Eggplant (Train) (LP 4710 - 4719)

Train  Train (CD, Columbia Records, 1998) ****  

Train  Drops of Jupiter (CD, Columbia Records, 2001) *** 

Train  My Private Nation (CD, Columbia Records, 2003) *****  

Train  Alive at Last (CD, Columbia Records, 2004) ***  

Train  For Me, It's You (CD, Columbia Records, 2006) ***  

Train  Save Me, San Francisco (CD, Columbia Records, 2009) ****  

Train  California 37 (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ***

Train  Bulletproof Picasso (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ***

Train  A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat (CD, Columbia Records, 2017) ***

Train  AM Gold (CD, Columbia Records, 2022) ***

Genre: Pop rock, indie rock, pop, folk rock

Places I remember: HMV, Real Groovy Records, Fives, Fopp, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: When I Look to the Sky (My Private Nation), Hey Soul Sister (Save Me, San Francisco)

Gear costume: Counting Airplanes (My private Nation), Drops of Jupiter, Save Me, San Francisco, Drive By (California 37)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Train emerged, pretty much fully formed, in the late nineties. Their debut is nicely understated. It manages to convey a lovely hybrid of alt country, alt rock (Meet Virginia), guitar-driven pop and light classic rock moves (everything else). The band at this stage comprised Pat Monahan – lead vocals, Jimmy Stafford – lead guitar, mandolin, Rob Hotchkiss – rhythm guitar, harmonica, Charlie Colin – bass, and Scott Underwood – drums. Pat's lead vocals are impressive from the off!

Second album, Drops of Jupiter, amps up the indie rock sound and forgoes any alt country progression, largely thanks to Brendan O'Brien's meaty production. Highlights for me - the title track and the brooding Mississippi which closes the album.

It was actually their third album, My Private Nation, that alerted me to the joys of Train. It was from there that I back tracked to the first two albums and then bought each successive release. I'm a sucker for their brand of fun, bright shiny, hooky pop music.

My Private Nation is a clear peak in their catalogue, with each song bringing something special and different to the party.

In a strong album, definitely their finest album to this point, the highlights are many: Calling All Angels; All American Girl; Save The Day; Counting Airplanes; and my favourite - the emotional When I Look to the Sky.

Alive at Last was the live album that capitalised on this peak moment. It includes a heap of great tunes with a small audience who get fully involved from first track (Calling Angels) to the encore of the Faces' Stay With Me. It's raucous fun throughout! There's even two new songs tagged on to the end. Great value for money!

The next studio album, For Me, It's You, came three years after My Private Nation. The band was still a five piece but only Stafford, Monahan and Underwood remained from the first album.

Although it wasn't as commercially as successful as other albums there are still some great Train songs on their fourth album - namely Cab and Give Myself To You. The rest is good too but without the killer tunes of My Private Nation. In some ways it feels a little like they are running out of inspiration and that something needed to change (this was Brendan O'Brien's last album as producer). 

Another three years would go by before their fifth album, Save Me, San Francisco. It introduced some key changes in producer, personnel and style. During those three years the band went on hiatus as the guys pursued some solo projects. After the hiatus, Train returned as a trio (Monahan, Stafford and Underwood).

The pause worked, as Save Me, San Francisco is a dramatic and impressive return to chart success and artistic success (which is the more important but leads to the former). Five big singles came from the album, including Hey Soul Sister, If It's Love and Marry Me. 

The album kicks off with the brilliant title track which acts as a purpose statement (I love San Francisco and riding on the 101 along the coast), then comes Hey Soul Sister, a song I never tire of hearing. From there it's a buoyant set of pop smart Train moves that add up to a vibrant return for the trio.

It was the trio's last outing on the next album, California 37, as it was drummer Scott Underwood's last album. It again kicks off with two great Train songs - This'll Be My Year and Drive By (this album's Hey Soul Sister moment). The rest is the sunshiney pop Train do so well.

Bulletproof Picasso (who knows what that means) was next, their seventh studio album in the Train production line. It did start feeling a bit like that by this point. Albums were coming and going - most had a few hits and some good songs but nothing was really approaching the glory of Save Me, San Francisco.

Bulletproof Picasso was another okay album but without the big hits of the previous ones. By now the Train formula is pretty well established - Monahan's vocals and over-egged lyrics which people either love or hate (I mostly love them), the big classic pop hooks (again - I love them), the big guitars of Jimmy Stafford, and the infectious pop songs.

Even though Underwood was gone (replaced by Drew Shoels), the band had grown on the back cover to include six members. That included two back up singers, but still - a radical change from the trio years.

