Conference mr1pst::music

    >"Songs that you would have expected from a given artist".
    
    I think you mean "...would not have..."
    
    How about "Nebraska" by Springsteen, the album where he got too lazy to
    do a studio session, so he released the demo ? Who'd'a thunk it ?
    
    Robert Plante's latest sounds good (to me) for a change, not that the
    world needs him anymore, but at least he can retire on the upstroke
    now.
    
    The typical formula is for a decent band to come out with a solid debut
    followed by something slightly better (or worse) & then decend to the
    rut of Same Ol' Stuff for the next ten albums, with better & better
    promotion & more complex shows but less & less music.
    
    The prize in the category of "Outstanding Achievement Where You'd Least
    Expect It" IMHO has to go to Debbie Gibson for "We Could Be Together"
    (campfire mix) from her "Electric Youth" album.
    
    I'll probably be a finalist in the "Can you top this" contest myself
    just for suggesting that one !
    
    Paul (who once listened to Debbie Gibson, Metallica & The Pogues all in
    the same afternoon)
    
    

    
    Steve Miller's 'Born 2 B Blue'.
    
    

Ahh Blackmore freaks coming out of the wood work....  I been one since
Machine head..  USed to sit in my room and burn holes in albums
copying Blackmore rifs..

Burn,, now there's an album Ray always loves to hear...  Great Stuff..

One of the best tunes on that album was "You Fool Noone"  Blackmore
at his best...  Another Blackmore influenced album that always 
toasts my marshmellows is the second RAINBOW album....  Some of
the guitar work on that album is 'Blackmore and Beyond' besids that,
it was on that album that Blackmore cleaned house from Elf, and 
hosed everyone but Ronnie James Dio..  great cuts...

as far as the base not goes,, how bout Uriah Heaps Demons and Wizards
album...  "Easy Living" was a true ass kicker for it's day...  Mik
Box,, 3 tons of metal with ever chord...  Yow!

The album that changed the world that way I see it, was RUSH 2112...

then there was;

	Tull, Thick as a Brick..

    Chicago - Most stuff up until about "Saturday In The Park"
    
    Great horn-based jazz rock, but what happened? The band started at it's
    peak, and slipped into the dreck up 6-op muck. Since then, they've been
    done nothing to even deserve the name they still use.
    
    Edd

    
    These don't fall into the "artists outdoing themselves" category
    but they are sort of like "surprising":
    
    Ruby Tuesday and Angie - Rolling Stones
    It's More Than Words - Extreme
    
    Lale

    Linda Ronstadt and Jack Bruce as romantic leads in jazz composer Carla
    Bley's 1972 opera "Escalator Over The Hill".
    
    Frank Zappa playing on the last Grand Funk Railroad album.
    
    Jazz bassists Rob Wasserman and Fernando Saunders working with Lou
    Reed.
    
    Joni Mitchell working with Charles Mingus.
    
    Sandy Denny singing with Led Zeppelin.
    
    Steve Morse playing with Kansas.
    
    Leonard Cohen recording with Phil Spector.
    
    Eric Johnson playing with Carole King.
    
    							Brian

Chicago...  as "What happened"

When Wot's his name blew his head off,,, it was all down hill 
from there...

    Nah, they hit the skids long before Terry Kath lost the game of 
    Russian Roulette.
    
    Come to think of it, if *I* was turning out their post-"Saturday..."
    stuff, maybe...
    
    Edd

    How about Keith Richards' posthumous "Expensive Winos" solo album ;-)
    
    The whole "Layla" album (the old one) with EC & Duane Allman was
    probably a high water mark for these two.
    
    The Beatles may have done it with "Yesterday".
    
    The Troggs of course set unreachable standards (for them) with "Wild
    Thing".
    
    Has White Lion touched "Little Fighter" ? If you think so, give a
    listen to the words. *Everyone* knows the tune smokes, but the words
    even work ... tough to beat.
    
    Paul

    
    	Billy Joel played on "Be Cruel to Your School" by Twisted
    	Sister.
    
    							GTI
    

    Neat idea for a note..  without using a whole lot of time to think
    about this some that come to mind for me would be:
    
    Bodhisattva - Stealy Dan  (even for these guys an incredible song)
    Show Biz Kids - might as well add that one too
    If 6 was 9   - Hendrix
    Summertime - Janis Joplin
    
    Whole Lotta Love - Zepplin
    
    In Memory of Elizabeth Read - Allmans on Live at Fillmore East
    Statesboro Blues - same album (incredible live slide playing co
                       Duane Allman
    
    Taxi - Harry Chapin
    
    A Day in The Life - Beatles
    
    You've Got a Friend  (Carol King, or James Taylor's version)
    
    Cause We've Ended as Lovers - Jeff Beck
    
    Hard Rains a Gonna Fall - Bob Dylan
    
    Suite Judy Blue Eyes - CSNY
    
    

    I have a whole album that fits into this category.
    
    The Good Rats "Tasty".   I know there's a few of you out there that
    are familiar with the Good Rats - they were an extremely popular
    bar band in the tri-state (NY/NJ/CT) area back in the late 70's.
    
