This band name kept popping up as a RIYL for a couple of weeks, and I can take a hint if you hit me with it often enough. A quick sampling proved interesting enough for the buy. Performed zero research on it initially (not my usual modus operandi) and first popped it in the player on a two-hour road trip, allowing for an uninterrupted, complete spin (again, deviating from the norm). Initially, the girl's voice was annoying, so about half way through I shut down active listening and just let it play. Waited several days before launching into the second spin. At the usual pace of a couple of tracks at a time, I found myself "hearing" the vocals and not just "listening" to them. The second track should be on every country format across the board...
Would have sworn that they were American after that...but NO! Swedish sisters, the youngest still a teen! Learned this is their third album. Apparently, they were discovered domestically by the younger, more social-networking-savvy demographic a few years ago after covering a Fleet Foxes tune on YouTube. That would explain how this album has already sold well enough to hit #65 on the Billboard charts, also scoring a Top 20 placement on the Rock chart. Can't anoint it "Beard Rock" since they are female, but it fits that same niche as the Foxes if you label them "Rock." I wrote down "country/folk/troubadour/minstrel, 21st century hippie music." They play concerts in the woods and look at how they dress in the video. They are New Generation Hippie if I ever saw it. My first impression screamed Indigo Girls but that faded with repeated listens. FAK could very well be this year's Civil Wars, the Grammy-winning California-Alabama collision. This is Sweden meets Appalachia...
They are playing Coachella this weekend and opening for Jack White in Europe afterwards. Prepare for the world's stage, ladies...
...Let's go with Legs Diamond "...Is A Hard Rock" down to Valdosta.
This was the second album for the band, actually released less that a year after the debut in 1977. Believe it or not, there is still a configuration of Legs out there with a new record scheduled for this year. Have to look for it and give it a listen. I always labeled them as a West Coast version of Angel, and why not, they were on the same label. Organ heavy more than synths, twin guitars, good vocalist, adequate rhythm section. They toured like hell with "TED NUGENT, KISS, GOLDEN EARRING, STYX, SAMMY HAGAR, TRIUMPH, RUSH, MONTROSE, ALICE COOPER, Y&T, REO SPEEDWAGON, NAZARETH, BOB SEGER, RIOT, MOXY, TEN YEARS AFTER, MOUNTAIN, J. GEILS BAND, GLEN HUGHES, MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, UFO, THE BABYS, ANGEL, ULI JOHN ROTH, BUDGIE, DIO, STARZ, STEPPENWOLF." Maybe you saw them. Guns N Roses were reportedly big fans. I only had vinyl copies until 2000. That's when one of the original members got a UK company to issue CD formats. Guess he thought the British would like it based on their love for Uriah Heep, which Legs could have been mistaken for at times. This track has been called their "Stairway To Heaven"...
Seemed only fitting that one of the bands in the list above turned out to be next in line for the player, taking me into smokey north Florida and Lake City...
MOXY's debut album was/is one of Rock's most under-appreciated records of all time! They were so good that another artist heard them recording from the next studio and had to sit in...
That's right, boys & girls, there are Tommy Bolin solos all over the album. He was recording "Teaser" and there was a James Gang connection that opened the door for him. Suffice it to say that my vinyl copy is a treasured possession. MOXY was just the latest configuration of members, some playing together since the late 60's, but it was certainly the most successful, albeit short-lived. By the time the third album came out, the singer had damaged his vocal cords, and the years of touring with its alcohol, drugs & sex had fractured the group. They had opened for everybody before headlining in Texas with an OPENING act called AC/DC. As it has been told, MOXY's singer was considered as the replacement for Bon Scott after he passed, but he could only be valid in a studio, not on stage. The singer that replaced him on the 4th album later became famous for fronting another Canadian band a couple of years later, Loverboy.
But it was the first three albums, especially the songs penned by original guitarist Earl Johnson (none too shabby a slinger as well; reportedly still touring as MOXY) that are classics. How about an encore before heading toward Gainesville...
And let me kick off the next CD with the title track...