A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat was next five years later. That's quite a gap. Jimmy Stafford was gone, so that just left Pat Monahan as the last original member of Train. Even with all those personnel changes, it still sounds unmistakenly like Train.

AllMusic sums the album up well as 'an exuberant album, a celebration of everything that makes Train such a corny band. The hooks are big, the production is so glossy that it shines, and it's so cheerful it's bound to irritate anybody who isn't on the band's wavelength. If you're with them, though, a girl a bottle a boat is a good time because of its eagerness to please'.

AM Gold is the last album on my list. It has such a crappy cover that it's kind of endearing. Same with the music - big bold classic Train. The album displays all of their strengths, even if it's basically a Monahan solo album.

Where do they all belong? There are a few Train albums that are still on my list: Christmas in Tahoe (2015), Train Does Led Zeppelin II (2016) and it looks like they've also recorded a new album for release this year called Mad Dog in the Fog.

Sound round (The Who) (LP 4606 - 4615)

The Who  My Generation (Vinyl, Brunswick Records, 1965) ***  

The Who  A Quick One (Vinyl, Reaction Records, 1966) ****  

The Who  The Who Sell Out (Vinyl, Track Records, 1967) ***** 

The Who  Tommy (CD, Track Records, 1969) *** 

The Who  Who's Next (Vinyl and CD, Polydor Records, 1971) ***** 

The Who  Quadrophenia (Vinyl, Track Records, 1973) **** 

The Who  The Who by Numbers (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1975) *** 

The Who  Who Are You (Vinyl and CD, MCA Records, 1978) **

The Who  Face Dances (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1981) ***

The Who  Wire & Glass (CD, Polydor Records, 2006) ***

Genre: Pop, rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records, Marbecks Records, Chaldon Books and Records (The Who by Numbers).

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: We Don't Get Fooled Again (Who's Next)

Gear costume: Bargain (Who's Next), 5:15 (Quadrophenia)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Who!! Full of great characters and one of the best and biggest bands of all time. The names are all iconic - Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, John Entwistle, and Pete Townshend. I'll split my collection of The Who into three posts. First up - the studio albums, many of which are a crucial part of rock's history, starting with My Generation in 1965. 

The thing is, in hindsight, it's a really weird album. Apart from My Generation, The Kids Are Alright and Legal Matter, Roger/Keith/John and Pete don't really sound like what The Who would become. Instead, they sound like a feral punk band. This pure youthful energy approach is similar to The Kinks debut.

The Who seemed to have a parallel career at this point - as a singles band and as an album band. While other acts like The Beatles also had singles that didn't appear on albums, the parallel careers weren't as schizophrenic as The Who's was (is - they are still going as far as I'm aware).

A Quick One is a strange album, as all band members contribute songs (Keith's instrumental is suitably quirky). Entwistle's Boris the Spider is a classic, of course, and The Who sound like The Who on this second album. Pete's A Quick One While He's Away is a great suite of songs joined together, which works a treat!

Third album, The Who Sell Out, continued in an experimental psychedelic vein, which was all very 1967 (a.k.a. the year of Sgt. Pepper). The album's songs are interspersed with fake commercials and public service announcements which gives it a fun aspect. I Can See For Miles was the powerful hit that is also included on The Who Sell Out.

The rest of the album is glorious Who music as well, with a noticeably heavier rock sound. That plus the lovely vocal harmonies and Roger Daltrey's voice are what makes the album stand out from the rest of the 1967 albums. For some critics, this is the best studio album by The Who. It's definitely in my top 2.

Tommy was next and it's been acknowledged as a landmark album for The Who for many years now. I'm not a huge fan. Some of the songs almost sound like demos and there is a really dark side to the rock opera (Fiddle About is very disturbing). I've also always struggled to listen to the whole thing at one sitting.

That said, there is no denying the power of songs like I'm Free, Pinball Wizard and the ten-minute instrumental called Underture. 

Who's Next is a five-star classic from my nominated year for the best in music ever - 1971. Every song is brilliant and it all sounds so fresh every time I hear it. The versions of the songs are the best too. My CD copy has some bonus songs from a New York session, and it pales in comparison to the finished product (although Baby Don't You Do It is a standout from those sessions).

The package also has a live concert from The Young Vic which is dynamite from start to finish. I particularly like the way they all tear into these songs. All four are in top form!

The brilliant streak continued with 1973's next Pete Townshend rock opera - Quadrophenia. Only the band's sixth studio album. It's one I love a lot more than Tommy, even though I have no direct experience of English '60's gang culture that is the album's subject matter.

