album.

01:07:06with Michael McDonald.

01:07:11It's got a, it's got a couple of hits with Black Friday, Bad Sneakers. So there's definitely some songs on here. People know, but there's a lot of cool other songs on this too, that once you start to delve into their catalog that you just, you start to see some really cool songs like Chain Lightning and the Michael McDonald background vocals on.

01:07:34Any world that I'm welcome to. Isn't Chain Lightning a great song off of Presto? Yes, Chain Lightning is the second song off of Presto. That's a trick question because there are no great songs on Presto. Oh, that's such bull. Okay, gloves are coming off. That's crap. That's for another time. So wrong. There's one great song off that album. Okay, I'll give you that. So yes, so Black Friday, Bad Sneakers, Rose Darling,

01:08:04Don't Live in That New York City No More, which was Walter Becker's tune, which I never really cared for that song that much, but okay. And they seemed to play it a lot. He'd always do that one because I guess it was his tune. So Dr. Wu, Everyone's Gone to the Movies, which was actually one of their really early songs that they did on one of their early demos. Your Gold Teeth 2, which is the second song to use the term Your Gold Teeth, which sounds quite different from Your Gold Teeth, the first one.

01:08:34Chain Lightning, Any World That I'm Welcome To, and Throw Back The Little Ones. So I got into this, again, my buddy Alex was like, start at the beginning and then work your way up. And George, you mentioned the Columbia Record Club earlier. Yes. And I was a proud member of that club because for one penny, you could get quite a lot of albums. Oh, yeah. That was the foundation of the ridiculousness that is my music collection now. I had three albums and then I was like, I got 12 more.

01:09:04Yeah. And for all of us. Yeah. I mean, we all got on that train, dude. And I have to admit like, so, but here's the thing. I never got into Steely Dan until they were over with because by the time 1981 rolled around or 82, well, obviously I, as one of my first picks was Donald Fagan, the night fly. And that's when I first discovered, like I knew Steely Dan, right? Like we all heard the songs, but I didn't really get into that whole thing.

01:09:34until I heard Donald Fagan's album, The Nightfly. And then I thought, ooh, this Steely Dan stuff kind of is cool. So I was part of the club and they had come out with that Citizen Steely Dan, which was basically all of their studio albums from the 70s up to their last album. And so it was like all those, I don't know, maybe six albums on four discs. And so it was all compressed into those four discs.

01:10:03And so I never knew where one album began and one album started and one album ended. So I just kind of learned their whole catalog from that box. And so unfortunately, I never really got to know each of the albums as albums because they all ran together on these four discs. And so it wasn't until later that I was able to kind of parse it out a little bit. But anyway, this is definitely one of their, I think one of their better albums. I like most of the songs on this album.

01:10:34And so that's my pick number four, Steely Dan, Katie Lide.

01:10:38I don't know this album or any of the songs on it, and I'm okay with that.

01:10:45I'll make you a convert at some point, George.

01:10:47Oh, I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying I'm okay with it.

01:10:50Okay.

01:10:51I'm not as familiar with this album, but I do know a fair number of songs off this, and it's good.

01:10:57Like you, TR, I got into them well after they had dissolved the first time. And so I've never been a, I was a greatest hits guy because there were some really good ones out there. And where do you think I got that first greatest hits from? Columbia House. Yes. And they've since released more extensive ones. And I always lived with that because I didn't know if I wanted to go down the rabbit hole to start getting everything. But I know a lot of their stuff.

01:11:26And I know their pedigree for musicians that they've had in the band. And so I do feel like I need this another band. I need to just go back and listen to a little more for even the deeper deep cuts that I'm not as familiar with. But Black Friday is a great song. I like that. I've always liked that song. And obviously Bad Sneakers is cool too. But those are the ones that you're getting the most volume of because they're on the radio. So, but I don't have an issue with Steely Down. I know some people.

01:11:56Do? I don't. I told you, like, one of my favorite songs from the 70s is Dirty Work. Yeah. And that's not even close. It's just one of the coolest songs. And it sounds nothing like Steely Dan. That's right. In some odd sort of way. It's them. The keyboards are there, the organ or whatever, but it still doesn't sound like it, which I always thought was kind of cool about that song. Which is not on this album. If it was, then I probably would have had this album.

01:12:25So my number four, well, it's a big ocean, but sometimes there's only a couple of megalodons out there ruling the ocean. Here we go. This is it. And I am going to go with one now because I want to, but it's maybe not the one you're thinking of, but it's a bigger album, believe it or not. So with my fourth pick, I'm going with Pink Floyd's

01:12:53Wish You Were Here, which is a mega album. And just for a little context on how big this album really is, everyone always thinks of Dark Side of the Moon. You should. It's great. People think of The Wall. You shouldn't, but you do. Oh, hey. It's good. It's not great, in my opinion. There's a little too much Roger Waters on that album. But with that said, it's still a very good album. However,

01:13:23Pink Floyd's Apex, to me, is right in this period here. Two albums. My two favorite from them are Wish You Were Here and Animals. Yeah. I know. Don't get me wrong. I love Dark Side of the Moon. Dark Side of the Moon has become like Stairway to Heaven, unfortunately. It's just every song is on the radio all the time. And I've got like 19 versions of the album. Do I need this? Do I need the sack version? Yeah. Yeah. That's the thing. We keep buying all this stuff because it's, well, let's see what this sounds like. So, but with this,

01:13:53This album, just to put it into context of how big this album is now, again, it's the Rate Your Music site, which is not the end-all be-all, but for every album on that site that's been rated by fans, and some of them get like 50,000 ratings, not many, but some. This album is rated fourth all-time for all albums on the site, and we're talking thousands, I mean, maybe over a million albums, I don't know, and I'm not exaggerating, there's that much stuff out there.

01:14:22This is what it's behind

01:14:25And number one

01:14:26I have no idea who this person is

01:14:28Nor do I care to find out

01:14:30Kendrick Lamar

01:14:31To Pimp a Butterfly

01:14:33Is the highest rated album

01:14:35On regular music

01:14:36Wow

01:14:37I know who he is

01:14:38I know who he is

01:14:38I know who he is

01:14:38Do you know him George?

01:14:40Yes I do

01:14:41I've heard of him

01:14:41What is this music?

