Mighty Manatees hit all their Bobs with "Medicine Show"

Area band The Mighty Manatees used to have a mission statement of sorts -- which has since disappeared from their website -- that they were equal parts Bob Dylan, Bob Nesta Marley, Bob Weir, etc. So longtime fans of the group, no doubt, instantly got a chuckle out of a song titled "Yesireebob" on their latest disc.
According to The Mighty Manatees Wikipedia page, "Medicine Show" is their 17th album since 1988. That's counting the cassette-only releases and all of the live recordings.
Stylistically, the Manatees can expertly switch between reggae, country, folk and rock. On this collection of Will Hodgson songs, they even dish a dollop of jazz! They channel The Grateful Dead throughout the album. The opening track "My, My, My" is like something out of -- yesireebob -- Robert Hunter's lyric book:

"Free to play on Mothers Day/on a Sunday afternoon

We while away the month of May/leaving it too soon

Grooving through the universe/living a life of song

 Searching for another verse/that we could sing along."

The Dead's fingerprints are also all over "I'll Let You Know" and "Rainbow."
They get their Bob Marley on with "Yellow Sun, Yellow Moon" -- with a singalong-friendly "hey, hey, hey/what I say" refrain -- and a reggae re-telling of a Gospel parable in "Samaritan's Day." Hodgson turns into the protest storyteller-wordsmith Bob Dylan circa 1962-63 in "Ballad of Leonard Peltier." The song makes you want to look up the story of the incarcerated Native-American activist, and wonder what really went down June 26, 1975.
The Manatees are known for being a fluid musical cooperative that can be as small as an acoustic duo or as large as a 10-piece orchestra. Adding to that mythos is an arsenal of guest musicians on "Medicine Show." The female blues/gospel lead vocal on "I'm On My Way" is a standout moment. Also noticeably augmenting the Manatees' core band are the album's producer, Jason Crosby, on violin, marimba and xylophone; Walter Tates Jr. on saxophone; Brian Herder on pedal steel and dobro; and Chris DelSordo on flute. There are sone tasty solos on "Medicine Show," gutiar and organ in particular.
Hogdson turns a few attention-grabbing lyrical phrases. "Gonna do it for the money" from "Fast Money" seems out of character for the hippie Manatees ethos. In that song, he also sings:

"She's smoking a pack and a half a day

And after the first shot/the shaking will stop

And that's when all the night was over/and everybody was gone

She sat alone

The winter came too soon."

From "Hold On To Your Dreams":

"It doesn't matter whatever they say

They sure do change their minds after Election Day ..."

"So many futures being bought and sold (which has a double meaning that could be a reference to stock futures) ..."

"I read the papers/and I watch the news

But I don't believe that they're entirely true ... do you?"

 Listen to the tracks from "Medicine Show."

And don't forget, local bands, you too can get your music reviewed here on Talk About the Passion. Email me your Soundcloud, etc. links to bbingaman@thereporteronline.com, or mail your CD to:
The Reporter 307 Derstine Ave. Lansdale, PA 19446.

One bad MFSB to be honored by Philadelphia Music Alliance

The Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame induction ceremony is set for Oct. 24 along the Avenue of the Arts.
This year's inductees are MFSB; The Salsoul Orchestra; John Davis and the Monster Orchestra; WXPN folk DJ Gene Shay; Grammy-winning producer Joel Dorn; arranger, producer and conductor Vince Montana Jr.; songwriters, producers and artists Madara & White; songwriter, producer and record label entrepreneur Jerry Ross; and Wanamaker organ maestro Peter Richard Conte.
For a couple minutes I got to chat with a drummer that was a member of not one, but three, of these inductees (the first three listed) -- Charles Collins.
As part of MFSB (Officially that stood for Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, but was rumored to also be a profane acronym) he played on this hit song, which became the theme song to "Soul Train."


"We were like the Funk Brothers," the 66-year-old Collins said of his fellow '70s pop orchestral brethren. "In most cases we played on all the (Philly R&B recording sessions)." Collins' playing can be heard on recordings by The O'Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass' first three solo albums, Ashford & Simpson, Herbie Mann, and Bobby Eli.
Collins' distinctively active percussion part on this hit by mellifluous Philly singer Lou Rawls came from rapping on the rim of his floor tom drum.

