Wes Montgomery: "Goin' Out Of My Head"

Released in 1965, this was Wes Montgomery's twenty-eighth (28th) album.

He had more than 40 to his credit by the time he was taken by a heart attack in 1968.

Wes Montgomery was one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time.  If you have not taken the time to give him a listen, you need to remedy that situation as soon as possible.

Really.

We Are The World

This LP, released in 1985, was irresistible for at least three reasons:

1. All proceeds went to charitable aid for crises in Africa.

2. The song itself was just simply and absolutely HUGE at the time.

3. The one-time only supergroup "USA for Africa" was such a ridiculously stunning gathering of superstars from virtually every genre of music it was a fabulously historical recording.  It is still utterly crazy to look at a list of the artists involved in this project.

For more details go HERE.

Sade: "Promise"

This is Sade's second LP, released in late 1985.

Includes the huge, delightful hit "The Sweetest Taboo."

I fell in love with Sade's fabulous voice and her band's playful jazz style the instant I first heard them, which was actually with a track from their first LP "Diamond Life" - "Smooth Operator."

For me, this is the type of music that can calm me and lift me up at the same time.

Chicago: "Chicago (Chicago II)"

This LP was released in January 1970 after the band had officially changed its name from "The Chicago Transit Authority" to simply "Chicago."

Technically, this album is titled just "Chicago" but it has come to be known retroactively as "Chicago II" although the band did not adopt the Roman Numeral LP naming convention it came to use until the release of "Chicago III."

The naming convention gets a little confusing with compilation, live, and "greatest hits" albums in the mix.  Also they randomly chose to give a few albums "normal" names; e.g., "Hot Streets" (LP #12) and "Night & Day Big Band" (#22).  In the '80s they strayed mostly from the Roman Numerals to regular arabic numbers for albums 13 - 19 (except for XIV), and #21 was named "Twenty 1."

At any rate, this second album was an immediate hit including such memorable tunes as "25 or 6 to 4" "Colour My World" and "Make Me Smile." 

The inner sleeve offers an interesting peek at the era.

And the LP included this photo poster for adorning teen bedroom walls (mine stayed in the jacket).

This LP was sent to a collector in Maryland.

The Chambers Brothers: "The Time Has Come"

"The Time Has Come" was The Chambers Brothers' third LP, released in 1967.

In 1968, they scored their first hit with "Time Has Come Today" - a unique, haunting anti-war song.

Read about The Chambers Brothers.

This LP went winging off to Spain.

Queen: "The Game"

Queen's eighth (8th) studio album, "The Game" was released in June 1980.

This was the only Queen LP to reach #1 in the US, and it is tied with "News of the World" with 4 million copies sold.

Memorable tunes from this album include "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."  Their song "Rock It (prime jive)" pre-dated Herbie Hancock's popular "Rockit" by a few years.

This album went off to a new home in France.

Wishbone Ash: "Argus"

"Argus" is Wishbone Ash's third (3rd) LP, released in 1972.

Progressive rock, widely credited with being among the first to use twin lead guitars to great effect.

This LP found its way to Wisconsin.

Gentle Giant: "Three Friends"

This cover art (George Underwood) was used for Gentle Giant's eponymous debut album, released only in the UK in 1970.

"Three Friends" was their third (3rd) LP, but the first to be released in the USA, so they re-used the previous cover art for the USA release of "Three Friends" in the summer of 1972.

Progressive rock - theme rock - album rock on the order of the crop of artists that produced the likes of "Pink Floyd" "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" "Yes" and many others.

This LP went to a fan in Pennsylvania.

The Rolling Stones: "Beggars Banquet"

This LP hit the streets in late 1968.

After experimenting a bit with psychedelia on the previous album, this recording was a return to The Stones' R&B roots.

This LP made the long trek to Canada from the USA.

Vaughn Meader: "The First Family"

Incredibly popular parody of the Kennedy White House released in October 1962.

In fact the album was recorded live while President Kennedy was making his Cuban Missile Crisis Speech.

This was the fastest selling album of all time, but sales immediately plummeted when JFK was assassinated the next year.

Excellent further details HERE.

This LP went to a collector in Mississippi.

Vanilla Fudge: "Vanilla Fudge"

This LP was Vanilla Fudge's eponymous debut.

Released in 1967, it consisted entirely of covers of songs previously recorded by other artists.

Vanilla Fudge's version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" became the most popular version of that song ever recorded, but it was originally recorded by The Supremes in 1966, and it has been covered by innumerable artists since, including Kim Wilde's 1980s pop version and Reba McEntire's 1990s country version.

Vanilla Fudge was among the raft of bands creating "psychedelic rock" and is widely considered to be the primary link between that genre and what soon became known as "heavy metal."

I still totally love the music from this LP.

A fan in Pennsylvania scooped this one up.

The Rolling Stones: "Hot Rocks 1964-1971"

Released in late 1971, this double LP has become the highest-selling album of all time for The Rolling Stones.

It was the third (3rd) "hits" album, and it remains a favorite collection of songs and an excellent retrospective of their phenomenal "early" years.

You've gotta love these great pics of a young, rebellious band of musicians who were not in the least overshadowed by the success of their fellow Brits.

This one wound up in Michigan.