The young man at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car desk did his job well last week, and sold me on an upgrade. He dangled satellite radio in front of my nose, and I bit. Was it worth it? Some thoughts:
- Brewer and Shipley? Never thought I'd hear them again.
- There's a reason some of those "Deep Tracks" are forgotten. Yeah, there's the initial rush of excitement when "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" comes on, and you say to yourself, "wow, they're playing that?!" Alas, it's fleeting. Turns out, maybe they don't play it often because it's so goddamn boring.
- Poco? Wow, never thought I'd hear them again.
- I really dislike The Doors. Jim Morrison was insufferable. You want to hear "the scream of the butterfly," pal? I'll make it easy for you.
- Oddly, Robin Trower lives on Sirius XM. There's no reason I, who loved English prog-rock in the 70s, wasn't a Robin Trower fan. He has pretty much everything I wanted. And the guitar sound on a lot of the songs is pretty badass. But it just didn't happen.
- There was at least one good song on that West, Bruce, and Laing LP I bought as a cutout at Woolworth's in the 70's. I just didn't hear it, or didn't pay attention to it, until a few days ago.
- Hearing Family's "It's Only A Movie" while driving through central Illinois is definitely novel, but not much more than that.
- When "Whipping Post" comes on, you turn up the radio, despite the protests from the kids in the back seat. It's like you can't help it.
On balance, it was a worthwhile experiment. But, next time, I'll save my money.
