19. Musical Bar-B-Que by Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak

 19. Musical Bar-B-Que by Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNSGRXF51dE&list=PLAC1DE8344E299852&index=1

Top-Notch Tracks: "It Smells Like Cartoon Planet," "I Love You Baby," "Don't Touch Me," "I Love Beans," "I Love Almost Everybody," "Oh Fun Key Bay Bee," "Hoodliehoo," "Put Your Socks On Mama," "Highway 40 Unplugged"

Album Depth: "Zingor," "Ordinary Guy," "Minkey Boodle," "Everybody Needs Lovin'," "What Day Is It?" "The River," "Crazy Lovesick Fool," "The Water Song," "It Stunk," "De Der Down," 

Weak Links: "The Cartoon Planet Story," "The Song That Never Ends," "Everybody Wants to Be Space Ghost," "Ramblin' and Wanderin'" "Don't Send in the Clowns," "Bye-Bye, Goodbye Everybody"

Stand-Out Lyrics: "It smells like--Asparagus and Cabbage! It smells like--Boxer Shorts! Is smells like--Ahhhhh! It smells like Cartoon Planet, Hoowee!" -- It Smells Like Cartoon Planet

"Somebody left the cake out in the rain. Oh, nooo! I was gonna eat that cake. But now it's all wet, and I don't think I want any!" -- I Love You Baby

"I've got ants in my pants as I do the mating dance for Zingor, Zingor, Zingor." -- Zingor

"Our ancient love will survive the scourge of mankind and evolution." -- Zingor

"Don't touch me!" -- Don't Touch Me

"Wake up in the mornin' and tinkleedoo. Take a hot shower. Watch the news! Then it's eggs over easy on the greasy side. Oh, yeah, I'm just an ordinary guy." -- Ordinary Guy

"Work day's over and I got me a date with a big fat piece of pie! I sit around thinking what a good boy am I. But hey, I'm just an ordinary guy. Just an average superhero kinda guy. I'm just an extra ordinary guy!" -- Ordinary Guy

"Nobody comes to visit me in my little cloud. I don't know why. Maybe it's cause I'm cuttin' muffins." -- I Love Beans

"I got my mojo risin'. There's a poodle in my stroodle! Minkey Boodle! Minkey Boodle!" -- Minkey Boodle

"So tell me that I'm smelly. Tell my I'm a dope. But say you'll be my sweetie. At least give me hope. Cause I could use a cuddle, and a smooch or three. Everyone needs lovin'. Even me." -- Everyone Needs Lovin'

"You know, love is a happy time all throughout the universe. It's when a male part of the species goes to the female part of the species and says, 'Hey you want to go on a date?' and then she would say, 'Why yes, I'd like to go on a date' if you're lucky! And then you go to a restaurant, and she gets something called 'a salad,' and then he gets a big piece of beef that he eats. And that, to me, ladies and gentlemen, is love. Kind of makes you cry, doesn't it?" -- I Love Almost Everybody

"You pick your left foot up until you touch your nose. Put your rear on your ear and wiggle your toes. Hop all around like a kangaroo. Your almost ready to Hoodliehoo. Grab some pickles and a pound of cheese. Get some burgers on mayoneese. Eat 'em all up and don't forget to chew. Now you're doin' the Hoodliehoo!" -- Hoodliehoo

"I'm goin' down Highway 40 in my big ol' pickup truck!" -- Highway 40 Unplugged

Album Cover: 9 of 10. One point deduction for leaving Moltar off the cover (and the album). The idea that Space Ghost lives in the suburbs and hosts backyard bar-b-ques with Zorak and Brak is simply delightful. What's even more delightful is that the scene takes a horrific turn for the worse on the back cover when the grill explodes, blowing a hole through the backyard fence. And that, kids, is why grownups should never add lighter fluid once the briquettes have started glowing.

