Yet another combination that could only happen if someone were to listen to his LP collection alphabetically.

On New Year’s Eve, I had a gig (Either/Orchestra, First Night at the Boston Public Library – extremely fantastic) with Charlie Kohlhase.  One small portion of our conversation went something like this:

RM – Hey Charlie.
CK – Hey there, Rick.  How’s that listening project coming along?
RM – Great.  I’m making my way through Blind Faith and Blondie.
CK – [Scowls] I see.  Well, those are two artists whose work you are unlikely to find represented in my record collection.

So here we are – recordings by Blind Faith and Blondie.  I could try to deny owning them, or simply not post anything about them.  I could write a tome about why I own these records, or simply list their existence and let the chips fall where they may.

How about this instead:

I like Blind Faith and although I am no Blondie/Deborah Harry completist, I’m perfectly happy owning the three Blondie albums I have.  I think Deborah Harry is great, and although I’m not such a fan of the records she did with Passport, I think that she could make some excellent jazz records (and they will absolutely be better than Rod Stewart’s – I promise).

• Blind Faith – I like this record.  I always have.  I know that Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert is not exactly championed as his greatest work, and somehow this record gets lumped into some associated category unfortunately.  But ever since I heard “Presence of the Lord” on that LP, I have been into Blind Faith.  Steve Winwood’s voice is in excellent form, EC plays to his strengths, Ginger Baker holds down the fort…it’s just great.  His tune, “Do What You Like” is a non-Prog Rock tune in 5/4.  Methinks Ginger doth like Dave Brubeck.
• Blondie – Eat to the Beat – It’s great.  “Dreaming” is track 1 (check the fantastic Bad Plus version for something a little more typical of my tastes).  “Accidents Never Happen” is surely related to the Elvis Costello “Accidents Will Happen” somehow.  If it isn’t, it should be.  “Atomic” is delightful.
• Blondie – Autoamerican – I love liner notes.  In this MP3 age, we can barely keep track of the artist/title, and you can forget about personnel.  But the age of the liner notes profiled some of the production sub-plot.  Take, for example, Tom Scott on this album, or Howard Kaylan & Mark Volman (aka Flo and Eddie), or – best of all – supreme jazz bassist Ray Brown.
• Blondie – The Best of Blondie – What’s not to love on this album?

I wonder what crazy records are next?

Best, R.