Lindsey Buckingham - Tusk

Thanks to AEC for giving me a little nudge on this one. A while back I took apart Fleetwood Mac's Tusk and created a McVie/Nicks album. So here we have its companion, Lindsey Buckingham's Tusk.

Lindsey was in a frantic state of mind by the time Tusk was finished. Cracking from the pressure of following Rumors, one of the best selling records of all time, and fueled by heavy use of cocaine he was determined to deliver something different in order to compete with the younger New Wave bands of the time.

Side One
01 Not That Funny
02 Save Me A Place
03 What Makes You Think You're The One
04 That's All For Everyone #1
05 The Ledge
06 That's Enough For Me

Side Two
01 Tusk
02 Walk A Thin Line
03 I Know I'm Not Wrong
04 That's All For Everyone #2
05 Out On The Road
06 Kiss And Run

Bonus Track
Tusk (USC Version)

Reality Notes

When I first took Tusk apart to make the McVie/Nicks album I did try to collect Lindsey's songs into an album. At the time I only had a single disc of outtakes and at best I  was only able to come up with about 30 minutes of material. I've recently found more material in the form of the five disc deluxe version of Tusk. With the additional tracks I was not only able to expand the album to a more acceptable length but also swap some tracks with alternate versions with less Christine and Stevie to make it feel more like a solo album.

What Makes You Think You're The One, The Ledge, Walk A Thin Line, That's All For Everyone #2 are the original album versions. That's All For Everyone #1 is an earlier version with different lyrics. Out On The Road evolved into That's Enough For Me. This version is very different from the finished song keeping the chord structure but little else.

Kiss And Run is a proper outtake that sounds like an impromptu studio run through of a song that was never taken further. It was written by Jorge Calderon, the percussionist from the Buckingham/Nicks band and features McVie and Nicks a bit more prominently than I would like but it works. Its informality adds to the charm.

Tusk is an early take that does not have the USC marching band so I included a version that is only the USC band. as a bonus track

For the cover I rotated the image and inverted the colors on the original cover and did a few other modifications.

Dimetia 13 - 108 Sacred Stages

To close out 2018 here's something special and a bit obscure. the neo-psyche band Dimentia 13.

Dimentia 13 released their first album in 1985 and released five albums while they were active. Hailing from Ohio they were similar but separate from the Paisley Underground bands of the time with influences closer to Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock and the 13th Floor Elevators. Trippy lyrics and lots of fuzz guitar.

Fronted by Brad Warner who wrote the songs and on the early albums played most of, or all of the instruments. In the early 80s Brad was the bass player for the hardcore punk band 0DFX. When that band had run its course Brad went back to school, formed Dimentia 13 and discovered Zen. In the 90s he moved to Japan to teach English and went on to work for the company that gave us Godzilla and Ultraman. At that time he also became an ordained Buddhist monk in the Soto school of Zen. These days he leads Zen meditation classes, gives talks and writes books on Buddhism and Zen and plays bass in the revived 0DFX.

This is a collection of demos, outtakes and live tracks from his band Dimentia 13.

01 108 Sacred Stages
02 Hey, Maharaja!
03 Fog Camouflage
04 Truth
05 Weight
06 Innocent Anemia
07 Somebody Stop Me
08 In The Past
09 Snow Is Falling
10 Twice The Speed Of Time [Demo]
11 Can't Stand Still
12 All Is One
13 Mr Blood Clot
14 We Are
15 Mesmerized
16 Get Me Outta Sing Sing
17 Lucifer Sam
18 Do What You Will
19 God Part III

Reality Notes

I discovered Brad Warner through his books on Buddhism. If you have an interest in that kind of thing, I highly recommend them. His writing style is very accessible and personable and helped clarify many misconceptions I had about Buddhism in general and Zen in particular.

After reading his first book, Hardcore Zen, I found his website. There he would post articles and pictures of dinosaur books. He also posted some songs from his music career. The first ten songs in this comp came from there. The rest of the songs can be found on YouTube and are mostly live tracks and a couple of outtakes.

Tracks 14-17 come from a 1988 T.V. appearance on a Chicago public access show called Friday Club. Each performance was separated by other content so I edited the songs together to seem like a continuous performance.

Snow Is Falling was originally released on the various artist Christmas album put out by the record label he was signed to Midnight Records.

Can't Stand Still is an outtake from the album Flat Earth Society produced by Glenn Rehse of Plasticland.

Mr Blood Clot was released on a Flexidisc given away with an issue of the British psych mag Freakbeat.

God Part III is a more recent live solo acoustic performance of a song from the album Flat Earth Society.

I found the cover pic online and added the text.

Hardcore Zen blog
Facebook

Melancholia - Volume 5

I think of all of the non-themed volumes, this is my favorite.  What makes this compilation slightly unique is that it is the first and only comp in the series originally made from dubbing cassette to cassette. It was made at a time when I was between buying vinyl and not yet buying CDs. Because of this, this is a good cross sample of what I was currently listening to at the time whereas previous collections were a mix of new discoveries and old favorites. There is still that mix but everything was purchased around the same time.