Truly one of the great Rock bands of all time, in my opinion. They were far more than "Boys Are Back In Town." Not a weak link in the mix, even when they traded in guitarists. To replace Robbo, they brought in Gary Moore, Snowy White, and John Sykes. This is from "Live & Dangerous" and it's the song Van Morrison wished he had written...
Phil Lynott had such a distinctive voice. He left us way too soon. Many consider "Bad Rep..." as good a record as "Jailbreak." I have and love them all, with a little extra fondness for "Fighting."
By now I'm in the home stretch, cruising toward Ocala, caffeine buzz in full effect. Thank goodness for cruise control because the next band is a pedal-presser...
Not considered one of their best, but me likey anyway. "Desolation Blvd." was the soundtrack of my high school years. "Give Us A Wink" was the motivational music for baseball my senior year. Safe to say that "...Wink" would be a deserted island disc for me. "Off The Record" arrived while I was still making the adjustment to college life, and it provided comforting heaviness for the early Mad Rocker shows. This is the track I played on the "WPRK Midday Flashback" a couple of weeks ago...
By now I'm to the first toll plaza on the Turnpike, so finishing up the ride is...
David Byron's first solo album. I had two or three Uriah Heep LP's, but I truly enjoyed this album and it's variety more. Sort of like Lowell George's solo away from Little Feat, "Thanks, I'll Eat It Here." Love the Feat, but that individual effort is still in my Top 500 Ever. Technically, "...Prisoners" is Top 500, too, but ranked behind LG's since it was basically half of the Heep playing. I still can't get this song out of my head from a week ago...
A lot of people back then likened him to Ian Gillan. I understood it but disagreed. Ian's voice was an instrument, Byron's an accompaniment. But that didn't diminish its effectiveness within the song. He wrote well, too. While fumbling around for a video to play, I found some of the Rough Diamond group from 1977...
That's Clem Clempson of Humble Pie on guitar and the drummer played with Wings. I only have that record on cassette but I may need to search for it now.
Thanks for riding along with me on this side excursion from the norm. I'll be back soon with two new posts from female-fronted bands...
Per the previous post, I had selected a dozen tracks suitable for the "WPRK Midday Flashback." Since I had them out, I decided to take the twelve CD's to be the soundtrack to a 10.5 hour drive back to Orlando, which began at 2:45 AM, CDT. Thought I would highlight said CD's for a brief departure and a refresher course on the original version of the Mad Rocker!
I don't do lots of collections like "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" because I already have the songs and/or disagree with the selected tracks or tracking sequence. Musical snob, I know. But when they are right, they are right. As it turned out, I had used several of my early fave collections for the Flashback show, and the initial disc was this one. Beginning from the home of Bonnaroo in the wee hours, Max Webster kicks off the journey. If you like great guitar & keys, intelligent lyrics, and a bit of wit in your rock, these friends of Rush (click here Rush fans) are for you. They were a great live band, and though the video quality is crap, the song is lyrically dead-on. Live footage from 1980...
Max got me through Chattanooga, and the Ian Gillan Band took over at the GA line, taking me down to that big lake with five exits...
One of Rock's great vocalists. And I absolutely loved the three albums this line-up released. Here is a live version of "My Baby Loves Me" from Scarabus. My God, that's hot! That is a crack band, no doubt (you young folks, that means good, not on...) And most reviewers of IGB back then seemed to think Ian was uncomfortable with this jazz/funk/metal/fusion. Bullshit. This record was more funk than jazz fusion, and Ian's voice is right where it should be, up front. Not a weak spot to be found on this 1977 release.
Yep, Rick Derringer. This grouping happened about three years after "R & R Hoochie Koo", and I happened to like the debut and its followup, "Sweet Evil." The other band members later went on to play separately with Black Sabbath, BOC, Joan Jett, etc., and collectively for one album as Axis. So the musicianship is spot-on. Good variety of songs and styles, and I've always liked his vocals and pickin'. Other guy is good, too. Listen to this private live concert cut from this album. Glad I found that. Smokin'!
So I'm through Hotlanta as the record ends...
