I'm still around but got things in reality land going for me that has taken away my attention to the music world.
I see that Erin Moran passed away at age 56 from Cancer and Scott Baio being a total prick about her death. His time is coming. Jonathan Demme, famed movie producer passed away Wednesday Morning, he was 73.
Ann Coulter canceled her Berkeley appearance bitching about fucking liberals the cause of that. As far I know she's full of shit and yet we continue to give her attention. And I just gave her/it more attention too. Sorry about that.
I've been asked time and time again, about the future of Record World as my band projects are taking taking more time and attention away. There's projects with The Townedgers, acoustic jams, whatever comes to mind. Minor league baseball is underway, I don't watch TV all that much but am aware about how well the Chicago Cubs are doing.
I look at the ratings and still shake my head. Blogspot is sadly outdated but there's nothing I can do about it.
If there's any thing of note, I'll continue to post things. But life is just beginning once again.
And hope things are going well for you dear reader.
A review from Robert Christgau:
Brad Paisley: Love and War (Arista) If you believe the only country superstar ever to record a pro-Obama song owes us an anti-Trump song, you're not getting it—not exactly. What you are getting is the antiwar title track, a John Fogerty collab that unites Iraq and Vietnam—and also, by extension, Syria and whatever else they got. And toward the back where the Christian gesture is usually tucked away you're also getting an anti-hate song that decries the evil done in God's name in both "the darkest prison" and "the largest church," because after all, "God is love." That'll do, doncha think? This is easily Paisley's strongest album since American Saturday Night—not a bum track, loaded with good jokes (including, after several failed attempts, one about the internet), hymns to marriage haters will hate because they don't have what conjugal love takes, and, word of honor, a fun Mick Jagger cameo. It begins with something called "Heaven South," which one kind of hater will dismiss as escapist piffle but I say is Paisley's way of telling another kind of hater to quit feeling sorry for themselves and be grateful for what they got. It ends by reprising the same song. A
Body Count: Bloodlust (Century Media) There've been other Body Count albums in the quarter century since "Cop Killer" put a police bull's-eye on the pre- Law and Order Ice-T's back. But it took Donald Trump to revive Tracy Marrow's active interest in the metal band he assembled with his Crenshaw High buddy Ernie C. back when he was a hot rapper. In this year of the rock protest song, there hasn't yet been a lyric as bitter, complex, and powerful as "No Lives Matter." From the lead "Civil War," set in the present and let's hope it remains a fiction, to "Black Hoodie," less hard-hitting but wider-ranging than Vic Mensa's "16 Shots," you feel both a mind at work and an entertainer putting himself across. In the title track, Ice includes himself in the humanity whose propensity for murder he's been going on about. In "Here I Go Again" he concocts a horrorcore fantasy so gruesome he figures most people won't want to hear it twice and bets some sickos will put on repeat. A MINUS
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Monday, April 17, 2017
Week In Review: TE Radio 29, RSD, Alan Holdsworth
For Record Store Day 2017, I went to Davenport a week early and basically found nothing of note. New Feelies album, new Deep Purple album, some odds and ends. Somebody bought in some old moldy 45s at the Salvation Army Moline store (the Davenport Collector's Store had four scratched up things worth mentioning but will they play?) and it's a shame that they were in such bad shape. Aside from a Leroy Van Dyke Dim Dark Places and a Dick Feller Asylum 45, most looked like they were fished out of the Mississippi River. And the meantime I watch Marcus Wilson hit 2 home runs to propel Kane Country to a 8-4 win over Quad Cities in baseball.
In the meantime I forgot all about some of my friend's bands playing at local bars in the Q.C in favor of looking for the recently opened Blue Grass Drive In, which sits to the north and west of Blue Grass Iowa. A strangely looking double screen it looks small and there's no marquee to let you know where you're at or what movies are playing. The guess is that it looks smaller than the 61 Drive In in Maquoketa and of course the screens you can't see from the highway. Best route to get there is take Oak Street exit and take a right on Mayne Street and it's next door to Jenny's Dance Academy. We still have three working drive ins, in this area, The Valle in Newton, of course the 61 Drive In and now The Blue Grass Drive In, which replaced the Grandview Drive in, which closed last year after a developer threw a bunch of money to the owners of the Grand View and they took it. As always I hope the Blue Grass has a fighting chance to keep the movies coming for whose who desire watching them outdoors.
It's the rainy season and on the way home from Davenport I ended up getting caught in a monsoon storm that had at least four stages of heavy rains, winds and lightning, which made getting home a chore upon itself. While my time in Davenport stayed dry, they had Thunderstorm Warnings that didn't come into play till later. We ended up with at least three inches of rain and a river going through the backyard. So far, our 8,000 dollar investment of keeping the basement dry has paid off. In previous weeks, I'd be moving fans to dry the place out. With the inner canals built from inside, the water stays in those canals and I no longer have creeks going through my bedroom anymore. Ain't technology fun?
(Photo: Jalyn Souchek via KWWL)
During the Monsoon storm of Saturday Night, a EF-1 Tornado came out and destroyed a couple of farm building outside Amber, near Anamosa.
(Photo: Jalyn Souchek via KWWL)
During the Monsoon storm of Saturday Night, a EF-1 Tornado came out and destroyed a couple of farm building outside Amber, near Anamosa.
Passings: on Sunday Alan Holdsworth passed away, this came from his daughter Louise who didn't provide much of what Alan died from (heart attack perhaps) outside of the usual announcement that he's now gone and the family request privacy. Holdsworth was one of the premier progressive rock guitarists out there, performing as a solo artist as well playing in bands such as Gong, UK (to which he joins John Wetton in the great beyond) and Bill Bruford. He was 70.
Cuba Gooding Sr, lead singer for The Main Ingredient was found dead in his car Thursday from a drug overdose. He was 72.
Celebrations, Angel Delgadillo turns 90 on Wednesday. He's still doing quite well out there in Seligman with his shop. Record World salutes the Guardian of Route 66.
(Photo: Jotsen's)
You have to hand it to the jewelers who designed the Chicago Cubs' world series championship ring. Jotsen's Jewelers ended up putting 108 diamonds into their rings and even included the billy goat on top of the ring. So far, the Cubs have struggled a bit playing, they did take 2 out of 3 from St Louis and Los Angeles but their bullpen remains an questionmark, especially Petro Strop who the Pirates teed off on him Saturday as the bullpen blew the lead. While Garret Cole continues to wonder if the Cubs are overrated that didn't stop Migel Montero from going up to bat and flashing off the world series ring on his hand saying don't you wish you could have one of these babies? When you win the World Series, talk is cheap. Just like Donald Trump.
Singles Going Steady Medley: Davenport Record Store Day Scratchy Records
Not A Lot found but some meddling pop ballads and such.
Cap And Gown-Marty Robbins (Columbia 4-40418) #45 1959
Part of Marty Robbins' attempt to broaden his horizons on the pop chart and it did chart despite it's tepid arrangments. I can also attest that I never heard this song ever. I thought b side Last Night Was About This Time was the plug side, it sounds more of a rewrite of A White Sport Coat which did hit number 2. Robbins would score big next time on his cowboy country ballad El Paso, which did topped the chart.
Remember When-The Platters (Mercury 71467) #41 1959
They were on the decline when this smooth ballad came out. Nothing wrong with it, great passionate vocals from Tony Williams, great arrangements from Buck Ram but the public had other things to buy it seems. B side has a big scratch on the groove so I couldn't play that one.
Race With The Wind-The Robbs (Mercury 72579) 1966
It's hard to find good 45s of jangly pop bands of the 60s in good shape. And The Robbs had a few singles and albums on Mercury but I never heard any of those until I found this well worn copy that fits somewhere near The Turtles and The Byrds. B side In A Funny Sort Of Way owes a bit to P F Sloan. Or Eric Andersen.
Your Used To Be-Brenda Lee (Decca 31454) #32 1963
It seems that Brenda was getting into the heartbreak ballads as we have seen the past couple of SGS medley that we have thrown together. Although pop in nature this song was tailor made for country radio with easy sing along chorus. And she was quite good with this sort of balladry, although when we rediscover these songs I can't understand why they charted so high. B side She'll Never Know made number 47, another heartbreak ballad. Howard Greenfield wrote Your Used To Be with Jack Keller. Both figured greatly in the music careers of Neil Sedaka and The Monkees.
Mountain Of Love-Bobby Brooks (Hit Record No. 156) 1964
From the folks at Spur Records and the incognito Nashville Sessionmen under various alias name, this is actually a nice cover of the Harold Dorman number although probably more toward Johnny Rivers' version. I tend to think that these forgotten cheap 45s sometimes do rival the original version, there's some thought to the music and it's not as throwaway as what Pickwick would come up for alternative cheap versions of the hit singles. Even at 39 cents Hit Records couldn't give away most of these records, but there's a few choice collectors out there that will seek these songs out, your's truly for example. B side Be Yourself by The Jalopy Five might be one of the few original songs that Spur/Hit issued, the giveaway is that it was written by Bobby Russell who did record a few songs under different alias for Hit Records before striking it big with his song called Honey that Bobby Goldsboro recorded and Russell scored his own hit with Saturday Morning Confusion in 1971. Be Yourself sounds a bit like The Beach Boys' Be True To Your School.
New Reviews!
Deep Purple-Infinite (E.a.r. Music/Edel 2017)
I gotta hand it to Ian Gillan, the guy can be amazingly funny and scathing at the same time. Johnny's Band might be Gillan's tongue in cheek song to his band (the punch line is the final line: and here we are singing along) and it may be a poke at their former guitar player. Turns out this version of Deep Purple has been the longest lasting lineup since Bananas and since 1996 only one change: Don Airey for the late Jon Lord on keyboards and they have been making listenable albums, Purplendicular a damn fine one and Now What? came close. But while fans will continue to say without Richie Blackmore it's not Deep Purple but really Steve Morse has done wonders with his own style. Infinite is tagged as the best hard rock album of 2017 by the sticker on the CD and for old time hard rock and roll that may be true. The only soso song is Birds Of Prey, and while the world really doesn't need another version of Roadhouse Blues, Deep Purple actually does a fine version of this song. The Surprising sounds a bit prog rockish and that's all right. There's a bit of jazz at the beginning of one song before it goes into a hard rock number (All I Got Is You) but that's all right. If you're looking for another Smoke On The Water or Child In Time, as one DP song goes don't hold your breath but if you're looking for a hard rock album done by senior citizens pushing 70 and doing a fine job then Infinite is worth hearing.
