TheAccountant

Worked at home for part of the day today so that gave me another chance to open up the moving box's again. First out: Ozzy - Diary of a Madman Side 1 with "Over The Mountain", "Flying High Again", "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll" and "Believer" is excellent. Side 2 is not as good but its nothing to sneeze at. Very good album. Next out: Jimmy Page - Outrider If you want Page of the late 1980's this is for you. Jason Bonham plays most of the drums on the album. Some songs have vocals and Robert Plant appears on one of the songs- not a plus for me since I don't care for his vocals. Overall the lyrics don't do anything for me. Its a decent album but nothing I am crazy for. Last out for the day: Foreigner - Double Vision The title track is still excellent as is "Hot Blooded" and "Blue Morning, Blue Day". The rest of the album is filler for me.

Worked from home for part of the day today so got a chance to pull out some more records to listen to. First out: Led Zeppelin - Rock & Roll This is a Zeppelin boot. 2 LP album. Not certain when or where it was recorded but at one point Robert Plant talks about the A-5 and traffic so I presume he is talking about a road in England. So I will guess it was recorded in England. The set list consists of the following: Trampled Underfoot Dazed & Confused No Quarter Tangerine That The Way Bron-Y-Aur Stomp Dazed and Confused takes up and entire side of 1 of the albums PLUS about half of another side. No Quarter also takes up an entire album side. Talk about some long songs. Still, its a good show and good quality recording. Next out of the box: Led Zeppelin - Legerdomain Another Zeppelin boot. Another 2 LP album. No idea at all when or where this one was recorded. The set list consists of the following: Rock & Roll Sick Again Over The Hills & Far Away In My Time Of Dying The Song Remains The Same The Rain Song Dazed & Confused Stairway To Heaven Whole Lotta Love Black Dog Heartbreaker Again, a good show and good quality recording (even though I am not a big Zeppelin fan). The fact that their was basically no overlap between the albums made it fun as well. Thats it for the day.

Exactly!!!! A huge part of my being willing to vote for him. There are better pitchers in the regular season over their careers who don't perform well in the post season. Schilling though -very good regular season record but post season? I want him out there as a starter.

My reaction as well - not aware new Accept album was being released.

Worked from home for a few hours today so it gave me a little time to dive into the moving box's again. First album out: Bob Seger - Stranger in Town Good album. Got a bunch of hits on it ("Hollywood Nights", "Still The Same", "Old Time Rock & Roll", "Feel Like A Number", "We've Got Tonite") that I enjoy. Probably like "Old Time Rock & Roll" the least of all of them - its ok but its an over played Seger song IMO. The other songs are ok & thats high praise from me. Generally Seger is a hit or miss guy for me. His good songs I like (some, like "Main Street" & "Against The Wind" I am crazy about) but his deep cuts generally do nothing for me. Like I said, good album. Next out of the box: Ozzy - Live in L.A. 1982 As you can guess, this is another boot (I have a reasonable number of them). Its Ozzy, Randy Rhodes, Rudy Sarzo & Tommy Alridge. The set list consists of: Over The Mountain Mr. Crowley Crazy Train Revelation Steal Away The Night Goodbye To Romance Suicide Solutions (which includes both a guitar solo and a drum solo) Iron Man Paranoid I will guess it may not be the entire show but its a good show and a good quality recording. Very enjoyable. That was it for the day!!

I thought the songs that got airplay from the first album were better than anything from the 2nd album but otherwise the 2nd album was stronger. In other words, the deep cuts of the 2nd album were superior to the similar songs from the first. I though the 3'rd album had the best big hits but again, its deep cuts did not thrill me. Overall, somehow, in spite of its lack of big hits, I found the 2nd album to be the groups best album. Forget about anything after Slipper When Wet - not worth listening to IMO.

Don't know if I would say almost classic VH good but I agree it is a good song. So is Runaway, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Living On A Prayer & You Give Love A Bad Name. Other than that though Bon Jovi does not do much for me.

The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss Got a signed copy and just finished it off. Good read. Set in the world of the King Killer Chronicles. Bast from The King Killer Chronicles is the main character and IMO it shows him in a slightly different light then we have seen him in before. Enjoyable but come on Patrick, would you please get back to The King Killer Chronicles? The 2 books in that series you wrote were so good. We have been waiting for ever for the 3rd book in the series. Starting to wonder if it will ever come out.

