Encore

Yesterday, I completed the 1991 Pro Set MusiCards set with the arrival of two final cards.

Those two cards came from the harder-to-find Series 2 of the U.S. set. But now that I have cards No. 289 and 309, the U.S. set -- Series 1 and 2 -- and the U.K. set are all complete.

I mistakenly announced on Twitter that I had finished all the variations, too. Turns out, I still have a few to find. But I'm not concerned. The variations merely involve moving the Pro Set logo from one corner to the other and that's not all that exciting. I can block that out easily.

This is the other card I needed to finish the set.

I had no idea who "Vinx" was the whole time I knew I needed this card. I didn't know what would show up on Vinx's card when it arrived. An all-female hair metal band? Four soul crooners with mullets? Not a clue.

I found out from the card back that Vinx played for the Police and Sting as a bass player and percussionist. "Vinx" is short for Vinx De'Jon Parrette, who has played for everybody and anybody.

See? You find out stuff from non-sports cards, too.

I know we're in our second month without baseball and people are starved for it, but this is going to be an all-music post. That's the way my blog works. I post about whatever is interesting to me now. This happens to be that. I'll get to baseball in the next post, and the post after that.

What I wanted to do here to celebrate completing this massive set creature is to pull 10 cards from the set that show a singer or a band who has created one of my favorite songs. This is quite the task because I have a lot of favorite songs, and there is everyone from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen to David Bowie to U2 in this set.

So I decided to ignore those four. How could I pull a favorite from those guys, there are too many! I ignored The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Tom Petty and the Police, too. Instead, I went with slightly lesser-known songs that have been appealing to my ear in the last six months to a year. Maybe there will be something new here that will appeal to you.

Here we go:

Card No. 24
Band: Led Zeppelin
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Kashmir
Song I'm citing: Trampled Under Foot

I've never been that much of a Led Zeppelin fan. A sentence like that would almost get me beat up in 1980, but I like what I like, and I know I like stompers. Trampled Under Foot is a stomper.

Card No. 33
Singer: Basia
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: Time and Tide
Song I'm citing: New Day for You

The Polish queen of Latin freestyle jazz pop, Basia could have only made the charts in the late '80s and early '90s. I've always loved her voice, particularly on New Day for You. (Yeah, I know, weird video).

Card No. 50
Band: Hoodoo Gurus
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: What's My Scene, I Want You Back
Song I'm citing: Bittersweet

The Australian rock group became popular on the college circuit during the mid-to-late 1980s, which is when I was a college student. I always thought Bittersweet was far and away their best song. It's still in my regular rotation.

Card No. 95
Singer: Sting
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
Song I'm citing: I Hung My Head

I Hung My Head was covered to great success by the great Johnny Cash. That caused a bunch of people to think Johnny Cash created the song. And now there are people online who say that Sting's version is "too happy" for the subject matter. Yeah, brilliant youtube commenter, there are literally thousands upon thousands of happy-sounding pop songs with super sad lyrics. That's what popular music IS.

 
Card No. 128
Band: Simple Minds
Set: U.K.
Song(s) most cited: Don't You (Forget About Me), Alive and Kicking
Song I'm citing: Waterfront

I wore out "Once Upon a Time" when that album was released in 1985. It was one of the last record albums I bought (before record albums became cool again). The song I would definitely cite in 1985 would be Alive and Kicking or Sanctify Yourself. But I heard Waterfront, an earlier Simple Minds song, a few weeks ago for the first time in ages. It instantly felt like home. And now it's like my favorite song ever.

Card No. 154
Band: Cheap Trick
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: I Want You To Want Me, The Flame, Dream Police
Song I'm citing: Big Eyes

So many great ones I could put here, Cheap Trick is severely underrated, but Big Eyes both stomps and rocks and there's that cool thing where a guitar sounds like a motorcycle.

Card No. 191
Singer: Colin James
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited:  Just Came Back, Five Long Years
Song I'm citing: Just Came Back

OK, Canadian fans, you'll know right away that I'm citing one of Colin James' most popular songs, if not his most popular. But anybody else probably doesn't know what I'm talking about. James was everywhere on Canadian radio in the late '80s/early '90s and so was Just Came Back (to say goodbye). It's great. And the video is dated ... and still great.

Card No. 220
Band: The Pretenders
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: Brass In Pocket, Don't Get Me Wrong, I'll Stand By You
Song I'm citing: Message of Love

For me, the Great Trifecta of Pretenders songs is Precious-Mystery Achievement-Message of Love. But Message of Love  probably suits me best. That riff, that chorus. One of those wall of sound songs.

Card No. 230
Singer/Band: Santana
Set: U.S., series 1
Song(s) most cited: Smooth, Oye Como Va, Black Magic Woman
Song I'm citing: Samba Pa Ti

Samba Pa Ti is considered by more than a few as the greatest guitar song of all-time. Totally not going to argue.

Card No. 274
Singer: Linda Ronstadt
Set: U.S., series 2
Song(s) most cited: You're No Good, Blue Bayou, Somewhere Out There
Song I'm citing: Long Long Time

The picture for the card was taken off the cover of Ronstadt's 1989 "Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like a Wind" album, which I had in CD form back at that time. But I have been a Ronstadt fan since I could first listen to the radio. Ronstadt looked like the photo on her card back ...

... when Long Long Time was on the charts. I dare any man to say, while watching her sing that aching song, that it didn't touch their heart.


So that's 10 for ya. No, they're not necessarily deep cuts, but I'm not that person who goes super-obscure. There are plenty of cards in the set for the I'm Cooler Than You crowd. And there are plenty of cards in the set for fans of bands who aren't cool at all (I think there's a string of like seven New Kids On The Block cards in the U.K. set).

But I'm done with this set and this is my encore, my last post on the 1991 Pro Set MusiCards set. It's been about as much fun to complete (and to post) as any set I've ever finished.

But if you want more, you're going to have to follow this blog.