#714: Do-Overs

Ever hear a song that you think ALMOST does what it's supposed to do, but still doesn't quite make it? Whether it's the thin vocals or the lame production or the lack of drama in the playing, it just doesn't QUITE make it over the hump to "classic" status? So much so that you wish someone else would re-record it BETTER, so the song could become what it was obviously SUPPOSED to be?
Here's some of my choices for underachievers -- songs I wish someone would update and punch-up. I love the originals, but I still wish someone would take another whack at them....
* The Supremes: "Up the Ladder to the Roof." This was a Top 10 hit in 1970, but I can't help feeling it would have been better if Diana Ross had sang it. Or someone with a little more vocal projection.
This was the first single from the "new" Supremes, with lead vocals by Jean Terrell fronting Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. Wikipedia says producer Frank Wilson actually asked Terrell not to go too far out with her vocals, fearing they might come across as "too soulful" and "not appeal to a white audience"!
Listening now, that's exactly what this song is missing. I've got the original 45, and it seems just barely punchy enough on the lead vocal. But the CD version softens Terrell's vocals even more. You can hear the excellent backup by The Funk Brothers just fine, but Terrell is just too soft, too crooning, she almost murmurs -- except at the very end of the last verse. A little more punch in the vocal and this could've gone right to the top.
I don't know -- it seemed charming enough coming out of the radio when I was a kid. But recent listens at work show it's just TOO SOFT.
* Buffalo Springfield: "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" and "On the Way Home." Buffalo Springfield's first album was mostly produced by Charles Green and Brian Stone, who managed the Springfield and previously handled Sonny and Cher. Green and Stone produced a record that sounds pretty primitive for 1966 -- it's recorded sparsely, with wide sound separations. This isn't helped on CD. I'm sure we've all heard that CD-version of "For What it's Worth" that comes on the radio and has NO Stephen Stills lead vocal -- just guitars chiming away in one channel and backing vocals coming in on the choruses way over on the other side....
"Clancy" is similar, very sparse-sounding -- which is too bad, because it's a great song with Neil Young's usual vivid, twisted lyrics. Use of the word "damn" in the last verse allegedly got "Clancy" banned from airplay. Richie Furay's vocals are just fine -- but Green and Stone allegedly told Young that his singing voice was "too weird."
If "Clancy" were to be updated today, there should be more punch in the vocals and more of a dramatic attack in that final verse and the closing choruses. Surprised Neil hasn't tried it himself....
I think Young's "On the Way Home" could have been a hit. Produced by Jim Messina in 1968 as the Springfield was falling apart, it features another nice Richie Furay lead vocal. Is Neil anywhere on this? The production is dated but OK, and I even like the horns. The sorta pastoral, reflective string middle-section is OK too, but there's something lacking. It's just tossed off too quick. They were probably lucky to get it on tape at all, since Neil and Stephen were gunning for each other by then. But still....
* The Kinks: "Days." I think the massive hit version of this is still waiting out there for someone. I THINK it was a big hit in England for some balladeer in the late '60s or early '70s, but I can't track down who. The only other version I've heard was by Kirsty MacColl -- who surprisingly did an even flatter, less emotional version than the Kinks' Ray Davies.
I think this is one of Ray's most emotional songs -- it thanks a lover for helping him deal with his life and not be scared; he mentions how he treasures each of the days they had together -- but it's done so modestly that it almost slips away. It gains strength on repeated listenings, but it still doesn't seem to hit with the impact that it should. Maybe the production's too low-key? Would a big string section help? Can you imagine what someone like Barry Manilow could have done with the downplayed emotion in this song? Simon Cowell, here's your next big ballad hit....
* Kate Bush and Pat Benatar: "Wuthering Heights." This is a special case. I love Kate Bush, but on this song her voice sounds like Dolly Parton on helium. And the instrumentation is just a bit too ornate. It could use some drama. Pat Benatar's version adds the drama with Neal Geraldo's excellent guitar solo in the middle, but Pat's delivery is kind of flat -- and so is Geraldo's unimaginative guitar work during the verses and choruses. If you could somehow mix the two....
...That's all I can think of, off the top of my head. I'll listen around and see if I can add more to this list, including maybe some NEWER stuff....

#648: Leftoverture

...No, this is not a review of the classic 1976 album by Kansas -- if you need me 2 urge you 2 check out that album at this late date, you really R in trouble. (But you really SHOULD check-out that album's songs "Miracles Out of Nowhere" & "Questions of My Childhood" & "Cheyenne Anthem" & "What's on My Mind" & "The Wall"....)
No, what this is instead is a collection of stuff I've been piling up 4 the last few weeks -- material that wasn't quite enuf 4 a post of its own. Here 'tis....

