more purchases from amazon

Last week my wife asked about a couple books that she wanted to get from Amazon. And, of course, I couldn't resist adding a few CDs to the order. I stopped at four. They were (in the order that I received them -- and note that this is not intended to be read as reviews):

Graham Parker: Imaginary Television
This album has been on my radar and in my Amazon shopping cart for quite a while, but I kept not buying it. That's kind of symptomatic of my relationship with Graham Parker's music. I'd like to devote a post to that. No promises. But since I want to devote a whole posty to it, I won't get into it now. Anyway, I heard a track -- "It's My Party (But I Won't Cry) -- on Pandora, and liked it enough that I wanted to buy the album.The album itself has a peculiar conceit. Each song is the hypothetical theme for an imaginary TV show. And in the liner notes, in stead of lyrics, Parker includes descriptions of the show. It's kind of pretentious if you ask me, but the music's good. So I'll try to go easy on it.

Puffy AmiYumi: Spike
Puffy AmiYumi is a Japanese pop duo. They're kind of disposable, but the music is infectious and fun. I wanted to buy a different album -- Splurge -- on the strength of one track "Call Me What You Like (If You Like Rock and Roll)," which I'd heard on Pandora. Somehow, I had a hard time finding Splurge. I found this album for a low price (used), so added it to my cart. Of course, I found Splurge before I placed my order, so I bought that too.

John Otway: Under the Covers and Over the Top
I'm kind of an Otway fan. Not a huge fan. But kind of a fan. Years ago, I got his record, Deep Thought, on Stiff Records -- I was pretty much trying to buy anything on Stiff that I could find. I loved his cover o
f "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" on that album. And there were other great songs -- "Beware of the Flowers 'Cos I'm Sure They're Gonna Get You, Yeh" comes to mind. I loved Otway's loopy delivery. Anyway, I already have a two-disc compilation of his, and that's pretty much got what I need. But I saw this -- an album of covers. Since I'm a sucker for a well-done cover I couldn't resist. It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping for, but remember -- I say that having had very high hopes. My favorite track is "I Will Survive, which Otway turns in while imitating Bob Dylan.
 
Puffy AmiYumi: Splurge
This is the P AY album I wanted to get. Like Spike, it's part English and part Japanese. But it's pretty consistently fun.