Outside Counsel

Didn't get home in time to play rock critic last night, so I'll fill in with a note on methodology. In 1978 I had a job working in the mailroom for a big, white shoe firm in downtown Manhattan. There was a lot to recommend about this gig: it got me off Long Island and into the City; there was a lot of train time, which worked out to reading time for me; and I was near J&R Music, still the best music store I have ever seen, anywhere. A steady gig, a chance to read about the music scene, a chance to go and see who was playing pretty regularly at the venues that everyone was talking about, and access to the best record store in the world-- this was a time in my life when I could read about who was hot, see who was hot, and buy sides by acts that were on small labels before anybody knew about them. It was also a time when that sort of act existed, and pop music mattered more to me, so it was a perfect congruence of events. Back then I'd read the critic's best of lists at the end of the year and have heard all of the sides they were talking about. This was the vinyl era, of course, and one of the great things about J&R was that it was cheaper than any other record store around. You could go in with a $20 bill and walk out with an armful of great stuff-- or even stuff you had no idea about, but could afford to take a flyer on.

Last night I pulled out Christgau's 70's book and had a look at the "A List" for 1978, then I pulled out the sides from the list that were on my shelves. Of course I don't have all of them, (The Steve Miller Band, "Greatest Hits"? Not on your life). Here are some that I do have that we won't be playing this game with: Blondie, "Parallel Lines" (as a practical matter, a greatest hits collection); Nick Lowe, "Pure Pop for Now People" (I already know this holds up-- it'd feel too much like cheating); Elvis Costello, "This Year's Model" (are you kidding? As great as it ever was, and everyone knows it); Neil Young, "Decade" (it has "Southern Man" on it, and career retrospective like this are not what I'm trying to do, and I'm kinda Neil Young'd out just at the moment); Warren Zevon, "Excitable Boy" (I know a lot of people who'd take issue with me, but this is a greatest hits collection too, with a lot more filler than you'd think).

The rest are albums I haven't played through in a long time-- because they are vinyl, I don't get to them that often, and quite a few of the sides on deck are things I haven't thought about since the digital age commenced. I was surprised I owned a couple of them. I'm looking forward to playing several, and I am really curious about a few. I'll keep you posted.