D-Sides, Orphans, and Oddities
Episodes
Monday Apr 04, 2022
The Police, before they were The Police.
Monday Apr 04, 2022
Monday Apr 04, 2022
A Flock of Seagulls - Telecommunication (1981) EP Released before their debut album. Produced by Bill Nelson.
A Flock of Seagulls - It's Not Me Talking (1981)
Bill Nelson - Love Without Fears (1982)
Be Bop Deluxe - New Precision (1978) Be Bop Deluxe was like The Stranglers in a way. They rarely settled on one style. They started in a kind of glam/new wave hybrid aesthetic and moved to prog and the like. The difference was that Bill Nelson was an amazing guitarist, which (thankfully) distinguished them from the punk zeitgeist that was to soon dominate the UK charts. So they rarely made fools of themselves and stopped when their bass player's visa expired instead of trudging on and on. Always interesting, good lyrics, and overall horribly underrated. I hope you like my little sampling of their overlooked discography.
Be Bop Deluxe - Ships In The Night (1976)
Be Bop Deluxe - Jet Silver And The Dolls Of Venus (1974)
Strontium 90 - Electron Romance (1977)
Wikipedia:
Strontium 90 was the name of a short-lived 1977 British band with members Mike Howlett (lead bass, vocals), Sting (bass, vocals), Stewart Copeland (drums), and Andy Summers (guitar). The band is most notable for introducing Summers to Sting and Copeland, as this trio would go on to massive success as The Police.
The band was formed in mid-1977 by Howlett after he quit Gong and recruited Sting and Summers to participate in a new project. Chris Cutler was unavailable to play drums, so Sting brought along Copeland, with whom he had been playing in an early lineup of The Police.
I've played Gong on this show a few times. Gong was the band that briefly featured Bill Bruford (after Yes and King Crimson)and Dave Stewart who went on to form Bruford with Alan Holdsworth and Jeff Berlin. One of the finest prog ensembles ever. If you like quirky, other-worldly prog, don't find Can funny and wish Incredible String Band had a better line-up, go listen to Gong. Mike Howlett was a fine bassist but wasn't integral to Gong's original sound.
Strontium 90 - New World Blues (1977)
Strontium 90 - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (1977)
Public Zone - Naive (1977) Peter Godwin, Duncan Brown, and Sean Lyons were members of Metro. The band briefly changed their name to Public Zone and released this single with Stewart Copeland who played drums on both tracks
Curved Air - Desiree (1976) Stuart Copeland on drums. Copeland was romantically involved with Curved Air vocalist Sonja Kristina beginning in 1974, and they were married from 1982 to 1991. Copeland adopted Kristina's son Sven from a prior relationship, and they had two more sons together, Jordan and Scott. I came THIS close to interviewing Stuart Copeland when he was in town last time. I would have asked him about Sonja, Klark Kent, and not much more.
Curved Air - Juno (1976)
Last Exit - Savage Beast (1975) Sting on vocals.
Last Exit - Fool In Love (1975)
Last Exit - Carrion Prince (1975)
Tim Rose - Second Avenue (1975) What a nice song. Andy Summers plays guitar. I played this over and over when I found it.
Kevin Lamb - Last Farewell (1973) Andy Summers on guitar.
Joan Armatrading - Stepping Out (1975) Andy Summers on guitar.
Eric Burdon and the Animals - Colored Rain (1968) Andy Summers on guitar.
Dantalian's Chariot - Soma (Parts 1 & 2) (1967) Andy Summers on guitar.
Dantalian's Chariot - World War Three (1967)
Dantalian's Chariot - Madman Running Through The Fields (1967)
Thursday Jun 04, 2020
You Really Got Me
Thursday Jun 04, 2020
Thursday Jun 04, 2020
"You Really Got Me" was written by Ray Davies, the Kinks' vocalist and main songwriter, sometime between 9 and 12 March 1964. Created on the piano in the front room of the Davies' home, the song was stylistically very different from the finished product, being much lighter and somewhat jazz-oriented. Ray said of the song's writing, "When I came up with ['You Really Got Me'] I hadn't been writing songs very long at all. It was one of the first five I ever came up with."
