D-Sides, Orphans, and Oddities
Episodes
Saturday Nov 13, 2021
Some Great Songs From Past D-Sides Episodes!
Saturday Nov 13, 2021
Saturday Nov 13, 2021
Stevie Wonder - Light My Fire (1970) Listen to that bass player.
Syreeta Wright - Spinnin' and Spinnin' (1974) No one was EVER as hot as Stevie in the '70s, and the album this came from proves that even occupied with his own music, he can lovingly produce one of the best female-sung records of the '70s. I love this factoid from Wikipedia:
Three artists who performed on this album (Stevie Wonder, Deniece Williams, Michael Sembello) would all have Billboard number one songs ("I Just Called to Say I Love You", "Let's Hear It for the Boy", and "Maniac", respectively) within a year of each other, a decade after this album's release. Another artist on this album, Ollie Brown of Ollie & Jerry, would have a Billboard top ten single, "Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us", in the same one-year period.
The song "Come And Get This Stuff" was originally intended for Rufus, but lead singer Chaka Khan refused to do the song. Instead, Stevie wrote "Tell Me Something Good" for them which appeared on their album Rags to Rufus.
There's no word to describe how good he was in this five-year period.
This song made it to #49 in the UK, and never a peep in the US, which is a shame.
Gentle Giant - Weekend Cowboy (1970) I love their sound on these early demos. Less prog than they would become, a sort of The Band meets Harry Chapin. Through the filter of England, of course.
Godley and Creme - Random Brainwaves/I Pity Inanimate Objects (1979) When Gary Storm played this on Buffalo's WIZR 107.7, I had never heard anything like it. I still love what they did with the backing vocals.
Jimmy "Bo" Horne - Dance Across The Floor (1978)
Lawrence Hilton Jacobs - Larry's Theme (1978) He was Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington on Welcome Back, Kotter and Michael Jackson's father Joe on The Jacksons: An American Dream ("Get the switch!") but I actually find his albums in the late '70s very listenable, especially this. So much shit came out from TV stars around that era. Scott Baio was the worst.
Les Humphries Singers - Mexico (1972) Included here because doing this show helped me discover them. My one-man raison d'être is to make you a believer! It's not that good. Just a strange pre-sampling curio.
Nino Tempo and April Stevens - Love Story (1972) From Buffalo, NY! Their biggest hit was "Deep Purple" from 1963. They were siblings. God, she was beautiful. Her first record came out in 1950 (!) but her biggest solo hit was "Teach Me, Tiger" from 1960. She reprised this in 1965, but this was virtually the same recording, with dialog implying that she had kidnapped one of The Beatles in order to seduce him. Just wow. I love it.
Men At Work - Down Under (original, non-hit version) (1980)
A brief retelling of The Greg Ham Story. Don't Do Drugs.
Mudcrutch - Don't Do Me Like That (original, non-hit version) (1974) The almost note-for-note prototype for the Tom Petty hit a few years later.
The Osmonds - War in Heaven (1973)
Sammy Davis Jr. - John Shaft (1972) Ok, ok. Shaft. Ok! Shut up and let me finish my dinner.
Sha Na Na PSA (1972)
Pink Floyd - Scream Thy Last Scream (1967) I was surprised to learn that Nick Mason sang this.
Bee Gees - Lovers (1976) This is a very strange and wonderful album track from a band on its....third ascension?
Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Dolphins (1979) I love this song as much as any I have ever played on D-Sides. I never would have heard it if not for this show.
The Langley Schools Music Project - The Long and Winding Road (1977) You should read about this. I think I read about this in RE/Search magazine.
The Residents - Give it To Someone Else (1980) Every song on The Commercial Album is about 60 seconds long. There are 20 per side.
Wild Cherry - Baby Don't You Know (1977) A wonderful, horrible attempt to recapture the lightning of the last single, "Play That Funky Music". THIS is how you follow up a fluke hit:
One more timeWell we play that funky musicAnd we were looking so good yeahElectrified funky feelingWas coming down like I thought it wouldSo we went out on the road yeahTry to get ourselves aheadAnd on the way I was surprised to discoverThat all those funky peopleHad been misled, they were shouting outBlack? NO! White? Right!, Oh what a sight!I really didn't know the suckers was whiteBaby don't you know, Baby don't you knowBaby don't you know, Baby don't you knowThat the honkey's got soulBaby don't you know, Baby don't you knowBaby don't you know, Baby don't you knowThat the honkey's got soul
Roger Nichols and Small Circle of Friends - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1968) So beautiful, especially the "Middle 8". Just amazing harmonies.
