Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Elton John

This week the old random generator has pulled out another one of the more seldom listened to albums in my collection.  It's the eponymous album from Elton John.

Release date: April 10, 1970
Singles: Take Me to the Pilot, Your Song, Border Song

This is the album that introduced America to one of the most famous singer-songwriter duos in Elton John and Bernie Taupin.  The album starts off on a high note with "Your Song," which remains one of Elton John's biggest hits.  "Your Song" was originally released as the B-side to "Take Me to the Pilot," but proved to be so popular that the sides were flip-flopped, making "Your Song" the A-side.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album fails to live up to that fantastic opener.  This album is very frustrating to me because it is so close to being a good album, but it falls just short.  Some of the songs drag a little too much for me, and there just doesn't seem to be much flow as the album goes on.  The result is a mediocre album that has some bright spots.  You can definitely hear the talent and potential of a young Elton John, but he hadn't quite figured it all out yet.

Rating: Four thumbs up - It's not a bad album, and there are some great tunes to be found on it.  The front side is a little weak following "Your Song," but it finishes strong with a solid second side.

Now here's one of the more up-tempo numbers from the back side, "The Cage."



Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Rumours

How do you measure the success of an album?  Is it by the critics reviews?  The commercial profits?  The awards won?  Well if you go by number of albums sold, with over 19 million copies sold in the US alone, today's album was one of the most successful of all time.  It's Rumours by Fleetwood Mac!

Release Date: February 4, 1977
Singles: Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop, Dreams, You Make Loving Fun

In 1976, Fleetwood Mac was enjoying their greatest success as a band, with their previous album, Fleetwood Mac, reaching number 1 on the US charts and selling over 4 million copies.  Personally, however, things weren't so rosy.  John and Christine McVie got divorced, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were in a tumultuous on again/off again relationship, and Mick Fleetwood discovered that his wife had an affair with his best friend.  But out of this trying situation, the band came together and made one hell of an album. 

You can hear the band's personal problems in the lyrics of this album.  And it turns out that a lot of people can identify with going through relationship problems, and I think that is a big part of what made this album so successful.  The music is also top notch, and perfectly compliments the vocals.

Rating: 10 thumbs up - It's no secret why Rumours is one of the best-selling albums of all time: it earned it.  All the songs are great, and they flow together wonderfully.  A great album to have in the regular rotation, and it's obviously easy to find in the bins because there were so many of them produced and sold.  No reason not to pick it up.

A lot of the songs on this album receive regular airplay on the "hits of the '70s, '80s and today" stations, so here's one that maybe doesn't get as much.  Here's "Songbird."  Enjoy!



Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - The Band

This week I've got another good one for you, reader.  It's the classic eponymous album from The Band.

Release Date: September 22, 1969
Singles: Rag Mama Rag, Up on Cripple Creek

There are very few things where a person can say the [noun], and everybody knows what is being talked about.  There is no "The Car" or "The Sandwich," but there are "The Pill," and "The Catch." So if you're going to go around calling yourself "The Band," you'd better be good.  Luckily for the Band, and us, they are damn good.  And their self-titled album, sometimes referred to as "The Brown Album," is probably their best album.

Musically, it's not your typical 1969 rock 'n' roll album.  It feels older.  It sounds sepia-toned.  It takes you back to a time where things were all black and white, life was simple.  There's influences from country, rag-time, blues, and rock and roll.  The result is spectacular.

This album is a joy to listen to, and it sounds like the Band had a good time making it too.  Each member plays different instruments on different songs, there are three different lead singers throughout the album, there's horns, and a fiddle, and a clavinet.

Rating: 15 thumbs up - This is about as good as an album gets for me.  It's a timeless album.  If I could figure out a way to put my turntable on repeat (and have it automatically flip the album each time), I would listen to this album over and over and over again.  I highly recommend checking it out.

It was hard to pick a song from this album, because I enjoy them all.  But here is "Rockin' Chair," and if you want to go listen to the rest of the album on your own, that's fine by me.



Pat is crazy.