01:14:42He's like hip hop

01:14:44Okay

01:14:45I figure as much

01:14:46I'm not saying anything negative

01:14:47I just don't know who it is

01:14:50Now he has since surpassed

01:14:52But the number one album used to be on the site for the longest time. That's Radiohead's OK Computer. I like it. It's not my favorite Radiohead. I like the Benz better, personally. It's just me. But OK Computer is cool. And number three, which really surprises me, is Radiohead in Rainbows. Really? In Rainbows? They released it free for a while. Yeah. It's good. I like it. But I prefer OK Computer and the Benz. Well, it was pay what you wish. Yes.

01:15:22It wasn't like you too. Like you got it like jammed onto your phone. It wasn't forced upon you. Yeah. It's like you're going to take this album. Did it at least force war onto my freaking phone? Not this. Yeah. Crap. Anyway. Can I switch the album that you forced on me? Exactly. I'll even pay for it. So if you're not familiar with this album, you are. You just don't know it. Yeah. There's no way you're not familiar with this album. I mean, think about this. It's to me, it is.

01:15:52I know some people say they're not prog rock to me they are on this album this album and animals to me are they're they're the most prog they've ever done yes they're experimental they're still art rock that's all there they're not psychedelic anymore by any means although there is a little bit on here yeah little tiny bit during welcome the machine can get a little psychedelic slightly maybe I don't know but it opens with shine on you crazy diamond again prog now it decides prog yes

01:16:22That's right. I through V. V, yeah. Or parts 1 through 5. Roman numerals, yeah. Which, is there a better intro to a song, even though it's maybe the slowest, most atmospheric intro you've ever heard? And that's that opening guitar. It's just, for me, it's magical. Goes into Welcome to the Machine, which is probably my least favorite song on the album, and it's still awesome. I love that song. I think it's great. Have a Cigar has got that just iconic,

01:16:53And it's sung by someone who TR has a deep hate for. Because of Led Zeppelin. Because of Led Zeppelin. Put their hat off to him. On Led Zeppelin 3. Hats off to Roy Harper. Had they nixed that song and put, hey, what can I do, as the final song on that album, that would be a close number one for me, that album. Yeah. They chose not to. No. You've got nine great songs in it.

01:17:22What the hell is this? Who let them put this on here? Who the hell is Roy Harper? And how did he get on the album? What are you doing? This is terrible. However, I will give him props. He sings, have a cigar, and he's great. I think it works perfect. Then it's followed by probably one of their most iconic songs, which is Wish You Were Here, which is incredible. And then it follows up finally by Shining You Crazy Diamond parts.

01:17:52I-I-X. Six through nine for the Americans. For those of you that don't know Roman numerals. Yes. Well, that's probably the most unrecognizable song on the album because I think everything else has gotten so much more airplay. It's still an incredible finish to the album. It's just a spectacular album. There's not really much to say. It's got an iconic album cover on top of that, which is two guys shaking hands in the Warner Brothers Studios lot, and one guy's on fire.

01:18:21And if you see all the still film from that, the still pictures of all the shots they had from that, it's really cool. Just a great album. And it even sounds better live. And this album already sounds great. So it's definitely one of the two big rock elephants in the room. And I didn't want to miss out on getting at least one of them in. Yeah, I agree.

01:18:48Yeah. I like every song on this album. Wish You Were Here, though. When that starts, you know, with the acoustic guitar, and then he just starts singing. That's just, it's classic. You gotta love it. You get tingles. Yeah. Yeah. It's even cool how they do the whole muffled radio in the background to start, and you can hear him playing in the background, and then it starts, and you're just like, oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah, this is solid all the way.

01:19:18way through.

01:19:19This whole album is just so cool all the way through.

01:19:24Yeah.

01:19:25It's not surprising that this is as amazing as it is just because,

01:19:29or it's rated as highly as you mentioned at the beginning of this,

01:19:32just because all of it is just so solid and well-recorded and clear and just excellent.

01:19:41Yeah.

01:19:41I love this album myself.

01:19:44I'm with you,

01:19:45John.

01:19:45Like this, Animals, is really probably my favorite. Animals is my favorite, too. Yeah. And then certainly Darkseid is phenomenal. And then obviously Parts of Metal and some of the other albums. Oh, I love all of Metal. It's kind of quirky, but I love it. But yeah, this is outstanding. And it was also on my list. And how can it not be on anybody's list when you're talking about albums from 1975, which we are. We are.

01:20:15Wow, this is, that's right, this is from 1975. Wait, is this from 1975? What a coincidence. Now, TR, do you consider a prog? Because I know this is really contentious with some fans. I don't know why they care that much. Well, so I would, even though I don't know that I would put Pink Floyd, if you list prog bands, I don't know that you would put Pink Floyd in, you wouldn't put them in the top five prog bands, right? See, there's people who do.

01:20:44There may be. Just for those three albums, Dark Side, Wish You Were Hearing Animals, they're prog with a lowercase p, not prog with a capital P. There's a big difference between the two. I agree. They don't get super proggy to the point of just what's going on here. Their music's progressive, though. Yes, I would agree with that. Just the fact that money is in seven, I think that alone gives them their prog card.

01:21:14on this. But yeah, I think that's true. You don't, when you first think of prog bands, you don't think of Pink Floyd, but they are definitely, I think, impressive for sure. Yeah, I would agree with you. I've always thought they were. Yeah, because I guess people always think of the psychedelic era, and then they think of the wall. And then if you venture further, you think of depressive, whiny, complaining Roger Waters after that. Yeah. And then you think of angry fans hating,

01:21:44on the mid to late 80s, early 90s stuff, which was the three, not four. To me, these three albums are progressive. They are. Yeah, I would agree. It's a different type. All prog doesn't have to sound like Yes and Genesis. Thankfully, it doesn't. Yeah, sure. What? Okay, so maybe Ian Anderson should have played a flute solo on this. Now we give it credibility. That'd be kind of cool if he did, actually. But anyway. So pick number four.

01:22:14This to me tells me that I know what five is for at least one of you guys. And leaves me wondering about another album that I expected to hear about. But I don't think I'm stepping on any toes when I go with my number four, Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. Oh, it's on my list. Oh, no, it's not. It's okay, George, because I got more.