Although the story line gets a bit muddled at times (i.e. the quadrophenia idea re the personalities of the four members of The Who), there are plenty of great songs throughout the album and the atmospheric use of sound effects works well. 

Highlights are plenty - The Real Me, The Punk Meets the Godfather, I'm One, Bell Boy, Love, Reign o'er Me and the utterly brilliant 5:15.

The Who by Numbers is a bit unloved, by everyone! Perversely, I quite like it. It doesn't have too many pretensions - instead it's a bunch of songs, mainly about Pete Townshend's various hang ups and problems, but when the Who perform them they become vaguely angry Who songs!

The hit song from the album was the weirdly crude joke song - Squeeze Box, which, again, I really like! BTW the original UK press had a unique number on the cover (like The Beatles album of 1968) - my copy is # 91002.

Who Are You (no question mark, so, I guess it's making a statement along the lines of: we, as in - the audience, are The Who) is the last album to include the self-destructive Keith Moon. Sadly, it's not his finest hour as a drummer with a muted performance, outside of the title track.

That song was the big hit which propelled the album to commercial success (it's still a song that turns up on classic rock playlists in 2026). Overall, the extensive use of synths make it an album I struggle with - hence the 2 stars.

Face Dances was the first album after Moon, with former Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones filling the vacant drum stool having been awarded the poisoned chalice- how can you ever replace Moon?

The songs and instrumentation were much better than the Who Are You album and they sound like they mean it again.

I skipped their last album with The Ox and Jones (It's Hard from 1982) as it got poor reviews and I'm not a completist for the band. I also didn't grab a copy of Pete and Roger's Endless Wire from 2006 or Who (2019).

The final studio effort on my list is Wire & Glass - a six song EP released from Endless Wire. It's okay, but it didn't prompt me to shell out for the album.

Where do they all belong? It's a curious body of work - some outstanding albums along the way but also some albums that are tough to listen to in 2026. I have Pete and Roger's autobiographies and a few live DVDs, but I have no plans to add to my vinyl/CD collection at this point.

Next up: the live albums.

You wear it well (Rod Stewart) (LP 3987 - 3995)

Rod Stewart  An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down (a.k.a. The Rod Stewart Album) (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1969) *** 

Rod Stewart  Gasoline Alley (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1970) ***** 

Rod Stewart  Every Picture Tells a Story (Vinyl and CD, Mercury Records, 1971) ***** 

Rod Stewart  Never a Dull Moment (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1972) ***** 

Rod Stewart  Atlantic Crossing (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1975) *** 

Rod Stewart  A Night on the Town (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1976) ***

Rod Stewart  Blondes Have More Fun (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1978) ****  

Rod Stewart  Absolutely Live (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1982) ***

Rod Stewart  Unplugged...and Seated (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1993) ***    

Genre: Pop, rock

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company, JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records, Blondes Have More Fun was a gift from Ness at Marbecks., Shona Walding collection.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Maggie May (Every Picture)

Gear costume: Mandolin Wind (Every Picture), Blondes Have More Fun 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Rockin' Rod has already appeared in my catalogue countdown via his links to the Faces albums. 

Right from the start, he has always maintained a solo career as well as appearing for Faces and in other contexts. Often the same musicians appear and the music is often very similar.

His first proper solo album was named The Rod Stewart Album in America and An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down in the UK. Just as Rod has moved between solo and Faces assignments, so has Ronnie Wood. He appears here as well as Ian McLagan. Keith Emerson and Micky Waller are also on it. 

Rod's singing successfully marries folk, blues and rock on this debut. He also emerges as a highly effective songwriter. He's a talented lad! Key songs are his version of Handbags and Gladrags, his own Cindy's Lament, and Man of Constant Sorrow.

Gasoline Alley started a run of albums that included all Faces members and a golden run of success in commercial and artistic terms. 

The title song by Rod and Ronnie sounds like an instant standard. The rest of the album contains a mixture of covers and some originals - also something that would become a hallmark of Rod Stewart albums to come. Rod can do it all!

The high water marks would be this album, Every Picture Tells a Story and Never a Dull Moment.

Every Picture Tells a Story was the first taste of Rod that many of us got via Maggie May's success. He's a lovable rogue and Every Picture is a lovable album. 

Here's why: it's folk rock innit; there's brilliant use of the mandolin (by Lindisfarne's Ray Jackson); the whole thing is fresh, immediate and suitably unpolished - almost sloppy (That's All Right); Rod's singing is at its peak - soulful on Seems Like A Long Time, raucous on the title track, introspective on Mandolin Wind, folky on his peerless version of Reason To Believe, eerily sensitive on Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Faces' style rock on (I Know) I'm Losing You; his writing definitely peaked - Mandolin Wind (his best ever song), and co-writes on Every Picture and Maggie May.