Comments: I cherish the memories of watching Cartoon Planet's "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" with my young son--who very much loved his dad during the 90s--in the basement of our little brick home on Tanager street in Pocatello. However, my memories of this album are mostly of listening to it with Erik during my grad school years while we were driving from Smithfield to Logan. I also listened to it by myself on headphones while working at Utah State writing HTML code in a teeny, tiny office. My latest memory of the album is of listening to it with my son while driving from Disney World to his home in Stuart and laughing our fool heads off. (He is now as old as I was when I started grad school.) For a father and son to have an album that they both love to listen to and laugh at for over 20+ years is no small thing.

Besides the lyrics listed above, my favorite parts of the album include several songs in which Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak engage in some comedic scatting. I actually did some comedic scatting during my teenage years, so I really appreciate the artistry involved. See, the seniors on the football team demanded that I scat for them Louis Armstrong style while they sang "This Little Light of Mine" on the bus rides home from the games. They even made me scat to the song in front of the home crowd during a school-wide rally on the football field before the Homecoming game. Was it a dumb thing to do? Yes. Was I embarrassed to do it in front of all those alpha females in the cheerleading squad and the pep club? Yes. But when you're a scrawny kid trapped on a bus with muscle-bound seniors that are more than willing to pound you into a pile of silly putty during football practice, it's a good policy to humor them by doing whatever they ask you to do. For football practice during my junior year, scatting meant surviving. Of course, during my senior year when I had put on a little muscle and didn't have to worry about other guys trying to take my head off in practice with a flying tackle, I stopped scatting.

There are 25 excellent songs on this album, but between some of them are little spoken tidbits that are lots of fun to listen to as well. Zorak's Nugget of Joy and Brak's School Daze story (I told you never trust a monkey!) always tickle my funny bone (which is located somewhere in my torso area above my belly button but below my ribs). I like to follow along with these spoken interludes by doing the Zorak parts in my Zorak voice. For some reason, when Space Ghost first came out, I put in enough effort to figure out how to do a Zorak impersonation, but I could never master the voices of Brak or Space Ghost. Maybe I found Zorak easier to do because he's evil just like me. Or maybe it's because I've always had a high regard for the praying mantis because it eats all of the nasty bugs in the garden. In fact, along with the ladybug, it's one of the few insects I refuse to kill even if they make it inside the house. Also, Zorak plays the keyboard, so we have that in common as well. 

Why is this album so high on my list? Because not only does it activate happy memories of those days when I was kind of a cool dad, it still makes me laugh harder than any other album on my top 60 album list, including Weird Al's "Poodle Hat." So for all the joy that it has provided in the past and still provides today, this Musical Bar-B-Que makes it into my top 20 favorite albums.

Up Next: It's as big as a whale, and it's about to set sail!

20. True Romance by Charli XCX

 20. True Romance by Charli XCX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGmM2l39LEs&list=PLrwB2tGkO7bKz-kWcRP7MSm2DYpoQfPUz

When I first heard Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's song "Fancy" on the radio in 2014, I didn't care much for Iggy's rapping. In fact, I found it more annoying that pretty much any rapping I had ever heard. But there was this ear-worm chorus sung by Charli XCX that got me to wondering what else this dark-haired girl had written. What Google told me was that while Charli had put out some music on MySpace and released a few mix tapes, she had only one bona fide album from 2013 called "True Romance." So I YouTubed the album and upon hearing the first song "Nuclear Seasons" I knew I'd found a type of music that was much different from anything that I was used to listening to. It sounded a bit like electronic dance music, but it had lyrics and layers to it that were much more interesting than the typical EDM club music I'd heard before (all of which I found to be really repetitive and boring). I wasn't sure what to call it. It wasn't quite pop music, and it wasn't quite dance music. It seemed to be more akin to art rock, but it really wasn't rock. It was its own thing.

