Goodies Volume 1 - WB Various Artists

This is a reconstruction of one of my favorite various artists albums. I purchased it for side two but it was side one that had the most affect on me. It also didn't hurt that side one turned out to be more acoustic/folk based, my preferred style.

When I purchased the album I knew most of the artists already but this was early in my music buying days so even those I knew I had little to none of in my collection. Consequently this album got a lot of play time.

I still have the album but it is worn and skips on some songs. Any vinyl rip I could make would at best satisfy some nostalgic longing so when I moved into the digital realm I started tracking down the songs to reconstruct the album that way. I was successful in all but The Peace Song. Every version I found was a live rendition, I needed the studio album version. I finally found a copy of that album a few weeks ago so I put this together to share with you. (I never did see a Volume 2)

Side One
01 Gordon Lightfoot - Sit Down Young Stranger
02 Grateful Dead - Ripple
03 Jesse Colin Young - The Peace Song
04 Van Morrison - Virgo Clowns
05 Dion - Your Own Back Yard

Side Two
01 T.Rex - Ride A White Swan
02 Jimi Hendrix - Castles Made Of Sand
03 The Faces - Had Me A Real Good Time
04 Jethro Tull - A Time For Everything
05 Fleetwood Mac - The Green Manalishi
06 Tony Joe White - A Night In The Life Of A Swamp Fox

Reality Notes

It's weird how a song or a group of songs can affect, inform, influence or mirror our own psyche. The songs on side one did all of that to me. Each song seemed to reflect upon some aspect of my personality and ideals.

• Sit Down Young Stranger tells the story of a young man who has just spent some time "on the road" and is now facing his parents as they question and lecture him. The road has called to me many times but my own fears and anxieties and basic laziness kept me rooted in my place. A theme that has popped up in a few of my own songs over the years.
• Ripple just seems to encapsulate the hippie ideal. The first time I was called a "f'n hippie" at work I took it as a badge of honor and on my way home from work that night I sang this song.
• The Peace Song is a call for racial harmony and general anti-violence/anti war. While some of the ideas in the song might still be a bit heavy on stereotypes for 1970, it was very forward thinking.
• Virgo Clowns is on the surface at least about keeping a positive attitude and laughing and enjoying yourself but this is Van Morrison so it could be about something completely different.
• Your Own Back Yard is the anti-drug song. This song and the many "war stories" of O.D.s kept me away from the heavier narcotics, psychedelics are a different story but it did help me keep it all in proper perspective.

If ever there was a case for music as therapy this album is it. It helped me get through my formative teen years with fewer troubles than some of the kids around me. This album also became the root inspiration for my Melancholia mix tape series that I keep threatening to post.

Side two still turned out to be enjoyable and was my introduction to The Faces and pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac and was the first time I had heard a Jethro Tull song that was not on the Aqualung album.  Still, side one received more plays by at least 3 to 1.

The cover is the actual cover of the original album because why change it?

I am declaring next month "YouTube star" month. Over the next four weeks of September I will present an artist that I first discovered on YouTube. Stay tuned.