In which we're all music, all of the time

Just as I was seriously getting into Neil Sedaka, he up and died. I was saddened by this. His music was just, well, fun, and one imagined that he in person was also just, well, fun. His music speaks for itself, and if you haven’t listened to him lately, go back and revisit him. You’ll enjoy it. (“Breaking Up is Hard to Do” was in my head all this last Lakeland weekend.)

The audit queue: The biggest theme over the last week or so has been takeoffs from 500 Songs talking about the Byrds and The Beach Boys, with a few ringers thrown in for good measure:

• Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers An old Byrd, the one who wouldn’t fly (on an airplane), with a country band is, well, very country, if that’s what you’re looking for.
• The Surfaris They were famous for Wipe Out. Period. The end. 
• Before and After, by Chad and Jeremy Always pleasant British Invasion stuff. Their voices meld nicely and the tunes are sweet. A nice nostalgic listen. 
• Gary Usher, the Astrology Album. Usher collaborated with Brian Wilson on some early tunes and produced a couple of Byrds’ albums, so he hits 500 Songs on both burners. This is a spoken word album, over some harmless music, all about astrology, and roughly five minutes of my life I’ll never get back. 
• Jim Stafford His eponymous album is pretty much all country, but I do like “Spiders and Snakes.”
• The International Submarine Band The thing is, Gram Parsons had to come from somewhere, and this is his first real group, and damn if you can’t hear what’s to come in this very confusing mix of rock and folk and country. The production isn’t there yet, but I found that when I was half-listening to it the next thing I knew I was all-listening to it. Of more than a little historical interest, and at least a decent bit of good music. 
• Amazing Rhythm Aces The name sounded vaguely familiar. They’re a 70s country-rock group and I have to admit I enjoyed this album. I'll definitely listen to more of them.
• Firefall  Their eponymous debut album. This is one of those groups that learned about music at the foot of Buffalo Springfield rather than, say, Leadbelly. Fifth generation rock, I guess—after 1) early influencers of the blues, country, etc.; 2) Elvis/R&B 50s; 3)the Beatles/guitar rock, and Laurel Canyonites; 4)SF California music—but pretty good. I’ll definitely follow them in their next albums.
• Emmylou Harris, Elite Hotel That beautiful voice… She collaborated with Parsons early on, which is how she popped in here. If you have a country playlist, you know her inside and out. 
• Bruce Springsteen Tracks II: The Lost Albums I read about this somewhere and decided to give it a try. I don’t dislike the Boss but I am not his biggest fan, although some of my friends are. This is for them, not for me. I’ll stick to the hits. 
• Mick Ralphs, It’s All Good Ralphs played guitar for Bad Company and Mott the Hoople. This album is all instrumentals. Good, if you like that sort of thing. 
• The Gilded Palace of Sin And here we are. Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman form the Flying Burrito Brothers after recording “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” and leaving the Byrds, and this is their debut album. A GOAT? Not really. But in the last fifty years or so, it has grown on me. By the way, 500’s Andrew Hickey says that Hillman is way underrated for his various contributions, and he is probably right about this. We’ll be following Hillman in more detail as we go forward. 
• The Remains Never heard of them. They opened for the Beatles in ’66 and broke up that same year. They were a Boston group, and a lot of influential people have spoken very highly of them over the years. This one went straight to heavy rotation. There was a lot here to parse. I liked it. 
• Asylum Choir II Leon Russell of the Wrecking Crew makes an early album with guitarist Marc Benno before becoming Leon Russell. Heavily influenced by gospel, and full of Russell’s distinctive piano playing. I never really glommed onto Russell, but he does get a good off once in a while. Best hair and beard in the business. 
• Canned Heat When I first heard their eponymous first album playing in the next room, I thought it was maybe an early 40s blues recording. It turned out to be Canned Heat deliberately trying to sound like an early 40s blues recording. They cover all the licks, but don’t seem to have any of their own. But I’ll keep listening to them. I do like primary lead singer Bob Hite’s little falsetto, and miss it when someone else is handling their vocal duties. And “Going Up the Country” is a bona fide classic: you can’t take that away from them, no matter the rest of their music.