 When orchestral arrangements in R&B reached a zenith in the '70s, Collins lived in Princeton, N.J. because it was a midway point between the two cities he was called upon to travel to for recording sessions -- Philadelphia and New York.
In the '80s, when drum sounds could be electronically programmed, "that cut into our workload quite a bit," Collins said.
Now living in north Texas, and still drumming, Collins says today's recording technology "is finally catching up with the creativity." In fact, he even has an endorsement deal with Yamaha.
"I'm very, very fortunate to be surviving in what's going on now," said Collins, adding that he's willing to "work with anybody that can send a Pro Tools session." Musicians can reach out to him at reelemo@gmail.com.
Follow the Philadelphia Music Alliance on Facebook.

Taking "Mean Mr. Moyer" to task for bashing The Beatles

I get it that not everybody likes The Beatles. But seriously -- who took a dump in Justin Moyer's breakfast cereal?

An unfocused and laughably uninformed hatchet job by the Washington Post "Outlook" section writer harrumphs that The Beatles need to be sent to the historical scrap heap, a la the Model T.
That's as ignorant as saying Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Picasso are irrelevant because "there's an app for that."
It's like saying Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron don't matter because Barry Bonds hit more home runs than they did; never mind that Bonds achieved his record by methods that have forever tainted the integrity of baseball.
The true greats always stand the test of time. 
It's mind-boggling that Moyer, who by virtue of being a musician automatically has a discerning set of ears, doesn't have a better appreciation for The Beatles' accomplishments (setting the standard of rock bands writing their own songs; pioneering experimentation with recording techniques and instrumentation; starting their own record label, etc., etc.), all the while maintaining commercial success. 
Moyer wrongheadedly states that The Beatles are obsolete because the primary format for their music was the album. Sloppy research!
The Beatles released a notable number of songs in the single format, which thanks to the mp3, is once again the consumers' format of choice. Please see "Past Masters," Volumes 1 and 2, albums created in the '80s to cull EPs and singles into a tidy package. 
Moyer declares The Beatles unfit to have a third generation of fans ("Something is either wrong with pop culture or wrong with teenagers," he writes), while suggesting tongue-in-cheek that Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kanye West, or even Psy, might be this generation's uniting musical icon.
I'll say it again: true greats always stand the test of time.

The worst OpEd ever. RT if you agree. #thebeatles http://t.co/NrjgZDYICr
— Rick Friel (@rickfriel) July 22, 2013

Dude, Justin Moyer is just plain wrong. “@rickfriel: The worst OpEd ever. RT if you agree. #thebeatles http://t.co/MYEWqrdgqT”
— Justin S Davis (@JSDavisGuitar) July 22, 2013

The legacy of The Beatles: Mean Mr. Moyer Justin Moyer clearly feels that the influence of The Beatles has lin... http://t.co/cBuE1X7AaJ
— 13th Floor Elevators (@texaspsych11) July 23, 2013

Moyer moans that Radiohead will never be as big as the Beatles simply because of marketing. As a musician, he ought to know better that it all comes down to the quality of the songs. Sorry dude, Radiohead has only two good songs. What I've heard of the rest of their catalog is boooorrring. 
The Beatles' melody-driven songs are accessible and fun. At the same time, they were trail-blazing tricksters that compelled you to listen closer to what they were doing. The Beatles were also adept at switching up their sound in compelling ways to keep their listeners and those pesky bourgeois writers (ahem!) guessing.
Also notable for their ability to switch up their sound to keep it fresh were The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors and The Velvet Underground -- '60s bands that Moyer claims are just as good, or better than, The Beatles. While all important and wonderful in their own right, Moyer fails miserably to connect the dots.
Lennon/McCartney gave The Stones "I Wanna Be Your Man" to record as a single, which became an important moment in getting The Stones' mojo working. Without The Stones' making the edge of rock 'n' roll sexy, does anybody outside of L.A. hear The Doors?
Without The Beatles, there is no British Invasion, and it becomes much harder for The Who to get noticed in the U.S.
In the early '60s, adults still viewed rock 'n' roll as a teenage fad. Without The Beatles' influence in legitimizing rock 'n' roll as an art form, The Velvet Underground would be little more than an experimental footnote in the Andy Warhol story.
Moyer does have a point when he wonders why U2 doesn't have the same iconic status, since Bono took the social conscience element in rock -- which The Beatles started, by the way -- and took it to a more hands-on activism. I say give it time. The reason could simply be that The Beatles had more hits -- an unduplicated 20 U.S. No. 1's (and numerous other hit songs) in a span of just six years.
For some reason, the grumpy scribe also takes a non-sequitur potshot at Bruce Springsteen, calling him a "codger in a youth-dominated field."
This is worth mentioning as Springsteen was recently named the top current live act by Rolling Stone, with fellow "codgers" Paul McCartney at No. 15, Prince at No. 2, Neil Young at No. 5 and Tom Petty at No. 13.
Repeat after me: true greats always stand the test of time.
"Aren't there other musicians from other communities -- perhaps New Orleans or Nigeria ... that every kid can adore?," he wonders, questioning whether a generation needs a definitive musical icon at all.
Be that as it may, we have yet to find another band with the same enduring universal appeal, but I'm willing to keep an ear open.
Meanwhile, as one member of Moxy Fruvous blurted out in that group's musical interpretation of Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham": "Hey, you lay off The Beatles, buddy!"