The Free Design - Day Breaks (2001) This will be my funeral song. I don't WANT a funeral. Just a little party for people to remember funny stories about me. In life, very few people are still in touch with me in an earnest sense. People have come and gone and sometimes I look around and wonder if someone should have bought me a ball gag long ago. Still, even after all the mistakes I have made in my life and my dealings with people I have lost, I know deep down that some people will be genuinely touched by the fact that we met and decided to be in each other's lives for as long as we had. If you listen to this song and put yourself in that place, celebrate the people who DID choose to be with you, no matter WHAT you said. Everyone is broken. Everyone. You're not alone.
Co-written by my friend Bruce Dedrick.
The Free Design - Friendly Man (1971)
Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol (1972) This song is being used for a commercial in the US. I like to think it's because of me.
The Beatles - Revolution (Take...Your Knickers Off!) (1968)
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Sunflower Radio Promo (1970)
The Beach Boys - Slip On Thru (Instrumental backing and backing vocals ) (1970)
The Beach Boys - Forever (1970)
The Beach Boys - Til I Die (vocals only) (1971)
The Beach Boys - Add Some Music To Your Day (1970)
The Beach Boys - Seasons In The Sun (1971) Originally titled "Le Moribund" ("The Dying Person"), it was a huge hit for Terry Jacks in 1973, who had previously been part of a husband-wife band called The Poppy Family. The Poppy Family had a sitar player in the band. Four people. One was a sitar player. ANYHOO, Jacks tried repeating his luck by recording another Brel song, "Ne Me Quitte Pas", as "If You Go Away", but as the French say, "La foudre ne frappe jamais deux fois."
Wikipedia: The first version of the song was recorded by Jacques Brel, who also wrote it in a brothel in Tangiers. Sung in a marching tempo, it tells of a man dying of a broken heart and shows him saying his last farewells to his close friend Emile, a priest friend, an acquaintance named Antoine, and his wife who has cheated on him numerous times with Antoine. Despite knowing of Antoine being his wife's lover, he wishes no ill upon him but tells him to take care of his wife. The American poet Rod McKuen translated the lyrics to English. In 1964, the Kingston Trio first recorded an English version of "Seasons in the Sun", which was later heard by Terry Jacks and became the basis for his rendition.
Jacks rewrote the lyrics, although he is uncredited for it. He justifies the rewriting by stating that he deemed the original version and its translations to be "too macabre". The inspiration for the rewritten lyrics was a close friend of his who was suffering from acute leukemia and died four months later. The Terry Jacks rendition, which was later dedicated to the friend, has the dying man giving his last words to his loved ones with whom he shared his life, much like the original. However, unlike the Jacques Brel version, the man does not die broken-hearted but instead, acknowledges the rights and wrongs of his actions in life as he passes away peacefully.
In the rewritten version, the man first addresses his close friend, whom he had known since childhood, and reminisces the happy times they had such as playing and studying together ("climbed hills and trees", "learned of love and ABC's"), and friendships with others ("skinned our hearts and skinned our knees"). He then addresses his father, who tried to give him a good upbringing and exert a positive influence on his undisciplined life ("I was the black sheep of the family", "You tried to teach me right from wrong", "wonder how I got along") which included overindulgence, vices, and revelry ("too much wine and too much song"). The man finally addresses "Michelle", possibly his daughter or niece, and stating how she lifted his spirit up in times of despair. Before he dies in peace, the man reminds all three that he will always be alive in their hearts and will be present in spirit when they see people or visit places; pretty girls (old and new friends) for the close friend, young children playing for the father, and flower fields for Michelle.
This version is actually produced for The Beach Boys BY Jacks. He produced this one song and they gave him the heave-ho. Maybe he said, "I'll produce, but there's this song I wrote called 'Put The Bone In' which you might like." The ticket back to Vancouver was on its way.
Allan Sherman - Pop Hates The Beatles (1964)
The Average Disco Band - Eleanor Rigby (1977) Coming soon, my Amherst Records show!
The Average Disco Band - Help (1977)
Avon "Elusive" Salesperson Ad (1969)
Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around The Clock (1974) Live from the Hammersmith Palais in London.
Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around The Clock (1979) Amsterdam, Netherlands. Notable as having Chico Ryan from Sha Na Na on rhythm guitar. To me, I guess.
