One of my most popular posts from the first year of this site was Part 19: “The Rules”. We had a lot of rules. Some made sense, some were ludicrous, but one thing’s for sure: we had them! I’ve talked about the store play rules, the piercing rules, and others. Here’s some more!
Don’t point. This is a good rule. Don’t point. Customer comes in and says, “Hey, where’s your Lady Gaga?” Don’t point. If it was that easy, they would have found Lady Gaga on their own. Take them out on the floor and show them where it is.
Don’t make fun of the music your customer is buying. Nobody likes that. Some people unfortunately have that unpleasant experience while buying music.
If a customer has first dibs/a reservation for a specific title, and it comes in used, that customer gets that title. Simple. Some staff members abused that rule if the item was rare enough…myself included!
Don’t eat your fuckin’ lunch at the counter. Gross.
Some of the rules I had problems with included the following:
No sitting. Our original store had a chair, that we were not allowed to use. But when I first started, standing for 8 hours straight with no break was really hard. It took a while to get used to that. Since we worked alone at that time, it was really exhausting to work that long without a break. If you’re working alone for 8 hours straight with no breaks, a chair is helpful.
You must be 15 minutes early for every shift. Only problem – they didn’t pay you for those 15 minutes!
No hiring family or friends. My sister, who is a world class musician with loads of customer service experience, didn’t even get considered for a job when she applied. I was even given shit for letting her apply! Meanwhile, friends of other people somehow got hired, perhaps because they were friends with the right people?
But it’s all good, no hard feelings. With hindsight, my sister is doing pretty good now anyway.
Here’s a selection of rules that I would have liked, in a perfect world:
Getting paid for all the time you put in. That would be a good rule.
No Macy Gray. When her first album came out, one employee played it constantly. I never need to hear a Macy Gray song ever again.
No eating subs with onions at any time, any where, before or during a shift. Gross.
November/December 1995 was freakin’ busy. We sold a lot of discs that Christmas. What we didn’t do was listen to a lot of discs! No; our boss really, really liked Don Henley and TLC. He played them ad-nauseum. Like on repeat three times in a row. I’m not kidding about that. I distinctly remember the repeat. Here are the Top Three Discs I Had to Listen to Until My Ears Bled, December 1995.
3. Boney M – Christmas Album
2. Don Henley – Actual Miles
1. TLC – CrazySexyCool
Trevor on the other hand was introducing me to Oasis and managed to get a few cool discs into rotation:
3. The Beatles – Anthology Vol. 1 (usually just disc 2)
2. Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters
1. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
We were also working with this new guy, Donnie, and we let him pick Dance Mix ’95 a few times. Unfortunately, the Big Shiny Tunes series hadn’t begun yet.
I didn’t get to pick as many discs as the others — the boss didn’t like my picks. When I did, I chose the new Def Leppard – Vault (Greatest Hits 1980-1995).
Looking back, there were also a few albums that I found utterly disappointing that season. They included:
3. AC/DC – Ballbreaker
2. Lenny Kravitz – Circus
1. Savatage – Dead Winter Dead
All three were albums that I was solidly looking forward to, but largely disappointed me. I never did buy Circus. I own the other two, but only because I’m a completest (and I got AC/DC for $3).
Finally there were three albums that really got me through that season. I had just been dumped by my first serious girlfriend and I was really angry about it. Away from work (my boss didn’t want these ones played in the store) these three albums totally spoke to me that Christmas:
3. Alice in Chains – Alice in Chains
2. Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis
1. Iron Maiden – The X Factor
Let me tell you something people: I still fuckin’ hate TLC. I’ll never go chasin’ waterfalls, ever again.
BON JOVI – These Days (Special Edition, 2010, Universal Music)
Just as a general comment on the series of Bon Jovi “Special Edition” remasters from 2010: They’re crap. Sorry but they are. A couple unreleased live tracks? That’s it? Come on. They remastered these things 10 years ago and I bought them all then. I’ve bought almost every Bon Jovi album, in some cases multiple times. These Days? Three times now, just to get all the bonus tracks scattered hither and yon. For that reason these Bon Jovi remasters are in my $10 or less purchase range.
