Living Vicariously Through My Brother - Gifts And Purchases From Japan

With my brother running around abroad in Japan, he not only filled my text messages with photos, but questions of if I wanted him to pick up some things for me. Some were given as gifts. Others with the understanding that I was going to need to reimburse.

Upon his return, we met up in Baltimore, a nice little halfway point for both of us, where I handed him a check, and he in turn handed me three bags. Two were from Tower Records, and one from Nintendo Kyoto.

The first item was a pair of Monchhichi dolls, which he purchased for me and my sister as a gift. We had these as kids, and today I of course have the full cartoon series on DVD. He thought it would be a fun little surprise for us.

Next up was a used, but presumably complete, original Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo Famicon. Despite being used, it's sealed in shrink wrap to protect the contents inside. He actually picked up two, one of which he kept and opened. I think I'll leave mine sealed up.

He also gifted me an exclusive Nintendo Kyoto glass, which features a selection of Nintendo characters on it. I don't think I'll be drinking out of this. Instead, I'll add it to my Nintendo collection.

Lastly, he gave me a copy of Nintendo Magazine, which was available for free to customers at Ojamakan Fukakusa.

He also grabbed me a copy of the program / catalog from the Star Wars Galaxy In Shibuya event.

Then came the CD's. When my brother initially told me he was going to Japan, he asked if there was anything I would want him to hunt for. I told him that if he came across a Tower Records, that I'd love for him to find me a list of CD's which were exclusive to the country. I didn't expect he'd find and go to three different Tower Records, especially considering he was using his precious limited time abroad to do so.

Unfortunately, he didn't find many of the items on my list. In fact, he only found one. However, he did find a whole slew of other items that I asked him to pick up.

The biggest thing on the list was Queen. I put on my list, "Anything from Queen as long as it's exclusive to Japan." Well, he found a lot.

Unfortunately, the majority of these are bootlegs created by King Street and Coda Publishing. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised to see that Tower Record would allow these to be sold in their shops. Equally, I was disappointed in the sound quality on some of them. Frankly, there seems to be more quality put into the packaging and CD imprinting (artwork wise), than the actual content of the discs.

Fortunately, not everything was a bootleg, such as these two Prince CD's. I didn't necessarily need yet another copy of Purple Rain, and really only asked him to grab this as an afterthought we he returned to take (a lot of) photos of the first Tower Records location. The other Prince album, His Majesty's Pop Life, was the only CD on my list he actually found.

Also not bootlegs were these pressings of Europe's first and second albums. Granted, these were available in the USA, but definitely not as cheap. Though I definitely enjoyed hearing them, in hindsight, I maybe should have opted for US releases, and paid the upcharge to do so. However, the catch 22 to that is that I probably wouldn't have ever gotten them.

Next up was an official re-issue of Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. This not only features the original intended cover for the album, but a handful of live bonus tracks. The second item is unfortunately a bootleg of their live show from 1990. The sound quality is pretty poor on it.

I was surprised, but all over it when he found this We Bop: Nippon Budokan CD from Cyndi Lauper. It's apparently just been "released", in quotations because it's yet another bootleg. It not only showcases Cyndi at her best in 1986, but the sound quality if phenomenal. The second Cyndi item is a legit release, but nothing more than a greatest hits, which is also available in the USA. In hindsight, I would have skipped on the latter had I know this prior to committing to him grabbing it. Frankly, I didn't even open it.

I so badly wanted him to find the original (and legit) Live From The Jungle CD from Guns 'N Roses, but sadly, he never came across one. He did, however, find two massive boxsets, and individual live album, all bootlegs, and their hard to find legit EP, and even harder to find legit single. Yes, please to all!

Two other CD's which I didn't necessarily need, but asked him to pick them up with the above note Purple Rain were Michael Jackson's Thriller and Bad. Much like Prince, I don't necessarily need more copies of these albums in my life, but opted for them because they're uniqueness.

He was also able to find on Jermaine Jackson studio album, which I asked him to grab. I don't know why, but Jermaine gets no love from Motown. The majority of his albums aren't available on CD. This one appears to be legit, released in Europe in 2022.

Last up was a couple of free gifts from Tower Records for purchasing Queen and Guns 'N Roses items. They appear to be cellophane folders, but they're pretty thin, and fragile.

Did I spend more than I should have? Yes. Do I have buyer's remorse? Well, considering the majority of these turned out to be bootlegs, kind of. I'll put it this way. If I had a bit more time to think about the purchases I was making, rather than frantic texts in the early hours of the morning, I probably would have passed on a lot of.....Ah, who am I kidding....I would have still gotten them all.

