December 2020 Challenge Thread: Let's Go Out With A Bang (The return of the raffle!)

Day 7 - Cool Story, Bro!
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

These recordings were the demos that Springsteen recorded himself on a 4-track cassette recorder for what was supposed to be a more conventional Springsteen full band record. They recorded most of the songs as a full band before deciding to release the demos instead.

And that was the tape that became the record. It's amazing that it got there, 'cause I was carryin' that cassette around with me in my pocket without a case for a couple of weeks, just draggin' it around. Finally, we realized, 'Uh-oh, that's the album.' Technically, it was difficult to get it on a disc. The stuff was recorded so strangely, the needle would read a lot of distortion and wouldn't track in the wax. We almost had to release it as a cassette." Another problem arose during mastering of the tapes because of low recording volume, but that was resolved with sophisticated noise reduction techniques.
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I need to get one of the new reissues as this clean original is super noisy.

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Day 7 - Cool Story, Bro!

The Toms - The 1979 Sessions

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Not sure why it took me until now to hear of this “band,” because it is totally up my alley. In 1979, producer Tommy Marolda was set to record some demos for the Smithereens in his home studio but they cancelled at the last minute, so for a whole weekend he decided to just record some songs he had been working on. He played all the instruments himself and ended up recording about 30 songs. This record is some of the “leftovers” that weren’t put on the self-titled album, but these are just as good. Really great power pop tunes.

 
Day 8: Strangs
What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle? A fiddle has straaanngs. Play something with a string section.

I never honestly thought this wouldn't work but after listening to this I had serious regrets over skipping this show when it came to Boston. It's in a similar vein to the Nas/Illimatic pick earlier: a mixture of two styles that really end up working perfectly. This is now my "go to"
to introduce most people to this artist. The arrangements behind Dessa's brand of hip hop really just work to elevate all parties. Plus it has the genre identifiers on Discogs of Classical and Hip Hop which is my just fun.

As an aside, Doomtree store has it at a really good price right now with all of her other stuff (except Castor The Twin) if it tickles your fancy, but this is my preferred sampler for the non hip hop heads as it spans her catalog rather well and gives a lot of good to take in.

Dessa And The Minnesota Orchestra ‎– Sound The Bells​

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Day 8: Play something with a string section.

Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain

Saw them in 1986, which was still essentially the ongoing 2 year tour for Ocean Rain. I also saw them about 10yrs ago doing the album in its entirety with a string section. Sadly Macca’s voice is not as strong as it was in 1986, but seeing them live with strings was wonderful

I still remember hearing this record for the first time at a friend’s house over Christmas break in 1984. We listened to it 3 times in a row that first day, watching the snow fall. Probably helped that we dropped acid as well

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Day 7: Story Time

My grandparents (on my dad's side) lived in Flushing, NY. We'd go visit Louis Armstrong's grave from time to time, and they'd also tell stories about the prohibition, my favorite being that Jimmy Durante would show up at of the speakeasies they'd go to from time to time and perform. I don't pull this album out very often but it does make me think of them and the great stories they'd tell when I do.

Jimmy Durante ~ In Person

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Day 7: Cool Story, Bro

Monophonics - It’s Only Us

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I don’t have a lot of cool stories with my records, but this one’s memorable because this was the last record I bought before my city went into pandemic mode, and the last one I bought from one of my locals, Listen Records, in store to this day. While all of the other stores have opened back up with limited capacity, they’re still only offering curbside pickup (which makes sense given how small their store is).
 
Day 7 - Cool Story Bro

Cheap Trick - At Budokan

It's long-ish...

9 year old me loved this album. I'd play my big sister's copy over and over, especially Ain't That a Shame for those drums fills at the beginning and end. This was the album that helped me determine I was going to be a drummer. So when my sister gave me her copy, I was bursting with joy and excitement. I mean, we lived in the same house, but something about it being 'mine' was just so awesome to me. So I ran...literally ran...to my best friend's house with the record to tell him, and play it at his house. I tripped and fell halfway there and broke the record in half. I was crushed, and went back home crying. I remember sobbing under the bedroom door to my mom "I broke my album" and she came flying out because she thought I said 'elbow.' Why else would I be crying that hard?!? She was likely not pleased with me, but all I really remember was that I was already out a record that I was so thrilled about having. Flash forward to a few days later, my sister came home with a flat brown paper bag and said "Here ya go, Ran." It was a new copy of Budokan. I will always remember that entire sequence from over 40 years ago, including details like how cold the package was from her walk back from the store, and the hat she was wearing. Such an awesome big sister.

tl;dr - got a record, broke a record, cried, sisterly love save the day

Thanks for letting me tell a story. My friend and I just talked today about what story we would tell if pressed to be on The Moth. Not sure if this would be mine, fun to think about.

Hey, is there an anecdote thread?

I'll stop typing annny sentence now...

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Day 7: Cool Story, Bro
Whether it's the story behind the album or music itself, or you getting the record or into the musician. Just give us a cool story!

The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

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My story involves this band, the actor Stephen Tobolowsky, and a couple of other bands you may have heard of.

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First off, the Dismemberment Plan got their name from Tobolowsky's character in Groundhog Day, who tries to sell Bill Murray's character insurance, including a "death and dismemberment plan."

BUT, the same actor also co-wrote David Byrne's movie True Stories, and he told Byrne about some psychic experiences he had in college, like he was tuned in to other people's thoughts, which led to the soundtrack song "Radio Head" by the Talking Heads. Years later, Thom Yorke and company would use that song to choose their band name- Radiohead.

Is it that cool a story? Nah, but I just like knowing that one lesser-known character actor inspired the names of two of my favorite bands.
 
LeSamourai said:
Day 7: Cool Story, Bro
Whether it's the story behind the album or music itself, or you getting the record or into the musician. Just give us a cool story!

The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

View attachment 79454

My story involves this band, the actor Stephen Tobolowsky, and a couple of other bands you may have heard of.

Ned-Ryerson[2].png


First off, the Dismemberment Plan got their name from Tobolowsky's character in Groundhog Day, who tries to sell Bill Murray's character insurance, including a "death and dismemberment plan."

BUT, the same actor also co-wrote David Byrne's movie True Stories, and he told Byrne about some psychic experiences he had in college, like he was tuned in to other people's thoughts, which led to the soundtrack song "Radio Head" by the Talking Heads. Years later, Thom Yorke and company would use that song to choose their band name- Radiohead.

Is it that cool a story? Nah, but I just like knowing that one lesser-known character actor inspired the names of two of my favorite bands.
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That’s Sammy Jankis
 
Day 8 - Strangs

Alice did this remix of John’s songs, with overdubs including a full string orchestra. Jazz “purists” bitched and moaned about this when it came out, saying it wasn’t true to John’s vision. Even though, she was, you know, his wife and had discussed the project with him before he died. Anyway, it’s great.

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