Fleetwood Mac: Tango in the Night

1987

1. Big Love
2. Seven Wonders
3. Everywhere
4. Caroline
5. Tango In The Night
6. Mystified
7. Little Lies
8. Family Man
9. Welcome To The Room...Sara
10. Isn't It Midnight
11. When I See You Again
12. You And I, Part II

Listen to the wind on the water

Listen to the waves upon the shore

Try to sleep, sleep won't come

Just as I begin to fade

Then I remember

When the moon was full and bright

I would take you in the darkness

And do the tango in the night

Tango...

Tango in the Night was unlike anything I had ever listened to before. The lyrics seemed so complex, even cryptic at times & it was so much darker than other albums I loved (say what you will about Culture Club and The Judds, but dark they are not). Years later I would also come to recognize some of the more sexual references in the music, but at 14, that was a bit over my head. I was completely captivated by the album though & it would prove to be significant in a variety of ways.

First, it is one of three entries on my list from 1987. Looking back, I can now see this as a pivotal year in my "musical development" & probably the year I went from loving music to LOVING music.

In addition, it helped cement a pattern (that started with Rockin' With The Rhythm) in which I discovered new music not from the radio, but from television. Although my family always enjoyed music, we were never a big radio family. We always listened to albums or tapes (at home & in the car) or watched music television. Even today, I am more often than not exposed to new music via TV or the Internet. Anyway, in this case, I saw the video for Seven Wonders on VH-1 and just loved it. I already liked Stevie Nicks (having bought The Wild Heart years earlier), but oddly, I'm not even sure I really knew Fleetwood Mac at that time. Regardless, I had to have it.

Tango in the Night also represents the first time I was compelled to go digging in an artists' back catalog for more more more. I was completely unsuccessful at first because I ended up buying Mystery to Me from the early 70s, which was a completely different sounding Fleetwood Mac (although it did include one song I liked, Hypnotized). Undeterred, I tried again, and holy hell, I hit the jackpot -- Rumours. I mean, seriously, Gold Dust Woman, The Chain, Go Your Own Way, You Make Loving Fun, Dreams, Songbird. Can it get better than that? I was so close to putting Rumours on this influential albums list, but it was Tango that led me to Rumours and ultimately had the bigger impact.

Lastly, I was inspired by Tango to share my passion with others. I remember my friend Lonnie was spending the night & I basically wanted to force feed him the entire album, making him listen to each song & then discuss it. He wasn't really into that, but I did manage to get him to listen to small clips of each song. My parents had already gone to bed, so we couldn't listen out loud. So I plugged in my earphones and gave him the left one and I kept the right one as we listened together on my bedroom floor to a minute or two of each song. And in a scene that would repeat itself hundreds of times over the following 20 years, I was hurt when he didn't love it as much as I did. I've tried to work on that over the years, but when I am really moved by something, I just want my friends to be moved as well. Not as any kind of credit to me, but because I want them to feel that passion and joy.

The Judds: Rockin' With The Rhythm

1985

1. Have Mercy
2. Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days)
3. Working In The Coal Mine
4. I f I Were You
5. Rockin' With The Rhythm Of The Rain
6. Tears For You
7. Cry Myself To Sleep
8. River Roll On
9. I Wish She Wouldn't Treat You That Way

10. Dream Chaser

Growing up in Mississippi, I was surrounded by country music from birth -- Alabama, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette (a cousin of mine actually, very true), Oak Ridge Boys, Waylon Jennings.

Long before we had MTV in my house (and my hometown), we had CMT where I watched videos from such unforgettable country luminaries as Janie Frickie (who?), Sylvia (haven't heard of her either?), and country music's version of Weird Al whose name I shockingly cannot remember, but he sang an entire song about the woman who got away using fish puns (I kid you not). From memory, Well I lobster and never flounder. He wrapped his line around her and they drove off in his carp.

I always considered the genre a bit lame (can you blame me?) and certainly more of my parents' style than my own. However, one day when watching CMT I heard the most beautiful voice from one of the sisters (or so I thought) in a duo called The Judds. I just felt something.

As soon as I could, I bought the first tape I could find by them: Rockin' With The Rhythm. For weeks, I hardly made it past the first song, Have Mercy, because I loved it so much. It was such a fun song to sing that I went around the house singing it non-stop. So I'm 12, dancing through the house singing a "man done me wrong" song by The Judds, and people were surprised that I'm gay? Yeah, right. But that's a different topic ...

