The Riff’s July Album of the Month
A discussion on July 11
Thank you to all those who have faith and selected me to pick the next album for the Riff’s July Album of the Month discussion. I appreciate the shot, and I hope you’ll be there and be excited to discuss the album I’ve selected.
It’s so tough to narrow down choices, and I was inches away from nominating these:
Santana’s Abraxas
Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush
The Handsome Family’s Through the Trees.
Prince’s 1999.
I even thought about Sinatra’s September of My Years.
I considered records by The Clash, Against Me!, Marvin Gaye, and I had to fend off a friend who said that if I didn’t pick Sgt. Pepper, something was wrong with me, or us.
The criteria are more than problematic: is it your favorite album, a desert island wonder? Is it trendsetting? Will it engage with a broad audience? Is there a great personal story behind it? Does it have a good beat and is fun to dance to? Can you hum a few bars of any song on it?
And then: would my fellow writers/readers like Kathryn Dillon, If Ever You’re Listening, Keith R. Higgons, Jessica Lee McMillan, Rob Janicke, Kevin Alexander, Paul Combs, David Acaster, Alex Markham, Alexander Briseño, TheWellSeasonedLibrarian, Vince Coliam, Gary Chapin, Steven Hale, JP Timko, S.W. Lauden, Sarah Paris, Kathy Gerstorff, Nicole Brown, Sandy Knight, Mike Marolla, James Jordan, Harry Male, Frank Mastropolo, Christopher Robin, James Mulkin, Aimée Gramblin, MDSHall, Samantha Drobac, and especially Noah Levy approve?
Aaaagh.
So, let’s roll the dice, pound that bass drum and announce that the July album of the month for greater pleasure and discussion is
David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, from 1972, and just to whet the appetite, here’s a story I wrote recently on our sister pub, Songstories:
Here is the Zoom link for the discussion:
ID: 86769627069 Passcode: N9d<4U00
We will start at 7:00 EDT on Sunday, July 11. I’ll be reminding The Riff loyalists, and please invite whoever else might be interested!