Bill Haley - Rock Around The Clock (1968 vocals, accompaniment overdubbed horribly by a bunch of anonymous guys.)
Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around The Clock (1968) Philips Studio, Stockholm, Sweden, before an audience invited to a session by Sonnet Records.
Boiling Point - Let's Get Funktified (1978)
? - Dedicated To The ATA (197?) Off the album CB Truckin': 20 Gigantic Hits
Elton John - She Sold Me Magic (1970)
Erwin Bouterse and His Rhythm Cosmos - Disco Party (1979)
Freddy Cannon - Red Valley (1971) Featuring Wadsworth Mansion, which had a catchy as hell hit the previous year with "Sweet Mary". One album and zap.
Invader - Disco Soodara-bushi (1979)
Joe Thomas - Tongue Twisters (1983) Known as "The Ebony Godfather".
The Jules Blattner Group - 2001: A Soul Odyssey (1969) I played their song "Call Me Man".
Winterspring - No One (1970)
Bill and Lisa - Koobamanah (1973)
From the back cover: "Music today is so open to style and expression that we enjoy the challenge of always presenting a wide variety of songs to reach as many people as possible. They have been entertaining alternately between the Montauk Golf & Racquet Club and Gurney's Inn for the past three years. Off-season, Bill and Lisa perform on cruise ships, including trips to the South Pacific and the Orient."
Kool and the Gang - Raw Hamburger (1969) Formed by Robert "Kool" Bell, his brother Ronald Bell and a bunch of their New Jersey teenage friends in the mid-60s (then called the Jazziacs), Kool & the Gang played traditional jazz in regional venues for several years, slowly morphing their style to incorporate emerging funk sounds of Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown. They were signed by the De-Lite label in the early '70s and gathered a small but loyal national following (in particular for their 1971 release Live at the Sex Machine). The group's fortunes exploded in 1974 with Wild and Peaceful, an infectiously raw album that spawned three smash hits, "Funky Stuff," "Hollywood Swinging," and "Jungle Boogie," all featuring great instrumentation and lyrics virtually shouted by the group. However, as quickly as they rode to fame, Kool & the Gang faded, their rough sound appearing out of place against the slick, dance-oriented sounds that began to dominate popular radio in the late '70s. And then they broke up, never to be heard from again.
Kool and the Gang - Country Junkie (1972)
Looking Glass - Sweet Something (1973)
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
This setlist might be my best ever! Hollywood stars and groovy ads!
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
Sunday Aug 22, 2021
Brenda Lee - Takin’ What I Can Get (1976)
Carla Bley - Rawalpindi Blues (1971) From the great artist herself.
The first piece we wanted to record was RAWALPINDI BLUES, which featured Jack Bruce and trumpet player Don Cherry, but it seemed impossible to get them both in New York at the same time. By the time Jack could get away (he was working almost every night in London with Tony Williams’ band) Don had to leave for commitments in Europe. So we split the music into two parts and recorded Don’s parts first. This actually enhanced the piece since it was intended to be a dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures. The first session, featuring Don Cherry and the “eastern band”, took place on Nov. 30th, 1970...The band’s improvised sections were of the highest quality, rare and effortless. Don left the country the next day and on Dec. 7th Jack arrived and went right into the studio and recorded for 2 days and nights almost straight through. Luckily John McLaughlin was also in town so we were able to use him on electric guitar. With Jack on bass guitar, Paul Motian on drums and myself on organ, we had the “western band” Again, I was amazed at how great the playing was. We finished up RAWALPINDI BLUES and also recorded BUSINESSMEN, DETECTIVE WRITER DAUGHTER, parts of … AND IT’S AGAIN, and a few other bits and pieces. Jack and John went back to London and I settled down to putting RAWALPINDI BLUES together.After listening to the material we had so far I decided to bring in another singer to do parts of RAWALPINDI BLUES that hadn’t been suitable for Jack or Don. I needed someone who could slide his voice around. Steve Ferguson, formerly of NRBQ, was a country singer from Kentucky, but I heard a connection between the way Steve moved his voice and the way it’s done in Eastern music. He came in on Dec. 18th and it worked out well.