As for the album, These Days, I think it’s the best Bon Jovi album. It’s definitely more laid back than any previous Jovi platter, but it has a genuine quality to it that I like. You may like the cheesey 80’s keyboard sounds yourself, but in 1995 Bon Jovi couldn’t release an album like that. Keep the Faith was a great success, but These Days took the band to a new, darker, more soulful place. The production, once overly glossy, has been reduced to a purer, more live sonic clarity. This is a very organic album and many tracks sound live off the floor, such as “Diamond Ring”. Tico’s got a great drum sound on this album too, the snare has a great tonal quality.
Lyrically, Jon has never sounded more real and heartfelt. A song like “These Days” gets me right where it hurts every time. Unfortunately, the biggest hit from this album was the single “This Ain’t A Love Song”. Well, it may not be a love song, but it sure sounds a lot like others I’ve heard, like “Always”. Contrasting the generic ballad were some heavier rockers. “Hey God” is positively angry. “Damned” has swagger. Bon Jovi are always melodic, but the chorus in the infectious “Something For The Pain” is just awesome. “If That’s What It Takes” and “Hearts Breaking Even” are memorable and as strong as any previous Bon Jovi hit, but sadly remained overlooked. The quiet “(It’s Hard) Letting You Go” is one of Bon Jovi’s best ballads ever, because it’s so understated, with the actual vocal delivering the song.
The best song is the brilliant “Something To Believe In”. If I was going to pick one song as the absolute peak of Bon Jovi’s entire career, it could be this one (tied with “Dry County”). Driven by some sparse dark bass and piano, it soon picks up the pace. Richie’s backing vocals punctuate Jon’s powerful chorus beautifully, and you won’t be able to get that “Hey! hey! hey!” out of your head.
Yeah, I’m a sap. I love this album!
I like Eddie Vedder best.
What really sets These Days apart are the sweet harmonies of Jon and Richie. They’ve always done great work together vocally but These Days is a whole level beyond that. If you are a fan of Richie Sambora, I think you will enjoy These Days. In a very real sense I think this represents Sambora’s greatest contributions to Bon Jovi.
This new remastered edition has two live bonus tracks, which unfortunately are both ballads. “This Ain’t A Love Song” is one, I guess because it was the hit single. Shame they didn’t use “Hey God”. “Diamond Ring” is the other live ballad. This one was a bit of a cult song I guess. They wrote it back in the days of New Jersey and almost released it, a few times. It got bootlegged and became an underground favourite. This live version is recorded in Italy. It’s great to hear Jon and Richie singing together like this, but again, I wish they put on a rocker instead of a ballad. Richie’s guitar solo is awesome though.
My preferred edition, which I will cover in a separate future review, is the European 2 disc edition. In a beautiful magnetic digipack, it contained lots of bonus tracks: “All I Want Is Everything”, “Bitter Wine”, “Fields Of Fire” (Demo), “I Thank You”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “Let’s Make It Baby” (Demo), “I Don’t Like Mondays”, “Crazy” (live, lead vocals by Tico Torres), “Tumblin’ Dice” (live, lead vocals by David Bryan), “Heaven Help Us All” (live, lead vocals by Richie Sambora).
There are other editions with bonus tracks, including an Australian edition with a live CD (this is on my “want” list). There were plenty of singles, and I’ll cover each of those in future reviews as well, because they each contained notable bonus tracks. One was a track called “Lonely At The Top”, which to me sounds like it’s about Frances Bean Cobain. It has the lyric, “Tell Frannie I’m sorry she didn’t get to know her dad.” There was even a (great) cover of “Rockin’ In The Free World”, as well as a cover of “634-5789”, which featured Jon cracking up and laughing right in the middle of a verse!
So there you go. Get this album, but buy wisely. Choose an edition that suits your bonus track needs (or lack thereof).
5/5 stars for the album, -1 for this ripoff edition!
Below, pictures and tracklists for all the singles that I have from this album, as well as the Special Edition 2 CD set from 1996. It was a digipack with a neat magnetic clasp to keep it closed.
