So we were talkin' Classic Live Albums, and where did we leave off the other night? Ahh yes, with Judas Priest "Unleashed In The East". Did you listen to "Exciter" like I suggested? How'd ya like the way Rob Halford keeps raising the vocal line at the very end of the song? "Staaaaaand by for Exciter! Staaaaand by for Exciter! Staaaaaaand by for Exciter!! STAAAAAAND BY FOR EXCITER!!!!!!!"
He sings the last one in his highest register, an ear piercing scream, which is immediately followed by KK and Glenn riffing their butts off for about five seconds to bring the song to a smashing conclusion. Talk about an Opening Statement. Even if the album consisted of only that one song and nothing else, it would still be one of the greatest live albums of all time.
So that gives us four for our list. "Made In Japan" (Deep Purple), "Strangers In The Night" (UFO), "Live Dates" (Wishbone Ash) and "Unleashed".
Our next choice may seem unusual, following the hard rockin' albums that preceded it, but "Roxy & Elsewhere" by Frank Zappa & The Mothers is indeed one of the greatest live albums ever made, featuring not only the prodigious talents of Frank's most supple lineup, featuring Don Preston from the original Mothers of Invention (keyboards), George Duke (more keys), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and outrageously funny comedy vocals), Ruth Underwood (xylophone), the Fowler Brothers, (Bruce and Tom), on trombone and bass respectively, and drummer extraordinaire Chester Thompson. What's really cool about this live album, which was mostly recorded at The Roxy in Hollywood in 1973 (the year it opened), is that most of the music is brand new, which is to say that it isn't on any of FZ's previous studio albums, so it's like you're getting a live album with a new album in the bargain. Plus, you get to hear Frank as the host. He's a laugh riot all by himself, in a droll sort of way. But once the music starts, it's no laughing matter. This is Frank Zappa at his progressive best. It's no coincidence that he recorded his best studio album ("One Size Fits All") not long afterwards, with much of the same lineup.
That now gives us five classic live albums, and we shall continue. It's also interesting to consider some of the bands that never released a classic live album, though you'd have expected them to. What about Van Halen? Surely they should've had one of the most electrifying live LPs of all time. But as we know, they're a weird and fragile entity, as great as they are, so it never happened. Ditto Black Sabbath. Shouldn't they have put out a bone crusher of a live album? I don't mean some bootleg. There are dozens of those. I mean an official release, one that was properly recorded, where the band was on fire like UFO on "Strangers In The Night". Why did neither Van Halen nor Sabbath, both of whom were jaw dropping in concert, ever record a proper live album?
Well anyhow, back to the present (and who wants to go there, right?) :
I voted today, not by mail but by dropbox. Los Angeles County has placed them all over the joint, as a means to bypass Mr. DeJoy, the Trump appointed A-Hole who removed all the mail sorting machines. He's got just the right name, because he's trying to take all the joy out of the election, to "de-joy" it. Removal seems to be his thing, whether it be joy or the sorting machines. In response, the honchos in L.A. put up the drop-boxes, so you don't even have to use the mail. Ha ha!! Take that, DeJoy! Looks like we out de-joyed him at his own game. Anyway, it's the first time I've ever voted early, and not at my polling place. The primary elections in March disabused me of trying that again, at least until Trump is gone. Our local dropbox is right in front of Northridge Libe, which is extra cool because that's one of my favorite places.
Don't worry, we're gonna get rid of this S.O.B. very soon. Biden now has a fourteen point lead in the latest polls, and he's been giving some excellent speeches in battleground states, like today in Florida. Whoever was trying to paint him as senile made a big mistake. He talks like a populist, like an old fashioned politician, and that's exactly what we need right now, someone to calm things down.
Things are gonna get better.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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