Ode to a Mixed Tape – Nova Scotia, Fall 2003

Text © Robert Barry Francos
Images from the Internet

This tape was created for a very long drive from New York to Nova Scotia. It was the last tape I made before switching to mixed CDs. As always, I have tried to find the original release of the song as it appears on the tape, and if that’s not possible, a live version. However, much of the music I listen to is indie stuff, so it’s kind of hard to find.

SIDE ONE

Mary Lou Lord – His Indie World
This was off her first EP, arguably one of the strongest of her releases, on SubPop. She recorded in Seattle (before being famously chased off by an off-center rocker rival), but comes from Boston, with a history of busking on the subways there. In this tune she complains that her boyfriend wants to listen to said indie music while she’s more interested in “my Joni (Mitchell), my Nick (Drake), Neil (Young) and Bob (Dylan), you can keep your Tsunami, your Slant 6 and Smog.” In this song, she mentions a ton of bands, most of who went on to further fame: “I said ‘What’s the story?’ / He said ‘Butterglory’ / I said, ‘What’s the news?’ / He said ‘The Silver Jews’”). Check out the lyrics on the Web, they’re quite fun.

The Good – Judy
Bernie Kugel redid the song when he was in Mystic Eyes, but way before that, his original band, the Good, did a lower-fi version for Tommy Calandra’s BCMK Records (that’s Buffalo College of Musical Knowledge). The swirling keyboards take the listener on one of Bernie’s many great pop garage tunes of the era. While we’re still waiting for “Mail on Sundays” to come out, I am happy with this cut. Both versions of this song are great, but this one, being the one I heard and learned to love first, holds a warm spot in my heart.

The Byrds – Eight Miles High
As someone who is not into hallucinogenics (though the band seemed to have been from the video I’ve seen of them doing this song live on German TV, they’re so obviously stoned), I still find this song to be powerful. McGuinn’s 12-string just sings in this classic. Yeah, Husker Du did a decent version, but cannot compete with this one. Usually, long songs with solos are not my speed, but this one is different. Yet, my fave Byrds song remains “Child of the Universe,” their theme song to the film Candy (I have it on another tape).


Blues Magoos – (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet”
This is one of those iconic guitar-and-keyboards songs from the late ‘60s, with a pounding, dum-dum-da-dum rhythm. You hear any part of this song, it’s instantly recognizable. One of the first hit self-bragging songs I know of (“You know we’ve got what it takes / But we ain’t got nothin’ yet.). Couldn’t copy the song, so here’s the link: youtube.com/watch?v=GOGRTLn2uKY

John Otway – Josephine
I’ve been a fan of Otway since the late ‘70s, when his Stiff Records were released. Teamed with fellow guitarist Wild Willy Barrett, he was just insane, but after they split, John started his second stage, which allowed him to do more serious songs, such as this one. The topic is of a local harvest festival, and the teen that is chosen to lead it (“And the crowd screams “Josephine / Our May Day eyes are on you”). Otway has a unique voice, both phrasing and style, and he always seems to be enjoying himself. There is a greatest hits package of his, and I highly recommend it.


Phil Ochs – The Highwayman
One of many songs based on the Alfred Noyes poem (actually, John Otway has one, as well); this is probably the best known. It’s a long piece (and a longer poem), but Phil keeps the interest high as “Bess the landlord’s daughter” makes a futile sacrifice for her highwayman lover. It’s a romantic piece, for sure, but the title character’s actions at the end seem to nullify. And yet, it remains a beautiful song. The video is a wilted, live version, rather than the feisty recorded one.


3 Days Grace – I Hate Everything About You
This song came to me by way of a three-song give-away disk at some store. I was instantly entranced by the emotion of it. At the time, I mentioned it to a friend, Vonny, and she said that she didn’t like the singer’s voice. Thing is, she’s actually right. Yes, I still like this song, but every other thing I’ve heard from the band has left me cold. Good call, Vonny! My one amusing story about this band is when I was in an Ontario Zeller’s, and this song came over the PA. Seemed like an odd choice, even if the band is from Canada. There’s an official music video to this, but it’s verbally edited, so here is this one.


Linda Ronstadt – I Can’t Help It
The original Hank William’s one is arguably superior, but I don’t own any of his material on CD (the source for the rest of the songs), so I went for the Linda R one instead. I run hot and cold with Ronstadt: her ‘60s stuff (such as “Different Drum”) and Heart Like a Wheel country material are enjoyable, but I find the period after that and on (covers of Buddy Holly, etc.) kind of flat. This song shows some of her range.