01:22:46I wanted to because there's not that much to say about the album overall yes but this is another twofer although it's two different bands but in the same year Ronnie James Dio's band Elf released their trying to burn the sun which there's their final second and final album and then he went on to sing with Richie Blackmore's Rainbow which of course was the beginning of history yes George

01:23:14I love you so much. And I like this too for George. Yeah. Yeah. I think I have tried to burn the sun on vinyl even, but I'm not a huge L fan other than the fact that it's got Ronnie James deals vocals. Right. But rainbow. Hell yeah. Richie Blackmore plus Ronnie James Dio. What's not to love this album kicks off with the all time classic song man on the silver mountain. Yes. And you just can't get a better Dio song. And there are many.

01:23:44great Dio songs, but this is just so oomph. You know, it's so catchy. The riff, simple but cool, which is kind of Richie's way of doing things. It's his forte, no doubt. Exactly. Smung on the Water, hello. But yeah, and I don't think there's any bad songs on here, but Man on the Silver Mountain's clearly my jam. I think Self-Portrait I like, Temple of the King, and of course, Lake Seahawks.

01:24:1416th Century Greensleeves. Yes. No, I'm sad. Yeah, no Yardbirds cover. But you know, this was, while not the biggest album perhaps, had a great single, and it was definitely the beginning of something great. Yeah, I totally agree, George. Like, this is not Rainbow's Best, but it's definitely the beginning of a really awesome set of albums that the three Dio albums,

01:24:44that would come out of this. It kind of begins like the blueprint of what they would become. And they crystallized it on the next two albums. And they really, you know, they got the best parts and distilled it even more on rising and long live rock and roll. And, but this, like the kind of the beginnings of it right here. And this is definitely agree. Like,

01:25:14Not all of this is great, but it's pretty cool. Unlike the album cover, which is not cool. Yeah. This is like an early Scorpions album cover right here. Wait a minute here. Oh, yeah. Well, there's nothing censored about this. No, so... No, I'm talking about Fly to the Rainbow, which... Yeah, well, that was... Fly to Rainbow. Who's in charge of this project?

01:25:44Yeah, this looks like the follow-up. Disney World, let's say the castle of Disney World. Reading Rainbow. But, you know, foregoing all of that. This definitely kind of sets the template, and they later kind of really dialed it in on the next two albums. But, yeah, there's a lot to love about this, too. Yeah, this is on my honorable mentions because there's just not enough off this album for me to like. And I know Jay from our other podcast, Metalhead's Podcast, is like, what?

01:26:16I don't know why I think it just feels a little folkier and so yeah but that said there are still some great songs on this album obviously man of the silver mountains iconic but both it's the better of the two simple riffs between this and smoke on the water in my opinion even though smoke in the water is more famous I like this one better I don't know why I

01:26:44I just think the song is infinitely better across the board but yeah you know when I see still I'm sad and I'm like okay this is kind of cool and then I see the live version like oh they went from three minutes and 53 seconds to 18 minutes and 40 seconds or whatever it is and you're like the hell is going on in this song I've been sad for 18 minutes yeah exactly god that guy's really bummed out but there's some there's some cool stuff on here and it's a good pick and it's on my list it was

01:27:14It's gonna get mentioned at some point by one of us, obviously. Yeah. Oh, dude. I think we all, yeah, we all had it, clearly. I will say, this album is to Rush, as Rush's first album as Rising, is Fly By Night in terms of the leaps and bounds they made between albums. Yeah, I would agree with that. The only difference is Long Live Rock and Roll, I think it's probably a better album than Teressa Steele. But that's just my opinion. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, I would agree with that. Good pick.

01:27:44All right. So one of you guys has to pick the elephant. So come on. I'm picking the elephant right now. Okay. It's Led Zeppelin physical graffiti. Thank you. Yes. That's the second elephant. We had two of them. No, I know. But a remaining elephant remaining. How many? What is this? A circus of elephants? I think so. Here come the elephants. Okay. Yeah. We're taking Rome. And this almost counts as a twofer because it's a double album. Indeed. In more ways than not. Yes. So Led Zeppelin.

01:28:14and physical graffiti. What a tome. What a great album. It's not bad. Not bad. Yeah. So I'll just list them off real quick because there's so much here that's amazing. Custard Pie. Yeah. The Rover. Yeah. In My Time of Dying. Tea Party. It's a Tea Party song, by the way. Didn't they do that? Houses of the Holy. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead. After the Tea Party thing, I went back and listened to that song.

01:28:44because of all the lyrics that apparently came from it got ripped off yeah but you can't hear any of them

01:28:51what the lyric i'm listening to it without the lyrics going i can't tell what he's saying i don't know

01:28:56what he's saying so to me i never know to the in the in my time of dying yeah oh you oh okay so you

01:29:03couldn't understand what he was saying in in in my time of dying correct so i never would have known

01:29:09that tea party ripped it off because i couldn't understand what he was saying i'm like i can read the

01:29:14I had no idea he was saying those things. So maybe it was a coincidental ripoff. No, it wasn't. It was a total ripoff. But anyway, sorry. I'm really surprised that they didn't have to give Led Zeppelin credit on that. Those lyrics were totally, completely lifted. Well, now, are the lyrics written by Jimmy Page? Because I know this is a cover.

01:29:44A very good point, John. But it's the traditional recording, though, as they classify it. That gives it a different standing. Well, yeah, but if you look at the record, and I'm looking at it now. Because it's an old gospel song, isn't it? Well, it may be. I think it is. So in the record sleeve, if you look at In My Time of Dying, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant is the writing credits for that.

01:30:14that song. Yeah. But. And blind Willie Johnson. Yeah. They, they give it a different, um, they called something else. Like it's a traditional recording or they base it off a traditional recording. A lot of people did that. They, because the old blues and, and country gospel and whatever stuff wasn't really copyrighted, or even if it was nobody cared because people sucked back then. They got into trouble about all that. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think so.

01:30:44Dylan has a version of this song too. It was originally written by, so it was also called Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed, which is that classic line. It's a gospel song by Blind Willie Johnson. Okay. From 1928. Wow. Yeah. So I can't, what do they call it again? It'll say like traditional. Yeah. Traditional. Yeah. Arranged by. Yes. And arranged by. So yeah. So it has this, it's their own song, but they're basing it off another.

01:31:14So to continue,

01:31:17Sorry.

01:31:17Houses of the Holy,

01:31:19Trampled Underfoot,

01:31:21Kashmir.

01:31:21That's the first album,

01:31:22by the way.

01:31:23First record.

01:31:24That's second record.

01:31:25That's the first album.

01:31:26Yeah.

01:31:26Okay.