Using the best of the things we had so far, we put a tape together. RAWALPINDI BLUES was really difficult to mix. We had indiscriminately filled up all 16 tracks right at the beginning and then crammed in other elements wherever there was the slightest space. So when we finally got down to mixing it, it was all hands on the board and took two full days. One of the most un-nerving and time-consuming parts was a process I used a few times called cross-fading, which involved mixing two 16-track tapes down to a 2-track tape all at once. They used to flinch at RCA when we called in and told them how many machines we would need that day. From then on we tried to keep things simpler. We didn’t want Ray Hall to grow old before his time.
We ended up calling it (the album) a chronotransduction, which was a word coined by Sherry Speeth, a scientist friend of Paul’s (Paul Haines, the lyricist), although we still call it opera for short.
I find this whole album amazing, frustrating, thrilling, devastating. I LOVE Jack Bruce on this. Linda Ronstadt sings on this album as well. I highly recommend it. "Hotel Overture" might be the most amazing horn-playing (French horn player Bob Carlisle) I've heard on record.
Chuck Berry - Little Marie (1964) Sort a sequel to "Memphis". No, it's a sequel to "Memphis".
Dave Clark and Friends - I’m Sorry Baby (1972)
Davey Johnstone & China - One Way Ticket (1977) Ass-kicking music from Elton John's band. I love it. Released on his label.
Frank Sinatra - Everybody’s Twistin’ (1962)
Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner - Mendy Never Sleeps (1970) Even before my time, Dolly Parton was a young talent brought into the fold of Nashville society by Porter Wagoner, more or less, by starting out as a singer on his TV show. She was too talented, too gifted a songwriter and singer, too unconventionally beautiful, and too ambitious to stay there for long, even though she stayed two years past her initial agreement. Dutifully, she stayed longer than she should have, and in fact, the hit "I Will Always Love You" was written for him.
Petula Clark - L’Agent Secret (1969)
Bill Haley and the Comets - A Little Piece At A Time (1971)
Billy Thorpe - Drive My Car (1975) His next album would be his breakthrough and zenith in the US, "Children of the Sun".
Kevin Coughlin - I Gotta Be Me (1969)
Soupy Sales - Muck-Arty Park (1969) From the album, "A Bag of Soup". Soupy Sales was a television comedian whose antics delighted children and enraged adults. He flirted with mainstream success with comic pop songs on television and radio, but in the end remained a cult personality, albeit one who pushed the envelope of what was possible in TV comedy. He played a big role in the growth of "pie-in-the-face" comedy.
The Residents - Elvis and His Boss (1978)
Tom Jones - Never Had a Lady (1979)
Me singing over an instrumental song I programmed.
Noel Harrison - A Young Girl (1969)
Coca-Cola - Keep Things Jumping (?)
Burgess Meredith - The Capture (1966) Played The Penguin in the TV series with Adam West. There was a whole series of Batman records released to promote the 1966 TV series where they got the actors from the show to do these "in character" songs.
The Cowsills - The Milk Song (1969) This is the band that served as the prototype for The Partridge Family. But the mother was not seen as attractive enough. So Shirley Jones would have to be the one to sing "Whale Song" and make me feel funny. Down there. I didn't understand these feelings.
Datsun - All You Really Need (1972?)
The Dave Pell Singers - Oh, Calcutta (1972) Oh, Calcutta was an off-Broadway musical that got pretty bad reviews but thrived in the era of flower-power as a corporate weapon. Loosen up, brother!! Anyhow, it enjoyed a long run, eventually reaching Broadway, with revivals running for years and years. One skit's first draft was written by John Lennon of The Beatles.
Stereo Speaker Test (?)
Dick Clark - The Wasting of Wesley Joe Grimm (1969)
John & Ernest - Super Fly Meets Shaft (1973) Produced by Dickie Goodman, the then-king of the cut-in record.
The Garden Club - Little Girl Lost and Found (1967) One member was Tom Shipley, later of Brewer and Shipley, who had a Top 10 hit with "One Toke Over The Line". Which Lawrence Welk covered on his TV show.
The Gentle Touch - Among The First To Know (1967)
Hank Levine - Let Us Begin Beguine (1964)
George Burns - The Sun Shines On My Street (1969) ANOTHER take-off/tribute based on The Beatles' Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band cover. There were many. Who was George Burns?