Grade B+
The Feelies-In Between (Bar/None 2017)
The other big story, the return of The Feelies for a more low key album but still full of the simple licks that made them worth hearing. For them it's more stripped down than usual, with shorter songs (Gone Gone Gone, Turn Back Time, In Between Part 1), Side 2 does step up the tempo and where else can you hear the reprise of In Between go for about 7 minutes long with plenty of guitar from Glenn Mercer. In the end, if you're a fan, you'll be wanting a copy.
Grade A-
Brian Fallon-Painkillers (Island 2016)
To which Brian takes a sabbatical from The Gaslight Anthem and hook up with wunderkind producer Butch Walker (The Donnas, Marvelous 3) in a wide variety of rock and Americana blues. I'm not a big fan of Walker's production and recording (the drums sound borrow too much from Munford And Sons) but for 12 songs going for 40 minutes it's not bad. A couple songs do sound unfinished but when Fallon gets it right (Red Lights, Steve McQueen) it does rock a bit. But if you want hard rock, better get Deep Purple's latest.
Grade B+
Past Masters-What Ever Happened To The Radio (Self Released 2016)
Local oldie classic rock cover band that managed to garner a following over the years turned out this self produced demo of some of their best covers plus the sole original, a title track that is dead on about the state of music and radio in particular. It might have been better had they recorded this live. Perhaps they'll consider a live album next time.
Grade B
J E Sunde-Now I Feel Adored (Cartouche 2017)
I tend to think that the local music scene has some great up and coming artists. Cedar Rapids has Tommy Bruner and Wooden Nickel Lottery and the Quad Cities has the beloved The Dawn and Bob Herrington not only has Ragged Records but also is in involved in Cartouche Records which he has The Multiple Cat and Sunde on this label. Sunde is considered to be a more of a folk artist, although Pat Stolley (Multiple Cat) and Marty Bruggleman helping out on the mix. At his best Sunde sounds a bit like Freedy Johnson and the dude from Del Amtri, at his least interesting, he comes across like Jeff Buckley and to a lesser extent Nick Drake. But you'll only hear this via NPR or College Radio and it's a shame really that Corporate Radio has forsaken the new artists of today. I'm not sure that Sunde's music is up my alley but he does end this album on a high note with Wedding Ring. Which sounds more like a death song rather than a love song. And sometimes I do like a death song better than a love song.
Grade B
Josie Cotton-Convertible Music/From The Hip (Collectibles 2002)
Teen age new wave bubblegum perhaps? Cotton will forever be famous for her songs that made it on the movie Valley Girl and the two best songs, He Could Be The One and the more famous Johnny Are You Queer. Collectibles issued her two Elektra albums on one CD and Convertible Music is the more fun of the two although there's way too much filler. In some ways that album can be considered the kid sister of Bonnie Hayes' Good Clean Fun, although neither He Could Be The One nor Johnny Are You Queer was as rocking as Girls Like Me. From The Hip, is a bit more darker and despite Prescott Niles and Don Heffington helping out, the only decent songs is her version of the Looking Glass' Jimmy Loves Mary Anne, with Lindsay Buckingham on guitar and final track Way Out West, which does have a bit of GO GO's pop to it. Despite better production, the songs were less than stellar and Come With Me shows that Josie is better a rocker and balladeer. The problem with new wave music of the 1980s was most artists and bands could make a decent first album but could never follow it up proper, which after two albums, Elektra cut her loose. But at least she's preserved in rock history by her appearance on Valley Girl and of course He Could Be The One and...ahem, Johnny Are You Queer.
Grade B-
Albums From My Youth-Pink Floyd The Wall (Pink Floyd Music 1979)
In these dangerous times, this album really speaks to me more about the idiot in the White House than ever before, although I'm sure Roger Waters never thought about The Failed Reality Star when he wrote this rock opera about a fucked up rock star and even though the The Wall itself is a clumsy story, I tend to like this album a bit more than Dark Side Of The Moon. Of course the album has been reissued a few times, Columbia and EMI ping ponging back and forth of the rights of the album before Pink Floyd issued it under their own name and banner. I did find the Columbia 2 CD reissue for 1.99 and the CD's were in pristine shape. I'm sure we are all sick of hearing Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 on classic rock radio or perhaps Comfortably Numb, to which just about every hard rock band in town plays this song, my band included on jam nights but it still a rock and roll classic song. But I can identify with the song Mother, to which the subject at hand may have been smothered by his mommy while growing up but I do chuckle at the lines. Everything comes together on Side 4 beginning with In The Flesh, to which I envision Donald Trump at a rally, then on to Run Like Hell, another song played to death by radio but I enjoy hearing Waiting For The Worms and The Trial because radio won't play those songs and somewhere in the mix lies Toni Tennile from you know who adding some backing vocals. Perhaps Robert Christgau has a point of not getting the plot of the story or the music but he said the music wasn't bad. I don't know, The Wall, (the Cd) remains a good listen and getting either the Columbia 1997 remaster or for that matter the latter day Harvest or Pink Floyd Music probably has better sound, but when I watch Pink Floyd The Wall (the movie) it left me cold and a bit disturbed, especially toward the end and the movie didn't work for me. But The Wall, the album should be in your collection, just like Dark Side Of The Moon. I have one but for the other, unless I find it for a 1.99 or less, I can live without it.
Grade B+
Townedger Radio 29 Broadcast (4-20-17) On Lucky Star Radio
https://www.mixcloud.com/LuckyStarRadio/townedger-radio-29/
Playlist:
Asshole-Denis Leary
Mother In Law-Ernie K Doe
Good Lovin-The Olympics
Turn On Your Love Light-The Human Beinz
Rocking The Clock-The Open Highway Band
Shitty Record Deal-The Bloodhound Gang
U Can't Touch This-The Wapsipinicon Dreamers
Get Out Of Denver-Bob Seger
It Wasn't Me-Chuck Berry
Take A Look At The Boy-Izzy Stratlin and Ronnie Wood
It's Never Too Late-Steppenwolf
No Expectations-The Rolling Stones
Country Girls Ain't Cheap-Trailer Radio
I Can't Sleep-The La's
A Stranger To Himself-The Townedgers
Scream-Collective Soul
Ugly-Fishbone
Cuba Gooding Sr, lead singer for The Main Ingredient was found dead in his car Thursday from a drug overdose. He was 72.
Celebrations, Angel Delgadillo turns 90 on Wednesday. He's still doing quite well out there in Seligman with his shop. Record World salutes the Guardian of Route 66.
You have to hand it to the jewelers who designed the Chicago Cubs' world series championship ring. Jotsen's Jewelers ended up putting 108 diamonds into their rings and even included the billy goat on top of the ring. So far, the Cubs have struggled a bit playing, they did take 2 out of 3 from St Louis and Los Angeles but their bullpen remains an questionmark, especially Petro Strop who the Pirates teed off on him Saturday as the bullpen blew the lead. While Garret Cole continues to wonder if the Cubs are overrated that didn't stop Migel Montero from going up to bat and flashing off the world series ring on his hand saying don't you wish you could have one of these babies? When you win the World Series, talk is cheap. Just like Donald Trump.
Singles Going Steady Medley: Davenport Record Store Day Scratchy Records
Not A Lot found but some meddling pop ballads and such.
Cap And Gown-Marty Robbins (Columbia 4-40418) #45 1959
Part of Marty Robbins' attempt to broaden his horizons on the pop chart and it did chart despite it's tepid arrangments. I can also attest that I never heard this song ever. I thought b side Last Night Was About This Time was the plug side, it sounds more of a rewrite of A White Sport Coat which did hit number 2. Robbins would score big next time on his cowboy country ballad El Paso, which did topped the chart.
Remember When-The Platters (Mercury 71467) #41 1959
They were on the decline when this smooth ballad came out. Nothing wrong with it, great passionate vocals from Tony Williams, great arrangements from Buck Ram but the public had other things to buy it seems. B side has a big scratch on the groove so I couldn't play that one.
Race With The Wind-The Robbs (Mercury 72579) 1966
It's hard to find good 45s of jangly pop bands of the 60s in good shape. And The Robbs had a few singles and albums on Mercury but I never heard any of those until I found this well worn copy that fits somewhere near The Turtles and The Byrds. B side In A Funny Sort Of Way owes a bit to P F Sloan. Or Eric Andersen.
Your Used To Be-Brenda Lee (Decca 31454) #32 1963
It seems that Brenda was getting into the heartbreak ballads as we have seen the past couple of SGS medley that we have thrown together. Although pop in nature this song was tailor made for country radio with easy sing along chorus. And she was quite good with this sort of balladry, although when we rediscover these songs I can't understand why they charted so high. B side She'll Never Know made number 47, another heartbreak ballad. Howard Greenfield wrote Your Used To Be with Jack Keller. Both figured greatly in the music careers of Neil Sedaka and The Monkees.
Mountain Of Love-Bobby Brooks (Hit Record No. 156) 1964
From the folks at Spur Records and the incognito Nashville Sessionmen under various alias name, this is actually a nice cover of the Harold Dorman number although probably more toward Johnny Rivers' version. I tend to think that these forgotten cheap 45s sometimes do rival the original version, there's some thought to the music and it's not as throwaway as what Pickwick would come up for alternative cheap versions of the hit singles. Even at 39 cents Hit Records couldn't give away most of these records, but there's a few choice collectors out there that will seek these songs out, your's truly for example. B side Be Yourself by The Jalopy Five might be one of the few original songs that Spur/Hit issued, the giveaway is that it was written by Bobby Russell who did record a few songs under different alias for Hit Records before striking it big with his song called Honey that Bobby Goldsboro recorded and Russell scored his own hit with Saturday Morning Confusion in 1971. Be Yourself sounds a bit like The Beach Boys' Be True To Your School.
New Reviews!
Deep Purple-Infinite (E.a.r. Music/Edel 2017)
I gotta hand it to Ian Gillan, the guy can be amazingly funny and scathing at the same time. Johnny's Band might be Gillan's tongue in cheek song to his band (the punch line is the final line: and here we are singing along) and it may be a poke at their former guitar player. Turns out this version of Deep Purple has been the longest lasting lineup since Bananas and since 1996 only one change: Don Airey for the late Jon Lord on keyboards and they have been making listenable albums, Purplendicular a damn fine one and Now What? came close. But while fans will continue to say without Richie Blackmore it's not Deep Purple but really Steve Morse has done wonders with his own style. Infinite is tagged as the best hard rock album of 2017 by the sticker on the CD and for old time hard rock and roll that may be true. The only soso song is Birds Of Prey, and while the world really doesn't need another version of Roadhouse Blues, Deep Purple actually does a fine version of this song. The Surprising sounds a bit prog rockish and that's all right. There's a bit of jazz at the beginning of one song before it goes into a hard rock number (All I Got Is You) but that's all right. If you're looking for another Smoke On The Water or Child In Time, as one DP song goes don't hold your breath but if you're looking for a hard rock album done by senior citizens pushing 70 and doing a fine job then Infinite is worth hearing.
