I wasn't a big fan of the "quiet storm" that briefly overtook urban radio before hip-hop became the dominant genre on the radio and the charts in the early Nineties. A few artists did appeal to me though, artists such as Luther Vandross, Anita Baker and Freddie Jackson. I was at a skating rink for a friend's birthday party when the DJ lowered the lights and played "Rock Me Tonight" for a couples skate. Freddie's voice was soulful and smooth and I couldn't believe I hadn't heard him before then. I ordered the album and was all set to enjoy it for what I envisioned as a lonely Christmas.
Rock Me Tonight - Freddie Jackson (1985)
How cool would it have been for ZZ Top to be my last purchase of 1985? Not only was it the end of the alphabet but it was at the Record Bar, where my first purchase of the year took place. I was on-board with the little ol' band from Tejas since the early days or at least since I picked up Tres Hombres in 1981 after relocating from the Midwest to the desert and then quickly scarfed up the rest of their stuff. And then Eliminator hit and all of sudden everybody loved the Top. The synths and sequencers didn't scare me off so when "Sleeping Bag" was released, it seemed like the next step in their sonic evolution. Also made the band's music ripe for Eighties remixes and they didn't disappoint with this one for "Sleeping Bag" or the one for "Velcro Fly". They are both kind of heard to listen to nowadays but back then? Oh yeah.
"Sleeping Bag" (12") - ZZ Top (1985)
Freddie is nowhere to be found on the Vinyl Wall but the "Sleeping Bag", "Velcro Fly" and even the "Legs" maxi singles are there.
Day 97 is the final day of my Vinyl Odyssey. It will be December 25th. Hope you didn't have anything else planned that day.
So what was the "+ bonus" mentioned in the ledger?
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, sometimes when I ordered albums they would be out of stock. And then they would either send it later when it was back in stock or send a Bonus certificate, good for a "free" album but as you can see by the price paid, it wasn't free but more like prepaid. I managed to cash in all of the vinyl certificates I had from both RCA and Columbia House before cancelling memberships and then later restarting them again when they started offering CDs. The CD certificates that I earned were somehow good for box sets and I managed to score almost two dozen of those before the clubs went all the way down hill. My wife says our largest ever Columbia House bill was $350 for a shipment of 100+ clearance CDs. That was a good day. There was one close to $300 for a couple of complete sets of Rhino discs. Kind of regret not saving all the catalogs and brochures from the mailings and can;t believe no one seems to have done the same or at least scanned and posted them yet.
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