Day Forty-Six: Cream - Wheels of Fire

RSO Records ■ RS-2-3802

Released August, 1968

Produced by Felix Pappalardi

In the Studio

Engineered by Tom Dowd and Adrian Barber

Side One:	Side Two:
White Room Sitting on Top of the World Passing Time As You Said	Pressed Rat and Warthog Politician Those Were the Days Born Under a Bad Sign Deserted Cities of the Heart

I've traded records only a few times, and on occasion had some passed along from friends for similar reasons to trades, but without the actual "trading" portion of it. My good friend Kyle--with whom I once lived, alongside my friend John--dropped a few records (and some CDs) on me when he was in the midst of moving some time ago, as well as a few when I moved out of the apartment the three of us shared. As he doesn't have the more technical expertise John has poured into equipment (as the one of us who has owned a turntable longest), he has had a turntable with a useless belt, pre-amp issues and various other things that precluded actual vinyl listening for some time. Between that, the move, and the fact that he planned to sell most of them, he gave me dibs on those records as a consequence of our friendship. Most of them reflected the variance in our tastes--John edged toward the truly weird and the normal-but-less-popular-classics as far as vinyl, Kyle edged toward progressive and improvisational classic rock, and I edged toward a weird mix of pop and post rock when we all lived together--and so I didn't know the albums as well as I might have (and, to some minds of course, "should" have).

Day Thirty-Four: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk

Buddah Records ■ BDS-5001

Released September, 1967

Produced by Richard Perry and Bob Krasnow

Engineered by Hank Cicalo and Gary Marker

Side One:	Side Two:
Sure Nuff 'n Yes, I Do Zig Zag Wanderer Call on Me Dropout Boogie I'm Glad Electricity	Yellow Brick Road Abba Zaba Plastic Factory Where There's Woman Grown So Ugly Autumn's Child

On the heels of an album for which my college and high school best friend and roommate is responsible, here's another one that fits that same bill. I'd already mentioned that John started listening to Captain Beefheart in those days, but this is actually the only chunk of it that carried over to me. While he was experimenting with Can, Beefheart, classic 60's rock (which I grew up on and, for a little while, knew better as a result--though he eclipsed my passing, rudimentary knowledge quickly), and other more experimental music, I was delving further into extreme metal, my obsession with a Japanese band (whose albums were not released on vinyl after about 1989, and would require a complicated process to order on vinyl, nevermind their rarity even in their home country), and periodically picking up much "safer" releases in the same fashion of semi-impulsive, but educated purchases.

Day Twenty: The Beatles - Abbey Road

Capitol Records ■ SO-383

Released September 26, 1969

Produced by George Martin

Recorded by Geoff Emerick and Phil McDonald

Assistant Engineering by Alan Parsons

Side One:	Side Two:
Come Together Something Maxwell's Silver Hammer Oh! Darling Octopus's Garden I Want You (She's So Heavy)	Here Comes the Sun Because You Never Give Me Your Money Sun King Mean Mr. Mustard Polythene Pam She Came in Through the Bathroom Window¹ Golden Slumbers Carry That Weight The End² Her Majesty³

 ¹Tracks 3 ("You Never Give Me Your Money") through 7 ("She Came in Through the Bathroom Window") are often thought of as a medley

²Somewhat unbeknownst to me, 8 ("Golden Slumbers") through 10 ("The End") are also thought of as a medley. It does make sense, though.

³Unlisted on original issue. This pressing does not include it on the outer sleeve, but does list it on the label.

Yesterday, I was tasked--by either the gushing overconvidence in me or sadism practiced upon me by friends and family--with discussing the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. I'm not sure it turned out all that well, but I felt a bit out of place with it--many people seem to see me as quite knowledgeable musically, but I don't think that piece of writing bore that out. It tends to make patently obvious my limitations in the music theory sense. The iconic nature of the cover above--along with the overall reputation of the music within it--is not something encouraging insofar as escaping that same trap on this immediately following day. However, it occupies an odd place. The most iconic Beatles album remains Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and I would definitely feel about it the way I felt about Pet Sounds: a need to correctly place it in pop history and acknowledge that monolithic and kneejerk placement of it. It's the sort of thing that's generally no longer defended--it just is the greatest album of all time, or whatever. Whether it is or isn't doesn't get addressed in a lengthy way most of the time anymore: it's mostly the brainwashed kind of "Oh, Sgt. Pepper," or the "I refuse to be brainwashed" response of "Anything but Sgt. Pepper." As a result, despite being voted the best Beatles album with some regularity by both aggregated response and individual judgment on many occasions, Abbey Road often appears behind Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, and Rubber Soul in many a list of more general selections (the 1960s, all time, so on). That it is also my own personal favourite Beatles album does me no harm in my comfort.