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Retro Spins: Aaron Neville - Warm Your Heart

 

Aaron Neville is a nice change of pace from the hard drumming, loud strumming music I'm accustomed to. Thought I'd be lying if I said it was my favorite, it's still nice to sometimes just listen to something mellow. That's what I got from Aaron Neville's 1991 album, Warm Your Heart.

I purchased this album for two specific songs, Everybody Plays The Fool and Ava Maria. Much like the style of music, these are far from my favorite songs in the world, but again, the quieter, soothing nature of them is a nice change of pace. Especially when you're having a blah sort of day, which I was. It was one of those boring sort of Saturdays where I just didn't want to do anything. Even perusing through 80's albums felt like work, and I just wasn't feeling it.

Perhaps what I really needed was a nap. Because that's what I (somewhat) got while listening to Warm Your Heart. It was so relaxing that I kept finding myself tilting back in my chair with my eyes closed. That may have been driven by the massive lunch I ate though. Check this bad boy out.

Don't let the tin foil fool you. That massive Big Mac looking beast is home made, including the special sauce. I've felt pretty lethargic (and miserable) ever since crushing that beast.

But that's a different kind of "warm your heart". This post is supposed to be about Aaron Neville.

Um...Yeah, the album was okay. Nothing to write home about. A nice change of pace, but not with any songs, beyond the two noted above, to really get excited about. Anyway...back to my nap.

This is going to be my last 90's and beyond album for a while. Honestly, my desire for these albums got derailed by Alanis Morrisset. Killed my desire. Coupled with the shear volume of 80's albums I still have that are sitting unheard, I really don't have the time to delve into anything beyond that decade.

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Retro Spins: Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

 

1993 was my introduction to Ozzy Osbourne. It was a fascinating venture into the growing genre of heavy metal. To me, Ozzy was new, fresh, raw and with a solid album in No More Tears (which was actually released in 1991). It blew my mind to see that he had so many albums prior to it. How could I have never heard of the man? The doorway was kicked wide open as I was soon exposed to classics such as Blizzard of Oz, Diary of A Madman, and my personal, and the most unappreciated album in his catalog, The Ultimate Sin.

Over the course of my life, I've gone in and out of phases for bands / singers, and for me, this era was all about Ozzy. He had dethroned artists such as Prince, Guns N' Roses and Ozzy Osborune. He would later be dethroned by Rush, which would lead to my all time favorite group of all time, Queen. While I've since then expanded even further into other music, they remain at the top of that list to this day.

But I digress. Let's step back in time to Ozzy's 1991 album, No More Tears.

When I first heard it, I had a great appreciation for the first half of the record. Mr. Tinkertrain, I Don't Want To Change The World, Mama I'm Coming Home, Desire, No More Tears and S.I.N. were my favorites of that point in history. However, after giving them their fair chance much later down the road, I grew to enjoy several tracks from the back half of the album. Not all of them, but most of them.

However, as I sit down to listen to this album today, while I still like the songs from it, they are admittedly very "loud". I don't know if this is because I've grown older or if perhaps I'm just not in the mood for something like this. It's admittedly been a rather frustrating day. So in that regard, the timing may not have been right for it. Of course, the other viable problem could be that I've simply listened to this album too much over the years and I'm just over it. Whatever the reason was, I eventually turned it off.

Regardless of where I'm at today that prevented me from getting through it, this album holds a special place in my mind to me. It transports me back to a time when life was a bit easier, living at home, going through high school and having the final years of my responsibility free life before really learning what it meant to be an adult.

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Retro Spins: Depeche Mode - Violator

 

Depech Mode is often considered one of the greatest new wave bands of the 80's, yet it's ironic that their album, Violator from 1990, features their most memorable tracks. Songs like Personal Jesus, Enjoy The Silence and Policy Of Truth are often mistakenly considered 80's songs, when in fact, they are not, all being featured on Violator.

While it was great to hear these three songs again, as a whole, Violator was just an okay album. It really didn't have anything that stood out beyond these tracks. Don't get me wrong. I wanted it to be great. There were tunes that were grabbing me momentarily, but they never seemed to drive it home. I would either lose interest or simply just not be all the blown away in the long run.

After hearing this, I did go and do a search for more hits from the band. Unfortunately, as it turns out, I don't know many. As a result, I don't necessarily see myself putting much effort into tracking down much more from the band. I already have their 1984 release, Some Great Reward, and would consider their 1981 Speak & Spell, and possibly their 1986 Christmas Island, but that's about it.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not a big fan. I wish there was more I could say, but short and sweet seems to be the best course of action.

