Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by amayo »

You have my vote Rep. I love hearing your take on these. BTW-if any rookies or wannabes are paying attention to this thread--it's about 2 years worth or show prep done for you already. Enjoy.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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Don't get me wrong, this is great stuff.

I'm just thinking that it's in the wrong forum. This forum " is a good place to drop general and weird news, entertainment, and general show prep material that might be interesting to air talent or producers.

The material posted here IS valuable, but seems like it should be in the Jock Lounge.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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CoolBreeze wrote:...the Jock Lounge.
I prefer "Radio Personality". That's why it's HERE.

What's the Jock Lounge anyway? At most of the stations I worked at we just drank in the studio...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Hoosier Daddy »

CoolBreeze wrote:Don't get me wrong, this is great stuff. I'm just thinking that it's in the wrong forum. This forum " is a good place to drop general and weird news, entertainment, and general show prep material that might be interesting to air talent or producers. The material posted here IS valuable, but seems like it should be in the Jock Lounge.
I like it here in a non-restricted area. A lot of great reading for casual (non-radio) people. I like your ongoing posts from My West Virginia Home, especially some of the old photos and whatnot. I wouldn't want that stuff restricted to Jock Lounge, either. If I ever get more free time, I was thinking about doing a companion series of posts about great (oldies) songs that ought to be on the radio but aren't. Something just for fun. Read it if you want or skip it if you're not a fan. This is the stuff that makes wvbroadcasting.net the absolute best radio message board on the internet.

:)
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by David Paleg »

Scott Reppert wrote:Next year: MOVIES!
The following year, mix the two for MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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David Paleg wrote:OK, i'm going to admit it. Its been bugging me for about 10 years now and I need to get it off my chest... I let the dogs out.
Funniest statement currently on this board. I just disrupted the office with laughter...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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"I was thinking about doing a companion series of posts about great (oldies) songs that ought to be on the radio but aren't. Something just for fun."

This is done on another board, but not done nearly to the extent that Scott does. This would be much welcomed here...at least by me. If done the way Rep does his, it would be fantastic.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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Scott Reppert wrote:19. Lou Reed / “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal”
Year Of Release: 1973
Top Tracks: “Heroin”, “Sweet Jane”, “Rock And Roll”, “White Light/White Heat”, “Lady Day”


Caught Hoppy giving it a little bit of love this morning on the lead-in to the final segment before 11am...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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18. The Move / The Best Of The Move
Year Of Release: 1973
Top Tracks: “Night Of Fear”, “Something”, “Flowers In The Rain”, “I Can Hear The Grass Grow”, “Disturbance”

I have not quoted from http://www.allmusic.com that much on this list, but I feel I have to now, seeing as how Richie Unterberger says what needs to be said so perfectly: “The Move were the best and most important British group of the late 60’s that never made a significant dent in the American market”. That could be enough right there. Their British hits are all here in this A&M release...which is basically their first album in it’s entirety (“First Move”, 1968) plus all of their 1968-1969 single releases and EP tracks. You get a history of the songwriting abilities of Roy Wood starting with the first song on side one and ending with the last note of side four. It’s all here. All the songs that America never heard upon initial release: “Night Of Fear”, “Fire Brigade”, “I Can Hear The Grass Grow”, “Walk Upon The Water”, “Brontosaurus”, “The Girl Outside” and about eighteen others that deserve to be mentioned. Possibly the biggest problem that The Move had was that you had four different lead singers. Actually not a bad thing if you manage it well...which The Move did...but it left the radio listening audience and record buying public in a bit of vocal schizophrenia. Roy Wood wrote all the originals and sang half of them (mainly the rockers and psychedelic tunes). Carl Wayne, possibly THE most underrated vocalist in the history of rock and roll, sang the softer and “poppy” songs. Trevor Burton sang the “covers” (“Weekend”) and Bev Bevan sang the “fun” stuff (“Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart”). Ah, Bev Bevan. Let’s get to him for a little bit. Bev Bevan was The Move’s drummer supreme and was the mainstay of The Move and also followed Roy Wood along to the original incarnation of The Electric Light Orchestra...which was formed out of the last lineup of The Move in 1972 (Wood, Bevan, Rick Price...whose thunderously rockin’ “Lightning Never Strikes Twice” is included here...and Jeff Lynne). As you will see by most of the rest of their catalog showing up on this list in the near future, The Move are probably the BEST 60’s band you’ve never heard (aside from that “Do Ya” thing, but that comes later)...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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17. Harry Nilsson / Son Of Schmilsson
Year Of Release: 1972
Top Tracks: “Spaceman”, “Take 54”, “At My Front Door”, “The Lottery Song”, “The Most Beautiful World In The World”, "Joy", "Ambush", "Remember"

