Episodes
Friday Mar 18, 2022
One Bad Apple
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Friday Mar 18, 2022
John Paul Joans - Got To Get Together Now (1970)
John Davidge was a politically motivated and confrontational stand-up comedian In 1970, he made a record for the UK Christmas market. His manager arranged for Eric Stewart, Lol Creme, and Kevin Godley (later of 10CC) to write the song with him. It was "Man From Nazareth" with the flip side "Got To Get Together Now". Both were recorded at Strawberry Studios and released on Mickie Most’s RAK label.
The song was tipped as a 1970 Xmas #1 but lost its momentum because the other John Paul Jones objected, necessitating that all the records be recalled, destroyed, and reprinted! The song peaked at No. 25 in January 1971 after a belated post-Xmas Top of The Pops performance.
A selection from Andrea True's Europe-only third album War Machine (1980)
Open Up Baby/Hootchie Kootchie Floozies/War Machine
Babatunde Olatunji - Soul Makossa (1973) Originally recorded by Manu Dibango, and borrowed for Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
Earth and Fire - Memories (1972)
Earth and Fire - 21st Century Show (1970)
Earth and Fire - Circus (1975)
Serge Gainsbourg - Joanna (1965)
OST from the film "ComeTogether" - ComeTogether/Get Together (1971)
Something Weird: Come Together is one of those great, unique, hard-to-categorize European films that would best be described as a slice of life from the "free love" hippie generation.
TONY ANTHONY plays Tony, a free-wheeling American stuntman working in Italian films, who tries to pick up two swinging American tourists, Lisa (LUCIANA PALUZZI) and Ann (ROSEMARY DEXTER). His persistence pays off and he gives them a tour of Rome in his new sports car. As the trio develop a friendship, we find that Ann is still suffering stress from an abortion, and Lisa was recently involved in a messy affair with an older married man. Tony has his own mental baggage: he was the only survivor when his unit was massacred in Vietnam. All three are searching for an intimate relationship.
Tony is hired to play a Mexican bandit in a spaghetti western in Spain -- fans of the genre won’t want to miss these scenes -- and finds himself missing the two girls. When he returns, the three take a trip to Pompeii, get turned on by the ancient erotic paintings (not an easy thing to do) and plunge into a ménage à trois. However, Tony is pretty freaked out by this and drives off to sort things out. It doesn’t take him long to return and accept the relationship for what it is. It all comes to a head with a jaw-dropping out-of-left-field ending that would never fly with today’s test audiences...
Mr. Anthony, "best known" [quotes mine] for his spaghetti western Stranger character (Stranger in Town), is hilarious (sometimes unintentionally) and his ’60s voice-over philosophy is a hoot. He’s also a real fashion casualty of the times in his floppy hippie hat and Mickey Mouse denim jacket. A standout scene shows him as a gigolo in bed with a whacked-out client, lots of poodles, and a vibrator. Gorgeous Luciana Paluzzi is best known as James Bond’s love interest in Thunderball.
Hardcore Beatles fanatics should be alerted that the soundtrack for Come Together was released on Apple Records. Co-director SAUL SWIMMER was also involved with Let It Be, and Ringo Starr and Tony Anthony starred together in Blindman.
Justin Hayward and John Lodge - Blue Guitar (1975) With 10CC.
John Lodge - Street Cafe (1980)
Robert Lamm - Song for Richard and His Friends (2006?)
Robert Lamm - Temporary Jones (1974)
The Four Seasons - Silver Star (live) (1980)
Laura Brannigan - Deep In The Dark (1983)
Dave Clark 5 - Children (197?)
The Osmond Brothers - Flower Music (1967)
Firyuza - Native land (1979)
The Searchers - Love Potion #9 (1975) A pointless reinvention.
The Residents - Bach Is Dead (first version) (197?)
Robert Lamm - A Lifetime We (1974)
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Chicago and Some Extracurricular Activities
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
The Knack - Africa (1981) From their 3rd album, Round Trip.
Peter Cetera - Holy Moly (1981)
Gerard McMahon - Hello Operator (1976)
Robert Lamm - Crazy Way to Spend a Year (1974)
Angelo - It Don't Matter (1976) With the Chicago horns, as well as Danny Seraphine on drums, Laudir de Oliveira on percussion, and the ubiquitous Peter Cetera.
