From April 1965: Whipped Cream and Other Delights

I've always said that 1965 was the best year for music.

Certainly it brought to listeners one of the most iconic records of the decade, if not ever.  Not just for the music, mind you (but oh, that music was fabulous!)...but that sexy, salacious, audacious album cover.

You know the one, because chances are, your parents had this record in their collection, too.

Let's have a cocktail party.  

Put the kids to bed early, put this record on the hi-fi, and put the nibbles on the coffee table.  I hope I made enough rumaki for everyone...

I'll have a vodka gimlet, please, darling.  Will you zip up my new dress?

Now, sweetheart, remember...you promised not to get too tight and argue politics with Stan Facemeyer like you did the other night at the Howards'.  Linda Facemeyer is one of my very best friends, and we hate it when you boys argue.

*DING DONG* Get the door, will you, sweetie?  I can't go out there without my lipstick!

From 1979: It's All The Rage

In the summer of 1979, my next-door neighbor and best childhood friend, Suzanne, went to London with her family for several weeks.

This was no small feat for 1970s suburban Indiana.  Their trip even made the local newspaper.

When Suzanne returned, she had a treasure trove of records she bought in the Picadilly Circus shops.  Such an education for fascinated me.  I was all of eight years old, but I listened to those records constantly with Suzanne.  "Angeleyes/Voulez Vous," by ABBA.  "Gangsters," by The Specials.  "Born To Be Alive," by Patrick Hernandez.  All of the singles had those peculiar small holes in the middle; no need for the ubiquitous spindle adapters that usually littered the console on Suzanne's stereo.

My favorite record was the triumphant smash hit, "I Don't Like Mondays," by The Boomtown Rats.  Featuring soaring piano and clever, biting lyrics, lead singer Bob Geldof wrote the song in response to the Brenda Ann Spencer massacre in January 1979.  "The silicone chip inside her head gets switched to overload," remains, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant opening lines of a song to date.

Everyone knows and loves that song, right?  It deserves the adulation.  But have you ever heard the B-side?  It deserves adulation, too, as a rip-roaring punk rocker right out of Dingwalls, featuring a double-tracked vocal by Geldof and relentless guitar work by Garry Cott.  The infectious ending is particularly effective.

It's all the rage...you're putting me on.

From 1965: The Beatles, The Way They Were Meant To Be Heard

Notice that this is a Capitol Records pressing, Beatles '65, which took elements of the British A Hard Day's Night and Beatles For Sale. By slicing and dicing the English records, Capitol realized that they could make even more albums for the American market, and therefore make more money.

This record was a staple in the Weiss house growing up. Dad used to listen to it all the time when he would do the nightly dinner dishes for Mom.

This is my all-time favorite Beatles song, if I had to choose. It is everything that makes the Beatles magical: a Lennon and McCartney harmony, great acoustic work from George, and wonderfully subtle drumming from Ringo that perfectly fits the mood of the song. "I'll Be Back" is a Lennon composition that is once again deceptively simple in its lyrics and construction. I especially love the bridge and the final lyric: "You. If you break my heart, I'll go, but I'll be back again."

C'est un monde se balançant, le bébé!

Probably 1959

It's difficult to find a date for this album, but it is undoubtedly the soundtrack for his Broadway show of the same name.