In his 1998 autobiographical release The Storyteller, Ray Davies discusses the guitar solo. He confirms that his brother Dave played the solo and it was preceded by some bantering between the two:
Halfway through the song it was time for Dave's guitar solo. This moment had to be right. So I shouted across the studio to Dave, give him encouragement. But I seemed to spoil his concentration. He looked at me with a dazed expression. 'Fuck off.' If you doubt me, if you doubt what I'm saying, I challenge you to listen to the original Kinks recording of 'You Really Got Me'. Halfway through the song, after the second chorus, before the guitar solo, there's a drum break. Boo ka, boo boo ka, boo ka, boo boo. And in the background you can hear 'fuck off'. You can, you can. When I did the vocal I tried to cover it up by going 'Oh no', but in the background you still hear it 'fuck off'. And it's even clearer on CD, it's really embarrassing.
801 (1976)
Anki (Paha Tyttö) (1964)
Buddy Miles Express (1973) Awesome.
Dick Rivers (La Seule Qui Me Tient) (1965) Hervé Forneri (24 April 1945 – 24 April 2019), known professionally as Dick Rivers, was a French singer and actor who began performing in the early 1960s. He was an important figure in introducing rock and roll music in France. He was an admirer of Elvis Presley, who influenced both his singing and looks. His stage name came from the character, Deke Rivers, that Presley played in his second film, Loving You (1957).
Disco Rock Machine (1978) South African Disco outfit that included......wait for it......Trevor Rabin. Who would later craft Yes into his own image. Disco Rock Machine Disco Rock Machine featured René Veldsman on vocals. Listen for the interpolation of "All Day and All of the Night" in the choruses. If you can. Jeesh.
Los Apson (Estoy Clavado) (1965)
Heavy Cruiser (1973) One of the members of this 2 album group was James Newton Howard. Composer, conductor, arranger and music producer. Dedicated mostly to film/TV scoring (The Prince of Tides, Wyatt Earp, ER, The Sixth Sense, Dinosaur, The Village, The Dark Knight...), job where he has recurrently collaborated with writers/directors Lawrence Kasdan and M. Night Shyamalan. He has worked also with pop/rock artists at the early years of his career (notably with Elton John, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Toto).He's been nominated to 8 Academy Awards, having won an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award (with a total of 41 wins and 27 nominations to different awards).
I 4 Califfi (Ti Giuro è Così) (1965)
Los Top Son - Me Has Cazado (1965)
Mott The Hoople (1969)
Oingo Boingo (1981) The singer/majordomo wrote the main theme for The Simpsons.
Stack Waddy (1972)
The Hammersmith Gorillas (1974)
Steve Marriott and the Moments (1964) Possibly the worst version.
Thundermug (1972) From London, Ontario.
The Larry Page Orchestra (1965)
Robert Palmer (1978)
Typhoons (1964) This is the first cover version.
Apologies to both of you.
Vince Vance & The Valiants - Bomb Iran (1980)
Gong - Flying Teapot (1973)
Steve Dahl & Teenage Radiation - Ayatollah (1979)
From Wikipedia:
In response to Dahl's firing from WDAI, Dahl and Meier mocked and heaped scorn on disco records and WDAI (calling it "Disco-D.I.E." mocking the station's slogan, "Disco-D.A.I.") on the air. Dahl even recorded and started playing a parody of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", which he called "Do You Think I'm Disco?". The song managed to crack the national charts to peak at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received airplay across the country.
During this same time period, Dahl and Meier, along with Mike Veeck (son of then Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck), Jeff Schwartz of WLUP Sales and Dave Logan, the WLUP Promotions Director, came up with a radio promotion and tie-in to the White Sox called Disco Demolition Night which took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979. The concept was to create an event to "end disco once and for all" in the center field of Comiskey Park that night by allowing people to get tickets at the box office if they brought $0.98 (for WLUP's frequency) and at least one disco record. More than 50,000 fans showed up, the records were collected, piled up on the field and blown up. As the second game of the doubleheader was about to begin, the raucous crowd stormed onto the field, refused to leave, and proceeded by setting fires, tearing out seats and pieces of turf, and other damage. American League President Lee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visiting Detroit Tigers. Six people reported minor injuries, and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct.
Gong - Radio Gnome Invisible (1973)
Kurtis Blow - Takin' Care of Business (1980)
Gong - The Isle Of Everywhere (1974)
Steve Dahl & Teenage Radiation - Skylab (1979)
Gong - I Never Glid Before (1973)
Uriah Heep - Sympathy (1977)
Orange Colored Sky - Mr. Peacock (1969)
Bunny Brunel - You (1979)