First of all, I'm back! My stereo speakers died; according to my son, they were old and about to die anyway. Me, I'm thinking "Maybe it was the Slipnot turned up to INFINITY that sent them to their grave?" But technically, they didn't die, just needed a transplant. I'm still not sure if they're up to their original awesomeness, but give me a week or two, and I'll be happy to pass along the audio doctor who kept them alive.
Trapped without tunes in the car or at home, I was stuck with whatever I could find on the radio dial. A grateful 'thank you' to KSER, KPLU and KING-FM, especially KSER for the variety of programming. But then there's..."Classic Rock". Umm, I enjoy listening to Alice Cooper talk around his dental work, but jeez... "Free Ride @ 5", call us with your requests!" "Dude, can you play "Hotel California" by the Eagles?"
Really? Really?? You have access to the station's entire CD library and you ask for something they played 4 times in the last 2 hours?!? And you have to add "by the Eagles" because we wouldn't have known what song you wanted otherwise?? (Final librarian tight-ass note: they call themselves "Eagles". Not "The Eagles". Check Steve Martin's book "Born Standing Up" for the story.)
Well, I guess I should address the main point of this blog post, which is -- yes, I love Seals & Crofts. Not just the Summer Breeze-y stuff, but the stuff before they were famous, AND the stuff when they were kicked to the curb! Stuff that came out during the punk era, Ground Zero for destroying anything, well, like Seals & Crofts.
Earlier, they seemed unorthodox -- mandolins! Weird chords! Mysterious Eastern melodic patterns! Nasal bluegrass harmonies in a rock-ish context! And later -- well, I listened to "Stars", the opening song on their kiss-off album "The Longest Road" and thought, "Wow, that guy on piano is pretty good." -- and then read in the liner notes that he was Chick Corea (with Stanley Clarke on bass!)
So... I love "Down Home" and "Year of Sunday", enjoy the "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl" albums, and even listen avidly to "Get Closer", which even on release felt like leftovers.
So, if I had to compile a Seals & Crofts boxed CD set, based on my favorites...I could probably pull it of with 2 CDs, but...probably 3. Take that, Eagles!
