Gord Downie, lead singer for The Tragically Hip, passed away on Wednesday from brain cancer. He was 53. While the Tragically Hip never made it big here in the states, they were much loved in Canada. Last year when Downie revealed he had this life ending cancer, the Hip went out on a sold out last tour, with the final show done on Aug 20, 2016. http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/gord-downie-obit-1.4359906
On the football side of things in town, Marion has done a 360 turnaround from two years ago when they couldn't win a game to controlling their own destiny with a win this friday. Their 16-14 upset of West Delaware at home proved to be these Indians are not to be taken lightly. It's off to Brady Street Stadium to play Davenport Assumption to which they won't have to worry about getting muddy like they did at home. Field turf does wonders. But the road to the playoffs hit a dead end as Assumption won 49-21 leaving West Delaware to get into the playoffs. Marion controlled their own destiny and fell off a cliff.
The other shock is Arizona State has a defense finally. After 11 straight games of giving up 30 plus points and having the worst defense in NCAA last season, analysts and fans debated on how many points the Sun Devil defense would give up. In the final tally, ASU shocked Washington 13-7 down in Tempe. A strange game all the way, the Washington kicker missing two FG's which would figure greatly in the outcome, ASU played stellar defense and the offense converted on a very important 4th and 3 with a pass from Manny Wilkins to CJ French-Love that went between two Huskies defenders. Washington has been complaining about their late night time slot (it started at 9:45 Mountain Time) so that the East Coast people can't see these games and would wanted the game started at 1. Which is laughable since Tempe would be around 100 degrees at game time, most games start at 7:30 or 8:30, nobody likes playing in hot weather. Problem number 2, is that Washington isn't all that great, although I'm certain Colin Cowpie Cohwerd would like them better than anything Iowa puts out on the field. While UW did beat Cal 38-7 last week at home, Cal then dismantled number 8 Washington State 37-3 at Berkeley, which means the Pac 12 isn't as great as people think. In the meantime, Chris Pedersen, who left Wisconsin for Oregon State, resigned a week ago and Nebraska has hired the AD from Washington State, therefore Mike Riley who left OSU for Nebraska will be looking for a new job after this season, even more now when Ohio State turned the Cornhuskers into popcorn and blew them out of Lincoln 56-14. Nebraska has been a former shell of itself, far from the days that they rule the Big 12 before joining the big boys of the Big 10. Iowa State continues to enjoy a winning streak, blowing out a hapless Kansas team 45-0. Maybe like ASU, Iowa State has turned a corner after upsetting Oklahoma who then kicked Texas to the curb 29-24. And last but not least, in NFL, the LA Chargers have won two in a row, defeating the Oakland Raider 17-16 on a last second winning FG by Nick Novak, who would have come in handy had the LA Chargers had him on the squad earlier in the season. They could be 4-1 had they had Nick Novak instead of dud Koo Koo Cha Koo when he blew a chance to beat the Dolphins but his kick sailed wide right.
And then there's the Cubs. They came back to defeat the Washington Nats, only to now to go out to LA and now down two games to nil. They just have not been hitting, and the relief pitching has been a confounded joke once again. Cubs had a paultry 2-0 lead Saturday before Jose Quintana ran out of gas and Hector Rondon came in and gave up another home run as LA won 5-2. Sunday Albert Almora hit a HR, but LA came right back to score and then won on (you guessed it) a game winning home run 4-1. Certainly blame can be placed on subpar relief pitching but it doesn't help when your lineup doesn't hit. Javy Baez swings at everything that's not a strike and Kris Bryant puts the K in the swing and strikeouts, Dodgers relief pitchers are pitching a no hitter on Cubs bats, they have not even had a hit on relievers in 9 innings and while they did get two runs on Clayton Kershaw, the Cubs shaky starters would give the runs right back. There's a win or else mentality as they go back to Wrigley Field the next couple games and The Cubs must win game three. Joe Maddon has managed to come back and win the games in elimination games, that happened at last year's world series with Cleveland and they came back against Washington. No telling what might happen but if Cubs can't get any hits off Dodgers relievers or get any decent bullpen work it will be a lost cause. LA defeated the Cubs in 5 games. Dodgers simply dominated from the get go, and while the Cubs did come back to win game 4, LA blew them out 11-1 on game five. It's hard to repeat as World Series champion but simply put Los Angeles was a solid team all the way through, 7 of their 9 hitters hit 300 or better, whereas the only Cubs that could hit battled 250 with 7 of 9 batters under 200. And you're not going to win with that, nor Hector Rondon giving up grand slams left and right. At least The Cubs did battled, a little bit before the obvious happened.