Odyssey - Home Of The Brave (1972) With Donnie "Hot Licks" Dacus.
Robert Lamm - Where You Think You're Goin? (1972)
Don Felder - Never Surrender (1983) Written with Kenny Loggins ("Footloose", "Danny's Song") and featuring Pankow and Loughnane.
Gene McDaniels - Feel Like Makin' Love (1975)
Joe Vitale - Sailor Man (1981)
Leon Russell - Let's Get Started (1978)
The Knack - Lil' Cals Big Mistake (1981)
Maynard Ferguson - Rocky II Disco (1979) Featuring the real Sylvester Stallone on grunting, and Danny Seraphine on drums.
Flo & Eddie - Hot (1975) Featuring D. H.L. Dacus on slide guitar.
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman signed with Columbia [Records] as Flo & Eddie. In his autobiography Shell Shocked, Kaylan revealed that upon receiving the cover art for their first album, they were appalled to learn that the printer had mistakenly printed the duo's stage names in the wrong order above their photograph. Volman was identified as Flo, which had been Kaylan's stage name in [Frank] Zappa's band, and Kaylan was identified as Eddie, Volman's stage name. The label refused to reprint the cover, saying that it would cost too much money. Thus, Kaylan and Volman decided to professionally swap stage names.
They sang backing vocals on so many famous songs and albums that you've likely heard them today. Among them:
"Bang a Gong" by T Rex.
Illegal Stills - Stephen Stills
From The Inside - Alice Cooper
"Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen
Blondie, Psychedelic Furs, Todd Rundgren (when you hear "Bang on the Drum All Day" at a sporting event, that's them singing,) Duran Duran, etc. Volman and Kaylan also sang on the first recording by Steely Dan, a demo of "Everyone's Gone To The Movies." I read an article where Kaylan says he was asked to be their lead singer, but he nixed the idea of singing without his partner.
James William Guercio - Tell Me (1973)
Peter Cetera - Livin' in the Limelight (1980)
Wikipedia: When Columbia Records dropped Chicago in 1981, Cetera was in the middle of recording his first solo album for the same label. He had to personally buy the rights to the album before it could be released. According to Cetera, Chicago's new record company, Warner Bros., released the Peter Cetera album while it was waiting for Chicago 16 to be released. Cetera has asserted that one reason for the album's poor commercial success, however, was lack of support from the record company: the record company didn't want it to be successful and didn't promote it for fear that he would leave the group. In his 2011 autobiography, former Chicago bandmate, Danny Seraphine, backs up Cetera on this point, writing, "... [the album] sank like a stone due to lack of record company support. Warner Brothers didn't want it to interfere with their plans for Chicago." A full-page advertisement announcing the album appeared on page 100 of the November 21, 1981 issue of Billboard magazine.
Marcos Valle - A Paraíba Não é Chicago (1981)
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
Carpenters. Again.
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
My last Carpenters show got wiped for some reason. Maybe the ghost of Karen?
A sound that no one will forget once they hear it. I am talking about those tight harmonies. Richard's scholarly, clever approach to harmonies often goes unnoticed, but he was quite the craftsman. What can you say about Karen? She wasn't meant to be the star. She was a black sheep. Not meant to shine. Meant to be grounded into fine dust like the Carpenter women before her.
Wikipedia: In early 1966, Karen tagged along at a late-night session in the garage studio of Los Angeles bassist Joe Osborn, and joined future Carpenters collaborator and lyricist John Bettis at a demo session where Richard was to accompany (Dan) Friberg (trumpet player and friend of Richard). Asked to sing, she performed for Osborn, who was immediately impressed with her vocal abilities. He signed Karen to his label, Magic Lamp Records, and Richard to his publishing arm, Lightup Music. The label put out a single featuring two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours". As well as Karen's vocals, the track was backed by the Richard Carpenter Trio. The single was not a commercial success due to a lack of promotion, and the label folded the next year.
Carpenters - Get Together (1969) Richard on vocals. You can sort of divine, even at this nascent stage, why Richard was not going to do many vocals from here on in.