Ah, Maggie May.

That's the one that did it for me in 1971.

The single was huge obviously, for him and for us. At the time I wasn't aware of Steampacket, Jeff Beck or Faces (Small Faces yes, but I didn't realise the connection to Faces in 1971). Nor did I know he'd already had two solo albums released. 

Maggie May came out of nowhere!! And it hit with a wallop and a half. Debauchery! Randy scouse git fersure! Right there on our radios. Oooo er. My sympathies were with him from then on. 

Never a Dull Moment continued the momentum superbly. Turned out it was his last album to amalgamate the folk and rock strands - a great example is You Wear It Well. The covers are excellent again - Hendrix's Angel becomes Rod's own.

Atlantic Crossing is next (I haven't bothered with Smiler) and the change is obvious from the cover. The Britt Ekland era was upon him (1975 to 77) and the glammed up slick jet set Rod was on full display. The music is divided into a fast and a slow side (which doesn't really work for me) - that would persist for the next few albums. In this case the slow side is the better one, crowned by a sublime version of Sailing.

Gone were Faces members, replaced by American session musicians for the foreseeable future. I get that he couldn't keep doing the same old same old but he lost some feel along the way. 

A Night on the Town continued the mainstream success with The Killing of Georgie Parts 1 and 2 being a standout on the slow side. I lost track of him with Foot Loose and Fancy Free (too slick, too glib for my tastes - I prefer it when he means it).

Blondes Have More Fun was a gift from a co-worker at Marbecks and I loved it. It's fun to listen to still, even though he has a go at disco - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy is terrific. The looseness on tracks like Attractive Female Wanted and Ain't Love a Bitch is welcome, and the title track rocks like crazy!

That's it for studio albums. I stopped before the rot set in in the eighties. Live is where Rod can come fully alive. I have two live albums and they present different looks. Unfortunately, they don't really capture the brilliance of his live show like his work with Faces does.

Absolutely Live is first. It got a bad press at the time, but I like it - mainly because it reminds me of a time working at Marbecks and playing this in the shop. It's not brilliant but it has its moments.

Unplugged...and Seated was part of the MTV series where rockers returned to their back catalogue in a relaxed acoustic setting. Rod reunites with old mucker Ron Wood for his set. It's a pleasant journey with their easy rapport together part of the appeal. 

Where do they all belong? I'm fairly comfortable with my Rod Stewart albums. I do also have five or six compilations that have accumulated over the years.

Happiness Stan (Small Faces) (LP 3807 - 3808)

Small Faces  Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (CD, Castle Records, 1968) *****  

Small Faces  Ultimate Collection (2CD, Sanctuary Records, 2003) ***** 

Genre: Pop

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: After Glow

Gear costume: Lazy Sunday, What'cha Gonna Do About It? (Ultimate Collection)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I have mentioned their Autumn Stone album before in the blog, but not their celebrated album of 1968 - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Famous for the circular packaging, some classic Small Faces songs and Stanley Unwin's off this planet links between songs.

I think of Small Faces as mostly a singles band, with one exception - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Even this album is weird though, with a variety of styles plus the Happiness Stan story featuring Stanley Unwin.

Amongst all this psychedelic weirdness is some amazing, inspired music. As such, it became the band's crowning achievement.

Where do they all belong? A best of compilation like Ultimate Collection is the best place to start. It's a double CD split between Decca sessions and Intermediate sessions. So, you get stone cold classics all over the place.

Live life (Terry Reid) (LP 3626 - 3630)

Terry Reid Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1968) ***  

Terry Reid Terry Reid (CD, Epic Records, 1969) *** 

Terry Reid River (CD, Epic Records, 1973) **** 

Terry Reid Rogue Waves (CD, Epic Records, 1978) **** 

Terry Reid The Driver (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1991) *** 

Genre: Rock, Blues rock

Places I remember: Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Bang Bang (My baby shot me down) (Bang Bang You're Terry Reid)

Gear costume: Walk Away Renee (Rogue Waves); The Whole of the Moon (The Driver)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: A.k.a. Superlungs, Terry Reid was a blues belter who was* much admired by his peers and others.

His debut album is a fascinating mix of styles with Terry Reid immediately being the star vocalist. No wonder he was wanted by Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore for their bands. Wisely, Reid stuck to his own path. He moves between jazzy, R&B, and rock genres with ease. 

