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Second Thoughts by McKendree Spring (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Second Thoughts
  • Group name: McKendree Spring
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Decca Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written inside album cover, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $2.16

Second Thoughts by McKendree Spring

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I do not think that I’ve ever heard of McKendree Spring or this record.

What I expected

Folk rock?

What it was actually like

This record had such a fascinating and unusual sound – folk rock, but also country, and a totally cool use of synthesizers, especially for its era.

McKendree Spring’s cover of Fire and Rain was at least as good as James Taylor’s original and I knew right away that this would sound different when I heard it seamlessly blending a country fiddle with rock style guitar, and some kind of synthesizer, without sounding “techno” at all.

Several of the songs sounded less like 1970 and more like ~2010, such as Friends Die Easy, a country rock song that started off with the synthesizer and had a sort of menacing sound with strong guitar, and Because It’s Time, a rock song that was quite lively, with great rhythm guitar.

Another modern sounding song was For What Was Gained, which started weak and had a folk rock sound, but quickly gained steam, and had some pretty good harmonica, before getting slow again at the end with the fiddle.

‘Lani also changed its sound, starting as a kind of Oompa Loompa country song, which is not something that I hear very often, with multiple fiddles, and then turned into a folk song with synthesizer backing. It definitely sounded weird, but was not bad at all[1].

Got No Place To Fall was a country rock song with a pretty strong country sound, that also had a shift in the fiddle and vocal styles, with a great guitar solo that led to a great fiddle solo.

Oh Now My Friend was folk rock, but with a whining electric guitar, and Susie, Susie was folk style, with country fiddle.

Cairo Hotel sounded most unlike the other songs and was the only one that I did not really like. The percussion was doing a lot, but the vocal style was very simple and boring.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 Also, “Lani” is not pronounced like “rainy.” It is supposed to rhyme with “Bonnie.”

One Nation Underground by Pearls Before Swine (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: One Nation Underground
  • Group name: Pearls Before Swine
  • Year: 1967
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: ESP-Disk
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $39.00

One Nation Underground by Pearls Before Swine

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not specifically familiar with this Pearls Before Swine record, but it is the third that I will have reviewed from my father’s collection. The previous two were:

What I expected

Psychedelic folk.

What it was actually like

This did remind me a lot of the other Pearls Before Swine records, though I’m not sure if it’s the voice or the unusual meeting of folk style and psychedelia, but Another Time was a representative example of a pretty simple melody that felt trippy and still stripped down.

A bunch of songs on this record also evoked Bob Dylan, and I was sure it was intentional, but it was subtle enough not to be obtrusive. Playmate had some very Dylan-sounding vocals and an organ, and it was pretty lively and I thought it was outstanding.

Uncle John was more of a rock song, also with an organ, and also reminded me of Dylan, and I thought it could have been an outtake from Bringing It All Back Home. Drop Out! was the closest to rock on the record.

Ballad to an Amber Lady was more wistful sounding, like many of the songs on These Things Too, and I Shall Not Care started out that way, and then turned into psychedelic rock.

Morning Song had a droning psychedelic sound, which I think was the autoharp, with banjo, which was pretty interesting, and The Surrealist Waltz was sort of dirge-like, with marching drums and the weirdest vocals.

Regions of May seemed the most like something I would listen to when trying to fall asleep, and was the only song that I did not really enjoy.

(Oh Dear) Miss Morse was an ode to Morse code, of course, and was the most self consciously weird song. Frankly, if I were going to recommend a Morse code song, I would definitely go with The Rhythm of the Code.

Grade

4/5: interesting, but not for me

Of Love and War by Randy Burns (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Of Love and War
  • Artist name: Randy Burns
  • Year: 1966
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: ESP-Disk
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $45.95

Of Love and War by Randy Burns

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t think that I’ve ever listened to this Randy Burns record, but I have previously reviewed two of his:

What I expected

Folk.

What it was actually like

This was folk music at its very mid 1960s essence, not unlike Dylan’s music of a couple of years earlier, but Burns was certainly a better singer than Dylan.

There was not a lot of complexity or originality to his songs, though: when one line ended with the word “sorrow,” for example, it was not exactly a challenge to predict that the next line would end with “tomorrow.”

Parts of this record definitely reminded me of this classic scene from Animal House (and I also reviewed the Animal House soundtrack).

The songs were all extremely consistent in style, and very minimal, with guitars and vocals, but for some reason the producers put all the vocal track into one channel and split the guitar track between both channels, so it kind of sounded like Burns was singing directly into my right ear, and I had to move all the way to the left side of my living room to listen without going insane.

If I had to pick a favorite, I would go with Sour Grapes, while Thoughts of Spring was slower than most of the other songs, and Coming of the Roads and Mr. War were the most boring.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

The Altered Nixon Speech by Richard Nixon (Vinyl record single review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Altered Nixon Speech
  • Artist name: Richard Nixon
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: SRI
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $19.79

The Altered Nixon Speech

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve heard a few Nixon speeches, but I’m not exactly sure which speech this will be.

What I expected

It’s a single that appears to have an altered version of a Nixon speech on side A, with the original version of the same speech on side B.

What it was actually like

I listened to side B (Original Material) first. It consisted of Richard Nixon denying any involvement in the Watergate break-in or the coverup of his cronies’ participation in it.

Side A (The Speech) was, as described, an altered version of Nixon’s actual statement, in which he was made to sound as if he knew about the Watergate break-in in advance, and authorized it, and is proud of breaking the law, &c, &c.

This must have been unbearably funny in 1973, but in 2022 we have deepfakes and so on, so I was not all that impressed.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

We Are the World by USA for Africa (Vinyl record single review)

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Record basics

  • Single name: We Are the World
  • Group name: USA for Africa
  • Year: 1985
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: I think both of my parents are equally responsible for this one.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $7.95

We Are the World by USA for Africa

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

My only personal memory of We Are the World is that my preschool teachers arranged for my class to sing it[1] (and I’m sure the children of Ethiopia were really moved by our rendition), but of course in the past several decades it’s been something of a cultural touchstone.

What I expected

Dozens of celebrities wailing about one or two lines apiece of a pretty bad song.

What it was actually like

We Are the World is not the worst song ever recorded, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that it’s one of them. Its style is gospel, but that really isn’t fair to gospel as a genre and to all the great gospel groups, like the Staple Singers. This is better characterized as a crappy mid 1980s pop track with gospel style vocals, and it basically has the musical quality of a Xmas carol.

The worst vocals were by Bob Dylan, and the most comically melodramatic vocals were either Cyndi Lauper’s or Bruce Springsteen’s.

The B side was a song by Quincy Jones called Grace, a sort of space agey techno instrumental track that sounded like the score for season 6 of Twin Peaks.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

References

References
↑1 “We are the children…”