a message from another time

i intend to bring the following CDs over to fort awesome tomorrow for amanda, if she'd still like to find some new records.
electric light orchestra, ELO's greatest hits (1979)
the geraldine fibbers, what part of get thee gone don't you understand? (1996)
low, i could live in hope (1994)
lucinda williams, essence (2001)

this weekend, i bought the following, in alphabetical order.
on LP:
the 5th dimension, age of aquarius (1968?), featuring not only aquarius and wedding bell blues, which i know and love, but also covers of cream's sunshine of our love and mary hopkins' those were the days. i love the 5th dimension. brynn once commented on how odd it was that, as serious, dour, and analytical as i can be, i listen to a lot of music that is simply, sheerly happy.

the beegees, greatest hits, vol. 2 (1970something), which is sadly very unremarkable. i was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but no.

glen campbell, galveston (1960something), which is much worse shape than i'd first thought. the title track is amazing, but i haven't listened to anything else yet.

judy collins, colors of the day: the best of... (1972), which i haven't put on yet. i know that i love someday soon, and there are also covers of leonard cohen's suzanne, sandy denny's who knows where the time goes, and donovan's sunny googe street. it came with a great big poster of judy collins on a beach with seagulls.

electric light orchestra, eldorado (1972), my least favourite of the three ELO albums. i can't get it out of my head is poised, stately, almost regal. nothing else is standing out initially, though.

electric light orchestra, discovery (1979), disco! how lovely! as ever, over-produced and very stiff, but nonetheless enjoyable. i'm initially taken with the chorus of don't bring me down (grrrossss!) and shine a little love.

electric light orchestra, time (1981), which is a space-opera about life in 2095. it makes me think about harlan ellison stories, with a lot less dementia. twilight features nods to queen, the beach boys, and the who's baba o'reilly. the whole album is a bit of a bizzare pastiche, actually. i like the lights go down for the chorus, which has a really surprising and reassuring chord change.

emmylou harris, pieces of the sky (1975), another album that my father liked a lot, and that i'm curious enough to spend $1.49 on. i've only listened to the cover of for no one, so far, which is happily not a mangling of a gorgeous song.

gordon lightfoot, did she mention my name? (1968), one of the crucial first four lightfoot records, and in wonderfully good condition. i'm happy just to have this on my shelf.

gordon lightfoot, summer side of life (1971), suprisingly very good, making, as it does, the start of his so-called 'singles phase'. while 1976's summertime dream fits that description, i'm going to continue picking up his early 1970's albums in the hopes that they're all as solid as this one.

gordon lightfoot, don quioxte (1972), which may be the beginning of the decline. good, but less consistent, and starting to all blend together.

rockpile, seconds of pleasure (1981). i have no idea what this is, but the crazy old man next to me at the value village record shelf said that it was fantastic. i'd skipped past it, looking for more ELO, and he started to tell me off. 'that's a great album! absolutely great! you're lucky i'm here, or you'd have passed that right over like it was garbage!' sure, right. for $1.49, i was willing to buy a quite-likely-awful album just to make a crazy old man happy. i'm really curious now.

suzanne vega, solitude standing (1987), which i already have twice, but in terrible shape both on LP and CD. this was in great shape. one of my formative records, and one that i'm too close to for evaluation.

on CD:
bowery electric, beat (1996), which i may not want to listen to very often, but will be perfect when i do put it on.

christine collister, the dark gift of time (1998). on first listen, i don't like this. her voice is almost entirely gone by this point, and a lot of the material blends together. i'll keep trying, for old times sake. i'm still hoping to find mischief, which she put out with clive gregson in 1986, or the covers album they did in 1994.

mahogany, memory column (2005). more on this another day, when i've had more time to spend with it. this is a collection of all of mahogany's extra-dream of a modern day singles and compilation tracks, sequenced chronologically into 'michigan' and 'new york' sides.