Just as I had done the previous year for Purple Rain (merely ten months ago!), I waited outside Wherehouse in the mall and it's giant, pull down security gate this morning in 1985 for Prince's new, "Beatles-influenced" album to go on sale. 1984's Purple Rain expedition saw me accompanied by Janice S. (still the coolest woman to ever keep me in the "friend zone") and I was flying solo this time around but I wasn't alone: at least half a dozen other Prince fans waiting for the gate to open. The album was three feet inside the gate and maybe another six feet from the checkout - only one of the seven that had gathered outside bothered to look at anything else while the rest of us grabbed our grail and queued up at checkout. Drove straight home, ditched classes (an unfortunate habit that developed right before finals) and played the album straight through three times before throwing in a TDK SA90 to dub it the fourth time around. Then, as now, my favorite track was/is "Paisley Park". There was a sticker on the shrinkwrap that I carefully removed and placed on the notebook (see upper left of this site where it says The Book) that led to this whole site
Later that day, the postperson knocked on my door and handed me a package with three albums from Columbia House that I had more than likely ordered some 4-6 weeks ago. The moral of the story kids is sometimes it pays immediate dividends to ditch class.
- My Dad turned me on to a lot of music while I lived under his roof via his extensive 8-track and vinyl collection and one of the artists whose music I am most grateful for is Cat Stevens. Dad may have had other Cat Stevens albums but the 8-track I remember the most was Cat Stevens Greatest Hits. That was the first album I sought out to start my own Cat collection but the second album was the beautiful Teaser and The Firecat. I chose to include the back cover of the album above as it is one of my favorites.
- Quincy Jones had been in my ears since before I knew who he was as producer of several of my favorite songs from the late Seventies and early Eighties including gems by Michael Jackson, the Brothers Johnson, Rufus and George Benson. Uncertain whether I picked up this album or The Dude first but while I like the former, I love the latter.
- Soon after the collapse of Don Henley and Glenn Frey's partnership in the Eagles, both men dug out their no doubt long-gestating solo projects and raced each other to the market. Being less of a prickly perfectionist than Henley, Frey won the race with his No Fun Aloud album in May 1982, with Henley finally crossing the line with his own I Can't Stand Still three months later. I bought both albums (in reverse order) in 1985, three years after they were released, after listening to them on cassette dubs off the radio since they had been released. Whereas Henley's lyrics drew hard lines in the sand, Frey's only lyrical ambition seemed to be wrinkling the sheets. My sole attraction to this album was the very Eagles sounding good-time anthem, "Partytown", which was still garnering quite a bit of airplay in 1985 on the local rock station.
Teaser And The Firecat - Cat Stevens (1971)
The Best - Quincy Jones (1982)
No Fun Aloud - Glenn Frey (1982)
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The TOTAL TALLY:
records bought: 159
money spent: $819.47
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