Best Albums of 1968

Well like I said, summer school is taking over my life. It's all over two weeks from today, and three weeks from today I will be moving back up to get ready for school to start back up! Eeeek.
Sorry for the short post - it's better than nothing though!


Suggested by Sean, let's list our favorite albums from 1968. What were you listening to back then?
Here's what I've got going on in my music from '68:

-Beggars Banquet - Rolling Stones

-CCR's first album!

-Cheap Thrills - Big Brother & the Holding Co.
Not a fan of Janis Joplin, but who doesn't like "Piece of My Heart"?

-"Voodoo Chile" from Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. If you know me at all, you know I just don't like Jimi. But this song is killer.

-The Animals also had a couple albums drop that year too.

-Cream's Wheels of Fire with "White Room" on it.

Speaking of which, here's a cool clip from '68 of Cream at one of their last shows together:


Have a great weekend!!

"Wild horses, we'll ride them someday"

Happy Birthday to Mick Jagger!! He's 66 today.

My two all-time favorite Rolling Stones songs are "Angie" and "Wild Horses." Since Rock and Roll History already has "Angie" covered, I'll show ya a live performance of "Wild Horses" from 1976:



On a related note, why did it take me reading this month's Rolling Stone to hear about Allen Klein's death?! He died on July 4th at the age of 77 from Alzheimer's. In case you didn't know, he was most popular as being manager of the Beatles and the Stones. He was somewhat, shall we say, controversial...

Taken from the article in RS:

Mick Jagger chased Klein down the hallway of a London hotel screaming, "Where's my fucking money?" Klein was the subject of a number of scathing songs by former clients... By 1970, the Stones had fired him (the band alleged that, among other things, he had placed its advance cash in his own company's account).

I think we'll take Sean's idea and do albums from 1968 in the next post. Stay tuned! :)

Happy Birthday to Don Henley!

Would you check out that hair? Happy Birthday to Don Henley!! He's 62 today!

I was going to show you "The Boys of Summer" music video, which happened to win a bunch of awards at the '85 MTV Video Music Awards (you know, back when MTV was actually about the music), but instead I want to show you this:


That right there is the Eagles I know and love! Great music. Great harmonies. And the "Desperado Reprise"? Genius.

"Your twisted fate has found you out
And it's finally turned the table
Stole your dreams and paid you with regret"

Thoughts? Comments? Am I totally crazy? ;)

P.S. I really enjoyed reading everyone's lists of top albums from 1975 -- I think we should do that again with a different year! Let me know what year you would like to do!

My Top Ten Best Albums of 1975

1975 was a great year for music. (That's what I hear, anyway. Ha.)


So I have a fun little task for you to do - make up a list of what YOUR top ten best albums of 1975 are. Let's stick to studio albums (not live or compilations). If you can't think of ten, then just tell me one or two that you loved listening to over and over again (and maybe still do!).

Based on my tastes & preferences, here's my top ten best albums of 1975 (this is kind of ironic considering I wasn't anywhere near to being alive, but trust me - I've been listening to a lot of this music since I was in the womb):


10. A Night at the Opera - Queen
Because we wouldn't have "Bohemian Rhapsody" if it weren't for this album. And that song is a must. So I'd say it's a pretty important album.

9. Fool for the City - Foghat
Because where would we be without "Slow Ride"?

8. Gorilla - James Taylor
Because of all these big names that helped on this one: Linda Ronstadt, Valerie Carter, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Carly Simon, Danny Kortchmar. Plus, "Mexico" is one heck of a catchy song.

7. Nuthin' Fancy - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Because it's just a good ol' southern rock album. Two years before everything went to hell. Allen Collins is one tall and creepy dude.

6. Toys in the Attic - Aerosmith
Because you have to have Aerosmith on the list. Plus, what's not to like?

5. Straight Shooter - Bad Company
Because Paul Rodgers' voice is awesome. Plus, Bad Company was the first group to have an album released on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label. That's pretty great.

4. Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
Because of the way the album cover worked (so I'm told, there's a little insert with different images that come up in the windows). Plus, it's 16x Platinum in the United States.

3. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Because of the emotions of the band during the recording of it. Plus, the whole thing is a tribute to a guy who isn't even dead yet. (Not literally.)

2. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Because now the greatness that is Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have teamed up with the mostly underrated rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, and the lovely Christine McVie. Plus, no one knew it, but the best is yet to come (i.e. Rumours, Tusk).