...and this band plays to greet the light of day. City Boy was an English band that had many comparisons to Queen and others like Yes or ELO. For me, they were a British Styx. The producer of all their albums was some rookie named Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Yeah, you know the guy, ex-Mr. Twain. Or maybe you know some of the other bands he produced that hit it big right after "Book Early," like AC/DC, Def Leppard & Foreigner. Safe to say that City Boy had a good knob-spinner. This was actually a Top 30 song in the US...
Damn, I feel like VH1 Classic showing that.
City Boy gets me to the Macon bypass, and for the forthcoming stretch of South Middleofnowhere, GA, I need something that gets me pounding the steering wheel...
That'll work. Or Angel City as they were known here. An intelligent version of AC/DC. Not as punk-y as Rose Tattoo. All three named bands were Vanda & Young clients. I'd say that qualifies as a stranglehold on the genre at the time, which was 1979 for "Their Finest Hour." One funny thing I always got from them was every album contained flashes of "we wanna be the Rolling Stones for one minute." No complaints from me because I liked the Angels' "Rolling Stones" better than the real ones (you guessed it, not a big fan). This track is one of my favorites (and it could have been mistaken for a Rose Tattoo song) and I found a neat live version of it...
Around ninety seconds in, if you're not pumping a fist, pounding your foot or slam dancing around the room, then...well, I feel sorry for you. That, my friends, is what rock & roll was all about back in the day.
My journey had reached the core of South Middleofnowhere, GA, and I needed a couple more records to reach FLA. What would they be...?
...for an hour, that is. Rollins College radio station, WPRK, is celebrating 60 years on the air with a week-long celebration and "fund-a-thon" designed to raise money to help upgrade the station's facilities. I heard the "scoff" from those of you who are familiar with Rollins and its lofty price tag for those fortunate and affluent enough to attend. I fit the "fortunate" aspect of that equation by having some brains and a fastball in the mid-90's, but I didn't have a trust fund. Doesn't matter, it's a great institution with the increasingly rare FM signal completely operated by the college, its students and community volunteers. When I say "operated by the college", believe me, it's on a shoestring budget. Back in my day, it was funded solely for its classical music programming, which was 70% of its 9 - 12 hour daily broadcast schedule. When the students left for Christmas and summer breaks, the station went off the air. Well, it's 24/7 now with Internet streaming to boot, and that's what has me SO EXCITED!
As part of the celebration week, WPRK is saluting its history with special features, interviews, and the "WPRK Midday Flashback", and the Mad Rocker will hit the local airwaves & worldwide stream Monday, April 2 at Noon EDT (16:00 GMT for you internationals) for an hour-long reprise of the type of show I was known for. Already have the playlist and not a damn thing on it past 1980. I doubt I'll have time to play all 14 selected tracks, but there are three artists you all should know, three more that many of you will get, but the remainder will be a challenge for you old farts like me and a treat for you young "rocker" bucks. For the 20% who are my local readers, tune your FM dial to 91.5 for an example of what Album-Oriented-Rock radio was all about in its late-70's prime. For the other 80% of my readers in the domestic states of Tennessee, Texas, California, Georgia, and other countries like the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Spain & France, click this link to WPRK's website and select the streaming method of choice. I truly hope you get a kick out of the music and the blurred recollections that I may spew forth, enough so to donate a few $'s to the cause. Click this WPRK Basement Radio link and follow the path to the QuikPAY site. In the "Feedback for WPRK" window, put Mad Rockerso they'll know who to blame.
I hope you get a chance to listen for a few minutes Monday. I'd like to be able to make the hour available for a podcast, but since I'm clueless in such matters, don't bet on it. So please...
Not what you expect from me, is it? Yet this band sprung into being during my tumultuous sophomore year at Jolly Rolly Colly, the one that allowed me WAAAAAAYYYYYYYY too much free time due to blowing out the medial collateral ligament in my pitching arm, resulting in the switch from mild-mannered, soft-spoken college disc jockey into the alcohol and drug-fueled MAD ROCKER!So many wonderful things happened to me between September, '77 and May, '78, the most notable was falling into true love for the first time as an adult, having been burned by a puppyluv heartbreak at 15. The second best thing was the discovery of the effects of THC on my musical appetite. My God...Pink Floyd live at Tampa Stadium on the Animals tour about three weeks into the school year...whew, too many details to go into now. One of the other life-changing moments took place the following February in someone's dorm room following a lengthy TM session. Erupting (get it?) from the radio came this storming version of the Kinks "You Really Got Me," and 150 seconds later when the announcer said "Van Halen," the gathered stunned stoners decided then and there to trek to East-West Records in search of this shredding brilliance. There, in one of the New Release baskets, was the target. One peek at the striped guitar and the contorted figure of the singer on the back cover and it was mine. Little did I know at the time that I was holding one of Rock's greatest debuts.