We first got email and internet at the record store in the late 90’s. One of the big fears back then was the dreaded computer virus, but of course we also had to deal with internet abuse. I remember coming in to work one day to find our computer’s MSN Messenger still active from the night shift; Spoogecakes left herself logged in. Myself, I was never that fussed about MSN, I was more an email guy. I got busted emailing a few times, I had verbal warnings, but I never did anything like leaving myself logged into MSN!
The powers that be were concerned about time wasted on the internet, and the viruses. This put into effect a strict internet policy. Part of that was blocking nearly every useful site on the internet. There were only a handful of sites available to us. There was a secret password override, which made the rounds once leaked. The guy who figured out the password decided to share it on his very last shift. His name shall go down in hallowed halls, somewhere, someday.
Some of the sites that we were allowed to access included Canoe, so we could print out the charts, and Allmusic so we could do album lookups. Allmusic was next to useless, being so slow and inaccurate. I preferred Google. The beauty of Google was that you didn’t have to use it to actually go to another (potentially shady) site, you could use it just to answer a simple question. For example:
So there’s your answer, without even having to click on one of those shady lyric sites.
Now, I showed my bosses how to use Google to answer the toughest customer questions. Often, a customer would come in and say, “I’m looking for a song, but I only know a few words. Can you help?” This was long before you could hold up your iPhone and use an app to do it for you. You had to ask the folks on the radio, or at the record store.
Google was the easiest most accurate way to answer these questions. So, here’s a question you might get: “I’m looking for a song by somebody that goes, ‘in the midnight hour, I want more more more'”.
Plug it into Google like so, and you get your answer.
Again, you don’t even have to click on the shady lyric sites. Then once you know the artist (Billy Idol) you could just run over to the shelves and see if you had that song. If you didn’t, Allmusic could tell you which album you want, now that you knew the name of the song and artist.
I showed them this trick, but they would not budge on the block policy. They insisted that Google be blocked. They thought you could use Google to visit a blocked site. Just clicking the link, they thought, would bypass the block. They thought the block only applied to the address bar.
I explained this but the answer remained “No.” Google was to remain blocked, purely because they didn’t understand how Internet Explorer worked. Essentially, we were blocked from a simple tool to answer common questions. At least many of us secretly had the override password, but before that leaked, we couldn’t access a search site like Google. I had a customer say to me, “Can’t you check the internet? The guy at HMV can.” And no, technically I couldn’t. Allmusic didn’t have a feature to look up song lyrics, and its search engine was pretty shitty as it was.
With today’s technology you can do this easily with a cell phone, that was unimaginable to us 10 years ago. Regardless of the policy, I used the password to use Google and answer questions. And I checked my email, too!
And make no mistake, Meat wrote every word. No messing around from me. Enjoy!
PET SOUNDS– THE BEACH BOYS (1966)
When The Beatles released Rubber Soul in 1965, Brian Wilson heard something that inspired him to try and make his own masterpiece. The result was Pet Sounds, which saw The Beach Boys discard their typical surf-inspired ditties and create an album that will always be a classic. I remember when I first heard this album I was completely blown away that it was a 1966 album. The overall sound of it is so full and rich, and it’s funny how everyone thinks The Beatles main influence for Sgt. Peppers was drug-related, and I am sure it was, but that classic would never have been without this classic album first. Do yourself a favour and re-discover The Beach Boys by checking this out.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (1998)
There are a lot of people that think that the QOTSA album Rated R, is the band’s first release. In all reality it is their third release if you count the Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age EP. However, it is a shame that this album has been somewhat overlooked. I think it is by far their best album. To gauge just how much I got into this album could never be measured. For years, I stated that this album was my favorite album ever with distortion. Now trust me I realize the exaggeration in that statement (I have since relented) but it doesn’t take away how brilliant I believe this album truly is. This is a true collection of groovy rock songs, so much so that QOTSA could have titled this album exactly that. I have not been a fan of the last few QOTSA albums, and frankly I wish they could harness this approach once again. Check out the included track “Avon”. An absolute air-drumming seminar at its finest!!
