Top Ten Of The Week-The Lesser Known

Okay kiddies, time for another top ten of the week and this time we're digging deep in the archives for some forgotten favorites as well as another track from the Van Halen Different Kind Of Truth album.

1.  Wide Eyed Kids-Eddie & The Hot Rods 1980  Next to Rockpile, Eddie & The Hot Rods were my favorite band of my high school years.  Made two great to good albums for Island and a third that wasn't released in the US which was uneven.  Imagine my surprise when they reappeared on EMI the next year with Al Kooper producing.  But somewhere along the way,  Punk rock left them behind and they couldn't figure out what to do with New Wave and Fish N Chips, the LP fell flat on its face.  Closer inspection revealed that perhaps this is more of a Pub Rock album than Punk or New Wave but nevertheless they lost a major player when Paul Gray left them for the Dammed (and later UFO) and replaced by Tony Craney aka T.C.  This would be the last time the US would hear of Eddie & The Hot Rods and they would later break up.  Later reformed and still going to this day although Barrie Masters remains the only original member left playing.  Haven't heard any of their later day stuff although a demo of this song came out on Link UK years later and showing more of punk edge than the Al Kooper super shine production and keyboard tweeking.

2.  Talked To God-The Uninvited 1998   Forgotten band that made a album for Atlantic and I think I described them as The Rainmakers for the Weezer crowd.  Perhaps they were too smart for radio's good, hell I never heard any of this album till I saw it in the dollar bin at the pawnshop.  Not to be confused with Wisconsin's Uninvited that had a CD called Our Two Cents Worth, which is what they're probably charging for this at the Salvation Army.

3.  Soul Experience-Iron Butterfly 1970  Kudos and a shout out to Bob Dorr for actually playing this song on his Saturday Night show Backtracks on KUNI.  He always played Let It Rain by Eric Clapton and Little Gandy Dancer by Bachman Turner Overdrive.  Like I said, the man knows music. Nobody cares much about Iron Butterfly anymore except for In Da Gadda Da Vadda but thought I go with a lesser known song that did get some AM radio play before Cumulus and Clear Channel bought everything up and turned them into robot radio.

4.  Go Now-Mighty Joe Plum 1997   Had a hit with Live Through This (15 Stories)  and that has been playing in my head for the last four days. This might have been a worthy followup but Atlantic never did promote them after Live Through This.  Not a cover of the Moody Blues oldie but moldie hit.

5.  If You Don't Know I Ain't Gonna Tell You-George Hamilton IV  1963  He was groomed to be a teen idol (Rose & A Baby Ruth anyone?)  till he struck a top ten hit with Abilene on RCA and became more of a country star.  But I also believe that George had a eye on the folk scene, he covered a few of Gordon Lightfoot's songs.  This is his own song written for the Abliene album which really is much better than the one hit and everything else.  He got some good songs from Wayne Walker and Harlan Howard.  Even Jimmy Brown The Newsboy and You Are My Sunshine are not throwaways on this album. Collectibles issued it long time ago but George Hamilton IV has been sadly overlook on the CD compilation department.

6.  Crazy Babies-Ozzy Osbourne 1988  No Rest For The Wicked is my favorite Ozzy album, it seemed to rock harder and more than on his more famous albums with Randy Rhodes but then again I always liked Zak Wydde from the start.  Liked the production that Roy Thomas Baker gave this although we get the usual complaints of it being too 80s dated.

7.  Hamp's Hump-Galactic 1998  Jam band that puts more emphasis on jazzy, funky Meter's type of music.

8.  She's The Woman-Van Halen 2012
     Up Next-Chickenfoot 2011
     Amsterdam-Van Hagar 1996

By the time they got around to Balance Sammy and Eddie simply got tired of each other and even though Balance remains the weakest of the Van Hagar albums it does have their moments although they are not the ballads or the overlong Feelin that closes the chaotic Balance.  And so for the next 15 years, there would be another lead vocal change (Gary Cherone on VH3) and Sammy doing his usual solo albums and the usual badmouthing of Van Halen.  So what happens?  David Lee Roth returns and Eddie tolerates him long enough to make the best Van Halen album in over 30 years and despite what Hagar thinks about it, it rocks hard.  Even Wolfgang Van Halen adds some sweet bass on the beginning on She's The Woman, which won the best VH track from a online mag.  Chickenfoot, the Sammy band with Joe Satriani on guitar have made two listenable and fun albums but still get overshadowed by A Different Kind Of Truth.  Eddie had something to prove and he came though but Sammy still doesn't like the new album.  To which the world has this to say...Shut up Sammy.

9.  I'll Always Love You-The Spinners 1970  It's been a long weekend after the passing of Whitney Houston. My brain is still killing me with I Will Always Love You or I Wanna Dance With Somebody and I don't even have any of them fucking songs.   My X Clarice loved the former song to the point she called it our song, which didn't bode well for our future together.  To which I dedicated this song to her after we broke up..on Valentine's Day 1998 after she told me she was seeing somebody for six weeks.  No wonder I had all this time to myself.  The Spinners at this point was led by G C Cameron who now sings for The Temptations, Cameron was the lead singer for the Stevie Wonder penned It's A Shame which was their biggest hit for VIP/Motown, the followup bombed.  Cameron went on a solo career, replaced by Phillip Wynne who would take them in a different direction, a new label and MFSB as their backing band.  As for Whitney Houston, sorry she's dead but I am sick of hearing I Will Always Love You, from her or anybody including Dolly Parton.

10.  No Matter What Goes Right-Trout Fishing In America 1998  Dedicated to Clyde Clifford and the late great Beaker Street who sometimes ended his show with this song.  I'm guessing he did the 1991 studio version, this comes from the live Family Music Party which is part country, part kiddie tunes and part hippy dippy.  And 100 percent coming from the heart too.

Some Grammy Final Thoughts.
Paul McCartney and Wings Band On The Run won best Historical album.
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs best Surround Sound Mix album.
While Jerry Ragovay was mention as the ones departed from us, they didn't mention Howard Tate at all.

Personal to Andy McKie, The Rock And Roll And The Brains blog has exceeded 9,000 views.  Release their fucking album pronto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!