Take a jaunt around the color wheel, as the Now Spinning crew explore a vibrant mix of color-inspired album picks. They discuss notable tracks such as "Calico Girlfriend" by Michael Nesmith, which marks an early instance of country rock, the whimsical vibes of Donovan's "Mellow Yellow," and the upbeat "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince.

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Website: LCC Vinyl Record Club

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Now Spinning, the official podcast of the Lansing Community College Vinyl Record Club. We meet twice a month to listen to vinyl and talk about music. Stay tuned to learn about how you can get in touch with us and attend our meetings.

Hello, everybody. This is Tyler. Simon's not here right now. He'll be back. But we also have Andy here.

Hi.

But today we have a pretty good playlist to talk about.

Yes.

We're talking about the colors of Clue. Yeah. Like the Colonel Mustard.

Yes. So any color.

Plum, purple, red, white, blue, yellow.

Yes. Any of those colors.

Yeah.

So we got a fun, fun collection.

A very wide range of. Of music genres too.

Although noticeable exceptions are Weezer's Blue Album

or the Beatles White Album.

Yeah, the Beatles White Album. That was a shocker that those two didn't come up.

Yeah.

But I did bring in princes.

Yeah. Let's go crazy. First off, to start, we've got some great little country rock by Michael Nesmith.

And the first national band, we got Calico Girlfriend. It's one of my favorite, if I could say most Monkees fan's favorite monkey is Mike. Very influential, at least in terms of like country rock.

Cause Magnetic south, the song this album was from, Calico Girlfriend was off Magnetic South. It's one of the first instances of country rock, which I think is pretty cool.

I was listening to this before we recorded and it was a jammy. I was jamming along to it like that was very, really, really fun.

Yeah.

To listen to.

That's this guy.

Yeah. Oh, wow, it's Bill Haley. Yeah. It's dim. Dim the lights.

Some notable pieces of this include him name dropping potato chips and Cherry Coke, which I think is pretty funny. It's a nice little sock hop sort of song. Great. If you're a fan of the 50s.

Yeah.

Totally recommend.

I mean, this guy. This guy is credited with inventing, really inventing rock and roll.

Like. Yeah.

Instance of rock and roll.

Yeah. I'd say it's more so bringing it to white audience.

Yeah.

Because, you know, I'd say he is definitely a pioneer. I'd say that's a pretty good term to put him in.

And next up is song that I brought in called Mr. Hyde by the Cherry People, which interesting kind of sunshine pop sort of sounding thing about Mr. Hyde. Assuming you know, Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde, please come outside. You know, that's what's kind of going along in my mind about it.

But they only released. I'm pretty sure that was the only album they released, so.

Never heard of the Cherry People, so they might be a one hit wonder.

60s. Are these like the like pop rock people? Like like the Beatles sound?

No, it's. It's more sunshine pop. Like. Like Harper's Bazaar, Spanky and Our Gang, you know, stuff like that. And next up, we've got a good Yellow song.

Mellow Yellow by Donovan. Interesting guy, Donovan here. He was the guy that made Sunshine Superman and Season of the Witch and Mellow Yellow.

Those are his like three most well known songs. This song, it's very yellow, I do have to say yellow art.

That's like there's gold on it.

Yeah. Next up, let's talk about some White Freightliner Blues by Towns Van Zant. Not to be confused with Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

But I haven't heard this guy. I think he's been played. So I guess I have heard of him. But this is like up north sort of songs.

Like if you're up north, you know, on a boat, maybe, a white Freightliner maybe, then this is the perfect song. And Townes Van Zant is the perfect feel for that.

If I had discovered him when I was up north working on Mackinac Island, I would have probably listened to all of his albums.

So you're saying that he's like a mood setter?

Yeah, very much so. When I was driving up here today, I was listening to it and I was like, no, this isn't the vibe.

But if I was driving up north and maybe some trees and not as much concrete around, then I'd say, heck yes. But it's just good, chill, nice music. I think it was live as well. Yes, it is live. Where? We don't know.

Live versions are definitely. You can. Sounds different than the recording album. Yeah, more usually like a bit up tempo. There's like more to it, more energy to it.

We talked about the live songs and stuff in our live meeting episode a while back and how most live songs are live in parentheses, like Beach Boys Party or Live Bullet is like recorded live with quotation marks around it. Because usually there's some editing in post production to bring up cheering and all that stuff.

Right.

Which is Pretty nice.

So there's stuff in, like, editing to do the mixing. Make sure that you're not just getting screamed and the crowd noise behind it. Actual song.

Yeah, I can't really say because I've never edited an album or produced an album or mixed an album or anything like that, but I assume you hear, like, lots of guitar or something like that, and the audience can sound very faint, and so they like to pump that up to make it, you know, sound pretty good. At least I believe. Next up is Strange Life Tragicomedy by Ultimate Spinach. Interesting. Ultimate Spinach and Cherry People.

