Crosby, Stills and Nash

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (and occasionally, Neil Young) formed a powerful vocal group in the late 1960s and early 1970s, blending sincere vocals and the California sound with powerful, urgent music that spoke for the generation that was against the Vietnam War and the establishment. By 1977, when this single came out, they were making a comeback as a vocal trio, and "Just a Song Before I Go" hit #7, their highest charting single. The B side, "Dark Star," received considerable airplay on AOR stations, making this a pretty much perfect single.

The picture sleeve highlights three previous albums of CSN (and sometimes Y) and the then current album. This was a good ploy, trying to spark interest in both their current album and their catalog.

Crosby, Stills and Nash - Just a Song Before I Go.mp3
Crosby, Stills and Nash - Dark Star.mp3

Cretones

This California-based pop/rock group gained some notoriety for writing songs for Linda Ronstadt during her very brief "punk" phase. Other than that, "Real Love" was their one and only charted record, hitting #79 in the spring of 1980.

Cretones - Real Love.mp3
Cretones - Ways of the Heart.mp3

Robert Cray Band

This blues/rock guitarist rose from relative obscurity to pop stardom with "Smoking Gun," which hit #22 in 1987. He had a few more chart hits, and then faded from view as quickly as he came into prominence.

Robert Cray Band - Smoking Gun.mp3
Robert Cray Band - Fantasized.mp3

Cramps

If you are in the mood for high-energy rock and roll, the Cramps are your band. This is the only single I have from this pioneering punk rock group, and it is a good one.

Cramps - Garbageman.mp3
Cramps - Drug Train.mp3

I Have Not Left the Building

I am still around, but I haven't had the time to upload anything else to the site.

I have been working six-day weeks (Monday-Friday, plus a few hours on Saturday) for the past month, and I just haven't had much time to do anything here.

But once this cycle is over--and it should be either this week or next--then I can start to upload new picture sleeves and music here.

Don't give up hope. Check back regularly and you might be surprised at what you see.

Elvis Costello/Elvis Costello and the Attractions

As mentioned in a previous post, I have a slew of Elvis Costello 45 picture sleeves, and here they are.

Why was I such a big fan of one Declan McManus during the mid 1970s through the early 1990s?

In the middle of the disco boom in the mid-1970s came this rather odd-looking guy, who was a cross between Buddy Holly and Pee Wee Herman. His music was something else, and I guess it was something I was looking for during this period. It was bare bones rock and roll, sung by one of the most unlikely looking rock stars.

When most of us were grooving to the new disco sounds of acts like the Bee Gees, I was listening to Elvis Costello.

In the early days, you couldn't find many outlets that would play his music. He wasn't Top 40, and even the album rock stations didn't want to take a chance with him.

It was the alternative radio of the day--in New York, it was WPIX-FM, which for about eight months went to an all punk/new wave format--which got my ear, playing Costello and a whole load of other acts that were virtually unheard of here.

But Elvis Costello was the leader. He was gnarly, he was angry, he was vicious, and his music stood out from just about everything that was popular back then.

During the 1980s, American pop radio came around, and started to play his poppier tunes. To add to his many British hits, he actually had one single, "Veronica," that made the Top 20 in the U.S.

But soon, he branched into other music, stuff that I wasn't really fond of, including jazz, orchestral stuff and the like. I didn't hear that angry young man anymore, just a middle aged guy continuing to branch out a bit.

But it didn't hit me between the eyes anymore, and I really haven't heard much of his stuff in years.

But those early records continue to be magical. Here are the picture sleeves from those records, most of them from England.

Which one is my favorite? "Accidents Will Happen" was released with two different sleeves in England; one a standard sleeve, the other, an "accident," as it is inside out. It's the one which is pretty much blank, and can be found in this massive section.

To me, during that period in time, Elvis was really the king. I'm not on his current musical journey, but boy, I was a card-carrying member of his fraternity when few stations in the U.S. would play his music.

And for that music, I will be eternally grateful to him.

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - High Fidelity.mp3
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Getting Mighty Crowded.mp3