I found out later that the term for this type of music is "Hyperpop," although it's also been called synth pop and gothic pop. However, Charli rejects all of those labels, even though she did refer to the music on her debut album as "Emotional Pop." At first, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. But I found myself going back to the album repeatedly over the next year as one of my get-ready-in-the-morning albums. And the more I found out about Charli XCX -- her real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison -- the more intrigued I became with her music. It turns out that she has synesthesia--a condition in which the brain interprets sound by seeing colors--and she actually sees colors in the music that she writes. She said that the songs on True Romance are mostly shades of purple. She prefers music that she sees as black, pink, purple or red, and she gave away what turned out to be the first hit song that she ever wrote--"I Love It" by the Swedish group Icona Pop--because she thought the song was the wrong color for her. Anyway, I bring this all up to show that there is a reason that the album cover is predominately black, pink, purple, and red. How you see the colors on the cover are similar to how she sees colors in music.

2014 and 2015 turned out to be a banner years for Charli, as she had her first big solo hit with the song "Boom, Clap" from the movie "The Fault in Our Stars." Her record company wanted to capitalize on her new popularity, so they got her to release a more mainstream pop album titled "Sucker." Along with "Boom, Clap," the album had hits with "Break the Rules," "Doing It," and "Famous." The rest of the album songs are really good pop, but they are a different kind of sound than what we got on True Romance. The record company continued to try to pressure Charli to do more mainstream songs, but after 2016, she said she wasn't going to release any more songs that she didn't love. She took back control of her own artistic future, and she faded from the pop music scene. Well, not really. She kept writing really good pop songs that other artists charted with, all the while experimenting with new sounds and collaborating with other artists. Her influence on other pop artists is pretty big, which is one reason why Taylor Swift asked Charli to go on tour with her in 2018. Of course, when the pandemic hit in 2020, a lot of artists stopped performing and took time off from making music. But Charli recorded and released the album "How I'm Feeling Now" while on Covid lockdown in her home. But of all the songs, mix tapes, and albums she's released over the last decade, I still like True Romance the best. 

Warning! Charli does use the F-word in some of her songs, so they aren't the kind you can listen to while around the kids. But I discovered True Romance around the time I started hating my job at Boise State, and the F-word was uttered by me more than once every morning while I was in the shower and started thinking about how I was about to face another work day in which every single meeting with my so-called superiors would be a humiliating kick in the crotch. Fortunately, a mix of Charli XCX and AC/DC (who never curse in their lyrics) somehow got me by until I managed to find a better job that didn't make me feel like dropping F-bombs in the shower in the morning. Also, Charli will use "shit" quite freely on some songs. It's definitely not the kind of album I could have listened to as a teenager in my basement bedroom. And my wife doesn't understand why I listen to this album either. When she hears me playing it, she'll say something like, "Why are you listening to that?!" Fortunately, I'm an old man now, and I get to listen to whatever I want. At least, I get to whenever Julie has already gone to work and I'm getting ready in the morning by myself--or with my poodles that like Charli XCX just fine! Yes, I realize that hyperpop written by a 20-year-old English woman is not really the kind of music that most people would think and old 50+ year old man like me would be listening to. But what can I say--maybe my ears aren't always as old as the rest of me.

Nardo

21. Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack by The Bee Gees

21. Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack by The Bee Gees  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY&list=OLAK5uy_k2P31OPRADjYdtzYiDjFmk5Q5wxGIYm_U

If you hate disco, you hate this album. But if you fondly remember 1977 and 1978 like I do--which is that sixth grade year just before I turned 12--then this is album is not only the soundtrack to the movie, but it's also the soundtrack to pretty much your entire school year from September of 1977 through May of 1978. 

While there are a variety of artists on the album, most of them were previously released songs that got included in the movie. But it was the new songs by the Bee Gees that really made this album a true disco juggernaut. Two of the Bee Gees songs on the album had been previously released--"Jive Talkin'" and "You Should Be Dancin'." But they wrote five new songs for the album, all of which became major hits, including:

• Stayin' Alive
• How Deep Is Your Love (one of my Top 200 songs) 
• Night Fever
• More Than a Woman
• If I Can't Have You -- performed by Yvonne Eliman 

Fun Fact: John Travolta wasn't dancing to the Bee Gees during the filming of the movie. He was dancing to...you guessed it...Boz Scaggs. But the record company wouldn't license the Boz Scaggs music because they wanted to hold on to it for another disco movie. Bad move. So the Bee Gees were brought in AFTER the film was shot, and they made sure that the music beats of their songs matched that of the Boz Scaggs songs that were being danced to in the movie.