Linda Ronstadt – Keep Me From Blowing Away
This sad, wistful song has a country feel, but it’s more modern country pop. And yet, again, I like it a lot. There have been many times I’ve felt like this song, wanting some kind of anchor, something solid in my life, to keep me grounded. She emotes well here, that feeling of restlessness.


Kris Delmhorst – Hurricane
This remains my favorite Kris Delmhorst song (so far). She equates a hurricane to the volatile relationship to which she’s currently involved (“I’ve always kept the company of clouds / I like my lightning bright, my thunder loud / I was never one for bluer skies / All that bright sun droning in my eyes / So blow me down, blow me down and leave me lying in your wake”). She’s still early on in her career, so there’s bound to be more great music to come. This is a live video, which is a bit distorted, but the sense is there.


Contraband – Hard Life
Howard Bowler and his brother David, of the Marbles in the heady CBGBs days, lead this folk / country / rock / jazz band, and now have at least three full length CDs out. A Howard original, this song is almost oppressive in its negative charge, with dissonant notes and pressed lyrics (“The sun is shining / And all I get is rain / Comin’ down so hard / It’s drivin’ me insane”). It’s actually a powerful song, and Howard’s vocals shine with just the right unflinching tip of bitterness. Like the blues, it’s in your face, and yet somehow makes the listener feel better.

Dusty Springfield – The Look of Love
Has anyone ever done a sexier version of this song than Dusty? Can they? I mean, she has a sultry voice to begin with, but this is one of her finest in this romantic mode. She practically whispers in your ear. Even her phrasing with pausing between words keeps you on your seat. Herb Albert’s horn also stands out here, with a couple of interesting false endings. This song just lulls me, from the first time I heard it in the ‘60s version of Casino Royale (as Ursula Andress seduces Peter Sellers).


Bob Crewe Generation – Peter Gunn
This makes me think more of Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse more than Peter Gunn, but it’s a great iconic television theme song from the golden era of television; a classic noir in aural form.


SIDE TWO

The BKE – TBD
Can’t talk about these two demos yet, but there are gonna be a lot of happy fans out there.

Margo Hennebach – After All
There are two versions of this song, one on Margo’s second collection, Big Love, and one with her trio, Mad Agnes, Live at UH. This one is from the former, but they’re both done excellently, and I tend to listen to them both; I just had this one when I made the tape, though. Margo is one of my favorite modern singer-songwriters in the journeymyn tradition. With a hint of the Celtic, her songs are strongly supported by guitar and piano (both hers). I interviewed her the day of Woodstock II, just across the Hudson River from it, in fact. It was an enjoyable day, sitting on her porch and talking music (that interview can be read at this blog, dated October 26, 2008).

CSNY – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
My cousin Ken’s favorite song, but I didn’t know that when I put this tape together. While CSNY were one of those groups that annoyed the crap out of me in the early ‘70s (along with Yes, Kansas, America, and all those other bands that it seems everyone listened to when I was in college before punk hit), but someone gave me a greatest hits CD, and this one grew on me. It’s a long ode to Judy Collins (from Stephen Stills), but it changes often (hence the “suite”), and is not cloying.


Maria McKee – You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
It was not Lone Justice that got me interested in Maria McKee, but an appearance on a TV show called Night Music, singing “Breathe” from her first solo release. Love at first hear. While there is a lot of subtly in Maria’s voice, damn she can belt them out good. This live in the studio recording from her record by the same name, is a bluesy, ballsy gospelly number that is nearly the female side of “Lightenin’ Strikes.” She tells her boyfriend “I could never shame you / Honey, you’re by pride and joy / But what’s a girl to do, now, daddy / I’m drowning in a sea of boys.” She further explains that “If I make an honest vow / To someday where a dress of white / ‘Cause scarlet’s what I’m wearing now.” Great song with a fun call-and-response chorus.

Al Yankovic – The Saga Begins
A freakin’ brilliant cover of “American Pie,” but with lyrics reflecting the fourth Star Wars film, Chapter 1. Weird Al tells the entire story here, in his usual witty way, using similar rhyme patterns to the original (“Oh my, my this here Anakin guy / May be Vader someday later / Now he's just a small fry / He left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye / Sayin' ‘Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi’”). I laughed all the way through it the first time I heard the song. It still bemuses me.