Hope you've been catching rock critics Jim deRogatis & Greg Kott's weekly music show SOUND OPINIONS on an open-minded radio station near you. (Here they're on the University of Washington's KUOW-FM, Sunday nites at 10 pm.) In recent weeks they've had a long interview with producer Tony Visconti -- who talked about how fast folks like David Bowie & Marc Bolan (of T. Rex) liked 2 work in the studio, & about spending 10 MONTHS in the studio with the Moody Blues recording THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE. They even talked a bit about Gentle Giant, who Visconti produced sevral early albums 4. Visconti also talked about his book: BOWIE, BOLAN AND THE BROOKLYN BOY, which sounds like a hoot -- anybody out there got a copy? I can't afford Amazon's prices -- I promise 2 review it here, drop me your address below....
Last nite, March 31, 2 celebrate the start of baseball season, Jim & Greg talked about artists who achieved "grand slams" -- 4 great studio albums in a row. You can imagine summa the names that were mentioned -- Led Zep, etc., & there were lotsa critic's babies: XTC, Husker Du, Blur, etc. -- but I was suprised at summa the names that WEREN'T mentioned. I was working, so I didn't hear EVERYTHING, but... They SAID they weren't gonna include Bob Dylan, the Stones, Roxy Music. But how bout the Beatles? (REVOLVER/SGT. PEPPER/WHITE ALBUM/ABBEY ROAD)? How bout Pink Floyd (DARK SIDE/WISH YOU WERE HERE/ANIMALS/THE WALL)? Or The Who (SELL OUT/TOMMY/WHO'S NEXT/QUADROPHENIA)? How bout Fleetwood Mac (FLEETWOOD MAC/RUMOURS/TUSK/MIRAGE)?
...& then they quoted rock critic Lester Bangs on how "all music today goes back to the Velvet Underground," & listed their 4 great albums. Well, maybe. Xcept 4 "All Tomorrow's Parties," I've never been much of a Velvets fan -- but Jim & Greg said especially the Velvets' 2nd album, WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT, thrilled them & terrified them when they were young, & they submit that's what great rock&roll SHOULD do.
Well, still a pretty great radio show. Lotsa critics' babies, but. I've learned a few things. & they're a great argument-starter. Check 'em out, if you haven't already, if they're on-air where you're at....

Was listening 2 Blondie's charming remake of Randy and the Rainbows' early-'60s hit "Denise" (Blondie's version is on their GREATEST HITS), when I started wondering when was the last time I heard the original played on the radio. 4 me, it was near Salt Lake City, Utah, early in 1998, driving thru a snowstorm.
& then I started thinking about how Oldies Radio has failed us all if great stuff like this is forgotten in favor of the same old publically-acceptable 200 Oldies hits that everybody plays over & over.
When's the last time you heard Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together" on radio? Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar"? Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "House at Pooh Corner"? Fanny's "Charity Ball" or "Butter Boy"? Or 100 others I could probly rattle off if I took a few minutes 2 think about it?
Can somebody with some MEMORY & IMAGINATION take over a radio station somewhere? I'd tune in... daily.

"THE BUG 3" -- Bagged a few more items during a trip thru a Bremerton 2nd-hand store over the weekend:
Mott the Hoople -- MOTT.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter -- COME ON COME ON.
Peter Gabriel -- 3.
Dusty Springfield -- YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME.
Nino Tempo and April Stevens -- DEEP PURPLE.
Patrick Moraz -- I.
Three Dog Night -- HARMONY.
Trisha Yearwood -- SONGBOOK best-of.
Liz Phair -- EXILE IN GUYVILLE.
Carly Simon -- BEST OF.
...The Mott 2 replace a CD copy I foolishly traded-off 5 years ago. Gotta hear "All the Way from Memphis" & "Honaloochie Boogie" & "Violence" again ... The Mary-Chapin Carpenter is an olde favorite from the '90s, worth it all 4 "Passionate Kisses" & "The Hard Way" & the title song & a coupla others ... The Gabriel mainly 4 the heartbreaking "Family Snapshot" -- I'm sure I won't play it much, but it'll B good 2 have it around ... Dusty 4 the gorgeous melodramatic title song ... Nino & April 4 the foghorn-impression title song of course -- but mainly 4 the amazing B-side "I've Been Carrying a Torch for You So Long That I've Burned a Great Big Hole in My Heart" (I'm NOT making this up!), which is somewhere between a yodel & a field holler, something that coulda come from another planet ... The Moraz cos I loved his work with the Moodies & have always thot he was screwed out of a lotta credit 4 that band's comeback in the '80s ... The Dog 2 replace a copy I've foolishly traded off 2wice now ... The Yearwood 4 the country hits I can't stop singing along with ("She's in Love With the Boy," "Thinking About You," "X's and O's," "Wrong Side of Memphis") -- if "Woman Walk the Line" were on it, it'd B perfect ... Liz Phair cos she got rave reviews & all I've ever heard by her were a coupla middling hits a few years back, including the wonderful "Extraordinary" ... The Carly Simon mighta been a mistake. I've already got "Anticipation" on an old promo 45. Maybe 4 "Attitude Dancing"? Or so I could hear "Legend in Your Own Time"? I wonder what I put back by mistake...?