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Retro Spins: Prince - Graffiti Bridge

Grafitti Bridge may very well be the first "Parental Advisory" album I got to buy as a kid. I remember vividly the day I got it. We were driving from Oregon to Virginia, in one of our many family relocation periods. Over the course of the one week drive, eight or so hours a day, we eventually stopped at a local retail store, which I believe was a K Mart.

While we all took a well needed stretch of the legs, I wandered into the music section, a beautiful array of shelves with cassette after cassette neatly organized in alphabetical order. It was here that I found Graffiti Bridge. I'd never heard of it, but was a young fan of Prince. I certainly had no clue that it was the soundtrack to a movie, which was technically the sequel to Purple Rain. Still, something about the cassette made me want it. Either mom didn't look at it, or she did and didn't care about the advisory label. I'm guessing the latter was not the case. I think I just lucked out this time by it not being thoroughly inspected before getting approval.

Back in the car, the headphones went on, the cassette went into the Walkman, and it began.

"Dear dad. Things didn't turn out quite like I wanted them to. Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna explode..." From that intro, the music kicked into high gear, and I was whisked away into a mix of heavy rock, funk, soul and ballads.

From that day, Graffiti Bridge became one of my all time favorites from Prince. I went through a phase in my young high school years where this thing got played daily. That cassette had to have been on its last legs by the time I retired it for a CD version.

What I think stands out about the album, from other works from Prince, is the overall collaboration with Morris Day And The Time, the horizon of The New Power Generation, and the introduction and brief career of Tevin Campbell. It's masterfully crafted to not only contain great music, but also a story when listed to from start to finish.

Though Prince has undoubtedly made some great music since Grafitti Bridge, I think overall, for me, it remains his last best achievement in his career. It's a solid album from front to back, and one I really enjoy playing every now and then.

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Retro Spins: Michael Jackson - HIStory: Past, Present and Future - Book I

Can Michael Jackson do wrong? No. Thank you, good day.

Oh, right...Retro Spin.

I think if I were to sum up Michael Jackson's career, specifically as a solo artist, it would be that his pre Off The Wall albums were marginally forgettable, Off The Wall itself was okay in hindsight to what would be its follow up, Thriller was Michael at his ultimate height, Bad was the anticipated, "What will he do next / How can he top Thriller?" album and Dangerous was his last successful work. From there, his albums progressively fell further and further away from the public eye. HIStory: Past, Present and Future - Book I, not only serves as the singer's longest titled album, but also the one with his last Billboard hit during his lifetime. I say it that way because he did manage to have further hits with his posthumous album, Xscape.

HIStory serves as part greatest hits, part all new album, with the most noteworthy tracks being the duet Scream, which featured Janet Jackson, and Stranger In Moscow. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Don't Really Care About Us, which is actually one of my favorites from Jackson. Tabloid Junkie is also a decent song, though it does invoke eye rolling. The reason being is that it's yet another song from Michael whining about how people think he's weird and just won't leave him alone.

For the purposes of this review, I'll touch on the first disc of this album, the greatest hits portion. Yes, it has good tracks, because it is after all a compilation of his best. However, because it is a select collection of fifteen songs, there are some noticeable omissions. I suppose one could argue that you couldn't fit them all on an album, which I suppose could be why it was entitled, "Book I". Perhaps there was a second book which never came to fruition. Who knows.

As for the new material, which encompasses disc two - Well, I've touched on that, for the most part, in a couple paragraphs above. As a whole, it's a decent album, but it's far from his best. Nay, that ship had sailed by this point in Jackson's career. Good tracks? Absolutely. There are some. Unfortunately, the mediocre ones tend to outweigh them. Because of this, they somewhat get lost in the muddled final product.

Look, Michael Jackson, dead or alive, will always remain one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Despite opinions of the quality of his music as his career continued, there's no denying the man could outsell any arena in the world. His good songs weren't just good, they were amazing, and his dancing was rivaled by no other before or since. It's because of this, Michael Jackson will always have a spot in my personal music collection, no matter what the album is. I have them all.

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Retro Spins: Leo Sayer - Cool Touch

Much like Jermaine Jackson, Leo Sayer's career seems to have the same problem. It's showing up to the party too late. By this, I mean his music seems to be a decade behind. While most artists of the 80's were adopting synthpop sounds, Sayer (and Jackson), seemed to be stuck in the 70's dance craze of disco and ballads. It's because of this that it's no surprise Sayer's 1990 released Cool Touch seems to have finally caught up to this style of music. It certainly makes it stand out as my kind of music. However, I can also see why it failed to really impact in the era of grunge. It probably didn't help that the album was only released in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.

