Recent Record Hauls

Since April or so, I have made three visits to Hards Off, and today I finally added them to my RateYourMusic database. This frees me mentally to ballyhoo the records here. I have 178 or so albums (a few simply can’t be found and catalogued on my Rate Your Music because they are classical music by prolific artists and therefore impossible to search precisely) now. The shelf is filling up. It brings joy.

If you are not into the record haul genre of Derek Wessman blog posts, please feel free to skip but know that you have offended me deeply. I bet you will like some of the things I say even without an interest in the music. This may be presumptuous. Do not tell me so.

Ryuichi Sakamoto—*Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence*

A lot of people will recognize the beautiful melody of the title track, which alone makes it worth giving the album a listen. But there are also other atmospheric Sakamoto moments to savor.

This album is a monument to beautiful sound. Some people might, as I did, find the English lyrics of the songs a little off-putting at first. They are not entirely natural, although much more coherent than most J-pop English usage. The melodies and overall production are just tremendous. It was recorded on the 3M digital recording system famous for having been used on early 1980s masterpieces, such as The Nightfly by Donald Fagen, which is in turn famously used by audiophiles to test sound systems. Awakening has been in heavy rotation in my life since early spring.

This is one of several nostalgia selections. I have tried to avoid nostalgia selections in my vinyl era, but the day I got this, I was clearly weak and picked up several. That said, each album of this ilk deserves a place in my collection and will get listens. Breakfast in America has a lot of bangers. I distinctly remember that either I or maybe my brother Scott picked it up at a Deseret Industries thrift store in the 1990s. Back then it sounded so bleak to me, with its themes of crappy adulthood. Now it sounds kind of bleak and kind of, well, nostalgic. Try it today! 👍👍

The next nostalgia pickup. The title track was on an Eagles greatest hits cassette that my brother Rob (I think) purchased in the 1990s. If I remember correctly, it was one of many in one of those “Get 13 Cassettes Free!!!”-type scammy deals advertised on the back of Parade Magazine or something; the purchase also may have been a minor family scandal at the time. My, how good it was that the purchase was made. I loved the laid-back sound of it. Theory: The Big Lebowski did a lot to make my generation embarrassed to like the Eagles. Nevertheless, they had some great songs and deserve earnest love, which I give freely.

This album brings the yachty, city-pop feel I love so much lately with some “hey, I know that place” local flair. My favorite track is “Chuo Freeway,” an ode to the Chuo Expressway leading out of central Tokyo and into Hachioji. Having driven the road so many times and felt good feelings while on it, the song resonates a lot. I love the night views from the Chuo, of Inagi and its shining apartment buildings on the hills to the south, and the sodium vapor lights that curve back and forth elegantly toward my town. The lyrics are perfect. Yuming points out landmarks like the Fuchu racetrack and Suntory brewery while likening the road to a runway from which a couple takes off together.

“Take On Me” is the banger to be sure, but they are a good band all around.

I remarked elsewhere the other day how physical media such as vinyl can free us from worrying about enjoying the work of an artist who has become (or in Eric Clapton’s case, has become more of) a butt-hole. This album is undeniably great, and without streaming, no support goes to the BH.

Lots of great songs on here, and the album was produced by Nile Rodgers. It is a major sound of the eighties.

Man did these guys go hard. This too is very nostalgia-driven and -driving, but just very worth having in any case.

The title track caught my imagination for several months a year or so ago. They are so prolific! They go so hard too!

Not a lot to say, except nostalgia, and what a vibe.

First, I owe Heatwave a public apology. I have loved some of their work for a long time, such as the masterpiece “Boogie Nights” (you know, those which are always the best in town). What I failed to learn soon enough about them is that the band included Rod Temperton some of the time. He is the man who wrote most of the Michael Jackson songs you love. Current and the other Heatwave album below, Candles, include many more absolute Temperton bangers. He clearly had a really good time in the seventies and eighties. (And, I bet, thereafter, cashing some prodigious royalty checks as he lived out the rest of his life in privacy, it seems.) His recurring theme is to have a very good time in your life. This is inspiring and resonant to me. No deep thinking or fancy philosophy or the deplorable, tiresome, deleterious irony 🤮 so often considered to be the proper stance of artists of my generation. Enjoy your life.

