Sons of the Pioneers

Artist: Sons of the Pioneers

LP: Cool Water
Song: "Cool Water"

[ listen ]

Song: "Timber Trail"

[ listen ]

We'll supposedly have highs in the mid-80s today here in Seattle, which isn't that hot for July, relatively speaking, but still it's plenty warm. I may not be a rovin' cowboy, but I'm a mailman now, a rovin' one even, and so I still need plenty of water. (We get messages on our scanner each morning reminding us of the signs of heat stroke.) I get a tall plastic glass of ice water from Starbucks each morning on my way to work, and then at lunch I hunt for an outpost where I can add a new batch of ice to it. I need to have water (water)...cool, clear water...for the afternoon. Naturally, this famous old country ditty by Sons of the Pioneers gets stuck in my head just about every day. LP liner notes by Yellowstone Chip, Montana's singin' cowboy, are included below. I hope when I'm a little older I'm still "puttin' on desert steak fries for the visiting dudes," (ahem!) so to speak.

 [ Sons of the Pioneers ] 

Aztec Camera

Artist: Aztec Camera

LP: High Land, Hard Rain
Song: "Oblivious"

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Song: "Walk Out to Winter"

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Roddy Frame, the brains and driving talent behind the band Aztec Camera, was only 16 years old when he formed the group in 1980, and only 19 when their first LP, "High Land, Hard Rain," debuted in 1983. I'm surprised I hadn't picked it up at some point in the past, but I found this nice copy at Sonic Boom in downtown Ballard on my day off yesterday, when I dropped in to pick up an import LP by Cocteau Twins (another Scottish band!) I had on order. "Oblivious" is the jaunty single I was familiar with, but this entire record is terrific! "They call us lonely when we're really just alone" has always been one of my favorite bits of lyric.

[ Aztec Camera ]

The Pogues

Artist: The Pogues

LP: If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Song: "Bottle of Smoke"

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Song: "Fairytale of New York"

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I don't remember what brought The Pogues to mind earlier this week, but when they were there, I suddenly realized that I couldn't recall seeing their records in my collection lately, and I worried that perhaps I'd gotten rid of them. (I've had similar vinyl "I got rid of it" regrets in the past.) 

I thumbed through the 'P's and was relieved to find my two Pogues records still there (the other one is 1985's "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash"), but lodged in the slight fold in the top of the plastic sleeve for this one was the corpse of a spider, enshrouded in web. Thank you, dead spider, for underlining the fact that I've neglected my Pogues albums for far too long. I gave both records a spin and they haven't aged a bit.

Described as a "British Celtic punk band," The Pogues is one of the groups I discovered while working at Budget Tapes & Records in Yakima back in 1986-1988. We got a play copy of "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (I think this may be that same copy!) when it was released in 1987, and I was instantly hooked. There's no other band like them. "Fairytale of New York" is the most wonderfully dreary Christmas song ever recorded, and it's been stuck in my head for days!

[ The Pogues ]

Foreigner

Artist: Foreigner

LP: 7" single
Song: "Juke Box Hero"

[ listen ]

Here's one of the songs that was playing on 107.3 KFFM in Yakima, WA when I was 12 years old in early 1982, just as I was starting to listen to popular music. I loved it then, and it's only gotten with better with time. Turn this one up loud. It's exhilarating! Though the chorus seems designed for it, there's no fading out here. The song goes out blazing, suddenly, at full volume and with a bang. 

The third single from Foreigner's fourth album, "Juke Box Hero" peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100, once again demonstrating mainstream America's inability to recognize or embrace quality entertainment that rises out of the ordinary. You can read about Foreigner here, and go here to find out how co-writer Mick Jones was inspired to create the song after taking in a dedicated fan who had been standing for hours in the rain outside one of their concerts—a scene that sounds like it was lifted right out of ALL ABOUT EVE.

[ Foreigner, circa 1981 ]