Brighten the Corners, Vol. 1
While discussing tunes over text this morning, a friend asked me to name some albums I love that most probably think suck. We had a little back-and-forth and I decided it's time that I come clean. Since this pal turned me onto Pavement back in the mid-90s, let's call this column Brighten the Corners, since maybe sometimes we need to take a closer look at artists and records that may not be all that bad. I mean, there are artists that are indisputably terrible (Fred Bizkit, Bolton, basically all "Nashville country," Rod Stewart since he feathered his hair, and so on), but there are gray areas.
Jimmy Buffett A1A (1974)
When I was in high school, well before learning about the greatness of bands and artists like The Replacements, Big Star, The Modern Lovers, Steve Earle, all the great bands of the 90s and all of their mentors, my taste in music was scattered. I grew up on Dylan and Springsteen, went through a Whitesnake/Leppard period which was awesome, and found myself listening to Neil Young, and an array of tepid crap. Around my sophomore year, the kids I hung out with were listening to the basic garbage we heard on NJ rock radio: Zeppelin, Marley, Steve Miller, et al. It almost pains me to remember those days.
Through a fog of crappy and predictable classic rock, a bunch of us fell into Jimmy Buffett. Yes, I am dead serious. I went to numerous shows at the former Garden State Arts Center. We'd load up coolers with about 11 cases of Coronas, and chain smoke Camel Lights while riding down the Garden State Parkway in someone's beat up piece of crap. Was it all comedy in retrospect? Yes. Was it fun at the time? Very. Did I wear Jams shorts? I think I did.
While in Ponte Vedre, Florida a few years ago, I found Jimmy Buffett's A1A on my iPod. It'd been close to 15 years since I'd listened to a Buffett record and my knee-jerk reaction was to get this thing the hell off my tunes player. I remember stepping outside of my aunt's condo onto some ridiculously over-manicured golf course and hitting play. Hmmmm, I thought. This isn't half bad. As the record moved forward to "Dallas," "Presents To Send You" and Buffett's best song, "Migration," I realized that the record was actually quite good.
When I arrived back from playing wiffle with Bennett this morning, I decided to put on A1A, and yep, I still like it. Quite a bit. I mean, I can't imagine how someone can listen to "Migration" and not feel at least somewhat pumped.
Jimmy Buffett A1A (1974)
When I was in high school, well before learning about the greatness of bands and artists like The Replacements, Big Star, The Modern Lovers, Steve Earle, all the great bands of the 90s and all of their mentors, my taste in music was scattered. I grew up on Dylan and Springsteen, went through a Whitesnake/Leppard period which was awesome, and found myself listening to Neil Young, and an array of tepid crap. Around my sophomore year, the kids I hung out with were listening to the basic garbage we heard on NJ rock radio: Zeppelin, Marley, Steve Miller, et al. It almost pains me to remember those days.
Through a fog of crappy and predictable classic rock, a bunch of us fell into Jimmy Buffett. Yes, I am dead serious. I went to numerous shows at the former Garden State Arts Center. We'd load up coolers with about 11 cases of Coronas, and chain smoke Camel Lights while riding down the Garden State Parkway in someone's beat up piece of crap. Was it all comedy in retrospect? Yes. Was it fun at the time? Very. Did I wear Jams shorts? I think I did.
While in Ponte Vedre, Florida a few years ago, I found Jimmy Buffett's A1A on my iPod. It'd been close to 15 years since I'd listened to a Buffett record and my knee-jerk reaction was to get this thing the hell off my tunes player. I remember stepping outside of my aunt's condo onto some ridiculously over-manicured golf course and hitting play. Hmmmm, I thought. This isn't half bad. As the record moved forward to "Dallas," "Presents To Send You" and Buffett's best song, "Migration," I realized that the record was actually quite good.
When I arrived back from playing wiffle with Bennett this morning, I decided to put on A1A, and yep, I still like it. Quite a bit. I mean, I can't imagine how someone can listen to "Migration" and not feel at least somewhat pumped.
Comments
Post a Comment