watch out, you're gonna lose control

The Replacements - Let it Be
I heard "I Will Dare" on the radio just a bit ago, and I cannot get that little riff out of my head. Plus how can you not love The Replacements - mussy fuckups, stumbling all over loving everything, smoking your cigarettes, actually knowing some new jokes. I'd forgotten about how pretty a song "Androgynous" is. And how corny "Black Diamond" is.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains
Connected only in that I taped both of these records from the same friend in high school, whose older brother sent dispatches from early 80's college rock of what we should be listening to. I remember a bonding moment with my friend Duke in that we discovered that we could both recite all of "Uncorrected Personality Traits" and "Furry Green Atom Bowl" off this record. And for what its worth, I still can. We also once discovered that we could both do the entire rap from New Edition's "Cool it Now" but it took a lyric search to pull that one up:

Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike
If I love the girl who cares who you like

The Incredible String Band - U
More pastoral Albion weirdness, but from fifteen years earlier and with sitars mooing like stoned cows. As goofy as ICB can be, they make a convincing case for the non-existent link they make between Indian Music and Celtic music.

The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
My computer just said "found it." I'd forgotten how propulsive this lil relic is. The rhythms are anything but crazy, in fact I'd say manically locomotive instead. It is rather inspiring stuff, like quietly revolutionary. If only Weezer had stolen more than just the design for the album cover from them...

Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
The vocals on the above record made me think of Brian Eno's on Warm Jets and boom there was that very album sitting as the album of the day on Allmusic.com when I went looking for the Feelies/Weezer covers to see if I was right. Oblique strategies indeed. One of the best rock albums ever, no matter what makes you put it on.

Roxy Music - Roxy Music
Nothing oblique about this strategy, since Brian Eno was in Roxy Music then, and the Yahoo player suggested I listen to this record. "Re-make/Re-model" is one the great (realtively) unknown best songs in the world. That bugged-out sax, it's crazy to think about, but dapper-ass Brian Ferry was really trying to channel The Stooges back then.