(Originally written to Mr. Locorriere in 2008)
Growing up, the radio was always on...the turntable and the reels were always spinning and the 8-tracks were always "ca-chunking" between programs. Music was a part of my childhood as much as anything.
I can remember going to Woolco's in the '66 Mustang on Friday nights with the parents and getting my weekly 45 rpm such as Convoy, Philadelphia Freedom, Star Wars & Close Encounters Themes and Cruising With The Fonz.
But there's one album...LP...that holds the top memory evoking spot in my life.
When I hear the first melodic bendy steel guitar notes eminating from the first track on side one, I am completely transported to a wonderful long ago place and time. It was around 1976-1977, the group was Dr. Hook, the album was A Little Bit More, the first track was More Like The Movies and the lead singer, who had the most unique, distinctive voice, was Dennis Locorriere.
My aunt would pick me up from school, go back to her house where I would wait for Mom to take me home. During the wait, the record would play on a hi-fi that would repeat endlessly until manually stopped. It was ALWAYS playing. It never became monotonous and would become the soundtrack to my childhood.
Through the years, I always had a scratchy LP of A Little Bit More and for the longest time, searched for a tape...cassette or reel...to have a click and pop free copy. In 1991, while visiting family in Florida during a long weekend from college, I went to a large open aired swapmeet. Pouring over boxes of cassettes, I saw it...the holy grail of my Dr. Hook collection. The dusty case produced a yellowing faded cassette. I almost ripped my pocket trying to get the dollar out tomake it mine.
I got home and played it all the way through. I had never heard these songs without inherent vinyl noise before.
I promptly dubbed the tracks to another cassette and put the original away for safe keeping.
Playing the dub constantly, it eventually snapped so I fished out the original and proceeded to dub another...and it snapped! I was devastated.
I began looking for a cd of this great album. But search as I might, I discovered that this particular Dr. Hook album, for some unknown reason, had never been released on cd while other Hook albums before and after had been. Why would a record company do that to me?
I have since pieced together the tracks of this album from several compilations. After 30 plus years, this LP has never gotten old...nor will it.
(I do know now that A Little Bit More has been issued on disc as a two-fer paired with Bankrupt.)
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