Despite its release date, the sound of the album appeals very much to my 80's nostalgic sense of being. As far as I'm concerned, it fits right in there with anything released between 1986 and 1987. However, with that said, it doesn't get a free pass for that.

As I listened to it, I didn't hate what I was hearing. Unfortunately, I also wasn't being blown away. Of the ten tracks, only two stood out for me. What made this all the more worse was how superior they were to the rest of the album. Going Home and My Favourite easily could have been chart toppers in the 80's, but very overshadowed and ignored in the 90's.

The album intrigued me enough to want to see what else Sayer did past his prime years in the industry. However, this led to a disappointing dead end. While he did release a few more albums, the releases were limited to foreign countries, and not only that, but he appears to have reverted back to his 70's era music style. I suppose I'll be passing on those.

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Retro Spins: Alice Cooper - Hey Stoopid

My personal introduction to Alice Cooper didn't happen until 1989 with his album, Trash. To me, it may as well have been his first. I'd never heard of the guy. It was a pretty decent album. Decent enough that when his follow up, Hey Stoopid, was released in 1991 I picked it up on cassette.

Mind you, this was back in the day when there was no Youtube. I wasn't able to go to a streaming site and listen to a few tracks to determine if I wanted the album. Nope. If it wasn't on the radio, you essentially bought in good faith that an artist you liked would continue to deliver the goods.

Thankfully, this paid off. Hey Stoopid remains my all time favorite album from Cooper. Now I know some of you are thinking right now that I'm crazy. Alice Cooper has had classic hits from the 70's that remain a staple in his concert tours. Nobody even remembers Hey Stoopid.

Alright, I won't deny that. I won't disagree with it either. It's not exactly rated one of the best albums of all time. For me though, it is.

The excitement slowly builds as the chanting of, "Hey, hey, hey, hey," repeats with the drum, and  then takes off as it launches into the title track of the album. If you listen carefully, you'll hear the distinct voice of rocker Ozzy Osbourne singing back up. From there, the album delivers a variety of great tracks, good tracks and just okay ones.

Throughout the record, Alice delivers a variety of hard rock and ballads all with full emotion and energy. No matter what you're looking for, you'll find it on Hey Stoopid.

The great tracks, for me, are Hey Stoopid, Snakebite, Might As Well Be On Mars (my absolute favorite on the album) and Wind-Up Toy. The good tracks, again, for me, are Loves A Loaded Gun, Burning Our Bed, Dangerous Tonight, Feed My Frankenstein, Hurricane Years and Die For You. Meanwhile, the just okay ones are Little By Little and Dirty Dreams.

Look, I could sit here and just keep reiterating how great this album is, or you could do yourself a favor and go check it out for yourself.

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Retro Spins: Tony! Toni! Toné! - The Revival

Feels Good was the only song I knew from this CD, and for me, that alone was worth the dollar I paid for it. This low price point turned out to be a very good thing because the rest of the album didn't do it for me at all.

By track four, I found myself saying, "Ugh, this is only track four?" By track seven, I started skipping songs. By track ten, I gave up.

Tony! Toni! Toné!'s The Revival was not for me. However, considering I got the full album for less than the price of a single, I'm not going to hate on it. On the other hand, I'm not going to focus on it anymore beyond this either.

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Retro Spins: Warrant - Cherry Pie

Oh wow. I forgot how much I liked this album. I haven't heard Warrant's Cherry Pie since the days of my brother blaring it over his stereo speakers. However, unlike the majority of his music, I actually really liked when this one got played.

It all starts out with the album's iconic hit, Cherry Pie, which debuted at number ninety-seven in September of 1990. The song peaked at number ten before dropping back down. From there, it leads into my favorite track, Uncle Tom's Cabin. This track, while it charted, only managed to do so at number ninety-three and was gone the following week.

I Saw Red, is the perfect example of how to do a ballad correctly. Not only is it a great song, but it also went to number ten on the charts. Though there are other great tracks to be found, Blind Faith is the only other song from the album to chart. Much like Uncle Tom's Cabin, it debuted and disappeared in one week at number ninety-nine.

Cherry Pie is one of the last great hair band albums, before the grunge scene dominated everything, changing the music world forever in the process. It's pretty solid from start to finish with thrashing riffs and catchy tunes.

