Face the MUSIC!!!

Wow...where do I even start with this one?  I can easily say that this album changed my life, in fact Wall of Voodoo/Stan Ridgway in general changed my life altogether, but I also remained a fan of Voodoo during the Prieboy era and so the influence just stretches all over the place. The very first album I picked up in the whole category was Stan Ridgway's "The Big Heat", one that will absolutely end up on this list eventually, and then for some reason I believe I purchased WOV's "Seven Days in Sammystown" next.  I know...seems like a strange transition, no?  Part of it was that I was so puzzled by the back picture on that album (record), knowing that Ridgway was gone and that the band had apparently taken a bit of a turn.  Back in those days, there were very few ways of actually hearing what an album sounded like without actually buying it.  Now, this probably sounds insane to younger people today but, if the music wasn't played on the radio, you'd e...

I always thought that the first entry in this blog would be Wall of Voodoo's "Call of the West"; in fact, I even swore that it would be about 2 decades ago.  Strangely, Stump's "A Fierce Pancake" has overtaken that slot and WOV has moved to slot number 2. Now, don't be confused...  I know I said these are in no particular order, and for the most part that is true, but I WILL say that the two most prominent albums in my life have always been this one and WOV's "Call of the West". But, why the change then?  I think it's simply that "A Fierce Pancake" has just SO much to chew on that I simply never ever get bored of it and listen and reference it constantly.  In fact, I can honestly say that various lines from this album are said aloud by me each and every day...no joke.  This album has had such a huge influence on my life in general that it falls into that category of "...I can't imagine my life without it...". The...

"Face the MUSIC!!!" lives on!  This was a title I used to use way back when, back in the day when I would forcibly send emails out to people I worked with (with no "unsubscribe" option, that is), sharing music news and such.  Well, these days, I'm thankfully not doing that...I mean, it was the beginning of regular email communication, after all, and I admittedly didn't understand boundaries (yeah, I know...what can I say?). Today, this blog is a place for me to list the endless number of albums that I've loved, adored, couldn't live without, have influenced me, greatly altered my life, changed my own personal writing, and so on.  It's sort of like the old Tower Records Desert Island Discs (DID) list except that was limited to only 10 choices, and I have a feeling mine will be very numerous. It should be noted that these entries are not in any particular order.  Instead, it's more or less in the order I remember to write about them, so please ...