The only album on the list that I went back and added at a later date. I realized that I have gone through AT LEAST FIVE copies of this album since it's '72 debut. This album also contains the first instance I can ever remember of the “F” word being used in a rock and roll song (aside from the intro to the unedited version of “Kick Out The Jams”). Speaking of that inclusion, I have actually played "You're Breakin' My Heart" on the air, although I had my hand on the “kill switch” of the WTCS board (the old 1947 soaked by sea water one that was used up until 1986 or whenever) when I did play it...so I could “self-edit”. I've also played "Take 54" on the air without editing, which was quite a feat for 1978 or so. AND on AM yet!!! "At My Front Door" was a great remake of The ElDorado's classic, while "The Most Beautiful World In The World" features a little appearance from Ringo Starr. This truly remarkable LP is rounded out with lots of great sound effects, one liners between songs, burps and advertisements. Rock and roll has a sense of humor, and no one mixed in that humor with outright seriousness as well as Uncle Harry. "Spaceman" was the biggest hit off it and is a song that needs a little more attention played to it in the day and age of Oldies/Classic Rock radio in which we live. “Nilsson Schmilsson” may have had the two gigantic hits (“Without You” and “Jump Into The Fire”…one of THE greatest basslines ever), but this is the overall better LP by far…
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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16. Status Quo / “The Early Works”
Year Of Release: 1990
Top Tracks: “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”, "Josie", “When My Mind Is Not Live”, “The Clown”, “Paradise Flats”, “Ice In The Sun”,
"Velvet Curtains", "Mr. Mind Detector", "Nothing At All", "Are You Growing Tired Of My Love?", "Down The Dustpipe", "Black Veils Of Melancholy"
Cover Art May Not Represent Actual Product

And to think that many critics considered them to be one of the “worst bands in the world” whereas I believe that there are almost too many “Top Tracks” to list here. This 3 CD set encompassing the earliest part of the 45 year career of Status Quo has all of the highlights from the band that some critics have referred to as “the worst successful band ever”.
Most Americans, if they are familiar with Status Quo at all, know “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”. I just remember that it was the first song I ever heard when WVAQ flipped to “Album 102” somewhere around 1980 or so. Anyway, this documents their early career up to when they decided to try to become the “Z.Z. Top Of The United Kingdom” (“Down The Dustpipe”). As for putting out great albums, the Quo have had a few stellar offerings during their career. Their debut in 1968 (“Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo”) is featured in this compilation in it’s entirety and includes “Pictures”, “Black Veils Of Melancholy”, “Paradise Flats”, “When My Mind Is Not Live”, “Ice In The Sun” and “Elizibeth Dreams”. Now I could’ve just included THAT LP alone for inclusion, but the Quo does not stop there. Their second album, 1969’s “Spare Parts”, includes the bulk of my personal favorites...and all are included in this multi-disk set (“Face Without A Soul”, “Antique Angelique”, “The Clown”, Nothing At All”, “Mr. Mind Detector”, “Are You Growing Tired Of My Love?”, “You’re Just What I Was Looking For Today”). Aside from containing their complete first two albums, the highlight of the set is “Josie”. Recorded for the second album but never included, it has since shown up on virtually every Quo compilation album and the liner notes of those all ask the same question: “Why was this thing never released?”! This is the set that took the “biggest jump” up the Top 50 Albums list from the time that I initially penciled in the order. Just seeing how much great work they did, especially over those first two albums, warrants their inclusion...along with the fact that “Velvet Curtains” was the last song played on “Saturday Night At The ‘T’” back in 1984. I sniff as I type...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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15. Roy Wood / “The Roy Wood Story”
Year Of Release: 1976
Top Tracks: "Angel Fingers", "See My Baby Jive", "Ballpark Incident", "Forever", "Goin' Down The Road", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day"

