Twas inevitable that my alphabetically constrained series for #SoundtrackSunday would require addendums along the way. So when I came across two titles at DTLA’s treasure-filled Last Bookstore (@lastbookstorela) earlier this week, both in solid condition and at appealing prices (snagged ‘em for under $10 total), I didn’t hesitate to alter the trajectory while I’m still in the A’s. (This is the first of two such posts today.)
This is an absurdly arranged bootleg compilation from 2019 that would require at least two more LPs to do justice to its misleading title. Yet it’s an almost essential addition if someone (like me) is attempting to acquire on vinyl every recording involving Christine McVie.
The problem is that most of the Many Faces presented in the set’s first half are relatively inconsequential when it comes to Fleetwood Mac’s lengthy list of lineups.
Time once more to play the vinyl community’s favorite new game, Who Among Us Remembers This Guy?
Full disclosure: I sure as hell don’t.
And I haven’t found out much about him, either.
Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks weren’t the only ones from Fleetwood Mac to pursue solo ventures after the Tusk tour of ’79-’80 ended acrimoniously (again). The front half of the group’s namesake did likewise, releasing his noble failure The Visitor in June ’81.
Revisiting A&M Records No. 24
The Merry-Go-Round: ‘The Merry-Go-Round’ (November ‘67)
Ten installments ago I asserted Lee Michaels was the label’s first true rock star. I stand by that statement, even if it took him four years and five albums to score a genuine chart smash.
I get why Robbie Patton didn’t make it big, though I also see why so many in his orbit really thought he would — not just Atlantic Records execs looking for a new star but particularly Christine McVie, who sings on (but did not produce, as erroneously stated elsewhere*) this third album of his after co-helming his second.
This is a very fine Randy Newman record, perhaps not among his all-time greatest (that’s a tall order) yet teeming with cleverly caustic commentaries that rank among his best.
My mom got the cassette soon after it arrived in January ‘83 and it remained a constant for months, until I had every line of it memorized by the time she took me to see Newman live for the first time that April at Universal, when I was 14.
[Measuring the marigold.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 22
The Sandpipers: ‘The Sandpipers’ (May ’67)
[Cherchez la femme.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 21
Claudine Longet: ‘Claudine’ (April ’67)
Claudine Longet: ‘The Look of Love’ (October ’67)