I also owe Billie Holiday an apology. The other day as Zack and I listened to Gil Scott-Heron sing his excellent song “Lady Day and John Coltrane” while riding through suburban Yokohama on a drive, I tried to surmise who Lady Day might be. Of course it was Billie Holiday. I should suffer some kind of nonpermanent physical punishment for this oversight. Anyway this album is amazing. Depth and atmosphere for Days.

Pretty much every Miles Davis album is priced expensively, even at a store like Hard Off. The corporation running the place has clearly wisely created a database that dictates what to charge for each album that is known to be sought-after. Still, it is worth having any Miles Davis album that comes into one’s path. Note: Despite my fairly strict rule that I collect albums and not compilations, I make exceptions for jazz greats, because it is worth having their music in any form, and also albums were often not distributed widely before the artist became well known, so I am not likely to find them and will therefore not get to enjoy their output without the aid of compilations.

One of the many albums I have acquired lately that fall into the “this has to be very yachty” category, based on a quick look at the back cover and the producers or personnel, etc. Upon listening, this is a good album and indeed yachty.

George Benson holds a prominent place in my collection. It is fun to watch his evolution in appearance, from a fairly regular fellow on his early jazz album covers, to this mid-1980s look with sweaters and eyeliner. That mustache gets trimmed away vertically over the years, too. This album is not (yet) as powerfully pleasant to me as Give Me the Night and In Your Eyes, which are so pleasant as to make my day every listen. Nevertheless, he remains a guitarist and vocalist par excellence, and it is fun to hear how an artist gets adapted into the style of the day.

Pure nostalgia. “Love On the Rocks” especially—that track was my first-ever karaoke performance, and it was very well received. Praise-receipt is my brain’s fondest emotion for memory. I do not support the blackface extant in the film to which the soundtrack is attached. I have never seen the film. And I think of Robert E. Lee as nothing but a coward traitor loser, even though the track on this album that is named for a boat that is named for him is admittedly fun.

This was a good listen yesterday. Low-key great album cover, too.

Ronnie Laws is interesting as hell. Tons of instrumental tracks, and most of them are sax-driven. This is not normally a recipe for greatness, yet when I put one of his albums on I have a great time and get work done and want to listen again later.

Kind of Blue this is not, but of course it is sterling work.

Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan—*Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan*

This has been on my “man I hope I find this next visit to a Hard Off” list, so lots of joy to find it. Her voice is one of my favorites. Great album.

The title track is the one you and I and all humankind know, but the album is strong throughout. They had good voices and production and personnel.

One thing I hate about Spotify, of which I remain a user, is that for me the algorithm leads inevitably toward Boz Scaggs, when I let it choose the songs after, say, a lot of Chaka Khan and Kool and The Gang. This vexes me. But with my recent love of yacht rock, I am constrained to admit that I love his music. Amid this constrention I will choose to revel instead of lament.

I own way too many Lee Ritenour albums. He is elite personnel, there is no doubt. Having an album of his playing during work leads to generally good productivity. There is a line that a man should not cross, though, and that is probably two Lee Ritenour albums. Since I have already exposed myself to him excessively, I will share for the benefit of public health any symptoms I may come to exhibit due to this exposure.

This is a masterpiece. “In The Stone” has my imagination currently. My god they’re good at being Earth Wind & Fire.

Nostalgia yet again. Not for the 1970s when America was biggest (and unknowingly functioning as a proto-yacht-rock influence), but when, circa 2000, I lived in Las Vegas and used my first credit card to purchase the Time-Life Singers and Songwriters Collection on CD. America was well represented on that, with such tracks as “Ventura Highway,” which Janet Jackson sampled around that same time, making me more confident that it was good.

