Albums You Love That Your Friends Never Even Heard Of

I'll admit it, my wife and I are not streaming peeps. We've got a bookcase full of CDs and vinyl and when we're runnin' errands on the weekend, we always grab a stack of discs for the car and off we go!

Most of the time, what we take are the ones that are near and dear to probably only us. These two records always do the trick; one is favored a little more by wifey, while the other one tends to get the max-volume-allowed-treatment from yours truly.

If you've never heard of "Rough Night In Jericho" by Dreams So Real or "Gallus" by Gun, you're in the majority, that's for sure. Still, you really need to do your-old-rock-self a favor and check these out.

Dreams So Real (her pick) were a trio from Athens, Georgia and their 1988 debut album "Rough Night..." was a superb under-the-radar gem, very much from the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers school of jangle (TP was from the South too, so that might account for, well, something). The 10 songs were written and sung by guitarist Barry Marler who, on the inside sleeve, is pictured wearing Ray-Bans and love beads. That pretty much tells you what you need to know.

Gun (my pick) is a five-piece outfit from Scotland(!), which certainly adds a layer of chic-mystery to what loosely might be called a Steppenwolf-meets-Extreme sound. "Gallus" was their second release and these guys (whoever they are) sound like old school stadium rockers: every track features killer riffs and a big, thumping fists-in-the-air singalong chorus.

Hard to believe both of these albums were stifferoo's. We don't care. We get to run errands again come Saturday...