Blood, Sweat, Tears, Love and CSN

I just picked up a 180gm vinyl recording of Crosby Stills and Nash live in L.A. It is awesome!!! This concert is not available on cd...at least not presently. If you are a vinyl collector, pick this up as well as Neil Young's 180gm Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere...gritty, but awesome sound. OK, back to Blood, Sweat, etc. There have been a handful of albums over my life that have affected me viscerally. What I mean by this is that when I heard these for the first time, I had a physical and emotional reaction to them. In other words, I knew something special was happening. Such was the case with two cd's that I revisited the other day, and I still feel the same way as when I heard them for the first time. The very first Blood Sweat & Tears entitled Child is Father to the Man, stands alone in a category by itself. This is true artistic genius and musicianship. Al Kooper, one of those artists I have been following since he was in the Blues Project, created and formed BS&T. However, his tenure with them only lasted one album's worth. But what an album it was. At this time, horns, jazzy rock arrangements, and very cool songs, made for what I would call one of my top five albums of all-time! The group Love featuring singer Arthur Lee (who died a few years back after getting out of prison from complications of leukemia), was a rock band from Los Angeles. They had a unique sound to them, but they created an artistic album of genius as well called "Forever Changes." This album was a departure for them musically, but the signs were there on previous albums...just very subtle. While to some these might sound dated, to me, great albums like great songs, never grow old...they get better and better with age. Like I said in another blog, blogging is a way of spewing...I mean, I can say what I feel, what I'm listening to, and even if I'm writing for myself, its a cathartic exercise in emotional release. I'm listening to the aforementioned CSN Live in L.A. as I write this and I can't help but feel buzzed about it. I have several other CSN live albums and cd's, but this one has an energy unlike the others...please seek it out. I would be remiss if I didn't repeat again, that with the holidays approaching, pick up Windham Hill's A Winter's Solstice. There are several out there and you cannot go wrong with any of them...they set a peaceful and relaxed musical mood, especially if its snowing or cold outside. Cuddle up with a blanket, a glass of wine, a great book, or whatever, and put this cd on. You will feel caught up in the season, no doubt about it. I live upstate in Orange County, NY. Never mind what the fuck are you listening to? When are there going to be a decent chinese restaurant up here? In Greenwood Lake, I stumbled on a chinese buffet featuring not only chinese food, but sushi as well. I went in for dinner alone and asked how much? They said $9.99 a person. I said, how much for the sushi? They said, that's the price for everything. I tried it and was blown away. The sushi was fresh and exotic combinations. Needless to say I took the family there and we visited them more than 40 times. I feared they would close because, hey, its fucking Greenwood Lake!!! And sure enough, they closed a few months back. Hard working people trying to make a go and giving people great food for a great price, and people in that town are too fucking stupid to realize what a golden thing it was. Oh well...I need a great chinese place...being Jewish and all...you know, we have been around over 2,000 more years then the chinese...which begs the question: What did we do without chinese food for two thousand years? If I don't blog again till after the holidays, peace, love and all that bullshit...