What's the coolest work party you ever attended?

Harleysville-based Spring Hill Realty threw a first-class company picnic that featured Lee Alverson as Elton John, with a full band.
I've heard of many tribute acts, but can't say I've heard of this one. 

 Alverson had the glasses, Elton's stage apparel (minus the really awful '70s costumes), Elton's front-teeth gap, and the hits: Your Song, Levon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Benny and the Jets, Rocket Man, Candle in the Wind, Pinball Wizard (You forgot about the film version of "Tommy," didn't you?), Tiny Dancer, Crocodile Rock, Philadelphia Freedom, The Bitch is Back, and these ones as well.





Alverson's band even branched out to cover Great Balls of Fire and Billy Joel's You May Be Right and New York State of Mind, a nod to the Billy Joel/Elton John co-headliner tours.
Lucky me -- I got to attend because my wife works at Spring Hill. Past picnics have featured David Stone as Johnny Cash, and Elvis and Rolling Stones tributes.

Spring Hill's Cheryl and Leo Orloski pose with Lee "Elton John" Alverson.

Spring Hill Realty's Joyce Westerfer dons some authentic-looking Elton John specs.

America's next voiceover star?

Wouldn't it be cool to be this guy?



After attending a class through Souderton Area Community Education this spring, I learned that there's a lot of everyday people making money being voiceover talent, whether it's telephone on-hold messages, company training videos, GPS voices, commercials, animation, etc.
The instructor for the class, who is now my voiceover coach, was Tom Force from the Vermont-based company Such A Voice, who was a long-time Detroit radio personality.
 To my surprise, two area musicians, whose band names I recognized, were also in the class -- none other than Chris of LD-50, which recently changed its name, probably to not be confused with a metal band of the same name, and Doug from All Worn Out.
Not sure if they decided to try the voiceover thing, but it was cool seeing them at a community education class, and observing how interested the other people in the class were in  Chris and Doug's latest musical projects
Since then, I've discovered that this voiceover thing requires a lot of time and a lot of money to get into. I swear, every week I have to reassure my wife that I'm not doing this just to get away from her.
So how'd you like a cartoon character voicemail message for your phone? I can do that real cheap.

Scribbles in my notebook: Vietnam Stories

Hopefully you've been following The Reporter's series on local residents that gave their lives in the Vietnam War. It's in honor of the Vietnam Moving Wall visiting the Hatfield American Legion June 27-July 1.
I felt a strange connection with Lansdale native Albert "Buddy" Finn. He died in a helicopter crash near the DMZ on Sept. 20, 1970, six days after I was born. Lt. Finn was also a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal, where my family went to church from the '70s through the early '90s.