David Wilcox – The Kind of Love You Never Recover From
Off a sampler CD (two songs each from 5 albums), this was part of a tribute release for Christine Lavin, who wrote the songs. Wilcox’s reading is very spare, and full of emotion. The song is about wishing you had said something – the right thing – before your lover leaves (“At times like this when the moon is right / When the air is foggy like it is tonight / She'll think about what might have been / If she had just held on to him.”). It’s a sad song, but as with just about everything Lavin writes, it has a strong heart.

Barbara Kessler – Attainable Love
Another Christine Lavin-er from the same sampler, this time the topic is being in love with someone who is commitment phobic, wishing she could change someone unchangeable (“Add me to the list of women / Who think you'll be different with me / Add me to the list of fools / Who flatly refuse to see / That just like me....”).

Susan McKeown – Winter King
A strong Celtic tune from someone deeply associated with the genre. However, in this piece, McKeown also modernizes the arrangement to make it something else. Not with a disco-like beat some Celtic artists seem to have added (since those annoying dance-track Gregorian Chants), this is more rockish. I was going to put the next song from the CD, her killer version of “Aud Lange Syne,” but decided against it.

Leonard Cohen – Take This Longing
Gotta say, the opening guitar chord to this song is not my favorite. It’s clanky and annoying, but once the listener gets past that, the song unfolds. Unfortunately, I found after listening to this tape on the road that I had to crank the volume all the way up, because the car noise was drowning out Cohen’s soft voice. Still a great song, though (“Take this longing from my tongue / All the useless things these hands have done / Let me see your beauty broken down / Like you would do for one you love”). Yes, the man is more than just “Suzanne” and “Hallelujah.”


The Dictators – Next Big Thing
“I didn’t have to be here you know. I didn’t have to show up here. With my vast, financial holdings, I coulda be basking in the sun in Florida. This just a hobby for me. Nothin’, y’hear? A hobby!” With that, the opening cut to the ‘Tator’s first album starts strong and doesn’t let up. As they say later on in the tune, “We knocked ‘em dead in Dallas / And we didn’t pay our dues / Yeah, we knocked ‘em dead in Dallas / They didn’t know we were Jews.” Ah, the boys from the Bronx. I say again, DFFD. The video is a live version, without the intro, unfortunately.
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The Original NONA HENDRYX

Text by Jim Downs and Julia Masi, intro by Robert Barry Francos
Article © 1983; RBF intro and live photo © 2010 by FFanzeen
Other images and video from the Internet

The following article with musician, actor, and performance artist Nona Hendryx was originally published in FFanzeen magazine, issue #11, in 1983. It was written by writer and photographer Jim Downs, and our managing editor, Julia Masi.

I had the opportunity to meet Nona when she was interviewed on the cable access show, Videowave, where I worked as a floor manager for a number of years. The picture below is from that day.

While we were not in the habit of printing articles that did not focus on rock’n’roll, but Nona was very nice to all of us there, with a joyous heart and an open mind, which not everyone had being on public access. We would all later learn about her relationship with Dusty Springfield, but it is Nona’s own funk queen work that brought her to both Videowave and FFanzeen. – RBF, 2010
Her light blue inside-out pants suit sports a bright silver patch that says, “Tailor Made.” And although she confesses to picking it up off the rack, on Nona Hendryx, it’s an original. Her style is all her own and her vice is unmistakable, and almost impossible to imitate.

Since her days with Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells (and then Labelle), to her more recent work with Talking Heads, or her new album, Nona, on RCA Records, she managed to transcend the trends and keep a thread of consistency in her music.

“I don’t particularly like my voice,” confesses Nona. “I just use it because it’s the only vehicle I have for getting my music across. And getting my words across. Poetry is my first love. I think it will continue to be, and music is a tool. I don’t think of myself as a singer.

“A lot of the singers today try to sing like Mahalia Jackson or Aretha (Franklin). I once did one of Mahalia’s songs when I was about 13 or 14. I don’t even remember which one it was. It’s not something I tried to emulate in my voice. I just never had any delusions in my mind that I could sing like Aretha so I didn’t ever try. I appreciate her voice.

“Music really hasn’t changed that much. The only changes have been the electric guitar and computerized music. Punk was a variation of the hippies. Punk shock. That to me is not a change. And the other biggest change is the involvement of women in the arts and, therefore, music. Those are the biggest changes I’ve seen,” notes Nona.