Grade B+
The Feelies-In Between (Bar/None 2017)
The other big story, the return of The Feelies for a more low key album but still full of the simple licks that made them worth hearing. For them it's more stripped down than usual, with shorter songs (Gone Gone Gone, Turn Back Time, In Between Part 1), Side 2 does step up the tempo and where else can you hear the reprise of In Between go for about 7 minutes long with plenty of guitar from Glenn Mercer. In the end, if you're a fan, you'll be wanting a copy.
Grade A-
Brian Fallon-Painkillers (Island 2016)
To which Brian takes a sabbatical from The Gaslight Anthem and hook up with wunderkind producer Butch Walker (The Donnas, Marvelous 3) in a wide variety of rock and Americana blues. I'm not a big fan of Walker's production and recording (the drums sound borrow too much from Munford And Sons) but for 12 songs going for 40 minutes it's not bad. A couple songs do sound unfinished but when Fallon gets it right (Red Lights, Steve McQueen) it does rock a bit. But if you want hard rock, better get Deep Purple's latest.
Grade B+
Past Masters-What Ever Happened To The Radio (Self Released 2016)
Local oldie classic rock cover band that managed to garner a following over the years turned out this self produced demo of some of their best covers plus the sole original, a title track that is dead on about the state of music and radio in particular. It might have been better had they recorded this live. Perhaps they'll consider a live album next time.
Grade B
J E Sunde-Now I Feel Adored (Cartouche 2017)
I tend to think that the local music scene has some great up and coming artists. Cedar Rapids has Tommy Bruner and Wooden Nickel Lottery and the Quad Cities has the beloved The Dawn and Bob Herrington not only has Ragged Records but also is in involved in Cartouche Records which he has The Multiple Cat and Sunde on this label. Sunde is considered to be a more of a folk artist, although Pat Stolley (Multiple Cat) and Marty Bruggleman helping out on the mix. At his best Sunde sounds a bit like Freedy Johnson and the dude from Del Amtri, at his least interesting, he comes across like Jeff Buckley and to a lesser extent Nick Drake. But you'll only hear this via NPR or College Radio and it's a shame really that Corporate Radio has forsaken the new artists of today. I'm not sure that Sunde's music is up my alley but he does end this album on a high note with Wedding Ring. Which sounds more like a death song rather than a love song. And sometimes I do like a death song better than a love song.
Grade B
Josie Cotton-Convertible Music/From The Hip (Collectibles 2002)
Teen age new wave bubblegum perhaps? Cotton will forever be famous for her songs that made it on the movie Valley Girl and the two best songs, He Could Be The One and the more famous Johnny Are You Queer. Collectibles issued her two Elektra albums on one CD and Convertible Music is the more fun of the two although there's way too much filler. In some ways that album can be considered the kid sister of Bonnie Hayes' Good Clean Fun, although neither He Could Be The One nor Johnny Are You Queer was as rocking as Girls Like Me. From The Hip, is a bit more darker and despite Prescott Niles and Don Heffington helping out, the only decent songs is her version of the Looking Glass' Jimmy Loves Mary Anne, with Lindsay Buckingham on guitar and final track Way Out West, which does have a bit of GO GO's pop to it. Despite better production, the songs were less than stellar and Come With Me shows that Josie is better a rocker and balladeer. The problem with new wave music of the 1980s was most artists and bands could make a decent first album but could never follow it up proper, which after two albums, Elektra cut her loose. But at least she's preserved in rock history by her appearance on Valley Girl and of course He Could Be The One and...ahem, Johnny Are You Queer.
Grade B-
Albums From My Youth-Pink Floyd The Wall (Pink Floyd Music 1979)
In these dangerous times, this album really speaks to me more about the idiot in the White House than ever before, although I'm sure Roger Waters never thought about The Failed Reality Star when he wrote this rock opera about a fucked up rock star and even though the The Wall itself is a clumsy story, I tend to like this album a bit more than Dark Side Of The Moon. Of course the album has been reissued a few times, Columbia and EMI ping ponging back and forth of the rights of the album before Pink Floyd issued it under their own name and banner. I did find the Columbia 2 CD reissue for 1.99 and the CD's were in pristine shape. I'm sure we are all sick of hearing Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 on classic rock radio or perhaps Comfortably Numb, to which just about every hard rock band in town plays this song, my band included on jam nights but it still a rock and roll classic song. But I can identify with the song Mother, to which the subject at hand may have been smothered by his mommy while growing up but I do chuckle at the lines. Everything comes together on Side 4 beginning with In The Flesh, to which I envision Donald Trump at a rally, then on to Run Like Hell, another song played to death by radio but I enjoy hearing Waiting For The Worms and The Trial because radio won't play those songs and somewhere in the mix lies Toni Tennile from you know who adding some backing vocals. Perhaps Robert Christgau has a point of not getting the plot of the story or the music but he said the music wasn't bad. I don't know, The Wall, (the Cd) remains a good listen and getting either the Columbia 1997 remaster or for that matter the latter day Harvest or Pink Floyd Music probably has better sound, but when I watch Pink Floyd The Wall (the movie) it left me cold and a bit disturbed, especially toward the end and the movie didn't work for me. But The Wall, the album should be in your collection, just like Dark Side Of The Moon. I have one but for the other, unless I find it for a 1.99 or less, I can live without it.
Grade B+
Townedger Radio 29 Broadcast (4-20-17) On Lucky Star Radio
https://www.mixcloud.com/LuckyStarRadio/townedger-radio-29/
Playlist:
Asshole-Denis Leary
Mother In Law-Ernie K Doe
Good Lovin-The Olympics
Turn On Your Love Light-The Human Beinz
Rocking The Clock-The Open Highway Band
Shitty Record Deal-The Bloodhound Gang
U Can't Touch This-The Wapsipinicon Dreamers
Get Out Of Denver-Bob Seger
It Wasn't Me-Chuck Berry
Take A Look At The Boy-Izzy Stratlin and Ronnie Wood
It's Never Too Late-Steppenwolf
No Expectations-The Rolling Stones
Country Girls Ain't Cheap-Trailer Radio
I Can't Sleep-The La's
A Stranger To Himself-The Townedgers
Scream-Collective Soul
Ugly-Fishbone
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Week In Review: J.Geils, Hall Of Fame notes, Ann Shaw
(From Ultimate Classic Rock)
Been busy doing other things but the highlight of the Rock Hall Of Fame honors had to be Geddy Lee playing bass on Roundabout with YES. While that is going on, Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman renamed themselves YES featuring ARW. And basically the official YES band had to consent, since Jon Anderson owns part of the name. Other notes was seeing Journey reunite with Steve Perry on stage, with Ainsley Dunbar being part of the band and Greg Rolie. While Perry was gracious with the honor and thanking each and everybody of the band, he didn't take the stage. However, Neil Schon did find time to add Dunbar and Rolie into part of Journey set. David Letterman did give the speech inducting Pearl Jam. And of course ELO and Joan Baez had their moments too.
(Photo:AP) (L to R: Steve Smith, Ross Valory, Anysley Dunbar, Greg Rolie, Neil Schon, Jon Cain)
(plus the other guy: Steve Perry, Photo:Getty Images)
John Warren Geils, aka J.Geils who played in his namesake band was found dead in his home Tuesday, he was 71. He was part of the blues rock band that made the classic Live Full House album of 1973. While they had hits for Atlantic, their career took over, going over to EMI America for three albums, best known was Freeze Frame which had their number 1 hit Centerfold, which featured Martha Quinn as one of the girls in the video. Of course MTV played that video every hour on the hour and that song remains a Corporate Rock Staple. After Peter Wolf left for a solo career, the band made one album and broke up, Geils joining up with Magic Dick to do a few blues albums. When the band got back together, Geils filed a lawsuit trying to stop them from using J Geils Band name but failed, to which afterward he quit the band.
Reality wise, the Failed Reality Star is shooting Tomahawk Missles at Syria and basically putting pot holes in their runway. In the meantime, gas prices has shot up 30 cents in two weeks, which means since we have GOP oil barons running things, we'll be back up to 4 dollar gas again. The main story was the antics of United Airlines, which continues to overbook flights and uproot people trying to get to their destination. On a flight to Louisville, the story was that United had four workers needing to get their for some reason and United tried to bribe passengers with tepid pocket change, offering 400 dollars, then 800 dollars and still no takers. So then a computer chose four unlucky people, one of which was a so called Doctor that had a shady past but was a good poker player, somehow he was the chosen one to which the goon squad came on board and forced him off. Of course the CEO of United blamed the doctor for being disruptive but once social media showed what really happened he was forced to make another apology. But no matter, the damage has been done and United sucked as a airline anyway. Tales of lost baggage, busted guitars and the usual body searches on flight has really forced me never to fly them again. One Arizona trip they managed to bungle my return flight home and I basically had to spend a night at Sky Harbor before getting on a late night flight and making it home just in time for the morning rush hour traffic. Southwest is contemplating a new slogan, Southwestern: beating the competition, not our customers. However, they been known to bump a few off the plane as well. I didn't mind using Allegiant till they started five dollaring me to death on seat choices and carry on fees. So in essence if I decide to hit the desert I may as well rent a car.
The new music today, I only reviewed four total and outside of wanting to hear the Chuck Berry album and Buckingham McVie, it's going to be slim pickings. There really hasn't been much out there that has impressed me all that much. Sometimes something will come out of the way in internet land and perhaps one of the better songs I heard comes from Scotland born, Hawaii based rock and roller Ann Shaw, who's latest single In Drive, could basically be played on country radio as well. I'd love to hear more songs from her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys71yKH272o
(Photo: Ann Shaw Music)
Come to think of it, Ann might have better luck getting this on Country Radio, given how lame Modern Rock has become. Best of luck Ann. You can find her at Facebook, she's very good at responding to your requests as well. Plus she has plenty of pictures of her as well.
Since I have been working the past couple weeks, I have not have much time doing the Bargain Hunts and Half Priced Books hasn't had much in the dollar bins. But there's always next week.