This would have been two good bands for a food meeting.

That would have been.

Yeah, yeah. But Strange Life Tragicomedy.

Very bad album.

Yeah.

Very rad.

That was the theme. Bringing colored albums and stuff like that. And people did bring in colored vinyl, too, which I really did appreciate.

Oh, my God. Yes. That was fun.

But back to the music.

Next, we got Take five, and I've been dying to play this ever since.

You've been dying to talk about it, too.

Ever since I joined the club. And so Take five from Dave Rubek's timeout is called Take five because it is written in five, four.

So if you don't know music is measured in how many beats there are until the pattern repeats. So almost every single song you hear, especially nowadays, are written in 4, 4. You can count it. 1, 2, 3, 4. Most waltzes are written 3, 4.

So if you listen to piano men, marches are usually written in 2, 4. So if you listen to Sousa, that's 2, 4.

I love Susan.

Go like 6, 8, if you want to. Really technical. And go 12, 8. But 5, 4 is. You don't normally hear that because it's extremely awkward to count. You gotta go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

1, 2, 3, 4,. If you swing it, you gotta ba dum ba dum ba ba ba da da da da da. So it kind of just writes itself.

I see what you're picking up. I'm picking up what you're laying down here.

Yeah. So Dave Buck just. Just put a simple blues line to it. And so you just got the. And this was written a time when jazz got very technical.

Like, this is the time of Miles Davis, John Coltrane. Like, you can just like classic, like

50s sort of stuff.

Yeah, kind of like that. And I think it was sophisticated, successful, that I think there's, like, spoofs. I know someone wrote like a Take seven. So, like.

Yeah, you got real fun there for a moment.

That's interesting. Very interesting. It's very snappy and jazzy and stuff like that.

Oh, yes, yes.

Going back to strange life. Tragic comedy. Kind of jumped the. The spinach, I guess it's kind of a rocking kind of garage thing that I really like.

Anyway, jumping back is I Lied to you by Miles Canton. It's from Sinners, which is like, I believe it was won some awards or was nominated for some Academy Awards.

I believe it's got Michael B. Jordan in it. I haven't seen it, but somebody brought up a very interesting idea up on social media that I saw that there are no A list actors anymore.

There's only, like, directors. Like, you see this. It's not like, oh, it says the album cover says Sinners Original motion picture soundtrack.

It doesn't say, starring Michael B. Jordan. Da da da da da. It says a film by Ryan Coogler and his name is in yellow. It's a different color.

So most movies are like, you know, more directors than like actors and actors now.

Yeah, except for like way back in the 50s and 40s where it's like

Cary Grant or like Jim Carrey, stuff like that.

Starring Jim Carrey. Yes.

But aside from the movie tangents and all that stuff, an interesting little bit is Cannibal by Tally Hall. This is very interesting stuff. I know Tally hall is big in like the club. It's a very, very black and white.

It's a cool looking cover, if I gotta be honest. Kind of bringing up the theme of the different colored covers. I think that could be the theme of like a black and white and gray meeting.

There's a lot of albums black and white.

Yeah, I know. And gray too. Like the Stranger is kind of Grayzer, Black album, Beatles, white album.

You can call it Harley Q because that's like, you know, the classic black and white clowns. Harley Q. That, that whole thing. So, yeah.

Next up, we've got Ride My Seesaw by the Moody Blues. Jacob brought this in.

Fantastic. Yeah, I got another one of the records.

Yeah, that one was blue.

I don't know why I brought it.

Jacobs was blue because it was like a compilation of their stuff. And it was pretty good, I gotta say. You know, very, very 60s, very kind of like acid rock kind of. But the Moody Blues, they're really good.

If you want to get into said Moody Blues, you gotta be moody and you gotta feel blue. You also gotta look for them in the dollar bin. They're a pretty notable site. In the dollar bin. I gotta get into them.

Yeah, I've also gotta get into them.

Yeah, I have One of the records go to the Record lounge. I am 99% sure you will see a Moody Blues record in that dollar bin. Not as much as, like, Barbara Streisand or Kenny Rogers.

Next up, we have a record that I wanted to bring in for a long time. We've got Orange Blossom Special by Doug Kershaw. It's very interesting. It kind of goes slow. It's, you know, Doug Kershaw.

We've talked about him in previous meetings and all that stuff. He's a Cajun guy, born in Louisiana. He made Louisiana man, which is, like, his big known hit.

And it was, like, covered by a few bands like Harper's Bazaar and Jan and Dean. But in this one, it's strictly instrumental.

It's just him on his fiddle and he's, you know, doing a cover of the tune Orange Blossom Special, which, if you've heard the Johnny Cash version, I believe it's a harmonica that goes. But it goes softer and louder.

More like Southern rock.

A bit more like Southern Cajun folk music. Well, the song goes softer. Louder. Louder. To louder. To louder. To louder. And slower. To faster. To faster. To faster. Faster.