I must be a large HOF guy. Not a huge baseball fan but I would have voted for Beltre, Biggio, Rolen, Helton & Mauer. Not certain about Baines though. I actually thing there were some other gutys on the ballot I might have voted for but I can't recall the names right now. But it seems like every year when I see the ballot I am like "I would vote for him and him and him and him. O, yes, and him. Probably him as well. Maybe him as well" Then only a few of the folks get in. Prime example - even though I generally would vote no on the steroid guys - I would have voted for Curt Schilling. Grade A jerk but I would have voted him in.

The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution by Ryan Grim I like Ryan's reporting for The Intercept, Breaking Points and Counter Points so I gave this a shot. Decent book, at its best when its not about her or The Squad but rather when he is talking about politics and government from when AOC won her first primary up through the summer of 2022. Thankfully, despite the title its not really about AOC or the squad. Interestingly Ryan has another book (which I have not read) titled "We've Got People". The title to this book could easily be "They have the Money" - and the "They" is not AOC and the Squad. Decent, interesting read but nothing very special. Learned a few things.

I read that many years ago. IMO The Inferno was the best of the 3 books.

I seem to be the lone vote for Pete (although as others have said, both are informative and fun to watch).

I like the start of the song. You know what I mean (). After that I don't get anything from the song itself.

Worked from home again today so, back to the moving box. First out: Molly Hatchet - -Flirtin with Disaster Awesome title track. "Whiskey Man" is a good song as well. The other songs I don't go crazy for however. Likely much better live than on the album. Never got to see them live however so I can't say for 100% certain. They are ok - I guess. But nothin I really go for. Great (like one of my favorite all time) album covers. Next out of the box: Jackson Browne - Hold Out I enjoy "Boulevard" but the rest of the album is forgettable for me. Next out of the box: Jethro Tull - Original Masters A Tull greatest hits album. I will enjoy some Tull now and then. Saw them live in the 1990's - decent show. Good album. Next out of the box: AC DC - Back in Black Not a big ACDC fan but this is an album I never skip a song on. The title track, "Hells Bells" & "You Shook Me All Night Long" are the best songs but everything is worth listening to. Good album. Last out of the box: Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet A disappointing album IMO. Its has 4 songs that got airplay, "Never Say Goodbye", "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' On A Prayer" & "Wanted Dead or Alive". For me however, "Never Say Goodbye" is a dud. "You Give Love A Bad Name" is good & I still enjoy it. The other 2 hits ("Livin On A Prayer" & "Wanted Dead Or Alive") are still awesome. What make the album so disappointing is that after those songs the quality falls way, way off (IMO). You have 3 very good songs (2 or which are excellent) and then everything else is a dud. Big drop in quality. Thought that at the time and still think so. With 3 very strong songs you would expect / hope for some good deep cuts - but their are none.

Worked at some again so it was back to the moving box's. First out: Amazing Grace - The Pipes, Drums and Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Besides Amazing Grace the record has a number of other traditional marches, slow air, reveille, quick march's, slow marches & jigs. Plus the Imperial Russian Anthem. Lots of bagpipes. Quite the change from the metal of yesterday? Good though. I like it. But things were about to get weirder. Next out of the box: Elizabethan Verse and its Music - W.H. Auden & the NY Pro Music Antiqua The poetry I could do without, but the Elizabethan music I enjoy. Next out of the box: Foreigner - Inside Information This album came out in 1987 and at the time I was living in Rochester NY. The lead singer of Foreigner (Lou Gramm) is from Rochester so, since the home town boy had made it big, the album (and band) would get a lot of support there. I recall 2 songs ("Say You Will" & "Heart Turns to Stone") getting a lot of airplay from the local radio stations. Say You Will is standard single material and does nothing for me. Heart Turns To Stone is good though. The rest of the album does nothing for me however. Next out of the box: Blondie - The Best of Blondie I got this in the early 1980's before I discovered hard rock, metal and prog rock. At the time I enjoyed it. But its not aged well for me. A few ok songs ("Call Me", "Heart of Glass" & "Dreaming") but most don't really thrill me. Last out of the box for the day: Air Supply - Lost in Love Ok, get ready to barf. I actually still like this album. Bought it when it came out and liked it a lot then. Not like I am going to listen to it a lot but the title track I still really enjoy and "American Hearts" is decent. The other songs are nothing special but they are not horrible either. But the big thing is the album fits together, one song flowing into another. Its an album that much more than the sum pf its parts. Not like I am going to pull it out a lot, its not my sort of music, but if I am in the right mood I still like it. Decent. This is what happens when you pull records out at random - sometimes you get things that all go together (like yesterday when it was mostly an Iron Maiden day with some other hard rock and metal mixed in). Sometime, like today, you get some albums that just don't have anything really in common with each other. Since I am working from home again tomorrow it will be interesting to see what comes out of the box.