Karen Carpenter - Jimmy Mack (1980) From the aborted solo album. Backed by Billy Joel's versatile group, these sessions were replete with fawners (of the good kind) like Joel, Paul Simon (who offered up his own "Still Crazy After All These Years"), and Peter Cetera of Chicago. One gets the feeling there was so much respect, almost a quiet but unmistakable hopefulness that she could get well, be free.
Carpenters - Crescent Noon (1970)
Carpenters - Get Together (1970) From a "Your Navy Presents" radio program.
Spectrum - Crescent Noon (1966)
Karen Carpenter - Midnight (1980)
Carpenters - Mr. Guder (1970)
Wikipedia: Richard and Bettis then were hired as musicians at a refreshment shop at Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. They were expected to play turn of the 20th century songs in keeping with the shop's theme. The shop's patrons had other ideas; many requested the musicians to play current popular music. When the pair tried pleasing their customers and honoring the requests, they were fired by a Disneyland supervisor, Victor Guder, for being "too radical". Bettis and Richard were unhappy about their dismissal and wrote the song "Mr. Guder" about their former superior.
Karen Carpenter - My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (1980)
Carpenters - Road Ode (1972)
Carpenters - B'wana She No Home (1977) I like their daring choice and also this version of the Michael Franks tune.
Karen Carpenter - Looking For Love (1966)
Carpenters - You'll Love Me (1967)
Carpenters - The Rainbow Connection (Recorded in 1980, released in 1999) Richard objected to the "syllabification", notably the first verse that Kermit the Frog sings in The Muppet Movie, for whom the song was written. That original was nominated for an Academy Award. So while they dutifully trudged on, Karen wasn't pleased with the outcome and the recording was not released in her lifetime.
Carpenters - One Fine Day (1973)
Carpenters - Piano Picker (1972)
Your Wonderful Parade (1969)
Carpenters - California Dreamin' (1967/1999)
Richard Carpenter via Obscure Media: From Joe's Studio, circa 1967. This is the one tape, 4-track or otherwise, that survives, as, for some reason, Joe gave it to me. Even though the most important ingredient on tape, the lead, is on its own track, the bass, piano, drums and string machine were all bounced to another track, leaving two open…for what, I can't remember.
As a result, in 1999, we transferred the 4-track to 48-track and re-did everything, including a reproduction of my original electric piano solo. I finally got around to putting real strings on the track instead of those on the Chamberlain Music Master that was on the demo. This is one of my favorite tracks on this collection. Karen, at 17, is a marvel. I especially like the way she jumps an octave, from chest voice, to head voice on the letter (and note) "A" in the opening and then seamlessly back to chest on "Dreamin'". There is some electronic noise on the lead track, we don't know why. And I realize now and I should have then, that we have an incorrect word in the second verse: "began to pray" should be "pretend to pray".
Karen Carpenter - I'll Be Yours (1966)
Carpenters - Morinaga Hi-Crown Chocolate Commercial (1975?) Morinaga was/is a Japanese candy company. Hi-Crown Chocolate was, as far as I can tell, a way to market sweet, sweet nicotine to kids:
From the Morinaga website:
CANDY FIT FOR AN EMPEROR
1964 - Hi‐Crown chocolate debuts, and becomes a major hit from one end of Japan to the other. This was the start of a long string of hit Morinaga candies -- including you-know-what. [ed: I don't.]
The Morinaga Group’s Corporate Philosophy
The Morinaga Group’s Corporate Philosophy is composed of Our Mission, Our Visions, and Our Commitments. Our Mission states how the Group will contribute to society, and Our Visions comprise the five visions that we will pursue toward the future.Our Commitments represent the values that we have developed during more than 100-year history since the founding of the Group and will continue to uphold as our firm belief for many more years to come. To describe the essence of our Corporate Philosophy in one word, it is “Delicious, Fun, and Healthy.”
Carpenters - Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again (1975/1994) It would have appeared on the Horizon album but Richard decreed that the album already had too many ballads. This was recorded before the version we all know by Barry Manilow. I love her version. So weary. So deep and sad. This should have been released.