By track six, I had added all of them to my shuffle mixes for later re-listening. By the end, I had added ten of the twelve. The only songs which didn't make the cut were Train, Train and Ode To Tipper Gore.

However, that last track isn't exactly a song. It's just fifty-five seconds of live obscenities aimed at Tipper Gore for her PMRC campaign. The history surrounding that campaign is an unfortunate one, but it's worth checking out if you don't know much about it.

As for the album, that about wraps it up. I really can't say anymore than I have, but clearly, I liked it a lot. It made me go digging into the history of the band's discography a bit and I found they had a debut album from 1989, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, which I picked up for a few bucks. By the time you read this post, I'll probably have listed to it and written a Retro Spin on it.

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Retro Spins: White Zombie - La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One

It was the summer of 1995, and a buddy of mine from high school had me over to his house to visit. Out of all the friends I had, he was always the one who was the most well off. He was the first out of all of us to have a car, his parents always made sure he had money in his pocket, and he never really wanted for anything. He was also the only guy I knew who owned a Panisonic 3DO.

At $699.99, it was the most expensive video game console in America at the time. It was aimed at a specific type of gamer - The wealthy one...Or the child of the wealthy.

Though the games sported fantastic "realistic" graphics for its time, I personally always found them to be clunky. As such, none of the games really impressed me all that much. I was content to go home and play my Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

One of the games we did play a little bit of during my visits was Way Of The Warrior, a fighting game ala Mortal Kombat visuals and fatalities. The game itself was garbage. What kept me enthralled was the fantastic soundtrack I kept hearing throughout the intro and stages.

I don't remember how I found out, but I did. The soundtrack to Way Of The Warrior wasn't just video game music, but tracks from an album which had been released in 1992. That album, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One by White Zombie. Very soon after that, I purchased both that album and their 1995 Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head on cassette. I played them both to death, and eventually had to upgrade to CD copies.

Fast forward to August 1996, and White Zombie becomes the first concert I ever go to. Unfortunately, due to temperatures in the 110 degree range, it was so hot that we left before the show even started. To this day, I swear we would have gotten heatstroke if we hadn't made that decision. It was so miserable. Disappointing too.

Sadly, White Zombie broke up in 1998 and I never got an opportunity to try and see them live again.

When I started putting my CD collection back together back in 2017, La Sexorcisto was a top priority album for me. It had been about twenty years since I'd heard it, and I was eager to see if it had withstood the test of time. I was pleased to see it had. I enjoy it now just as much as I did when I was younger.

Hearing it now, you can definitely pick up on Rob Zombie's love for movies. All the interludes and outros which are inner cut with dialog from classic "B" films seemed odd to me back in the day, but it didn't deter me from enjoying the album. However, now that I've seen where Zombie has gone on to in his career, it all makes more sense, and fits all the more because of it.

Ironically, for has much as I love the 80's and White Zombie, I've never bothered trying to track down their two albums from the era. I've never heard anything off of them, and I honestly can't say as I have any interest to. My White Zombie time frame is firmly locked in at 1992 to 1995.

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Retro Spins: Queen - Innuendo

I need to call a time out after last week's Retro Spin. Give myself a moment to regroup before moving on in full swing. As such, please indulge me as I take a free throw with this week's album.

I've said it a hundred times over here at The Toy Box, I love Queen! They're my all time favorite band...Which is why I wish Brian May and Roger Taylor would really stop trying to kill their legacy. One of Freddie Mercury's last wishes was that nobody made him boring in death. I fear with an oversaturation of greatest hits releases, a "new" front man that Queen purists won't pay a dime to see and a plethora of potential live albums which the surviving members refuse to release, they're doing just that.

1991 was both a tragic and amazing year for Queen and their fans. The world lost Freddie Mercury to AIDS, but also got the amazing album, Innuendo. Driven by some of the best tracks since the band's work in the 70's, this final album to have Freddie's fingerprints on it was a masterpiece. Nay, IS a masterpiece.

It features deep and emotional songs which we can hear Freddie saying goodbye to his many fans across the world, while also dishing out peppy and straight up rock and roll songs which say, "I still want to entertain you, darlings."

The band knew this would be their final outing with Freddie, and their collaboration shows. Each member brings their all to the table. Brian May provides a mixture of guitar work from classical, Latin and hard rock, while Roger Taylor and John Deacon work in unison to lay down a mixture of subtle when necessary bass lines, and hard, power packed ones when they're called for.