This soundtrack won the Gramm for Album of the Year, and it's the second-best selling movie soundtrack album of all time. (The Bodyguard soundtrack overtook it.) But as good as the album was, it could have been better. The Bee Gees wrote other songs for it that didn't get included, so they gave them to others to record. "Emotion" got recorded by Samantha Sang with Barry Gibb singing backup vocals. And little brother Andy Gibb recorded "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away." 

There are some other fun disco songs to listen to on this album, including "A 5th of Beethoven," "Disco Inferno," and "Boogie Shoes"--a B-side song for K.C. and the Sunshine Band that found new life when it got included on this album and got rereleased as a single. There are a handful of other instrumental disco songs that might work well as elevator music, but nothing so good that it deserves repeated listening. Nope. It's the Bee Gees songs that are the main attraction of this album, and it's because of the way that those songs trigger memories of that sixth grade year--playing fear-free at recess because all the bullies had moved on and we were at the top of the food chain, me and Sheldon getting in trouble for wearing bandanas and then stealing them back from the principal's office during the night of the school fair, riding the motorcycle on the farm for hours after school until it was time to watch "Wonder Woman" and "The Incredible Hulk." There just aren't too many albums that can conjure up the feelings and memories of that wonderful time for me anymore, but this one always delivers.

Nardo

22. Invisible Touch by Genesis

 22. Invisible Touch by Genesis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpmiZ7zsHXY&list=OLAK5uy_kSuRYdMa1N5VchHRcr5qSLo8AsFcXNwos

When this album came out in June of 1986, I had just returned from the heart of Sweden in Dalarna back to my beloved Sodermanland, where I was district leader in Esklistuna. Now, I have nothing against the city of Eskilstuna, but we called the area in which our apartment was located the "Concrete Jungle." It was a large section of multi-story apartment buildings with mostly immigrants and young, poor Swedes. I had both good companions and not-so-good companions during my time in Eskilstuna. And during one of the not-so-good companions, I looked for any opportunity to extract even a tiny little bit of joy from tracting for 10 hours a day and getting rejected by almost everyone we came in contact with. One steady source of joy was the local burger joint where we could get a burger and fries and sit down and eat them as slowly as possible while the MTV played on the television. One night, to my delight and horror, a Genesis video started to play. I was delighted because it was a new Genesis song that I had never heard before. I was horrified because it featured these freaky looking muppets that were satirizing Ronald Reagan and his vision of America as a nuclear superpower. 

Now, I wasn't a big fan of Ronald Reagan in 1986, but I had voted for him in '84 election because my other choice was Walter Mondale--who managed to only win his home state of Minnesota that election. (My father--a true-blue Democrat--would have been super upset if he had known how I'd voted.) However, when I went to Sweden, I started to really dislike Reagan, not necessarily because of how his policies had destroyed jobs for local truck drivers AND farmers, but because of all the angry Swedes that yelled at me at their front door because of bombs Reagan had dropped somewhere else on the planet. Swedes really dislike war, and they really disliked Reagan's policies when it came to building more and bigger nuclear weapons. 

Anyway, I knew that this new Genesis video was going to make my life more difficult. Yet, I couldn't help but enjoy watching it. I mean, it's got two things that I really love--Genesis music and freaky muppets! 

