The Band -- Music From Big Pink

   Ahhhh who doesn't love an old classics classic!  The Band sounds like some kinda back woods white man's gospel music, I kept thinking, "this is like a loose jammy Percy Sledge,"  but at the same time I wish that their vocals were more controlled.  Side one closes with super hit The Weight.  I love songs like these, totally overplayed, very popular and great every time.  It's one of those tunes that makes you appreciate the trees, hug your dog, love your cat, kiss your lady ... etc (you catch my drift).  The flipside comes off way stronger than the first, especially with country classic cover Long Black Veil.  But there are two things that erked me on the B-side, the first was the drunken Manzarekesque organ solo on the otherwise great number, Chest Fever, the second was This Wheel's on Fire, if this tune were a real wheel I would set it ablaze, and watch it BURN BABY BURN, to unlistenable cinders!  The album closes with I Shall be Released, featuring the I can't sing but it sounds cool lead vocals, accompanied with the Stonesy style backups.   The Band are definitely premonitions of things to come, a Canadian infused blend of Americana, influencing the 70's hippies who wanted to try keeping the dream alive, so let's all "take a load off," light up our jazz cigarettes and make a pilgrimage to Big Pink!

Aerosmith -- Get Your Wings

  After leafing through my record collection, I found my copy of Get Your Wings, honestly I don't find Areosmith very good or original, but I did buy it thinking, "there must be a reason they are so damn popular."  Now I can't say I hated this album, but I can't say I liked it either!  The good thing about this album, it's got that classic 70's rock sound, good for any party, as background, or in my case filling the dishwasher and making lunches!  Seriously who wouldn't like a record with a tune on it called Lord of the Thighs (check the Breeders version -- way better!).  But realistically, Get Your Wings just isn't any good.  Steven Tyler, on the cover, looks like someone's annoying, wanting to be sexy but isn't, aunt who has her nephews over hoping they bring their friends so she can ogle them  -- not the image of a so called Lord Of The Thighs!  The one tune that I was looking forward to, and thought that I liked, an old blues number, Train' Kept A Rollin' (stick to the Yardbirds version), was almost ok, but then got trashed by a finger tappin' over extended guitar solo that brought out my inner grandpa, "it's just goddamn noise, noise, noise!!!"  So in the end Get Your Wings is being taken out of the main collection, it was a nice try, even with the watered down Alice Cooper sound of, S.O.S (Too Bad), but it just couldn't cut it.  These are wings that I definitely don't wanna get -- ha ha! Ewwww!

Van Morrison -- Astral weeks

  Here we go, one of the most under played albums of all-time!  If you don't have it, get it NOW -- it took me long enough!  I felt like a fool after I listened to it, thinking, "why the hell wasn't this in my record collection until now."  I have, of course, all the necessary classics Beatles, Stones, Dylan ... etc.  Astral Weeks is in my opinion one of the mega timeless classics, at par with Pet Sounds, Revolver, the Velvets, you get the point!  It has that sound that inspires, especially with today's Indie rock scene  -- the new weird America.  The one thing I wonder, especially now that I've done my research and read all the appropriate Lester Bangs articles, did Morrison really know what he had stumbled onto while making this record?  From what I hear he was hanging with this eccentric wild man artist, who named the album, doing who knows what, but definitely in the throws of a growth of consciousness of some kind.  What gives off the feeling that something spiritual happened during this record is evident in the side titles, one is titled, "In the beginning", and two, "Afterwards".   Question is, what happened in the middle?  Were they the Astral Weeks??  But he must have reached some kinda high, if not, why give these titles?  I won't drabble on, the best part of the album is that it isn't just a great record but it forces you to pose yourself many questions.  And who know what else there is to discover in the Astral Weeks to come.