...and a third

No, the title doesn't refer to number of children -- right now, we have our hands full with the one, thank you very much. In fact, this particular idea would be more appropriate for August. Given that the new semester will be beginning around then, however, I'm likely to forget about it. And it's very random anyway, so what the hey, I'll do it now.

So I turn 33 today, the 25th. (Yay, me!) And 33 isn't really that spectacular or significant a number. In fact, the only thing I really associate with the number is that it's the number of rpms on the vinyl LP records that most of us who are not DJs stopped using so long ago. I, in fact, remember that we took our record player with us to Peru when we moved in 1986 -- but in fact, I don't remember if we took any records with us. Odd.

Anyway, I thought it might be amusing to post the LPs I do remember we had in the house when I was growing up. In no particular order:

• Sergio Mendes and the New Brazil '77 -- I don't remember much about the music on this album, but I remember the cover album features the band on the cover dressed in the Brazilian soccer team's uniform... and on the back cover they're covered in mud with some bandages, I think.
• Christmas Jollies, The Salsoul Orchestra -- You know that I grew up in the disco era if you heard this music, which is painfully happy. I loved this album when I was a kid, which is funny given that I would become addicted to Depeche Mode as a teenager. There is a medley of Christmas tunes on side A that I still sometimes hum a bit of when Christmas rolls around.
• The Carpenters -- I've recently gotten back into the Carpenters, thanks to a large part to Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar" on the tribute album If I Were a Carpenter. The old tunes turn out to be surprisingly wistful, even though they seem very upbeat. I've found that most of the songs work well as lullabies as well.
• Grease -- Didn't everyone have this? A double album, and at the time I remember wondering why anyone would listen to the second album, which were all the 50s tunes heard in the background in the film. Isn't Olivia enough??!!
• Off the Wall, Michael Jackson -- Nicole Nelson and I bonded at Dartmouth when we both confessed that this was the first album we purchased with our own allowance money. Poor Michael -- if only he hadn;t turned so creepy...
• Live and More and On the Radio, Donna Summer -- I was a huge Donna Summer fan as a kid, learning all the lyrics and either lip-syncing or singing along with them. How I didn't become a drag queen is beyond me.
• Dialogando, Chabuca Granda -- This amazing singer of Peruvian folk-inspired tunes is the only thing I have replaced on CD. I don't remember listening to this as a kid, but when I rediscovered her in grad school, I remembered this album cover when I went to the music store in Lima. Turns out to be an incredible album, just her and a guitar.