Each one of its twelve tracks is crucial to the next, so much in a way that I can't personally imagine not hearing it back to back in its entirety each time I play it...And I've played it a lot. Not as much as my brother played Alanis Morissette, but a lot nonetheless. Actually, that may not be true. I may have broken my brother's record. Just not in consecutive days like he did.

Though Queen did go on to release one posthumous album on behalf of Freddie in 1995, to me, Innuendo feels more so like the perfect finale to the band's studio catalog. It takes twenty years of Queen and delivers a wonderfully satisfying conclusion to an era of rock and roll that will probably never be repeated or replicated.

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Retro Spins: Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill

In the summer of 1995, Saturday and Sunday in my parents house were signified by my brother waking up the house to a blaring Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. I heard this album so many weekends over the course of the remainder of the year that I wanted to smash it by Christmas.

Even as I type this I can hear that guitar and harmonica intro of All I Really Want.

When the album first dropped, it was actually pretty okay. It was raw, edgy, angry...Everything the opposite of what I said about last week's Arrested Development. However, when you hear the same thirteen songs, sometimes two to three times a day every weekend for twenty-one weeks, it wears thin...Fast.

This Retro Spin is actually the first time I've heard the album since my brother finally retired it - which wasn't for a year or two after getting it. Hopefully enough time has passed that I can find some enjoyment in it...

...I can't. I really honestly can't.

As I start listening to it, I immediately noticed a couple things:

1) The album still grates on my nerves from being overplayed.

2) Alanis Morissette can't sing. She sounds like a yodeling donkey that's been kicked in the head. Her voice cracks and strains left and right throughout each song. It's almost shrill to my ears.

I made it to the one minute thirty second mark of song two before I said, "I just can't. I've had enough." I couldn't take it. I had to shut it off. The songs were coming off as a cross between whining and nagging - Two things I really have no patience for hearing and Morissette's grating voice wasn't helping matters.

It's a shame really. With how many accolades and awards this album has won, I want to feel like there's a solid album in there somewhere. I just can't bring myself to be subjected to finding out. I don't think I ever want to hear Jagged Little Pill ever again. 

I went ahead and let my brother know he'd thoroughly killed this album. He was pleased with himself.

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Retro Spins: Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...

When I think back on Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of..., I don't actually remember many of the songs from the album. Instead, I remember great times spent with my brother. We would sit in his room playing his Super Nintendo, typically Act Raiser, Contra III: The Alien Wars or Ghouls And Ghosts (among others). So many hours were spent just hanging out.

When I found the album in ol' dollar bin in Timonium, I decided I'd add it to my collection. Not necessarily because it was a CD I wanted, but rather for the memories it brought with it.

As I made my way through the album for this write up, I actually found myself not remembering very many of the fifteen songs from 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... In fact, there were only three, Mr. Wendel, U and Tennessee. It was great to find these tracks were still rather enjoyable.

The album felt rather spiritual in a way, and I didn't hate that. It was refreshing to hear hip hop music that didn't have any ill will or nasty undertones behind it. Overall though, it wasn't really for me.

Despite its "clean" tone, the songs really didn't resonate with me beyond the three I noted above. I don't hate on Arrested Development for that. Instead, I'll just chalk it up to it isn't for me. I also have plenty more music to thumb through and listen to, so I'll take the three tracks I got from it and keep digging for something "new".

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Retro Spins: Aqua - Aquarium

You know what? I like Aqua, and I'm not ashamed to admit that one bit. Their sound is bubble gummy and fun. It's got a great dance beat, and doesn't take itself too serious. Their album Aquarium was a refreshing surprise in the midst of the 1990's.

I was introduced to the Danish-Norwegian band when a friend of mine brought the CD along for one of the many car rides we took to nowhere in particular. Several trips and plays later, and I was hooked. When I got my own copy, I played it back to back repeatedly. Three very long years later, Aqua finally released a follow up album, Aquarius and while I didn't necessarily like it as much as Aquarium, it was a decent record. It would be eleven more years before the band's third, and what appears to be final album came out.

For as much as I enjoyed everything Aqua back in the day, it's probably been about ten years since I've heard their music. Today's Retro Spin felt like a good opportunity to reunite with the band and have a play.

Everything stands up to what I remember. Out of the eleven tracks, the same three, which were my least favorites, remain as such. Those are, Good Morning Sunshine, Be A Man and Turn Back Time. Mind you, these aren't bad tracks, they're just not as good as the remaining ones, which are far more up tempo and peppy.

My all time favorites from the album remain Happy Boys And Girls, Dr. Jones, Lollipop (Candyman), Roses Are Red and Calling You. Meanwhile, My Oh My, Barbie Girl and Heat Of The Night round out the album to a very near perfection.