...I can also report that this apparently nameless 2nd-hand store in Bremerton's Perry Avenue Mall has a HUGE selection of reasonably-priced vinyl. I PUT BACK albums by Al Stewart, Incredible String Band, Rick Wakeman, It's a Beautiful Day, Fleetwood Mac, Rascals, etc.
Oh, they also have a Vee-Jay copy of INTRODUCING THE BEATLES, in a locked glass display case -- only $500?! Maybe if it were in the original shrink-wrap & had never been opened.... Damn, I coulda grabbed a copy 4 $2 back in 1976....
NEway, worth a visit if you're in the area....

Shoulda-Been Hits

I write a lot here about songs that I think "shoulda bn hits." In fact, writing about them is 1 of the main 4ces that drive this blog -- the idea of trying 2 point people toward great overlooked music.
I 1st Bcame fully aware of the shoulda-bn-hit syndrome when I started getting 2 know the Moody Blues' catalog around age 15. As I played those 1st 7 Moodies albums over&over (in my bedroom, w/ the headphones clamped over my head), it struck me how many REALLY GREAT SONGS they'd released, only a handful of which I'd ever heard on the radio. & I wondered why that was.
Summa the songs just leapt right outta the speakers at me, undeniably great 4got10 rock&roll: "You and Me," "It's Up to You," "Peak Hour" (even tho it sounds like their beat-band days, a faint echo of the Dave Clark 5), "You Can Never Go Home," "Eyes of a Child (Part Two)," "Gypsy," "Twilight Time," "Don't You Feel Small?," "Our Guessing Game," "One More Time to Live," "For My Lady," "Land of Make-Believe".... & later on I discovered the killer B-side "Simple Game" (released backing the shoulda-bn-bigger hit "Ride My See-Saw" -- those "doo-doo-doo" choruses get me every time).
This Xperience continued as I got 2 know the Beatles' catalog a little better. I already knew they had TONS of songs I sometimes heard on the radio that I'd never find in the 45 bins at my fave local record store. (I knew I couldn't find some of this stuff on singles cos of LENGTH -- but I'm sure there were other reasons, 4 all artists: Record Companies R clueless, Radio can't B bothered, artists don't always know their best work.)
But also apparently back in the '60s the Beatles (or Capitol/EMI, or whoever) didn't Blieve in saturating the market w/ lotsa songs from 1 album as often happens these days. & the Beatles COULD have had 2wice as many hits -- hardta Blieve Capitol Records woulda held back, considering how they spread-out the Fabs' output as it was (10 songs per album rather than the standard British 14 in the early days, holding back a coupla trax 4 use as a later single....).
& the Fab 4's best stuff still blows right outta the speakers at U -- an immediate, obvious, thrilling musical Xperience. In some other reality's Top 40 they probly had 100 hits, summa which U can still hear on Oldies stations 2day, whether they were ever singles or not: "There's a Place," "Thank You Girl," "Tell Me Why," "Any Time at All," "Things We Said Today," "I'll Be Back," "No Reply," "I'm a Loser," "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," "I'm Down" (the B-side 2 "Help!"), "The Night Before," "I Need You," "It's Only Love," "In My Life," "Wait," "Taxman," "And Your Bird Can Sing," "For No One," "...Me and My Monkey," "Helter Skelter," "I Will," "Old Brown Shoe," "Oh! Darling," "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" ... They sure Blieved in giving fans their $$$'s worth. Surely if the Fabs were just making it big 2day the Music Industry would milk these songs 4 all they were worth (as U could almost say IS Bing done w/ the recent re-release of their Ntire catalog, etc).
As I looked in2 summa my other faves, this syndrome kept repeating. I already knew my ear was a little off at age 12 when I liked stuff that didn't Cm 2 catch NEbody else's ear 4 very long (the Wackers, Casey Kelly, Johnathon King, Billy Lee Riley, Chris Hodge....), but as I was then geared 2 hearing stuff played on the radio, it was a bit of a shock 2 later find that bands as out-there as Yes had radio-ready stuff in their less-complex early days (a cover of the Beatles' "Every Little Thing," "Looking Around," "Sweet Dreams," "Time and a Word"), & even later had shorter songs well worthy of radio airplay ("Wonderous Stories," "Into the Lens"), but radio didn't bother. I thot "Wonderous Stories" sounded enuf like "Your Move" 2 gain a play or 2, but I was wrong -- tho it made Top 10 in England (at the height of Punk Rock!).
