This album opens with probably the best song ever written based on a real life story, "Hurricane." In fact there isn't a bad song on this album, though "Joey" is a bit long, and so I guess that's why it makes the top 100 of the 1970's list sitting at number 85 while I'm typing this. That being said there is something off about this album to me. For one thing besides "Hurricane" and "Sarah" there are no songs that really stand out. In fact as you plod along from "One More Cup of Coffee" to "Oh, Sister" to "Joey" you almost get lost as each song sounds pretty much like the other. Take these songs off and put them in a movie or put them on a mix tape and they are effective, taken on this album one after another they get lost.
If you want some music on in the background while you read Ellery Queen mysteries then I say put this one on.
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good. Though I'm not that crazy about the album as a piece the individual components are too strong to give it less than 3 stars.
Here are some better songs for the playlist for music to listen to while reading Ellery Queen mysteries:
ReplyDelete"Baker Street," Gerry Rafferty
"Year of the Cat," Al Stewart
"A Little More Love," Olivia Newton-John
"Gold Dust Woman," Fleetwood Mac
"Rhiannon," Fleetwood Mac
"Werewolves in London," Warren Zevon
"Classical Gas," Mason Williams
"Pressure," Billy Joel
"American Tune," Paul Simon
By the way, if you only read three Ellery Queen mysteries in your life, here are the three you should read:
ReplyDelete"The Roman Hat Mystery"
"The Greek Coffin Mystery"
"The Finishing Stroke"
I think "The Greek Coffin Mystery" may be the best detective novel of all time.
This was among the first Bob Dylan albums I bought on vinyl. The one of his I never tire of is Nashville Skyline.
ReplyDeleteEric, please give "The Greek Coffin Mystery" a chance.
ReplyDelete