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March Record a Day (Second Week)

March 9th: An Album on Classic Black Vinyl
Laura Nyro and LaBelle, Gonna Take a Miracle (pic)
An album of R&B and soul covers, but delivered in such an incredible way. I found this for a few dollars at Half Price Books. I finally got to hear more of the album (I had only heard the title track, which is worth the price of the record on its own) and am continued to be amazed by it. "Jimmy Mack" is especially great.

March 10th: A 10-inch
Environmental Youth Crunch/Pink Razors split (pic) 
A record I barely remember listening to from my days as a reviewer for Punk Planet. Every month I'd get a stack of records to review for each issue. Some records were memorable, but so many were not. If I recall correctly, this is trashy pop-punk. 

March 11th: Any Record
John Barry, Great Movie Sounds of . . . (pic)
John Barry's music really grabbed me when I heard the main theme from Midnight Cowboy on a radio station I did traffic for. After I watched Walkabout, I decided to find as much of his music as possible. Often his music was melancholic, but with such beauty as well. He might be best-known for the James Bond themes, but I'll take the other stuff any time. 

March 12th: Album With a Female on the Cover
Bette Midler, The Divine Miss M (pic)
Back when I watched every Behind the Music, I remembered vintage footage of Bette Midler singing tunes in bathhouses. Backed by Barry Manilow on piano, I was struck by how boisterous and vivacious these songs were. I spent months looking for this, but I eventually found it at, you guessed it, Half Price Books. 

March 13th: Album from High School
Automatic 7, "Syringe"/"Broken Record" 7-inch (pic)
Another stretching of the rule, as I got this in my freshman year of college. Automatic 7 might be easily dismissed as a Social Distortion knock-off, but, my my, were tunes like these great. 

March 14th: Favorite Album Cover
Texas is the Reason, Do You Know Who You Are? (pic)
One of my favorite album covers, without question. It's mostly white with a vibrant-colored image wrapped around the spine. The songs on the album are as memorable as the cover.

March 15th: An Acoustic Album
John Denver, Back Home Again (pic)
Though this has the one John Denver song I strongly dislike ("Thank God I'm a Country Boy") but it features some of my favorites, including the title track and "Annie's Song."

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