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Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
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Keith Hampshire is very well known in Canada not only as a rock singer, but of a song that has become somewhat of a theme for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club. The song, "OK Blue Jays" recorded in 1983, is sung during the seventh inning stretch of home games. His version of, "The First Cut Is The Deepest" in 1973 reached number one on the Canadian charts. This song, which sounds a lot like fellow Canadian, David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat and Tears was the highest charting song of his career in the US reaching #51 in early 1973.
About ten years ago, Uncle Kracker did the song, "Drift Away" with Dobie Grey. Many older types recognized it from the hit which Grey did in 1973. What many of both generations didn't know was the extent of his long career.
Dobie, who was born near Houston, Texas in 1940 and who's career spanned soul, country, pop and even musical theater. His real name is a matter of conjuncture, but many think he was born Lawrence Darrow Brown. His grew up in a family of sharecroppers, and learned music from his grandfather who was a minister. In the early 60's, he moved to LA and recorded a few sides for local companies before meeting Sonny Bono who directed him to Stripe Records. Success eluded him, but it was there he was given the moniker, "Dobie Gray" as a take off the popular sitcom, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". It was 1963 that he had his first taste of chart action with the song, "Look at Me" which did well regionally. It was two years later before he found his way there again, but this time it was all the way to the top 20 with, "The In Crowd" which had been an instrumental hit for Ramsey Lewis earlier that year. Gray's vocal rendition made it to number 13.
Getting a follow up success was difficult and in the meantime he took up acting, getting a spot in the LA production of the musical, "Hair" which he stayed on for over two years. When joining a band in 1970 called, "Pollution" which was probably best known for it's manager, Max Baer Jr. (Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies) than for anything they put on vinyl. During this time, he also recorded a series of demos with songwriter Paul Williams. It was Paul's brother, Mentor who produced Dobie's first solo album with Decca, who signed him in 1972. They went to Nashville to record, and it was one of Mentor's songs, "Drift Away" which became the single. It went to number 5 on the charts, and it's redo in 2003 with Uncle Kracker also hit the top ten.
Although he recorded throughout the 70's with minor success, he moved to Nashville and concentrated on songwriting, writing for artists as diverse as Don Williams, George Jones, Johnny Mathis, and Ray Charles. He even had a moderate hit on the country charts with his single, "That's One To Grow On" in 1986. After his comeback to the charts in 03, he continued to tour until after a long battle with cancer he died in December of 2011.
Any artist that can stay in the game for over 50 years has my respect, and the group Golden Earring has done just that. Although the majority of their success has been initially in their homeland (the Netherlands), they have maintained a level of popularity that most other bands couldn't touch. They began as a pop band in 1961, and with their first top ten single in 1965, began a career which has brought 51 top forty singles in their homeland along with 32 albums, first in pop, then into a more mainstream rock sound.
Of those albums, eight of them has charted here in the states, two of them in the top 40 on the strength of two classic rock tunes. The first, "Radar Love" propelled the album, "Moontan" to #12 on the charts and almost a decade later, "Twilight Zone" did the same for the album "Cut". The best reason I can think of them not compounding successes here had to do with lack of great follow up songs. The last chart action they had here was in 1986 with the top forty single, "Quiet Eyes" in 1986
John Fogerty ranks easily as one of great songwriters/singers of the early days of modern rock. Having said that, it seems like much of his career has been spent fighting for his own self significance. Some of the fights, like with Fantasy records were wholly justified, others, like with his brothers and band-mates left one scratching their head and wondering what the fuss was really about.
Without going too deep into it here, John's brother Tom had already left the band, over wanting more control in the band along with the remaining members, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford. They made it clear they didn't want total control, but they desired to work more as a cooperative then "John Fogerty and his band". Instead of working with the others to craft songs, an ultimatum was for each to take a third of the album and write their own music or else the band would be dissolved.
The result, "Marti Gras" was a disaster (at least by CCR standards) and the band broke up in early 1972. With Fogerty feuding with Fantasy and his musical family, he retired into the studio to make an album of just songs that influenced him. No one else was involved in it as John played all of the parts, and produced it as well. To continue to separate himself from his own legacy, there was no picture of him on the cover of the album, and he took the name, "Blue Ridge Rangers" instead of promoting his own name. Of course, with that distinctive vocal sound, it was not hard to know who was doing the singing. The Hank Williams Sr. classic, "Jambalya" was chosen as the first single (released in late 1972) off the album and reached the bottom part of the top 20 early in 1973.