Second album - Terry Reid, is in a similar style to the debut. Given he hadn't yet turned twenty, these are remarkably confident efforts. His singing style is similar to The Small Faces' Steve Marriott and Aztec's Billy Thorpe on these albums - high praise indeed.

River is a change of approach into a funky, laid-back, rough and tumble blues-rock territory on side one. It's his best album of the three in many ways. The presence of David Lindley on guitars certainly helped! The acoustic second side songs kind of unbalance the record - maybe some better sequencing would have helped?

Rogue Waves came after 1976's Seed of Memory, which I don't have. 

Rogue Waves would be my favourite Terry Reid album. He sounds super on it as a vocalist and the sympathetic rock moves by his band are right on it. 

It was recorded at The Beach Boys' Brother studios in Santa Monica - the magic dust in the room helped create a beautiful sound. Another special feature of the album is the superb backing vocals by Denise Williams, Dyanne Chandler, and Maxine Willard. 

The final Terry Reid album in my collection is The Driver from 1991. Reid's albums always have great cover choices on them. For The Driver he covers The Waterboys and The Spencer Davis Group hits and as per usual - makes them his own in terms of his vocal delivery.

The only problem is the preponderance of synths and gated drum sounds, given it's the early nineties. Reid himself called the album 'unlistenable' but it's not that bad.

Where do they all belong? *Terry recently passed away in August 2025. aged only 75. He leaves a healthy legacy behind.

Go all the way (Raspberries) (LP 3604 - 3609)

Raspberries  Raspberries (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1972) ****  

Raspberries  Fresh Raspberries (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1972) *****  

Raspberries  Side 3 (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1973) *****  

Raspberries  Starting Over (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1974) ***  

Raspberries  Raspberries Live on Sunset Strip (CD/DVD, Ryko Records, 2007) ****

Raspberries  The Raspberries - Capitol Collector Series (CD, Capitol Records, 1991) *****   

Genre: Power pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Marbecks Records, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Go All The Way (Raspberries)

Gear costume: Ecstasy (Side 3), Drivin' Around (Fresh)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I love a wide range of power pop bands. These tend to be bands heavily influenced by The Beatles (songcraft), The Who (those power chords), The Small Faces, The Beach Boys (those harmonies) and The Hollies amongst others.

Two of the best power poppers were Badfinger and Raspberries. They have a few similarities in that they had a range of different writers and singers to carry the load and in Pete Ham and Eric Carmen they had two amazing talents - both great singers/ writers who, incidentally are both the rhythm guitarists who also play piano in their bands (like Lennon). 

Raspberries and Fresh Raspberries are both from 1972. Eric Carmen's Go All The Way is the first song on the debut and it's also one of their best. It does tend to dominate the album but the eight minute long closing number - I Can Remember is also a brilliant song.

Wally Bryson (lead guitar, vocals) and Dave Smalley are great foils for Carmen and they contribute some excellent songs to the band's catalogue. Combined with Jim Bonfanti on drums, they stop things getting overly sentimental (Eric's big problem post Raspberries).

Fresh Raspberries built on the debut and featured the hits Let's Pretend, Drivin' Around and I Wanna Be With You. The rest of the album contained songs that could also have been hit singles.  

Side 3 was a second five-star effort. The guitars are meaty and the songs varied because of the three distinctive writing styles. Everything about this album is great, including the cut-out cover in the shape of a bucket of raspberries. The big hits from Side 3 were Tonight, I'm a Rocker and Ecstasy.

 

The el cheapo cover to Starting Over says it all. Gone are Smalley and Bonfanti, replaced by a new bassist and drummer. The album does contain Overnight Sensation and Cruisin' Music but there are too many lacklustre songs. It would be their last album. The final track (Starting Over) is a neat bridge to Carmen's solo career.

That just leaves a couple of post career CDs in my collection. First is the three disc set of Raspberries Live on Sunset Strip. There is a bonus DVD with 5 songs being performed - coincidentally their 5 best songs: I Wanna Be With You, Tonight, Overnight Sensation, Ecstasy, Go All The Way.

The set was performed by the classic Raspberries band - Carmen, Bonfanti, Bryson, Smalley. It's really good - nice and meaty. Not exactly like the records, but with some grit and texture that is absolutely appropriate.

The Capitol Collector Series is a greatest hits compilation that is a really vital addition to my collection. It cherry picks all their greatest moments and is probably all a casual fan needs.

Where do they all belong? Eric Carmen's solo albums have their moments. I've already reviewed them here.