Over that summer, I got to hear many of the other songs on the album, and I instantly loved "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," "In Too Deep," and "Throwing It All Away" because they were perfect songs for The Great Depression soundtrack. So when I got home and found out that my brother-in-law's record collection included this album, I made a tape of it. Actually, I made a tape of all the songs except for "Anything She Does," "Domino," and "The Brazilian"--the three weakest songs of the album. But the other songs were so damn good that they became an important part of my post-mission Great Depression playlist. They have a quality about them that is very similar to the Phil Collins' songs on No Jacket Required. Some music critics have said that is a problem with the album because it signals a change from the kind of music Genesis had created in the past towards a more pop-oriented sound. But in my opinion,  I think that it is a good thing. See, the band had put out the Trick of the Tail album 10 years earlier, and although the critics liked it, the band didn't see a single hit song from it. Some said this meant that with Peter Gabriel leaving the band, the fact that the album had no hit songs meant the group was headed towards obscurity with Phil Collins as the lead singer. But 10 years later, that same band puts out an album with five charting songs from an album with only 9 songs on it. So, yeah, music critics, it's okay to like earlier stuff, but lets face the fact that a lot of bands want to make music that makes them money. That's how they get to keep making music instead of having to figure out a way to make a living doing something else--like making freaky muppets for bands that know how to write a hit song.

Nardo

23. Xanadu by ELO and Olivia Newton-John

 23. Xanadu by ELO and Olivia Newton-John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDmjEN-6ekE&list=OLAK5uy_mkHO_6VKXNhs5G5MnxG0cEprdLLB6uT_U&index=1

The summer of 1980 was a summer of "Magic." Literally. I heard that song played on the radio pretty much every day of that summer. It was released as a single at the end of May, about a week after school let out. And it spent four weeks at the Number #1 spot on the charts in August until it got knocked of by Christopher Cross (the artist) singing about how sailing takes him away. If, perchance, I didn't hear "Magic" on the truck or tractor radio while out helping Dad with all the farm work, there was a good chance that I'd hear it on the stereo when I got home, because Ruth added this album to her record collection right after it was released at the end of June. 

Now, normally, in the summer of 1980 I would have wielded the awesome power of the older brother song veto to keep any album off the turntable that would have taken up valuable listening time that could have been otherwise devoted rocking out to Billy Joel's "Glass Houses." However, this album also had ELO songs on it, and that changed everything. So as long as the album got played on both sides so that ELO got is fair share of listening time, I was okay with letting it play without objection.

Truth be told, I didn't mind hearing Olivia sing "Magic" and "Suddenly" at all. The other three songs on the front side were not my favorites. But listening to them was a reasonable price to pay for getting to listen to all five of the ELO songs on the flip side, including the hits "I'm Alive,""All Over the World," and "Xanadu." I thought "Don't Walk Away" and "The Fall" were also very good songs. Ruth didn't like the ELO songs as much as the Olivia songs, but she was willing to listen to the flip side all the way through because at the very end of Side 2 she got a little more Olivia and I got my beloved ELO with "Xanadu." And during a summer of "Magic" could there have been anything more magical than a song that had the power to bring about sibling harmony between brother and sister?

Nardo

24. Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross

 24. Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdRPtf-mxE4&list=OLAK5uy_mAmb-9kDUBKm3aiAUHnHPfBSGIWPAtGDc&index=1

Yes, dammit, I like yacht rock!

And you can't get much more yachty than Christopher Cross (both the album and the artist). The flamingo on the cover of this eponymous album pretty much sums up that yacht rock vibe--just chillin' out in the water, lookin' pretty in my pink shirt, waitin' to watch Miami Vice later tonight.

Released December 20, 1979, Christopher Cross (the album and the artist) won five Grammys, including:

RECORD OF THE YEAR--Sailing

ALBUM OF THE YEAR--Christopher Cross

SONG OF THE YEAR--Sailing

BEST NEW ARTIST

BEST ARRANGEMENT ACCOMPANYING VOCALIST(S)--Sailing

His feat of winning those first four Grammys all in one night would not be repeated for 40 years until in 2020 when Billie Eilish managed to win them all.

Christopher Cross (the album) even beat out Pink Floyd's The Wall for  1980's Album of the Year, which, as much as I like Christopher Cross (the album and the artist), I think is crazyballs! But it just goes to show what kind of gentle power yacht rock had back in 1979 and 1980. Christopher Cross (the artist) had a follow-up hit in 1981 with "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)," which won an Oscar for Best Original Song. That particular song also achieved another major milestone in music history when it got added to the Marsh Valley Pep Band playlist. With an award-strewn start like that, it seemed like Christopher Cross (the artist) was destined to become one of the most popular and successful musicians of his generation. 

