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It’s Like You Never Left by Dave Mason (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: It’s Like You Never Left
  • Artist name: Dave Mason
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: I think my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $75.55

It's Like You Never Left by Dave Mason

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I am not familiar with It’s Like You Never Left, but I did listen to a different Dave Mason record called Dave Mason Is Alive (1973) last summer, and thought it was ok.

What I expected

Rock.

What it was actually like

A lot of this record was pretty solid rock, with strong electric guitar and lots of guitar solos, with either subtle vocals or very 1970s processed-sounding vocals.

A good example of that style was Baby… Please. Others were Headkeeper, which I liked because it was much faster, and Side Tracked, which was not fast, but was an instrumental with multiple guitars, basically an extended electric guitar jam, and If You’ve Got Love, which had a bit of a country rock sound.

Other songs were more soft rock, with an acoustic sound such as Every Woman, which had a second vocalist in harmony, and The Lonely One, which had a really distracting harmonica. Maybe was also in this category, with layered guitars and good vocals that kind of reminded me of the Eagles.

Misty Morning Stranger had a lot of brass and more of a jazz style. I did not like it very much, though I did think it got better towards the end, with more of a rock sound.

Two songs were really difficult to describe. The first was Silent Partner, which I guess I would classify as progressive rock, but was kind of all over the place, and the other was the title track It’s Like You Never Left, which I guess I would say was a rock song with a lot of R&B and jazz.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

The Hollies’ Greatest Hits (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Hollies’ Greatest Hits
  • Group name: the Hollies
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Epic Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “DEMONSTRATION / NOT FOR SALE” stamped on back of album
  • Buy it on Amazon: $83.00

The Hollies' Greatest Hits

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I am familiar with the Hollies as Graham Nash’s band, and know the song Carrie-Anne. I assume that I will probably recognize other songs, too.

What I expected

British invasion style pop and rock, with vocal harmonies.

What it was actually like

I did end up recognizing five of these 12 songs, including the first track, Bus Stop, which was great (and here is a wonderful and goofy cover)!

Carrie-Anne was also great, and I had no memory of its incongruous steel drum solo, but I really think that they were able to make it work. Another thing I noticed was that it sounded really… innocent for a song that was recorded almost exactly when the Beatles were releasing songs like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. A similarly innocent-sounding song from the same time period (which I did not recognize) was On a Carousel, and I thought it had an excellent rhythm guitar part. Pay You Back with Interest also reminded me of Carrie-Anne due to its similar harmony, but was not as good a song overall.

Stop Stop Stop sounded familiar to me, and I was not quite sure if I recognized it or not, but I did love its banjo. And because you can never have too much banjo, here is the weirdest cover I could find of it.

Another that I recognized was Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress, from its extremely distinctive guitar riff. It was an awesome song and I had no idea that it was by the Hollies – it was from a much later era (1972), and I did not even realize that they were still making music then. Its style was also totally different, much more country rock. Long Dark Road was also from that era, and also had a different sound, with organ backing making a wall of sound at parts.

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother was one that thought I might recognize because its name sounded familiar, but I think I just recalled the expression. It was also in a different style, still rock but not fun at all, and much slower than the other songs. I thought it was the worst on the record.

Look Through Any Window; Dear Eloise, which had excellent percussion; and Just One Look, another that I recognized, all had that mid 1960s style and were all great.

King Midas in Reverse was the record’s weirdest song, with a horns section, sound effects and more of an orchestral sound than the others.

Grade

5/5: love it

John Denver’s Greatest Hits (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: John Denver’s Greatest Hits
  • Artist name: John Denver
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: RCA Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $18.99

John Denver's Greatest Hits

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this record or intentionally listened to John Denver at all, but I know him best from Take Me Home, Country Roads, which is a phenomenal song in its many versions. I also am aware that Leaving on a Jet Plane is a John Denver song, but I don’t know if I’ve ever heard his version of it. And I’m familiar with the name of Rocky Mountain High, but can’t conjure up what it sounds like.

What I expected

According to my father, “John Denver is a very underrated guitarist.” So I expect some catchy folk rock songs and maybe some rock guitar.

What it was actually like

This was a very consistently solid folk rock record, and I liked it.

The only thing that bothered me was the orchestral backing on some of the songs, which I felt really detracted from the folk singer-songwriter quality of them, such as Starwood in Aspen and Sunshine on My Shoulders, which was far too slow, and the record’s worst song.

I did actually recognize Rocky Mountain High, and it was fine, but nothing special.

