Category: Music

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Songs From Another Life

I’m reposting this because I was listening to it in the car today and it brought me such joy. As I wrote below, it harkens back to a time in my life when life was…simpler. A happier time, a feeling these last seven months have (hopefully only temporarily) robbed me of.

This is a playlist that I put together a few years ago and burned onto CD as a holiday gift for my surviving friends from the 80s with whom I shared these musical memories. These songs—mostly from the mid-to-late years of the decade—in addition to the pop hits of the day, comprised the soundtrack of our lives as we transitioned from life in Tucson to life in San Francisco. It puts me in a…strange…headspace, so I don’t listen to it very often, but sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered to remind me that life has not always been the psychic clusterfuck we all currently find ourselves living through.

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Monday Night’s Aural Escape

This is one of those albums I could put on endless repeat and never tire of. Roxy Music’s 1982 Avalon is a longtime favorite and one, surprisingly, that has not received a proper 180g reissue. (There is a 180g half speed master reissue available but it’s been universally panned for the poor pressing quality, something I’m discovering with a lot of these 180g reissues.) Every time I put this record on I think I should search for a better quality replacement, but the used $3.00 copy that I found at Bookman’s in Tucson years ago that really does sound amazing and I think “Why bother?!”

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 40 years and have never heard Avalon, here you go…

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Released 41 Years Ago Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OeX9Rq9cFk&list=PLrpyDacBCh7D9LYtNqpCNxIAyLk4R26uA

Grace Jones: Warm Leatherette (1980)

My favorite—or maybe second favorite—Grace Jones album. I can never definitively say if this or Nightclubbing is my favorite. They’re both so good they could easily have been released as a double LP.

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Released 43 Years Ago Today


Sphinx: Sphinx (1978)

Under the name Sphinx, Alec R. Costandinos and Don Ray released an album with two side-long tunes, Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter, telling the story of the betrayal of Christ. Judas features some monk-like chanting, and a pretty simple ascending and descending theme, but as usual it goes through a bewildering series of tranformations, including what sounds like a bouzouki duel, before climbing to a rousing finale. It’s also a good case study in how Costandinos keeps the rhythm section pumping out dance beats no matter how overwrought the orchestra gets. Simon Peter explores similar territory and about seven minutes in, it breaks into the most furious, kick-ass disco you’re ever going to hear.

Much like Costandinos’ work with Cerrone on Love in C-Minor, I was initially unaware of Don Ray’s contributions to this album, but upon subsequent listening it’s obvious.

And no doubt because of the subject matter, I don’t recall ever hearing it played in the clubs. I only stumbled upon it because it appeared in a full page ad in Billboard Magazine along with Costandinos’ other work.

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Released 46 Years Ago Today

https://youtu.be/hmIFcekpyBY

Carpenters: Horizon (1974)

What struck me most about this album back in the day was the audio quality. I don’t know what magic the recording engineers used, but Karen’s voice was crystal clear and it seemed you could hear every instrument used in the arrangements.

Their take on “Please Mr. Postman” remains one of my favorites.

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Repost

Songs from Another Life

Because gawd…do I need this today.

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