Then came MTV.

And Christopher Cross (the artist) didn't have a made-for-MTV face that the youngsters liked back in 1981.

Yes, back in those days, video really could kill the radio star. But in fairness, I think his face would have faired much better with the smartphone-video-hungry youngsters 40 years later. My proof? Ed Sheeran.

Of course, back in 1979 and 1980, I really wasn't all that interested in yacht rock. (It wasn't even called "yacht rock" until the mid-2000s.) During that part of my life, I was starting to get into Billy Joel, and all my money went to purchasing his albums. So when Christopher Cross (the album) came out, I didn't buy it. But my sister Ruth did. And like all of my sister's music, I played it whenever I wanted, which turned out to be quite a bit. It was one of those safe albums I could play pretty much anytime and no one in the family would object, including Mom. That's because mom's simply can't object to yacht rock no matter how loud it is played nor the situation in which it is played. It's against the Mom rules. It's right there in Section 15--Popular Music, under Subsection 27--Music They Won't Dance To.

And "Sailing" is, of course, the theme song for all yacht rock. There is nothing yachtier than a soft rock song about sailing on a yacht. But since the closest thing I ever got to sailing on a yacht was paddling a canoe at scout camp, it is no surprise that "Sailing" reminds me of the time I spent in the summer of 1980 at youth leadership camp at Little Lemhi. I remember one boy there saying on the first night of that camp that he really liked "Sailing," which I was surprised that anyone would admit to a group of teenage boys, but I heartily agreed with him, and we immediately became friends all through that week. Then we never saw each other ever again. Such is the nature of scout camp friendships.

"Sailing," along with the other hits on the album--"Ride Like the Wind," "Never Be the Same," and "Say You'll Be Mine"--are some of the best yacht rock you'll ever hear. Some of the other non-hit songs on the album are pretty good too. 

"I Really Don't Know Anymore" is an excellent song that, like "Ride Like the Wind," features back-up vocals by another famous yacht rocker, Michael McDonald, who in my opinion is the doobiest of all the Doobie Brothers. I always wondered why this song didn't get released as a single, because I think it's every bit as good as, or even better than, "Say You'll Be Mine."

"Spinning" is a bit of yawner, but then there's this nice little jazz trumpet solo during the bridge at about 2 minutes and 20 seconds into the song, and I'm a sucker for a nice little jazz trumpet solo.

Musically speaking, I think that "Poor Shirley" is the weakest link on the album. But the lyrics about overcoming the pain of loneliness through the hope of love are pretty damn good. Julie mentioned the other day about how she was so shy back in middle school, especially around boys. She said to me, "You just don't understand how painful it is to be that shy during middle school." I had to admit that I didn't. But I did have a super-awesome friend in middle school that was really shy, and I tried to make damn sure that whenever he was around me that he always knew he had a friend willing to go to the mats for him. I played the clown around girls a LOT during my middle school years, and sometimes I'd do it just so that he'd be able to shed the shyness a little bit and take part in the fun. And my greatest regrets from that period of my life are the few times that I poked fun at him for being shy. I just never should have done that. Also, I should have been kinder to the shy girls in school. If I could travel back in time and do things over again, I'd try to be much less of a jackass. But honestly, I don't think I could totally eliminate my jackassishness. My excuse? I'm related to Spencer, who is the King of Jackasses, so it's got to be at least partially caused by genetics. But let's not get wrapped up in talk about The Spence's many acts of jackassery. Let's get back to the album. 

"The Light Is On" is slow groove yacht rockin' song perfect for chillin' out during a light rain storm nestled all warm and comfy on the pink couch inside the cabin of your yacht. 

"Minstrel Gigolo" is a kind of tribute song to all of the early rockers from the 50s and 60s--think Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones--that would have the girls go nuts for them on the black and white telly. What I really like about this song is the guitar solo. Yes. That IS Christopher Cross playing the guitar on this song--and the rest of the album. Most people think of him as a singer because...well, that voice is so damn distinctive...but I have to give him props for his guitar playing too. He even got Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan fame) to invite him to play guitar on an album with him. 

