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Sunday, November 16, 2014

ABBA--Waterloo (1974)

     It seems as if every 10 years or so a new generation discovers ABBA. They were one of the best selling groups in the world in the 70's, although revisionist historians would suggest they were much bigger in the states than they really were (They only had four top 10 hits here, one of those climbing to the top). The first wave of nostalgia towards the group occurred shortly after their last album in the early 80's. The latest one, which corresponded with the stage production and movie "Mamma Mia", continues the trend that has allowed the group steady sales although they have not released anything new and has made it clear that reunions were not an option.

     Three of the four members of the group, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Agnetha Faltskog, were stars in their native country of Sweden during the late 60's. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was up and coming as well, but not as well known as the others. As Benny and Bjorn began to work together as a songwriting team, both men showed great interest in producing. They both had a desire to make a sound that was reminiscent of Phil Spector. Although the music would steer away from that as time went on, their first massive world-wide hit shows this deep influence.

     "Waterloo" reached #6 here in the states and would be their biggest hit stateside until "Dancing Queen" reached the top over two and a half years later.


Monday, September 1, 2014

Turning a 60's pop band into a cookin' 70's R&B group in about 50 (or more) steps.



It is the rarity for music groups to keep the same lineup over the course of it's history. Reasons include (but not exclusive to):

Sick of being poor
Sick of traveling
Sick of bandmates
Sick of abusing substances
Sick of corporate runarounds
Sick of being sick
Sick of being unknown
Sick of being known
Sick of being underapprcated
Sick of being bad
Illness
Death

Any or all of those have put the kibosh on the dreams or harmony of a musical group. Some groups change rarely, but just the sheer number of years on the road will bring about change. Others can change lineups so much that reunions of the bands in question come with "Hi I'm..." badges. Changes can bring about differences, while some bring no changes in the sound whatsoever.

However, every so often changes will occur that will totally take a band into another genre altogether, One latter day example was with the band Genesis. Peter Gabriel leaving the band and Phil Collins taking lead vocals move the band from art/progressive rock to pop rock in very short order. Another was the disco group Exile morphing into a popular country band. Today however, we consider The American Breed.

The band's heyday was in 1967-68 with five songs on the charts, by far the best known being, "Bend Me, Shape Me" in December of 67.



The hits stopped coming by the end of 68 which began a cycle of changes that only kept guitarist Al Ciner and keyboard player, Kevin Murphy. Not only that, but they went through several name changes...they went as The Breed, then as Smoke. Went through a couple of lead vocal changes as well until settling on an 18 year old fireball of a singer named Chaka Kahn. By this time (1973) they had also changed the name to Ask Rufus. By 1974 this core wound up with a number three hit and success in a totally different genre. A long hard climb from pop to R&B, but a very successful one....


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted

     Last time many of you heard from me on this forum, we had stopped the radio show and the blog posts had slowed to a trickle. Life had changed our plans, and although we willing accepted the changes in our career plans and our move to Southern Mississippi, the extra responsibilities caused me to rethink some priorities and the radio show AND blog went by the wayside.

     There were attempts on my part to re-ignite the blog by setting up a new site and domain name, but just couldn't get the mojo working again. A friend of mine said to me several years back to do what I was passionate about, and stick with it, not because there would be financial gain (although that would be nice), but because it was what I loved. That has never been far from my mind.

     Circumstances are allowing me again to pick up where I had left off. However this blog will not be an everyday thing, nor will it be in exactly the same format as before. I have an opportunity to resurrect the radio show again, and that will be my major focus. This blog will attempt to expand on some ideas and opinions concerning music which I might not have on a chance to on the radio.

     The show itself will also change. Before it was a mix of rock, pop, soul and r&b. My wheelhouse musically is rock from 1966-1980, in other words, the salad days of FM rock. This is where the base of the show will come from. Many a day (and night) of my childhood was spent listening to KSHE 95.5 in St. Louis, and the personality and vibe from that station molded my philosophy of how a radio show should be conducted.

     There are already three stations lined up to carry the new show. Actually, one of them never stopped airing the old one, and a new station in Oregon picked up repeats of the old broadcast about two months ago. I'm excited to attempt to bring things back to you. The readership of the blog never waned, and almost 65,000 of you have check it out. For this I am eternally grateful. Keep watching on the blog for updates as the day where we broadcast again come near.