Day Nineteen: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Brother Records/Reprise Records ■  2MS 2083

Released May 16, 1966

[This release: 1972]
Produced by Brian Wilson

"This recording is pressed in monophonic sound, the way Brian cut it."

Side One:	Side Two:
Wouldn't It Be Nice You Still Believe in Me That's Not Me Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) I'm Waiting for the Day Let's Go Away for a While Sloop John B	God Only Knows I Know There's an Answer Here Today I Guess I Just Wasn't Made for These Times Pet Sounds Caroline, No

When I initially put the selection of Beach Boys records I own up to a vote(on vinyl, though the CD set is actually not much different), I debated listing this one as it physically presents itself. Those familiar with the album may notice (probably immediately) that the cover looks a bit strange. Truth is, this is actually a compiled double album, paired with Carl & the Passions - So Tough. It's a weird looking thing, and one I own as yet another of the doubled (in the case of Pet Sounds, I think tripled or more, really) records my dad let me take. I'd call it the "crown jewel" of that set, but there are albums I like more personally (including my other Beach Boys record, Surf's Up), but as something to blurt out at others it sounds more like it validates my taste and knowledge.

Day Sixteen: The Band - The Band

Capitol Records ■  STAO-132

Released September 22, 1969
Produced by John Simon

Engineered by John Simon and Robbie Robertson

Mixed by Joe Zagarino and Tony May

Side One:	Side Two:
Across the Great Divide Rag Mama Rag The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down When You Awake Up on Cripple Creek Whispering Pines	Jemima Surrender Rockin' Chair Look Out Cleveland Jawbone The Unfaithful Servant King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Well, I already had the unenviable task of attempting to talk about AC/DC's Highway to Hell to interrupt my plan to avoid the trap of exhaustive coverage of classic albums, but hard rock is a genre that, as a whole, receives less attention and writing anyway. It's sort of a niche market, in its way, even as it has achieved a huge level of mainstream, average-listener kind of success. It still hasn't really encouraged a bunch of writing or the kind of pontification that truly defines "Best Records Ever Recorded" lists and books (even if it shows up in them, it's not as often with loads of essays behind it). Now, I'm about to hit a slew of trouble, which begins today with being volunteered to discuss the 1969 sophomore effort from The Band, self-titled, and occasionally referred to (apparently!) as the Brown Album (not to be confused with all the other "Brown Albums"--some more 'official').

Day Ten: Leon Russell & Marc Benno [The Asylum Choir] - Asylum Choir II

Shelter Records ■  SW-8910

Released November 15, 1971

(Recorded April, 1969, originally intended for release that year)

Produced by Leon Russell and Marc Benno

Side One:	Side Two:
Sweet Home Chicago Down on the Base Hello Little Friend Salty Candy Tryin' to Stay Alive	...Intro to Rita... Straight Brother Learn How to Boogie Ballad for a Soldier When You Wish upon a Fag Lady in Waiting

This is basically cheating, in a sense. While Look Inside the Asylum Choir was originally credited to "The Asylum Choir", though when its cover art changed it was credited to "Leon Russell and Marc Benno" as this album is. Of course, the labels on that release actually still said "Asylum Choir". Anyway, the point is, this might technically belong in the "R" section of my alphabet, but out of respect to the original album, I keep it in the A's--sort of a goofy talisman toward eventually pairing it with its sibling-release. Except in the CDs--there I keep it next to the rest of Russell's solo output. Which is also where I file One for the Road, credited to Leon and Willie Nelson, as well as The Union, his album from two years back with Elton John. Nothing against Elton or Willie, I just like Leon more (most places file them by the other artists, who are more popular).

Day Nine: The Association - Greatest Hits!

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records ■  WS 1767

Released December, 1968

Produced by Bones Howe [1,2,3,4,5,9,10,12], The Association [7,13], Curt Boetticher [6,11], and Jerry Yester [8]

Side One:	Side Two:
The Time It Is Today Everything That Touches You Like Always Never My Love Requiem for the Masses Along Comes Mary	Enter the Young No Fair at All Time for Livin' We Love [Us] Cherish Windy Six Man Band

I've never understood this about a lot of compilations, particularly in the 1960s: if you're going to list every single song on the record on the front, why would you list them in an order different from the order they are actually pressed in? I'd almost suspect it's a matter of graphic design, but "Like Always" kind of goofs up the formatting at the bottom (and "Windy" being placed above "Cherish" would've completed the sort of "arrow" shape better). It's not really even a quibble, just something I find bizarre.