It had to happen. 40 years after the fact and it still beat the reissue of The Brains first album (which will be hold in the dungeon of Universal Music forgotten classic albums) Debbie Boone's You Light Up My Life will see it's debut on CD from Real Gone Music. In honor of that album being a frequent find in every thrift store dollar bins, Real Gone should issued it under a 1.98 price tag but it will sell for 14.98, till the next big sale they have next year. Then it will be sold for a 1.98.
With that out of the way, it's been another slow music news week again, so I conclude things with the rest of the Madison Singles that I found the week prior. I guess you can call these the bottom of the barrel scraps although some have some appeal to these ears.
1) The Credit Card Song-Dick Feller (United Artists UA XW535-X) #105 pop 1974
Dick had a hit with Making The Best Out Of A Bad Situation for Asylum then found himself on United Artists with a fairly good album Dick Feller Wrote and this country top ten single. In fact this song did top Best Out Of A Bad Situation by one position, that song made number 11 this made number 10. Country music in the 1970s was just as good as rock and roll at times. The Credit Card Song would be the last top ten for Feller, his version of Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone) was sung by John Denver in 1977, a hit for Denver.
2) Forbidden Angel-Mel Street (GRT GRT-102) 1974 #16 country
Depression can take out the best of singers. I've seen that time and time before, Del Shannon, Kurt Cobain come to mind. And it Mel Street lost to the demons of depression in 1979 but he was one of the underrated honky tonk singers of the 1970s, but he was never on the best of labels, Metromedia was one of them, GRT was basically a label that specialized in making 8 track tapes but Street was their most known recording artist. When 8 Tracks went out of favor so did GRT and Street moved over to Polydor, then Mercury but Forbidden Angel is one of those come back when you get older little girl songs that are not so P.C. today. Compared to Florida Georgia Line, Forbidden Angel is pure gold.
3) Out Of Hand-Gary Stewart (RCA PB-10061) 1974 #4 country
Stewart was one of more loved Americana type of honky tonkers that made some emotionally charged songs as well, Out Of Hand was my favorite of his songs. I think his vocals were a lot like Narvel Felts but not as wild though but Gary could sing a nice cheating and drinking song. Again the depression factor sets in, after losing his wife of 43 years, Stewart see no reason to keep living and like Street, shot himself in 2003. Believe me, I know how he feels when life gets to be no fun.
4) Gettin Any Feed For Your Chickens-Del Reeves (United Artists UA-50035) 1966 #37 Country
His best known hits were for United Artists in the late 1960s although this tongue in cheek song about getting any did fare as well as Girl On A Billboard. He later discovered Billy Ray Cyrus.
5) The Lord Knows I'm Drinking-Cal Smith (Decca 33040) #1972 #1 country #64 Pop 1973
6) Bleep You-Cal Smith (MCA-40137) #1973 #62 country
Cal Smith was a journeyman country singer that managed to grab a hold of one of Whispering Bill Anderson's songs in The Lord Knows I'm Drinking, a hard honky tonker with backing from the Nashville Edition. Earlier in the year, he covered The Free Movement I've Found Someone Of My Own and it made number 4 on the country charts. Surprisingly, The Lord Knows I'm Drinking managed to hit the pop and rock charts in local cities, moving up to number 64, not bad for a straight honky tonk song so to speak. A answer record, Bleep You would be the followup, basically Bobby Braddock rewriting Bill Anderson's song in his own way and while the song brings a chuckle when I hear it, buyers weren't amused. However, Smith would strike country gold with the number 1 song Country Bumpkin.
7) Gypsy Woman-Notables (Mossburg MB-2031) #1997?
An off the wall find, The Notables are a ska band that is better known for Godfather Ska. Further research has them from Seattle Washington of all places but most of that is speculation. B Side is Falling From The Edge from The Stingers ATX, more ska punk so to speak. Gypsy Woman is a reggae version of the Impressions' number.
8) Cotton Candy-Al Hirt (RCA 47-8346) #15 1964
Follow up to the number 4 Java, with less satisfying results. Produced By Chet Atkins
9) Suavecito-Malo (Warner Brothers WB 7559) #18 1972
Best known for Carlos Santana's brother Jorge being a part of this band, this song proved to be their only top 20 hit, or top 100 hit for that matter. Richard Bean is the lead vocalist on this song. Later on, some of the vocal parts were lifted for Sugar Ray's hit single Every Morning.