“After 22 years in the music business – I started at five,” she doesn’t see that it’s any easier for a woman now than it was in the early ‘60s, “it’s not so much easier, but it’s less restricted. If it were easier, you’d just be a musician.”

One of the major differences between being accepted as a musician and being labeled a “female musician” is the cosmetic packaging of the performer. “It just seems that to become a part of what’s considered the norm and to be successful, you do it (package yourself). They assume that you’re gonna look like Brooke Shields. Every woman who reaches that status, and the people who’ve gotten to that place like the Go-go’s, it all goes back to that whole image of being glamorous. There’s always someone trying to sell that to you. Because that’s necessary to be liked. I think, in a way, it’s sad because a lot of women with talent are not given the opportunity because they don’t look like Brooke Shields or Diana Ross, or Farrah Fawcett.” Oddly enough, no one has ever tried to package Nona. “I do such a good job of it myself,” she laughs. “I think I’m just a very visual person. I like visuals. I love the movies. I love clothes. I go buy make-up, and then go home and try it all on.”

Nona’s also quite handy with the pen and paint brush. “I was always good at art. It came naturally and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the creative process. The frustration. I love it!

“I love poetry. It was a way to write down my feelings and divorce myself from my feelings. Like a lot of teenagers, I was very shy, except when I was around my friends. Then I wasn’t shy; I was bad then. And I mean bad as in being bad. And after junior high, ‘cause I was switched from a different high school from my friends, which was a predominately white school, and I came from a neighborhood that I’d say was a 95% black neighborhood, I felt disoriented. A teacher there helped me; you know, introduced me to poetry and also worked with me on the poems. And I just took to it really quickly. I was really good at interpreting what was being said. And then I began to write some and took public speaking in high school and did a couple of plays.

“When I started going on the road with Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells, I tended to use that as a way of passing the hours or riding in a station wagon, writing short stories and developing a writing style for myself. And what I began to develop was one of – well – taking a word and – like, joy: joyfulness; joyless; overjoyed. All the things you can add to a word (like) the prefix and the suffix, and summing up the word. I love words.”

Her taste in poetry is eclectic, ranging from Shakespeare to e.e. cummings, to Nikki Giovanni, and every style in-between. When someone admits they have a hard time understanding when words become a poem, Nona is happy to explain: “The fact is that it’s verse and it needs nothing else to make it. It needs no music or visuals to make it. Although in modern poetry what matters structure within literature, within how you use verse. Poetry can be one word; if the choice of the word fits the feeling. And if it causes your mind to bounce off or if it’s like a magnet that draws you, it pulls you into the poem.”

She believes that writing lyrics is different from writing poems. “Poetry has its own meter. When you read it, you’re reading to the meter. In a song, music has that meter also, but you must write the words to flow with the music. The syllables must fit the notes of the melody.”

When Nona writes songs, she usually goes into the studio with “the musical ideas set and the lyrics can change up to the last minute of my singing it. Sometimes I think I have the right words for something and later on in singing it and singing another words by accident, it becomes the right word instead of the one I had.

“I always leave it open for change. The music is always changing. That way it’s still something I enjoy doing. I don’t do it the same way live as I do it on record. And I don’t do it the same way each time I do it. Each time I do it, it’s different.”

Reflections of Out Magazine's 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time

Text © Robert Barry Francos
Images from the Internet

At a doctor’s office, I looked through their magazine rack and in the corner of my eye, I noticed the following enticement on the cover of the October 2008 issue of Out: “The 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums (of All Time).” As I scanned the list, I notched off the ones I own.

Despite my large collection, there are many on the list I do not own, because I don’t care about the output of musicians like George Michaels, Madonna, Culture Club, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Donna Summers, Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters, and The Smiths/Morrissey. There are also places where I am definitely lacking, with the B-52s, Bikini Kill, Team Dresch, Le Tigre, and Nina Simone. Mind you, in some cases I do have recordings by the artists listed above, but not the ones mentioned on the list (e.g., I have Cher’s first few albums, but not the later and the boringly techno/disco Believe).

Note that this is listed as their Rank, the Artist’s Name, and the Album Title.

009 Cyndi Lauper: She’s So Unusual – While “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was not only played ad nauseum when it came out, I was actually able to get past it and enjoy it now. Still, I don’t think it’s the best song on the release, what with “Time After Time” and some of the other quirky tunes there. As a whole, her previous release by her band Blue Angel was a more solid piece of work, but Unusual has much higher production values. Besides, though it’s not on this album, her live version of the Brains’ “Money Changes Everything” may be the hardest she’s ever rocked post Blue Angel.