01:31:26You get through that and you're like,

01:31:28oh my God,

01:31:28there's a whole nother album.

01:31:31And then you put it on,

01:31:31you get In the Light.

01:31:33Yes.

01:31:34Brawn or Our.

01:31:35I can't remember how to say that.

01:31:37It's Brawn or Our,

01:31:38but you got to roll the R's,

01:31:39but that's the Welsh.

01:31:40No,

01:31:41Well, the proper Welsh way to say it is Bron-er. Yeah, so I... The Welsh are crazy. And I saw another guy who said, I'm Welsh, and I pronounced this way, and he spelled out Bron-er, and then he spelled the word out our, so I guess it just depends where in Wales you're from. So, then Down by the Seaside. No. 10 Years Gone. Yes. Night Flight. Yes. The Wanton Song. Oh, yeah. Boogie with Stu. Absolutely not. No.

01:32:11Black Country Woman. No, I like it. Sick Again. Yes. So there it is. An outstanding double album from Led Zeppelin. And this was another one where I did what Alex told me and listened, started at the beginning and worked my way up. And here's the thing. And I was thinking about this. None of us are old enough to have.

01:32:41We are old enough, but we weren't really old enough to have listened to this stuff in 1975. I'm sure we heard this on the radio. We were little kids. But there's a difference between kind of picking this up later and then hearing it at the time. And it's unfortunate that you just, if you're of a certain age, you can't, you'll never know what it was like to pick this record up in 1975.

01:33:11and put it on your turntable and in comparison to like what else was going on at that time we can do that with the albums that we know from the 80s late 70s early 80s into the mid 80s but you know for us like we discovered all these albums later right like it was you know for me like a lot of this stuff i didn't listen to until maybe 81 82 83 84 somewhere in there where i was like

01:33:41all this stuff and mining all these old albums and you when you listen to this stuff later you are looking through the lens of what you what came after it so you kind of have a different interpretation because if you had listened to this in 1975 and nothing else you didn't know like in through the outdoor or any of this other stuff you wouldn't compare it to any of that and if you did like your friend said and started at the beginning you wouldn't know that

01:34:11Exactly. But I guess my point is that unfortunately when you come up at a time later than when this stuff actually hit, you can never really kind of have the same understanding of it or the same kind of way of looking at it because you'll always know the stuff that came after it and how it compares to that. And I don't know, maybe that's I'm off base, but like I know

01:34:41I remember listening to albums that came out in the early 80s before the band put out whatever else came after that and of course you're eager to hear whatever that band is going to do and you get their album and you listen to it and yes you can compare it to what came before but you have no idea what's coming next until that comes out and then to put that in the perspective of that is kind of it's something that you can only do later

01:35:11So I don't think

01:35:13like the people that listen to this

01:35:15album in 1975

01:35:17probably had no idea that this was

01:35:19probably one of the highest points that Zeppelin was

01:35:21going to reach. I love Presence

01:35:23and I feel like that was one of their best

01:35:25albums. But you know in terms

01:35:27of all the stuff that's on here

01:35:29it's ridiculous how much

01:35:31great music is on this double album.

01:35:34So

01:35:35sorry I kind of waxed on a little

01:35:37bit there but. It's alright. Wax

01:35:39off. No okay.

01:35:41I was kidding. You don't have to stop. John, any more to say? Sure, I mean,

01:35:50strap in.

01:35:53No, I everything you said, I agree with. I slightly disagree on black country women. I do that song because I love their acoustic stuff minus going to California, which you guys like. I'm just bored with that one, but I just I like it's in their acoustic set.

01:36:10If they're doing it, that's the song that they get everyone kind of pumped and jazzed up because it's got a big beat. But yeah, I can't disagree with anything else you've said about this album. It is actually two albums, though, in essence. It's new tracks versus old tracks that were actually recorded or originally recorded in other sessions. So the new tracks are, real quick, Custard Pie, In My Time of Dying, Trampled Underfoot, Cashmere, In The Light, Ten Years Gone, The One,

01:36:40song and sick again that alone is a freaking great album just that alone but then you have from led zeppelin 3

01:36:50bron it it almost becomes like a pirate song at some point it's just a gorgeous instrumental and if you know

01:36:57your led zeppelin 3 there's a song on that or similar to that then you've got three songs off that were from the

01:37:04led zeppelin 4 sessions down by the seaside boy am i glad they didn't put it on led zeppelin 4

01:37:10because I'm not a big fan. I do the song Night Flight. I think that's a great song. It's a simple song. And if Bohe would still, they could just throw that out as far as I'm concerned. And then here's an interesting thing that really makes me mad about Led Zeppelin. Then the songs from Houses of the Holy are obviously Houses of the Holy, Black Country Woman, and The Rover. Had they put Houses of the Holy and The Rover on the album Houses of the Holy and dumped Jamaica.

01:37:39Yeah.

01:37:39Yeah. Throw that in the trash. Right. And you could also get rid of the crunch, which I don't dislike, but it's my least favorite. Next. Yeah. Add those to that album. That would be interesting. That's a smoking album. Yeah. Bringing the smoking back, George. Smoking. Smoking. And it's funny because I prefer House is the Holy, Physical Graffiti and Presence to the first four albums. It's just, I like this stuff better. I agree with Robert Plant. I think he said that,

01:38:09Cashmere's Led Zeppelin, not Stairway to Heaven. He said that, and I was just like, wow, that's a ballsy statement. That's your biggest song. And he's saying that Cashmere was their bigger song. I think he just doesn't like Stairway to Heaven. Well, maybe. But just to wrap it up, it's an iconic album. It's one of my 50 DIDs or Desert Island discs, for sure. The Rover is just so good. In My Time of Dying, Ten Years Gone has got one of Jimmy Page's,

01:38:40First of all, best written songs, but one of his best solos ever. It's just so emotional. It's so great. And I don't usually say that about Zeppelin songs. You don't usually think emotion on their songs. But that one and Tangerine are the big ones for that. It's a great album. Yeah, it's the elephant in the room with Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Yeah. So and it's got an iconic album cover. It's 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place in New York's East Village. And I had the album where you could pull.

01:39:09the inserts out and the windows would change. Yeah. Yeah. And they had like weird pictures, like different stars. And it's, it's got Elizabeth Taylor and it's the Led Zeppelin three 2.0 album cover. Basically. Remember you could spin the wheel. Oh yeah. Well, and that's what they were doing. They were like putting it to the record company because like this stuff costs money. And, and yeah, they were, that's because they could get away with it. Exactly. That BS.