I remember being in high school, not yet having a job, having minimal finances available and forking over an unheard of (at that time) $19.99 for this double-LP IMPORT album back in '76. I had to include the four big Roy Wood's Wizzard songs on this album list in some form or fashion and I thought that this "best of" would be the best way in which to do it. I have mentioned on here before that my life actually changed on that night in 1973 when I arrived home around 11:35pm on a Saturday night and flipped on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" and saw Roy Wood's Wizzard. They had REIGNED the British charts from December of '72 through December of '73 and were trying to make their initial U.S. inroad...which, sadly, never got completed. My entire rock and roll life took on a new direction that night...beginning to search out everything about this guy who was singing “heavy metal ‘50’s songs” with what seemed like a whole freaking orchestra behind him while he dressed in a jolly green giant outfit with full face faint that pre-dated KISS by a few years. I found out he had been in a band called The Move and founded the Electric Light Orchestra...leaving after their first album. This two disc set features material from Mike Sheridan's Lot (the 1965 B-Side "Make Them Understand"), his best stuff from The Move ("Night Of Fear", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", "California Man", "Tonight"), two cuts from his one album with The Electric Light Orchestra (which he founded...not Jeff Lynne), and all of the solo material with and without Wizzard (including "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" and the songs listed as "Top Tracks" above). I remember back around 1990 the BBC did a nightly radio event for the seven nights in December prior to New Year’s Eve. They did three hours each evening on “The Legends Of British Rock”. Three hours on The Beatles, Eric Clapton, The Stones, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks and...wait for it...Roy Wood. The other fondest memory I have of this era was watching “Supersonic” every Friday night/Saturday morning on KDKA. Roy seemed to be on there EVERY week...whether doing solo material or stuff with Wizzard. And speaking of Roy on TV, I got $250 sitting here for you if you can find me an excellent quality copy of "Rock Concert" from 1973 featuring Wizzard and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. When it comes right down to the bottom line of things, after 45+ years of seriously listening to rock and roll: Roy Wood is my "musical hero".

And in case you've never caught his gig...




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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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14. The Rolling Stones / "Exile On Main Street"
Year Of Release: 1972
Top Tracks: "Rocks Off", "Happy", "All Down The Line", "Torn And Frayed", "Rip This Joint", "Shine A Light", "Sway", "Sweet Black Angel", "Loving Cup"

The theory of what I had earlier said about Bob Dylan's "Blonde On Blonde" CERTAINLY applies here: pick your 12-13 favorite songs off of this and you would probably have the greatest rock and roll album of all time. The Stones had made three stellar, albeit carbon-copies of each other, albums in a row and were chomping at the bit to break out of the mold...which they did with this landmark LP. No other "first song" on any other album in music history is as appropriate as "Rocks Off". And that is just the start! Notice I even left "Tumbling Dice" off the "Top Tracks" listing above...that's how GREAT this sucker is! The only drawback is the fact that the weak tracks are REALLY weak. The good stuff, however, rocks outrageously ("Rip This Joint"), tells the story magnificently ("Torn And Frayed"), mellows stunningly ("Shine A LIght") and pulls off the niche stuff without sounding cheesy ("Sweet Black Angel"). Throw in a vocal from Keith ("Happy") and a bunch of other fine songs ("Loving Cup", "Sweet Virginia", "Soul Survivor", "Let It Loose", "Stop Breaking Down") and you have a six star album in a five star world. Aside from the lackluster filler and the fact that the single version of "All Down The Line" is FAR superior to what is included here, there is not a blemish on the Stones finest LP.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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13. The Move / “Split Ends”
Year Of Release: 1972
Top Tracks: “Do Ya”, “Down On The Bay”, ”The Minister”, “California Man”, “Tonight”. “Chinatown”, “Message From The Country”, “The Words Of Aaron”