If the key aspects of a hit R Xcitement, immediacy, impact, some of my faves had this stuff DOWN -- at least at times. So then I started wondering what was wrong w/ Radio if the best, most grabbing stuff was going unheard. Hell, even King Crimson had some grabby stuff that wouldn't shock people 2 much if it was played on the radio: "Frame By Frame," "Sleepless," "The Great Deceiver," "Happy With What You Have to be Happy With" -- OK, mayB the housewives'd B shocked, but mosta this stuff wouldn't shock listeners of yr avg Album Rock station (Xcept 2 wonder how this stuff got on the air in the 1st place). & all those songs R Xciting, immediate, grabby #'s w/ lotsa impact. So...?
There's an obvious reason why "Money" was the hit from Pink Floyd's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON -- Bcos it was the most immediate, catchiest, most easily-accessible song on the whole album. MayB not the BEST -- that'd B "Us and Them." But I couldn't C that ever Bing a hit. Or "The Great Gig in the Sky".... THE WALL hadda LOT of great stuff on it, but "Another Brick" was the EZest 4 the most people 2 get in2. Then later on some folks latched on2 "Comfortably Numb" or "Run Like Hell," which have Bcome Album Rock Classics. Whereas "The Trial," "In the Flesh?" & "One of My Turns" (the original B-side 2 "Another Brick") could never have bn radio hits, 4 some fairly obvious reasons....
This could quickly Dgenerate in2 a list, which I'm hoping 2 avoid. I just wonder why more obviously great music isn't heard by more people. My Record Store boss had a theory that music that ain't dead-obvious goes right over most people's heads. We agreed Caravan was as EZ 2 Njoy as Fleetwood Mac, so why didn't Caravan ever make it big? Cos no1 ever heard them. Why? Cos Radio couldn't B bothered.
Caravan had some great poppy songs -- London Records even released a single of "Headloss" in America. That's a very HAPPY song, but it's like starting a novel in the middle -- the really stunning MUSIC was in the "Memory Lain/Hugh" sections that R the 1st 2/3rds of that suite. Still, worth a shot.... Other Caravan #'s that coulda/shoulda gained radio play: "Place of My Own," "The World is Yours," "Aristocracy," "Can You Hear Me?," "Golf Girl," "Surprise, Surprise," "Be All Right," "All the Way."
I was kinda shocked when Kansas broke-thru 2 big success in the late '70s -- they were an American, slightly-boogieized version of British art-rock, mayB slightly simpler. & I played LEFTOVERTURE 2 DEATH! But as I dug in2 their catalog, I learned they had some pretty poppy-yet-distinctive stuff from the Bginning. From their 1st album, "Journey from MariaBronn" was as striking as their later "Song for America," & a little shorter. They coulda gotten Clive Davis 2 do a good single-edit 4 them -- he always did a great job 4 Chicago ("Beginnings," "Questions 67 & 68"), or at least he always took the credit.... Summa Kansas's later stuff mixed radio briefness w/ complexity: "Reason to Be," "Back Door" -- & 1/2 of LEFTOVERTURE coulda bn hits: "Miracles Out of Nowhere," "What's On My Mind," "Questions of My Childhood" (issued as the B-side of "Carry On, Wayward Son")....
Speaking of Chicago, they had enuf hits, but what about summa their misses? I know why "Just You and Me" & "Feeling Stronger Every Day" were hits -- they both had that sunny, big-horn sound so many people liked. But on the same album, Peter Cetera's "In Terms of Two" coulda bn a hit -- but it didn't sound much like Chicago, more like "Oh, Susannah" w/ harmonica & guitar added & great choruses....
Boston had summa their best stuff ignored by radio. "Hitch a Ride" off their 1st album was a gorgeous, haunting # w/ a great gtr solo at the Nd. & Brad Delp's pretty, catchy, no-frills "Used to Bad News" on the 2nd album was thrown away as the B-side of "Feelin' Satisfied." "It's Easy" was pretty great 2, but U never heard it on the radio. "A Man I'll Never Be" shoulda bn a bigger hit, 2....
I feel this way about Tom Petty's "Even the Losers," 2. Great song, 2 bad U never hear it unless U put it on yrself....
Fleetwood Mac did a ton of great songs that over the yrs have Bcome Classic Rock Radio faves, even if they were never hits 2 Bgin w/ -- "The Chain," "Landslide," "Songbird," etc. But where's the airplay & recognition 4 greats like "I Know I'm Not Wrong," "The Farmer's Daughter," "Wish You Were Here," "World Turning," "Silver Springs," "Isn't it Midnight?," "Tango in the Night," etc....