With it's odd blend of classical, jazz, and avant-garde, progressive rock in the early 70's struck an odd pose compared to much of what was going on around it. Every so often however some of this music broke through to a wider audience. One of those songs was "Hocus Pocus", with it's yodeling, whistling set on top of a hard rock base.
What is somewhat unfortunate is that a majority of those who remember that song is unaware of the Dutch group's background in improvisational-jazz style progressive rock. The band began with keyboardist/flutist Thijs van Leer, guitarist Jan Akkerman, bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver. This was the group who recorded the 1970 album, "In and Out of Focus" which wasn't heard much outside The Netherlands. Akkerman left to form his own group with bassist Cyril Havermans and drummer Pierre van der Linden. van Leer soon joined and Bert Ruiter replaced Havermans. This became the classic lineup of the band for much of the 70's.
The song, "Hocus Pocus" came from the second album. ("Focus 2" in Europe, "Moving Waves" in the states) It was released stateside in 1973 where it reached the top 10. Although it the only hit they would have on the US charts, several songs were used quite a bit as background music for sports shows ("House of the King", "Sylvia") and their albums sold quite well to the progressive rock crowd during this time. They never received the attention due them, but if you want to dig a bit deeper than the hit, you might find yourself listening to a bit more of this band.
Before getting started with today's post, I wanted to direct you to a blog that you might find interesting. For several months now, I've been reading Mike Descz's, "A Bit Like You and Me". It also takes a song a day, but his focus is on songs that are a bit more obscure than what we do here on the bus. It's a fun trip and hope you check it out. ABitLikeYouAndMe.blogspot.com
Lamont Dozier was born in Detroit in 1941, and from 1957 to 61 recorded with groups like The Romeos and The Voice Masters until signing a deal with Motown in 1962 and teaming up with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland.
Beginning with Martha and the Vandellas, they began crafting hits like, "Heatwave", and "Quicksand". But it was 1964, when hit the top of the charts with, "Where Did Our Love Go", that the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland took off and for the next four years, this songwriting team produced 12 number one hits.
H-D-H left Motown in 1968 to form their own company, Invictus/Hot Wax which was moderately successful and in 70, Dozier went back to his recording career. During the first half of the 70's, Dozier had success, especially on the R&B charts. It was this song in late 73/early 74 that was became his highest charting hit. He continues to write and record. His website is, http://www.lamontdozier.com/
There are times in the history of the singles chart where the mix of different genres will cross with artists who's music is eclectic as well and the paths will cross and an off the wall hit is born. Such is the way this song made it to the top ten.
Dr. John, (who's real name is Mac Rebennack Jr.) began his professional career in his native New Orleans as a guitar player and producer. An incident where he was defending the keyboard player in his band ended with a shooting where Mac ended up with an injured ring finger. His interest in music began as a young teen after meeting Professor Longhair for the first time so his change from guitar to piano seemed to be a natural one.
Having moved to LA in the early 60's, he quickly caught on with other artists and soon became on of the top session players on the scene. It's also where he developed the persona of "Dr. John" and mixed the jazz and R&B of his home with psychedelic rock of the day. The result, "Gris-Gris" was totally different than anything going on at the time. One of the songs, "I Walk On Guilded Splinters", was as good an example of psychedelic rock than anything done by the Dead or Jefferson Airplane.
Four more albums were released, and he developed a solid cult following. Although not necessarily making music for the singles chart, Atco released, "Iko Iko" off of his album, "Dr. John's Gumbo" in 1972, and primed the market for the album, "In The Right Place". Produced by Alan Toussaint and backed by The Meters and propelled by the single, "Right Place, Wrong Time", the album went into the top 30. He has continued to tour and record top flight records. You can check out more about this stellar American legend at http://www.nitetripper.com/
The video was from New Orleans in 1973...
From the advent of the modern pop/rock era (about 1955), there are songs which made the charts that have been influenced by music from other countries. The American public seems to have a fascination with what is now known by the generic phrase, "world music", but not too much of it at a time, and almost always mixed in with a more Anglo sensibility. Paul Simon's, "Graceland" is probably one of the best examples of this in album form.
We find much more of a tolerance for the music of the world in jazz. One of the purveyors of this blend of ethnic music (in this case from Brazil) and jazz is Eumir Deodato. He was born in Brazil and taught himself the accordion and then the piano. By the age of 17 he was a pianist and arranger in the Bossa Nova scene in Rio. Like many musicians in that country who chafed at the rule of dictatorship in the country moved to New York City.