If you have never heard The Move, I would suggest this would be the place to start. Now, I know you have probably heard two songs from The Move, albeit in cover versions (“California Man” from Cheap Trick and “Do Ya” by the Electric Light Orchestra...whose first incarnation is the band that is playing on most of the tracks here), but this is the real deal right here. “Split Ends” is somewhat of a compilation album, seeing as how it takes The Move’s third album (“Message From The Country”, 1971) and lops off three songs (“My Marge”...a Rudy Vallee take-off, “Don’t Mess Me Up”...the best early Elvis imitation ever recorded by ANYBODY and “Ben Crawley Steel Company”...which features drummer Bev Bevan imitating Johnny Cash) while adding all of their recent U.K. (“California Man”, “Tonight”) and U.S. (“Do Ya”) singles. Originally intended to be called “Naugahyde Jumpsuit”, the Electric Light Orchestra was already off the ground and running with their first single (“10538 Overture”) when this album was released. The first time I ever heard The Move on the radio was in 1973 when I heard “Tonight” on WESA, Charleroi in my Dad’s office at FSHS. After that, I remember hearing “Do Ya” once on WDVE and once on the cool Oldies/CR station in Martinsburg in the mid 1990’s and then “Fields Of People” was featured on “Flashback” one week. The Move were not just accepted on the U.S. airwaves for some reason, but yet their songs are used all over the place in ads (especially “Do Ya”...which opens up with the nastiest guitar riff ever invented that spawned a thousand copycats...and “Feel Too Good”, which was included in the “Boogie Nights” soundtrack). You can find a mid-1990’s CD called “Great Move! The Best Of The Move” that includes ALL of “Message From The Country” and ALL of the singles that have been thrown on here ALL in one place. I include “Split Ends” on this Countdown, though, because it is the album that I purchased for .99 somewhere in 1973 at the Middletown Mall Grant’s store that first turned me on to The Move. As I stated above in the review of album #15: when it comes right down to the bottom line of things, after 45+ years of seriously listening to rock and roll: Roy Wood is my "musical hero".

Also, thought you might like to see this. I had never heard it before typing this up:

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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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12. Larry Norman / “Only Visiting This Planet”
Year Of Release: 1971
Top Tracks: “The Great American Novel”, “Six O’Clock News”, “Why Should The Devil?”, “Righteous Rocker”, “Reader’s Digest”, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”, “The Outlaw”

Oh, I could have had at least five Christian albums on this here Countdown if I wanted to. That would be easy. The last Jacob’s Trouble album is the album that U2 probably would be most proud of if they really were what they think they are. Kevin Prosch’s first two albums are Praise And Worship classics. Same for at least two of David Ruis’ earlier works.