Anyway, I finally did get past the first song, and the rest of the album was just as good. The up-tempo songs were fun. The ballads were beautiful. I started listening to the tape (primarily side 2) every night as I got in bed. It lulled me to sleep many, many nights. It also inspired me, especially the last song, Dream Chaser. I would lay there in the dark listening to those lyrics & wonder what I would do in life, where I would go, how successful I would be. But I hoped, like the song said, that I could always go back home.

I'm gonna pack my bags and drive all night

I'll be in the mountains by morning light

Drive the road I traveled years ago

As a young girl leaving home

With dreams as big as the trees were tall

I knew I'd have nothing or I'd have it all

And you all know what happens when the bright lights call

You're either gonna make or you're gonna fall

Make it or you're gonna fall

I'm a dream chaser, a star gazer that's what I am

But I've always known I'd come back home when I found my rainbows end

Rainmakers and heartbreakers could never change my plans

Dream chaser, that's what I am

I'm goin' home where the stars shine bright in a mountain sky

That path above I've followed all of my life

It's guiding me back to where my dreams began

Then I'll be gone again

I'll be gone again

Dream chaser, that's what I am

Culture Club: Colour By Numbers

1983
1. Karma Chameleon
2. It's A Miracle
3. Black Money
4. Changing Every Day
5. That's The Way (I'm Only Trying To Help You)
6. Church Of The Poison Mind
7. Miss Me Blind
8. Mister Man
9. Stormkeeper
10. Victims

Culture Club's Colour By Numbers is the first album I can remember purchasing ... ever. I had a small batch of 45s prior to that, but never a full album until the year I was 10. I saved up my allowance, badgered my mom into taking me to Record Bar in the mall, and bought this album.

Karma Chameleon was of course the big hit from this album & the reason I bought it, but as soon as I got it home, I feel in love with it all. There were other hits as well (Miss Me Blind, It's a Miracle, Church of the Poison Mind), but the non-singles were just a strong & my favorite track ended up being Black Money.

I remember every Sunday afternoon after church, my parents would take a nap, my brother would go out to play with friends, and I would put Colour By Numbers on the stereo & listen start to finish as I jumped on a small exercise trampoline. I did that every single Sunday for months.

I also never think of this album without thinking of my friend Will who bought me a Colour By Numbers poster because he knew I was so obsessed with the album. I remember his telling me how painfully embarrassed he was to buy it, but he knew I would love it. That was actually really touching & 25 years later, I still remember that he did that for me.

A List of My Own

Anyone who knows me knows I love a good list. I love rankings, countdowns, comparisons, etc. The best, the leading, the top, the favorite, the largest ... Anything that puts things in some kind of order or grouping based on specific qualities gets my juices flowing.

I keep seeing all these lists of best albums of all-time & they are so generic and expected (although I'm not saying that doesn't mean they aren't valid). So I'm creating one of my own. Would I call my list "the best" -- I don't know, I don't think so. These are really the albums that just for various reason at various times had the most impact on me. When I think back through my music-loving years, these albums just stand out.

Obviously, my list is unlike any of those other lists -- no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Dylan, Beach Boys. No Michael Jackson, no Bruce Springsteen, no Elton John.

It does turn out, probably not unexpectedly, to only include albums released during my lifetime (although that wasn't a requirement). The only real requirement is that I must truly love the entire album (it can't just have a handful of great songs) & it can't be a greatest hits collection.

My intention was to include 10 albums, but that literally proved impossible, so it stands at 20. I'm going to create a separate post for each one & they aren't really ranked 20-1, but listed chronologically.

This has actually been a really interesting experiment as I've never thought through it in this detail before. It re-established some things I already knew (I really love female singers) & opened my eyes to some new things (1987 & 1990 were pivotal years for me musically).

Fun (for me at least) ...

Still Here

Hello everyone,

I'm still here & still trying to eat better, do better, live better. At the moment, I have suspended my participation in Dishalicious, Diet Gourmet, and Greenling because it is all just too expensive. It is just a temporary suspension, three or four months hopefully, and then I'll make my grand return.

That doesn't mean I've suspended anything else -- I'm still going to try to buy & eat healthy (at least semi-healthy) foods. And I'm planning to restart my weight loss countdown (which was the actual purpose of this blog) in August. I have a doctor's appointment/weigh-in on August 1, so I'll have a fresh start.

And my wonderful food services will never be far from my mind. In fact, I just found a cool new Greenling-related blog from a woman who posts about what she gets each week in the Greenling local box (fresh produce) and what she does with it all. Sadly, I'll probably never get to the point where I can order the local box, but her site is interesting and inspiring.