(1979) Atlantic label.  Original release with lyrics on inner sleeve.  Actually purchased this used probably at Record Surplus, sometime in the early 2000s.  I went through this brief phase when I wanted to collect records that were hits when I was in high school and I just never got around to buying them.  This purchase was one of them.  Although Illinois’ philosophy is to always own the first release, I really wanted to own this one.

I clearly remember the Rolling Stone article about the nameless and faceless bands of the late 70s early 80s.  The point of the article was to try and name the band members as well as match their face to their names.  Loverboy, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Foreigner, RUSH, STYX, Boston, The  Babys, Kansas all of these cats just kind of ran together.  Once MTV became popular it really helped to put a name with a face.

For the record: Foreigner is: Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, Ian McDonald, Al Greenwood, Dennis Elliott, and Rick Wills.

SIDE 1

1. Dirty White Boy  (3:37)
2. Love On The Telephone  (3:18)
3. Women  (3:25)
4. I’ll Get Even With You  (3:40)
5. Seventeen  (4:43)

SIDE 2

1. Head Games  (3:37)
2. The Modern Day  (3:26)
3. Blinded By Science  (4:54)
4. Do What You Like  (3:58)
5. Rev On The Red Line  (3:35)

Why this record?  I love Dirty White Boy, Women, and Seventeen.  Riding the school bus in the mornings and yelling to the bus driver to turn it UP when Dirty White Boy would play. Nostalgia…

(1977) Warner Bros. label. Purchased through Columbia House Record Club in 1978.  Insert with photos and lyrics.  Yeah, yeah I know… TYPICAL.  But you know what?  Ya gotta be who you are and for me, in 1978 EVERYBODY OWNED THIS RECORD.  So to the music… this album contains the soundtrack to so many momentous occasions for millions of baby boomers:  Prom, in the dorms, marriage ceremonies and wedding receptions, music played in the first home you bought, during presidential elections, when you were on the beach that day… when your kids asked you if you ever heard of Fleetwood Mac cos they were streaming it…

Let’s talk 70s hippie chic hair, long dresses, hair out to here, platform shoes, weed, wine, guitar, have I mentioned hair?  Fleetwood Mac with all of their guy/girl drama captured a place and time we fondly remember.  Screw bringing back 1957, how about 1977?

For the youngsters out there, Fleetwood Mac are: John McVie on bass, Lindsey Buckingham on guitars and vocals, Stevie Nicks vocals, Mick Fleetwood on drums and percussion, and Christine McVie on keyboards, synthesizer and vocals.

SIDE ONE

1. Second Hand News  (2:43)
2. Dreams  (4:14)
3. Never Going Back Again  (2:02)
4. Don’t Stop  (3:11)
5. Go Your Own Way  (3:38)
6. Songbird  (3:20)

SIDE TWO

1. The Chain  (4:28)
2. You Make Loving Fun  (3:31)
3. I Don’t Want To Know  (3:11)
4. Oh Daddy  (3:54)
5. Gold Dust Woman  (4:51)

I have just one story… it’s actually a Stevie Nicks story… I was tripping around West LA one day and I spotted Stevie Nicks shopping.  I was cool and followed her (carefully) into a few stores.  I wanted so badly to approach her and tell her what a fan I was, but I was chicken… c’mon it was Stevie effin Nicks.  She looked up at me twice from down the aisle and then I split.  I just couldn’t pester her.

I have never seen the band perform live.

(1969) UNI label. Original issue gatefold jacket printed lyrics and original inner sleeve. Purchased used at American Pie Records in Santa Barbara around 1990.  What a find!  Young Phil Collins on drums, percussion and vocals. Gordon Smith on guitar, bass and vocals.  Ronnie Caryl on bass, guitar and vocals.  Brian Chatton on organ, piano and vocals.  This was the only album released by Flaming Youth.  It is a spastic mishmash of 60’s pop sounds with a burgeoning technosound and REVERB. The album theme is space and the space journeying Technological Man on the ARK read: 2001 A Space Odyssey meets Sgt. Pepper’s.

From the album…“(Technological Man) is still capable of creating beauty as well as despair, still capable of nostalgia and lust, anger and love.  And, above all, those qualities which mat save him for another ten thousand years: humour, irreverence and wit.”

SIDE 1

1. Guide Me, Orion  (3:15)
2. Earthglow  (2:52)
3. Weightless  (2:35)
4. The Planets: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune  (13:50)

SIDE 2

1. Changes  (5:47)
2. Pulsar  (3:08)
3. Space Child  (5:47)
4. In The Light Of Love  (3:32)
5. From Now On  (4:56)

The almost 14 minute The Planets is an astrological forecasting of the role the planets play for Technological Man.  This album is so weird, but you can hear early Genesis in it and the roots of prog rock.