01:40:06The Rover.

01:40:10And yeah,

01:40:11this was probably one of the only albums I bought on cassette.

01:40:15That was a double album because back in the day it was like seven,

01:40:20eight bucks for a cassette,

01:40:21but like 15 for physical graffiti.

01:40:24And I was like,

01:40:24Whoa,

01:40:25Hey,

01:40:25hold on here.

01:40:26That's three months allowance there.

01:40:28So it was two tapes also,

01:40:30right?

01:40:31No,

01:40:31it was just one really long.

01:40:33Oh boy.

01:40:35Don't play that too much.

01:40:36You might stretch that thing and snap it. Yeah. Holy smokes. It stood out as that because that was a real investment. And I was very proud of having that cassette. I've got the vinyl here. And John, you were just talking about all the pictures and stuff. And I never took the I. This album opens on the top. Yes. It's a top on the side. Yeah. Yeah. And so I slit the top just in the and all of the like the original shrink wrap.

01:41:06is still on it with the sticker on the top that says Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti and has all the names of the songs and two record set. And the price is still on it. And the price is $12. Wow. Awesome. Yeah. By the way, in a very strange universe that we live in, every single I've heard, and this is not, I'm not just saying this, I'm not BS. I have heard every single song from this album on the radio.

01:41:36Wow.

01:41:37Every single one I've heard at least once.

01:41:39Wow.

01:41:40Which tells you something about this album.

01:41:42Every song has been played.

01:41:43Now, I've heard some of them on satellite.

01:41:45Yeah.

01:41:46On Sirius XM.

01:41:47Doesn't matter.

01:41:48They're still playing them on there.

01:41:49Yeah.

01:41:50There's, that's what, this is one of the few bands where you've probably heard most of their catalog.

01:41:55Minus, I would say, maybe Presence.

01:41:58I think that album kind of gets stiffed a little bit.

01:42:01But every album, you can almost say you've heard every song by them on the radio.

01:42:05That's nuts.

01:42:06Yeah. So good, good pick. Well, the circus has left at this point. The elephant is gone. There's still the bearded lady and the fat man. Yeah. Let's see which one sings here. Oh, I didn't shave. So I guess I'm a bearded lady. Oh, so am I. All right. So I'm picking an album now that I waited to the end because I knew that nobody else was going to have this.

01:42:35And I know that I'm the only one who's going to have anything to say about this album.

01:42:39Oh, well.

01:42:41So my final pick is David Bowie's The Americans.

01:42:43There it is.

01:42:44I knew it.

01:42:46Yep.

01:42:47I just stayed away from that one because I was like, Bowie, not touching that.

01:42:52I wouldn't care.

01:42:52You could have brought it up, but it doesn't matter to me.

01:42:55Anyone who's ever listened to the other podcast knows, I think I've mentioned it before.

01:43:00I'm a huge David Bowie fan.

01:43:01I've got, if you look behind me, these guys can see my record case behind me.

01:43:05Each divider on the record case is 50 albums. So there's 100 on each level and there's 10 levels. I think his stuff takes up one full thing. So it's 50 albums and I think it spills over and I got stuff up top. So I've got so much of his material. I'm a super fan. I don't like everything. That's for sure. He's got a ton of stinkers in his guy. But that's what it means to be a fan. And this is not one of his better

01:43:36Although I think it's underrated. Definitely. It is his ninth studio album by 1975. His first album came out in 69. That's how prolific these artists were back then. Yeah. Certainly him. And this is his first venture foray into the blue eyed soul, R&B and funk that he did for a couple albums. He never stayed in the same realm for very long. He'd do a couple albums, they'd move on to something else.

01:44:05The two songs on this that everyone knows are huge in his catalog, Young Americans and Fame. Fame was his first ever number one single in America. That blew my mind. I was like, what? Yeah. It's also one of four songs that are included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 songs that shaped rock and roll, which I did not know. It's in there with Space Oddity and Ziggy Stardust. And then Changes is the other one, but that was added to an additional hundred.

01:44:36I don't know why they picked 160 but why would you just go 150 because it's a better number but I guess they had 10 more songs to add to the list this one goes to 10 more it's his Bowie labeled the album Plastic Soul it's his Plastic Soul album and it is and if you're not a fan of his you may not like this album because it's very much like I said blue eyed soul John Lennon's on the album Carlos Alomar is the first album with Carlos Alomar who would end up becoming one of his longtime

01:45:06bandmates for years. As a matter of fact, I think he was the leader of his band. So when they would practice for tours, Bowie would even show up and Carlos Alomar would run the sessions. As I understand it, I could be wrong. Also, Fitchy's guitarist, Earl Slick, if you guys are familiar with him, he's a great guitarist who's got kind of an interesting sound. Luther Vandross sings on this album. Wow. Yeah. David Sanborn plays sax. So it's a really wide. Oh, wow. Yeah. Andy, he marks on drums.

01:45:33So it's a really wide-ranging cast of musicians.

01:45:39But if you're not into that kind of R&B funk and soul stuff, you may not like it.

01:45:44But there's some great songs on it.

01:45:45Like I said, my favorites from the album are Fame.

01:45:48Somebody Up There Likes Me, which Matt, if you're listening, the Matt situation.

01:45:54Bitchy Matt from Metalhead's podcast.

01:45:57This is your album, my friend.

01:45:58It's just drenched in David Sanborn's sax, especially Somebody Up There Likes Me. And there's another song called Win that I like a lot off this. But you probably don't know the other songs because... Are there any covers? There is one cover. Thank you. Yes. Across the Universe, which is a Beatles song. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Know that one. And there are some stories, you know, anecdotal stories, we'll say. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more. About some partying.

01:46:28during this period. I could be wrong about this. Anyone who's listening, if you want to correct me, please do. I believe John Lennon is on record saying, I don't remember recording fame. What? Whoa, what? What were you guys doing? Which, that's one of his biggest songs. I think it's great because Bowie and John Lennon, I guess, were good friends. And I think it's kind of cool that he's on the album. Although, I was never a John Lennon fan in the band. I was always a George Harrison fan first. That's just me.