A lotta Rush's post-1982 stuff has bn kinda ignored, & I think it's their best stuff song-construction-wise: "Time Stand Still," "Force Ten," "Mystic Rhythms," "Manhattan Project," "Distant Early Warning," "Marathon," "Show Don't Tell"....
Jefferson Starship did some great overlooked late-'70s stuff. FREEDOM AT POINT ZERO has some great 4got10 stuff on it, especially the driving title track & the gorgeous "Fading Lady Light." FREEDOM was 4 yrs my fave record 2 do dishes by, just like FMac's TUSK was my fave music 2 clean house by -- shoulda added FREEDOM 2 my "Top 40 Most Reliable" list awhile back....
Why did Cream's "Badge" tank in America? Probly the prettiest thing they ever did, w/ killer jagged & shimmering gtr work by Eric Clapton, it's Bcome an Album Rock Classic but barely made the Top 60 as a single in '69, even tho it made Top 30 in England....
Buffalo Springfield coulda had more than 1 Top 40 hit -- Ghod knows they had the talent & quick-impact songs: "Bluebird," "Mr. Soul," "On the Way Home," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," "Rock and Roll Woman"....
The Turtles coulda broken thru a few more times, w/ stuff like the great singalong "We'll Meet Again" & the gorgeous "Lady-O"....
...I was still workin at the record store when the Moodies' LONG DISTANCE VOYAGER Bcame a suprise #1 hit. As a longtime Moodies fan, I was happy I was around 2 C it. & after Polygram wisely chose the ELO-ish "Gemini Dream" & the rather pretty "The Voice" as singles from the album, they followed-up w/ "Talking Out of Turn," a pretty but slow-moving 6-min ballad that was guaranteed 2 get ZERO airplay. & DID.
Meanwhile, great tracks like the gorgeous "Meanwhile," the rather Barry-Manilow-ish "Nervous" & the almost-rockin "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" were ignored (tho "Rocker" was actually chosen as the B-side of "Talking"). It was at this point that I Bcame convinced that record companies have no idea what they're doing....
I've mainly bn babbling on about my faverites here, as usual. I'd B intrested in hearing from y'all out there about some of yr choices 4 great overlooked shoulda-bn-hits -- I'm sure there R 1,000's more of them out there. Specially something from the last 20 yrs or so....

Tracking down Olde Favorites

Summa this stuff goes back a yr or more, but whattheheck -- thanx 2 a coupla really good 2nd-hand stores in the area, the folks at Amazon.com, & a few others, I've managed 2 track down at pretty cheap prices a few Olde Favorites of mine, + a couple fairly recent items other folks have raved about.
I've written here B4 about how I sometimes think my musical nostalgia should B left in the past -- about disappointing Xperiences I've had tripping-over stuff I hadn't heard in 30+ yrs (Lobo's "California Kid and Remo," Donovan's "Life Goes On," Tim Moore's "Second Avenue," Five-Man Electrical Band's "Julianna"), stuff I'd treasured when I was younger that I can hardly stand 2 hear now, that make me wonder what I heard in them 2 Bgin w/. Well, this go-round turned out a little better. A few Xamples:
* Doobie Brothers: "Neal's Fandango" (1975, from STAMPEDE) -- Yeezus, why wasn't this a HIT? GREAT rolling rocker, w/ Xcellent Pat Simmons guitar, great group vocals, good nostalgic lyrics that'R nevertheless outta the way FAST, high NRG, everything U'd ever want -- Xcept a good Nding. It slams in2 a brick wall after 3-1/4 mins! Why? It coulda gone on 4 another 3 or more & I wouldn'ta cared. They coulda at least faded it out.... Or attached Jeff Baxter's pretty solo-acoustic "Precis" 2 the Nd.... Elsewhere on STAMPEDE, "I Cheat the Hangman" goes the 6 mins that "Fandango" shoulda, & tries 2 achieve a sorta cinematic drama ... & doesn't reach it. 1st 1/2's pretty good, tho....
* Synergy: "Warriors" (1975, from ELECTRONIC REALIZATIONS FOR ROCK ORCHESTRA) -- A lotta synthesizer music doesn't work 4 me, sounds 2 cold. But no matter how cold he gets (& this is pretty distant), I've always liked mosta Larry Fast's mid-'70s synth adventures (SEQUENCER is 3/4's great, only CORDS Cms 2 artificial). This is gorgeous, mournful, distant, haunting -- & it drags on 4 a marvelous 13 mins!
* The Wackers: "I Hardly Know Her Name" (1972, from HOT WACKS) -- Had this on tape 4 yrs, taped by a friend of mine back in '77. Still sounds great -- catchy, great vocals, good gtr, but it's over in less than 2 mins -- WAY 2 soon. Resta the album isn't as immediately grabby, so far....
