We want strains with some reserve!

Maybe I'm being harsh, but Vandalia tends to be pretty low on my list of song-poem concerns.  And yet, in these troubled times, I daresay the moment may have finally arrived for one thing, and one thing only:

Mea culpa, Bill!

A PACK O' ARPAIA

We Want Strains With Some Reserve (randall reed)
Here Alone And Just With Me (randall reed)
Wishing We Could Fly (randall reed)
In My Salad Days (damita)
The Flying Flag Forever (william howard arpaia; the babylonians)
Heaven Was Where I Had Been (lance hill)

click to download

I don't know about you, but I'm still shell-shocked from what just happened; indeed what's been happening for the last four/twenty/fifty years! Because of this, I still haven't begun to post what I had originally intended to kick off this blog with because various song-poems keep surfacing their ironic selves just as the day-to-day unfolding of history intrudes into my blogging mind!  Consider track number one from this album.  Old man Arpaia had it right, at least for these days: We Want Strains With Some Reserve!  (And this is what I'm always telling people!😆)

Most of this album is pretty bland and (album-cover declarations notwithstanding) rather unmemorable, so much so that when I first digitized it years ago, this is how I labeled the CD:

 

"Pray You Don't Get Stuck On A Desert Island With Just This Disc!"

That said, I have to admit that the first track, with it's righteous indignation regarding the state of music, makes me grin, smile and laugh; the second two tracks are more tranquil and feature unexpected endings that are pure late-70s nirvana, fleeting moments that sound like Randall Reed and company are showing off what they can really do if they could be but liberated from the "reserved strains" of W.H. Arpaia!    

• Quick side note: other than hitting the spot during this turbulent time in history, the real attraction (for me) on Arpaia albums is the COVERS!  For a good time definitely click on both the front (above) and the back cover (below, bottom of post).  OR you can simply read them at the ole ASPMA!
• (I actually have another "Arpaia Sound" album - I think it's "Arpaia Sound III" -  but it's sealed. It's got some Sammy & Kris on it.  Is it sacrilegious to unseal? What do you think?)

While you're mulling over that, and speaking of "Kris"....here's a "Damita" (aka Kris Arden, Jo Ann Auborn) single on Vandalia that's pretty disposable.  But just as I was about to turn it off, I heard a random sax bleat that ended up cracking me up every time I listened to it.  I don't know if it's a mistake or if someone is goofing around.....or if it's Arpaia himself, overdubbing his sax onto a Globe demo recording, but I always forget it's coming and it always catches me off-guard. It's just a little sax bleat, out of the blue, and totally inappropriate.  Like an embarrassing instance of musical flatulence or something.

Lastly, here is one of only two known records on which William Howard himself appears as vocalist.  The first is the well-known "Listen Mr. Hat" (featuring his back-up band, The Jerrymanders! Jerrymanders? Et tu, Brute!).  The second is not as wacky - but more pertinent to the day's events, for today is Inauguration Day and, at last, the long national nightmare eases a little bit, if not ends all together!   So strike up the band and let Mr. Arpaia tell you all about it!

Might make you feel patriotic, may make you feel bored....but I guarantee you, for the rest of your days you will be saying "My America......"

PS - Here's the flip, Lance Hill really going over the top.

P.S.S. Don't miss more "Lance Hill Sings Arpaia" over at Bob's blog, the immortal "I'm A Catastrophe", in case you missed it the first time!

https://bobpurse.blogspot.com/2010/02/im-catastrophe.html

Enjoy!