    In the usual "artists outdoing themselves" you find momentary examples
    of greatness by normally mediocre bands.
    
    The Rats certainly were not mediocre - I like all their albums.  But
    IMHO "Tasty" is the only album they ever did that deserved the label
    of "Utterly superlative".
    
    In fact, here we are about 20 years later and "Tasty" gets re-released
    on CD.
    
    -------------------------------------
    
    Possibly another example of an artist outdoing himself is Tommy Bolin
    and Jan Hammer on Billy Cobham's "Spectrum".  Yeah, these guys certainly
    had reputations as great players but I think the playing on that one
    album really is their best with the possible exception of Hammer's work
    with Beck.
    
    Bolin's guitar work on that album was definitely a major factor in me
    learning the instrument.

"Bad Time" by Grand Funk. 

Most of their stuff was real acidy, noisy guitar stuff. Then all of a sudden
there's this absoultely great pop single! Amazing!

alan

    
    Re: Grand Funk
    
    Was this from the Rundgren-produced album?
    
    -Ed
    

>    Was this from the Rundgren-produced album?

Not sure. I know Rundgren produced the 'American Band' album, but I don't
know if "Bad Time" was on that or not; I just have the 'Greatest Hits'.

alan

    "Time after Time" by Cyndi Lauper.
    
    To me, the tune and the video were a total departure from the other stuff 
    she had on the radio and MTV.   While most of her stuff seems like
    pure bubble-gum, this tune and her performance had an undeniable
    sense of sophistication and class; two words that you usually don't
    associate with Cyndi Lauper.

    re. "time after time",
    
    it wouldn't surprise me if vegas-type lounge
    acts did that song from now on.
    it's got pop standard written all over it.
    
    thank god cyndi cut the wrestling connection loose.
    
    willie

    frank had '62' albums/cd's.
    damn, that is a lot of material.
    i would never have guessed that many.
    
    suzy creamcheese
    

re: "Time After Time",
    
> it wouldn't surprise me if vegas-type lounge acts did that song from now on.
> it's got pop standard written all over it.
  
Miles Davis already did a cover of it....

alan

    re .16, I feel the same way about her recent song, "Who Let In The
    Rain."  I think it's a really good song, and a lot better than anything
    else on the album.
    
    Lorna
    

    I think Cyndi has a good voice besides the couple of songs mentioned
    her taste in music is what I don't care for, like some one mentioned
    to much bubble gum.
    
    Tony
    

    Dirk,
    
    Please note the title. 
    
    It's about artists achieving something better than their usual.
    
    Somehow saying that a person "outdoes" himself on all his albums
    is meaningless IMO.
    
    I.E. let's not turn this into a note about "my favorite artist".
    
    Most of us would say that our favorite artists shine on nearly
    everything - that doesn't make for an interesting discussion, or at
    least it's not the one I intended for this note.

re .23

>    Please note the title.
>    It's about artists achieving something better than their usual.
>    I.E. let's not turn this into a note about "my favorite artist".

Sorry... just couldn't resist ;-)
I was trying to contribute there but I couldn't make up my mind...
won't happen again.

Dirk

    
    A few nights ago I pulled out all of my Stevie Ray Vaughn CDs and
    played just the mellow tracks.  Even though I like just about
    everything he ever recorded (with the possible exception of the Live
    Alive album, although there are moments), there were some cuts in this
    mellow set that just jumped out as being better than average even for SRV.
    
    Here they are:
    
    	Riviera Paradise  (off the In Step album)
    	Stang's Swang (sp)  (from Couldn't Stand The Weather)
    	Tin Pan Alley (from In The Beginning, not an entirely mellow
    			version, but I like it better than the studio
    			cut on Couldn't Stand The Weather)
    	Little Wing and
    	Life By The Drop  (both off the Sky Is Crying Album)
    	Lenny 	    (From Texas Flood)
    
    I had so much fun listening to this particular set, that I replayed
    it three times (and I'm sure I'll do it again real soon).
    
    Al 

    I've never heard Chicago do anything to top "Introduction" on their
    first album.
    
    Dave

    amen on the Chicago Transit Authority and "Introduction"
    
    it was all downhill from there for them.
    
    willie

    The first time I heard the remake of 25or6t04, I thought that it
    was a heavy metal band with horns - sorta like Extreme.  Even though I
    prefer Terry Kath's version, they did outdo themselves!  It also
    sounds great a LOUD volume.
    
    Different guitatist, different bassist and different vocalist makes a
    different band, just same name on 25or6to4.  Now I think that the only
    original members are Lamm, Loughnane, Pankow and Parazader (sp?).
    
    Overall I prefer the earlier stuff by Chicago.
    
    Practiced and built my drum chops stealing from Danny Seraphine - btw
    what's he doing now?
    
    Dave

    
    re Last:
    
    	What CD can the remake of 25or6to4 be found on?
    
    	Vinny

    Chicago 18
    
    Also listed are the "hits" Niagra Falls and If She Would Have Been
    Faithful.
    
    Dave