Bradley's Buzz

7 Random CDs

well here we are for another week's worth of CDs - we have a boss, a pioneer, a socialite, a soundtrack, a hot hot hottie and all are classics:

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Born In The USA (1984)
Okay, he may be the Boss, but I was never a huge fan, but a few weeks ago my pal Jen and I went to my other pal Tommy's house and we listened to song after song from the 70s to the 80s playing a game where Tommy would play the top singles of the year and Jen and I would try to guess what they were. Needless to say we were excellent at said game but what I noticed as we hit the 84/85 years was how much I really liked all the singles from this album. I knew I loved "I'm On Fire" which always had some sort of exciting sexiness to it, which actually would then conjure up this album cover (helloooo!), but then singles like "Dancing In The Dark," "Cover Me," "Glory Days", "I'm Going Down" endless good old fashioned rock & roll. Sure, his every working man schtick would probably get boring if I were to have a Springsteen marathon but 12 fairly fun songs keeps me feeling slightly patriotic, if only to stand up and salute that album cover.

CARLY SIMON - Spy (1979)
Yes, I'm still on the Simon kick and there aren't any plans of slowing down yet. When I decided to make a Carly bubbatunes compilation I realized there were two songs I was missing so I had to buy the albums which contained them - the first song "Attitude Dancing" was on last week's Playing Possum album and with it I found a whole slew of awesome Simon tracks and the other song missing from my collection was 1979's single "Vengeance" - a song I remember loving but couldn't for the life of me remember how it went. Well, the minute I got the parent album Spy, I put on the song and not only remembered why I loved it but remembered singing it when I was a very little tyke - running around to neighbors "It's Vengeance he saaaaid, that's the law..." how frickin' cute I must've been. In the here and now, I was excited to hear the album not only because of the single (with backing vocals by Tim Curry!) but because the whole Spy album was a concept of sorts based on the novel A Spy In The House Of Love, I knew there'd be mystique and sex and that Simon wit, and I was not disappointed - in a song called "Pure Sin" set to a Rolling Stones-esque back drop and once again featuring Curry, she sings to her lover - a painter painting her portrait that he is getting paint all over the floor and she wonders why he doesn't just get to the point and "splatter it all over my face." Oooh goodness, there's a strange ending cut that lasts for over 8 minutes called "Memorial Day" that is a tad on the pretentious side and a strange ditty called "I'm Coming To Get You" which is filled with strange lyrics about her man being caught in Arkansas with her in-laws, but somehow the woman makes it work. The hightlight to me besides the sheer brilliance of "Vengeance" is a very sad little cut called "We're So Close" where her man passes off the distance, lack of words of love etc. as the result of them being so close, "we're so close, we don't need love at all," it brings a tear to the eye as does a superb ballad (and I'm not one on ballads) called "Never Been Gone" complete with a beginning chorus as she heads home to the island beach. Excellent, once again and be on the look out for more Carly Simon as I think I may have to get all of her albums.

CAMP - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002)
When Lisa was in town, we watched this movie and immediately had to grab the soundtrack to listen to on one of our many jaunts. Filled with all the songs in the clever movie - a comedy about a group of teens who go to theater camp for the summer - including renditions of songs from Broadway shows like Company ("The Ladies Who Lunch"), Jesus Christ Superstar ("Want Of A Nail"), Promises, Promises ("Turkey Lurkey Time") and renditions of Rolling Stones' Wild Horses and other clever little songs plus some contemporary stuff by real bands, its a very fun album and even The Leivas plays it all on his own. Now it just reminds me how much I love that Glassford girl!

ROBBIE WILLIAMS - Intensive Care (2005) Oh, how I love my hottie Robbie, for some insane reason this man can chalk up hit after hit in the UK but he has never found any real success in the US - other than my impassioned love for his hotness. None the less, Intensive Care is his latest in superb albums. It's not quite as good as some of his previous stuff and for some reason I'm beginning to fear that my boy may be repeating his albums - they're starting to resemble each other in sound, but that's not necessarily bad. I mean this album contains "Trippin'" which has a very unique sound but then there's the standard ballads "Sin, Sin, Sin" and my fav ballad "Pure" ("oh lord, please make me pure but not yet.") and the cheeky lyrics we expect from the hotness that is Robbie. No matter what, I'll still buy all his albums and posters and snatch his wet towel from the stage, but that's just how I am.

STEVIE NICKS - Trouble In Shangri-La (2001)
God bless this crazy witchy woman - I have loved every single thing this woman has ever done and I'm not alone. Along with legions of fans, Courtney Love, Billy Corgan, Natalie Maines, Sheryl Crow have all talked about her influence and in most cases recorded versions of her songs. Trouble In Shangri-La was her "comeback" album if you will, her first since 1994's ill fated Street Angel, which though it had all the mystique of Stevie was lacking some passion we have come to expect from Stevie. Well, that wasn't the case with this album which included Crow singing on "Sorcerer", Maines singing on one of my favs - the country twinged "Too Far From Texas", plus beautiful and poignant lyrics of the first single "Everyday." This is one album I can listen to (and did when it came out) over and over and over....

PATTI SMITH - Land 1975-2002 (2002)
When I was a wee tyke my uncle let me borrow his Patti Smith Group Easter album, I had loved the song "Because The Night" and thought for sure I would like the album. I must confess I was not impressed with the rough looking Patti and her pit hair on the cover but I figured I could get over it. I was aghast in my small age to hear some of the vulgarities she was using and the bouncing drums and strange riff of the guitars had me intrigued - the balls to call a song "Rock & Roll Nigger" and to say something about it was very peculiar to me - in fact, I still have a bit of a problem with the song but it's only one or two lines. Essentially I gave the album back to my uncle and never thought much of Miss Smith other than the single (co-written by Springsteen by the way) until I got older and began reading about the history of punk, the history of the rock and roll woman etc and discovered I had apparently misjudged the hairy pitted girl for she was in a league of her own. Well, finally after all these years she has a 2 disc set of her "greatest hits" if you will and a ton of extras. I got it for a mere $10 (I love Amazon) and now I love Miss Smith. Like I said, "Because The Night" was always a favorite and then years later when U2 did a cover of "Dancing Barefoot" I was bound and determined to hear Patti's original - well, now I got it, now I love it. I also love "Frederick" from her 1979 album Wave - though it's remarkably similar to "Because The Night" it's just as good and fresh. Other highlights include "Ghost Dance" (which was on that damn album I gave back to my uncle), "People Have The Power", "Summer Cannibals," and an interesting cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry." Oh, how I should've ignored those hairy pits and played that album for everyone. Luckily, her albums have all been remastered so don't be too surprised to find Easter and Wave coming up on the random CDs list.

CONCRETE BLONDE (1986)
Speaking of remastered masterpieces, Concrete Blonde is one of my all time favorite bands and will forever be played on the Bradley Buzz. I just recently came up with the cash to buy the first CD in its new remastered version and can't believe I didn't pick it up earlier. Featuring my ultimate fav CB song "True" plus their classic "Still In Hollywood", the moody and sassy "Dance Along The Edge", the hard rock chill of "Over Your Shoulder", the moody and sad (Makes my sister cry) "Little Sister" ('you're only half a heart away'), this is one of those albums that everyone in the world should own - so go buy it!

posted by swivek @ 2:19 PM