My friend Landry commenting on a Butthole Surfers album. At some point at a different date, I also came up with the next Yo La Tengo album name: "You Don't Know Me And Your Dog Is Humping My Leg". I thought it was particularly brilliant myself.

What follows is an edited version of what I wrote to my friend Ken around the end of May. I've mentioned this same idea in conversation to some friends as well. Hearing a Gram Parsons (or in this case, Flying Burrito Brothers) song come up on the jukebox caused me to pause and think about Gram the same way I started thining about Joplin after hearing Pearl.

I picked up Janis Joplin's Pearl. It's a heartbreaker of an album. It was the last one she recorded and released after she passed away (and not to cash in). It made me wonder: what would the future hold? Was this a sign of what she could accomplish? Would the albums only get even better from here on out? Or, did she go out on top and that anything else would not compare and ultimately she'd be come an Elvis-esque characture of herself? Would she have todo like Johnny Cash, lay low until someone came along with a vision of how to bring about a comeback and again make critical releases?

Of course we'll never know. Part of me thinks there was still more to come. The other part thinks, knows, that considering all of the bad advice she was given during her short life she'd make disco albums (the Stones did it) and other ill advised dreck, gold jumpsuits with Vegas showgirls singing backing vocals to an uptempo version of Me and Bobby McGee.

Then again, you could ask the same questions about Gram Parsons and Jimi Hendrix. It is interesting to see how well their music has stood the test of time versus, say, Nirvana.

I spent part of my evening last night giving a good listen to a couple of my favorite albums. I just got a new couch and it's now possible to find and sit in the sweet spot of my speakers. Likewise, it'd been awhile since I had done any critical listening. I listened to my favorite Maynard Ferguson album which is always a treat. Then I listened to Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul. It was impressive to hear the production considering the equipment they had in the late 60's. That it sounded as good as it did with everything that was going on (electric guitar, Hammond, strings, flutes, oboe's, etc) was scarily amazing. Granted, Sgt. Peppers is much the same way. Now a days you have as many tracks as you need on a computer and achieving the effects in Hot Buttered Soul is only a mouse click away. I can't say that the music being made today is any better than what they made back then. There's good stuff but there was more of an art to it IMO back then.

That's what I wrote Ken. Other thoughts on Janis: Would she even have had a voice left in a few years? Joe Cocker was doing the same abuse to his voice (and abuse to his body as well) and he suffered for his ability. The 70's were rough to many acts. Even Cab Calloway did a disco version of Minnie the Moocher. Maynard Ferguson released some pretty awful stuff during that time as well. Anyone remember Ace Frehly's "New York Groove"? Don't blame it on the drugs. Good taste was hard to buy, let alone find, during the 70's.

Made up Band Name of the Day: Polio Scar