Playing this album after so many years was a treat in multiple ways. The music is still really fun to listen to, and it also took me back in my mind to days long forgotten with friends from the past  I don't unfortunately see anymore these days.

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Retro Spins: Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch - Music For The People

I have a guilty pleasure in songs from this album. Specifically, Music For The People, Good Vibrations and Wildside. I've liked these tracks ever since the 90's, when I heard my brother pumping them through his speakers. However, I never actually got around to hearing the whole album. With Retro Spins visiting the 90's this year, I thought, why not.

This CD came into my possession during one of my many Timonium visits to see, CD Guy. As I've said in the past, that's actually not his name. I didn't actually expect to come across this album, nor was I actively looking for it. However, when I did, I nabbed it up quicker than quick and added it to my pile.

After hearing Music For The People, the album, again after all these years, I can fully understand why my brother only played the first three tracks mentioned above. It's not very good. In fact, I'm not even a fan of Wildside anymore after hearing it again. It has not aged well, and its message, while deep in 1991, is a little corny now.

Music For The People and Good Vibrations? Well, that's another story. Those two tracks are still pretty solid. Dope if you will. With that said, I won't be rushing to hear them again any time soon.

I can also understand why Mark Wahlberg has distanced himself from his Marky Mark persona and music. If this album was hot in the 90's, it hasn't aged well over time.

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Retro Spins: The Time - Pandemonium

The majority of my exposure to The Time is via Prince's Purple Rain and Graffiti Bridge. While I'm sure in 2023 I wrote a post about an 80's The Time album, the truth of the matter is I wrote all the 2024 posts before any of those. This makes Panedmonium the first album from The Time I've actually heard.

Panemonium starts out on a really strong note, and I found myself really enjoying the album title track of the same name, Jerk Out and Blondie. However, that's were things really stopped for me. As the album kept going, I was expecting to hear something as good as what these first few tracks offered, but it never came. I even went back when the album was done and played sections of the aforementioned songs to make sure I did actually enjoy them just to be sure. I did.

So, what happened? Why did the tracks suddenly drop off for me?

I think part of it was that the remaining songs turned more serious in tone from that of the ones I mentioned before. That niche comedy styling that The Time has become known for just wasn't there for these remaining tracks.

Additionally, I think the album suffers from the same issue a lot of albums from the 90's do - It's too long. At one hour five minutes, that's just too much material for any record. Some of the best albums I've ever heard have been around the thirty-five to forty minute mark. I think this "forces" musicians to pack in only the strongest of their tracks, while leaving the filler out.

I'm pretty disappointed that Pandimonium set the bar so high when it first started, but then continued to lower and lower and lower and lower the bar until it was dragging on the ground. I really had high hopes based on my first impression.

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Retro Spins: Deee-Lite - World Clique

Back in the day, I had a co-worker who her and I thoroughly enjoyed phrasing questions with, "How do you say, de....<insert random word here>." We would then laugh at our inside joke as people stared at us like we were lunatics. All of this was derived from the music video of the only song I've ever known, until today, from house group, Deee-Lite.

Ever since seeing the video on MTV, I've been hooked on the song, Groove Is In The Heart. Everything about it was fun, from the music to the visuals. It was different from the emerging Seattle rock, and at the same time took me back to the 70's in a way. The inclusion of Bootsy Collins on bass only upped its charm for me.

As I listened to World Clique for the first time, what I found myself enjoying the most was the music itself. While Lady Miss Kier has an amazing and unique voice, it really wasn't the lyrics which were drawing me in, but rather the beats and melodies. I found this interesting since I'm really not into heavy beat and bass driven music. It had a lot of funky soul to it, and, for lack of a better word, was just groovy.

Unfortunately, it didn't hold my attention all that long, though I did get excited when Groove Is In The Heart finally came around. I also got giddy to hear What Is Love?, which features the spoken portions at the beginning of the music video for Groove. I didn't know this until today.

Overall, I don't see myself becoming a fan of Deee-Lite. I dig Groove Is In The Heart, and that's really enough for me.

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Retro Spins: Green Jellö (AKA Green Jellÿ) - Cereal Killer Soundtrack

If "Weird Al" Yankovic was a metal artist, you'd probably get Green Jellö, or Green Jellÿ as they were forced to change their name to after being sued by Kraft Foods. The songs are loud, but silly. Some are a little harsher in tone, language and content wise, than others, but all intended in good jest.