But in the long run, there is one Christian album that can be played to any ol’ heathen fan of rock and roll and their immediate reaction is: “You know...that’s some really good music”! Paraphrasing of Paul McCartney’s quote to Larry during his Capitol years (1967-1970) goes something like: “You’d be gigantic if you’d just quit singing about Jesus”. Well, Larry left his group (People, he sang on their biggest hit, “I Love You”, 1968) and did not quit singing about Jesus and went on to become the “Grandfather Of Contemporary Christian Music”. This is his second MAJOR LABEL album (it’s kinda hard to tell with Larry, since he released an album on his own almost every month), following 1969’s “Upon This Rock” It is also the first album he released as part of a “Trilogy”...which also included “So Long Ago The Garden” (1973) and “In Another Land” (1975). The three album project was an ambitious undertaking and each album hit the mark. Each one not just hitting the target, mind you, but each hitting the bullseye...with this being the overall best of the three and always being voted or recognized as “The Greatest Christian Rock Album Of All-Time” (whether it being judged by fans or critics).

As for the music, the standouts are the single (released on MGM...a promo copy of which I saw one time in the old WMMN studios) “Six O’Clock News” and the song that it morphs into, “The Great American Novel”. I cannot think of two more powerful songs going back to back on any other album in any other genre of music. “Six O’Clock News” still sounds interesting today, if not for the great imagery in the lyrics and the stellar rhythm section that drives the song then for the fact that it includes the words “gook” and “Hasselblad”. Plus, due to the expansion of media outlets streaming into our everyday lives at every hour and angle, you could never do the outro lyrics the way that Larry did them back then (“CBS, ABC, NBC...CBS, ABC, NBC...CBS, ABC, NBC...CBS, ABC, NBC...)”. Following the announcement by the “flight attendant”, the song drifts into “The Great American Novel”, which is just as good...if not better and more accessible...as the six minutes of musical reality that has just come before it. “Well, your money says ‘In God We Trust’, but it’s against the law to pray in schools, You say ‘We beat the Russians to the moon’, and I say you starved your children to do it”. And that’s just the chorus!!! How many songs deal directly with slavery, the KKK, wiretapping rock stars, crooked politics and favors done for just the rich and no one else?

And we haven’t even gotten to “Why Should The Devil (Have All The Good Music?)”, “Righteous Rocker”, “The Outlaw”, “Reader’s Digest”...a song that all fans of early 1970’s rock should listen to at least once...and Larry’s most famous composition of all time, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” (which contains the line that I believe is going to become reality sooner than we realize: “a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold”).

Just keep in mind one thing: you do not have to be a born again Christian to enjoy one of the greatest rock and roll albums ever recorded...



Here is "Six O'Clock News":





Here is "The Great American Novel":


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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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11. The Beatles / “Revolver”
Year Of Release: 1966
Top Tracks: “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Dr. Robert”, “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “She Said, She Said”, “Love You Too”

First off: we are judging this by the original U.K. release and NOT the final album released by U.S. Capitol in their grand bastardization of Beatles album sequencing. Second off: even though there is one more Beatles album coming up in our little Countdown here, THIS IS THE BEATLES' BEST ALBUM. Look at the friggin’ SPECTRUM of this thing:

1. Artistically mellow mid-60’s MOR at it’s best (“Eleanor Rigby”, “For No One”, “Here There And Everywhere”).
2. Straight out mid-60’s Pop at it’s best (“And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Yellow Submarine”, “Good Day Sunshine”).
3. The first hints of psychedelia on any #1 album (“Tomorrow Never Knows”, “She Said, She Said”).
4. Some of George Harrison’s finest Beatles work (“I Want To Tell You”, “Taxman”).
5. Perfectly executed brass and sitar within ten songs of each other on one album (“Love You Too”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”).

Let’s keep in mind something once again: This Countdown is my opinion and my opinion only, which means that it basically amounts to nothing...which is why I feel that it really does not belong on this site, but would rather be served on blog as some have noted. But the four words I don’t think I could ever utter are: “Check out my blog”. People that have blogs have them because they have realized that no one will listen to them through any other means. With me reiterating that this is all my opinion and my opinion only, “Revolver” would probably not be my personal pick for best album of the 1960’s...that choice will be coming up in album #2 on this list. However, on a professional level, with 30+ on air years in radio behind me and this vast bedpan of rock and roll knowledge stored within me somewhere, I would probably say that this is by far the best album of the 1960’s.