1. One of These Nights - The Eagles
Because "One of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes", "Take It to the Limit", and "After the Thrill is Gone". Plus, this is the first album that Don Felder appears. Even though it was Bernie Leadon's last. :(


Your turn!!! :)
I'm interested to know your picks. I know a lot of the big ones I left out, such as Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Springsteen's Born to Run. But if you know me, you know why. Haha.

Grab your record collection (or more realistically, your iTunes library) and get to work - ready, set, GO!

Happy Birthday to Linda Ronstadt!

She turned 63 today.
I'm not a huge fan of Linda, but of course I have to respect her for pretty much starting the Eagles! :)


Here she is in 1974, with the Eagles, singing their lovely "Desperado":




If it seems like I'm posting short posts, it's because summer school started last week and it's basically taking over my life. I'm enjoying my classes (an English class and a history class), but there's so much to do in only 5 weeks! Yikes.
I'm trying to get to everybody's blogs though! Thanks for hanging in there.

Happy Birthday to Christine McVie!

(I have no idea why Christine didn't go back to her maiden name, Perfect, after her divorce from John. Perfect is just such a fabulous last name!)



The oldest member of any of her Fleetwood Mac bandmates throughout the group's forty-plus years, she turned 66 today! As most of you know, Fleetwood Mac has been out on a greatest hits tour (sans Christine) since March. Chris hasn't been with them since their reunion tour, The Dance, which was in 1997.
I think she's perfectly happy living in England, occasionally doing her own music thing, and living a quiet life. Definitely a drastic change from her vodka tonic, cocaine filled days during the '70s and '80s.

She did write some great songs for Fleetwood Mac. Some of my favorites from her are "Why" (pre-Lindsey & Stevie joining), "Over My Head", "Songbird", "You Make Lovin' Fun"... oh heck, I like all of her contributions to FM with the exception of "Don't Stop" - I skip this one when it comes on on my iPod. The Bill Clinton inaugration pretty much ruined it for me. :(


Here's a pretty fabulous video that you should probably check out :)



Oh, and one last picture!!

The past has gone... it went by like dusk to dawn

^Name that song!

Poor Steven Tyler is injured yet again. Aerosmith is on tour right now with ZZ Top, but they've been having to postpone/cancel shows due to a "band injury."

Joe Perry recently Tweeted (*shudder*): “Sincere apologies out 2 all Aero Fans regarding the canceled shows. It really bums me out too- you have no idea. Pray 4 Stevens speedy return.”
We don't know if it's an illness or an injury, but judging by this Tweet (*shudder*), it could be illness.

So, let's go back to 1997, shall we? Then maybe you'll be able to answer what song those lyrics are from in the title :)


Has anyone seen Aerosmith lately in concert? I just find it hard to believe that Steven Tyler can still sing like that. His voice is so unique and he does those weird noises/screams in a lot of the songs (like this one)... I'm just wondering (due to his age, etc) if he's still able to do all those crazy vocal strains?

It's almost Friday, which means it's almost the weekend! :)

Something a little different...

I'm going to share with you guys something I recently came across on Youtube. It's Chris Daughtry's acoustic cover of "Poker Face" (Lady Gaga) - pretty cool!




I hope everyone had a fun July 4th weekend! It's way too hot and humid here to even want to be outside unfortunately.

P.S. Is anyone else as sick as I am of hearing about Michael Jackson? I think the media is going to milk this "story" for as long as they can. Just put him in the ground already for crying out loud. Don't even bother watching television on any of the major networks tomorrow.

I heard this crazy rumour going around that Led Zeppelin (and ABBA, too) was asked to consider playing at London's 02 Arena now that, oh, 50 dates have opened up.
Fat chance! I think Zep will reunite when hell freezes over. And I'm talking about when hell actually freezes over (not the kind of "hell freezes over" like in the Eagles' story)!
I suppose that Robert Plant is just happy as a clam singing weird bluegrass songs with that Krauss lady.

Happy Birthday to America!

Well, Independence Day weekend has arrived!

But before you break out the hot dogs, beer and fireworks, take a moment to think about our military serving around the world.

We wouldn't be here today as a country without past, present & future men and women who fight for our country's freedom on a daily basis.

I won't get all preachy on you. That's all I'm going to say.

Three videos follow. One is for those of you who tend to lean to the right of the political spectrum, one for those who tend to lean to the left of it, and one just for the heck of it!

(I think what I'm talking about will be obvious...)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Red, White & Blue" + Military Tribute:




Bob Dylan - "Blowin' in the Wind" (a classic and one of the most popular anti-war songs):




Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - "American Girl":

Everyone have a safe, fun Fourth of July weekend! =)