Deep Tracks From Dad's Record Collection

You know, for a dude that’s created enough inner drama than I care to admit, I’m still taken with the fact that the old man’s been influential on a number of levels, music included. Looking back on it now, there are a few albums (or 8 tracks, in many cases) that stand out as well as those that don’t.
The following albums are some curios found in my Father’s record collection that, for whatever reason, stand out.
Even stranger, I’ve sought out a few of these items before suddenly returning to my senses and realizing that Father figure nostalgia doesn’t necessarily translate into quality records.

• Miles Davis-At Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East
  Dad was never a real jazz fanatic, so what this was doing in his collection is beyond me. This record single-handedly turned me off of Miles Davis for over 15 years. At Fillmore contains Bitches Brew-era Miles in a live setting, yet completely skull fucks the notion of a live album by manipulating the recordings and splicing segments together with no sense of continuity. So what you get is freak outs in progress suddenly edited at the most incoherent moment. And the freak outs? There’s no better word to describe them and there’s no way a child with a developing sense of music could comprehend. At the same time, there’s a good possibility that most adults wouldn’t be able to comprehend this. Typically, I could only set through this thing a few minutes at the time (it was on 8-track) which is more than I can say for my father. I never saw/heard him play this title once. I don’t fault him for it, either.



• John Mayall-U.S.A. Union
  When my Father talked about music, it sometimes involved Eric Clapton, or specifically, how great Eric Clapton was/is. He thought Cream’s Disraeli Gears was one of the best albums ever made. He felt that Clapton’s solo on Cream’s “Crossroads” was one of the best in rock history. He explained that John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton was the greatest blues/rock albums ever made and contained some of Clapton’s most spirited performances. I agree with that last statement, actually, but I’m not sure about John Mayall’s place in history, other than being a lucky son-of-a-bitch that had the good fortune of having one of rock’s most gifted guitar players appear on one, count ‘em, one of his albums. A while a lot of other very talented musicians have also worked with Mayall throughout the years, U.S.A. Union found Mayall working with a group of U.S. musicians he hadn’t previously worked with. The results were mixed; Mayall doesn’t have the strongest voice to begin with and his lyrics are weak at times. On the other side, this is a fairly nice, laid-back blues album (he neglected to secure a drummer) with lots of clean guitar, violin, and some excellent harmonica work from Mayall. Enough for me to seek out? Perhaps, but it’s nothing that I need to own to make my life complete.



• West Bruce & Laing-Whatever Turns You On
  What happens when you add two people from Mountain (Leslie West and Corky Laing) with one dude from Cream (Jack Bruce)? A supergroup with a lower case “s.” This album featured some hideously bad cartoon cover art, which is probably the reason why it remains out of print today. However, I vaguely recall this album being a pretty good effort and I’m fairly sure that it would hold up today.



• James Gang-Live In Concert
  In my mind, the James Gang should be about a hundred times more respected than they are. Their Rides Again album ranks as one of the best albums ever made. I think the band also thought the album would do better than it did, because the following album, Thirds, is pretty shoddy in spots and sounds like a band that had run out of creative juice. Walsh went solo before landing a fairly good paying gig with the Eagles, and the James Gang’s record company decided to give fans a taste of what this power trio sounded like in, of all places, Carnegie Hall. Walsh plays like he’s on fire and after listening to it, you’re left wondering why he isn’t acknowledged more as one of the greatest rock guitarists around. The answer probably lies in the litany of half-assed solo efforts he released in the 80’s and in his half-assed work ethic in general. Nonetheless, for those of us who know about the power of the James Gang, you tend to forgive Walsh’s alcoholic complacencies. There’s nothing complacent about Live In Concert; I played Dad’s 8-track until it broke and I’m debating on getting it again.
  
  Dad had a lot of the usual suspects in his collection too: Fleetwood Mac Rumors, Steve Miller Band Fly Like An Eagle, Linda Ronstadt Living In The U.S.A., etc. But the albums mentioned here represent some left-of-center titles that stand out in my mind several decades after they were last listened to. If you were to ask my old man if he even remembers these albums, I’m sure the answer would be “No.” Which makes it fairly cool (for me, anyway) to see how he spent his money on music. There are some patterns with the choices, particularly with the West Bruce Laing/John Mayall connection to Eric Clapton, and then there are some crazy things popping up out of left field (Miles Davis stands out).
  Crazier still: I remember them. And while I can’t vouch for their quality or even recommend them to you, I can still list ‘em as memories because there were many times in which the turntable ended up being more of a Father figure anyway.