Worked from home today so that gave me a chance to open up the moving box's again and listen to whatever came out. First out: Bad Company - Dangerous Age This album had no big hits and only one song that I recall getting airplay of any kind ("No Smoke Without A Fire"). I saw Bad Co. twice on the following tour and I recall them playing it live - and it was enjoyable. As for the album, I like it. Other than the one song I mentioned I could not tell you the title of a song on the album but, weirdly, anytime I listen to the album I never skip a song. For me its one of those albums that is just a lot more than the sum of its parts. Everything just fits together and once you start listening you just want to listen to the entire album. Or at least I do. Next out of the box: Iron Maiden - World Piece Tour 83 What is this you ask? Its a Maiden boot that was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon on May 26th, 1983. The quality is a bit rough but its still enjoyable. Good set list. Its comprised of the following: Where Eagles Dare Wrathchild The Trooper Sanctuary Flight of Icarus Iron Maiden 22 Acaitia Ave. Run To The Hills Revalations Die With Your Boots On Still Life The # of the Beast Sanctuary Next out of the box: Iron Maiden - Donington Park Yes, this is another Maiden boot, recorded at Donington Park on August 20th, 1988. Good quality recording. Might have been off the board or from a BBC feed. Good set list agin. Its comprised of the following: Moonchild The Evil That Men Do The Prisoner Wrathchild Infinite Dreams The Trooper Can I Play With Madness Heaven Can Wait Wasted Years The Clairvoyant 7th Son of a 7th Son The # of the Best Hallowed Be Th Name Iron Maiden Run To The Hills 22 Acacia Ave 2 Minutes To Midnight Runing Free Sanctuary Last out of the box: Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell Good album, esp. side 1.

So far the album is 3 for 3 - at least IMO. Enjoy all 3 songs a lot. Good stuff.

Worked from home today due to the cold and my car being in the shop so that gave me a chance to pull out some records. First out: Journey - Captured Live Journey from near their prime. Should be awesome, esp since I have seen Journey about 6 times (with either Steve A. or Armel on lead vocals) and always really enjoyed them. Right? No. For some reason this album is not thrilling to me. Should be awesome but its just not. Its not something I really care for. Don't know why but thats just my reaction to it. Next out of the moving box: Night Ranger - Midnight Madness This has the very good "You Can Still Rock in America". Plus it has the awesome "When You Close Your Eyes" which is my favorite Night Ranger song. It also has "Sister Christian" which was Night Rangers biggest hit but was a song that I did not like (at all) at the time and it has not grown on me. I can't understand why it was such a big hit - not at the time and not know either. I know most folks think this is Night Rangers best album but I actually prefer Dawn Patrol. It has "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" which is every bit as good as "You Can Still Rock in America". True, it does not have anything that match's up to "When You Close Your Eyes" but it also does not have a dud like "Sister Christian". So thats basically a wash. Where Dawn Patrol exceeds Midnight Madness is the deeper cuts. The other songs, which did not get airplay, are better than the songs off Midnight Madness which did not get airplay. Still, with the 2 very good songs on this album (and some ok songs that did not get airplay) its a good album. Next out of the box: Ozzy - No More Tears Good album. Good tour as well - saw Ozzy on this tour. It was the 2nd and last time I saw him live. Went out of my way to when he announced it would be the "no more tours tour" and was pissed when it was not. The Who were honest when they said they would not be touring for a prolonged period. It was the press and promotors who played it as a farewell tour. So The Who don't bother me. Ozzy did bother me. Anyway, like I said, good album. 3 excellent songs ("Mama, I'am Coming Home", "Time After Time" & "Road to Nowhere") plus a couple of good songs (the title track & "Mr. Tinkertrain"). The other songs I could kind of care less about. Interesting, it came out in 1991 and at that time good music was still coming out but I had a feeling that it was not like the mid 1980's where killer albums were coming out basically every week. Still, I enjoyed the music scene. Little did I know that in about a year or 2 the rock scene would basically die. Ever since then its been a little here and a little there. Some years nothing comes out thats worth listening to. In other words, this album was almost the end of a glorious era. Next out of the box: Styx - Equinox This has the very good "Lorelei" and the excellent "Suite Made Blue" - which may be my favorite Styx song. If not its right near the top with "Come Sail Away" and "Renegade". The other songs on the album are nothing special for me however. Last out of the box for the day: John Cougar Mellencamp - uh-huh Interesting that the liner notes mention that the album was written and recorded in 16 days in July of 1983. Thats Rush like speed!! Impressive. The album has 3 good songs that got airplay ("Crumblin Down", "Pink Houses" & "Authority Song"). For me, "Pink Houses" is the best followed by "Authority Song" and then "Crumblin Down". The rest off the album does nothing for me.