One of the first phone interviews I did for this series was with Fred Johnson, a Wisconsin resident that was flying in a separate Huey during the mission that took Finn's life.
I was too young to have a grasp on what was going on during this time period, however Johnson framed the Vietnam era in a refreshingly balanced way that I had never heard before.
After the war heated up in the mid-'60s (and started getting transmitted to televisions around the nation), he said, the music on the hit parade noticeably changed. Upbeat pop from The Beatles and The Beach Boys gave way to darker fare like:
 Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"


Buffalo Springfield "For What It's Worth"


Creedence Clearwater Revival "Fortunate Son"


Marvin Gaye "What's Going On"


Bob Dylan "Blowin' in the Wind" (Peter, Paul & Mary and Stevie Wonder both had hit covers)


The Animals "Sky Pilot"


The Doors "The Unknown Soldier"


"The students didn't want to go ... (into what) at the time was the country's longest war," said Johnson, referring to the draft.
"There's an expression that Vietnam veterans like to use: 'When I left, we were winning'," he said.
The year Johnson graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and got married, 1968, was a "pretty tough time" for America, he said, because of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.
Deteriorating support of the war morphed into outright hostility toward those in a military uniform. "I came back from the war, and got spit on in Seattle," said the former Army Ranger.
In a conversation he had with a reporter that day, Johnson was told frankly that people weren't interested in good-news stories about returning soldiers, and that the war's growing unpopularity was the news story that would sell.
Overcoming symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Johnson went on to found his own business, and he is recently retired.
The Vietnam veterans got a raw deal because they fervently believed they were doing their duty. Hopefully our series somehow contributes to a better historical legacy for the Vietnam vets.

XFest: Scribbles in my notebook

On rare occasions I encounter musicians whose music I've never heard, but are just so stinkin' nice that I just have to seek it out.
That's what happened in the "reporting" phase of a preview story I wrote for the 2013 version of the annual Xtreme Folk Scene festival, XFest.
The Grand Slambovians, who often play the Sellersville Theater and have entertained at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, are the headlining act Saturday, and the band's Joziah Longo and Tink Lloyd seemed pleasantly surprised to learn that they were the headliner.

Lloyd emailed to me:

"Will be in touch at 3:15. BTW, we were watching an old episode of 'Fringe,' which was taking place in Lansdale, Pa. just before we saw your email yesterday!!!!

We thought that was significant, and should definitely do this interview!" 

 Longo (pictured above) took me through his life's journey of being kicked out of Catholic school in Philadelphia and winding up at C.B. West while living on a commune that resided in the octagonal barn in Whistlestop Park, on the Montgomery County side of County Line Road.
Now of course, I have a hard time believing that Montgomery Township or the Central Bucks School District would be at all OK with that arrangement. Time has not allowed me to independently confirm that the barn was ever used as a residence. However, in Googling info. on the barn, I did learn that it was severely damaged in a storm in 2004 and rebuilt.
I heard about Longo's original band, The Ancestors. "We'd play Carnegie Hall one night and the next night we'd be at CBGB's," he said.
Founded in 2000, The Grand Slambovians have such a following that they have their own line of coffee!
Longo was drinking some sort of calming tea during our chat, which must have transferred over the phone because I felt comfortable enough talking to Longo to let it slip that my own folk 'n' roll duo, Raspberry Tea, performed at the 2010 XFest. He was genuinely interested in hearing more about that.

And it turns out the Slambovians' songs are quite fun.That's Tink Lloyd on the accordion.

I also spoke to John Weathers of Stolen Thyme, who will play the same Saturday opening slot that Raspberry Tea played three years ago. He let me in on the dirty double entendre of his group's name, taken from an old folk ballad, "Let No Man Steal Your Time." Weathers, who has a Ph.D. degree and reminded me of talking to a college music professor, revealed that the herb thyme has been used to symbolize virginity. Needless to say, "let no man steal your THYME" takes on a whole different meaning. 

Cooking like hot sex

Food Network Chef Robert Irvine recently hosted an online, real time cooking event for charity.
Chaos ensued in our kitchen. 

Harleysville Celtic group part of Philadelphia Folk Festival lineup

The lineup for the 52nd Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival has been announced. 

Richard Thompson returns to the festival with an electric trio. The Mavericks, who rose to fame during the '90s country music boom, are also headlining.  Always loved their song "What a Crying Shame."

Other notable names include Asleep at the Wheel, The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Jake Shimabukuro.

I'm excited that Hooters drummer David Uosikkinen’s project "In the Pocket: The Essential Songs of Philadelphia" is part of the festival at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Aug. 16-18.