Changes continue for the New Bo District, which means I may have to find a new path to do my walking at since they have plans to turn the green area which has been that way since the flood of 2008 into more pricey condos and apartments. Plans call for extending 16th Avenue to St. Wincelaus Church, with of course another roundabout as well. Guess we don't have enough of the fucking things as is. It also brings up finally turning the abandoned Sinclair bridge (half eaten away by the 2008 flood) into a walk/bike trail bridge, all fun and good till the next big flood comes around. I will miss walking on the old sidewalks that used to be in front of my friend's house Dennis Pusateri's and more memories lost in the name of progress. All this crap slated to be done by the end of the year.
More passings: Banner Thomas, bass player for Molly Hatchet died from Pneumonia Tuesday. He was 63. Keni Richards, drummer for Autograph died from a short illness on Monday, he was 60.
Bob Wooten, long time guitarist for Johnny Cash's Tennessee Three replacing Wayne Perkins died Sunday, He was 75.
It seems to me that all but Dave Hlubek and Steve Roland from the original Molly Hatchet band are now jamming in the great beyond. Banner Thomas joins, Duane Roland, Danny Joe Brown, Bruce Crump and Riff West, and if you can hear the wind just right, you can hear the beginning of Flirting With Disaster.
Rock Candy the metal reissue import label has taken the task of reissuing the last three Columbia albums from Frank Marino, What's Next, The Power Of Rock And Roll and Juggernaut. While fans might be happy to finally get these albums, Marino distanced himself and cited ongoing problems with Sony Music and didn't contributed his thoughts on the subject. Thing about this is that Marino said the recording masters were subpar and he's right. What's Next suffered greatly from a very tinny and distorted mix and Power Of Rock And Roll was not much better. If you look at the history of Frank's albums starting with Maxoom, he was more into the guitar playing side of things. Maxoom is still somewhat corny as Frank demonstrated a love of Axis: Bold As Love Hendrix but Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe I consider to be his best albums. Frank continues to promote these albums over the Columbia LP, starting with Mahogany Rush 4 up till Juggernaut album. On his website Frank has warmed up better on The Power Of Rock And Roll although he's still not a fan of the title track or wanker cover art, but if given a better remaster or mix the record would be a better listen. All three albums are a good three star rating.
Marshall Chess on Chuck Berry's Funeral: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/features/7760376/marshall-chess-chuck-berry-funeral-interview
Ten Best J. Geils Band Songs:
It's easy to stick Centerfold up at number one, but since I have a disdain for it, you won't see it on my ten best. In essence that song did change the band to MTV wonderkinds and it may have to do with the implosion of the band. Plus it didn't help they were on EMI America, the worst label to be on. So what to decide on the best of the bunch? The songs that got me interested in the first place. Centerfold remains a fun song, likewise Freeze Frame but I'm sick of hearing both. Your 10 best will vary.
1) First I Look At The Purse (Live Full House)
While people say the Blow Your Face Out was the better of the live albums, Full House was much rougher and to the point. The studio version hinted what the band could be, the live version shows why J. Geils Band and Peter Wolf were the best live acts at that time. You can make a case for Looking For A Love.
2) Give It To Me- (Bloodshot)
The single version and the album version are different. The album version cuts into a major jam, but the single version sounded quite nice on AM radio too.
3) Looking For A Love-(The Morning After)
The song that I first heard by these guys and it was played on WLS. None of the stations played this song. I think I'm more prone into the guys wailing it out back in the early 70s rather than the MTV era.
4) Rage In The Cage (Freeze Frame)
The only song from that album that echoes from the past with raging harmonica and call and response from the band. It was a B side to Centerfold.
5) I Don't Need You No More (The Morning After)
Actually the single before Looking For A Love but got pulled at the last minute, it's your typical Geils rocker and perhaps Whammer Jammer, might have been the better choice. But those Rave ups that this band did will win me over more so than Harmonica Jams.
6) Ain't Nothing But A House Party (Bloodshot)
This band always had an open ear to cover other songs of note and they chose this obscure cut from the Show Stoppers, this got played a few times on FM radio.
7) I Do (Monkey Island)
Another cover from another unknown band The Marvellows, this originally was on Monkey Island, to which that album begins the transition from bar band to a more modern rock sound. Monkey Island sold very poorly and eventually Atlantic dropped this band. This became a modest hit on the Showtime live album in 1982.
8) One Last Kiss (Sanctuary)
After being let go by Atlantic, they signed on to EMI America and they made a underground classic record with Sanctuary to which the band expanded on what they were doing on the Monkey Island. It turned out to be a fine song with a hooky chorus. I don't have this as a single but I did find the two followups, Take It Back and Wildman for a quarter when Sam Goody was getting rid of unwanted 45s.
9) I Musta Gotten Lost (Nightmares And Tales From The Vinyl Jungle)
Again, the single version and album version differ, I never heard the album version till I bought Nightmares and promptly liked it more. Most radio stations still play the single cut. J. Geils Band were perfect at creating the R and B sound when they wanted to and this original does pay tribute to the soul bands of long ago and far away.
10) Love Stinks (Love Stinks)
With Love Stinks, J. Geils Band went full bore into new wave and while fans and critics were scratching their heads over that move, they did managed to put some interesting stuff on this album, including the anti Valentine's Day number that gets played from time to time.
Honorable Mentions:
No Anchovies Please (Love Stinks)
Stoop Down 39 (Nightmares)
Love Itis (Hot Line)
Whammer Jammer (Full House)
Freeze Frame (Freeze Frame)
Detroit Breakdown (Nightmares)
Cry One More Time (The Morning After)
Hard Driving Man (The J. Geils Band)
Southside Shuffle (Bloodshot)
Monkey Island (Monkey Island)
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Reunited In Heaven-A Love Story
The hearts and souls of Jerry C. Williams and Patsy C. Williams are united together forever in Heaven.
Jerry Williams born December 10, 1943, in Springerville, Arizona passed away October 18, 2016 in Reno, Nevada. He was 73. His wife of 54 years followed her beloved husband when she passed away in Reno, Nevada, just three months later on January 25, 2017 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Pat was 74.
Jerry and Pat met at Morenci, Arizona High School. Jerry was an athlete lettering in all the sports he participated in. He was a football star scoring many touchdowns for the Morenci, Arizona Wildcats in the position of halfback. Jerry was also a basketball star, as well as a star member of the track and field team. These athletic accomplishments earned him a scholarship at Western New Mexico University in Silver City where he studied engineering.
Throughout their lives, Pat always cheered Jerry on. In high school, Pat was on the sidelines as a cheerleader all four years of high school. She was also involved in many high school plays participated in the drama club, the Girl’s Glee Club, Student Council and many other clubs.
Jerry began working at the age of 12 delivering milk before school to support his love of sports and his goal to buy a red Chevrolet truck, which he did. He spent his summers working on his family’s farm in the White Mountains of New Mexico. Jerry and his brother, Jim Williams, of Luna, New Mexico, began their farming chores at daybreak so the two could explore the White Mountains and fish and hunt together in the afternoons.
Pat often picked cotton in the summers alongside her family, two brothers and two sisters and their mother in Safford, Arizona where she was born October 2, 1943, before moving to Morenci, Arizona.
Married in 1962 in Morenci, Arizona, the two raised three daughters, Malinda Reaves of Kingman, Arizona and Henderson, Nevada, Patty Hulbert and Penny Adams of Reno, Nevada.
Being parents was their most beloved position. Together they provided their children with weekend trips to many unique locations throughout Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada. Summer weekends were spent water skiing on Lake Havasu in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The many adventures exploring these unique locations, provide stories, which will be retold for generations to come. The best gift they gave their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was the priceless gift of their time and tremendous love, as well as an appreciation of the little things in life that matter so much.
Jerry retired in 2014 from the Mohave County Engineering Department in Kingman, Arizona. Prior to this position, Jerry had many jobs in engineering that provided him the opportunity to move his family to many towns throughout Arizona and Nevada. He also worked as the Chief Survey Engineer at Anaconda Minerals Company in Tonopah, Nevada before relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada to work as the Mine Superintendent at Viceroy Gold Corporation just outside of Searchlight, Nevada.
In 2003, Jerry and Pat returned to their dream town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona until moving to Reno, Nevada in 2015 to be close to their two daughters and grandchildren.
Pat worked at the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Kingman, Arizona. She also worked as an executive secretary at Anaconda Minerals Corporation and Citi Bank in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her favorite position was that of wife and mother. She was a Girl Scout leader and a daily volunteer while her children were in elementary school. Pat had old-fashioned values. She sewed her children’s clothes, baked chocolate-chip cookies, prepared wonderful family dinners and endless amounts of Christmas treats for all of her family.
Together Jerry and Pat coached a Bobby Sox team in Safford, Arizona.The team they coached went undefeated in each of the two seasons the two coached.
Jerry and Pat are also survived by four granddaughters and two grandsons, as well as two great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter.
They are also survived by their beloved German-Short-Hair Pointer, Reyah Blue. Reyah was Jerry’s pride and joy and bird hunting partner. She provided Jerry and Pat much happiness during their last years. Reyah was their best companion; later Reyah learned to be their service dog.
Always remember it is the little things that matter most. Our hearts are broken but we have their everlasting love in our hearts.
Services for Pat and Jerry will be private. Donations in the name of Patsy C. Williams to the Parkinson’s disease research organizations would be appreciated.
Jerry Williams born December 10, 1943, in Springerville, Arizona passed away October 18, 2016 in Reno, Nevada. He was 73. His wife of 54 years followed her beloved husband when she passed away in Reno, Nevada, just three months later on January 25, 2017 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Pat was 74.
Jerry and Pat met at Morenci, Arizona High School. Jerry was an athlete lettering in all the sports he participated in. He was a football star scoring many touchdowns for the Morenci, Arizona Wildcats in the position of halfback. Jerry was also a basketball star, as well as a star member of the track and field team. These athletic accomplishments earned him a scholarship at Western New Mexico University in Silver City where he studied engineering.
Throughout their lives, Pat always cheered Jerry on. In high school, Pat was on the sidelines as a cheerleader all four years of high school. She was also involved in many high school plays participated in the drama club, the Girl’s Glee Club, Student Council and many other clubs.
Jerry began working at the age of 12 delivering milk before school to support his love of sports and his goal to buy a red Chevrolet truck, which he did. He spent his summers working on his family’s farm in the White Mountains of New Mexico. Jerry and his brother, Jim Williams, of Luna, New Mexico, began their farming chores at daybreak so the two could explore the White Mountains and fish and hunt together in the afternoons.
