Just checking in real quick-like with a couple of new-to-me blogs I’m reading, and a couple of other things:
One of my new reads is Mephisto’s Rock Gems, dedicated to 45s familiar and not (and to Wolfman Jack), accompanied by good research and commentary. It’s yet another blog that’s way better than mine, but I’m trying not to hold it against ‘em.
The other is the Vinyl District, where it’s Harry Nilsson week this week, and where the tunes repeatedly hit me right in the wheelhouse. Its tagline is: “On Joe Strummer’s coffin, a small sticker was placed: VINYL RULES.” Since August 21 would have been the Clash co-founder’s 55th birthday, it’s fitting that we mention it today.
We need to round up both of these blogs for next year’s Vinyl Record Day.
Also, I’d like to point you to Good Rockin’ Tonight, where our pal Homercat has taken off for a while, but left behind his annual vacation mix. It is, shall we say, eclectic. Any mix that includes both Frankie Yankovic and April Wine has got to be good.
On Another Matter: Last week’s dual post of “Please Stand By” by 1994 and “Mega Force” by 707 has racked up the smallest number of downloads recorded on this blog in a very long time. Obscure records from the 80s are generally pretty popular in the music blogosphere, but with these two, we’ve clearly sunk below the line that separates “obscure” from “who gives a shit.” (And this came just a week after we broke the all-time download record with something like 180 downloads of “Head Over Heels” by the Go-Gos.)
So it is with the knowledge that practically nobody cares that I mention this: A music blog called ALOCACOC has posted a whole bunch of albums by obscure early 80s bands such as Shakin’ Street and Neon Rose—and 1994. And not just Please Stand By, but also their self-titled debut album, and a 1986 solo album by bandmember Karen Lawrence. You probably don’t give a shit about those either, but the 13 of you who downloaded “Please Stand By” might get off on ‘em.
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I know the feeling exactly about how some posts just don’t catch fire. To the very day, I think my post featuring The Whispers’ “Mother For My Children” went most unappreciated. Now, I did that post in the early days of the blog, but even among those lesser numbers it suffered!