By Don Jacobson

When I think of Time-Life Books, I think of sturdy, well-turned bindings and covers. They were so cool; they were frequently much better than the books’ actual contents. Nice, hefty cardboard that was engineered to look classy on your living room bookshelf, kind of like that faux-brick facing they put on clapboard houses in first-ring suburbs. Mass-produced, down-market, cheesy-cool. You can also find millions of Time-Life books at garage sales, mostly covering such topics as ’70s pop stars and DIY home repairs.
Chicago’s Time-Life Records are much the same – who among us can say they weren’t suckered into calling that toll-free number to order up a heapin’ helpin’ of Sounds of the Seventies, Guitar Rock or the easy listening sounds of Super Hits (reissued as AM Gold)? Plus, they were unbelievably complete compilations thanks to Time Warner Corp.’s licensing pull. If you can find any of these babies at the garage sale, snap them up immediately. They’re golden cheese.
The only drawback was the way Time-Life’s telemarketers would sign you up for about a billion records to be sent out to you every month when you thought you were only buying one. Very tricky. So now, thanks mainly to the Internet, we’re older and wiser in the ways of mail order and telemarketing tactics. That being said, Time-Life Records, now no longer owned by Time Warner, is still very much in the music compilation business, this time coming out with a breathtakingly comprehensive look at folk rock. Its new four-CD set is entitled Four Decades of Folk Rock and will be released (unironically) on Sept. 11.

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Posted on July 6, 2007

By Don Jacobson

Anybody who knows me can tell you I’m nothing if not an obsessive-compulsive radio freak. I love the radio and I love the rock ‘n’ roll, always have. I suffered mightily in my younger days when the suits took over the airwaves and shrunk the playlists to the point where you could inscribe them on the head of a pin. It hurt me so much, well, you’d have wept if you would have seen it. It was that bad. Now they’re going to do it me (and you) again: The suits are getting ready to do to Internet radio what they did to regular radio decades ago – kill it dead. If you like the wonderfully diverse playlists of the kind of Internet radio shows listed on our handy (and somewhat dandy) Beachwood 24/7 Alt Country Internet Radio Guide, you’ll keep reading and perhaps you can help me stop them.

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Posted on June 27, 2007

By Don Jacobson

Jimmy Swaggart was still mainly a radio preacher known for his fiery opposition to rock ‘n’ rollers like his first cousin Jerry Lee Lewis in 1972 when You Don’t Need to Understand was released on his private-label JIM Records. He made his first TV appearance the next year in Nashville – the initial step on his infamous road to TV preacher mega-stardom – so this is probably the final album of more than 50 he’s made on which it was still mostly about the music and his considerable gifts as a piano-playing gospel song interpreter.

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Posted on June 25, 2007

By Don Jacobson

1. I don’t know how The New York Times chooses its lifestyle articles, but I want to believe that they’re based on the work of dedicated legions of trend-spotters working in close conjunction with squinting, bespectacled social scientists, together continually scouring the minutiae of daily life to come up with relevant, insightful dissections of which cultural imperatives drive us to do what weird things.
Then there’s this week’s story of an alleged trend of middle-aged white guys all across the country flocking to their three-car suburban garages to bash out bad rock ‘n’ roll on expensive musical gear. Unlike the NYT, I’m pretty sure this isn’t really a trend, and if it were – keeping in mind the recent Father’s Day “holiday” – it would only confirm to me the death of rock. I mean, with ol’ Dad hogging the garage to play Doobie Brothers covers with his accountant buddy on the drum kit, no self-respecting teenager would want to have anything to do with this kind of music ever again.

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Posted on June 18, 2007

By Don Jacobson

1. Rock reunions suck, generally, let’s be honest – especially the huge, overblown ones like the Police. Outrageous ticket prices, quarreling band members, dubious musicianship (after all, doing old songs live again after so many years and getting it right is like asking the 1997 Bulls to “just get back together” tomorrow and win the NBA title again) . . . there are just so many ways it can go horribly wrong. I’m not saying these reunions can’t be done, but I think you’ve got to pick and choose your spots with them. My reunion tour money is on one of the best alternative country acts of the 1990s, Blue Mountain, who are coming to Chicago for a June 24 show at Schubas.

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Posted on June 9, 2007

By Matt Cook and John Dorr

Every Monday at noon, Matt Cook and John Dorr host Trucker Caps and Cowboy Hats on WIIT from the Illinois Institute of Technology on Chicago’s South Side. You can listen in at 88.9 on the FM dial or stream it here. Each week they concoct some sort of theme to hang the show on, and this is what they’ve been listening to this week in support of their hand-picked motif.
Do you remember the scene in To Kill a Mockingbird where the angry mob is trying to lynch Jim at the jail only to be thwarted by the pie-eyed happiness and good cheer of Scout? Me too. That is the way I like my justice served – in a timely, dispassionate fashion with as little mob activity as possible. Emotionally remote jailers simply carrying out their appointed tasks without comment or prejudice. For, after all, aren’t we all criminals in one sense or another? Have we not committed crimes in our hearts if not our actions? And don’t we deserve to be treated like it’s not a big deal?

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Posted on June 7, 2007

By Don Jacobson

In this edition of Chicago In Song, Sinatra’s depiction of the city as a sophisticated land of martini-swillers is co-opted by a bluegrass hillbilly; Izzy Stradlin feels safer on the streets of the Windy City than on stage with Guns ‘N’ Roses; and a Mountain Goat (not a billy goat) curses the Cubs in the lyrics of popular song.

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Posted on June 4, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

A mix tape.
1. Anchorage/Michelle Shocked. She walked across that burning bridge.
2. Come a Long Way/Michelle Shocked. Her 920’s gonna take her far today.
3.This Note’s For You/Neil Young and the Bluetones. The real thing, baby.

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Posted on June 1, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Jukebox run, 5-25-07.
1. Shining Star/Earth, Wind & Fire. So funky smooth and glide-y.
2. Scarborough Fair/Simon & Garfunkel. For some reason this song led to a debate about the name of the crime dog, determined to be McGruff. Says Beachwood Bob: “Did you play this Joe? Don’t ever play it again.”
3. El Condora Pasa/Simon & Garfunkel. Sparks debate about the song title. At one point I suggested it was “Ticonderoga or something.” Preferred consensus: The I’d Rather Be a Hammer Than a Nail Song.
4. Last Train to Clarksville/The Monkees. CTA jokes ensue.
5. Sloop John B/The Beach Boys. We liked it better when it was Sloop John A. During this song I learned that Will Patton does the Al Gore audiobook. Will Patton kicked butt as the villain in The Postman. He was the copier clerk turned militia general.

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Posted on May 28, 2007

By Don Jacobson

1. U2 was at Cannes, hawking their new three-dimensional movie, U2 3D. I dunno, even if it turns out to be the most awesomely great visual experience I’ve ever had, I still have a funny feeling about something this gimmicky. As Milhouse says, “It used to be about the music, man.”

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Posted on May 23, 2007