The Richard Carpenter Trio - Every Little Thing (1966)
Carpenters - Suntory Pop Jingle #1 (1977)
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Music Mrs. Neal Can’t Stand
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Carla Bley - Enormous Tots (1974) The vocalist is Julie Tippetts, formerly Julie Driscoll, who sang on releases by Bob Dylan and Donovan. You've heard her before on this show, singing on the Centipede album. Her band of note in the late '60s, Brian Auger and The Trinity, starred in the rarely-seem 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee, a post-Head TV special, more psychedelic than the movie if you can believe that. As you know, I love Carla Bley. Her early '70s stuff is amazing. Like Zappa. More abstract.
The Move - Feel Too Good (1970)
The Carla Bley Band - Musique Mecanique I (1979) This suite is meant (I think) to sound like a mechanical device brought to sentience. I could and probably am very wrong. I love it.
The Carla Bley Band - Musique Mecanique II (At Midnight) (1979)
The Carla Bley Band - Musique Mecanique III (1979)
Electric Light Orchestra - Boy Blue (1974)
Electric Light Orchestra - Laredo Tornado (1974)
Electric Light Orchestra - Poor Boy (1974) I don't know if it was this album's legend or the fact that there's mostly a real orchestra/chorus, or the wonderful cover, but when I bought this I felt like I was holding something special. It really is a wonderful pop album. Their second-best.
Pink Floyd - Dogs (1977)
A filmstrip record from American Motors used to train salesmen how to sell the Rebel Machine. (1970) I know nothing about cars. But I did find this record and wanted to play it for you.
Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports - Can't Get My Motor To Start (1981) This is a Carla Bley vanity project that was released under Nick Mason's name. He has said he liked the record he did with Rick Fenn (who was in 10CC after Godley and Creme left to develop the Gizmo) better, but it's not nearly as interesting as this. No one knew what to do with this, and people expecting The Wall were probably amused or stunned or both.
Louie and the Rockets - Stay Away From Karen (Unholy Rollers) (1972) "Behind-the-scenes life of the Roller Derby circuit... A beautiful young woman joins a Roller Derby team, but her fierce independence and competitive spirit get her into trouble."
This song was written by Bobby Hart, one half of the Boyce-Hart team that wrote "Come A Little Bit Closer" as well as a bunch of hits for The Monkees' first couple albums. And the theme. And they toured with Dolenz and Jones in 1975. Louie and the Rockets have a website.
Marvin Gaye - "T" Stands For Trouble (1972) From the film "Trouble Man", Marvin Gaye's one and only soundtrack album.
Yes - Going For The One (1976)
Monday Feb 14, 2022
The Monkees, Bond Street, and Richard Simmons
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
The Killjoys - Naïve (1977) Featuring Kevin Rowland, later to be the lead singer of Dexys Midnight Runners who had a huge worldwide hit with "Come On Eileen". Normally I'd frown on such trend-hopping (this was just the first of many image reinventions to come) but when lightning strikes, it strikes. But it almost never strikes twice in pop music. And it didn't for him.
The Monkees - Head Radio Promo (1968) This is hilarious! Hearing Annette Funicello and a few members of the cast waxing about these "crazy" Monkees. Not The Monkees themselves, mind you. By the way, one of the shortest soundtrack albums I've ever seen. Each side clocks in at about 14 minutes with some incidental dialog.
The Dave Clark Five - Last Train To Clarksville (1971?) Dave Clark had been approached (according to an interview I read from 1967) for the group to do the TV show which became The Monkees. But he turned it down because he did not see his band acting on screen the way the four actors who formed the 'made for TV band' called The Monkees would be asked to do. This particular recording appears on an out-of-print collection called "Unreleased Tracks", as were the other DC5 tracks on this show.
กุง กาดิน (Gunga Din) - ฉันจะร้องเพลง I Shall Sing) (196?)
Alice Swoboda - Potter's Field (1972) B-side of her second single. She released two.
Archie Bell & The Drells - Let's Groove (1975)
Doc Severinsen - Bond Street (1968)
Enoch Light - Bond Street (1969)
Fórmula 7 - Bond Street (1968)
Hager Twins - Pizza Man (1979) Written by Eddie Rabbitt.