All I need is Kenny to buy a Kenny album, but a look at the back cover had him standing happily with James Ingram, whose voice I adore, so it got even easier to buy. The album is good. The title track especially. And if you have watched “The Greatest Night in Pop,” you’ll never (I should hope) forget the relish with which Kenny scarfed a cheeseburger that fateful night.

Something keeps me from fully loving Hall and Oates, but the listen Zack and I gave this album the other day was downright enjoyable. Someday some impurity will be leached out from me and I’ll embrace them with abandon.

The greatest Heavy Medal album of all time. Pure nostalgia, jingoism, 1980s glory and stupidity. I love it unironically.

Quincy Jones—*This Is How I Feel About Jazz*

I haven’t listened to this yet, but as an artist Q can do no wrong for me. This is before he was astronomically famous, but already very established by being a music arranger for Sinatra and others.

Rolling Stones albums are always priced highly, so I often pass on buying them. I don’t adore every Rolling Stones album, not least because they can be a little Aerosmithy, i.e. have one banger and thirteen meh songs on an album. Also, it has become clearer over time that others were doing Black music better than the Stones back then, such as Black artists. Some Girls is an exception to my resistance, though. “Miss You” and “Beast of Burden” are so, so good. Oh, but please do not listen closely to the problematic lyrics.

“The Greatest Night in Pop” served to burnish my esteem of Cyndi Lauper, which had gradually evolved from outright disdain to respect over a few decades. She is a great singer, and I admire her fearlessness in song selection and interpretation and outright weirdness. This album has the two monster tracks of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Time After Time.” The latter brings a literal tear to my eye more often than not, regardless of number of listens. What a song. There are many more great tracks too, including “He’s So Unusual,” a remake of a 1929(!) song that inspired the Betty Boop character(!). Cyndi Lauper does it so well. The rendition kind of blew me away, as did the decision to include it on her debut album in the 1980s. Fearless.

I had heard good things*, and the record cost a pretty penny, but holy moly is this good. I listened to it while writing some of the above, but was stopped in my tracks several times. This will be a high-GDP work soundtrack on the level of Kid A, I can already tell.

*As a fool, I forgot when I wrote the above that I recently watched the film Thief, whose soundtrack was done by Tangerine Dream. The music lent a great deal to the film, which was dated as hell and both good and a little bad but also good as a result of that datedness.

I bought this expressly because the first track was written by the current love of my life, Rod Temperton. I just listened to it without concentrating much because I was writing a blog post—yes, even the one you read at this very moment, Dear Reader—it is a fun album. Also, can we stop and look at the album cover and appreciate his outfit. That shirt, those pants, those Nikes. You could go out with that on today in May 2024 and be thought of as very fashionable, in my humble opinion.

As yachty and smooth (redundant terms, I know) as an album gets. Online, I saw a discussion doubting that Toto should be considered yacht rock. I think the misguided purveyors of that opinion are sadly unaware of the importance of personnel. Toto is personnel to the highest degree. This album is so choice. It sounds great on even my uncalibrated, untuned sound system. Oh, it also includes “Africa.” For hell’s sakes.

Not a lot I can say, except perhaps that he does no wrong. If Coltrane does a thing, it ceases to be able to be wrong.

Michael and Temperton at their disco best, with a healthy quantity of hints toward the post-disco glory of Thriller. I love this as much as Thriller. I love Thriller a lot of units of love.

I haven’t listened to this, or explored Al Jarreau at all, yet. Deep down I know he is going to capture my heart. He was wildin’ on The Greatest Night in Pop, having drunk too much wine. I bet he does similarly on this album.

Update: This album’s production is luscious.

Another album that I desperately wanted to find. Now I have it. It does not disappoint. They are one of my favorite acts in all of music.

Michael McDonald—*If That’s What It Takes*

Last, and perhaps most important: Michael McDonald’s masterpiece, in my opinion. This has “I Keep Forgettin’" and many more gems. His voice is just beautiful. If you watch videos of the way he sings, it is clear he is wrenching the notes from deep within himself in a physical way that not many singers match. This week, McDonald released a memoir called What a Fool Believes. I am going to buy and read it. It will be great. Music is so good to me lately.

Immigrant

Clock