As a band, Green Jellö featured a slew of talent which included the likes of Maynard Keenan and Danny Carey of Tool, Leslie Claypool of Primus, and comedian Pauly Shore...Along with twelve other contributing members.

As an entity, Green Jellö are no strangers to the world of legality. I've already mentioned they were sued by Kraft Foods for the infringement on the name Jellö. However, this lawsuite came to be more so for the band's slogan, "Green Jellö sucks," more so than the band's actual name. This lawsuit was followed up by another from Kellogg Company for their trademark infringement of the character Toucan Sam. Finally, a third litigation was filed against them by the managers of Metallica for the use of the guitar riff from Enter Sandman in their song Electric Harley House (of Love).

All of these suits resulted in a degree of changes which had to be made to their albums and the band in general. The most notable being the change of the name from Green Jellö to Green Jellÿ. What's interesting about this is that even under the name Green Jellÿ, and the name of the song changed to Green Jellÿ Sucks, they band weren't forced to change the lyrics, and still sing, "Green Jellö sucks." Metallica's lawsuit wasn't as friendly, and the band was forced to remove their music from the album, video library. Kellogg's made the band add a disclaimer to their front cover of the album separating the band from the food brand.

Despite this, Green Jellÿ was successful enough to release a follow up album in 1994, and then in 2009 released an additional album. However, overall, they remain a rather obscure one hit wonder from the 1990's.

Listening to Green Jellö's Cereal Killer Soundtrack definitely brings back memories for me. I remember my first introduction to the band was their claymation style music video for pretty much their only commercially successful track, Three Little Pigs. It intrigued me enough to want the album, and introduced me to a slew of other fun songs to listen to. The charm to it all was the humor mixed with heavy metal aspects.

Admittedly, while listening to it for this post, it took me a little bit to get into the album. It wasn't until Rock-N-Roll Pumpkin that I remembered just how much I enjoyed Cereal Killer Soundtrack. It wasn't for the goofy lyrics, though some are still childishly funny, but rather for the killer guitar work. This rings all the more true in the aforementioned Pumpkin song which shreds.

I actually really enjoyed listening to this CD. It's been a long time since I've blared it through speakers, and it was really fun to remind myself of why I bought it all those years ago. It's definitely not an every day kind of album, and I certainly wouldn't head down the highway with the windows open and it cranking. But, it was great to hear again.

If it's an album you're considering grabbing, then I encourage you to find the original Green Jellö labeled release. It's definitely more scarce than the re-release, but it's not too costly. Five to ten bucks on a good day.

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Retro Spins: Nirvana - Nevermind

In 1991, I could take or leave Nirvana, and pretty much left it. I wasn't into the hype of grunge music, nor the "deep" lyrics of Kurt Cobain. To me, they were irrelevant. The problem I soon found myself facing was that they were eating up the airwaves of early 90's radio, and the music I enjoyed from the 80's was quickly disappearing.

The irony of Nirvan's popularity in the 90's was that the band actually got its start in the 80's, and even released their first album, Bleach, in 1989. However, at that time, nobody cared about them or even knew who they were.

As time went by, I learned to appreciate their songs a little more, but I was still by no means a fan. I, like so many others, had their album, Nevermind, because, well, it was 1991 and everyone did. Overnight, the schoolyard started changing. People were dressing different, acting different, and some were just becoming plain unlikable. It was as if grunge music was turning people into miserable shells, or at the very least, telling people they didn't have to pretend to be happy anymore. It actually kind of sucked, and things really haven't been the same since.

Mind you, I'm not blaming grunge music for the turn in youth culture. However, one would be remiss to not say there was definitely some contribution and influence to it. Nirvana was a big part of that scene, and it really showed just how true that was in the spring of 1994 when his dead body was found, allegedly from suicide.

What was interesting about listening to Nevermind as I prepared this post was how I too felt my own mood changing with each passing track. It was actually depressing me a bit. Yes, there were a lot of good tracks, but not in a peppy, want to sing along type of way. It was actually bumming me out the more I heard it. Plus, it was kind of just loud. That's saying something for someone who just reviewed a Marilyn Manson CD the week before.

Overall though, I would be lying if said I didn't immediately remembered tracks such as Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Come As You Are, Breed, Lithium, Polly, Drain You, Lounge Act, Stay Away, On A Plain and Something In The Way. These songs were everywhere during the time frame, and you'd have to be going out of your way, or be deaf, to not have them ingrained into your skull. You literally couldn't swing a stick without hitting them back in the day. Quality wise, they still hold up and appear to have aged well with the times.

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