Peoples Temple Choir - Welcome (1973)
Lafayette - Bond Street (1967)
Lazaro Salazar - Artuditu (1978)
Men Without Hats - Antarctica (1982)
Mouth and Macneal - ABC (1971)
The Folkswingers (featuring Harihar Rao) - Raga Rock (1966)
Richard Simmons - Wake Up (1982)
Richard Simmons - You Can Do It (1982)
The Styx - Soul Flow (1971) Not the Chicago prog band.
The Body Shop Trailer (1972)
The Colours - Cocaine (1968)
The Dave Clark Five - Get It On Now (197?)
The Dave Clark Five - Ruby Baby (197?)
Thursday Feb 03, 2022
Thursday Feb 03, 2022
It's hard to embarrass me. But when I tagged along with some friends to the theater to see Rocky Horror Picture Show, with the toast and the actors in front of the screen acting out the scenes as they played on the screen, I finally felt true embarrassment. True, inescapable discomfort. This would be...1994? Before I was even born. It wasn't Tim Curry. He was excellent. It was the feeling that people, all these young people, will do ANYTHING to belong to something bigger than themselves. We go from one thing to another.
Tim Curry - Paradise Garage (1979) Co-written with DIck Wagner, who wrote or co-wrote Alice Cooper's ballad-ish hits "Only Women Bleed", "I Never Cry", "You And Me" and "How You Gonna See Me Now".
Tim Curry - Working On My Tan (1981)
Tim Curry - Brontosaurus (1978) Written by Roy Wood for the album Looking On, the first Move album with Jeff Lynne. Pretty lethargic, but the original wasn't that peppy either.
Tim Curry - We Went As Far As We Felt Like Going Single (1975) Written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, who also wrote "My Eyes Adored You" and Labelle's "Lady Marmalade" (both 1974). Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? Like a cross between "Evil Ways" by Santana and the Labelle song. Maybe they thought no one would be listening in 2022. But they couldn't imagine you and me, could they?
5th Avenue Buses - Fantastic Voyage (1967) From the album Trip to Gotham City. I might buy this one somewhere down the road. The titles all have something in common. It was 1966. It was a fad, but these records were intended to tweak the guilt of parents.
A Letter Home - Child in Question (1975)
From the record company: What do you get when you mix about a dozen musicians (including members of The Animals & The Police) with a lot of drugs? An acid psych opus! What do you get when you package it in a prefab jacket with stock Christmas art and a festive title? Total confusion! We hypothesize that if you take enough drugs you may think this private press treasure is a holiday album...but we’re not so sure.
One of the artists was Andy Summers, later of The Police, but he doesn't play on this song. The album cover was just lying around the studio, I guess. They put no thought into it at all, again, thinking no one in 2022 would be listening.
Rubber Duckie - A Teenager In Love (1973) 10cc in their nascent stages.
Billy Page - Its Pop (1965) Another rip-off attempt. Boy, this comes off as disdain. In fact, there was a whole industry pushing to keep "hippie" culture irrelevant. Soon, the industry would just subsume the entire thing in TV, music, etc. This might be the same guy that created the above 5th Avenue Buses rip-off. This label also featured Don Randi, who played sessions for more artists than you can shake a stick at.
Bobby Lyle - Shaft (1975)
From Yamaha: Conceived for theaters and similar use, the GX-1 set the electronic keyboard industry on its ear. The first polyphonic synthesizer instrument of its kind, it bridged the gap between organ and synthesizer. The velocity-sensitive keyboards allowed true expression of the voices, a concept never before imagined in electronic organs. The smaller solo keyboard was pressure-sensitive. It weighed over 700 pounds.
From Wikipedia: GX-1 voices were "programmed" onto matchbox-sized cartridges. Each cartridge had 26 screw-sized dials on them to change the VCO, VCF, VCA, and envelope of the voice. 70 cartridges in total were loaded into racks that emerged from the top of the console.
From me: This keyboard featured prominently on Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door album. And I don't like it. Also, Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key of Life. For example, the string-ish intro to "Village Ghetto Land." I mean, I know what he was TRYING to do. The juxtaposition and all that.