At the time this was complied I was working at a restaurant where on my breaks I would go and sit in the dinning room and chat with the other workers. We had a jukebox that played three songs for a quarter and I would always play the same three songs; Free Fallin' by Tom Petty, The Flame by Cheap Trick and Almost Hear You Sigh by the Rolling Stones. I'm not sure why the Stones song didn't make the comp but it should have. I must have run out of room.

01 Tom Petty - Free Fallin'
02 The Rainmakers - No Romance
03 Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary
04 Heart - Love Alive
05 Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy
06 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Feel Your Love
07 Love and Rockets - So Alive
08 Tracie Spencer - Imagine
09 Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - Tumblin Down
10 Vanilla Fudge - Ticket To Ride
11 David Crosby - Tracks In The Dust

12 Cheap Trick - The Flame
13 Nazareth - Love Hurts
14 Belinda Carlisle - Mad About You
15 Guns N' Roses - Patience
16 Indigo Girls - Closer To Fine
17 Tin Machine - Amazing
18 Eric Clapton - Please Be With Me
19 Living Colour - Broken Hearts
20 Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High
21 Paul McCartney - Distractions
22 Prince - Mountains
23 Enya - Orinoco Flow

Reina del Cid - Sunday Mornings With...The Originals

Here is a follow up to my Reina del Cid post a couple months back. This one focuses on the original songs they performed for their Sunday Mornings With... series.

I culled these 23 songs from more than 50 tracks. These folks are very prolific and continue to release a new song each week. Some are covers and some are originals.

Many of these songs have yet to appear on an album. I did my best to determine which songs were originals. It was usually declared in the video title or description and in some cases during the intros on the video itself. If any of these are covers they did a great job of making them their own.

01 Library Girl
02 1970
03 Let's Begin
04 All Time Low
05 Giving Up
06 Hold Me Before I'm Gone Forever
07 Blue Sky Armageddon
08 Sister, Don't Cry
09 Ferdinand
10 Million Girls
11 Runner in the Sun
12 Honey from the Bee
13 Woolf
14 O My Baby
15 Pretty Lie
16 Shot 'em Dead
17 Edge of the Universe
18 Soul Mines
19 Burn Out
20 Common Man
21 Queen Hazel
22 Up the Creek
23 Seasons

Reality Notes

I continue to be enamored by this band. Great songs and great musicianship. Always tasteful and never overstated. If you feel compelled to show your support they do have a Patreon page. This seems to be a common method for independent bands to fund their work.

I had a lot of material to choose from so I focused on unique tracks that have yet to find space on an album or were very different from the album versions. Many of these are song sketches that were either further developed or maybe even dropped for one reason or another but everything here is worthy of sharing.

Melancholia - Volume 4

This edition is my least favorite. Not because of the track list but more because of the time it was done. At the time of compiling I was living with my brother to be closer to the band we had. I lived in one city and everyone else lived in another. My records were in storage so I made this from my brother's stack of records. While we have some overlap in our tastes he leans toward more heavy stuff than I do, so finding songs that fit the Melancholia feel was a challenge. Of all the volumes in the series this would be the easiest to trim to fit on a CD.

The one song of note is the Pink Floyd song Grantchester Meadows. Long before I had any albums of my own my brother played this song for me. It was the first all acoustic song I remember hearing and I remember being very stunned by its simplicity. I used to sneak into his room when he wasn't home and play this song a few times then sneak out. I still find the song hauntingly beautiful and I'm sure it had a lot to do with my preference for more acoustic based music.

Side A
01 Montrose - Rich Man
02 Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes - Sasha
03 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lend Your Love To Me Tonight
04 Pink Floyd - Grantchester Meadows
05 Angel - Flying With Broken Wings (Without You)
06 Steve Howe - Ram
07 Missing Persons - Surrender Your Heart
08 Bruce, Lordan, Trower [BLT] - It's Too Late
09 Joe Walsh - Tomorrow
10 Pete Townshend - Evolution
11 KISS - Beth
12 Doobie Brothers - Listen To The Music

Side B
13 Captain Beyond - Sufficiently Breathless
14 Alice Cooper - You and Me
15 Neil Diamond - Be
16 James Gang - Spanish Lover
17 Grateful Dead - Dire Wolf
18 Saxon - Northern Lady
19 Steve Vai - Junkie
20 Tommy Bolin - Hello, again
21 Harry Chapin - Flowers Are Red
22 Yes - We Have Heaven

Melancholia - Vol 9 70s Edition

I do have a few other projects in the works but until they are ready the Melancholia fest continues.

There's a certain sound or production style that was popular in the early 70s. I never put my finger on it but I think it had something to do with a certain type of reverb and how it was used. The shimmery strums of acoustic guitar and the liberal use of the Fender Rhodes electric piano seem to be prevalent as well. Either way when I hear that sound I'm transported somewhere else.

This compilation was my attempt to bottle that nostalgia for easy consumption and I think it turned out pretty good. While '67 to '75 seems to be the period of music I gravitate to, I'm always surprised at how many of my favorite songs or albums come from 1973. This comp covers more than just that year but the bulk of the tracks are from right around that time. This is definitely a desert island disc for me. It also contains the most "big hits" than any other Melancholia comps with exception of the K-Tel Generation collection. Enjoy!