01:47:00So Paul was cool too, but I was like George. And Ringo, I think, is a little maligned. But anyway. Well, Ringo's the only one I've ever seen live. Yeah. And he's going to, he'll live to be 135. Yeah. I mean, he's still doing jumping jacks and stuff on stage. He comes out from behind the kit and he's like, oh, he's singing and he's just, he's. I know. He's limber. Yeah. So it's a great album. Definitely not my favorite. I don't even know where it would fit.

01:47:27If I had to rank all of Bowie's like 26 or 27 actual studio albums, I wouldn't be that high. But it's cool. So. Well, I have to admit that as an I'm. Yeah, I don't know. I don't want to say I'm not a David Bowie fan, but I really don't. Good Lord, man. What do you listen to? I told you at the beginning of this thing. Obviously, I know his hits and I obviously know a couple of the songs off of this album, but never really. I don't. I just never got.

01:47:57into him and I don't really other than the song the big songs that you

01:48:03mentioned John I really don't know much about this album to be honest I wouldn't expect that you would to be honest with you yeah no I'm not just saying that it's just not an album that people point to in his career it's a tweener album between his kind of plastic idol era the Ziggy Stars Aladdin saying Diamond Dogs period and then it goes it's

01:48:28It's followed up by Station to Station, which is a megalith album or monolith. Which is it? Which one's the singular? Monolith? Yeah. I think. Yeah. And then it goes into the Berlin period. So it just kind of is in the middle of all this going on. So I wouldn't expect you to really know anything outside of those two songs. Yeah. Which is kind of how it is. Yeah. I'm not really familiar with. I was never really familiar with his stuff. Obviously, the stuff that got played on the radio, I know.

01:48:57But I don't have anything from him at all in my collection. So. Know what to get you for Christmas. Yeah, exactly. His non-radio stuff is actually his better music. Okay. That's what's crazy about his. And you could like any period from this guy. He's got like 18 different periods. It's exaggerating, obviously. It's more like 20. But he just, he goes to so many places. Anyway. George, anything?

01:49:28All right. So I am one of those people that falls into that category of knowing young Americans and fame and obviously across the universe and not much else. But I do consider myself a David Bowie fan. And I have started several deep dives that always petered out because there's so much to choose from. But yeah, I don't think I, I don't think I got this far in my deep dive. I'm, I need to probably go back and listen to these other tracks of which I'm going to be a little bit more.

01:49:57you speak that I expect I would probably like. Given the

01:50:02Young Americans and fame

01:50:03and across the universe,

01:50:05if it's in those,

01:50:07if it's in that lane,

01:50:08it's probably good.

01:50:10It's Bowie.

01:50:11Let's just think,

01:50:12the albums that came before this,

01:50:14it's easy to get lost

01:50:15when you think about it.

01:50:17Sure.

01:50:17Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust,

01:50:19Aladdin, Sandy Diamond Dogs

01:50:20all before this.

01:50:21Yeah.

01:50:22So.

01:50:23So many to choose from.

01:50:28I dig it very much cool all right shall we move on to my last table yeah yeah well ish find it again so this was not initially one of my picks and it wasn't knocked off because somebody chose it but rather put on because nobody did so my number five that I picked

01:50:54has been bumped to a subsequent flight. I'm just doing a quick, yes, quick review of my albums for this year. And this is definitely the one that I need to do. Oy. Ah, here we go. Which is one of the two for you going to do? TNT by ACDC. Oy. So, ACDC, this is the beginning for this.

01:51:24them-ish. Bon Scott was still singing for the band. He was still breathing at that time. And this is probably one of my favorite albums, honestly, now that I think about it. Looking at the song titles, it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. Hello. Yeah. What'd you say? I said killer. Yeah. Rock and roll singer. Want to be a rock and roll star? Yeah. She's got the jack.

01:51:55Tell Me That Doesn't Have Groove. Livewire? But Nobody Wants to Jack, though. But Livewire? That's probably my favorite. One of my favorite ACDC songs, period. Then the title track, TNT, with the famous oi, oi, oi, oi, oi. Then Rocker? I don't know that one. But Can I Sit Next to You, Girl? Can I Sit Next to You, Girl? That's just like dripping.

01:52:24in blues.

01:52:27Dirty, filthy blues.

01:52:29Inappropriate blues.

01:52:33And then, of course, High Voltage, which should have been on the album called High Voltage.

01:52:37But here it is.

01:52:39And another classic.

01:52:41And based on this, there's a Chuck Berry cover at the end, School Days.

01:52:45I don't know that one.

01:52:48Yeah.

01:52:49This is pretty stacked for an ACDC album in the 70s.

01:52:52Not that ACD in the 70s is not stacked. I was not trying to imply that. But it's got some good stuff on there. And when I saw that, I thought maybe John would go this route, but he did not. Honorable mentions. And so I had to save them from semi non-obscurity and bring it up. That's a good choice. Now, for people who don't know, it's their second album, but it was Australian release only. Yes. TNT. And they actually have two.

01:53:22Versions of the album High Voltage. Yes. There's the Australian version, which is very good. Yes. And then there's the international version, which comes out after High Voltage and TNT called High Voltage, which has most of the songs from TNT. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I'm glad you picked it and I'm glad you went with TNT. No, because... Yeah. I initially actually wrote High Voltage on my list because, dude, High Voltage.

01:53:52And then I looked at it and I was like, oh, that's the not. Yeah, that's the other one. That's the version we all had. We all had the high voltage version. Yeah, it is. It's a cool tune. Our cool album. It's ACDC. Come on. Seriously, if you're good, if you're going to nitpick ACDC, you got to do it at least after a certain point in their career. And this is everybody knows what they're about. Yeah, this is right. This is still rocking and still. Yeah, exactly. Who doesn't want to go? See me right out of the sunset.

01:54:22I said, oh my God, I'm for all that I can get. He's not a great singer, but man, he's awesome. It's just, yeah. Johnny's to the left of me, TR to the right. That's right, yeah. Because we're all TNT, right? Well, I'm more high voltage, but. Oh, well, okay. I'm big button. Think of those things, but seriously, they had to come up with

01:54:52that and they're like oh that's gold we didn't really have to work that hard but that's still gold right

01:55:00yeah that's a great choice yeah definitely good all right well i don't know about y'all but i got about 15 000

01:55:08other albums to at least mention how do we want to do t or do you want to do yours since you went

01:55:12first you want to give yours and we'll just do them all in order uh give yours and i'll give mine then

01:55:17george how do you yeah like yeah okay we can do that i'll just go through my honorable mentions here

01:55:22Are you called that George? Is that how you want to do it? Yes. Okay. All right. So my first honorable mention is ZZ Top Fandango. Oh, I wonder when that was coming up. So this was kind of a different album for them because it was half live and then half studio tracks. And half beards. Yeah. Well, their beards were kind of small at this point. So this has Thunderbird live, Jailhouse Rock live,

01:55:52Medley Live.