Bus Boys - Heart And Soul (1982) For a very brief time, due almost entirely to the ascendence of (and relationship with) Eddie Murphy, The Bus Boys were all over the place in the early '80s. Their schtick was working class, inoffensive, smiling, patriotic, black Rock and Roll. Nothing subversive, nothing offensive. But they were good. This album was their second, and there was just no way to keep this edifice fresh, but I like this version more than the others (Huey Lewis and the News and Exile) but it wasn't enough. Search for their videos on YouTube. They're still around.
Gayle Moran - Magic Spell (1980)
Grupo Solo - A Real Mother For You (1977)
Harry Gullett And The Wheels - The Wondering Man (197?)
Jennie Darren & The Second City Sound - River Deep Mountain High (1969) Jenny Darren would record the original version of Pat Benetar's hit "Heartbreaker". A little more convincingly, if you can believe that. Hear for yourself, ya greedy so-and-so.
Lance Rentzel - Beyond Love (1971)
Lance Rentzel - Lookin' Like Somethin' That it Ain't (1971) On Columbia, no less. A label of prestige and fine taste. And they must have been embarrassed when:
From Wikipedia:
Rentzel was leading the [Dallas Cowboys] in receiving yards, when he was arrested for exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl. At the time the accusation was made, the press revealed a nearly forgotten incident that happened when, as a Minnesota Viking in September 1966, he was charged with exposing himself to two young girls in St. Paul, and pled guilty to the reduced charge of disorderly conduct. He was not sentenced to jail, but merely ordered to seek psychiatric care. Because of the nationwide reaction and publicity from the scandal, his wife, singer and actress Joey Heatherton, divorced him shortly thereafter. Rentzel asked the Cowboys to place him on the inactive list so he could devote his time to settling his personal affairs.[14] He would miss the last three games of the regular season, including the Cowboys' playoff drive to its narrow Super Bowl V loss to the Baltimore Colts. Rentzel finished with 28 receptions (second on the team) for 556 yards (second on the team) with a 19.9-yard average and five touchdowns.
Joey Heatherton was smoking hot. She's on the left. Marty Allen is on the far right. I've played a record of HIS on my show as well.
Lark - Rubber Duckie (1973)
Louie Pascua - Rama's Song - CCP Dance Company Rama Hari Prod_ Ryan Cayabyab
Prince Blackman - Rockers Delight (1980)
Return to Forever - Do You Ever (1977) Hard to fathom: An album like this reached Top 30 status on the album chart. It was a different time.
Rex Griffin - Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby (1935 - 1946) I bet you didn't know that Carl Perkins didn't write this.
From Wikipedia:
"Everybody's Tryin' to Be My Baby" was written and recorded in 1936 by Decca artist Rex Griffin. On March 2, 1936 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, it was among ten self-penned tracks recorded that day by the recently-signed artist, accompanied only by his guitar. It was released on Decca 5294 in November 1936 to little notice. Griffin copyrighted it on January 22, 1944.[4]
In March 1956, Carl Lee Perkins, who had released "Blue Suede Shoes" the previous December, was working on follow up material at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and brought in a song called "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", that he had written. Shortly after it was recorded, Perkins and his brother were in a serious auto accident, and the song and album were not released until May 1957. Perkins was listed as the sole writer when Knox Music, Inc. published it on November 12, 1957. It is unknown, but doubtful, that Griffin ever confronted Perkins, or even learned of the matter, since he died two years later, while the 1950s non-album oriented radio environment prevailed. In retrospect, Perkins contributed a modern arrangement, along with some minor lyric changes.
Thursday Dec 02, 2021
Thursday Dec 02, 2021
Bruford - Age Of Information (1980) I guess, if I'm going to call the Bowie band of 1975-1980 the best band of the decade, this group would come close to that. With the inimitable style of Jeff Berlin on bass and the wonderful Bill Bruford on drums, this album might have been the closest Prog came to the elusive jazz/pop hybrid bred into the bone for so many of the Prog hopefuls of the era.
Jan Hammer Group - Don't You Know (1977)
Can - I Want More (1976) Can was a sometimes impenetrable German Prog outfit. Their music in the early part of the decade wasn't something I could say I liked, even though I tried like heck. This was a single, which kinda makes sense. All Prog was catching a terminal disease at this juncture, but no one knew it.
