The Wagoneers — Stout And High

The Wagoneers -- Stout And High

• Artist: Wagoneers
• Title: Stout And High
• Year: 1988
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1988 – ?
• Keeper: Yes

These guys play both types of music – country and western. This is a solid, very listenable roots-country/western album. They pushed the cowboy image way over the top, but it was the ’80s. Rockabilly bands, Hair Metal, New Wave – you know what I’m saying. I think these guys got a fair amount of press and critical acclaim at the time. Who knows where they are now? Did they release anything else?

Steve Vai — Passion And Warfare

Steve Vai -- Passion And Warfare

• Artist: Steve Vai
• Title: Passion And Warfare
• Year: 1990
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1990 – Bought it for myself at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

This isn’t the only Steve Vai record I own, but for some reason it’s the only one I can find. Hmm.

I love being witness greatness, and Vai is certainly a tremendous guitarist. Like most guitar hero albums this isn’t the kind of record you want to play often. The songs serve as vehicles for the guitar showmanship. Unless you’re a guitar hero or wannabe yourself, music is more enjoyable when the solos serve the songs.

That said, Steve Vai’s work is much more about the music than just the intense solos than, say, Joe Satriani. It’s also a lot weirder.

U-Men — Step On A Bug

U-Men -- Step On A Bug

• Artist: U-Men
• Title: Step On A Bug
• Year: 1989
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1989 – Bought it for myself at our store RIP Records.
• Keeper: Yes

Fans of Birthday Party will love this, though the band was part of the Seattle scene through most of the 1980s. I first heard them on the “famous” C/Z record label compilation which also included tracks from Soundgarden and others.

Birthday Party may be a lazy comparison, but I think it’s accurate. There are, of course, differences, but it’s hard not to think of Nick Cave when you hear the frenetic, strained vocals on this record. I believe this was their only proper, full length album.

T. Rex — Electric Warrior

T. Rex -- Electric Warrior

• Artist: T. Rex
• Title: Electric Warrior
• Year: 1971
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1986 ? – I think I got this when I was working at Mother’s Records & Tapes.
• Keeper: Yes

You gotta have “Bang A Gong (Get It On)” in your record collection. I also love “Mambo Sun” and “Jeepster”, but for me the rest can get a bit too hippy dippy trippy. Everyone seems to think it’s a masterpiece. Maybe they’re right, but I usually feel the need to play some AC/DC or Motorhead afterward.

SGM – Aggression

• Artist: SGM
• Title: Aggression
• Year: 1988
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 1
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1988 – We got this as a promo at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
• Keeper: No

Updated November 14, 2006

SGM, not to be confused with the prog-metal band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The latter makes some pretty interesting and sophisticated music. This album is so bad I considered not even documenting it. The only thing that changed my mind is that the cover art is a painting by Robert Williams. This is a lame metal/punk “crossover” album with moronic lyrics.

For another opinion on SGM’s Aggression see this interview at the metal site RockEzine.net. An excerpt is below:

What is the most embarrassing album in your own private album collection. (How/why did you get it?)
It is an LP of SGM called aggression. I think I heard it just once! I bought it by mailorder because of the description of the music style. So, this is a good example for listen to the music before buying it. I never had disappointment like that again.

R.E.M. — Chronic Town

• Artist: R.E.M.
• Title: Chronic Town
• Year: 1982
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Mary/Tracy
• Acquired: 1982 – We both had our own copies.
• Keeper: Yes

I was never really into R.E.M., but for some reason I did buy the first few records. Mary, on the other hand, seems to have almost everything they did, including oddball stuff like 7″ 45RPM box sets. I was in high school when this came out and I would buy anything new, not on the radio, that I could get my hands on. Now that I’m a crotchety old geezer I’m not nearly as tolerant. I’m still always on the hunt for “the new”, but I only want what really excites me.

Pailhead — Trait

• Artist: Pailhead
• Title: Trait
• Year: 1988
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1988 – Bought it for myself at our store RIP Records.
• Keeper: Yes

Ian MacKaye on vocals with Al Jourgensen and Al Barker of Ministry and the outcome is pretty much what you would expect. Which is fine because I would expect that combo to rock. It does. This EP is only four songs. I think this came out before the Ministry album “The Land of Rape and Honey” that was also released in ’88. That album blew everyone away. This EP was a clear signal of the Ministry metal maelstrom that was to come.

Sinead O’Connor — The Lion And The Cobra

• Artist: Sinead O’Connor
• Title: The Lion And The Cobra
• Year: 1987
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 5
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1987 – Mary bought it when she was working at Plan 9 in Richmond, VA.
• Keeper: Maybe

What can I say about this one? It’s a decent pop record, and different than most stuff at the time. That said, she is solidly in the category I like to call “too-earnest-too-often.” It doesn’t even matter what the lyrics are about, it just sounds too earnest.

Naz Nomad & The Nightmares — Give Daddy the Knife Cindy

• Artist: Naz Nomad & The Nightmares
• Title: Give Daddy the Knife Cindy
• Year: 1984
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 5
• Owner: Tracy Sigler
• Acquired: 1984 – I have no idea where I got this. Mail order?
• Keeper: Yes

This is a phony band, with a phony soundtrack, to a phony movie. The truth is this band is acutally The Damned. The singer Dave Vanian’s voice is immediately recognizable. This record is mostly an eclectic collection of covers of hits from the 1960s. “Nobody But Me”, “Cold Turkey”, etc. My favorite track is an original (I think) at the end of side two, “Just Call Me Sky.” It’s supposed to sound like a “live” show. Unfortunately, it fades away just as it gets going…

MC5 — Kick Out The Jams

• Artist: MC5
• Title: Kick Out The Jams
• Year: 1969
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 9
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1984 ? Maybe later. I think I might have bought it in the UK, even though it was a US release, and that would be dumb.
• Keeper: Yes

“Kick Out The Jams…” No, not that one, unfortunately. I have a later release where the offensive, to some, language was replaced with “brothers and sisters.” It’s a laughably clumsy sounding edit to boot. The voices have completely different room sounds. But at least my version has the gloriously Metallic/Psychedelic gatefold album cover.

Everybody knows the title track, but my favorite may just be the show opener on this in-concert record, “Rambling Rose.” The whole record/show is so intense and frenzied, so heavy at times, it’s hard to believe it happened in 1969. Thank God it did.