Monday, February 09, 2009

Hey, who likes John Conlee? I sure do....

...at the Roadhouse, Sirius Ch. 62: "You say I quit my job and then I drank myself insane, you say that I ran down the highway screamin' out your name...well, that's not the sort of thing that I would do, no, I don't remember lovin' you..."
I'm sure when most folks think of John Conlee, they think of his signature hit "Rose-Colored Glasses," but he had so many other great songs through the late '70s and mid-to-late '80s. Written by the great Harlan Howard, "I Don't Remember Lovin' You" was a top-10 hit in 1982 and may be found on the album titled Busted, from the same year, along with myriad greatest-hits collections. The best of those GH collections is 1987's 20 Greatest Hits, with almost every one of Conlee's hits from 1978 to 1986; this one was out of print for a while, but I snagged a copy on eBay a few years ago. I say "for a while," because the cd was later reissued under a different title and with two additional songs. Apparently "Working Man" isn't on the 2003 reissue, which is a real shame because that's always been one of my favorite John Conlee songs, but it still looks to definitely be worth the money. I also like "Baby You're Something," which was not on the original issue of the cd. My favorite John Conlee song, No. 1, though, hands down has always been 1986's "Old School." That one song all by itself was worth what I paid for that out-of-print cd. All the rest were just gravy...well, not quite, you could say they were more steak, because they were just as good. ;-)