01:55:54And then you get into Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings, Blue Jean Blues, Balinese, Mexican Blackbird, Herded on the X, and then the biggest hit probably Tush.

01:56:07So this was an album I didn't really get into until later when, again, this was another one of those Columbia House deals where they had a box set called the ZZ Top Six Pack,

01:56:21which was the first six albums from the band. And it was such an economical good way to get into all of their early stuff that I couldn't pass it up. And seeing a pattern here. Yeah, I'm an economical kind of guy. And so, yeah, the same thing with the police. I bought that. That's the best box set ever. Yeah. Well, it's got all their stuff. It's everything. Yeah, it's got everything. Well, not everything, because I actually have a 45 of them doing da-do-do-do, da-da-da-da.

01:56:51in Japanese.

01:56:53And that was not on that.

01:56:54It has everything.

01:56:56You don't need that version.

01:56:57Well, you do.

01:56:58If you really want to be.

01:57:00If you want to be a completist, you have to have that.

01:57:03By the way, real quick, TR.

01:57:04Yeah, right.

01:57:05That is the only other box set where I think they ran the albums against each other.

01:57:12So because it's for space.

01:57:13And it was like three CDs.

01:57:15Three CDs.

01:57:16Yeah.

01:57:16Yeah.

01:57:17And they got all whatever.

01:57:18Yeah, exactly. I hate it. Plus those singles, like a ton of stuff down so long, Grimstone and Treacle and like that whole stuff. Yeah. So yeah. So this was this Fandango deal was like part of that ZZ top six pack for me. And I laid the crap out of all of that stuff in college. I remember having a Walkman and I took I recorded everything on tape. This was well before the iPod days.

01:57:47And so yeah, I put everything on tape and played it on my Walkman as I went to class and listened to all this stuff. A lot of this stuff that we've talked about today, all these things were on Maxell XL2 tapes that I had and played on my Walkman as I went to school, as I went to college at the University of Delaware. So ZZ Top Fandango is my first honorable mention that was like an album that I really listened to a lot.

01:58:18These next honorable mentions are albums that I didn't listen to a lot, but I appreciate and enjoy. And I will start with UFO's album, Force It, and then Tangerine Dream, Ricochet, Fleetwood Mac's self-titled album, Fleetwood Mac, Ambrosia's self-titled album, Ambrosia, before they became kind of... Their prog album.

01:58:45It was, yeah, there's a real, like, that first album was, that was highly unexpected because when, what they became later was not what they were on this album. And then Hart's album, Dreamboat Annie. So those are all my honorable mentions. I do like Dreamboat Annie. I think that's a good album. Yeah. All right, so my turn. So I'm going to name George, knocked off from my list, didn't knock him off, but he mentioned him, Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic.

01:59:15Rainbow, which I just call it Rainbow, but it's Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, dash Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, which just seems redundant in ACDC TNT. All right. Now, I also will mention I'm not a Fleetwood Mac fan, but I wanted to include this album because Jen is a big Fleetwood Mac fan. So this album came out, TR mentioned it just now, but it does include three huge songs over my head, Rhiannon and Landslide. Those are massive songs. Yeah. So, and I've seen them twice, believe it or not.

01:59:44I'm not a fan. Monday Morning's on there, too. It's a great tune. Yeah. Is that a Lindsey Buckingham song? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Fuck that guy. What? I'm not a fan. I mean, I don't like all his stuff, but he has some catchy tracks, man. He does. I just don't like the idea of people saying, no Lindsey Buckingham, no Fleetwood Mac. He didn't write every song. Well, and not only that, but he came into the band halfway into their career, so. Yeah. No Peter Green, no Fleetwood Mac. Exactly. Anyway, all right, so let me run through mine real quick.

02:00:15Camel, the snow goose. Ooh. Yes. I was waiting for that. Yeah. Joel, George's muse from Thross and Blot. He's the one who got me into Camel. Now it wasn't Mike from Opeth. Yeah. I was going to say, cause Mike likes that stuff. Joel, when we had him on, I think for our year end one year, was it George? Yes. And he said, John, if you're a prog nerd, like you claim you are, you would listen to Camel. And he of course said it very nicely.

02:00:44I said the first four albums I immediately went out and bought them

02:00:47I love those first four albums they're awesome

02:00:50and this is great it's a real

02:00:52cool kind of atmospheric

02:00:56it's just kind of a mellow instrumental

02:00:58album it's cool

02:00:59let's keep going with the prog baby

02:01:01Steve Hackett's first

02:01:04solo album Voyage of the Acolyte

02:01:07it's basically

02:01:08Genesis lost album

02:01:10because it features three of the four guys

02:01:12Phil Collins and Michael Rutherford are on there and it features the song that Genesis didn't record Shadow of the Hierophant which he plays to this day live. Yes and it goes back to 1972 he was working on it and basically I think it was Tony Banks that didn't want it but Michael Rutherford saw the value in the song and he helped him record it. That could have been part of Foxtrot Hello Folks double album. Jerks.

02:01:42Anyway, let's just keep the prog going since George mentioned Aerosmith and Rainbow. So we skipped down the list. Here's a two for America's prog band. I know the people in England say we don't have prog bands. Yes, we do. Kansas, Song for America, and Mask. God, Song for America is awesome. Album's so good. Mask is good too, but I like Song for America better. All right, got two more.

02:02:12This can't be a list without a Kiss album. Dress to Kill. This is one of my very first albums as a kid, young. Before I discovered, it was the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Kiss. Those were my early bands. Before I really, I'm talking like 8, 9, 10 in that period. I started early. Okay, it's got the song I hope I never hear again the rest of my life, Rock and Roll All Night, but how do you not mention that?

02:02:42But it's got other cool tunes like Rock Bottom, She, Come On and Love Me. He's got Room Service, Baby, I Could Use a Meal. Room Service, you do it. Those are classic lyrics. I wonder what that's about. And I'm going to mention a live album, which most people don't talk about unless you're a fan of the band. That's Bloister Colts' On Your Feet or On Your Knees, which is a live album of their featuring songs from their first three albums.

