speed of dark

I'm not like John Cusack's character in High Fidelity: I don't have walls lined with LPs, all cataloged by artist, genre, and whatever. Frankly, I couldn't afford to have all the records I wanted. They take up a lot of room, and I much prefer CDs for storage efficiency. But I have carted a few large boxes of vinyls around from state to state for over 30 years now, refusing to part with them.

This past weekend, I set up the old turntable for the first time in over a year, hooked it up to the computer, and ripped tracks from vinyl for the first time ever. I have removed the hiss, pops, and clicks so the sound quality is not too bad.

Because one of the criterion I used when buying was, "I will never hear this again if I don't buy it," I have some stuff that is a bit off the beaten track. I will be the first to admit that I also have a lot of pure crap. Take for instance, two of my three Spirit LPs. Yeah, yeah--they had a hit with "I've Got a Line On You," and they were influential to the California sound. But the Best-Of stuff on iTunes really is their best stuff.

Here is one that didn't make that list that is kind of okay:

Spirit: The Great Canyon Fire from Spirit (1968)

Nevertheless, I think I may have a few pieces that are pretty damn cool, maybe even rare.

I have the first Neil Young solo LP. Actually, I stole this from the college radio station. My justification was, "No one could possibly like this as much as I do." Almost four decades later, and Young is still delivering the goodies...Maybe I was wrong, but I'm not giving it back now. The only song you might know from this album, the one that got onto the anthologies, is "The Loner." Here is one that is very reminiscent of his Buffalo Springfield work but with the addition of some soulful background vocals.

Neil Young: I've Loved Her So Long from Neil Young (1969)

Tim Hardin's beautiful "Misty Roses" has been covered (in some cases ruined) by Astrud Gilberto, Peggy Lee, Sonny Bono and others. You can read accounts of the Youngbloods performing it live, but I haven't been able to find it or this album anywhere other than my collection, so I might have a rarity here in Rock Festival, which is a live album. Neither the Youngbloods nor Jesse Colin Young apparently ever did a studio recording of the song. Their version of the old Jimmy Reed blues song "Peepin' and Hidin'"is pretty good too. (Note: This is not the Buddy Holly/Little Richard song, "Slippin' and Slidin', Peepin' and Hidin'.")

From Rock Festival (1970):
the Youngbloods: Misty Roses
the Youngbloods: Peepin' and Hidin'(Baby What You Want Me To Do)

I also have Roger McGuinn's first solo album. This one turned out to be less wonderful than I remembered, but it still has some good moments. McGuinn was particularly good at covering Bob Dylan, as you'll remember from the Byrds' versions of "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "My Back Pages." While "I'm So Restless" doesn't rank with the best examples, it's still kind of interesting. "My New Woman" is basically a Byrds song with saxophone. All the members of the Byrds play on it, and it has their signature fluid, layered harmonies, but the sax gives it a jazzy twist.

From Roger McGuinn (1973)
Roger McGuinn: I'm So Restless
Roger McGuinn: My New Woman

Yes, I have more, and I'll be exploring them in future Time Travels.