ROXY & ELSEWHERE – FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS (1974)
One of the albums previously on this list, Joe Jackson’s Big World, was a live album containing new material. Considering the content of this particular album, that format was never more impressive or more challenging than Zappa’s album Roxy & Elsewhere. From beginning to end, it’s hard to believe the complexity of what was happening onstage during these recordings. From the colourful vocals of Napoleon Murphy Brock, to the guitar-fueled madness of Zappa himself, this is my personal favorite of all of Zappa’s recordings. Songs like “Pygmy Twilite” and “Village of the Sun” are absolute genius. The concert film of these recordings is STILL in limbo for whatever reason. Included is a clip of the song “Montana”, recorded during these sessions but not included on the album itself.
SCENES FROM A MEMORY-METROPOLIS 2 – DREAM THEATER (1999)
I simply couldn’t do a list like this without including Dream Theater. I like heavy music and I like progressive music. This band combines those two qualities perhaps better than any band ever has, and on this album its done to perfection. This is your classic “concept album” and tells an interesting story that needs to be experienced. But the true experience of this album is that it is a piece of song-writing and musical brilliance. If you have seen Rush’s biopic Beyond The Lighted Stage, you might recognize the now-familiar voice of long-time Rush producer Terry Brown (who also produced the vocals on this album). The album sees John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy at their monster best and requires many listens to truly appreciate. I am not a “Rolling Stone” magazine guy myself, but it does say something that in 2012 they named this album as the Number One all-time progressive album, beating out Rush’s 2112and Yes’s Close to The Edge.
THE ACTION IS GO – FU MANCHU (1997)
This album starts off with a bang, it also ends with a bang and actually this album is just one big resounding rhythmic bang. After a few good, but not great albums (in my opinion), new drummer Brant Bjork was brought into Fu Manchu. This would result in one of the greatest “Stoner-Rock” albums of all time. This is literally the perfect driving album. Sometimes you find yourself emulating driving just sitting and listening to it. You can hear a huge Sabbath influence on this album, at least in the sound of the instruments and the driving low end. Sometimes the vocals can leave a bit to be desired, but it is not really singing in the first place. Almost sounds like a dude talkin’ to himself, which adds to the coolness of this album. One of my favorite albums of the 1990’s indeed.
WELCOME TO SKY VALLEY – KYUSS (1994)
Somewhere around early 1995, I walked into a Sunrise Records where Tom (Tom has been mentioned many times in Mike’s blogs) was working. At this point Tom and I only really knew each other from local concerts we would run into each other at. The second I walked in he begged me to check out this Kyuss album on the listening station. I remember the look on his face when I didn’t instantly “get it”. Years later I had to bow to him and thank him for trying to open my eyes earlier. No one knows how to set a mood quite like Kyuss. The last album listed was Brant Bjork’s first album with Fu Manchu. This album is the last Kyuss album featuring Brant Bjork on drums. No coincidence here. This man knows how to wash songs with a subtle intensity. Check out the song “Demon Cleaner” sometime, with Josh Homme singing and see how Queens of the Stone Age were born. This album has been listed as a major influence for many of the heavy metal greats of the day.
WHALE MUSIC – THE RHEOSTATICS (1994)
The Rheostatics are definitely one of my favorite bands of all time, and the artist I have seen live the most in my life. Any band that calls their first album Greatest Hits obviously has a good sense of humour. There really is no album that quite captures “Canadiana” quite like Whale Music. Not to be confused with the later-released official soundtrack of the same name, this album ranges from the sweet to the insane. Take the song “Queer” for example. “Well the screen door is still broken, since you kicked your Kodiaks through it” and “I scored a hat trick on the team that called you a fuckin’ queer”, are lyrics that paint a Canadian portrait of everyday life. I love this album and frequently re-visit it only to find it gets better with age. Notable appearances on this album are Neil Peart on a song called “Guns” and The Barenaked Ladies (credited as The Scarborough Naked Youth Choir). Included here is the amazing opening track. Check it out eh ….
