Category: Music

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Released 38 Years Ago Today

Depeche Mode: Music For The Masses (1987)

Many a heated discussion occurred between myself and a colleague in that little architectural office as to whether Depeche Mode or Pet Shop Boys were better…

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Remember When Buying Music Was… Fun?

I was laying wide awake at 4 am this morning, and I was thinking how we consume music has so fundamentally changed over the past 40 years. Then I found myself remembering walking into Tower Records on Market Street in San Francisco as I’d done a countless number of times in the 90s. And once inside, I could easily recall the smell of the store. Next thing I knew I was grinning ear to ear.

Tower was a magic place for music lovers like myself. It had been since I first set foot in the original SF store at Columbus & Bay on a trip to the City before we eventually relocated there. It was a bit of a wonderland for me. I’d ordered Michael Stern’s Chronos soundtrack from them a month earlier, only to discover after it arrived that the disc was defective. I physically brought it with me on that trip so I could exchange it. While there I also found a record I’d been seeking for months: Michael Garrison’s Airborn that I dragged home on the plane with me. (Yeah, I was in the middle of my electronic new age period.)

A few years after we’d relocated to SF and Tower opened another store in the concrete monstrosity that had been constructed on Upper Market, somehow making up for the eyesore it occupied. I remembered many an afternoon pouring through the racks, either searching for something specific or just seeing if something piqued my interest enough to shell out $18 for a disc.

And then there were the times your favorite band/singer/group released something new and you prayed Tower had purchased enough copies that they’d still have one available when you got to the store.

It was also within walking distance of my apartment, so it was doubly dangerous.

Remember getting the disc home and trying to get it out of those horrible plastic blister packs without amputating a finger in the process? And then putting the disc in your CD player, sitting down, and pouring over the liner notes?

Ah, the ritual!

All that was lost with the advent of MP3s and streaming. I think that’s the reason there’s been a resurgence in the sales of physical media. It’s part nostalgia (at least in my case) to be sure, but it’s the physicality of the process. It’s the knowledge that you own the music you just bought; it won’t arbitrarily be pulled from your streaming service because of some corporate fight over licensing. And you can listen to it any time you want. No worries about network connectivity! And if you want to rip those discs to MP3 for your phone, you can!

The purpose of this post? I dunno…those memories that came flooding back (and the unexpected recollection of the smells) just kind of gobsmacked me in the dark silence this morning.

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Meh.

I bought it as a curiosity. I’m not that familiar with Lorde’s work (actually confusing her with Madonna’s daughter Lourdes at one point) but I understand each of her albums has some gimmick factor. In this case it’s being released on a “clear” CD. I was kind of surprised it actually worked, but after listening to it my reaction was a definite “Meh.” I’ll give it a few more listens and see if it grows on me. It happens.

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Released 41 Years Ago Today

Prince: Purple Rain (1984)

One of my grails is to own this on purple vinyl, but sadly prices on the resale market remain astronomical.

This is just the “near-mint” grading. The two “mint” copies listed were both selling for $400.

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Released 49 Years Ago Today*

Alan Parsons Project: Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976)

And thus began my love affair with the music of APP…

I first heard this at my buddy Gary’s house the summer immediately following our high school graduation. He had, in my mind, an absolutely killer system: a Kenwood KR-7400 receiver, Infinity 1001A Speakers, and a Technics SL-1400 turntable. I remember sitting there just mesmerized as this album played.

Gary and I had been friends since grade school. I remember him being a brilliant kid and we shared the same dry sense of humor as we moved into high school. We stayed in contact for years after graduation. He worked in high school as a stock boy for one of the local supermarket chains, and as I understand it, he went on—following the American dream of old—of rising up in the ranks, eventually becoming store—and later regional—manager.

We lost touch after I moved to Tucson in ’85. Though a mutual friend we briefly reconnected via email a couple years ago, exchanging photos and a brief outline of what had happened in our lives over the past 40-odd years. I never heard back from him after the second round of emails, but he seemed uninterested in rekindling our friendship. I have a feeling that in the intervening years he—like so fucking many of my absolute best friends from that period—had found religion and/or taken a political hard right and judged my lifestyle unacceptable. (There’s a reason you can never go home again.) But I’ll always be grateful to him for introducing me to the Alan Parsons Project.

*There are a couple different dates on the internet as to when this album was officially released, but I’m going with this one.

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Good Vibes

As a newly minted gay in the spring of 1977, I first heard this album in the dorm room of one John…McGuire. He was first man I ever did the deed with, and he was shocked—shocked I tell you—that at the time I had no idea who this Bette Midler was, and quite frankly her music did not appeal to me in any way. (I know, right? Should’ve turned in my gay card then and there.) But ya know, over the years it grew on me to the point that as I said, I know every note forward and backward and can now quote from it as effortlessly as I can from Personal Services.

I was just texting my old friend and housemate Michael (who shares my love of Bette and Personal Services) and in discussing Miss M., he said he was now going to have to dig out his copy and give it a listen because he—like most of us these days—needs some cheering up.

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Released 47 Years Ago Today

Giorgio & Chris: Love’s in You, Love’s in Me (1978)

Never one of my favorites, but looked back upon fondly, especially Burning the Midnight Oil.

I get the totally unsubstantiated feeling that Giorgio was fucking Chris at the time and was hoping to make her the next Donna Summer. Unfortunately, Chris didn’t possess the vocal talent of Summer and this is why I think this was a one-off album…

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