Old Guy Radio for August 2020 - Eighth Excursions
Since it is the 8th day of August, the 8th month, and I have been doing these playlists (IRL, not here) for just over 8 years, I figured I would create one composed entirely of songs from various artists’ eighth albums. As I began preparing the list, I noticed that there are quite a few 8th albums that are career-defining. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” or the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, for example. But there were also a lot that were frankly kind of duds, like Elvis Costello’s completely forgettable “Punch the Clock” or Duran Duran’s horrible album of covers “Thank You”. You will find cuts from the former two here, but not the latter. Of course, some artists never made it to 8 albums. Thankfully, Eagles only squeezed out seven steaming piles. Whew! And neither the Cars nor the Police made it that far. Led Zeppelin barely made it with their final album “In Through the Out Door” (No, “Coda” does not count). For the record, Stevie Wonder’s 8th was a Christmas album.
Oh, and my counting is kind of arbitrary. For example, I am counting “Full Moon Fever” as Tom Petty’s 8th album, although many list it as his first solo album. Which I view dubiously as a distinction without a difference. And I stopped counting Bad Company when Paul Rodgers left the band. Anyway, I started with a preliminary list of 75 or so artists of some significance (to me at least) and whittled it down to these couple of handfuls. And where possible, I have tried to avoid the big hits, as one of the goals of this exercise has always been to illuminate lesser known, but still magical, songs.
There is no particular listening order. I’d recommend shuffle. Or alphabetical order. Whatever.
Oh, and I’ve made two Spotify versions: one with just these songs (Eighth Excursions) and another that is significantly expanded and much less anti-hit, called appropriately enough Eighth Expanded. It runs the gamut from Isaac Hayes to Pet Shop Boys, John Coltrane to Siouxsie and the Banshees, Parliament to Ozric Tentacles, and all points in between. Give it a listen. You might enjoy it. And since you asked, yes, the expanded playlist is 8 hours and 8 minutes long, give or take a couple of seconds. Links to both versions are at the end of the post.
Hypnotized - Fleetwood Mac/Mystery to Me. Believe it or not, Fleetwood Mac released nine studio albums before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band, making up the band’s “classic lineup”. This song is from the previous lineup that was fronted mainly by Bob Welch and Christine McVie. If you were in a college dorm in 1975, this song would be quite familiar to you.
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - The Beatles/Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Staying away from the played-to-death “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “When I’m Sixty-Four”, and “A Day in the Life”; and going with something a little further afield.
Midnight Rambler - The Rolling Stones/Let It Bleed. I’ll take the same approach here and avoid both “Gimme Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. By the way, the live version of this on “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” is fantastic. So just go listen to that one instead.
Cortez the Killer - Neil Young/Zuma. Neil Young was one of the recommendations/requests when I let some people know I was doing this list. To which one of them responded, “PLEASE NO NEIL YOUNG!!!! Barf.” Sorry, pal. Technically, “American Stars ‘n Bars” is Young’s 8th studio album. But if you count “Time Fades Away”, which is a live album of new songs, then I get to settle on “Zuma” and choose the great “Cortez the Killer”. Guitar solo at the beginning? Why not
Diamond Dogs - David Bowie/Diamond Dogs. The big hit on this was the glam anthem “Rebel, Rebel”. So of course we go with the more unusual title track.
Cold Wind to Valhalla - Jethro Tull/Minstrel in the Gallery. Sometimes, I think this is my favorite Tull album. The title song is a killer, as is “Baker Street Muse”. And this one’s pretty good too.
Buddy - Willie Nelson/Good Times. Willie started his career as a songwriter for other country artists in Nashville (because he couldn’t get a recording contract). Appropriately enough, when he finally got a contract, his first album was called “...And Then I Wrote”, and it includes his versions of his own songs that were previously hits for others. With his 8th album “Good Times”, they were still trying to shoehorn him into the Nashville sound. It wasn’t until he moved to Austin, Texas and recorded his 16th album “Shotgun Willie” that he really found his voice and helped create the sub-genre of “outlaw country”. Wikipedia tells me that this is Ron Swanson’s favorite song and has been featured on “Parks and Recreation”.
I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band) - Moody Blues/Seventh Sojourn. Their 8th album is called “Seventh Sojourn”? Maybe they decided to start counting with “Days of Future Passed”, I don’t know. Or maybe it’s because it’s the 7th album released on their Threshold record label. Whatevs. Blink 182’s 8th album is called “Nine”, so there’s that. In this case, we’ll go with the hit, because it’s likely you’ve never heard it either.
I Won’t Back Down - Tom Petty/Full Moon Fever. An enormously popular album. Petty’s best selling album either with or without the Heartbreakers (not counting Greatest Hits albums, which don’t count). I know this was a big hit, but guidelines rather than rules. In the video, that’s Ringo on drums and Jeff Lynne and George Harrison singing backup.
Time - Pink Floyd/Dark Side of the Moon. “Money” was the bigger hit, of course. The first time I ever heard the word “bullshit” on the radio. Anyway, I always preferred this song.
Everybody Hurts - R.E.M./Automatic for the People. Honestly, one of the coolest videos ever. Might even make you cry. Oh, and the orchestral arrangement here was written by none other than John Paul Jones (not the Revolutionary War naval commander, but rather the Led Zeppelin bass and keyboard player).
Who Are You - Who/Who Are You. Just not that great of an album. The last album with Keith Moon, who overdosed three weeks after its release in the same apartment where Cass Elliot died four years earlier. Creepy. Anyway, there’s only about three decent songs on the album, and this is the best. And of course, the theme to CSI.
Red Barchetta - Rush/Moving Pictures. This is the album with “Tom Sawyer”, “Limelight”, and “YYZ”. Easily their most well known and most popular album. The titular vehicle in the song is a 1948 Ferrari 166 MM.
The Same Deep Water As You - Cure/Disintegration. In the immortal words of Kyle Broflovski, “Disintegration is the best album ever!” (Season 1, Episode 12). Frankly, I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it may well be the best goth album ever. Certainly the best Cure album. And this song is so despairing, a perfect Cure song.
Here to Mars - Coheed/The Color Before the Sun. All Coheed’s albums except this one (which is actually pretty intensely personal) are concept albums that tell the story of the “Amory Wars”. Don’t ask me what the Amory Wars is about, I have no idea. I didn’t use the single from this album (You Got Spirit, Kid) as it is as f-bomb riddled as it is catchy. So we roll with Claudio Sanchez’ love song to his wife Chondra Echert.
Secret O’ Life - James Taylor/JT. Taylor’s best selling album features the hits “Your Smiling Face” and his cover of “Handy Man”. But we are going to mellow out with “Secret O’ Life”.
peace - Taylor Swift/folklore. Smoothly segueing into someone named after James Taylor. And I guess we need to retitle this Young Guy Radio? Anyway, I was “encouraged” to listen to Ms. Swift’s album, especially as the 8th song is titled “August”. However, even though it seemed a natural for the list, I don’t care much for that summer romance song. I like this one better. Baby steps.
So that’s OGR for the month. Here’s the link to the short list. Scroll down for the link to the long one.