Being afforded the opportunity to actually participate in Spring Break without the constraints of college baseball, I went home to Tennessee to celebrate the break and my birthday with family and friends. Turning 20 was a big deal, and my sister knew I would enjoy the concert bill scheduled for 4/7/78 at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville (seating approx. 1500), so she presented me with two tickets as a gift. Headlining was Journey, whose music I discovered in late '76, but they had added a new singer for the fourth album, Infinity, which had been out about ten weeks. Obviously, there's more to this story, but it will have to wait for another time... Middle act was Ronnie Montrose (R.I.P.), one of my favorite guitarists, supporting his first solo album, Open Fire. And the opening band was Van Halen. That's right, opener. I swear to you, their stage set was three microphones, four amps, and what looked to be a bed sheet spray-painted with the VH logo hanging behind them. They had been on their first tour for a month, also opening for Black Sabbath. Needless to say, they were phenomenal! Their live show was so fantastic that word spread far and wide, sparking sales to a point which demanded the band headline a world tour no more than two months later. So I got to see them in their true infancy, and they deserved every praise they got.
So let's talk a little about the new album. I'm sure you've all heard it by now, how most of these songs were originally conceived in 1977 for the debut. There is the band's attempt to write an "Ice Cream Man" called "Stay Frosty," and it may be the least of the assembled tracks. There's a clone of "Hot For Teacher," too, but overall, this is a fun record, and I was highly skeptical. Eddie's guitar hasn't changed, Alex still slaps the skins like before and Wolfy VH performs admirably on bass in place of Chickenfoot's Michael Anthony. The weak link is David Lee Roth's vocals, clocking in at about 75% of his prime, which isn't bad for all the abuse the 58-year-old cords withstood. You have plenty of chances in the studio to get things right, but I doubt they'll work well consistently on their tour. And who thought it was a good idea to have Kool & The Gang open? Really?
That's two reasons I won't be attending, but it would be impossible to top the memory of the concert from nearly 34 years earlier.
Had to follow through on my Facebook post of a clip of the final track from John Wetton's latest record, which featured this woman on vocals. Said I would investigate her forthcoming album. I like to follow through on my promises...
Visited her website for some info and then went off on my search. She was the vocalist for a Dutch rock band called The Gathering. I vaguely recall that name from the last half of the 90's due to our store's massive European tourist clientele... or maybe it was the Brazilians who always asked for it...
I believe we had to special order some copies for stock (oops, that broke the rules) and I may have opened one for a demo. Metal-ish crunch with this pretty voice blended in. First thing that sprung to mind was Doro and the band Warlock. There was/is a whole genre of female-fronted metal that's been around in Europe for decades. Still today, there are viable ways to find it, like this label, which, oddly enough, is operated by Americans. Never a major fan of the style, but some of it works.
So now the title of AVG's record makes some sense. She is approaching the age of forty, out of the band that made her famous for nearly five years, and her music has made a subtle shift towards "commercial" in my book. This album is very by-the-numbers-heavy-power-arena-metal, or in another simpler descriptor, dated. Don't get me wrong, it's quite good, very precise. Her voice is too pretty for the style, not operatic like Pat Benetar's, but that would be an adequate comparison. Heart would be another. One track dials it down with basically a piano and synth strings, a more fitting frame for her voice...
Boys and girls, that's a hit in whatever language you speak. But that's the only track of that style. This is more like the record as a whole...
Still very good, very crunchy...commercial. That's OK by me. She has such a pretty, expressive voice, but I wish it was wrapped in a different style, a la All About Eve.
Overall, "Everything..." is a good record. Back in the old days, I'd say this was a "side 2" winner since I like the last half's song mix. May not hit domestic shelves, but if I can buy it from my seat in Orlando, you can, too.
