Paul's life-changing artists

(Paul says:)

First, a little background about me. I grew up in a home with musically "square" parents. Although I was exposed to some artists that could be considered cool (Sinatra, Tony Bennett), I had to endure a lot of Barry Manilow and Paul Williams, as well. About the hardest rockin' things they listened to were Barry and Neil Diamond.

Before we start, the reason I had the idea for this blog dates back a few years to when KRCL (a local public radio station in Salt Lake City) used to have workshops for potential DJ's. Ross and I were interested in taking the classes and having our own show, but they discontinued the workshops before we could begin, so now you're stuck with this.

Here are some of the life-changing pieces of music in my life:

Track 1 - Electric Light Orchestra - Last Train to London
My brother and I saved our pocket change for several months until we were able to walk down to Grand Central (a department store) and buy ELO's "Discovery" album. Although "Don't Bring Me Down" was the big hit from that record, this tune and "Confusion" and "Midnight Blue" struck something in me, and I was introduced to what we now call "classic rock."

Track 2 - Def Leppard - Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
Although I listened to cool stuff like Boston, Journey, Foreigner, and REO Speedwagon on the radio and on my brother's cassettes, I was still quite mellow until 1983. My favorite groups were Air Supply and Men at Work until I used my lawn mowing money to buy "Pyromania" at my brother's insistence. He was 18 by this time, and he had a real job, but I was glad I invested in this record. I chose this song because it is the first on the record, and it totally changed my life! There are a bunch of tunes that are great on this album, although I don't really like the radio hits much; they've been overplayed for 25 years.

Track 3 - Ramones - Rockaway Beach
When my sister started dating her future husband, Joe Andrews, he introduced me to a punk band no one in Bountiful, Utah, had ever seemed to hear of: Ramones! When I heard his tape of the live import called "It's Alive" I said, "Gabba Gabba Hey!" This was the first tune on that recording. It's better than their later live albums for many reason, not the least of which was that the original members were still playing on that one. When I got to see them in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1990, it was the thrill of a lifetime! Also, if you want to see a great performance on celluloid, check out the movie "Rock and Roll High School."

Track 4 - Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers - All the Gold in California
I was never much of a country fan, but I had a girlfriend in 1985 that had a tape by these guys that was pretty cool. This wasn't the best song from that tape (it was probably "Houston (Means that I'm One Day Closer to You"), but it was the only one on playlist.com. After I broke it off with her, I didn't think much about country music for a while, but, as you'll see, it didn't forget me, either.

Track 5 - Stanley Jordan - Stairway to Heaven
I saw Stanley playing on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" in about 1984 or 1985. He chords with his left hand and plays the melody with his right hand. There are a number of videos on YouTube to check out to watch him, which is most of the novelty. This was influential to me as a musician, because I erroneously believed before that the best musicians were rockers. Many of them are, but I've since discovered jazz (as well as Chet Atkins, Julian Bream, and others from different genres), and Stanley was the introduction to jazz for me.

Track 6 - Robert Cray Band - Smoking Gun
I first heard this tune on MTV in 1986 (back when they played music), and I bought the cassette. Although this isn't a very bluesy tune, there are others on the tape that are, and I was led to buy the Albert Collins/Johnny Copeland/Robert Cray collaboration called "Showdown!" a few months later, and that led to B. B. King, Albert King, Elmore James, etc. I became a fan of the blues and remain so!

This tune does have a bluesy guitar solo, so even though it doesn't sound like traditional blues, the beauty of Robert is that he took the musical form in a different direction. He was influenced by R&B, particularly the Stax artists like Booker T. & the MGs. Those influences, I think, more than anything else explain why he sounds a bit different from others fo the genre.

Track 7 - George Strait - The Chair
This was another song that was popular in 1985, but it was while I was in New Jersey that I had a roommate who had George's "Greatest Hits Volume Two" on a cassette. I tried to get "Am I Blue" from that album, because I like that song better and actually learned the guitar solo on a piece-of-dirt old acoustic, or "The Fireman," which is a livelier tune, but I settled on this one because of its tie-in to the previous country experiences I had had.

Track 8 - Rippingtons (featuring Russ Freeman) - Summer Lovers
Again, not the song I would've chosen by the Rips, but it'll have to do; there are slim pickin's on playlist.com for the Rips.

The song I would've chosen is "Highroller" from the "Weekend in Monaco" album. Russ is an excellent guitarist, but he doesn't show it often on studio tracks. I saw them in 2006 at the SLC Jazz Festival, and he was ripping! (He named the group after seeing some friends play, and he expressed the same sentiment about them and that led to his naming the band.)

I hope you enjoy these tunes! I'm hoping Ross will post soon; I've just set this blog up for us, and I posted the inital postings, because it was my idea! You can comment on the blog or e-mail us at ross_and_paul@yahoo.com to give us suggestions or ideas for future lists.

P