But even more impressive than that is that Harleysville group Burning Bridget Cleary will be playing the festival this year. Woo hoo! Way to represent the area, guys (and girls)!
 Go to www.pfs.org to get more info.

A birthday love note to Philly's Radio 104.5

104.5-FM in Philadelphia has had a lot of different names/formats over the years. But one that I hope will finally stick is modern rocker WRFF Radio 104.5.

The station is celebrating its sixth birthday May 12 with a concert at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden with Phoenix, Paramore, Silversun Pickups, Passion Pit, The Airborne Toxic Event, twenty | one | pilots, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Rivers Monroe.

(Read more: http://www.radio1045.com/pages/events/birthdayshow2013/#ixzz2SFKDRmzd)

It's hard to believe now that for about two years, which felt much longer than that (the time between Radio One flipping Y-100 to hip-hop in 2005 and Radio 104.5 arriving on the scene in '07), there was a glaring alternative rock void in local Philly terrestrial radio. Too bad it took Clear Channel a miserable failure with the Latin format at 104.5 to finally give modern rock a chance (guess they figured it couldn't possibly get any worse).

Despite their corporate masters, Radio 104.5 sounds like it's doing things right, and hopefully is 

making money. Keep fighting the good fight for good radio, gang!

Here are some terrific songs that I first heard on Radio 104.5, AND I THANK YOU:

The Naked and Famous - Young Blood

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Gaslight Anthem - 45

Several songs by Death Cab For Cutie

Walk The Moon - Tightrope

Morning Parade - Headlights

Atlas Genius - Trojans

Adventures in video blogging

Because blogs are always more interesting when there's video, here's the first installment of blogging my wedding day via video documentary. Weddings are stressful, but they're fun too. Hopefully this reflects that.

Justin Bieber's monkey

Here's the latest on the Justin Bieber pet monkey drama. 
With the Bieb keeping up the grand tradition of losing his mind, like many pop singers before him have done, it makes me think of ....

Nope, not Michael Jackson, who famously had a pet monkey called Bubbles ...

It's this so-bad-it's-good hit from 1988. Oh Justin, why can't you do it?/why can't you set your monkey free? LOL Talk about a double meaning.

Have you seen what's going on at New Hope Winery?

"We're more than just a winery" is what they like to say at the New Hope Winery. In fact, they're a bona fide concert venue, with some really compelling shows. Cy Cumrin of The Fixx played a solo show recently, and some upcoming highlights include a solo show by John Ford Coley -- as in the easy-breezy '70s sounds of  England Dan (Seals) & John Ford Coley -- Jeffrey Gaines, Tom Chapin, Led Zeppelin tribute group Kashmir, Fleetwood Mac tribute Tusk and Rolling Stones tribute The Glimmer Twins.
Anne and I went to see Fountains of Wayne, whom I famously wrote about in The Reporter in 2003, there. The band is touring behind a new album, "Sky Full of Holes," which is actually available as a vinyl LP.  They brought their power pop A-game, including "Stacy's Mom."


In a pure happenstance stroke of luck, we blundered into the band's backstage party, which involves the ritual of breaking a red dragon pinata filled with gum, Tootsie Pops, liquor, condoms, "personal lubricant" -- and somewhere in there --  a Post-It Flag Pen and a baggie of shredded currency from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Here's what we snagged from the pinata breaking:

HOW COOL WERE WE THAT NIGHT?
Now we get the significance behind the FOW song "Red Dragon Tattoo."

Fountains of Wayne -- although the store in North Jersey that bears your name has closed, and we had some "interesting" observations about guitarist Jody Porter-- we are one!

Oh, and I didn't even say anything about the wine! Should probably save that for another post.

Am I really that old?