POACA might recall that before television was the king of everything, radio was the thing. And no one was bigger in that medium than the plain-spoken, often exasperated but always kind and honest George Burns. He and his wife/comic foil Gracie Allen reigned supreme for decades. It would not be exaggerating to say that she was the most famous radio star for years. Gracie Allen ((in real life, an amazing intellectual who held her own on the very difficult quiz show "Information, Please" (which you should research but you will not because no one reads this)) had a singular ability to make audiences love her. From the '30s to the '50s, Burns and Allen were one of the most beloved shows in all of America. And George Burns won an Academy Award in 1974 for his appearance in The Sunshine Boys (when he replaced another giant of radio, Jack Benny, who died before the movie was made.) He also appeared in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with Peter Frampton. No one won an Oscar for that. He also reached the Top 20 in the country chart with "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again".
Jayne Mansfield - That Makes It (1966) Basically, The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" from a woman's point of view. Jayne Mansfield was an attractive, versatile Marilyn Monroe-esque It-Girl who gave birth to Mariska Hargitay of "Law and Order SVU".
Julie London - Marlboro Song (1963)
The Lettermen - Touch Me (1970)
Mike Curb and Bob Summers - Teenage Rebellion (1969)
Orson Welles - I Know What It Is To Be Young (But You Don't Know What It Is To Be Old) (1984) Ah, the French.
The Partridge Family - Summer Days (1971)
Friday May 29, 2020
Seven Bridges Road, Alan White, Carla Bley.
Friday May 29, 2020
Friday May 29, 2020
Steve Young - Seven Bridges Road (1969) The original, nothing like what it would would evolve into. it's too bad. This is a sensitive, plain ode to a lost love.
Ian Matthews - Seven Bridges Road (1973) This is the first chorale-type adornment of the verses, the one The Eagles would make famous. Jeeesh, Gentle Giant were doing four-part fugues in their sleep, and yet people lionize the Eagles for executing this simple thing.
The Gatlin Brothers - I've Done Enough Dyin' Today (1979) - Just an extraordinary vocal performance I wanted to share with you.
Ian Matthews - Shake It (1978) An example of Yacht Rock for you all.
Alan White - Oooh Baby (Goin' To Pieces) (1976) - HEY! Well, Yes gets back together after a year-long hiatus during which, as is rock tradition, all the members decided to... record solo albums. Steve Howe records "The Steve Howe Album", Chris Squier records the excellent, chunky "Fish Out of Water", Jon Anderson records the boring "Olias of Sunhillow", Patrick Moraz does "The Story of I", and wonders why Rick Wakeman keeps showing up at the studio. And I can only imagine what the other members of Yes thought when they heard THIS for the first time.
Alan White - Darkness (Part 1-3) (1976) - "Uh...good. Good work Alan!"
Alan White - Avakak (1976) Which is NOT to say this is bad music. It's fine. Just that when prog musicians get to 'spread their wings' they usually become more pretentious, not less. This is more like prog soul. And he only did the one solo album.
Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports - Do Ya? (1980) This particular episode predates my love affair with Carla Bley, who wrote this entire album. I like it. Robert Wyatt sings.
Centipede - Septober Energy (Side 2) (1971)
Carla Bley - Dining Alone (1977)
Phil Austin (Firesign Theater) - Square Dance (1974) Billed as "Red Greenbacks and the Blue Boys". I think? From the album Roller Maidens from Outer Space.
Climax - Rock and Roll Heaven (1972) The original version, recorded by the same group/brand/collection of session hacks and Sonny Geraci that brought you "Precious and Few".
Ron Dante/Dante's Inferno - Could It Be Magic (1979)
Don Imus - Country Jukebox (1974) His answer to Reunion's "Life Is A Jukebox". Joey Levine (the voice of Reunion) is listed as a producer!
Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well (Parts I and II) (1969)
Barry Manilow - Could It Be Magic (1973) This the original version on his debut album. I like the slower one, and I like the Donna Summer version the best. I wish a woman would sing that to me.
Hoyt Axton - My My My My Mitchell (1975)
Edgar Winter Group - Rock and Roll Hootchie-Koo (1973) The original version. Same singer and guitarist.
Mike Smith, the singer for the Dave Clark Five, did this demo reel for the Marlboro Disco Show. Whatever that is. Here they are, in all their strangeness. (1980?)
Poco - Dallas (1975) Becker and Fagan disowned this song but I like it.
Spider-man: Rock Reflections Of A Superhero - High Wire (1975) This is Crack The Sky! With some other Meatloaf-sounding guy singing, but this is Crack The Sky! A soundtrack made with Stan Lee's acquiescence.
Alan Freed speech followed by Sha Na Na singing Heartbreak Hotel (?)
T Rex - Mambo Sun (1971)
Anita Kerr Singers - All You Need is Love (1967)