Sad but I must confess that I have not purchased it for many years. Was great once upon a time but I felt the quality went down through the years. Last time I bought it might have been around 2007 or 2008. My guess is that one or more of the companies mentioned in the original article were private equity funds (i.e. vulture capitalists). Sadly they ALWAYS wreck magazine / newspapers when they purchase them. Just so they and their small band of already rich owners can become even more obesely wealthy they wreck journalism (in the broadest possible sense). Still, a sad end of an era (as with National Geographic basically ending a while back). In some ways National Geographic was an even bigger loss.

Just finished Salems Lot by Stephen King. Not a big fan of his work. I don't really go for horror all that much so i tend to stay away from his work. I recall looking at this book way back when I was in college in the 1980's and I got the feeling it was well written. I read The Dead Zone, Fire Starter and Cujo by him way back in the 1980's. The first 2 were ok, enjoyable but nothing I was wild about. Cujo I did not care for. I think I tried one or 2 other book by him and they were not to my taste. However, all the posting on TRF about David Soul passing away got me to purchase this book and give it a shot. Its very well written. But clearly not my cup of tea. It just reinforced for me that horror is not something I enjoy reading. Got of plenty of other books to work on so I will move on to them and stay away from his writing. Like I said, just not my cup of tea.

Just finished The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. Good book. Very informative and I would recommend it.

Recently we have lost the first 2 men to have won the World Cup as a player (Zagallo in 1958 & 1962, Franz in 1974) & as a manager (Mario in 1970, Franz in 1990). Mario was a very good player (from what I have read) but in some ways he was even better as a manager - getting all the pieces to work together with the magnificent 1970 Brazil side. Franz was a magnificent defender (or so I have read) and played for a large part of the crazy 1970 semi-final against Italy (best world cup match ever? - based on what I have seen on youtube I would say yes - I welcome comments from those more knowledgable then I am about the sport though) with his arm in a sling. Yes, Germany could not sub him out - but he was still playing hard. Impressive. But, after wining it all in 1974 he retired and eventually came back to manage Germany to glory in 1990. RIP giants of the beautiful game.

Agreed about Augeri - I think he played the local fair a year or 2 back. The Ultimate Sin is an album I will listen to every song on. They are all good but nothing is great. But I never skip a song. That being said, IMO its the weakest of the 2 Jake E. Lee albums.

Never heard of them here in the USA but they sound like they would be my kind of music. Thanks for the recommendation - will have to check them out. and White Lion - good band. Saw them back in the day with Vixen and Ozzy. All 3 bands were very enjoyable.

Also just finished Tyranny of the Minority by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt. These guys had previously written How Democracies Die which was excellent (one of my top 20 non-fiction books) so I had hight hopes for this book. I was sort of disappointed. Only sort of. It was ok but nothing special. Can't say don't read it, but can't say it is anything wonderful either. Worth reading? Yes - I guess. Well written - yes. Good points? Yes, some. But just nothing very special. On to my next book....