And he just goes hog wild on that fiddle. It's wild. I suggest, as I've mentioned before, listen to Doug Kershaw. He's got good Cajun stuff.

So next after that, we got Prince, Let's Go Crazy from the Purple Rain album. And, yes, we could have played Purple Rain, but even I can admit that Purple Rain is a bit overplayed.

Whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on. Are you admitting that an overplayed song is overplayed?

Yeah, yeah. Big. I have the guy that's all mainstream. I don't care. Good songs are good songs. But, yeah, Purple Rain. Purple Rain's a bit overplayed.

Not to say that let's Go Crazy is not overplayed.

Well, it's a. It's a little bit, but it's not. Like, I've said this before. I'm not like, Prince is awesome. Like, I've already.

As I said, I've said this before, time and time again, where I wasn't, like, a fan of this song. And then I heard it once, I heard it again, but in, like, the comic book store in downtown Lansing.

And I was like, wait a minute, this song isn't that bad. And it's not. It's just. I don't like how he drags out the ending. But. But I really admire him. He's an excellent guitar player.

Have you seen the clips of him doing a big Giant solo at some rock concert of what song? While My Tar Gently Weeps.

Yeah, that was at the concert for George. The concert that they did for George Harrison after he passed away. Yeah, yeah.

I've seen the clips of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame and my God, does he just go at it?

Yeah. Oh man, it's just, it's. It's goosebumps. It is very much so.

Also from this album, I want to talk about the vinyl. So I brought this one in and I bought it at Target. So it's a little fancy.

Yeah.

And it's a purple vinyl, but when you hold it up to the light you can actually like kind of see through it. And there's a tie dye effect. I don't know if that's just a byproduct of how they made the ink or something.

My assumption on purpose. On purpose is my assumption. I've heard very much. So I do want to mention Jacob also brought Mustard Plug. I love Mustard Plug.

Coming from the guy that only listens to 60s and stuff, mustard Plug is great. I recommend that you listen to him.

Yeah.

Do I have anything about to say about what you say, which is the song that was played? Not too much. Just go listen to Mustard Plug. Next up we've got Blue Danube Waltz by London Symphony Art.

Blue Danube. Yes. Jacob also brought that in.

Shout out, Jacob.

Yes.

I gotta do it. Friend of the show. Speaking of waltzes and how earlier you were talking about, you know, 584-434. This is a great waltz.

Do you have anything to say about it, Andy?

No, other than when he played it. The transition from the previous song that was played during the meeting was absolutely fantastic, I think. What was it?

It was like some hyped up rock going crazy and then you just get blue. Damn you. Oh my God, what a power move that was.

There are so many waltzes that are great.

I recommend if you want to deep dive into something else, like if you're bored of what you listen to on a day to day, for one, listen to these playlists, they're out on our website. Look up Lansing Community College Vinyl Record Club, look it up online and you'll see all of our playlists from all of our meetings.

You'll also see podcast episodes and like some little factoids about our members and stuff like that.

And a schedule for when you want to come to our next meeting or

if you don't want to, you can listen to some waltzes or listen to some classical or bring in whatever.

It's completely optional up to you.

Yes.

Please come in, enjoy some free pizza and listen to great music.

Yes, I agree. Speaking of great music. Next song, Young Lust. Pink Floyd.

Yes.

Love that song. I love the Wall.

And you maybe do the transition from the. I forgot what the previous song the album is.

Oh, Empty Space.

Empty space, yeah, the transition on the.

How should I complete the Wall?

Boom.

I'm just a new boy.

Yeah.

Stranger in this town. You know all that stuff. I told you that transition is amazing. It was the Wall is amazing spectacular album.

I could not recommend it more than any other. I'd say it's even better than Dark side of the Moon. But you know, that's.

I concur.

Yeah, yeah, just Pink Floyd. I'm sure we'll probably do a deep dive Pink Floyd sometime. Like, you can't just talk about Young Lust. You gotta talk about the whole thing. I know.

We've talked about Run Like Hell and Waiting for Worms and the Trial and Comfortably Numb and all like the well known stuff.

The Wall, part two.

Yeah, I'm more of a fan of Brick and the Wall part three. Anyway, the last song is Give a Damn by previously mentioned Spanky and Our Gang. This album cover is very yellow. Very yellow.

Very, very yellow.

Very much so. It's about, you know, like give a damn for your fellow man, you know. Those are some of the lyrics.

And how would you feel if you put your girl to sleep at night with rats instead of nursery rhymes? But I got it on 45. It was my first Spanking Our Gang album that I have. Great sunshine pop group. I recommend them.

But other than that, next meeting is April 2nd.

April 2nd, I believe.

5 to 6:30 in the office of Empowerment at the Arts and Sciences building, main campus. Free pizza, free soda, free vibes, good people.

Yes. Well, that does it.

That's it. Thank you all for joining us. Simon will be back and will be better than ever. Thank you. Goodbye.

Bye.