WHITE PEPPER – WEEN (2000)
Simply put, this is my favorite “Pop” album of all time. I am not a Ween fan per se. I cannot say I have actually connected strongly with any of their other albums. But when this album was introduced to me, it grabbed a hold of me and it will never let go. First of all, the sound on this album is absolutely wonderful. Second of all, the melodies on this album (with sprinkles of Ween weirdness of course) are something very reminiscent of The Beatles. I have always tagged this album as their “Beatles tribute”, and it was pointed out to me by a friend that “The White Album? Sgt. Peppers? White Pepper?”. Now I have not read that in fact that is what the name truly means, but I think that is a very good guess. I have played this album for a few musician friends of mine and the result is pretty much the same across the board. White Pepper simply “hooks” you in, it is that simple. Check out the Trey Parker and Matt Stone directed video for “Even If You Don’t” included here.
UNCHAINED – JOHNNY CASH (1996)
I was working at the “Record Store Chain” Ladano blogs about when I was first introduced to this album. It was instantly a revelation of what I do actually like about Country Music, and was the reason I became a fan of the older-style albums of the genre. Not enough can be said about the genius of Rick Rubin. The man who changed the careers of Slayer, The Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers got a hold of Johnny Cash and re-introduced him as the icon he always was. Hiring Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers as the backing band for the second American Recordings Johnny Cash release was a stroke of brilliance. The opening track “Rowboat” sees Cash cover a Beck song and make it his own. “Sea of Heartbreak” is a melodic ass-kicker. Everyone by now knows of the genius cover of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage”, so good in fact that for a long period of time Chris Cornell refused to play it live stating “It’s not our song anymore. It’s Johnny’s now”. No album of this genre has ever sounded bigger, if not any genre. A must have album.
VS. – PEARL JAM (1993)
This album had to be included on this list. I understand that everyone looks at Pearl Jam’s first album as this massive crowning achievement, but frankly I didn’t get it then and I really still don’t. Their second album I think is the best album of their career and probably my favorite “Grunge” album ever. Every song on this album is a classic to me and it does seem weird to call an album that was a Number One album on Billboard for five weeks straight “underrated”. But I truly do feel this album gets overlooked and that’s a shame. I find Ten to be kind of boring and redundant to be honest. This album is still fresh to me. I hope when it’s all said and done that this album is what truly defines them.
With their triumphant return to the stage recently, it is only appropriate that today we revisit the 2008 Greatest Hits package by the ultimate boy band, New Kids on the Block.
This album, simply titled Greatest Hits, is a collection of the best of the best by the original Fab Five. Aside from the four bonus tracks, which we’ll talk about later, the album is chock full of smash hits waiting to be remembered. Starting with their trademark song “Step By Step”, it never lets up til the end. This is a breathtaking collection of songwriting prowess and vocal excellence. Truly, manager Maurice Starr had a talent for discovering stars.
This album is, in fact, a reissue of a 1999 edition, which only had 14 tracks. The new version has 18. It also omits a C + C Music Factory remix, and subs in “My Favourite Girl” instead, sung by Jordan Knight and Danny Wood, which is a better tune. There are a few other changes as well, but chances are, this album will do fine for you. If you really badly want to listen to their Christmas song all the time, it’s only on the 1999 edition). It has been taken off this release. Instead, you will get the hit single “Games”. This is presented in the much tougher “Kids Get Hard” remix.
You will already know the massive hits, “The Right Stuff”, “Cover Girl”, “Tonight”, “Hangin’ Tough”, and “Please Don’t Go Girl”. Most impressive is Jordan Knight’s lead vocal turn on the epic ballad, “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)”. Impressive pipes. Truly one of the great underrated vocalists of the 90’s. As a bit of a bonus, you’ll also get a song from 1994’s Face The Music LP, which suffered from lacklustre sales. This track shows the Kids (then known as NKOTB) taking a more modern turn, while sacrificing none of their sweet harmonies.
There are four bonus cuts on this disc. One is a “Mega Mix” that will work ideally for parties and dances. There are two songs from solo albums (Jordan’s and Joey’s), and Donnie’s sentimental duet with Seiko, “The Right Combination”.
Best of all, you even get a full size poster! This is perfect for wall or ceiling.
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