It was a culture shock for we teenagers in 1987 when Hot Hits WCAU in Philadelphia flipped formats to Oldies 98 and the hits from the '50s and '60s.
Flash forward more than 25 years and WOGL-FM is now the greatest hits of the '60s, '70s and ... wait for it ... the '80s. With the Gen-Xers coming to terms with reaching mid-life, imagine my jaw dropping one Saturday afternoon when I caught this series of songs on 98.1:

*Van Halen - Jump


*Rick James - Superfreak


*The Bee Gees - How Deep is Your Love


*The Supremes - You Keep Me Hangin' On


And ... wait for it ... The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me


Oy, that song is an oldie now? Well, yes and no.
The contemporary, correct term is "classic hits," and WOGL music director and Philly radio veteran Tommy McCarthy -- who's been with the station nearly 23 years -- noted in a phone interview that formats/stations that survive in the dog-eat-dog world of the Philadelphia radio market are the ones that grow and evolve. For example, he said, short-sighted thinking killed off the beloved hit music station WFIL, which remained stuck on the AM band as music on commercial radio migrated to FM.
WOGL dropped the "Oldies" from its name somewhere between 2002 and 2004 because, said McCarthy, the term "made (listeners) feel like they were fuddy-duddies." It was done subtly, without fanfare, as was the gradual playlist additions of hit songs from the '70s and then 1980-1982. 
Classic hits is about living in the present, as opposed to the escapist nostalgia of what the '50s and '60s oldies format was when it first hit the airwaves around the country.
"We talk about Lady Gaga. We know what's going on in the world. It's not the oldie oldies station," McCarthy said of the WOGL DJs, several of whom used to be on the old Solid Gold 102 (now Q-102).
WOGL's bread-and-butter demographic of adults 35-64 (leaning slightly toward a female audience) includes both Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers. McCarthy's daunting task is to find upbeat songs that you'll like whether you're 35 or 55 -- songs that will get people dancing at a wedding reception:

*Donna Summer - Last Dance


*Barry White - You're the First, the Last, My Everything


 *Lipps Inc. - Funkytown


 Ballads that go on WOGL need to have "a rhythmic Philly feel," McCarthy said
He also has to schedule the songs in such a way that won't sound -- as DJs like to say -- like a "train wreck." An example he gave was a '60s song followed by Madonna.
"You can't go out to a nightclub (without someone requesting) 'Build Me Up Buttercup' (by The Foundations). They'll forget when it came out," he said of a seemingly timeless hit that has cross-generational appeal.  The song came out in 1968, by the way.
A Cherry Hill, NJ native, McCarthy -- with a lot of help from a company that conducts auditorium research on people's dispositions toward certain songs -- also has to use his instincts to pick songs that particularly resonate with people that grew up in the Philadelphia area or South Jersey: Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, The Spinners, The O'Jays...  
"Once you get out of college, you lose a bit of a passion for music as you get your career started. You get into your kids' music as you age ... (until finally) you know that next generation's music as well as yours," said McCarthy. The station consistently ranks in the ratings top five among the coveted 25-54 demographic, he said.
Still, says McCarthy, ultimately it comes down to playing a good song -- songs that you associate with a first love, a "toga party your sophomore year in college," songs you devotedly listened to in your bedroom throughout high school and college before career and family took a higher priority.
"As long as they come here (to WOGL) to feel good, that's my job," McCarthy said.   
So what does the future hold for the classic hits format? "Stick with the hits and good-sounding music. There may come a day -- maybe not in the next three years -- we may drop the '60s, and it'll be the greatest hits of the '70s, '80s and '90s," McCarthy said.
Time marches on, I guess.

Kurt Cobain, we hardly knew ye

Why is Kurt Cobain trending on Twitter this 20th day of February?
Ah, it would've been his 46th birthday.
Naturally, the far-too-many snarky losers in the Twittersphere had ignorant things to say, such as the nimrods that tweeted pictures of Billy Ray Cyrus. Uhhhhh, is that supposed to be a joke, or are you just really that dumb?
The best Cobain-related tweet came from @JohnFugelsang, who shared a hand-written list of Cobain's favorite albums.
Some are no surprise -- David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World," which Nirvana famously covered on MTV Unplugged ... The Pixies ... Iggy & The Stooges' "Raw Power," with its savage and loud guitars. Read a review I wrote for the reissue of "Raw Power" here.

Several are BIG surprises, however. To wit: The Knack "Get the Knack"


Aerosmith "Rocks"


REM "Green" (I would've guessed an earlier album.)


The Clash "Combat Rock" (when the seminal British punks hit their commercial peak)


The Beatles "Meet the Beatles" (He strikes me as a White Album kind of guy.)


Public Enemy "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"


and Leadbelly "Final Sessions Vol. 1."