This Time It's Personal: The November 2023 Record Challenge Thread

November 9
“Oh yeah, I used to know those guys before they became huge. I served them coffee every day. They were cool then but their fame went to their heads.”
Play an artist from your hometown (or any of your previous homes of residence). Did you ever run into them?

Let's keep it in Chapel Hill.

Used to run into Michael Rank all the time. Like, all the time. Like there were 5 of him.

He and Snatches Of Pink cranked out some fine, scuzzy rock. Here they are junking up a Bob Dylan song...



A low budget documentary...



RIP Sara. Thanks for everything.

If you're a purveyor of early bootleg LPs, you'll recognize the homage in this title...

Snatches Of Pink - Deader Than You'll Ever Be (Live At CBGB's)

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November 10
:::loud Friday night:::
You and your crew are about to head downtown for a real crazzzzy night. Play something that would get you in a dancing mood or excited about staying up way too late. Let’s face it though, you’re really just going to fall asleep while watching NCIS reruns in your recliner around nine o’clock tonight.

This covers dancing, staying up late and NCIS all in one fell swoop...



Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True

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November 5
Which band/musician made you “go down the rabbit hole,” making you feel the need to buy everything they ever put out? What? You never did that? You have incredible will-power, you say? Ohhh well good for you! Play whatever you want then, I don’t care.
Ramones - Too Tough to Die

Ramones is a band that I simply adore and I want everything they’ve ever recorded. Even the bad stuff. This album ain’t bad though. It’s one of the good 80’s records they put out.

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November 10
:::loud Friday night:::

You and your crew are about to head downtown for a real crazzzzy night. Play something that would get you in a dancing mood or excited about staying up way too late. Let’s face it though, you’re really just going to fall asleep while watching NCIS reruns in your recliner around nine o’clock tonight.

I've been working night shift for 15 or so years. I don't switch back and forth on my nights off, so I just say up all night, go to bed about 10 or 11 AM - so let's say I'm pumping myself up for a real crazzzzy brunch.

I'm going with something that was bit of an impulse buy a few months ago - I haven't heard it in years.

Powerman 5000 – Mega!! Kung Fu Radio
Real Gone Music – RGM-1608, 1997/2023

Cut by Harrison Hunt at Well Made Music

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November 10
:::loud Friday night:::
You and your crew are about to head downtown for a real crazzzzy night. Play something that would get you in a dancing mood or excited about staying up way too late. Let’s face it though, you’re really just going to fall asleep while watching NCIS reruns in your recliner around nine o’clock tonight.

Damn, I wish I had a 12" of Haddaway for this prompt...

New Order "Substance 1987" (1987 Factory, original Canadian pressing)
Me and my crew are old and like classics. This one will get us old fogeys dancing and excited about going out downtown before changing our minds and lounging in the recliner.

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November 10
:::loud Friday night:::

You and your crew are about to head downtown for a real crazzzzy night. Play something that would get you in a dancing mood or excited about staying up way too late. Let’s face it though, you’re really just going to fall asleep while watching NCIS reruns in your recliner around nine o’clock tonight.

Yes to all the above. But replace NCIS reruns with Bobs Burgers reruns.

Beastie Boys ~ Paul's Boutique

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November 6
Play an album that is a perfect representation of one of your favorite musical genres.

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

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Lots of possible choices in the genre of power pop, and the sound can vary based on the decade, but I think this is a reasonable pick. Great guitar riffs, hummable melodies, and layered harmonies are all my favorite. Fans of 90s power pop would also enjoy Teenage Fanclub, Fountains of Wayne, The Posies, Super Deluxe, etc etc etc etc

 
November 6
Play an album that is a perfect representation of one of your favorite musical genres. Why do you like this genre so much? What are some other artists/records that you’d recommend in this genre?

Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers Volume II

When it comes to the blues, no one did it better than Robert Johnson. Artists like John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightning Hopkins etc., carried on the torch. But there’s something about these sparse and low-fi recordings that no one else could match. This is what I think of when I think of the blues.
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November 7
I know you bought an album that you had to order online because you were too embarrassed to buy it in person. Don’t be shy; play one of these “guilty pleasures.” Tell you what, to help out a bit: no explanation is necessary for this one.