Renaissance - Flight (1983) I messed this song up on my show, but this is not a bad record. Renaissance had some great moments in the '70s, and if you are interested, go find Scheherazade and Other Stories from 1975. Like Close to The Edge, it only has three songs, but I think that record is their apex by a mile, and I like the other albums. This was from their last "Golden Era", Time-Line album, although it had been a while since they could get a record company to pony up the do-re-mi for an orchestra.
Discogs: Renaissance was originally formed in London, UK, in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds vocalist Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty who wanted to explore a new sound blending elements of rock, folk, and classical music. Relf assumed the role of guitarist, and they were joined by bassist Louis Cennamo, keyboardist John Hawken, and vocalist Jane Relf. This lineup recorded the first self-titled album and most of the second album, Illusion (1971). A rapid series of personnel changes followed. Guitarist and composer Michael Dunford first appeared on Illusion. Before his departure from the band Hawken recruited new vocalist Annie Haslam. By 1972, when the Renaissance recorded their third album, Prologue, none of the original members remained though McCarty still wrote music for the band.By 1973 the lineup had stabilized with Haslam, Dunford, keyboardist John Tout, bassist and vocalist Jon Camp, and drummer Terry Sullivan. This lineup produced a string of relatively successful albums over the remainder of the decade. They had one Top 10 single in the U.K., "Northern Lights", from the album A Song For All Seasons (1978).By 1980 Sullivan and Tout departed leaving Haslam, Dunford, and Camp as the stable core of the group with various other musicians coming and going through the early and mid-1980s. The group released two albums, Camera Camera (1981) and Time-Line (1983) which were not well received by either fans or critics. Renaissance went into the studio to record a further album but found themselves without a label willing to release it. Material for this album as well as discarded tracks from the sessions for the previous three releases finally saw the light of day as Songs From Renaissance Days in 1997. [Ed: Which I gobbled up the day it came out, as there was no other domestic CD of this group available at the time.]
Yes - The Revealing Science of God (1973) There are moments in this song that, to me, are just amazing, transcendent, and still cause chills maybe 40 years after the first time I heard them ("Getting over overhanging trees...") like almost all of Yes' epic side-long monsters. There's a reason Prog fans like me are filled with sadness that the people who made this magic for us cannot seem to just stop recreating or trying to recreate these moments with an ever-shifting group of lesser talents. The Beatles did it right. They just stopped, resisted the potentially lucrative urge to make themselves stand there again, together, and recreate sounds from which they had long ago moved past. I like this. There's a real fire that people might have forgotten these very young men possessed.
King Crimson - Thela Hun Jinjeet (1981) So this might be #3. Tony Levin played on some later Yes albums, as well as Peter Gabriel (he plays the Chapman Stick, a strapped upright instrument with both tenor and bass strings). He also played with Paul Simon and hundreds of others. Robert Fripp played with David Bowie on his Berlin Trilogy, and Bill Bruford was amazing in Yes, his own band, Bruford, and...Genesis during a tour! Bowie and...Adrian Belew!! Who is here after stints with Talking Heads, Zappa, Tom Tom Club....it goes on and on, but I really like anything Bill Bruford played on.
Bruford - Gothic 17 (1980) I've played stuff from Bruford's first record with Annette Peacock. This is in that funky, other-worldly combination of jazz and pop. I love Jeff Berlin's voice. I wish they had dome more records together. Go find "Joe Frazier" off this album. Whoo boy.
Gentle Giant - Interview (1976)
Genesis - One For The Vine (1977) Genesis at their peak. It's hard to believe it now, but this was composed solely by Tony Banks. The scope and drama, pathos, and virtuosity amaze me especially when one considers that he (and they) never created anything this beautiful again. Who was the best keyboard player in Prog? I think about it and Kerry Minnear comes to mind, as he really was the creative force in Gentle Giant. But neither he, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, or any of the others, as good as they were, authored something as wonderful as this.
Rush - Jacob's Ladder (1980) I don't care what you say. This album is peak Rush. After years of album/tour/album/tour, "The Spirit of Radio" captured their amazing musicianship, their cool humor, and the fact that you could be groovy in 7/8. I think of this record as the end of the beginning, but not in a good way. I played this in a band once. We were terrible. I had a tiny Casio keyboard (it was all we could afford) and I couldn't play the last bit on bass with anything resembling speed. Our drummer was great.
