Jimmy Hall--I'm Happy That Love Has Found You (1980)

     There were several southern rock bands that deserved more recognition during their time, but was left in the wake of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, and Marshall Tucker. Some of them were hard to classify because their orientation leaned beyond the boundaries of  rock. Little Feat and Sea Levell fell into that category. One group that leaned into a soul/rock sound was Wet Willie. Much of that could be contributed to the harmonica/sax and lead vocals of Jimmy Hall.
     Hall and drummer Lewis Ross started the band which at the time was called Fox in 1969, then a year later changed it to Wet Willie. They were always a popular band in the south, as they didn't rock quite as hard as Skynyrd, but their white soul conjured up images of a mix between them and a group from the Stax family of artists. They recorded a series of great albums, but never truly caught on to a nationwide audience outside of the single (and album), "Keep On Smiling" in 1974. They left a legacy of great albums, and from what I've been told legendary concerts. However, after record sales just wouldn't allow them to get another foothold in the business, they went separate ways in 1980.
     After the band's demise in 1980, lead singer Hall took off on his own and released the album, "Touch You" which spawned the top 40 hit, "I'm Happy That Love Has Found You". He had another charting hit a couple of years later with, "Fool For Your Love" in 1982, but since has found a niche as a studio musician. A move to Nashville prompted him to meet up with a small but talented group of like minded blues musicians and he has released a series of top notch albums over the last 17 years. If you are a fan of his, you need to check them out as well. We, of course have his biggest hit single here but also a little taste of what he's been up to lately with a song from the 2007 release, "Build Your Own Fire"

     

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Larry Graham--One In a Million You (1980)

     Bass player Larry Graham was born in Beaumont Texas, but was raised in Oakland from the age of five. He started out playing the drums, but his father gave him a guitar at the age of 11 and within a few years added bass and harmonica to his assortment of instruments. At 15, he joined his mother's band, "The Dell Graham Trio". It was here he began to develop the thumping style that became known as the "slap-pop" method which would become a staple of funk music.
     Larry joined Sly and the Family Stone in 1968 and remained with them until Sly's drug use and increasing paranoia led him to leave the band in 1972. Soon after he joined a group called, "Hot Chocolate" (not the British band who had some hits later in the decade), and renamed them Graham Central Station. They had had a string of chart entries during the mid-70's.
     He departed for a solo career in 1979 and made a turn towards more ballad type material. This proved to be a good choice at the beginning as his first solo outing turned out to be his most popular song. "One In a Million You" reached the top 10 in the late summer of 1980. He had a couple more songs in the top 100 over the next couple of years. In recent days, he reformed Graham Central Station in 2011 to tour with Prince.

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Dan Fogelberg--Same Old Lang Syne (1980)

     1980 was arguably Dan Fogelberg's best year in the music industry. It began with the album, "Phoenix" rising up to the #3 spot on the charts, his best selling single, "Longer" reaching #2 and "Heart Hotels" making the top 40 as well. Late that year came the release of, "The Innocent Age" which, although not quite reaching the same heights on the charts (still was #6 at it's peak), spawned four top 20 hits through 1982. One of the reasons several of these songs became classics was the autobiographical nature of his writing. All who are Fogelberg fans know, "Leader of the Band", but the one that always stuck out to me not only because of the song, but it's back story was "Same Old Lang Syne"
     His website admits that this was based on an encounter with an old girlfriend back in the mid-70's. (If your not familiar with the story...I suggest you click on the link below and listen) Because at the time he wrote the song the woman was still married, (he thought)  the singer refused to release her name to the public. There is reason the song is still played during the holidays every year, as old themes of love found and lost and holiday recollection are captured within the melancholy of the tune itself, complete with a sax solo from Michael Brecker.
     The rest of the story comes upon the death of Fogelberg in 2007. A woman named Jill Greulich came forward in December of that year with the story. Back in Woodruff High School in the late 60's  they had dated when her name was Jill Anderson. They went to different colleges and after graduation Jill got married and moved to Chicago and Dan went to Colorado to purse his musical career. On December 24, 1976, the chance meeting in Peoria occurred when both were going to a convenience store to pick up some food items. They bought a six pack of beer and drank it in her car for two hours while they talked.
     Jill remembers the first time she heard "Same Old Lang Syne" while driving to work, but never said anything because she feared that coming forward would disrupt his marriage. Interestingly enough, by the time of the songs release, she had divorced the man described in the song. As with many autobiographical songs, there were a few changes to make the song work. Jill noted two inaccuracies. She has green eyes, not blue, and her husband was not an architect - he was a physical education teacher, and it is unlikely Fogelberg knew his profession anyway.

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Reflections on Donna Summer by her former music director.

Scott Hallgren is a friend of mine who had the privilege of working with Donna Summer for seven years. Since her death, I had been hoping to get some thoughts and stories. Hope you enjoy reading them as well. His website is:  http://scootmanmusic.com/

I had the pleasure of working with Donna 1998 - 2005; all of it on keyboards, 4 of them as her pianist, 3 as her musical director. If I'd only known as an 8 year old, driving around in my Mom's Chevette, listening to Donna on AM radio...

