Saturday, August 23, 2008

Vinyl 2

And, on the matter of platters that matter, one album that definitely sounds better on vinyl is John Phillips' Wolfking of LA. Nige and I agree - or did in the hazy days at the edge of memory - that this is one of the most insidiously perfect rock/pop albums ever made. Phillips, I note, subsequently sank into 'drug abuse, infidelity and failed artistic expression'. Insidiously perfect was not good enough; the album had bombed.

4 comments:

  1. He left behind a massive 'autobiography' in which he devoted about half a paragraph to Wolfking (about which you and I were of course exactly right), regretting he ever made it, as he was so depressed at the time. He'd have preferred it if his voice had been wiped off the entire album.

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  2. OMG: I have only JUST discovered Warren Zevon (I mean, beyond "Werewolves of London"), thanks to a dear friend who gave me his last 'greatest hits' album. The man is brilliant: "Mutineer," "Searching for a Heart," "Hasten Down the Wind."

    I just watched the youtube clips of his last appearance on Letterman and I wanted to cry. For me, not him. I will NEVER get to hear him in concert and am only discovering his brilliance now that he's dead.

    If this isn't a carpe diem moment, I don't know what is.

    The say love conquers all;
    you can't start it like a car
    you can't stop it like a gun

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  3. You may not hear him in person, but there is an outstanding archive of live Warren Zevon concerts at http://www.archive.org/details/WarrenZevon.

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