+ Chris Hodge: "We're On Our Way" (1972) -- This just makes me shake my head & laff in disBlief. This sounds JUST LIKE Marc Bolan/T. Rex! I don't know a thing about Chris Hodge; this single was a 1-shot on Apple Records that I heard mayB 1/2adozen times on Tacoma, Wash.'s KTAC AM in the summer of '72, then it vanished. Silly lyrics mixing sex & space travel, nice supersonic gtr, w/ some Indian/sitar accents that wouldn't suprise me if they indicate George Harrison was lurking in the background somewhere. Hodge's silly "Oooh! Ah!" vocalisms predate Lindsey Buckingham by 5 yrs. Produced by Tony Cox -- common name, but could it B the same Tony Cox that produced the 1st Yes album & some early Caravan stuff? Cool & silly, but it's gonna take me a couple more listenings....
+ Casey Kelly: "Poor Boy" (1971) -- I've never 4got10 the gtr riff that opens this (& mosta the words), Dspite not having heard this since '71. Still catchy & effective, thanx partly 2 Jackson Browne's pals Russ Kunkel, Craig Doerge & Leland Sklar as the backing band, but Kelly's gtr work's pretty great. Not sure about the resta the self-titled album this comes from -- some of it's kinda dated spacey-hippie-folky stuff. (& is his long-4got10 2nd single on here? I don't even remember the NAME of it....) The cover must notta helped sell 2 many records either -- on it, Kelly Cms 2 B sorta fading in2 the background as he strums his acoustic & a woman who looks sorta like an older Linda Ronstadt looks on from the side. But the back cover -- a close-up of Kelly's face -- is worse (nothing personal). The whole package screams '71 Hippie. No wonder the album didn't fly off the shelves...
& a coupla new 1's:
Animal Collective: MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION (2009) -- There's a new wave in book reviewing in which, if a book doesn't work 4 U, it's assumed the problem is U, not the book. Blame the victim? Here, I'm sure it's me. I've tried this sevral times, & I can't make it work 4 me. Kinda nice group vocals w/ electronic keybs in a loud sorta wash. But it just Cms kinda 4mless, w/ even less melodic progress & change than some of Coldplay's stuff. I'd had some hopes 4 this, since the idea of Beach Boys harmonies crossed w/ electronics sounded pretty good 2 me....
Television Personalities: MY DARK PLACES (2007) -- Guess I wasn't ready 4 the stark simplicity of this, the almost-nursery-rhyme level that Dan Treacy & friends work at. I haven't given up yet, but.... MayB if I'd bn thru some of the things Treacy has (jail time, homelessness, nervous breakdown) I'd wanna keep things simple 2. But I thot he'd address summa these things more directly.... I've read that this useta B a pop band. I'm still reminded of Syd Barrett....

Songs we needta hear more often....

Hey there. I was gonna do another list of Great Lost Singles, but I don't have much left that's 2 shocking -- but I've still got this list of great (mostly overlooked) music I wanna write about (& some of the songs listed below were never close 2 Bing singles), so whattheheck.... Here's some songs we could all stand 2 hear more often....
* REO Speedwagon: "Roll With the Changes" & *"Blazing Your Own Trail Again" -- Now here's a real Classic-Rock-Radio classic: Is it just me, or is "Roll With the Changes" the happiest breakup song of all time? (Or mayB it's a new-love song: Singer/lyricist Kevin Cronin sings about "the break that we are on the brink of," but mayB it's a break 2 a NEW relationship?) It almost doesn't matter what the song's ABOUT -- all that really matters is when U put it on & Neal Doughty's rolling piano & Gary Richrath's smeary, slide-y, slashing guitar start in, it's pure adrenaline-rush from start 2 finish, & it always cheers me up no matter what else is goin on! "Blazing Your Own Trail Again" is the track from REO's 1978 YOU CAN TUNE A PIANO BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FISH album that didn't get NE airplay & shoulda. It's a real Lost Classic about Taking Chances & Thinking Positive, & it's brilliant -- musically it sorta echoes their almost-hit "Time for Me to Fly" (from the same album), but w/ superb lyrics, great group vocals & choruses, & an uplifting msg that'll put a smile on yr face.
* The Waterboys: "A Life of Sundays" -- Mike Scott's swarming 7-member Irish folk-rock ensemble, w/ the best thing they ever did, from their 1990 album ROOM TO ROAM. Scott's singing & gtr, Anto Thislethwaite's great sax, & the gritty support vocal by drummer Noel Bridgeman team-up 4 a sound that's like a blast of brisk, salty sea air in2 yr room. Bracing & brilliant, sorta a folkie-big-band sound, very diffrent. The album has some other nice stuff on it 2, but nothing else that jumps outta the speakers like this. Whatever happened 2 these guys?
