Hidden Treasures - Side 1 Track 1 (take 2)

[Scott]

So I'm weeding through the emails I've received since being on sabbatical the past few weeks, and the one question that keeps coming up over and over is asking when I will redo my "Side 1 Track 1" playlist. Well there’s no time like the present, but let’s not leave this one hanging out there alone this time, let’s do this as a two part series.


The Record Store used to be a cool event for me, I looked forward to spending time making sure my intended purchase was in fact what I wanted. To do that I had to touch everything in the bins, study the covers, read the back covers, and make sure I made a well-informed purchase. I loved spending time there, but I also loved the anticipation of that first listen. So for me, Side 1 Track 1 was almost always the first song I played. Usually this track was the tone-setter for the entire album. If this track stunk, well then we had problems, if not then we're off to jamming loud!


This playlist comes mostly from albums that really set the tone for me and all of these albums still hold special places in my collection.


This playlist contains 2 Hidden Treasures; the first one is that anticipation of dropping the needle on that first track of a new album and the second one is the song itself... Enjoy!


PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/avpio3i3

	Legs Diamond Legs Diamond 1976 1 - It's Not The Music Here’s an opener that continues to work really well. I've posted this track before and I've showcased this band as well (Its worthy of doing it again). But it’s their first two albums that get all the love. Each of which is a must own in my estimation. Anyway, this opener comes courtesy of my brothers’ collection. This album was taken over by me, but alas, I lost the battle and my brother collection still likely has this ready and willing to be blasted! I know my remastered CD gets the spin treatment frequently! AllMusic had this to say... Right away, one can tell why Legs Diamond stood slightly apart from their loud, brash, groupie-devouring Sunset Strip colleagues, as their own songs were comparatively sleek, restrained, and marked by a penchant for '70s progressive rock, to boot (of course groupies were still quite welcome). The latter certainly explains the surprisingly sedate stroll and proggy organs draped across album opener "It's Not the Music," which duly gives right of way to the comparatively unadorned "Stage Fright" to step things up a notch with its blend of Starz toughness and Mott the Hoople-style glam-boogie.
	Head East Head East 1978    1 - Open Up The Door These one hit wonders deserved more attention than they got, and although the mid-west region got them, the rest of us missed out. Well most of the rest of us, I didn't! It was the slick cover of Argents “Since You’ve Been Gone” that first caught my ear, but the riffs, keyboard hooks and driving beats that got me. Ironically it would be side 2 that turned out to me my favorite here (wait for that next week), but the opener did its job! No reviews are easily googled for this one, and isn't that a shame?
	The Michael Schenker Group Assault Attack 1982    1 - Assault Attack I always dug it when the title track opened up an album. No reason, just did. This one came courtesy of the dude in the apartments at the end of the road I grew up on. His name escapes me, he was a friend of a friend of a friend give me a break, but he is responsible for my infatuation with this album and the next one on this playlist. His apartment was full of Schenker posters so he clearly had a thing for all things Schenker. Hey it worked, it stuck with me too. Here’s an interesting tidbit about this album... ...the band went to France to start recording the album that would become Assault Attack with producer Martin Birch, who arrived fresh from Iron Maiden's album The Number of the Beast. The sessions took place at a French castle, Le Château d'Hérouville.
	UFO Phenomenon 1974    1 - Too Young To Know See above... and why not! Can you ever get too much geetar? This album didn’t really stick with me as much as Assault Attack did, at least at first. But it would never go away, and to this day is probably my favorite UFO album. It may be true that the album you love most from any certain band is the first one your heard and if you take one step further, side 1 track 1 may be your favorite track!

[Niels (Mod)]

LEGS DIAMOND - I can't remember listening to this before. I like it. It has that "before it went wrong in the end of the 70's"-sound of the start to mid-seventies. The track is actually too short, t could easily had been twice as long. Good stuff.

HEAD EAST - The question is then: Is this from "when it went wrong in the end of the 70's"? Hmmm, off course you can't say, that EVERYTHING in the late 70's was not as "classic" as the music, that came before..say, 1976, but this is clearly not as good as the Legs diamond-song, but it's not bad. Nah, it's rather good in fact. Both tracks have a production, I like.

MSG - I bought this album back in 1982, and liked it for a while, but I got tired of it within a few months, and haven't really given it much attention since. I've always been a fan of Bonnet's voice, and it was the main reason for me to buy the album. Listening now takes me right back to the fall of 1982. Classic stuff!! Oh, and now we're at the start of the 80's, and music (mainly brithish) is cool again, for a few years. Then comes the mid-80's and the muisc will be cool again, this time american.

