The Daily Spinner (July 15)
Today's office listening party started out by setting the way-back machine to the soft sounds of the 70s. First up was the Best of Bread, one of my all-time faves from back in college. No, I'm not high (though I might have been occasionally back then). Side one has some of the most perfect sun-splashed California-style 70s pop ever set to vinyl, with soaring, plaintive singing and great hooks throughout. Side two... well that's another matter. Not much, save for the relative rocker, "Freedom." Which reminds me of an anecdote... My junior-year college roomie, DC, and I used to play this platter a lot during our time together (Bread, Bruce Cockburn, and the Smithereens were constantly cycling through the turntable during that spring of 1988, usually playing as we shared a box of peach wine--luckily my tastes in wine have improved over the years). We had a gathering one evening where this rather nervous nebbish friend of DCs came by and just stood in the corner the entire time he was there. When he mentioned he was going to leave, he discovered he'd been standing on an LP the entire time--The Best of Bread. "Yikes!", we cried. "Which side were you standing on?!?!" Side two. We both let out a relieved sigh--we'd be able to continue spinning "Diary" and "It Don't Matter to Me." Anyhoo, the CD version of this classic has been beefed up with double the amount of the LPs tunes--highly recommended (though maybe with a rose wine).

I continued on with several Jackson Brown albums, including his first (often referred to as "Saturate Before Using"), For Everyman (which includes his version of "Take It Easy"--remember, he's one of the writers), Late for the Sky, and The Pretender (with the great "Here Come Those Tears Again"). The first one is an out-and-out classic with the hit "Doctor My Eyes" and the moody "Jamaica Say You Will" and the spirit-rousing "Rock Me on the Water," but the others tended to all blend together--which wasn't all that bad, just not very memorable. Looking forward to Running On Empty next week.