He signed with the small CTI label and reworked "Also Sprach Zarathustra" in a funky bossa nova style which was included on his debut album, "Prelude" in 1972. Many of you know this song as the major musical theme in the movie, "2001: A Space Odyssey". Those with a classical background would of course recognize it as a tone poem written by Richard Strauss in 1896.
It reached #2 on the charts in the early spring of 1973 and put Deodato on the map as a writer/producer/arranger. He had three other songs reach the top 100 that decade, but none with the success of his debut, although he has arranged and produced hundreds of albums for artists all over the musical spectrum.
In the history of modern rock/pop there have been three golden eras of teen idols: The early 60's where the sub genre began through the male idols that came up in the wake of the pillars of rock and roll declining. Those would include (but not exclusive to) Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell and others would fit in this group. The 70's, which began with the triumvirate of The Osmonds, Partridge Family, Bobby Sherman, and The Jackson 5 and finished with Shawn Cassidy and Leif Garrett. The 90's finished out this group starting with The New Kids On the Block and ending with Hanson, The Backstreet Boys, N'ync, and a plethora of sub par boy bands. There has certainly been others outside these periods, such as The Monkees in the late 60's, and New Edition in the 80's. However, the three mentioned at the beginning were truly special if you dig that kind of thing.
The DeFranco Family falls in the period in the middle of the 70's, which was good for them since the fervor over the Cassidy/Osmond axis had died down quite a bit. The teen idol machine was looking or someone new and they found it in the Italian family from Ontario. The five siblings, Benny, Marisa, Nino, Merlina and Tony, were known as the DeFranco Quintet and a tape of one of their performances got to Sharon Lee, who at the time was editor of the magazine, Teen Beat. She arranged for them to fly to California to record a three song demo which lead to them being signed by 20th Century Records.
"Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat" was the first song out of the gate which reached #3 in 1973. It's easy to think today of the group as a one hit wonder, but they also had two other top 40 hits, "Abra-ca-dabra" (#32 in 1973) and "Save The Last Dance For Me" (#18 in 1974). The hits stopped coming by the middle of 74, but they stayed together as a group until 1978.
It seems as if since 1973, every boy or girl who picked up a guitar is drawn to that riff as if they have no choice. I can't vouch for the reason why, but just like playing "Chopsticks" seems to be natural for a young piano player, the opening guitar line to, "Smoke On The Water" is to young axe players. Whereas it sounds cute coming from a 9 year old, the same riff becomes menacing in the hands of Ritchie Blackmore. (might have something to do with the Marshall amps being turned up to 11 as well..) Along with "Stairway to Heaven", the song became one of the icons for 70's hard rock.
The story behind the song came from an incident on December 4th of 1971. The Rolling Stones had invested in a mobile recording truck which could be driven to the artist rather than the artist to the studio. The truck was driven to Switzerland to meet the band at the Montreux Casino to begin recording a new album.
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing in the ballroom of the casino that night, when someone with a flaregun shot a flare into the ceiling. It quickly caught fire, as did the entire casino complex. The words "Smoke on the Water" came from bass player, Roger Glover as an apt description of that scene on the banks of Lake Geneva. With the place they were going to record destroyed, they spent the next couple of weeks unsuccessfully looking for a place to record. They finally found the Montreux Grand Hotel, which they rent a part of, converted it into a studio and recorded their most successful album, "Machine Head".
This recording was from California Jam in the spring of 1974....
Charlie Daniels had been performing since the 1950's, and spent much of the 60's as a Nashville session musician and songwriter, being mostly known for co-writing the song, "It Hurts Me" which Elvis recorded. As his name started to grow outside of the country genre, he was featured as a bass player on recordings by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohan.
As he began to explore his musical options, he began not only to perform with his own band, but help mentor other southern rock groups, most notably the Marshall Tucker Band. Being in his late 30's when the album, "Honey in the Rock" was released with it's single, "Uneasy Rider", his spot in the genre was one of a father type figure.
"Uneasy Rider" told a universal story of cultures clashing. In this case, it was the 60's hippie culture meeting the 'good old boys' from the deep south. As exaggerated as the song was, anyone who lived south of the Mason-Dixon line could relate to elements of the song (or better or worse), as could those who were a part of the 60's culture.