Pat often picked cotton in the summers alongside her family, two brothers and two sisters and their mother in Safford, Arizona where she was born October 2, 1943, before moving to Morenci, Arizona.
Married in 1962 in Morenci, Arizona, the two raised three daughters, Malinda Reaves of Kingman, Arizona and Henderson, Nevada, Patty Hulbert and Penny Adams of Reno, Nevada.
Being parents was their most beloved position. Together they provided their children with weekend trips to many unique locations throughout Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada. Summer weekends were spent water skiing on Lake Havasu in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The many adventures exploring these unique locations, provide stories, which will be retold for generations to come. The best gift they gave their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was the priceless gift of their time and tremendous love, as well as an appreciation of the little things in life that matter so much.
Jerry retired in 2014 from the Mohave County Engineering Department in Kingman, Arizona. Prior to this position, Jerry had many jobs in engineering that provided him the opportunity to move his family to many towns throughout Arizona and Nevada. He also worked as the Chief Survey Engineer at Anaconda Minerals Company in Tonopah, Nevada before relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada to work as the Mine Superintendent at Viceroy Gold Corporation just outside of Searchlight, Nevada.
In 2003, Jerry and Pat returned to their dream town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona until moving to Reno, Nevada in 2015 to be close to their two daughters and grandchildren.
Pat worked at the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Kingman, Arizona. She also worked as an executive secretary at Anaconda Minerals Corporation and Citi Bank in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her favorite position was that of wife and mother. She was a Girl Scout leader and a daily volunteer while her children were in elementary school. Pat had old-fashioned values. She sewed her children’s clothes, baked chocolate-chip cookies, prepared wonderful family dinners and endless amounts of Christmas treats for all of her family.
Together Jerry and Pat coached a Bobby Sox team in Safford, Arizona.The team they coached went undefeated in each of the two seasons the two coached.
Jerry and Pat are also survived by four granddaughters and two grandsons, as well as two great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter.
They are also survived by their beloved German-Short-Hair Pointer, Reyah Blue. Reyah was Jerry’s pride and joy and bird hunting partner. She provided Jerry and Pat much happiness during their last years. Reyah was their best companion; later Reyah learned to be their service dog.
Always remember it is the little things that matter most. Our hearts are broken but we have their everlasting love in our hearts.
Services for Pat and Jerry will be private. Donations in the name of Patsy C. Williams to the Parkinson’s disease research organizations would be appreciated.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Week In Review: Justin Case Returns, U Conn Out, The Tearaways
It's been a slow news week here as you can tell from the last time we chatted. Plenty of work at my regular place of employment and lack of interest of the music news has really made me indifferent. Plus the fact that Blogspot counter can't be counted on the ratings games, since the top five blogs are the same top five blogs from December. Looks good on the views though, I cleared 6,000.
Your final two for the Women's Championship, South Carolina and Mississippi State, who bounced U Conn out the door with a last second shot to win 66-64 and shut down the 111 game winning streak of U Conn. Morgan Williams hit a 15 foot shot to overcome that and poor officiating that gave The Huskies two FTs to tie the game. Strange how in 111 games won, that even the U Conn fans were looking at this loss as something special and even Geno had a wry smile and calmly mentioned that Mississippi State was the better team. It's a revenge game since U Conn destroyed the same team last year and won by 60 points. This time out Mississippi State played with a vengeance. Don't cry for U Conn, they were in rebuilding mode with a new set of players but in due time they'll return to their winning ways again. Geno will see to that. South Carolina beat Mississippi State for the NCAA title of best overall.
(Photo: Peter Stark- Justin Case at Rumors 4/7/17)
(L to R: Layne Goldsberry, Terry McDowell with the big smile, Karl, Hudson, Peter Cacioppo, Ryan Ruling)
Karl Hudson has been back in Cedar Rapids for almost half a year and he has been very busy hosting acoustic jams in town as well as his own shows and playing in The Buzz but he has reformed Justin Case with Peter C (the keyboard player who's last name is always hard to type out), the ever busy Terry McDowell (drummer for Flex, Threshold, Lab Rats, Toxic Blonde, The Mutts, The Townedgers etc etc) and Avery Riot's Ryan Ruling and will make their presence known at Cedar River Landing. Justin Case always have the fun slogan Justin Case: Just In Case You Like To Rock And Roll and will be another way to hear Wanted Dead Or Alive in their own arrangement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx1TuKBha1M
(From Kenny Arnoff via Twitter)
Sometimes if you wait long enough you might get some newsworthy people following you on Twitter. One of them is Kenny Arnoff, the legendary drummer extraordinaire for John Mellencamp and choice drummer for The Bo Deans decided to be a part of Crabb followers. I always enjoyed his drumming and he managed to play on a bunch of classic stuff from the likes of Richard Thompson, Brother Phelps, Mitch Ryder, John Fogerty. And basically my cymbal lineup comes from what he plays, K crashes and such.
The other major follower is The Tearaways a band heavily influenced by Revolver era Beatles, Badfinger, the Hollies and everything and anything that's good about power pop. I came across them via the International Pop Overthrow compilations of the early 90s and Rhino when they did their Power Pop Hits of the 90s managed to put Jessica Something on that. I was surprised that they were interested enough in me to follow back. The first album that I bought from them was 1999's In Your Ear, which had a ready made hit single Angelyne and The Living End which they damn near came close to bridge the Beatles and Tom Petty all together. While their discography list 7 albums, the ones that I know about are 1993's See The Sound and 1996 De La Vina, both would figure into the other two albums. The Ground's The Limit is See The Sound with three new tracks and a more polished mix, In Your Ear, takes the best cuts from De La Vina. I suppose I might be one of a select that does have all four albums but I can see why The Tearaways went a change of songs and led The Ground The Limit album with Can't Get Through, which would have made a nice following up single to Jessica Something, to which sometimes gets played on Little Steven's Underground Garage. Out of all the power pop bands of the 1990s, I believe The Tearaways were one of the best of duplicating the Badfinger/Beatles sound but since they were never on a major label, they remained under the radar. A new collection of the Earle Mankey Session (volume 7 already?) is due for release in 2017 but it's Japan only. Japanese people tend to like power pop better than the US counterparts. Although I have not heard anything from them since 1999's In Your Ear, I will try to locate whatever missing albums for future reference. As it stands the grades remain A- for See The Sound, In Your Ear and The Ground's The Limit and a B Plus for De La Vina. A shout out and thanks to the guys in the band, and John Ferriter for keeping it power pop and of course Kenny for being a first rate drummer.
The American Country Music Awards happened Sunday Night and in reality, it's not much to talk about. Jason Aldean, Entertainer Of The Year (Bwahahaha), FGL with single of the year with H O L Y (Throw the periods in if you want, but it's still a shitty song), Thomas Rhett won two awards, and if one thought Carrie Underwood would get the best of Miranda Lambert, one is wrong since Miranda won two awards, the female vocalist of the year award (she has a lock on that) and her latest album won Album of the year, a shock really, considering how I thought it was her worst album of all time. Brothers Osborne was best new group and best duo, Little Big Town, best vocal group of the year, Lori McKenna best songwriter and Maren Morris best new female vocalist and Jon Pardi best new male vocalist. And that's as far as I go on this. Farce The Music does a better job of slamming Jason, FGL and Thomas Rhett. Just for the record, Miranda Lambert has won best female vocalist of the year eight straight years, even with a subpar album Miranda still kicks butt. Congratulations!
Passings: Lonnie Brooks, Chicago bluesman, died of natural causes over the weekend, He was 83.
Paul O'Neil, founder of the Trans Siberian Orchestra and producer (Testament) died Wednesday of a chronic illness, he was 61.
Don Rickles, legendary actor/comedian/observationist, famous for the audience insults of the 50s and 60s died of Kidney Failure at age 90 on Wed.
David Peel, I can't consider him a singer but he's famous for Have A Marijuana LP that came out on Elektra and Real Gone issued it a few years ago and Peel autographed it. He died from complications from a heart attack on Thursday, he was 73. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-peel-subversive-folk-singer-dead-at-73-w475653
In terms of reissues 2017 promises to revisit some of the old classics. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were left off the original Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album due to time considerations. Over the years I have looked at that album with admiration from far away and calling it the greatest B plus album in music history. It's like Dark Side Of The Moon but unlike Dark Side, Sgt Pepper has plenty of its own uses, and that I actually did buy Sgt Pepper when I found it for a dollar back when Pawn America was selling CDs. While the new reissue adds more of Ringo Starr's drums out in the forefront and adds the two omitted Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane, it will not make me buy it all over again, unless I find it for two dollars at a thrift store. I always thought the original album was missing something, it turns out those two songs would have finally elevate it to an A album. It means nothing to other ears though.
On the other side of things, Rhino is continuing to super size Bad Company albums with the reissue of Run With The Pack and Burning Sky. Unless you're a audiophile completest you really don't need the upgrade. Run With The Pack I still like but only as a single album, the less said about Burning Sky the better. I think there's a blog on Bad Company that I put up a few years ago that explains it better,but I'll say this, I like Run With The Pack better than Straight Shooter but true that Pack that the band was beginning to wing it, though the jammy Honey Child has been a favorite of mine as Sweet Little Sister. Burning Sky on the other hand shows the band in a creative funk, to which Mick Ralphs didn't write many songs and the band overrelied on Paul Rodgers to come up with the songs. Outside of the title track, the rest is forgettable. But it is better than Rough Diamonds, but compare it to the Brian Howe era albums Holy Water and Dangerous Age, those two were much better than Burning Sky. Coming soon, Rhino will probably issue Desolation Angels and the bad Rough Diamonds in double disc form. And we all know that the world will be waiting outside the local record store to pick up Rough Diamonds when it comes out. Not.
Which begs the question and yes, yet another Foreigner best of is coming out next month. It's called Foreigner 40, which might be their 40th album of greatest hits repackaged. It certainly doesn't feel like the first time for a band that just might be the most repackaged band in rock history. Although The Who might be coming within striking distance for best ofs too.