Another band I hadn't heard of but kept seeing the name. Ah, you know the story by now...sample, purchase, start the spins...
British band, six young lads, guitar-driven, third album. I'm just going to list what I heard through three spins: Stone Roses, Charlatans, Blur, Muse, some U2 jangle, Bombay Bicycle Club, My Morning Jacket (UK version), Coldplay for the polished production, 21st century alternative version of Roxy Music, and maybe newer bands like Arctic Monkeys or Bloc Party. Love this first single...
I like the production work with the echoed, multi-tracked vocals. I also get a thrill from songs that work their way up to a whirlwind of energy, a frenetic finish...you know, the ones that have you eclipsing the speed limit as your foot gets heavy on the gas. Case in point, the final 75 seconds of this one...
I DARE you to hold still as that track speeds to a close...the hair will stand on your arms! Cracked up reading the comments with a different spin on my "speeding down the highway" description...like this one: love the sound orgasm at the end ; or this one, which is more "R" rated but basically says the same thing 2:20. From then and on, my dick was like a out of control hose with jizz.
Started reading some reviews, some professional, some by people like you and me. The majority raved on about it, many citing it as an early contender for Album of the Year. Another common thread was how completely different "...Wild" was from the two earlier releases. Intrigued, I did something I rarely do with a new discovery, I went backwards. Yes, I heard that collective gasp from those of you who know me well! I didn't blindly purchase, no no no, but I hit up the clouds and found the first album. Would have never guessed it was the same band. Post-punk-ish with upfront, untreated vocals, very garage band. Couldn't find the second album for streaming, but dammit, I have to hear it now. The transition from debut to today may be extremely interesting.
Not sure if this will see the light of day in the States. It is too smart for anything other than independent radio and I don't know how the hell you'd find it on satellite. Damn shame...it's a quality recording.
Kept seeing this listed on a Best Sellers page and finally committed to sampling a few tunes. Made the buy in mid-January and started the spins and subsequent research. Never heard of him before, one-man-band sort of deal. But now he's blowing up Stateside with a #1 Adult Alternative track...
I am actually stunned by this being a hit here. Heard the Sting/Police comparisons, but didn't get it at all from the studio version. This live take captures that subtle reggae-ish lilt, so I suppose I understand the Police references. He's got the Sting-like wail at times, too. My brain kept yelling "Howard Jones!" and some other British singer (James Blunt?), but not Sting. Musical comparisons to Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush? Eh, maybe, but it's a stretch. Remember, he's one dude, so that's a lot of electronics and software. There are a few real horns, but that's it. Hell, he grew up idolizing Isao Tomita and Vangelis, for crying out loud! According to his website, he's a Godley & Creme fan, too, so you have to love that about him as well. One track, called "State Of The Art," is about, and played on, a Lowery Cotillion Organ Model D575. Lines about its "custom flute presets and Harmony-Plus...patented Orchestral Symphonizer...," "I put the GenieBass on so my left hand can play the choir," "we threw out the television...it's a genuine home entertainment revelation." At the end of the song, a voice states "Incidentally, there were no keyboard performances, just the occasional pressing of buttons..." I love it. This is another excellent track...
There are 60's sounds and soulful-ish swings, yet all replicated with electronics. One early track could have been a lost Beck tune. From the first twenty seconds of another, I thought he was covering George Michael's "Faith."
Add one more track to the Organ song and Eyes Wide Open, and that's all I'm keeping. I really thought I would like this record better than that...
More than seven years of professional radio experience and over twenty years in music retailing have provided many opportunities to introduce friends, family, co-workers and customers to great music in four different decades. Out of the biz now for more than five years, I still seek out new music to add to my enormous collection. Most in my age group gave up on finding new music years ago. To quote a line from Crack the Sky, "Why don't they make music for us anymore?" Well, they do, and I share my discoveries in a manner that is intended for those who know me, but can be appreciated by you who do not. I am not a reveiwer paid to have a piece available upon a recording's release, I write only after several listens and sometimes several weeks of spins. Feel free to comment, suggest, and enjoy!
