Albums In The Day: The Records Of My Life - Pt. 3

Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)

Right around the time I started getting into the "Seattle scene" of the early 1990's it was late 1994. Kurt Cobain had died that spring, to which I only shrugged because at the time I thought, "yeah, well, oh well. Why are we supposed to be sad?" That didn't win me many points with people at school, but later that year they had their karmic revenge. I started getting into Soundgarden and Nirvana, then some of my friends told me that I'd dig Pearl Jam. At the time Vitalogy had just come out, which I picked up on cassette at the local Wal-Mart. (Yes, roll your eyes with me. *waits* Thank you.) Not terribly impressed, I was told that "absolutely needed to get Ten and Vs. Picked up a copy of Ten and... hey, being 14, 15 years old at the time and full of angst it was some pretty appealing stuff. From the overdrawn "Once" to the defiant "Alive" to the classic "Jeremy", the album had all kinds of "F&#@ YEAH!" to it. All these years later, it's still great to listen to those tracks as well as "Black", "Even Flow", "Why Go", "Porch", and "Oceans".

Give It A Try:
"Alive"
"Even Flow"
"Jeremy"
"Black"
"Porch"

Albums In The Day: The Records Of My Life - Pt. 4

(We get two today since I ran out of time yesterday)


Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - In Step (1989)

When I was growing up my Dad always played two tapes on the deck in his truck: one tape of Todd Rundgren's old band Taste, and the other was a tape of two guys he had seen play in Madison in the mid-80's. One side was some blues singing dude named Robert Cray, the other was this guy named Stevie Ray Vaughan. Riding around town with my Dad listening to Vaughan wail on his guitar, singing about being a voodoo child and about cold shots and walking down Tin Pan Alley, all a kid can sit there and say is "heh, neat". Come to be about 1990, my Dad added another tape to the rotation. It was Vaughan's latest at the time, some record called In Step. He threw it on his tape deck, the first chords of "The House Is Rockin'" came on, and you were hooked. Though everyone knows "The House Is Rockin'", it's actually one of Vaughan's weaker tracks. "Crossfire", "Tightrope", the Buddy Guy cover "Leave My Little Girl Alone", "Wall Of Denial", and the all-on-the-first-take closer "Riveria Paradise" stand as some of Vaughan's best playing and singing. Vaughan would die in a helicopter crash at Alpine Valley that fall, which bummed out my Dad and I quite a bit, but at least the man left some damn fine tunes for us to remember him by.

Give It A Try:
"The House Is Rockin'"
"Tightrope"
"Crossfire"
"Love Me Darlin'"
"Wall Of Denial"

The Daytrotter Sessions: Check 'Em Out!

scottbateman likes to post a listing of his favorite 12 1/2 tracks every week that is currently listening to. One of the entries on his chart this week was for a version of Low's "Breaker" from the Daytrotter Sessions. Curious to find out what this was Google unearthed this treasure trove:

The Daytrotter Sessions Archive

Holy hell, you can go nuts with this! So far I've only listened to the Low, Mountain Goats, The Elected, Langhorne Slim, The Long Winters, The National, and Mates Of State sessions, but there so, SO many more worthwhile in there. Be sure to check out some of the interviews in there as well!