Mel Carter--Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (1965)

     This song was written in 1952, and was a number 5 hit for Karen Chandler in 1952. It was covered by Mel Carter in 1965. Carter who had garnered the attention of a young Quincy Jones, and then Sam Cooke, who co-wrote his first hit, "When A Boy Falls In Love" which just missed the top 40 in the fall of 1963. Carter moved to Imperial Records, and his first hit out of the box was "Hold Me.." which was his only top 10 hit. He continued to see chart action throughout 1965/66 with his last chart action being late that latter year....

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Where you can hear "The Rock and Roll Omnibus"

Hi everybody..... It's been a busy morning around the homestead and am not posting a normal music post. However, it has been brought to my attention that many of you might not know about our weekly radio show. "The Rock and Roll Omnibus is heard in six markets now and is continuing to grow. Here is a listing of where you can hear us....all times are US CENTRAL: WRFN--LP  107.1 Pasquo TN: Monday evenings 9p-11p: www.radiofreenashville.org WERU 89.9 Blue Hill ME and 99.9 Bangor ME: Friday mornings midnight-2am: http://weru.org/ KYGT 102.7 ...

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Clarence Carter--Patches (1970)

     Clarence Carter has been recording and touring since the mid-60's, but his most notable successes were from between 1967 and 1973.       He was born in Montgomery Alabama, and went to the Alabama School for the Blind, then later Alabama State College where he received a degree in music in 1960. He began his career as a singer in 1962, and first achieved chart success in 1967, but his first hit was a year later, with "Slip Away", which began a string of hits.       The song, "Patches"...

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Sunday Morning Vault: Vicki Carr--It Must Be Him (1967)

     Vicki Carr has been a star in the Latin music world now for over 25 years. He has been nominated for five Grammys since 1986, winning five of them. She has done a wealth of humanitarian work especially in  behalf of Hispanic students, where her Vicki Carr Scholarship Foundation has awarded more than 280 scholarships totaling over a quarter of a million dollars. What many have forgotten was her start as a easy listening pop star.      Carr was born Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona in El...

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The Cars--Just What I Needed (1978)

     There are many who consider The Cars early new wave. I've always resisted that label because they were always too rock and roll. The trio of "Just What I Needed", "My Best Friend's Girl", and "Good Times Roll" on their first album was as good as rock got in the late 70's. The sound just leaped out of the speakers, and almost 35 years ago, that blend of straight rock with the use of the keys and synths still sticks in the ear.      The group had their beginnings in Columbus, Ohio, where Ric Ocasek and Benjamin...

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Keith Carradine--I'm Easy (1976)

     The Carradine family to me is like the Baldwin's of today...there are so many of them, and all of them are actors, I can hardly keep them all straight. So...which one of them played in the TV show Kung Fu (That would be David). Isn't he the same one that sung that song, "I'm Easy" in 1976 (uh no....that would be Keith).      Actually David would play a role in the life of his step-brother Keith. After a semester studying drama at Colorado, Keith quit and moved in with David who encouraged (and paid)...

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Kim Carnes--Bette Davis Eyes (1981)

     Kim Carnes has been working as a singer/songwriter since 1969, with her first album, "Rest on Me" coming out in 1972. She spent much of the decade recording and writing, having several songs recorded by Barbara Streisand in the late 70's. Carnes also had some chart success, first in 1978 with "You're A Part of Me", a duet with Gene Cotton, and then a top 5 breakthrough with Kenny Rogers on "Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer" in early 1980.      "Bette Davis Eyes" was written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon...

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Eric Carmen--All By Myself (1975)

     Eric Carmen was the lead singer of one of my favorite bands of all times. The Raspberries who became one of the groundbreaking bands of what is now known as power pop. They were also highly misunderstood by a press that couldn't pigeonhole them, and by a public who seemingly couldn't either. What they were however, was a band who could play straight-ahead rock and roll with a leaning towards The Who and, who just as easily could sound like a Beatles/Beach Boys hybrid with gorgeous harmonies and inventive melodies.  ...

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Larry Carlton--Theme From Hill Street Blues (1981)

     I have to admit to never being much of a TV watcher, even as a kid. My first (and only) "appointment television" show was "Hill Street Blues". People who would see the show today wouldn't realize it's significance, but it's groundbreaking style of a never ending storyline from show to show has affected television dramas ever since. Just like many themes from iconic shows, the first few bars grab you and let you know immediately what was ahead.      Mike Post wrote the theme from 'Hill Street Blues", but it...

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Carl Carlton--Everlasting Love (1974)

     Carl first recorded for Lando Records in 1964 under the monicker, "Little" Carl Carlton. Being only 12 at the time, his handlers were hoping to piggyback on the success of another "Little" artist, Stevie Wonder. Having had some local success, he was signed in 1968 to a local Houston TX label, Back Beat Records. He had a couple of minor hits in 1968, ("Competition Ain't Nothin'") and in 1970 (Drop By My Place).      1974 brought Carlton's biggest hit, a cover version of Robert Knight's  "Everlasting Love"....

