When Kyle Vincent released his eponymous album on Hollywood Records in 1997, it looked for all the world that, after spending over a decade on a quest to earn himself a Billboard Top 100 hit, he was about to bring a dream to fruition. Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, but he made enough of an impact with the album’s single, “Wake Me Up (When The World’s Worth Waking Up For),” to show up on the radar of quite a few pop fans…including me. (Like you didn’t see that revelation coming up Main Street.)

Although Vincent’s stint on Hollywood Records only lasted for that one record, he didn’t let any moss grow under his feet. Indeed, he’d returned to the studio even before Hollywood went through the corporate restructuring that would cost both he and virtually every other artist on the label their deals. In the end, he released the follow-up to Kyle Vincent on his own label, SongTree Records, but it featured just as much gloss and sparkle as anything released on the majors that year.

Sadly, the sound of Wow & Flutter was a far cry from what the cool kids of the world were listening to in 1999. Their mothers, however, would’ve loved it…if only they’d had ample opportunity to hear it.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often found myself listening to a song and thought, “My mom would like this,” and when I do so, I’m not thinking it in a sneering, disparaging way. On a Mother’s Day many moons ago, I made my mother a mix tape called A Little Bit of Mom Music, If You Please, and I filled it with songs by They Might Be Giants, The Beautiful South, the Cure, the Smiths, Captain Sensible, 10,000 Maniacs, the Blue Nile, and probably a dozen other artists…and she loved it. I think she played in the car until they finally upgraded from a cassette player to a CD player, in fact. Just because your parents might listen to music that you can’t readily defend in a court of cool - my mother’s love of Anne Murray is one which I’ve never personally been able to embrace - doesn’t mean that they can’t appreciate some of the tunes you’re grooving to, and Wow & Flutter is definitely a record that multiple generations can appreciate.

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So, we’re on the third post of this series, and I haven’t yet told you about my collection, and the reason I can actually do this type of thing. Last week I mentioned how my dad used to give me cash to get 45s back in the late ’80s, but that’s not really what got me started on my habit. It wasn’t until college that I really started collecting.

As a student at the College of New Jersey, I spent the majority of time at the campus radio station, WTSR. Back in ‘97 or ‘98 I picked up the coveted 9-midnight Monday night slot and started “Stuck in the ’80s,” but at that point, my collection didn’t include much other than the crap the studio had kept around for the last 15 years. At the time, my buddy James was doing a ’70s show and his goal was to own every song that hit the Top 40 within that decade. So, as any broke college student would do, I decided to embark on that same journey for my decade, albeit with much shittier music to find (or so James would tell me).

I started out getting greatest-hits packages to build up the tunes for the show, then someone would call and request a tune I didn’t have, so I’d run out and buy it so I had it for the next week. It worked like that for a few years, until I graduated in ‘99 and started making some real money. That’s when the obsession really began.

And … commercial. Just like every reality show in the world, I send it off to break just as it’s getting good. We’ll look more into my obsession in the next post. Heck, I mean, there are going to be hundreds of these, so I need to take it kind of slowly, or else by part 35, I’m going to have nothing left to talk about but my morning bowel movement. And I’m sure that’s not nearly as fascinating to you as it is to me. And if it is, there are groups to take care of that sort of thing. Maybe you should look into that.

Update: After it was mentioned in response to post #2, I actually went out and purchased the All Sports Band LP. Maybe it’s just me, but the damn thing ain’t half bad. I mean, “I’m Your Superman” still sucks total ass, but it’s a decent rockin’ album. Not anything great, but a little bit of Journey and a little bit of The Knack and you have this record. Much better than I could have ever anticipated.

Anyway, more A’s for you this week …

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