012 The Velvet Underground & Nico: The Velvet Underground & Nico – For some reason, I didn’t really get into this until the early ‘90s, over 20 years after its release. That just shows the power of this disk. While cuts like “European Son” still put me off, I actually like the entire first side, and the first half of the second. There is a lot to recommend here, such as “Sunday Morning,” the three Nico cuts, and of course the opus, “Heroin.” And no, it did not make me want to actually try the crap.

037 Blondie: Parallel Lines – This certainly is not Blondie’s strongest release, even if it is one of their most popular. For me, they have never had a collection as strong as their first, eponymous release, on Chrysalis. “X Offender,” “In the Sun,” and “Attack of the Giant Ants” are just some of the great pop songs on this pre-New Wave collection.

038 Dusty Springfield Dusty in Memphis – Absolutely classic Dusty, who could sing the contents of a magazine and make it interesting. She had one of those pure voices that practically had the power to heal (when she wasn’t wearing it out by over-practicing – check out the bio about her, Dancing with Demons: The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield by Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham, which is so worth reading). Her version of “Windmills of Your Mind” is the standard-bearer for the tune (that has been covered umpteen times), though “Son of a Preacher Man” was a bigger hit.

049 Patti Smith Group Horses – Patti at her absolute best. There is not a weak cut here. Even the two 9 minutes cuts are riveting through and through, from beginning to end. Tales of suicide, insanity, and free money flow and this just whips by. While I still think her stuff now is strong, this is my favorite collected work. I remember a time when women would flock to clubs dressed in the white shirt and skinny black tie, like a uniform of solidarity.

058 Liz Phair Exile in Guyville – While I bought this album because of its hype, I don’t get it. Yes, I understand it’s a feminist deconstruction and rethinking of Exile on Main Street, but man, the woman cannot sing. You may be surprised that I totally respect Phair for what she does, but I cannot listen to her. I made it through the CD twice, and while I’ll still keep it around for reference, unless called for in some research, it will stay on my shelf and off the player.

064 Patti Smith Group Easter – Honestly, this is not one of my favorite Smith albums. The saving grace for me is “Frederick.” Part of my feeling this way is Jimmy Iovine’s over-production. Patti’s music from this period is still pretty raw, but it gets drowned in studio techic. I would rather hear the rawness of “Ask the Angels” or “Ain’t It Strange” than this version of “Rock and Roll Nigger” or “Space Monkey.”

067 Husker Du Candy Apple Grey – Okay, I know that two thirds of the trio are gay, but I’m not so sure how this is a gay album. Gotta be truthful, of my Husker Du collection, this isn’t one I played all that often. I know, I know, everything they did was gold, Jerry, gold, but I like their earlier, grittier stuff. Mind you, now I sound like someone who complains how Patti Smith’s comeback wasn’t angry anymore, but this was a bit too thrash metal for my tastes.

068 Nirvana Nevermind – The year that punk broke, my ass. This is as punk as is Green Day and Good Charlotte. In other words, it’s not very. However, unlike the output of those other two bands, Nirvana’s stuff was killer good. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was way overplayed on the media, but it still holds up after all these years. I bet at some point, if he had lived, Cobain would have gone the way of label mate Elliott Smith (no, not that, I mean singer-songwriter), as so many of the state’s grungsters did. He would have been great at that, too. As the Beatles created rock with Sgt. Pepper’s, Nirvana created the whole grunge thing, which was not punk, but something else, in the same way that hardcore was not New York-style old school punk, but something new.

075 Carole King Tapestry – For a number of years, this was the largest selling album in the world (replaced by Frampton Live, if I remember correctly, which was then swamped by the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, then Thriller. Of all of those, Tapestry is the only one to which I would voluntarily still listen. It’s amazing to think of the number of top-of-the-charters came off of this, both for King and the likes of James Taylor and even Aretha Franklin. Her blonde-blue eyed-Jewish soul made the listener feel so far away, needing a friend, and for some, a natural woman. Earlier, King and then-husband Goffin were one part of a trio of duos that wrote the soundtrack of the pre-Beatles ‘60s. Her pop songsmithy lasted well into the ‘70s, and this, her first solo release I believe, proved that she was not just a pretty pen, but had the unique voice to hold it up.