Brad Paisley - 5th Gear

I’ve definitely been teased by people for enjoying this album. And yeah… I get why. Some of the lyrics are cringe inducing (I’m Still a Guy for example) but for some reason I like Brad. And he’s a damn good guitar player. Still… probably my guiltiest of pleasures.

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November 7
You’re sitting at a red light, playing your all-time favorite song at full volume in your car when the driver in the vehicle next to you makes eye contact. This stranger looks concerned about you and mouths the words: “Is that OMC’s ‘How Bizarre?!’”

I know you bought an album that you had to order online because you were too embarrassed to buy it in person. Don’t be shy; play one of these “guilty pleasures.” Tell you what, to help out a bit: no explanation is necessary for this one.

This was tough. I like the stuff in my collection and would play anything most days no matter who was over.
So I went with an album by a not great band called Shooting Star. I bought this just a couple years ago, and it's all about
one song: Last Chance.
Yep, it features 11 year old me air-drumming the SHIT out of this. (and just now, 54 year old me)
I always give this song, along with the aforementioned Bun E Carlos, the most credit for my decision to choose to be a drummer.

As I typed all that it made me wonder if I even satisfied the prompt but, too late now.

tldr: This album is NOT good but Last Chance is awesome.

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November 10
You and your crew are about to head downtown for a real crazzzzy night. Play something that would get you in a dancing mood or excited about staying up way too late. Let’s face it though, you’re really just going to fall asleep while watching NCIS reruns in your recliner around nine o’clock tonight.

Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power

Seems like every Friday night in my late teens - early twenties this got played.

Skate and destroy!
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November 8
“You might have heard of them. They’re part of this new Estonia-Pop scene.”

Play a record from one of your favorite location-based scenes. Were you into this trend while it was happening, or did you discover it after it was all over?

Numero Group - Deep City Label
I totally love this southern Florida label's stuff. A band I was gigging in pre-Covid started covering Stay Away from My Johnny, (at my behest) and we'd usually open with it. Such a cool song and a fun, obscure cover.

Definitely discovered this after it was all over.
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November 9
“Oh yeah, I used to know those guys before they became huge. I served them coffee every day. They were cool then but their fame went to their heads.”

Play an artist from your hometown (or any of your previous homes of residence). Did you ever run into them?

Bob!
And even closer to home, Chris Campbell (bass) is from my very small hometown of Plymouth.
His tour has employed a couple/few of my friends over the years...and by all counts, Bob Seger is a genuinely nice guy.
I was lucky enough to go back stage after one of the most recent shows here and met Chris Campbell and Alto Reed. (RIP) Not Bob though, he's not super outgoing. But what a local legend he is, for a few reasons.

Fun fact that most people probably know but maybe some don't: The Muscle Shoals guys placed on side two of this record.

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November 10
:::loud quiet Friday night:::

You and your crew wife are about to head downtown stay home for a real craozzzzy night. Play something that would go with the buncha vaccines you both just got. Because, we’re really just going to fall asleep around 10 o’clock tonight.

Sorry, I mutilated it.

So since we're couched up and spinning records tonight, I asked my wife to name what she would consider the intersection of our tastes in music. She said Cake pretty quick. Hmmm. Nice. I was thinking she might say Talking Heads.


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So, we just decided to make a scatter plot comparing the preferred listenabilty of our collection.
It started because she said "King Crimson and Zappa are over here, Alanis and Moby are over here"
The point being, it's not about ranking the record, it's about how often you'd spin it. She knows Zappa is a genius, she just rarely wants to listen to him.


Soooo, yeah, watch for it.


Drinking, smoking, foruming.
 
November 11

Shoot, you woke up way too early today even though you had plans to sleep in. No one else is up, it’s just you, your morning cup of coffee, and your turntable. What do you feel like playing to ease you into today?

Nick Drake - 5 Leaves Left

The perfect Saturday morning album. Even has a song called Saturday Sun. Though back in the 90s I would have played the cd which also had the bonus of not needing to be flipped between sides.
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November 8
Play a record from one of your favorite location-based scenes

The Verlaines - Hallelujah All The Way Home

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Lots of great bands from Dunedin, New Zealand that formed in the early 1980s, including the Bats, the Clean, the Dead C, and the Chills. The Verlaines were the first of them that I had heard, as they had a great song on the No Alternative compilation.



 
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