Which leads me to an observation about my favorite song off the album, "Ride Like the Wind." It's my favorite for a number of reasons. The orchestration with strings is mighty fine--not as good as ELO, of course, but still really good. It's also got some nice trumpet parts mixed into the orchestration. Plus, it's got bongos a-plenty! If you want to hear an example of how bongos can make a great song even better, this is it. But as good as the song is, I think it could have been even better if Christopher had let his guitar work come into the forefront at the end of the song. You can hear him jamming at the end of the song, but it's in the background covered up by Michael McDonald's back-up singing, and Christopher is not letting loose with the guitar as much as I'd like. That's right. Besides jazzy trumpet solos and bangin' bongos, I also like a little rockin' guitar solo in my yacht rock! If you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's a video of Christopher playing live at the end of "Ride Like the Wind." (Yes, the guy with the white hair is the doob Michael McDonald.)

https://youtu.be/iYofDL0QnBE?t=274

See, now THAT'S some mighty fine yacht rockin'!

Nardo

25. Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police

 25. Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNIZofPB8ZM&list=OLAK5uy_mctDATS-H8mOzk3RAPT9j_S0mVgjvkJVg

This was the album that is the most closely related in my mind to the time I visited Randy during the summer of 1981 in Sand Hollow. I was there by myself that visit, for some reason, so I didn't have any family members there to boss me around, but I knew that Mom and Dad expected me to help out with the chores on Aunt Elva's dairy farm as best I could. While we did chores, sometimes Randy would take off while I was doing some job, and after I finished the job, I'd look up to find that he was gone. Then I'd just be standing there wondering what to do. Having been a farm boy for...well...my entire life, I knew that standing around doing nothing isn't what farm boys are supposed to do, especially when you're supposed to be helping out on someone else's farm. You can be lazy on your own farm at times, but when you're at someone else's farm, then you've got to represent the family well and be at the top of your game. So I'd search the farm to try to find him and help out with whatever chore he was doing. After a couple days of doing this, I started to stick to Randy like glue and not let him out of my sight. When I started doing that, he started singing "Don't Stand So Close to Me." I asked him why he was singing that song. He said it was because I was standing to close to him and being a tag-along. I took that kind of hard, as I thought Randy and I were not just cousins but friends. So after that, if he took off, I'd just do what I did on the farm back home, which was to wander around and look at stuff or find a spot to sit and watch the cows. Later on in the visit, Randy and I got into a conversation about The Police, which he liked a lot.

When I returned home after that visit, I eventually saved up my money to buy Zenyatta Mondatta, and that was when I started liking The Police too. Although there were only two hit singles off the album, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo Or Group with Vocal. (Nice category. THANKS!) "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" didn't win anything, but "Behind My Camel" won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The fun fact about "Behind My Camel" is that Sting hated it so much that he refused to play bass on it. He thought it was an awful song, so I take a little bit of pleasure in knowing that it probably bothered him that it won a Grammy. (I've already talked about how "Behind My Camel" shouldn't have won over "YYZ" by Rush.) I personally think that "The Other Way of Stopping" is a better instrumental song, but that's probably because it's got the kind of upbeat tempo song that I like in running songs. Same thing with "Canary in a Coalmine"

The other songs on the album are best listened to in the same way that you'd listen to a Pink Floyd album--laying on a bed with your head perfectly positioned between the speakers. It's the kind of album that you can just listen to and space off and think about nothing and everything all at once. I ranked this album higher than Synchronicity only because of the memories it triggers of that time between 9th and 10th grade just before I started high school when my days were filled with farm work, riding motorcycles in the back 40, scout activities with the Arimo Mafia, and tubing the Portneuf River with Devon and whatever other kids we could round up for that Saturday after doing the Arimo garbage run. Also, since I had my license, I got to drive the truck all over Marsh Valley to run errands for Dad. Man! What I wouldn't give for a few days of that life again!

Nardo