I enjoyed Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane, but I think the Peter, Paul and Mary version will remain canonical (for me).

Here’s an interesting fact about Take Me Home, Country Roads that I somehow did not know until today: apparently it was written about Clopper Road in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which is approximately a mile from where I grew up, and on which I have driven hundreds or thousands of times! I’m not sure how I never knew that.

But one thing I did know is that it lends itself very well to all kinds of covers, so here are a few standouts by: Reina del Cid, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes[1], Toots and the Maytals[2] and Luca Stricagnoli.

I don’t think it has a very good ending, though. It was as if he couldn’t figure out how to end it, so just kept repeating the chorus. Maybe it needed another verse.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 This was one of the first punk songs that I ever loved, and I have a fond memory of listening to it on my walkman at one of my brother’s baseball games in approximately 1995.
↑2 About Jamaica, naturally.

Desperado by the Eagles (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Desperado
  • Group name: the Eagles
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Asylum Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Scratched into side one of LP: EAGLES SIDE ONE STEREO ST-AS-732813 – A
    • Scratched into side two of LP: EAGLES Side Two STEREO ST-AS-732814 – E
  • Buy it on Amazon: $23.99

Desperado by the Eagles

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard this record before, but I think I might know the title track Desperado, which was covered on Don’t Cry Now by Linda Ronstadt.

Previous Eagles records that I’ve reviewed:

What I expected

The “desperado” is an archetype of the American west, so I’m guessing country and western music, but more western than country.

What it was actually like

I did recognize Desperado, and this was the first time that I had ever listened to it closely, so the first time I ever realized that it’s actually not a good song and has no redeeming value. I suspected that people might only like it because of the rhythmic delivery of the single word “desperado.”

Doolin-Dalton was a vaguely Neil Young-like country rock song with some harmonica, but it was pretty boring.

Not surprisingly, then, Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (Reprise) was also pretty bad. In particular, the reprise version of Desperado was quite worse than the first version.

On the other hand, the very short instrumental version of Doolin-Dalton was a pretty great bluegrass song, the best track on the record, while Twenty-One was more of a bluegrass-style rock song that I thought was pretty good, with excellent banjo and slide guitar, but I wonder did what it would have sounded like without the drums.

Out of Control was much more of a hard rock or stadium rock song, and at first I found it tolerable, but then I imagined people listening to it and making air guitars, which made me want to stop listening.

Tequila Sunrise should have been faster, but at least its folk rock style made me think of California.

The ending part of Outlaw Man, after a pacing change, was fast and good.

Saturday Night and Certain Kind of Fool were both kind of empty, but the latter had a similar rhythmic delivery to Desperado.

The weirdest song on the record was Bitter Creek, which sounded like one of the rejects from a CSNY record, and which seemed to be an ode to peyote[1]. It had a good acoustic guitar solo at the end.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 “Bitter” does not even begin to describe its taste. It is the worst taste on earth, and probably the worst taste in several solar systems. Its taste is “death.”

Bill by Bill Cosby (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Bill
  • Artist name: Bill Cosby
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: MCA Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Clipped top left corner
    • Sticker on back: SAMPLE COPY
  • Buy it on Amazon: $130.00

Bill by Bill Cosby

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard this record, and never intentionally watched or listened to any of Bill Cosby’s work. Mostly I know him from The Cosby Show, which my parents watched when I was a child but which I did not find even remotely interesting; and from the crass commercial advertisements on television featuring his endorsement of Jell-O; and from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, which was shown in class by teachers in my elementary and middle schools (the schools were government-operated, and the teachers were union members).

What I expected

The record claims:

“Bill Cosby is a beautiful man” (…and also very funny)

Ok. I am looking forward to an hour and a half of Bill Cosby telling his jokes.

What it was actually like

I thought that I would find many parts of this to be very funny and that I would be laughing despite myself, but actually, it was not funny at all, and I don’t think I even cracked a smile. In fact, I had a very difficult time even paying attention, and kept getting distracted by my iPhone and my dog.

Notable moments included:

  • Cosby making fun of how the Italian language sounds to an American, which is the perfect complement to Adriano Celentano’s Prisencolinensinainciusol
  • Cosby mocking his wife, who’s from the South, for liking chitterlings, and also mocking Greek people for eating tripe
  • Cosby telling stories about his toddler children and their diaper habits
  • Cosby claiming that he tried taking a bath in the toilet bowl when he was a child (“The problem with bathing in the toilet bowl is that the water is cold”)

Grade

1/5: I made it all the way to the end, but could not force myself to pay attention