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Sunday Morning Vault: The Caravelles--You Don't Have to be A Baby to Cry (1963)

     "You Don't Have to be A Baby to Cry" was written by Bob Merrill and Terry Shand. It was recorded twice for the US Country market, once by Earnest Tubb and the other by Tennessee Ernie Ford (it was the B-side of "Sixteen Tons").      The Caravelles, a duo made up of Lois Wilkinson and Andera Simpson recorded the song in 1963 and not only reached the UK charts, but soared to #3 on the US pop charts as well. The girls never had another hit on either side of the ocean, but even after Wilkinson left, Simpson...

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Belinda Carlisle--Heaven Is A Place On Earth (1987)

    In the 80's world of pop music, I was always more of a Bangles kind of guy rather than a Go-Go's guy. This doesn't mean they didn't have their charms. I thought Jane Wiedin was all kinds of hot (still do), and they had some entertaining music, especially early on. It was not surprising though that lead singer Belinda Carlisle would go out on her own when the group broke up in 1985.       In fact, Carlisle was a pretty hot commodity during the mid-80's. In 1986, her first single, "Mad About You" reached...

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Irene Cara--Flashdance...What a Feeling (1983)

     By the early 80's, Irene Cara was flying high. even before getting out of her teenaged years.  (she was born in 1959) She had been on Spanish and English television as a child, had a regular role on the soap opera, "Love of Life", had a major dramatic roll in the TV mini-series, "Roots". By 1980, she had one of the co-staring roles in the movie, "Fame", along with singing the title song and hitting #4 on the charts.      Paramount Pictures was working on a movie called, "Flashdance" and had asked...

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The Capitols--Cool Jerk (1966)

     As with all popular music for centuries, dancing to music seems to be a natural thing to do. By the early 1900's, there always seemed to be a dance for musicians to capitalize on and make popular. The decade of the 60's however was about the last decade that artists wrote for particular dances. One of them was performed by a group out of Detroit.      The Capitols had their beginnings as "The Caps" in 1962. They were signed to a local label and released an album and single, which although showing musical...

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Canned Heat--Going Up The Country (1968)

     Canned Heat was a blues/boogie band who's most famous years surrounded the late 60's/early 70's, but continue to tour today albeit having gone through many changes. The band formed in the 1965 around blues enthusiasts Al Hite, and Alan Wilson. Like many who saw great success in the late 60's, the group was helped tremendously by an appearance at Monterrey in 1967 where the group went into their "classic" period with Hite on vocals, Wilson on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, Henry Vestine: lead guitar, Larry Taylor: bass,...

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Cameo--Word Up (1986)

     Cameo started out in the mid-70's as a funk outfit that was crafted with the dance floor in mind. Originally a 13 piece band called The New York City Express, the name was changed to Cameo so as to not cause confusion with the band Ohio Players who were big at the time. The group's sound proved popular, and their debut album, "Cardiac Arrest" in 1977 reached the top 20 albums R & B charts. More albums came with success on the R&B and hot 100 albums chart, but it wasn't until 1984 that the single "She's Strange"...

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Sunday Morning Vault: Ed Byrnes & Connie Stevens--Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) (1959)

     As most parents who have had children who have gone through adolescence and are in adulthood, we have already attempted to explain (at least once) about some pop culture event that occurred when we were children. In today's IMAX world, it's almost impossible to explain adequately the awe and wonder of the time we watched Neil Armstrong take that first step on to the lunar surface. So if that's difficult....try explaining why one would wear platform shoes and bell bottom jeans, or that gas in 1977 was less than 80 cents...

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Whitney Houston (1963--2012)

     Am writing after just hearing about the death of Whitney Houston, and at this time (8:00 pm Central US) it is has not been released where she was or how she died. Which is why I want to write now rather than to have anything color my initial writing.      During a 15 year period she could do no wrong professionally. Eight to 10 albums, twenty-two top 10 hits with eleven of them reaching number one. A starring role in three major hit movies during the 90's, "The Bodyguard", Waiting to Exhale", and The...

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JJ Cale--Crazy Mama (1972)

     John Weldon Cale was born in Oklahoma City and has had a long and successful as an singer and songwriter who's laid back style has incorporated country, jazz, and the blues. He adopted the monicker JJ as a way to distinguish himself from another John Cale who was with the Velvet Underground. Cale's is probably best known for a pair of songs covered by Eric Clapton, "After Midnight", and "Cocaine", but had this tasty slice of blues back in 1972. A story has been told that he was invited to do American Bandstand to promote...