Discogs: Rush's seventh studio album.The cover depicted the famous incorrect headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" on a newspaper in the bottom left corner.However, the Chicago Tribune (the paper that originally published the error) pressured the band to remove the headline. Some versions appear altered with either "Dewei Defeats Truman" or a blanked section.The billboards in the distance (mid-right) originally read "Coca-Cola." However, the cola company objected to the use of their logo and the cover was changed to display the band members names in a similar typestyle to the original logo.Trivia: The woman on the cover of this album is model Paula Turnbull. Contrary to rumor, the guy waving in the background on the cover is not one of the members of Rush, it's actually Hugh Syme, the art director of the album.
UK - In The Dead of Night/By The Light Of Day/Presto Vivace and Reprise (1978) One of the first Prog supergroups, members of other big groups smooshed together. In this case, John Wetton of King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, Mogul Thrash, etc., Bill Bruford, the amazing Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, Gong) , and Eddie Jobson (Zappa, etc.) make a great album. Then Bill leaves, and Terry Bozzio (Zappa) records another record and a live album, and then...Asia.
Joe Simon - Before The Night Is Over (1977)
I don't consider The Moody Blues or Pink Floyd prog.
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
The Moody Blues
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Were The Moody Blues "prog"? I don't think so. They weren't virtuosos in any sense, although they were all very competent (or somewhat competent - Graeme Edge wasn't asked to do much, really) but they WERE unique and extremely popular. And every album has a treat or two. At least the ones before 1983. All you had to do was light a marijuana joint with the pot leaves and let the gentle mellotron patina take you to a new land. I guess the key to The Moody Blues' success was that they never asked too much of the listener (like Yes or King Crimson), but never insulted them (like Chicago would, eventually.) In 1975 they all recorded solo albums, and they were also pretty good.
Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn (1978)
Ray Thomas - Hey Mama Life (1975)
Graeme Edge Band - Somethin' We'd Like To Say (1975) Trivia! Barry St. John sang backup on this album. She appeared on "Dark Side of the Moon" and of course, she was in Les Humphries Singers.
Graeme Edge Band - Be My Eyes (1977)
John Lodge - Into to Children of Rock 'n' Roll (1977)
John Lodge - Children of Rock 'n' Roll (1977) Featuring Kenny Jones on drums. He was in The Small Faces, then The Faces with Rod Stewart, and then released a single in 1974 ("Ready or Not") and then this. He also played in Paul McCartney's supergroup Rockestra around this time. Maybe this is where he met Pete Townshend.
Mike Pinder - The Promise (1976) My favorite Moody released the blandest solo record of the lot. Maybe he found religion and not just mysticism. Whatever the case, I was disappointed by this. "Solar heaven?"
Mike Pinder - Free As A Dove (1976) This was co-produced by Robert Margouleff, one of the main forces behind Stevie Wonder's golden era. He and his partner Malcolm Cecil brought (and tamed) synthesizers from their unwieldy beginnings into unlikely mainstream dominance. He worked with Billy Preston, The Isley Brothers, Devo, Syreeta Wright, and Stevie. Also, a curious album was released in 1980 by a group that was ubiquitous at the time, The Bus Boys. Remember? Their hit was "(The Boys Are) Back In Town." They recorded a song with Eddie Murphy in 1988 called "Never Giving Up." I wonder what happened to them to stop their momentum. Does either of you know offhand?
John Lodge - Natural Avenue (1977)
The Graeme Edge Band - Paradise Ballroom (1977)
The Graeme Edge Band - We Like To Do It (1974)
The Moody Blues - The Word/Om (1968)
Ray Thomas - Adam and I (1975)
The Moody Blues - The Balance (1970) This song was co-written by Edge and Thomas. Most Moody Blues songs were written by one member.
The Moody Blues - In The Beginning/Lovely To See You (1969) This record came with a booklet that included all the lyrics and credits, ornately written. To wit:
The Moody Blues - The Dream/Have You Heard (1969)