And Klaus Voormann drew the cover. So there...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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10. The Clash / London Calling
Year Of Release: 1979
Top Tracks: "Train In Vain", "Clampdown", "The Card Cheat", "Wrong 'Em Boyo", "London Calling", "Rudie Can't Fail", "Lost In The Supermarket"

It was Rolling Stone's "Album Of The Year" for 1980 (beating out Captain Beefheart's "Doc At The Radar Station"). It was Rolling Stone's "Album Of The Decade" for the 1980's. Pretty good for the fact that Rolling Stone usually has NO idea what they are talking about and the album was released in 1979. The story goes that Joe, Mick, Paul and Topper thought that "Give 'Em Enough Rope" was a "letdown" from their first LP and that they "owed" their fans another album...hence this double disc set that has TONS of winning songs and hardly any filler. When you come to look at it closely, it does resemble their first album very much, spread out over two discs. You've got the political stuff ("Clampdown", "The Guns Of Brixton", "London Calling"), the social commentary ("Lost In The Supermarket", "Death Or Glory"), Joe Strummer attempting to write commercially successful reggae songs ("Wrong 'Em Boyo", "Rudie Can't Fail") and Mick Jones creating pop masterpieces ("The Card Cheat"). The allure of the whole thing to American radio listeners back when the album first came out was "Track 19". The back cover of the LP...I'm not sure how the CD reads in this digital day and age...lists eighteen songs. But all of a sudden this song starts showing up on the radio from The Clash that is "NOT" on the album! Secondly, there is no single of "Stand By Me" in the shops for the kids to go purchase! Thirdly, there you have the two reasons why "Train In Vain" got no higher than #23 on the Billboard Hot 100: nobody could find it on an album and nobody knew what the name of the single was! Later versions of the single listed the title as "Train In Vain (Stand By Me)", but by then the initial excitement was waning and the album as a whole had taken off. Many industry folks had noted that they felt the thing could have gone higher up the chart had that action been taken at the start when it was plucked to be the single. Not bad for a song that initially intended to be recorded only onto a square red piece of plastic and stapled inside of a music magazine as a free gift! They were always thought of and known as "The Only Band That Matters" and this was the album that established their legacy by converting those that were not believers previously and cementing the belief of those that had been on board from the start.
Scott Reppert
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Operations Manager: Hope Radio, T8WH, Palau
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"For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation"--Luke 2:30
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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I LOVED Train in Vain (Stand by Me)!

:D
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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9. Mott The Hoople / "Mott"
Year Of Release: 1973
Top Tracks: "All The Way From Memphis", "I Wish I Was Your Mother", "Drivin' Sister", "Whizz Kidd", "Honaloochie Boogie", "Ballad Of Mott The Hoople"