Speaking of criss crossings of labels, The Bee Gees will be reissuing their albums all over again. After pulling their stuff from Polydor/Universal, they moved over to Reprise for a few years are now back on Universal via Capitol (it really pointless to continue to ping pong from one of the three major labels just to get the new and improved reissue, no wonder the music industry is dying) with yet another greatest hits compilation called (what else) Timeless. If you haven't gotten any of the best ofs, it's a nice start to hear the hits all over again. But I don't see the need to replace the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack that I got for two dollars at Half Priced Books. In the meantime, Rock Candy is putting out the last of the Frank Marino Columbia albums, Live, What's Next, The Power Of Rock And Roll and Juggernaut, the last three never issued in the US (and still haven't since Rock Candy is an import label). While Rock Candy reached out to Frank for putting together the liner notes, Frank politely declinded, he's had a acrimonious relationship to CBS/Sony Music for many years and has refused to listen to any of those albums, saying that they sounded inferior in the first place. He's got a point, they have sounded distorted and poorly mastered, even though George (no relation to Frank) Marino did the job. We all love Frank's guitar playing of the past but if he is not listening to these albums, there's something wrong about that. http://www.jungleroom.com/frankmarino.html
Singles Going Steady Medley: Last of the worthwhile 45s at Salvation Army in CR
A couple weeks ago I put out a double album's worth of Singles Going Steady, the Salvation Army 45 cent finds, perhaps the most bizarre of all singles going steady blog of all time and 150 people managed to take a peek at that. Three weeks later, I decided to see what was left and there was still some finds of note, in fact out of all the 45s I put back, all but four of them were still up there. Somebody did snagged Blueberry Hill from Hank Crawford, but it was a good thing that I did pick up the original batch of 45s anyway. Nice to get that Kenny Owen I Got The Bug rockabilly number.
But again, not much in terms of rock, but pop and country and bluegrass. These are scrapings of the bottom of the barrel. A six pack of Toonz.
1) Tell All The World About You-Peggy Lee (Capitol 4812) 1962
What radio station that used to have this record plastered it was a few stickers to which A-1134 became 2620 to Capitol 4812 and yet it still didn't place in the pop charts. Peggy Lee had some success covering Ray Charles with Hallelujah I Love Him So (#77 in 1959) and she brings a professional and passionate vocals to this Benny Carter Arrangement, the drummer does sound like Earl Palmer. Very lively indeed. B side Amazing, is not.
2) Wind-Slim Whitman (Imperial X8328) 1960
In the course of this year, I've bought a few 45's from Frank Ifield, but amazingly in my lifetime anything Slim Whitman was bought on orders from my dad who loved to sing that trademark Slim Yodel but came to find out that the more beers Daddy drank, the less he sounded like Slim and more like somebody in pain to call 911. While it was true that Slim had the biggest selling hit single in Britian, that came about in 1955 with Rose Marie that stayed number 1 for 11 weeks! In the US, it made number 2. Slim did have hits on the country side but he's only had one that placed in the top 100, I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (#93 1957). Wind was written by Bob (Cool Water) Nolan, and has that dry desert type of western sound complete with fake wind and that yodel that destroyed many a invading Martian. Slim did have a long dry spell with the hits till 1965 when Younger Than Yesterday hit number 8. As you recall, Frank Ifield had a top ten hit with I Remember You (#5 1962), which sounded like a dead ringer for the Slim master yodel, so Slim did his own version of I Remember You, which crawled to number 49 on the country charts, and a lowly 134 on the Billboard Bubbling under. Still, Slim Whitman continue to have enough success to still be on Imperial till they folded into Liberty, then United Artists, then they eventually dropped him. Thanks to late night TV and All My Best, Slim Whitman became a cult artist and sold enough of that album for Cleveland International/Epic to sign him for a few albums. And had a number 15 country hit with When and another attempt to do I Remember You made it to number 44 in 1981. The yodel was silenced forever in 2013 but Slim still lives on, on scratchy records and dad still trying to copy that yodel.
3) Memories, Memories-Joanie Sommers (Warner Brothers 5339) 1963
I guess she was Warner Brothers attempt to turn her into another Connie Francis but it didn't work. She had a number 7 hit with Johnny Get Angry but that was all she wrote for Joanie. This is a uptempo number complete with rabid banjo playing toward the end. Cheesy production by Stan Applebaum. B Side Since Randy Moved Away, ho hum bland ballad.
4) Think Again-Patti Page (Mercury 73249) #38 country 1971
The Patti Page that I come to know started going more toward country at the end of her first time at Mercury, then she went to Columbia for a few years before returning back to Jerry Kennedy and Mercury. A nice ballad from Jerry Foster and Bill Rice, even better was the B side A Woman Left Lonely written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.
5) A Field Of Yellow Daises-Charlie Rich (Mercury 73498) #23 Country 1974
To capitalize on the number 1 hit single Behind Closed Doors and Most Beautiful Woman In The World, his former labels would issue their own singles from past sessions and Mercury was no different. Charlie benefited from getting great songs from his wife Margaret Ann who wrote Yellow Daises. I tend to like the Jerry Kennedy produced version better than the sappy and sugary production of Billy Sherrill. Originally this recording came from the era he was signed to Smash Records, but in 1974 Mercury issued two singles with so so success. B side Party Girl is not one of Rich's better songs. Ray Stevens doesn't help with the dated arrangements either.
6) Gonna Have Myself A Ball-Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (Columbia 4-43259) 1965
Their sort of bluegrass didn't quite fit with the hard honky tonk of country radio and the Bakersfield sound and Johnny Cash but dammit, Flatt and Scruggs made some fine singles for Columbia, this was one of the better ones before Earl Scruggs started cramming Bob Dylan songs down Lester's throat and Lester wanted a more simple and countryfied type of bluegrass playing to which they would break up a few years later. B Side Rock Salt And Nails is on the Versatile Flatt And Scruggs, a very underrated album.
7) These Are Not My People-Freddy Weller (Columbia 4-44916) #5 Country 1969
For a few years Weller played guitar in the late 60's edition of Paul Revere And The Raiders but always came across as somebody that could play country and managed to convince Columbia to give him a shot at that. He had a top ten hit with Games People Play before doing another cover of a Joe South number that hit number 5 but in this day and age you'd never know. Weller had some success with country music and seemed to be better suited for that rather than the pop rock of The Raiders. Some of his better songs were Bar Wars and Stone Crazy, from a one off album with Dot records in 1975 which explains why Collector's Choice couldn't put on a best of CD, Universal either asked too much or the compiler forgot about Stone Crazy. Overall, Weller's best of is pleasant country rock but a tad bit too friendly
8) Fallen Angel-Poison (Enigma/Capitol B-44191) #12 1988
To conclude this medley, I offer to you perhaps the best of the power pop hair metal from Poison. By this time I quit buying 45s in favor of CDs and albums and while I never will be a fan of Poison, some of their songs do have a bit of melody to them. Of course what made the song go was the video, to which the labels did put a bit of money into them. MTV would play this video about five times in a day too. Poison's glory time was 1988 and Fallen Angel didn't chart as well as of course Talk Dirty To Me or Nothing But A Good Time. I think KRNA does play Talk Dirty To Me and of course the signature Every Rose Has Its Thorn. And of course the band did copy Motley Crue in destroying a AM classic, in such case they tackled Your Mama Don't Dance and it sounded like a trainwreck in progress. Like labelmates, The Smithereens, Poison was part of Enigma/Restless Records and was the best selling of both bands. When Enigma got shut down (or sold to IRS), Capitol then took both the Smithereens and Poison, the latter band better promoted. I don't know, in hair metal, Motley Crue was the more harder rocking band, Poison seemed to be more pop and radio friendly although Bret Michaels and CC DeVille have always have a toxic relationship. Once Nirvana and the Seattle music scene took over, hair metal got pushed to the back seat and tensions between CC and the band got bad that CC left and Richie Kotzen took over for one album which flopped. Fallen Angel has that Night Ranger sound of harmonies and CC's band Samantha 7 had one album produced by Jack Blades. Poison still makes the rock and roll news (will they or will they not get together again and tour) and Bret Michaels has been a regular on the Casino music tour. 30 years onward Poison never dies.
Album from my youth: Whitesnake (Geffen 1987)
This is the record that changed David Coverdale's band from a Deep Purple sound of R and B into ear shattering hard rock and roll and on the opening riff to the remake of Crying In The Rain, Coverdale means business. Of course it's well known that Coverdale (with Glenn Hughes) replaced Ian Gillan in Deep Purple and made three albums of varying degree, the classic Burn, the uneven Stormbringer and somewhere in the middle Come Taste The Band but when Purple broke up, Coverdale form Whitesnake and evenutally recruited the late Jon Lord on keyboards and Ian Paice on drums. And in reality I think Ready And Willing remains Coverdale's finest moment, at no where on that album you would hear the hard hair metal but with each passing album they would get a bit more harder with replacement players taking over (Mel Gallery and John Sykes would replace Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden, Cozy Powell in for Paice on Slide It In, that record foretold the future better. But by 1986, Coverdale decided to go full Zeppelin and Sykes would be the lead guitarist. Anysley Dunbar (recently inducted in the Rock Hall Of Fame with Journey) might have done his best over all heavy metal drumming, he tears it up on Crying In The Rain, originally a more Deep Purple bluesy ballad on Saints And Sinners, their 1982 album available as a import for many years before Geffen reissued it due to the success of the S/T album. Next song Bad Boys continues the high voltage rock and roll before leading into their hit single Still Of The Night, which rewrites Black Dog, but then after that, the record simply falls apart. Certainly lame ballad Here I Go Again is nice to hear once in a great while and it sounds better on a Hair Metal Ballads CDs than it does here. Side 2 never really jells for me all that much, Coverdale doesn't stray far from the horn dog lyrics he's been known for, not a lot of thought goes into Gimme All Your Love nor Straight From The Heart and we treated to two more bland ballads in Is This Love and Don't Turn Away. Overall, in the history of this album, there's been a love hate thing about this, if Coverdale would have continue the smash and bash of the first three songs of side 1 this would be a metal classic, in reality this record is a minor metal classic, but when MTV wanted big budget videos, they managed to get Twany Kitaen, super model babe turned psycho, since her marriage to Coverdale went into the toilet and she eventually married Chuck Finley to which that didn't last either. Neither did this lineup, Dunbar bowing out, replaced by Tommy Aldridge and Neil Murray by Rudy Szaro and Sykes moved on to form his own band Blue Murder and Adrian Vandenberg and Steve Vai became the new guitar players and Whitesnake became hair metal goofballs for the crappy Slip Of The Tongue album, an album I played once and got rid off an having bought it again. In these days, Whitesnake's album remains easy to find in the dollar bins and at your local Goodwill store and at times it is fun to play the first two songs and bring out the devil horns but I have no use for Here I Go Again or the ballads. In the long run, the era which Coverdale was keeping the DP sound alive works better for me rather than the all out Zeppelin assault of the S/T album and later ones. And in reality, Coverdale get did lucky with the Kitaen video shots as well as being there at the right time. And found a perfect producer of bombast in the late Mike Stone (although Keith Olsen was co producer, but I'm sure he's more responsible for the ballads on the album). I may not hate it as much as Robert Christgau did when he bashed it but as I get older I don't really see the need to have this on my shelf. But in my wild youth, Whitesnake did serve a purpose for me, they were the alternative to Motley Crue (to which Whitesnake opened up in a 1988 concert at the Five Seasons Center). Just in case if I managed to get lucky with a woman into hair metal I could put Whitesnake, the album to good use, especially on the bland ballads. But that never happened. So let's consider the S/T album a period piece of good times and wet dreams of Tawny Kitaen. But 30 years on, people are going to wonder what the fascination was in the first place. You really had to be there.
