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Shortly after dinner Sunday night, I hopped i
nto the truck and drove the nearly 200 miles to the
Monarch ski area. Knowing the
snowcats rumble around the ski area all night, I opted to park in a dark location at a turn off atop Monarch Pass a mile up the road. Although I had gotten there relatively early, I was not interested in making this a late night. So rather than pick a 45+ minute Van H
alen concert, I went straight for the good stuff, their Van
Halen II studio album. Ah, the clarity of sound! It sounds like Eddie's right there on "Spanish Fly". In 31 munites it was over and I moved onto the main act.
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Van
Halen was followed by Echo & The
Bunnymen, their July 5, 1987 performance at the
Torhout Festival in Belgium. Their fifth studio album
Echo & The Bunnymen, was released the following day, on July 6
th. Similar to what
happened with Van
Halen, tensions arose in 1986 while they preparing this studio album. Recording was complicated by the star treatment received by
McCulloch. This, along with his heavy drinking, alienated him from the rest of the band. After this tour, in 1988, Ian
McCulloch left to pursue a solo career.
I love the sound and it sent into the "zone" this night atop a mountain pass, dancing in the snow beside the truck. Crawled into the back of the truck when it was all over, enjoying a restful sleep.
Skiing was a blast: decent snow, a comfortable/mild day and blue skies. Practiced the tele turns on the bump runs. What was amazing was that every time I went into the lodge for something (restroom, lunch, a coffee, etc), they played a Van Halen tune on the piped in sound system. The "classic rock" channel off of satellite radio. That made the day even better!
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Senses distorted
Reality so confused
Drawn to the music
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Time line is broken
Has no choice but to obey
Voices in his head
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Its all in his head
Psycho-sexual pleasure
Dracula's daughter
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Happened so long ago
A love never realized
Dreamed of black and white
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Download it here:
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