UFO - I've said countless of times, that I DO understand why UFO never got bigger, than they did. It goes in one ear, and out the next (yes, I know, RJ, there's nothing to stop it), and this song doesn't change that. It's too simple, I think, and the musicians are not especially great, well not in my opinion, anyway.

1. MSG

2. Legs diamond

3. Head East

4. UFO

[Scott]

This was the second time I posted that particular Legs Diamond track, cant recall if you listened to it the firs time, but I'm glad it came back around again!  Its a really good album as well!

Now I'm totally shocked you got into the Head East track!  Shocked!!

[Jon]

You obviously didn't get the cease and desist email from my lawyer or the other email where I gave you a list of songs that you should play if you were going to ignore the cease and desist email. My lawyers and their team are now discussing what the next step will be and, from what I've heard, it's not going to be pretty.

Don't have that Legs Diamond album and you have played other songs from this, but I don't remember them at all. This one is really good, kind of starts of discoey and then goes into an all-out hard rock assault.

Is that poop on the Head East cover? Or it paint? I dunno, but this song is also quite good. I think I have this song, but not the album.

I've never heard this album from MSG, but I'm sure it's their best album they ever put out. If this was your second MSG album you ever bought, you probably would judge every other MSG/MS album to this and notice how they all pali in comparison. But, I wouldn't know since I've never heard this before.

I think it would have been to be a UFO fan in the early 70's. You're a fan of their first two albums and then they change direction with this album. Would you still be a fan? I DON'T KNOW! I can say that, even though this is a decent album, it really doesn't compare to mid 70's to early 80's UFO. It's understandable with the new direction, new geetarist, etc. If I were to rank this with other MS UFO albums, this would come in last, but it's not a bad album at all. The album cover is weirdly funny, in a weirdly funny way.

That's it for me. I'm going to have to hunt down that MSG album. I want to see if me theory is correct.

[Scott]

Have your people contact my people and we'll get this resolved!  Should be easy since there's a "play whatever you want no matter what Jon or his Lawyers say" clause in my contract.

You may really like the first two Legs Diamond albums, the others are hit and miss.

Its mud on the cover, geez!  Its a road sing, how does one poop on a road sign? (don't answer that!)

I happen to know that this particular MSG album is your favorite.  Its in the comments on here somewhere, maybe more than once!

[Jon]

I've never said this is my favorite MSG album since I've never owned it. You're crazy.

[Scott]

And I quote...

August 7th, 2010...
Good stuff Scott! Love that you posted a track from "Assault Attack" which, in my opinion (that is never wrong) is the MSG opus.

January 25th 2012...
Man, Broken Promises...it's so cool..drums, then geetar, then bass....everything just blends in awesomely at the beginning of the song. But, there's really not a dud track on that whole album, whatever anyone would have picked would have been a-ok in my book.

June 4th, 2013...
"I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with this album when it came out. I mean, it followed one of the best albums ever, Assault Attack."

May 14th, 2015...
Not a big fan of this MSG album. Such a letdown after "Assault Attack", the MSG opus.

[Jon]

That wasn't me.

[Scott]

[Jon]

[RJhog (Admin)]

I think your three listeners are in complete agreement that the Legs Diamond song is quite good.  I think the title and the subject matter are perfect for an opener.  Where Niels and I disagree is that I think the Head East song is actually better than the Legs Diamond song.  I really dig the vocals (in both songs, but especially the Head East song).  And truthfully, I have no remembrance of what my opinion might have been previously with regards to It's Not The Music.  The album cover is cool.  

MSG is the band that I don't really get.  This song isn't bad by any means, but I don't get the admiration for the band. And I think it is by far the weakest album opener of the lot so far.  

The UFO track is much better.  Love Mogg's vocals.  The backing vocals are cool as well.  I've picked up a bunch of UFO since I've met you guys, and I just like pretty much everything I hear by them.

Here's a good question regarding album openers.  What is your favorite type of album opener?  Epic?  Fast and off the chain?  A ballad (probably not this one).  A mid-paced grinder?  I think they can all work, except for possibly the ballad. One other opener that I think is great is Mean Street by Van Halen from Fair Warning.  It's a mid-paced song, but unbelievably cool.

1. Head East

2. Legs Diamond

3. UFO

4. MSG

[Niels (Mod)]

I agree, that Mean Street is a perfect opener. You didn't say perfect, but I did.

Death On Two Legs from A Night At The Opera is another perfect opener.

I'd bet 100$, that Scott think, that Baba O'Riley is THE perfect opener.

[RJhog (Admin)]

The perfect opener to the perfect side A of a perfect album...is what Scott thinks about Baba.