Grade B-
A now, a few words about Sonny Lott From Todd Stein.
Your final two for the Women's Championship, South Carolina and Mississippi State, who bounced U Conn out the door with a last second shot to win 66-64 and shut down the 111 game winning streak of U Conn. Morgan Williams hit a 15 foot shot to overcome that and poor officiating that gave The Huskies two FTs to tie the game. Strange how in 111 games won, that even the U Conn fans were looking at this loss as something special and even Geno had a wry smile and calmly mentioned that Mississippi State was the better team. It's a revenge game since U Conn destroyed the same team last year and won by 60 points. This time out Mississippi State played with a vengeance. Don't cry for U Conn, they were in rebuilding mode with a new set of players but in due time they'll return to their winning ways again. Geno will see to that. South Carolina beat Mississippi State for the NCAA title of best overall.
(Photo: Peter Stark- Justin Case at Rumors 4/7/17)
(L to R: Layne Goldsberry, Terry McDowell with the big smile, Karl, Hudson, Peter Cacioppo, Ryan Ruling)
Karl Hudson has been back in Cedar Rapids for almost half a year and he has been very busy hosting acoustic jams in town as well as his own shows and playing in The Buzz but he has reformed Justin Case with Peter C (the keyboard player who's last name is always hard to type out), the ever busy Terry McDowell (drummer for Flex, Threshold, Lab Rats, Toxic Blonde, The Mutts, The Townedgers etc etc) and Avery Riot's Ryan Ruling and will make their presence known at Cedar River Landing. Justin Case always have the fun slogan Justin Case: Just In Case You Like To Rock And Roll and will be another way to hear Wanted Dead Or Alive in their own arrangement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx1TuKBha1M
(From Kenny Arnoff via Twitter)
Sometimes if you wait long enough you might get some newsworthy people following you on Twitter. One of them is Kenny Arnoff, the legendary drummer extraordinaire for John Mellencamp and choice drummer for The Bo Deans decided to be a part of Crabb followers. I always enjoyed his drumming and he managed to play on a bunch of classic stuff from the likes of Richard Thompson, Brother Phelps, Mitch Ryder, John Fogerty. And basically my cymbal lineup comes from what he plays, K crashes and such.
The other major follower is The Tearaways a band heavily influenced by Revolver era Beatles, Badfinger, the Hollies and everything and anything that's good about power pop. I came across them via the International Pop Overthrow compilations of the early 90s and Rhino when they did their Power Pop Hits of the 90s managed to put Jessica Something on that. I was surprised that they were interested enough in me to follow back. The first album that I bought from them was 1999's In Your Ear, which had a ready made hit single Angelyne and The Living End which they damn near came close to bridge the Beatles and Tom Petty all together. While their discography list 7 albums, the ones that I know about are 1993's See The Sound and 1996 De La Vina, both would figure into the other two albums. The Ground's The Limit is See The Sound with three new tracks and a more polished mix, In Your Ear, takes the best cuts from De La Vina. I suppose I might be one of a select that does have all four albums but I can see why The Tearaways went a change of songs and led The Ground The Limit album with Can't Get Through, which would have made a nice following up single to Jessica Something, to which sometimes gets played on Little Steven's Underground Garage. Out of all the power pop bands of the 1990s, I believe The Tearaways were one of the best of duplicating the Badfinger/Beatles sound but since they were never on a major label, they remained under the radar. A new collection of the Earle Mankey Session (volume 7 already?) is due for release in 2017 but it's Japan only. Japanese people tend to like power pop better than the US counterparts. Although I have not heard anything from them since 1999's In Your Ear, I will try to locate whatever missing albums for future reference. As it stands the grades remain A- for See The Sound, In Your Ear and The Ground's The Limit and a B Plus for De La Vina. A shout out and thanks to the guys in the band, and John Ferriter for keeping it power pop and of course Kenny for being a first rate drummer.
The American Country Music Awards happened Sunday Night and in reality, it's not much to talk about. Jason Aldean, Entertainer Of The Year (Bwahahaha), FGL with single of the year with H O L Y (Throw the periods in if you want, but it's still a shitty song), Thomas Rhett won two awards, and if one thought Carrie Underwood would get the best of Miranda Lambert, one is wrong since Miranda won two awards, the female vocalist of the year award (she has a lock on that) and her latest album won Album of the year, a shock really, considering how I thought it was her worst album of all time. Brothers Osborne was best new group and best duo, Little Big Town, best vocal group of the year, Lori McKenna best songwriter and Maren Morris best new female vocalist and Jon Pardi best new male vocalist. And that's as far as I go on this. Farce The Music does a better job of slamming Jason, FGL and Thomas Rhett. Just for the record, Miranda Lambert has won best female vocalist of the year eight straight years, even with a subpar album Miranda still kicks butt. Congratulations!
Passings: Lonnie Brooks, Chicago bluesman, died of natural causes over the weekend, He was 83.
Paul O'Neil, founder of the Trans Siberian Orchestra and producer (Testament) died Wednesday of a chronic illness, he was 61.
Don Rickles, legendary actor/comedian/observationist, famous for the audience insults of the 50s and 60s died of Kidney Failure at age 90 on Wed.
David Peel, I can't consider him a singer but he's famous for Have A Marijuana LP that came out on Elektra and Real Gone issued it a few years ago and Peel autographed it. He died from complications from a heart attack on Thursday, he was 73. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/david-peel-subversive-folk-singer-dead-at-73-w475653
In terms of reissues 2017 promises to revisit some of the old classics. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were left off the original Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album due to time considerations. Over the years I have looked at that album with admiration from far away and calling it the greatest B plus album in music history. It's like Dark Side Of The Moon but unlike Dark Side, Sgt Pepper has plenty of its own uses, and that I actually did buy Sgt Pepper when I found it for a dollar back when Pawn America was selling CDs. While the new reissue adds more of Ringo Starr's drums out in the forefront and adds the two omitted Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane, it will not make me buy it all over again, unless I find it for two dollars at a thrift store. I always thought the original album was missing something, it turns out those two songs would have finally elevate it to an A album. It means nothing to other ears though.
On the other side of things, Rhino is continuing to super size Bad Company albums with the reissue of Run With The Pack and Burning Sky. Unless you're a audiophile completest you really don't need the upgrade. Run With The Pack I still like but only as a single album, the less said about Burning Sky the better. I think there's a blog on Bad Company that I put up a few years ago that explains it better,but I'll say this, I like Run With The Pack better than Straight Shooter but true that Pack that the band was beginning to wing it, though the jammy Honey Child has been a favorite of mine as Sweet Little Sister. Burning Sky on the other hand shows the band in a creative funk, to which Mick Ralphs didn't write many songs and the band overrelied on Paul Rodgers to come up with the songs. Outside of the title track, the rest is forgettable. But it is better than Rough Diamonds, but compare it to the Brian Howe era albums Holy Water and Dangerous Age, those two were much better than Burning Sky. Coming soon, Rhino will probably issue Desolation Angels and the bad Rough Diamonds in double disc form. And we all know that the world will be waiting outside the local record store to pick up Rough Diamonds when it comes out. Not.
Which begs the question and yes, yet another Foreigner best of is coming out next month. It's called Foreigner 40, which might be their 40th album of greatest hits repackaged. It certainly doesn't feel like the first time for a band that just might be the most repackaged band in rock history. Although The Who might be coming within striking distance for best ofs too.
Speaking of criss crossings of labels, The Bee Gees will be reissuing their albums all over again. After pulling their stuff from Polydor/Universal, they moved over to Reprise for a few years are now back on Universal via Capitol (it really pointless to continue to ping pong from one of the three major labels just to get the new and improved reissue, no wonder the music industry is dying) with yet another greatest hits compilation called (what else) Timeless. If you haven't gotten any of the best ofs, it's a nice start to hear the hits all over again. But I don't see the need to replace the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack that I got for two dollars at Half Priced Books. In the meantime, Rock Candy is putting out the last of the Frank Marino Columbia albums, Live, What's Next, The Power Of Rock And Roll and Juggernaut, the last three never issued in the US (and still haven't since Rock Candy is an import label). While Rock Candy reached out to Frank for putting together the liner notes, Frank politely declinded, he's had a acrimonious relationship to CBS/Sony Music for many years and has refused to listen to any of those albums, saying that they sounded inferior in the first place. He's got a point, they have sounded distorted and poorly mastered, even though George (no relation to Frank) Marino did the job. We all love Frank's guitar playing of the past but if he is not listening to these albums, there's something wrong about that. http://www.jungleroom.com/frankmarino.html
Singles Going Steady Medley: Last of the worthwhile 45s at Salvation Army in CR
A couple weeks ago I put out a double album's worth of Singles Going Steady, the Salvation Army 45 cent finds, perhaps the most bizarre of all singles going steady blog of all time and 150 people managed to take a peek at that. Three weeks later, I decided to see what was left and there was still some finds of note, in fact out of all the 45s I put back, all but four of them were still up there. Somebody did snagged Blueberry Hill from Hank Crawford, but it was a good thing that I did pick up the original batch of 45s anyway. Nice to get that Kenny Owen I Got The Bug rockabilly number.
But again, not much in terms of rock, but pop and country and bluegrass. These are scrapings of the bottom of the barrel. A six pack of Toonz.
1) Tell All The World About You-Peggy Lee (Capitol 4812) 1962
What radio station that used to have this record plastered it was a few stickers to which A-1134 became 2620 to Capitol 4812 and yet it still didn't place in the pop charts. Peggy Lee had some success covering Ray Charles with Hallelujah I Love Him So (#77 in 1959) and she brings a professional and passionate vocals to this Benny Carter Arrangement, the drummer does sound like Earl Palmer. Very lively indeed. B side Amazing, is not.
