Oakland's Vinyl Vault

I'm back! It is looking like I won't be sitting around doing nothing all day at my new job, and thus I will actually have to do posts here on my own free time. So, expect a drastic decline in the number of posts in the future. But the good news is that I enjoyed the first week at my new job. I'm still in that warm, fuzzy period where everything is new and exciting and it doesn't feel like work yet. I'm sure that will end pretty quickly, but I'm happy to be out of the legal profession, and doing something that I can envision myself having a future in. With that in mind, this week, to celebrate, the randomizer spit out an album that is a legit contender for best album of all time. The only difficult thing is that, well, it doesn't exactly have a name. Yes, it is Led Zeppelin's untitled masterpiece, most often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV.

Release date: November 8, 1971
Singles: Black Dog, Rock and Roll

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Ooh, what a lucky reader you are! This week, you get the self-titled debut album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer!

Release date: October 1970
Singles: Take a Pebble, Lucky Man

The Times, They Are A-Changing

Big news to announce: my career in the justice system is over.

I have taken a position at a winery, to pursue my dream of making and drinking wine for a living. I don't know how this will affect my ability to post on this pointless blog, but I'm guessing that it will be pretty sporadic for a while until I get a new routine set.

In the meantime, here's a link that you should definitely click.

#1 Songs - 1963

As promised, we are back to our regular posts. Let's get things going this week with the hit songs of 1963. Here are the contenders:

Telstar	The Tornadoes
Go Away Little Girl	Steve Lawrence
Walk Right In	The Rooftop Singers
Hey Paula	Paul and Paula
Walk Like A Man	The 4 Seasons
Our Day Will Come	Ruby And The Romantics
He's So Fine	The Chiffons
I Will Follow Him	Little Peggy March
If You Wanna Be Happy	Jimmy Soul
It's My Party	Lesley Gore
Sukiyaki	Kyu Sakamoto
Easier Said Than Done	The Essex
Surf City	Jan & Dean
So Much In Love	The Tymes
Fingertips - Pt 2	Little Stevie Wonder
My Boyfriend's Back	The Angels
Blue Velvet	Bobby Vinton
Sugar Shack	Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs
Deep Purple	Nino Tempo & April Stevens
I'm Leaving It Up To You	Dale & Grace
Dominique	The Singing Nun (Soeur Sourire)

As we go further into the 1960s, rock 'n' roll is starting to take over the charts, pushing country and instrumentals to the side. Some country hits still hold on, like "Go Away Little Girl," by Steve Lawrence, but the shift in popular music is undeniable. The song that stayed on top for the longest in 1963 was Jimmy Gilmer's "Sugar Shack." We also get our first number 1 hit by Stevie Wonder, who was only 12 years old at the time, the live song "Fingertips - Pt 2" (the whole song was too long to be a single in 1963). This year also bizarrely featured not one, but two foreign language songs: "Dominique," by the Singing Nun is in French, and "Sukiyaki," a song that is completely in Japanese. I had no idea Americans were listening to Asian pop music 50 years before "Gangnam Style" swept the nation.

The Best:

Overall, 1963 was a pretty good year in music. "Walk Right In," "Walk Like a Man," "He's So Fine," and "Fingertips - Pt 2" were all great songs. But the song that I think is not only the most fun, but also sounds ahead of its time is "If You Wanna Be Happy," by Jimmy Soul.

The Worst:

Not a whole lot of bad songs. There are a few songs that sound dated, or fairly pedestrian, but nothing really stands out. That is, until you get to the last hit of the year, "Dominique." This song really sticks out, and there was a song that's in Japanese (that is really quite good). I really do not understand how this song became an international hit.

Pat is crazy.

I'm Back!

Hello again, everyone! I don't have too much to say right now (so, business as usual). I recently got back from my vacation to New Zealand. Here are the things that apparently happened while I was gone:

The Gophers are still the Gophers - I left the day after their completely awesome Frozen Four victory over the [redacted], only to find out that they then went ahead and lost to Union in the final. The Gophers getting your hopes up only to ultimately disappoint? Yeah, we've been there before. But the victory over North Dakota was a great game. The last time I was so excited watching sports was Oakland's game 4 comeback over the Tigers in the 2012 ALDS.

Speaking of Oakland, they've been doing well, boasting the best record in the AL. The confusing thing is that the bullpen, which was expected to be a strength, has been the team's biggest weakness. If the bullpen can get their shit together, this is going to be a dangerous team. It would be really awesome if we could play somebody other than Detroit in the ALDS though.

The Sharks absolutely crushed the Kings in the first two games of the series. Man, I really wish I could have watched those games. Stay hot, Sharks!

Ok, that's all I got. It seems that not all that much happened while I was gone, and also that the only thing that I care about is sports. Well, sports and vinyl (I picked up two records in New Zealand - and neither of them are by Lorde (vinyl was more expensive there, I still might pick it up here)). Ok, I'll get back to my regularly scheduled posts next week. Until then, go Sharks! (And, what the hey, go Wild, too.)

Words I Wish People Would Stop Saying

1. Selfie

I get it. People take a lot of pictures of themselves these days. But it seems to me that the word "selfie" is starting to become synonymous with "picture." More and more, I seem to come across articles on the internet about so-and-so taking a selfie, but then the picture is clearly taken by somebody else. Sometimes from a considerable distance away. That's not a selfie! That's just a fucking photograph! Also, and this may be just personal taste, a true selfie should not have anybody else but the person taking the picture in it.

2. Photobomb

Anytime somebody is accidentally or unknowingly in somebody else's photo, they are not "photobombing." It has to be deliberate, with the intent of ruining the picture!

I hate people. Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Sometimes bands take a sharp left turn. This week, we take a look at one classic example of that, with the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

Release date:August 30, 1968
Singles: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, I am a Pilgrim