02:03:10and it's considered one of the great live albums of the 70s. Great stuff. I just want to point out that you missed a live album with your last album because there is a twofer that year with Dressed to Kill is Kiss Alive. I know. See, now you got to mention it. Okay, I'll cut that out then. No, I think you should. Why didn't you mention it with it? No, because he was leaving that for you. Because, well, to be honest to God, truth was I wasn't going to go with a live album.

02:03:40and I was going through my albums on my in my music B and I was looking at 1975 and I was like, ooh, I should really mention this live album because it's not a studio album. And I just mentioned it because it's a blister cult, man. Godzilla, Don't Fear the Reaper, Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll. Carry on. That's it. All done. Last album? Yeah, blister cult. On your feet or

02:04:10Or on your knees. You have a choice. Yeah, you can pick your ones. Yeah. How do you want to get pummeled with this hard rock? On your feet? Or on your knees? All right. I have 10 albums to go through. Have we been picking off albums all along? Is that why? Have we been picking off some of your albums as we've been going along? Well, between yours and mine, it knocked off half my list. So yeah, that's good. That's good. So first one is John Lennon,

02:04:40Rock and Roll. It's not my favorite or anything. It's a covers album. Oh, that's right. But it has Stand By Me, which is good. And Peggy Sue. Did he play that in that New York show that's really famous? It's got Instant Karma. Me? The live version. I feel like he did. That's the same show that Paul came out and they didn't they do? God, what did they do? I know that he played in that show. So anyway. Yeah.

02:05:10Anywho, after that, I had Kisses Alive, one of the great hard rock live albums of the 70s. I can confirm that one. I don't disagree. Then we've got Lynyrd Skynyrd's Nothing Fancy. It's Nothing Fancy. I thought about it. But it does have Saturday Night Special on there. Oh, yeah. That's such a good song.

02:05:41It's just everything about it just is nasty. Yeah. It's dirty rock. It's like swamp rock. Swampy. Yeah. So after that, I have Bad Company's Straight Shooter. Nice. I thought about that too. Yeah, I was surprised I didn't hear that one, but that's got Feel Like Making Love and probably my favorite Bad Company song, Shooting Star. Oh, that's a good tune. Love that one.

02:06:08It's a really good song. Then we have what was originally my number five for reasons unknown. And that's Nazareth's Hair of the Dog. Hair of the Dog, yeah. Hair of the Dog is the song everybody knows. Also, depending on the version you have, we can go down that version rabbit hole. Love hurts. Of course. But my favorite song on this album is called Miss Misery. It's heavy and it's just, it's catchy as hell. Nazareth is a lot heavy.

02:06:38than you think they are.

02:06:40They've got some cool tunes.

02:06:42All right.

02:06:43So heavy.

02:06:45Now we're going to be not heavy.

02:06:46And this is the Eagles.

02:06:47One of these nights.

02:06:48Yeah.

02:06:49Yeah.

02:06:50That was kind of low on my list.

02:06:52Oh, it's definitely low, but it does have lion eyes and take it to the limit.

02:06:56So I just wanted to mention it.

02:06:58Yep.

02:06:58Not even in my universe.

02:07:00Sorry.

02:07:01As neither is my next pick, which is Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.

02:07:06They're on the same alternate universe. Yeah. But you know, the title track Born to Run, classic, as well as Thunder Road, the album. All the stuff. Isn't 10th Avenue freeze out on that? Yes, it is. That's another good one. That's where he sings it. It's the only time he's singing the lyrics and all it sounds like is, and it's like just grunting, but you can actually hear the words. So. Okay, then. No, I acknowledge that it's a big album. Yeah. I know that. Yeah. Next up, we have Paul Simon's Still Crazy.

02:07:36After All These Years.

02:07:39I know, it's a good song, as well as 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.

02:07:44Yeah.

02:07:44Steve Gadd on drums.

02:07:46Yeah.

02:07:46I like Paul Simon.

02:07:47I like Simon and Garfunkel, so.

02:07:49They don't like each other.

02:07:50No.

02:07:51Next, I have one of my favorite singers of all time, Mr. Tom Waits, and his album Nighthawks

02:07:58at the Diner, which is a technical, they call it a studio album, but it's a technical

02:08:03live album and that it was recorded in front of a small group of people but at the same time they're not songs from other albums they're actually new songs just recorded like that skepticism album john you know what i'm talking about yeah yeah so it's new but it's live and then finally i just caught this one on the at the beginning of the episode and added it because he's the man and that is willie nelson and red-headed stranger how can you not love that song

02:08:33And for that matter, Willie, because Willie's pretty awesome, especially old school Willie. And that's what I got. Yeah, I've got. So I forgot. I got two more that I didn't even think about. And mostly because one of them isn't really all that good. But Steve Howe's first or no second solo. I don't know. No, it's his first album. Steve Howe beginnings. And then Chris Squire released Fish Out of Water, which was much better than Steve Howe's album. If Steve Howe had released

02:09:03If he released an album of acoustic instrumental guitar pieces, it would have been a lot better because his singing is just terrible. I've heard that somewhere. He's so bad. He's a backup singer. That's it. Yeah, exactly. But Fish Out of Water is a little better for Squire. And to my regret, there was no Judas Priest album that came out this year, so I didn't have a Judas Priest album to pick. Me neither. And Iron Maiden didn't even exist yet. Yeah.

02:09:32Exactly. Have to wait for that kind of stuff. How was there not a Ramones album in 1975? That's a good question. Two and 76. Yeah. Let's see what we got here. Oh, duh, the first album didn't come out until 76. I forget. Well, because the band started a couple years before that. So to me, they always... So technically they were around, but... Yes, because I remember reading about them in 74.

02:10:02And but anyway,

02:10:06we'll talk about the Ramones some other time.

02:10:08Yes.

02:10:10All right.

02:10:10Anything anybody wants to add before we wrap this sucker up?

02:10:15No,

02:10:15this is fun.

02:10:16I enjoyed just talking about a bunch of albums and enjoy,

02:10:22always enjoy talking music with you guys.

02:10:25Yeah,

02:10:25definitely.

02:10:26Likewise.

02:10:27All right,

02:10:27then if we are done,

02:10:29thanks guys.

02:10:30We'll see you next time.

02:10:32All right,

02:10:32Back on. Peace.