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| From | Not Lame <popmusic@notlame.com> |
| Subject | Reggie Knighton |
| Date | Fri, 12 Mar 2004 09:11:15 -0700 |
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> Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 15:04:56 -0800
> From: "David Bash" <bashpop@earthlink.net>
> To: "Audities" <audities@smoe.org>
> Subject: Re: Request for Rare Albums not on CD yet
> Message-ID: <01d101c407bd$458d0660$5116fea9@david>
>
> I was at a very cool local record store, Freakbeat Records, and found for 25
> cents a white label promo copy of the self-titled by Reggie Knighton. I
> don't know if anyone's offered that one as a candidate to be released on CD,
> but I would like to throw it into the ring. It was originally released in
> 1977 on Columbia Records. Excellent, clean power pop with glib lyrics that
> sound kind of adolescent to these old ears, but the music's still great!
>
> I guess you gotta love song titles like "VD Got To Idi", and "Girl From
> Pluto"...then again, maybe you don't gotta. :-)
>
> Knighton's second album came out the following year, and while it had a few
> stellar cuts like "Clone In Love", for the most part it was slicked up,
> harder edged, and not as catchy as the debut.
I LOVE half of Reggie Knighton's debut...where it's good, it's very, very
good to this day. Yup, that follow up stretches it......a few okay songs,
but nothing as memorable as best 4/5 songs on the debut.
I have to share this quick story revolving around this album........i picked
it up in sometime in the spring of 1977 along w/ older friend of mine. I
was in 8th grade, an aspiring stoner of sorts and already *only* about rock
'n roll and my friend was a senior in high school(what he was doing hanging
out w/ me, I still can't figure out other than I was the only person deep
into the throes already with punk rock and the CBGB's scene in suburban
Needham, MA!).
We skipped school and went into the Combat Zone in Boston(then, it was a
notoriously dangerous, seedy part of the downtown area---I was mugged there
a few months later) and walked into a adult book store. Not to look at
porn, but because my friend said he had been in there a few weeks back and
they had some cool albums for sale in there. Yup, as we walked in, there
were a bunch of boxes filled with records and a sign above them saying .49
cents each. We proceeded to ignore the porn without a thought(our
priorities very straight, evidently) and devour the boxes. Almost all of
them promos from record labels and, certainly, dumped by some label promo or
radio guys.
I found so many records there that day that established a template for
future musical tastes........i remember this day so clearly still. Reggie
Knighton was in there(same white label promo) along w/ Vance Or Towers(white
label promo, I'm still not convinced this ever came out formally as the very
few copies of this album I've seen since have only been promos), some cool
mid 70's, obscure heavy metal(Strider, Stray, Rockicks, Driver, Offenbach,
more) and another copy of debut of The Ramones - s/t, which I had already
scratched up beyond belief from constant playing and wanted another copy)
and Dwight Twilley "Sincerely".
I had heard "I'm On Fire" on the radio in the summer of 1976 traveling
across Iowa with my family and was stunned beyond belief...but the radio, of
course, never back announced so I did not know WHO did it. Had not heard it
in well over a year. Picked this up as I had read something in the new issue
of Bomp about him and there that song was.
It was some day upon return, blowing every cent in my pocket and having
barely enough to get home......
Oddly, we never went back to see if they got more(well, there were other
cool used record stores in Boston, notably, the transcendent experience that
was "Nuggets", a legendary store in Boston), probably because I was always
never into porn shops but it was a special rock 'n roll memory for me......
Peace,
Bruce
@ Not Lame
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