01 Neil Young - Heart Of Gold
02 Carly Simon - You're So Vain
03 Paul McCartney - Band on the Run
04 Rod Stewart - Maggie May
05 Lou Reed- Walk on the Wild Side
06 Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years
07 Badfinger - Day After Day
08 America - A Horse With No Name
09 The Kinks - Lola
10 Led Zeppelin - Hey Hey What Can I Do?
11 David Bowie - Heroes
12 T.Rex - Bang A Gong (Get It On)
13 Ringo Starr - Photograph
14 Gary Wright - Love Is Alive
15 Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
16 Joe Cocker - Feelin' Alright
17 Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
18 Eric Clapton - Let It Rain
19 The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe

Melancholia - Volume 3

This volume of my Melancholia series was again sourced from the best vinyl I had. It also contains more (sort of) current (at the time) songs than the previous volumes.

This is still one of my favorite editions. It has the right blend of new, classic and deep cuts. Many of these songs are still among my top favorites ever. If I were to make a best of Melancholia collection this volume would be well represented.

While not the last comp to be sourced from vinyl it was made when my record collection had reached its peak. Soon after this edition I went into a nomadic stage in my life which necessitated my collection going into storage and eventual reduction to make moving easier. During this time of limbo I purchased cassettes over vinyl and eventually embraced CDs.

Side A
01 Lone Justice - Shelter
02 Tommy James - Kelly Told Anne
03 Paul Simon - Take Me To The Mardi Gras
04 Bob Marley and the Wailers - Redemption Song
05 Lou Reed - I Love You
06 Crosby-Nash - The Wall Song
07 Rickie Lee Jones - On Saturday Afternoons In 1963
08 Led Zeppelin - Going to California
09 Grateful Dead - Black Muddy River
10 Amy Grant - Family
11 The Faces - Ooh La La
12 Dire Straits - Why Worry

Side B
01 Love and Rockets - Waiting For The Flood
02 Leo Kottke - Tiny Island
03 Lloyd Cole - 2cv
04 T'Pau - Heart And Soul
05 Klaatu - I Don't Wanna Go Home
06 Melanie - Holding Out
07 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - The Wild One, Forever
08 Squeeze - Black Coffee In Bed
09 Fleetwood Mac - Storms
10 Randy Stonehill - Christine
11 Yardbirds - Still I'm Sad
12 Billy Bragg - The Man In The Iron Mask

Reality Notes

I'd like to address naming conventions. Like many here, I have a large digital library. Early on I knew I needed a way to go through my files efficiently and I needed a way to organize my collection to make it accessible through my library manager (Media Monkey), my iPods or just browsing through the folders.

My general solution was to create a folder structure and naming convention that made my collection browsable no matter how I looked at it. At the folder structure root is a folder named Music (obviously). Inside there is a folder for each letter of the alphabet plus about a dozen special folders for certain genres that I wanted to keep separate from the mainstream general folders. The are folders for soundtracks, various artists, country, classical, jazz and a few others.

Artist are sorted by last name so folders within the main folders follow the naming convention of  last name first, first name last for solo artists. Band names with a "The" in front have the "The" placed after the name (IE: Beatles, The). Windows does not ignore "The" when sorting folders unlike Apple. If a band member has any solo albums I generally put those in with the main band's folder unless the solo artist has a sizable discography of their own. Examples are Stevie Nicks is separated from Fleetwood Mac but The Soft Boys get put in the Robyn Hitchcock folder. Solo Beatles have their own folders but I like to keep all solo Dead inside the Grateful Dead folder.

If a band has more than four or five albums the album folders include the number of the album (04 Beatles For Sale) or the year the album was released (1968 The Beatles [White Album]). This sorts the albums in chronological order. Live bootlegs, if numerous, are put in a special folder named '[bootlegs]" within the band folder with both the folder and album names matching using the format: "Year [date] venue, city, state/country - boot title(if applicable)", (1968 [08-13] The Catacombs, Boston, MA). Again this puts them in chronological order and easier to search.

Tags within the tracks themselves follow a similar convention. Last name first, first name last for solo artists and in most cases "The" is placed after the band name following a comma. I have since stopped this because most library managers and iPods ignore "The" when sorting by artists.

Various artist albums were a challenge. My library manager recognizes both the Artist and Album Artist tags. General convention says to put the artist in the artist tag and Various in the Album Artist tag. But iPods would generally put tracks where these two tags differ at the end of the device library thus putting some songs/albums out of order. My solution was to put the name of the various artist album in the Album Artist and Artist tags as well as the Album Title. If the album is a part of a series (like Melancholia) I would put the volume name in the Album tag. I would then put the artist name in the Title tag with the tile using the convention of "Artist - Title". File names use the "Track# Artist - Title" convention.

When I share a various artist collection I will retag the files to better comply with the general consensus of tagging styles. I always embed front cover art within the tag as well as as a separate file within the album folder. I realize there are most likely as many ways to organize a collection as there are collectors but this has worked for me and has proven to scale as the collection grows. How do you organize your collection?