2) Wind-Slim Whitman (Imperial X8328) 1960
In the course of this year, I've bought a few 45's from Frank Ifield, but amazingly in my lifetime anything Slim Whitman was bought on orders from my dad who loved to sing that trademark Slim Yodel but came to find out that the more beers Daddy drank, the less he sounded like Slim and more like somebody in pain to call 911. While it was true that Slim had the biggest selling hit single in Britian, that came about in 1955 with Rose Marie that stayed number 1 for 11 weeks! In the US, it made number 2. Slim did have hits on the country side but he's only had one that placed in the top 100, I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (#93 1957). Wind was written by Bob (Cool Water) Nolan, and has that dry desert type of western sound complete with fake wind and that yodel that destroyed many a invading Martian. Slim did have a long dry spell with the hits till 1965 when Younger Than Yesterday hit number 8. As you recall, Frank Ifield had a top ten hit with I Remember You (#5 1962), which sounded like a dead ringer for the Slim master yodel, so Slim did his own version of I Remember You, which crawled to number 49 on the country charts, and a lowly 134 on the Billboard Bubbling under. Still, Slim Whitman continue to have enough success to still be on Imperial till they folded into Liberty, then United Artists, then they eventually dropped him. Thanks to late night TV and All My Best, Slim Whitman became a cult artist and sold enough of that album for Cleveland International/Epic to sign him for a few albums. And had a number 15 country hit with When and another attempt to do I Remember You made it to number 44 in 1981. The yodel was silenced forever in 2013 but Slim still lives on, on scratchy records and dad still trying to copy that yodel.
3) Memories, Memories-Joanie Sommers (Warner Brothers 5339) 1963
I guess she was Warner Brothers attempt to turn her into another Connie Francis but it didn't work. She had a number 7 hit with Johnny Get Angry but that was all she wrote for Joanie. This is a uptempo number complete with rabid banjo playing toward the end. Cheesy production by Stan Applebaum. B Side Since Randy Moved Away, ho hum bland ballad.
4) Think Again-Patti Page (Mercury 73249) #38 country 1971
The Patti Page that I come to know started going more toward country at the end of her first time at Mercury, then she went to Columbia for a few years before returning back to Jerry Kennedy and Mercury. A nice ballad from Jerry Foster and Bill Rice, even better was the B side A Woman Left Lonely written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.
5) A Field Of Yellow Daises-Charlie Rich (Mercury 73498) #23 Country 1974
To capitalize on the number 1 hit single Behind Closed Doors and Most Beautiful Woman In The World, his former labels would issue their own singles from past sessions and Mercury was no different. Charlie benefited from getting great songs from his wife Margaret Ann who wrote Yellow Daises. I tend to like the Jerry Kennedy produced version better than the sappy and sugary production of Billy Sherrill. Originally this recording came from the era he was signed to Smash Records, but in 1974 Mercury issued two singles with so so success. B side Party Girl is not one of Rich's better songs. Ray Stevens doesn't help with the dated arrangements either.
6) Gonna Have Myself A Ball-Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (Columbia 4-43259) 1965
Their sort of bluegrass didn't quite fit with the hard honky tonk of country radio and the Bakersfield sound and Johnny Cash but dammit, Flatt and Scruggs made some fine singles for Columbia, this was one of the better ones before Earl Scruggs started cramming Bob Dylan songs down Lester's throat and Lester wanted a more simple and countryfied type of bluegrass playing to which they would break up a few years later. B Side Rock Salt And Nails is on the Versatile Flatt And Scruggs, a very underrated album.
7) These Are Not My People-Freddy Weller (Columbia 4-44916) #5 Country 1969
For a few years Weller played guitar in the late 60's edition of Paul Revere And The Raiders but always came across as somebody that could play country and managed to convince Columbia to give him a shot at that. He had a top ten hit with Games People Play before doing another cover of a Joe South number that hit number 5 but in this day and age you'd never know. Weller had some success with country music and seemed to be better suited for that rather than the pop rock of The Raiders. Some of his better songs were Bar Wars and Stone Crazy, from a one off album with Dot records in 1975 which explains why Collector's Choice couldn't put on a best of CD, Universal either asked too much or the compiler forgot about Stone Crazy. Overall, Weller's best of is pleasant country rock but a tad bit too friendly
8) Fallen Angel-Poison (Enigma/Capitol B-44191) #12 1988
To conclude this medley, I offer to you perhaps the best of the power pop hair metal from Poison. By this time I quit buying 45s in favor of CDs and albums and while I never will be a fan of Poison, some of their songs do have a bit of melody to them. Of course what made the song go was the video, to which the labels did put a bit of money into them. MTV would play this video about five times in a day too. Poison's glory time was 1988 and Fallen Angel didn't chart as well as of course Talk Dirty To Me or Nothing But A Good Time. I think KRNA does play Talk Dirty To Me and of course the signature Every Rose Has Its Thorn. And of course the band did copy Motley Crue in destroying a AM classic, in such case they tackled Your Mama Don't Dance and it sounded like a trainwreck in progress. Like labelmates, The Smithereens, Poison was part of Enigma/Restless Records and was the best selling of both bands. When Enigma got shut down (or sold to IRS), Capitol then took both the Smithereens and Poison, the latter band better promoted. I don't know, in hair metal, Motley Crue was the more harder rocking band, Poison seemed to be more pop and radio friendly although Bret Michaels and CC DeVille have always have a toxic relationship. Once Nirvana and the Seattle music scene took over, hair metal got pushed to the back seat and tensions between CC and the band got bad that CC left and Richie Kotzen took over for one album which flopped. Fallen Angel has that Night Ranger sound of harmonies and CC's band Samantha 7 had one album produced by Jack Blades. Poison still makes the rock and roll news (will they or will they not get together again and tour) and Bret Michaels has been a regular on the Casino music tour. 30 years onward Poison never dies.
Album from my youth: Whitesnake (Geffen 1987)
This is the record that changed David Coverdale's band from a Deep Purple sound of R and B into ear shattering hard rock and roll and on the opening riff to the remake of Crying In The Rain, Coverdale means business. Of course it's well known that Coverdale (with Glenn Hughes) replaced Ian Gillan in Deep Purple and made three albums of varying degree, the classic Burn, the uneven Stormbringer and somewhere in the middle Come Taste The Band but when Purple broke up, Coverdale form Whitesnake and evenutally recruited the late Jon Lord on keyboards and Ian Paice on drums. And in reality I think Ready And Willing remains Coverdale's finest moment, at no where on that album you would hear the hard hair metal but with each passing album they would get a bit more harder with replacement players taking over (Mel Gallery and John Sykes would replace Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden, Cozy Powell in for Paice on Slide It In, that record foretold the future better. But by 1986, Coverdale decided to go full Zeppelin and Sykes would be the lead guitarist. Anysley Dunbar (recently inducted in the Rock Hall Of Fame with Journey) might have done his best over all heavy metal drumming, he tears it up on Crying In The Rain, originally a more Deep Purple bluesy ballad on Saints And Sinners, their 1982 album available as a import for many years before Geffen reissued it due to the success of the S/T album. Next song Bad Boys continues the high voltage rock and roll before leading into their hit single Still Of The Night, which rewrites Black Dog, but then after that, the record simply falls apart. Certainly lame ballad Here I Go Again is nice to hear once in a great while and it sounds better on a Hair Metal Ballads CDs than it does here. Side 2 never really jells for me all that much, Coverdale doesn't stray far from the horn dog lyrics he's been known for, not a lot of thought goes into Gimme All Your Love nor Straight From The Heart and we treated to two more bland ballads in Is This Love and Don't Turn Away. Overall, in the history of this album, there's been a love hate thing about this, if Coverdale would have continue the smash and bash of the first three songs of side 1 this would be a metal classic, in reality this record is a minor metal classic, but when MTV wanted big budget videos, they managed to get Twany Kitaen, super model babe turned psycho, since her marriage to Coverdale went into the toilet and she eventually married Chuck Finley to which that didn't last either. Neither did this lineup, Dunbar bowing out, replaced by Tommy Aldridge and Neil Murray by Rudy Szaro and Sykes moved on to form his own band Blue Murder and Adrian Vandenberg and Steve Vai became the new guitar players and Whitesnake became hair metal goofballs for the crappy Slip Of The Tongue album, an album I played once and got rid off an having bought it again. In these days, Whitesnake's album remains easy to find in the dollar bins and at your local Goodwill store and at times it is fun to play the first two songs and bring out the devil horns but I have no use for Here I Go Again or the ballads. In the long run, the era which Coverdale was keeping the DP sound alive works better for me rather than the all out Zeppelin assault of the S/T album and later ones. And in reality, Coverdale get did lucky with the Kitaen video shots as well as being there at the right time. And found a perfect producer of bombast in the late Mike Stone (although Keith Olsen was co producer, but I'm sure he's more responsible for the ballads on the album). I may not hate it as much as Robert Christgau did when he bashed it but as I get older I don't really see the need to have this on my shelf. But in my wild youth, Whitesnake did serve a purpose for me, they were the alternative to Motley Crue (to which Whitesnake opened up in a 1988 concert at the Five Seasons Center). Just in case if I managed to get lucky with a woman into hair metal I could put Whitesnake, the album to good use, especially on the bland ballads. But that never happened. So let's consider the S/T album a period piece of good times and wet dreams of Tawny Kitaen. But 30 years on, people are going to wonder what the fascination was in the first place. You really had to be there.
Grade B-
A now, a few words about Sonny Lott From Todd Stein.
"2016 INDUCTEE
"Any musician will tell you that the heart and soul of any band is the rhythm section. Sonny Lott was a man with a huge heart, over flowing with soul. Sonny, whose given name is Fletcher Henderson Lott, came to Iowa City over forty years ago and immediately made an impact on the music scene in eastern Iowa by playing drums with many of the best bands in the area.
"As a member of the legendary Mother Blues Band, Sonny played alongside fellow Iowa Blues Hall of Fame members, Patrick Hazell, Bo Ramsey, and Joe Price for several years. He continued playing over the next four decades with bands and musicians all over eastern Iowa and can be heard on numerous recordings.
"Known mainly as a rock steady drummer, Sonny was also a fantastic vocalist. He was famous for his renditions of Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally”, the T-Bone Walker standard “Stormy Monday”, as well as many other Blues and R&B classics.
"In addition to his musical talent, perhaps his greatest gift was his ability to befriend most everyone he met, from his fellow musicians to those who came to the shows. Sonny is missed by his family, friends, and all those lucky enough to have heard him play."
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