Ahh, the stories - WAY too many to tell, whether it was:

- the Rod Stewart impersonator we sent onstage with flowers in El Paso during "Dim All The Lights" (she'd originally written the song for Rod and talked about that every show) that made her freak out and fall off her stool laughing during our 'acoustic' segment,

- performing as the 'house band' at the reception following Sony label prez Tommy Mottola's 3rd wedding (before he was legally divorced from Mariah), and having my rig directly in front of a table - at which were seated Joe Pesci, Rhea Perlman, Rosie O'Donnell, Danny DeVito, and Michael Jackson (who planned THAT table?),

- me getting to perform with my hero Elton John's band, play his piano, and accompany him and Donna on "Enough Is Enough" for the AIDS Foundation's 2003 benefit at Elton's home, then Barry Manilow get up to join them and say, "I can't believe I'm up here with Donna & Elton - this is fuckin' great! Isn't this fuckin' great?" to the horror of many glitterati,

- or the number of times something went awry during "On The Radio", where Donna would invite 3 audience members (females, for reasons you might expect) up to sing background vocals; once, in Columbus, a girl took the mic and walked out front and sang the second verse with an astonished Donna looking on; another time, at a Sony PGA Open, only 2 females were willing to come up, so the audience begged Donna to take the guy 'in the red windbreaker'... he promptly flew up the stairs, grabbed the mic, and said, "Donna, I'm not a girl, but I do have a very small penis", just as she had taken a sip of Dr. Pepper from the cup on my piano. ***It was Adam Sandler.*** (You can imagine how long it took her to stop laughing, and us to clean off the piano!)

Donna never wanted to be an 'oldies' act, and struggled with the box that many tried to put her in. She could sing ANYTHING. We used to do 'Someone To Watch Over Me' as a duet, Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams', 'Nights In White Satin', 'New York, New York'. She sounded INCREDIBLE on the 2010 David Foster & Friends show (with Seal).

None of us had any idea she was sick, and I only hope that I'll be able to attend the memorial here in Nashville - she had so many real friends I don't know where they'd put everyone. The fact that she's gone too soon makes it that much harder.

She never stopped creating, was always musical, and my life is so much better and richer for having known her.

- S

Scott Hallgren
Composer/producer/pianist

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Christopher Cross--Sailing (1980)

     In a blog not too long ago, I referenced, "luck" as a ingredient in the success of an artist or a song. Those who say, "you make your own luck" obviously never tried their hand at music. There are not many career directions that are determined, not only by hard work, but by the whims and tastes of an audience that for the most part you never see. One of the things we do at, "The Rock and Roll Omnibus" radio show is to not only celebrate the hits from the past, but also to give due to those who produced quality music which never got the recognition. 
     In hindsight, Christopher Cross' first album came at a perfect time for a breath of fresh pop air. The disco backlash was in full swing, most of radio listeners were not latching on to punk, and what was to become new wave had not been fully developed yet. His unique vocal style blended with a timeless soft rock sense that was punctuated by Michael Omartain's production produced a single, (and album) that is a near flawless record of it's genre.
     Despite what critics (especially those who think of themselves as 'hip')  might have said about his career, Cross has done very well. He had a total of 8 top 40 hits from 1980 to 1983 and that first album won a Grammy. He continues to tour and record with regularity.You can find him on the internet here: http://www.christophercross.com/

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Air Supply--Lost in Love (1980)

      Doing these blogs from a bit of a historic perspective has given me a different view of many of the songs of our past. It also reminds me that, just like histories of other events (say US history for example) that one can document what actually happened, but interpreting the event is another thing altogether, and proves that historians can be subjected to prejudices just like anyone else.

       I say all of this to confess that not all of the music that you find here on the blogs are...shall I say favorites of mine? The late 70's combined my disdain of top 40  music (overproduced LA rock, disco, some form of soft rock that made groups like Bread sound like The Who), with my more rebellious years (it's a relative thing....but compared to  my geeky high school years, it was revolutionary). I wouldn't be caught dead with an Air Supply album.

      The truth however is that there WERE some songs (like this one), that I truly loved. Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock did have a tendency to get a bit heavy handed with the syrup, especially as the hits kept coming, but looking back now over 30 years after they first hit stateside, I realize there had to be a lot more closet fans. I never actually met anyone who would admit it, but SOMEBODY had to be buying all of those records. 

      They still continue to tour and record, but hadn't heard any of their music for at least a couple of decades, and are probably known more to a generation of TV watchers now as two guys who are hawking some soft rock albums on infomercials. If your one of those kids, ask your old rocker parents about Air Supply, then after you get the "unhip" line about them....rummage through their old records to see if it's not there (Christopher Cross' debut album would also out them....)

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