Old Dan's Records

[dedalus_1947]

Get out Old Dan’s records!
Get out Old Dan’s records!
We will dance the whole night long,
It’s fun to play the old time songs,
If Old Dan could see us now,
I’d know he’d be so proud.
(Old Dan’s Records: Gordon Lightfoot – 1972)

 On Saturday, March 12, Kathy and I drove to Santa Barbara to return 2 of the 5 cases of vinyl record albums that my brother-in-law Greg had entrusted to me for digital conversion. Along with the heavy, chest-sized, plastic containers filled with LP’s, I carried a pocket-sized storage device holding all the converted songs in my jacket. During an enjoyable visit with Greg and his wife Anne, we chatted in the den, transferred the digital music to their home computer, and drove to State Street for lunch and some sightseeing. I should confess, however, that the transfer was not as simple as I expected. In fact, the process took two attempts – once before leaving for lunch and the second when Greg called us back when we’d left for home, because the files had disappeared from his computer. Actually, the music hadn’t disappeared. I simply hadn’t transferred the music files into his hard drive in the first place. In my first attempt, Greg’s computer was simply playing the music that was stored in my external hard drive. When I detached the storage device from the computer to go to lunch, the songs went with it. We finally figured out that my stored files had to be copied onto his hard drive and then recognized by his iTunes player. By 4 o’clock the job was complete and Kathy and I were on our way back home to Canoga Park. I had finished Phase One of the Vinyl Music Project.

Two down and three to go! That’s how many cases of vinyl records I converted into digital music, and how many I still have to go. So far I’ve listened to 1649 songs, 143 albums, and 35 artists. While these totals are impressive, they don’t adequately describe the musical journey I’ve been on. During the last 6 months I’ve gotten a much better understanding of the rich musical scope of the artists I only half-listened to on the radio during the late 1960’s and 70’s. Over all, I think I got what I expected from this project: some musical surprises, a renewed appreciation and a deeper satisfaction for artists I hadn’t heard for many years, two new discoveries, and one major disappointment.

Van Morrison (18 albums) and Neil Young (20 albums) have to rank as my biggest surprises. Not because I didn’t already know they were great performers and songwriters, but I wasn’t prepared for the breadth and scope of their work over the 1970’s and 80’s. I’d heard their songs on the radio in the 60’s, and on other people’s records in the early 70’s, but I lost track of their musical progress and development after that. Van Morrison stands out as my stellar favorite. Moving from the rock and roll hit Brown-eyed Girl on his 1967 album T.B. Sheets to the Celtic Jazz of Queen of the Slipstream on Poetic Champions Compose (1987) Morrison’s evolution is breathtaking. Neil Young’s musical odyssey didn’t have the same steady maturity as Morrison’s. He moved beyond my personal tastes into exotic musical genres like new wave and electronica during his Geffen Records phase in the 1980’s. I thought Young’s richest period was his folk/rock years in the 70’s, beginning with After the Gold Rush in 1970 and culminating with Rust Never Sleeps in 1979.

I got the chance to renew my musical appreciation for two artists I loved in the early 70’s: the country/rock of Linda Ronstadt (9 albums), and the folk/rock of James Taylor (8 albums). I lost contact with these two performers when my turntable died, and I was reduced to listening to their Best of… CD’s. That just didn’t make it for me, because their secondary songs were always good. So, by combining my small collection with Greg’s larger vinyl library I got the chance to listen to them all over again. God, Linda could sing! Her voice soared and sparkled in all nine albums I converted, from Hand Sown… Home Grown (1969) to Canciones de Mi Padre (1987), and the quality of her singing more than made up for the fact that she was an interpreter of other people’s music, and not a writer herself. She just made everything sound better. Next to her came the sweet tunes and lyrics of James Taylor. Ever since his critically acclaimed, debut album Sweet Baby James in 1970, Taylor’s folk/rock style has held steady over the years, and I continue to enjoy it today as much as ever.

The project also reacquainted me with two musicians whom I listened to during two important transitional periods of my life, Gordon Lightfoot (14 albums) and Cat Stevens (10 albums). Gordon Lightfoot’s breakthrough album, If You Could Read My Mind was the first album I converted into digital form, because it was my most memorable purchase of 1970, the year I graduated from UCLA. I always felt a personal connection to Lightfoot, with his gentle folk style and his insightful writing. His music was the anthem of my college days, the songs we played in the Catholic Newman Center at the end of classes during long afternoons, and listened to over wine and cigarettes at late night parties in off campus apartments. Gordon was the Minstrel of the Dawn who sang of his lost love in The Early Morning Rain, and spoke to me of things I longed for in those days, as if he could read my mind. Cat Stevens was the troubadour of the 70’s who sang to the disillusioned generation of the previous decade, and tried to give them new purpose and hope. His breakthrough album, Tea For The Tillerman (1970) was the record I listened to as a young airmen, stationed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, during the latter years of the Vietnam Conflict.

My biggest discoveries were Joni Mitchell (6 albums) and John Prine (6 albums). All during the 60’s and 70’s, I had never been a Joni Mitchell fan. I knew she had written the song/anthem Woodstock, hung out with Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young, and her song Big Yellow Taxi was a big hit on the music charts, but I never gave her music much thought. In fact I tended to confuse her with Judy Collins and couldn’t tell their music apart. I can only assume that my ear for music has improved over the years, because when I converted her albums, her sound and songs enchanted me. The other discovery was John Prine. I’m embarrassed to confess that I was never a country music connoisseur in my youth and adulthood. I learned to appreciate it only after my mid-life-conversion to the blues and the other root music of America. For many years I could only tolerate the crossover efforts of Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Kenny Rogers. When Greg first mentioned Prine’s name during my orientation to his music collection, he only mentioned that he had written Angel From Montgomery. I now think he’s great! His voice just invites you in to listen to his folk/country music, and his bittersweet stories captivate you. I never tired of listening to him sing.

My biggest disappointment was Rod Stewart and the band Faces. This was unexpected because even though I never bought one of his albums, I always loved his song Maggie May; the big hit on his 1971 album Every Picture Tells A Story. I even went to his San Bernardino concert during his tour that year. Unfortunately none of the 10 records I converted came close to this one exceptional album. They all sounded ragged, rough, and raw. Rod’s music was the only albums I did not carry on my iPod during the project.

So we move forward with the Vinyl Music Project. The third case of albums beckons me with enticing covers and song titles by the Eagles, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, and Steely Dan. I can hardly wait!

Comments

The music...

[(Anonymous)]

I owned just about every one of those albums, save for John Prine. If Prine is in those boxes, there might also be some Jerry Jeff Walker, Dave Van Ronk, and John Hartford. I was introduced to them by Skip Weshner on KRHM.

Our musical tastes are remarkably similar, but I have to disagree with you on Neil Young. Yes, there have been some misses, and not all his journeys to the boundaries have been to my liking. But he's also gone in some directions that have been more fully explored by others. I'm a fan of Pearl Jam, and Neil invented the grunge sound made popular by Pearl Jam and the other Seattle bands of the early 90s. That's not to diminish Van Morrison in any way. A live concert by Van, if he's not drunk, is an experience like no other.

--Joe

Re: The music...

[dedalus_1947]

You called it correctly, Joe! Four albums by Jerry Jeff Walker were in the boxes. I'd never heard of him before. I'm developing a new appreciation for Country-folk. I'll look up Van Ronk and Hartford as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for the comments.
Tony