* The Doobie Brothers: "Neal's Fandango" -- From 1975's STAMPEDE. I heard this ONCE on the radio years ago (think I was in San Jose, so that makes it 1992), so I'm going from memory here. Great nostalgic lyrics about the old good times & places they useta hang-out at (something about the hills above Santa Cruz & the place where I 1st met you), lotsa great show-offy gtr, & a lotta room 4 the whole band 2 show off their chops w/o it getting in the way of a marvelous rolling melody. I've gotta track this album DOWN. If Classic-Rock/Album-Rock Radio was doing its job, we'd hear this a LOT more often....
* Journey: "Daydream" & *"People and Places" -- These were both B-sides. The dreamy, spacey "Daydream" was the flip-side of "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," & includes what I think is Neal Schon's best gtr-work ever, along w/ a gentle, lulling melody & a very good (not-2-overly-dramatic) vocal by Steve Perry. The mood of it is very unlike most post-1977 Journey. "People and Places" was the flip of the minor hit "Walks Like a Lady" -- it's also kinda spacey, & may B a sorta love-letter 2 the band's fans, Ncouraging them 2 stay positive when things get tough. It has a nice echoey Perry vocal & more great Schon gtr. U know me, I love my melodrama & spaceyness....
* Don Henley: "The Heart of the Matter" -- Wow, an actual hit! I was never much of an Eagles fan, tho I think they did a few pretty good songs ("Outlaw Man," "James Dean," "Seven Bridges Road," "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "I Can't Tell You Why," "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" -- "Hotel California" died 4 me a LONG time ago). I was even less of a Don Henley-solo fan, Xcept 4 the irresistable "Boys of Summer" -- I thot he was kinda stuck on himself. I've heard this song a coupla times over the yrs, & the 1st thing that grabbed me was its modesty, humility. This guy's grown-up a lot & learned a lot since back in the day. & the moving choruses get 2 the real heart of the matter: "Forgiveness, even if you don't love me anymore." That's a motto 4 life we can all go w/....
* Brewer & Shipley: "Witchi-Tai-To" -- "What a feelin' spring is bringin' round my head/Makes me feel glad that I'm not dead...." This hypnotic 7-minute ode 2 Spring is, 4 me, 1 of the greatest 4got10 rock songs ever. These R the same guys who did "One Toke Over the Line," & if some1 coulda figured-out how 2 cut a coupla mins outta this song back in 1969 it coulda bn another Top 10 hit. It's so hypnotic & infectious & involving that U'll B singing along w/ the choruses 1/2way thru yr 1st listening. & the choruses R amazingly joyous -- the singing's great. Track this song down, put it on, & crank it up -- it'll make U feel glad that U're not dead, 2....

Great Big Forgotten Hits

Oldies radio, hah! A truly Nlightened oldies radio station would play NEthing old & great, whether it was a hit or not -- would have a playlist WAY more OPEN, like I once thot pop-music radio was SUPPOSED 2 B.
A truly Nlightened oldies station wouldn't B afraid of playing NEthing from Led Zep's "Stairway to Heaven" 2 Elvis's "Mystery Train" 2 Hank Williams Sr. 2 old country-western trucking songs like Dave Dudley's "Six Days on the Road," or "Give Me 40 Acres," or that 1 about the girl wearin nothin but a towel & a smile in a picture on the billboard in the middle of the big 'ol highway....
An Nlightened oldies station would play NEthing great from rock & pop 2 folk 2 jazz 2 country (Johnny Cash did some GREAT SONGS! So did Buck Owens! EVERYBODY should hear them!) 2 great soundtrack songs 2 Broadway standards.... Andy Williams 2 Yes, Barbara Streisand 2 ZZ Top, the Stones 2 C.W. McCall, the Osmonds 2 Frank Zappa, the Beatles 2 Aaron Copland.
Am I asking 2 much? Apparently I am. Why do we HAVE formats on radio NEway?
Locally we've got Seattle's KJR, who've bn around 4EVER & will play NETHING -- when's the last time U heard Leif Garrett or Shaun Cassidy on the radio? 4 me it was LAST WEEK, & I'm NOT HAPPY about it --& we've got KBSG, who actually don't do 2 badly & hava little taste & get a little old-time Top 40 radio feel with those syndicated specials they sometimes run on wknds.
We've also got KZOK, The Classic Rock Station, who mean well -- but who keep playing THE SAME Classic Rock Oldies U've already heard 40,000 times -- "Smoke on the Water"! "Tush"! "Keep On Loving You"! "Roundabout"! "Satisfaction"! "All Right Now"! "Money"! "Comfortably Numb"! & of course "Stairway to Heaven"! -- & they play them over & over & OVER. Truthfully, the best oldies station I've got is my stereo. & of course it ain't as well-stocked as I'd like, tho Ghod knows I've tried, & I'm not yet DONE trying.
