[Witness the birth of Beefheart!]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 20
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band:
‘The Legendary A&M Sessions’ (January-March ’66)
A&M Records Highlights: Captain Beefhart and His Magic Band
Vinyl Collection
Christine McVie Deep Dive: The Alternate ‘Mirage’
Six points about The Alternate Mirage as we continue deep diving into Christine McVie’s recorded past:
1. I know all they did was flip the back cover to the front and vice versa, but I can’t help but smile at the sight of the band’s rhythm section whenever they’re posed with their namesake moniker. It’s why I prefer the ’75 white album display over the iconic shot for the LP that followed it.
A&M Records Highlights: Procol Harum
[A wider shade of confusion.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 19
Procol Harum: ‘Procol Harum’ (Sept ’67)
A&M Records Highlights: Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
[What a groovy time they were having.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 18
Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart: ‘Test Patterns’ (Sept ’67)
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Bob Welch’s ‘Live from the Roxy’
There was a time, so soon after their ascendency to superstar status, when the most enduring incarnation of Fleetwood Mac was on such good terms with former frontman Bob Welch that it remains baffling why he was left out of their Hall of Fame induction and acrimony ensured for decades.
Ok, yes, the fact that he sued them in ’94 for unpaid royalties probably had lots to do with that snub. Rewind to November 1981, however, when this star-studded set was captured at West Hollywood’s world-famous Roxy Theatre, and you’ll find they were rarely chummier.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Lindsey Buckingham’s ‘Law and Order’
The keen eyes and ears of @all.the.records summed up this phase of my already-leagues-deep dive into Christine McVie’s discography in a comment on the previous installment in this series: ‘The takeaway I’m getting from these most recent … posts is the members [of Fleetwood Mac] worked on a lot of songs or records during some downtime in FM in the early ‘80s.’
I’d go a step further, actually: non-Mac downtime work became the band’s new standard operating procedure post-Tusk.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Robbie Patton’s ‘Distant Shores’
Time again to play the vinyl community’s fastest-growing game: Who Among Us Remembers This Guy?
Reintroducing Robbie Patton, another likable wannabe rock star who caught his big break opening for Fleetwood Mac’s troublesome tour behind Tusk — although Christine McVie, whose discography I’ve been revisiting, clearly took a shine to him more brightly than she did the focus of our previous post in this deep dive, Danny Douma.
A&M Records Highlights: The Move
Wait, wait, wait … what’s this?
Is this a #VinylTwosDays pairing appearing on Friday instead?
Thorough readers — and thank you very much, you’re why I bother Instababbling — might have noticed a footnote on my previous post indicating I’m unshackling my chronicle of A&M Records from once-a-week confinement. Haven’t decided yet what hashtag (if any) ought to replace #TuesdaysWithJerry, in tribute to late label co-founder Jerry Moss. But that’s really no reason to stop me from plowing ahead.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Danny Douma’s ‘Night Eyes’
We’ve reached the point in my year-old deep dive into Christine McVie’s vast discography where we must ask, for the first of several times: Who among us remembers this guy?
If you were lucky enough to catch Fleetwood Mac during the first North American leg of their Tusk tour in late ‘79 — and you bothered arriving on time — then you probably saw a warmup set from this likable fellow, Danny Douma.
A&M Records Highlights: Family Portrait
Initially I’d planned for this lengthy look back at A&M Records to be a series of twofers, the better to coincide with #VinylTwosDays, a weekly scene I’m always happy to join. But as I started sorting through titles and structuring future installments, it quickly occurred to me that not everything will pair up so pleasingly.