As opposed to his more political strident and mawkish stance later in his career, he was at his best during the 70's showing off his fiddling prowess and telling stories through his songs, it's apex being in 1979 with, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
A lot of people my age who read this blog (age 45 and up) might have forgotten that several of the pop singers of the early50's would still have the occasional hit even through the early/mid 70's. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Perry Como would all have hits well into a time thought exclusive to rock bands and teen idols.
I have always thought Perry Como to have one of the smoothest sounding voices in music. My problem with him has been his choice (or someone's choice) of material. He spent much of the 50's singing novelty songs like, "Papa Does Mambo", "Hot Diggity". This isn't saying that all of his time was spent doing that, but for a man of his talents, it just seemed like way much. While Sinatra was singing, "Summer Wind" and "Strangers in the Night", Como was hitting the charts with "Kewpie Doll" and "Catch A Falling Star".
Not that it affected his popularity at all. In fact, thanks to his good looks, and laid back manner, he was a natural fit for television. From 1949 to 1959 he was on weekly, and from 1959 to 1967, was on about once a month on the Kraft Music Hall. His popularity far exceeded the other pop stars of his day just from sheer longevity.
Because of this exposure, he was still a known name in music, especially for the older generation who still bought albums. He still was a presence on the pop charts however, "Seattle", and "It's Impossible" in 1969 and 1970 respectively, reached the top 40 with the latter making the top 10. As the decade wore on, it seems as though his effect on the pop charts had run out.
"And I Love You So" was written by Don McLean (who wrote and sang "American Pie") and included on his 1970 debut album, "Tapestry". It reached #29 in the spring of 1973. He continued recording and touring well up in the 1980's.
If you head east of Jonesboro Arkansas, out past Lake City at the intersection of Highway 18 and 158, you will find the village of Black Oak. Depending on where you are looking they have between 250 and 300 residents.
Back in the mid-60's a group of guys calling themselves, "The Knowbody Else" were charged with larceny for stealing their first PA system. Although the initial 26 year sentence to a prison farm was commuted, they moved to a place in the northeast Arkansas hills. This gave them an opportunity to hone their style, which was southern rock with a hint of Detroit style attitude (think of a southern version of The Stooges). Their first album album stiffed in 1969, but a name change (to Black Oak Arkansas), and relentless touring helped their next recording in 1971 make some waves.
The song, "Jim Dandy" was a cover of the 1956 R&B single by LaVern Baker, and was propelled by the vocals of Ruby Starr who joined the band after lead singer Jim Mangrum heard her in a club in Evansville, Indiana. The song reached the top forty late in 1973. Starr went on to form her own band in 1974. Mangrum is still recording and touring with the band today, although with the literally dozens of band member changes he has been the only constant throughout the years.
Was getting ready to write today's blog, when I got the word that Dobie Gray passed yesterday.....so we reflect on his career today...
He was born Lawrence Brown in 1940 and has had what one would call the career of a music lifer. He had two major hits, "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965, and "Drift Away" in 1973, he recorded on many small labels as well. Gray helped provide vocals on soundtracks and spent two and half years working in the Los Angeles production of "Hair". Dobie's last charting song was 1979's, "You Can Do It" which reached #35 on the charts, and was then followed by a long stretch where he concentrated on music that was more country in style. Artists such as Ray Charles, George Jones, Charlie Pride, and Don Williams recorded Gray's music, and in 1986/87, made a series of singles that made it on the country charts.
Beyond 1990 was a time of writing and singing, with a resurgence in the spotlight in 2003 due to the success of Uncle Kracker's cover of "Drift Away". He was 71....
Am not sure why, but have always been more of a fan of Simon & Garfunkel then of the two of them solo. It's not that they have not had moments. Paul Simon's first album post-S&G is very enjoyable and some of his 80's output (especially Graceland) is splendid. Art Garfunkel's fans are extremely loyal, but I've just never been a fan of his solo material....except for the album, "Angel Claire". One could say this release was very close vocally to "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which is maybe why I like it so much. No one could ever deny that Garfunkel had a gorgeous voice, but without the earthiness of Simon it soon could wear one down (well...at least it did me). This song was his first single and it is amazing....
REO Speedwagon has always been a difficult subject for me to address. The group that many remember was an arena rock force in the early/mid' 1980's, and were known for the album, "Hi Infidelity" (and those....ballads).
The REO we grew up with however was a much different animal. Starting out in the late 60's as a college covers band out of Southern Illinois University, their debut album came out in 1971. Driven by the guitar and songwriting of new member Gary Richrath, they did well in the new underground FM market in St. Louis. Although switching lead vocals three times on the first three albums, they continued to grow and was doing very well playing the bar circuit in the mid-west. For my money those first three albums hold up better than just about anything in their catalog.