I was sitting in that familiar seat on the team bus...right behind the driver (usually Ivan Wilson). We were going to play someone in Clarksburg (at that period in time it would probably have been W-I). Jack Williams and Gary Merrifield always sat together or near to one another on road trips and either they or Keith Davis controlled the music. Well, this night Jack and Gary (who, together, taught me how to play pinball and instilled within me the love that I still carry for the electrical machine) had control of the eight track player and in it was a K-Tel-type various artists tape. There were a few good songs I grooved on when they first fired it up, but then it got REAL lame. You know: Carpenters, Helen Reddy...typical 1973 MOR fare. And then I heard it. The piano intro. Not just your normal piano intro, lots of songs had those. This was THAT piano intro. My head perked up and I remember thinking: I don't know what's coming next but I know that I'm going to love it and I will want every record they ever make. Well, the piano was played by Ian Hunter and I found out the band was called Mott The Hoople, and the real album (non-K-Tel) album that it came from was called "Mott" and the song was called "All The Way From Memphis". When I hit Camelot at the Middletown Mall the next evening, the only album they had was "Rock And Roll Queen" (the compilation album of the best of their Atlantic Records albums)...so I bought it, not knowing "that part" of the Mott The Hoople story. They had been a British live venue favorite since their debut album in '69, but had never broken through with a hit single or completely solid album over their first four years together ("Mott The Hoople", "Mad Shadows, "Wild Life" and "Brain Capers"). When they basically said that they were going to call it quits if "Brain Capers" and it's issued separately single ("Midnight Lady") were not hits. They weren't. That's when David Bowie stepped in, produced their next album after switching to Columbia/CBS and gave them a song of his ("All The Young Dudes"...technically their only U.S. hit). This is the album after that. It spawned two British hit singles ("All The Way From Memphis" and "Honaloochie Boogie"), contained a detailed story of the band ("The Ballad Of Mott The Hoople"), allowed bassist Overend Watts to sing for the first time ("Drivin' Sister"), gave the usual one song to guitarist Mick Ralphs ("I'm A Cadillac"), and contained Ian Hunter "filler" songs that could have been standout tracks on albums by any other band recording in '73 away ("Whizz Kidd", "Hymn For The Dudes", "Violence"). And then it all wraps up with the album's masterpiece: "I Wish I Was Your Mother"...simply one of the most beautiful rock and roll songs ever written and if you have never experienced "glam mandolin", this is the place to do it. And just think: this is the album that Mick Ralphs initially wrote "Feel Like Makin' Love" for...
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Production/Editor: "Believe Right" and "MFC WorldWide"
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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8. Lou Reed / "Transformer"
Year Of Release: 1972
Top Tracks: "Andy's Chest", "Satellite Of Love", "Wagon Wheel", "Hangin' 'Round", "I'm So Free", "Vicious", "Perfect Day"

How good is this album? I left the man's biggest commercial single hit ("Walk On The Wild Side") off the Top Tracks section. How good is this album? It's a five star-rated album almost anywhere you look and it has three songs on it that could be considered 'dogs' (which we all know is a song by The Who in the first place). To describe how far reaching of a hit "Walk On The Wild Side" was, I distinctly remember hearing it in Heavy rotation on both WPEZ and WYDD back in the original period of release. But the strength of the album does not lie within the hit single. The strength of the album lies in the performance of the players and quality of material (despite the three 'dogs'). "Vicious" is as good of an opening track for album as you can find (right up there with "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Baba O'Riley" and "Rocks Off"). "I'm So Free" closes out the "normal" part of the album with a rocker filled with redemption from all that has occurred between the opener and it. And what has occurred there...along with Lou's biggest commercial hit...are five of his most enduring, well crafted songs. "Andy's Chest" describes the shooting of Andy Warhol by Valerie Solanas, "Satellite Of Love" is a two-part piece of beautiful rock and roll that has remained a Lou Reed concert staple, "Wagon Wheel" is a mid-tempo rocker that had some production/writing help from overall project producer David Bowie and arranger Mick Ronson, and "Perfect Day"...while the most majestic piece on the original album...found most of it's success in later years due to it's inclusion in movies and commercials ('Trainspotting', AT&T, BBC promotional ventures). Which brings us back to "Walk On The Wild Side", Reed's descriptive account of as many of the past and present Warhol-ites that he could think of or work into rhyme. The song was driven by the Herbie Flowers bass line that was lifted directly from The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There". The other two things I remember about this album are (1). that RCA "Flexidisc", or whatever they called it, sounded really good for being so really thin and (2). I never wore a dress after listening to this LP, so put that worry out of your mind...
Scott Reppert
Music Director/Program Director/On-Air Personality
WTCS/WFGM/WMQC/WAIJ/WLIC/WRIJ/WKJL/WRWJ/WPCL/WWPN
Operations Manager: Hope Radio, T8WH, Palau
Production/Editor: "Believe Right" and "MFC WorldWide"
"For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation"--Luke 2:30
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