078 Various The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack – I was working in a (no-longer existing) Baskin-Robbins abutting Sheridan Square when this opened at the Waverly’s midnight show, and I sat there soon after it opened by myself the first time, surrounded by perhaps a dozen male couples making out. I could actually hear the screen. The next time I went, about 6 months later, it was a zoo. I had learned the music from the original British stage soundtrack, which I liked immediately. I thought it was smart that all the male voices were high pitched, except for Frank N. Furter’s, with Tim Curry’s rich basso. Some of the changes that had been made sort of annoyed me, such as that the film cut out a verse from the “Over At the Frankenstein Place” song, the break for “Time Warp” was moved, and Meat Loaf’s great “Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul” number erased the unique word phrasing and spacing; but I thought it was great having Barry Bostwick - the original (re: real) Danny Zucco -playing Brad, and Susan Sarandon playing a surprisingly good Janet. I was especially happy with the replacement of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’s Graham Jarvis with the elegant Charles Gray. But there really is no Rocky Horror without Curry, and he proved why in this film. If you want a laugh, find the Australian stage version, and listen to the whiney, high-pitched FNF, that will have your neighbor’s dog barking. Despite all the changes, this film has certainly become rightfully iconic, building its own synergy, but it’s especially good when you can actually hear it.

088 Husker Du Zen Arcade – This and Double Nickels on the Dime (or, as I like to call it, Going 55 on Highway 10, show why the Du were so highly regarded. The songs are tight yet simple (without being simplistic or formulaic) tunes with biting lyrics, wrapped in just a few brilliant flashes of a catch phrase. They were criticized at the time for going merch mad (i.e., signing to a major label), but with this rich a legacy, it would be hard to not be impressed.

090 Kate Bush The Kick Inside – Honestly, I wasn’t fond of Kate at first. I saw the videos for “Wuthering Heights” and “Rolling the Ball,” and was just not impressed. It wasn’t until I heard “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” that I stood up and noticed. Then I went back and bought the album, and found it grew on me. That being said, I find the whole myth of “sensitive soul who is a recluse” thing kind of silly. Most likely the woman has agoraphobia, which does not make her “sensitive,” it makes her psychotic (which somehow reminds me of a Rita Rudner joke: “You know that saying that neurotics build castles in the sky and psychotics live in them? My mother cleans them”). Bush has had many more hits in the UK, but other than the overrated “Running Up That Hill” she never reached an equal goddess-hood here. Personally, I think it was the disco beat she added that dragged her down (i.e., “riding the wave”), much as with the stunning Lene Lovitch, who I believe sabotaged herself similarly with “New Toy.”

094 Various Hair Original Broadway Cast – I wrote a previous blog about my relationship with this soundtrack (dated September 15, 2008, if you want to check it out). When one buys it now as a CD, it also includes songs left out of the original LP, which had been released to an uncaring audience as Disin-HAIR-ited. While at the time I agreed that it was not as superior, as I’ve listened to the modern joint version, it feels right that it should all be together rather than as separate pieces. Anyway, the original release, which is what is listed here, was not a soundtrack as much as it was a touchstone. So many of the songs have become ingrained into culture and covered by the hip to straight.

100 The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – I’m not sure what makes this a gay recording, actually. Is it the bright colored uniforms? Nah, that’s too cliché, frankly. Even talking about his album in this context seems bizarre, because it fits into nearly any category. This is not just one of the most important albums in a list “Greatest, Gayest Albums,” it is possibly the most important one ever. Given my druthers, there are other Beatle albums I enjoy more (such as For Sale and Help, but there is no denying what this one brought to the genre. It not only effected (and affected) rock and roll, but nearly all genres.

As with all lists, even though this is compiled from “more than 100 actors, comedians, musicians, writers, critics, performance artists, label reps and DJs,” it is still extremely subjective choices for a select group; as any student of mass media, there are always a “bias of communication” (as posited in a famous book by Harold Innis). For instance, where is Wayne/Jayne County and/or the Electric Chairs? There are two on the list by Rufus Wainwright, but none by his more talented sister, Martha? Where’s The Tom Robinson Band/TRB? The Soundtracks to Cabaret and The Wizard of Oz? Lesley Gore? And no “like budda” Barbra? Sacrilege!

I respect this poll, but find it lacking as any other one could be. I seems if they had just gone and asked 100 people on either Christopher Street, and then again on West Street, each version of this list may have been entirely different.

This sounds more critical than I actually mean it to be. I enjoyed going through this list and remembering all the stuff I’ve listened to over the years, and thank the mag for the opportunity to reminisce.