But when was the last time U heard NE of these old big hits on yr favrite local oldies station. My bet is: Not lately....
* "The Rapper," The Jaggerz (#2/1970) -- Probly not what yr thinking. This catchy # is about a guy who uses NE lines he can think of 2 strike-up conversations with attractive women. Can't hardly fault him 4 that. But my favrite lines R in the chorus: "Rap-a-rap-a-rap they call him the rapper/...You know what he's after." A little dated, but a pretty daring subtext 4 1970. The Jaggerz included Donnie Iris, who hadda coupla late-70's hits including "Ah! Leah." The Jaggerz recorded 4 Kama Sutra/Buddha, who were sorta a power in the late-'60s/early-'70s U.S. bubblegum-pop market with acts like the Lovin Spoonful, 1910 Fruitgum Co., Ohio Express, & later Brewer and Shipley, Ocean, Stories & others. Label-owner Neal Bogart later 4med Casablanca Records & inflicted massive disco overdose on us all....
* "Daydreaming" (#5/1972), "Until You Come Back to Me" (#3/73), Aretha Franklin -- My Ghod this woman was amazing. "Daydreaming" is at times laid-back & leisurely with great intertwining vocals by Aretha & whoever's singing with her, then steps up 4 marvelous rushed unison choruses without losing that dreamy mood. "Until You Come Back to Me" is Aretha speaking directly 2 her lover about the changes she's gone thru since he left & what she's gonna do 2 get him back -- & U absolutely BLIEVE she's talking 2 some1 specific. The same backing singers R in support, & there's great keyboard & flute touches. Urban & hip-hop stations otta B playing both of these -- mayB they R & I just don't know it....
* "You Are Everything" (#9/1971), "Betcha By Golly Wow" (#3/1972), The Stylistics -- My Ghod, this stuff is so sweet it'll rot yr teeth right out. MayB what they useta call "sweet soul" is way outta style now, but The Stylistics were pretty amazing. These songs R so gushingly romantic they'll make U swoon, & lead singer Russell Thompkins Jr. was stunning. These songs R so sweet, so pretty, mayB emotion like this can't B broadcast on radio NEmore without some dumb DJ making a joke. But give these songs a chance & they will knock U OUT!
* "Baby I Love You," The Ronettes (#24/1964) -- "Be My Baby" is immortal, & will probly never B 4got10 thanks 2 the showcase it got during the opening credits 4 DIRTY DANCING. But this is just as great (I think better), with a terrific heartfelt lyric & a heartbreaking vocal per4mance from Ronnie Spector -- with a voice like that, how could U NOT tell her that U feel the same? & that great hook: "Woh-oh, WOH-oh-oh-oh...."
* "Denise," Randy and the Rainbows (#10/1963) -- 4 me, The Ultimate Doo-Wop Song. The only time I've EVER heard it played on the radio was while I was driving thru the snow in Utah's Wasatch Mountains in Jan 1998, heading home to Wyoming after a week-long Caribbean cruise with the X, the song's sweet choruses coming thru like a broadcast from another, warmer planet: "Oh Denise shooby-doo, I'm in love with you...." Chillingly beautiful. Some of the same feeling I got from hearing The Stylistics, 2 B honest. Blondie did a cover version of this back in '78, but I've never heard it. Don't know how they coulda bettered the original....
* "Love (Can Make You Happy)," Mercy (#2/1969) -- Big, mushy, sentimental, gooey, cosmic MOR love-ballad & I am an absolute sucker 4 it. Gorgeous group-choral vocals, & instrumentation almost slushy enuf 4 Sergio Mendes/Brazil '66 or the Sandpipers or some other no-talent. Brilliant, & WAY 2 sweet & naive 2 get played straight-faced on the radio NEmore. When's the last time U heard it?
*"Green-Eyed Lady" (#3/1970), +"Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" (#9/75), Sugar Loaf -- Sugar Loaf were from Denver. "Green-Eyed Lady" is pure 1970, kinda psychedelic, kinda sexist, lotsa swirly organ, a little dated but who cares. "Don't Call Us" is a cynical & funny music-biz song, supposedly about how the band were turned-down 4 a record deal by CBS. Suprised it made the Top 10 in the rather boring musical winter of '75....
+ "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)," Gary Farr and the T-Bones (#3/1966) -- With a tune originally used in an Alka-Seltzer commercial, this is a lite, airy, innocent mid-'6os instrumental that's actually kinda haunting & timeless with its wordless female vocals & surf-guitar & Farfisa organ touches. Think I last heard it on radio around 1972.
Just a few suggestions 2 liven-up oldies radio with, nothing 2 obscure or shocking. Just a few songs I haven't heard in ages. & if NEbody out there works in radio & thinks they could liven things up a little ... would U like a suggested play list?