10) Near You-Gayle McCormick (Decca 33030) 1972
McCormick, best known for being in the band Smith, managed have a nice solo debut on Dunhill with Lambert/Potter producing her and getting a couple hits from her, It's A Crying Shame one of them. However, moving to Decca didn't do her any favors. Her new producers mostly forced her into some kind of bland MOR light pop. She did cover this Boz Scaggs song, but alas, this is not one of Boz's better songs. McCormick would later move over to Fantasy for one more album before retiring altogether. The less said about Near You, the better.
11) Follow Me-Mary Travers (Warner Bros. 7481) #56 1971
An okay cover of the John Denver number, B Side I Guess He Rather Be In Colorado is better. Alas, this record was played on a record player with a bad needle. Very scratchy.
12) Partners-Jim Reeves (RCA 47-7557) 1959 #5 Country
Wouldn't you know it, I would overlook this one. As I was finally compiling and putting these 45s together, I kept staring at this while writing the other songs down. So basically, growing up we had all these 45s from all sorts of artists and bands but for Jim Reeves, my dad had about 5 albums of Gentleman Jim Reeves. But unlike the Porter Wagoners, The Don Gibsons, Jim Reeves was too mellow and too polished for me to really take notice. But he's some good songs out there, Partners is more uptempo than we give Jim credit for, but it stills a story of two men, finding gold, and on in a blizzard, one kills the other to stay alive. But comes to find out that the howling winds and snows and a empty cupboard, the killer would receive a more cruel fate although not as graphic as say, The Buoys's Timothy? B Side I'm Beginning To Forget You made number 17 on the country charts as well. Even after Reeves' passing in 1964, that RCA continue to mine the vaults for more music. His last chart placement was in 1984 with The Image Of Me which made it to number 70.
The oddball find of the Trip
Love Is A Drag-Emma Swift/Robyn Hitchcock (Little Ghost Records 2016)
http://nodepression.com/interview/emma-swift-her-new-record-robyn-hitchcock-0
Even in this era, there's possibilities of finding new music on 45 although the majority of it comes from bloated overpricing of specialty recordings and let's face it, the major labels are not going back to old time DJ promos and mass production 45s. But if I can find something of note, I'll pick it up. For sure, this oddball find was one of the 7 records I got for a quarter. Emma is from Australia and is considered a Americana country type of artist. You know all about Robyn Hitchock former Soft Boy and new wave rocker who actually been getting more mellower of late, moving from Seattle now to Nashville and actually moving into a path that has been taken by Nick Lowe. For better or worse I don't know and it's too early to tell if he'll end up being as bland like the former Jesus Of Cool. Love Is A Drag reminds me of Mazzy Star more so than what Hitchcock has been doing. Sounds okay I guess. B Side Life Is Change is a snoozer.
So, there we have it. All of the Madison Singles that was found. All 43 of them. It kind of falls apart at the tail end but I think I did pretty well considering what was found and how decent of shape they were in.
Album from the attics of my life-Tom Petty-Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) MCA-1987
In reality, Let Me Up is the final album of the first decade of T.P. and while he may have not cared much for the end result, Petty would never sound this rejuvenated or rocking again. Once Jeff Lynne came into Petty's life, every album beginning with Full Moon Fever would get more and more laid back and suffered from that polish production technique all the way to Ryan Ultkle's sound on the final recordings. Say what you want about Stan Lynch, he may have been the least liked Heartbreaker but his drumming always put Tom Petty in rock and roll mode. Steve Ferrone was more the polished and professional but Lynch was pure rocker. Jammin Me might be one of the best rock and roll throwaway singles ever made, with the tedious Take back lyrics courtesy of Bob Dylan, probably making a list and not checking it twice. If Petty blew it on The Boys Of Summer, a Mike Campbell comp that Don Henley took to classic rock status much to the chagrin of us all, he gets redeemed on Runaway Train. If Petty also thought the record was all filler and no killer, he's wrong on the recycled numbers. Ain't Love Strange is a rewrite of Change Of Heart and Think About Me, was even used by my band as inspiration for Highway Of Love. Most of the songs here did come from jams which makes songs like The Damage You Done and My Life/Your World fun to listen to. Side 2 does tend to drag a bit (All Mixed Up), but I could relate to the sadness of It'll All Work Out. After the bombastic Southern Accents, Let Me Up, would be Petty's final return to a stripped down sound. Strange to say that while making Greatest Hits, not one song from LMU made the final cut. Which is a shame. While I continue to support Petty's cause and buy his albums, any one after L.M.U. never caught my attention to which Lynne can be blamed to which this record gets bumped to an A minus on nostalgic values and an honest to God rock and roll sound. He became a legend with Full Moon Fever and solidified it on the overlong Wildflowers, but Let Me Up I had Enough to me was his final time, he had my attention all the way through a record.
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