A few more years of albums and touring led up to a make or break album that the folks at Epic records shockingly allowed them to produce themselves. This lead to the breakthrough album, "You Get What You Play For" in 1977. It went gold, and set the table for the album, "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tune a Fish" which became a mainstream success.
I have nothing against the 80's stuff, and my wife tells me I have a bias about groups that started out in the mid-west, became well known regionally, then became famous (Kansas, Journey, Styx...etc). Maybe it's a belief that once the money started rolling in, the music became more product and less inspired?? Am not sure, but what is for sure is that record companies do not allow for this kind of development any more, and that is a shame. In today's musical climate, none of those groups I mentioned would have gotten past the first couple of albums before being dropped.
I hate that title...but it would be the only way that many would recognize the tune. Never saw the movie (neither has Oldfield), and have no intention too (horror isn't my bag). As it turns out, it was a career defining moment for him, and for Virgin records president, Richard Branson.
Branson was attempting to get his record company off of the ground and heard a small demo of a then 19-year old Oldfield and signed him up. He played most of the instruments by layering one over another. It is an impressive work, as it was for Branson to take a risk on a young musician who's desire was to make an album that consists of one two sided song. A shortened version for the movie was made and hit the US charts, making Mike a one hit wonder in the states, but his success has gone far beyond the singles market.
The album became a hit and helped Branson off to become one of the richest men in the world. Oldfield, although never having a "hit" single again, has a very devoted and loyal fan base. His music laid the foundations for what is now known as "New Age" music, but he has dabbled in many styles including dance, celtic, world, and electronic. If you liked what you heard on this single, I suggest you listen to this entire album and his third album (Ommadawn--1975)
Many only know him as an actor from the late 70's soap opera General Hospital, others as a successful singer in the early/mid 80's. Springfield's first hit however was in the early 70's....
He was born Richard Lewis Springthorpe in a western suburb of Sydney, Australia in 1949. From the age of 13 he was playing in bands and his addition to the group Rockhouse prompted the name change to Springfield. For the three years between 69 and 71, Rick was with the group Zoot which not only gave him recognition throughout his homeland, but allow him to begin to spread his wings as a songwriter as well.
He went solo in 72, writing and releasing, "Speak to the Sky" which went to #4 in Australia and prompted a flight to London to record his first solo album, which he plays guitar, keyboards, and banjo in addition to writing all of the songs. Later that year he moved to US to correspond to the release of "Speak to the Sky" in the US. It did great for a debut as it reached #14. However, a combination of being lumped in other established teen idol, a break from management as he wanted to do more adult themed music kept him out of the spotlight. Finally in 1978 he started doing some acting which led him the next year to the role that made him a star, and gave him a second chance to make it in the music business.
In the late 60's/early 70's, Maureen McGovern was working as a secretary and performing in a folk band called, "Sweet Rain". She had always wanted to be a singer, but up to that point had gone nowhere fast. In 1972 a demo she had recorded ended up catching the ear of Russ Regan who at that time was the head of 20th Century records. Having never actually met her at that time, he called and asked if she would be interested in recording a song from a film that was to be released in December of that year called, "The Poseidon Adventure"....
The song, "The Morning After" had been written for the movie in March of 1972 by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. The original title of the song was, "Why Must Their Be A Morning After", however the lyrics were changed to reflect...shall we say a more positive tone. (The movie was about a sinking ship after all...) The song was sung in the movie by Carol Lynley (actually by voice double Renee Armand).
McGovern's version of the song was released in May of 1973 and went to #1. This opened up an opportunity to sing on several movie soundtracks through the 70's. She never had another song reach the top ten, although the song, "Different Worlds" (which was the theme to a TV sitcom, "Angie") reached #18 in 1979. "Morning After" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1981.
She left recording music for the stage in the early 80's and has alternated her career between acting and recording since then. On the movie screen you might have remembered her from the singing nun character in the movie "Airplane!". If you haven't it is one of the many scene stealers of the movie....
We celebrate Rick Wright's birthday today....he would have been 68.
Wright's keyboard's were an integral part of the classic sound of Pink Floyd, but what was sometimes under appreciated was his skills as a songwriter (as you hear below). There are not many albums (non-Beatles division) that I can regularly go to and listen from beginning to end and still have a fantastic listening experience. The combo of "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" still do for me after all of these years.