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Bobby Caldwell--What You Won't Do For Love (1978)

     Bobby Caldwell would be known as a journeyman songwriter. He has recorded and toured for himself  to success around the world, especially in Japan. Written many a songs over the years, for himself and for others, but the only other "hit" other than this song, was "Next Time I Fall" for Amy Grant and Peter Cetera. He has written for several movies we well.       Here in the states, he is known mostly for this song, released in late 1978 and reached #9 on the charts. The album and the single...

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John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band--On The Dark Side (1984)

     From the early days of it's conception, Rock and Roll gestated and blossomed through the clubs. "Can you Dance to it?" was an early question when it came to the success of a band and it's music. In the over 50 years since the birth of Rock, and for much longer in the clubs, speakeasies, and dance halls of an earlier generation, America bands and singers have honed their craft. For every song you hear on the radio, there are hundreds who literally toil locally with the hope of "making it", but really have made it in the...

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The Byrds--Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965)

     By late 1965, The Byrds had two hits, one of them going to #1, and were looking for a song to release as their 3rd single. The group named, "The Jet Set" just a year before had crafted their electric mix of Beatles pop and Dylan folk into their own sound. Mixing in with this the beautiful harmonies of Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman and it looked like, at the time, a group that had staying power.      They turned to a song that had been adapted by folk singer, Pete Seeger in...

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Jerry Butler--Only the Strong Survive (1969)

     From his first hit with The Impressions in 1958 to his last charting song in 1972, Jerry Butler has had a career that never was in the spotlight for very long at a time, but was consistently a part of the 60's R&B scene. He co-wrote hits for Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield as well as recording 14 top 40 hits of his own. His best known song is probably, "He Will Break Your Heart" in 1960, which was covered by Tony Orlando and Dawn in 1975 under the title, "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)", and for a bit of trivia,...

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Eric Burdon and War--Spill the Wine (1970)

     The band War had it's beginnings with Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown as The Creators in 1963. They added a few more musicians in the next couple of years and spent much of their time playing clubs and absorbing the diverse sounds of the L.A. ghetto. They cut a few singles in 67, then in 68 became the backing band for football player/singer Deacon Jones in 1968, when they also changed their name to Nightshift.       Record producer Jerry Goldstein heard the group while out one night, and was impressed...

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Sunday Morning Vault: The Buggles--Video Killed The Radio Star (1979)

     There are a lot of misconceptions about this song. As you can see from the title of the blog, it was released in 1979, although it really didn't enter the consciousness of the American public until the creation of MTV. It actually did very well on the charts around the world, hitting #1 in 16 different countries, including the UK. It barely scraped the top 40 here, but the "New Wave" as it was being called then had not fully taken hold yet in the states.       It's biggest claim to fame was that...

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Jimmy Buffett--Margaritaville (1977)

     Obsession about one's choice in music is a totally objective endeavor. I've never understood those who followed the Grateful Dead around, or Phish, or Jimmy Buffett. Although I suppose many would find my appreciation of power pop amusing as well. But one especially has to give Buffett credit. He started singing about a lifestyle, found millions of others who tap into that, and has made a very comfortable living doing so. He will have the occasional hit, but makes the bulk of his money on tour and working his other business...

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The Buffalo Springfield--For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound) (1967)

     It was a theme that would be echoed over the rest of the decade. Adults telling teens what to do, and feeling as if their rights were impinged upon. In this case, the residents and business owners on the Sunset Strip were becoming annoyed at the all night partying going on in their area. They encouraged the local government to incorporate a curfew.  (they thought 10pm was a nice time to shut all things down)      Filers were distributed to all that a demonstration would be held on November 12,...

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Buckner & Garcia: Pac--Man Fever (1982)

     Novelty songs have been a part of recorded music for almost as long as it has existed. It has taken on various forms over the years, but being topical has been one of the constants. This also means that the song has a short shelf life, and are quickly forgotten after it's time on the charts.      Pac-Man was one of the first arcade games of it's time. Asteroids and Space Invaders were there before, but Pac-Man, released in 1980, not only became the most popular game in it's era, but one of the most popular...

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R.I.P. ---Don Cornelius (1936-2012)

     My experience growing up with any minority groups were few. I lived in an area south of St. Louis Co., that was a lily white as any place could be. My high school had over 2,000 students and it was not until my last two years (1977/78) that other black (or any other hue) students could be found. My first real introduction to "the black experience" was found on late Saturday mornings on Channel 11, when I discovered, "Soul Train".      It would be easy to attempt to compare "American Bandstand" to "Soul...

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The Buckinghams--Kind of a Drag (1966)

     The Buckinghams were a local group from Chicago who had a string of top 20 hits for a a year, from Dec. of 66 to Dec. of 67.      They were first known as the Pulsations and were the house band on WGN-TV's, "All-Time Hits". It was during that year (1966) that the producer of the TV show suggested a name change that would reflect the British Invasion. They were a record deal late that year, and released, "Kind of a Drag" which reached #1 for a couple of weeks to start out the new year. Including that...

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