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70's Pick of the Week

“Black and While” by Three Dog Night (1972)

 

It was the summer of ’72 and I recall a portable radio blaring on top of an old wooden picnic table in my friend’s back yard. The old brown table had seen better days but the songs were brand new. Every time we were in their yard that summer that radio would be snapped on. We would be done playing football for the day and having a slurpee or something; Bill would tell dirty jokes or we would just hang out. The songs sounded so new and alive – just like we were.

Three Dog Night

From the radio blasted “Black and White¹” by Three Dog Night. The sun felt good. The Surplee ‘brain- freeze’ not so much.

Suitable For Framing

“Black and White” had been done by Sammy Davis Jr. in ’59, so technically this was a ‘cover’. Almost all of their most successful songs, (and there were plenty of them) were covers.

Here in my car I feel safest of all I can lock all my doors It’s the only way to live In cars

Pick of the Week

“Cars” by Gary Numan (1979)

If you are singing along to a song when driving, say researchers, you are paying more attention to your driving.  I think they are right, but clearly I am biased. The most intimate music we play is often behind the wheel of a car.

So let’s see, what would be the perfect driving song?

The song would have to enhance the experience of the short jaunt or the long haul. For longer trips the highway sound of your wheels has to kind of blend. A song with a steady rhythm and a strong beat for starters. It probably has guitars, decent drumming, and maybe a little cowbell for good measure.

Girl, To Be With You Is My Fav'rite Thing Uh Huh And I Can't Wait Til I See You Again Yeah, Yeah

70’s Song of the week

“Boogie Shoes” by K.C. and the Sunshine Band (1975)

Some say Disco was spawned because the Nazi’s banned jazz. The next best thing was to develop clubs where they played records. The first ‘discotheques’ sprung up in WWII and continued after in clubs like the ‘Whisky a Go-Go” in Paris. The ultra chic set did not have exclusivity to this trend for long.

The seedy ‘Peppermint Club’ in New York spawned the short-lived dance craze ‘The Twist”. The culture of this was embedded in the teenagers who would drive the commercial direction of music. The Beatles would swoop in to NA in 1964 and no one cared about their ‘Twist” records anymore which had every variation you can imagine by this point.

There was something slightly Victorian about the new dance crazes though – you danced alone. There was no contact with the other person. Sock-hops and record parties in the sixties were somehow made safer to on-looking adults because of this.

We hear you're leaving, that's OK I thought our little wild time had just begun I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run

Songs Everybody Should Know

“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by Steely Dan (1974)

Welcome to the funky bohemia that is Steely Dan. Building a complex musical web around lyrics that run the gamut about anything from love to bandits, to greed, lust, and glory and back again.  The jazz-infused mosaic of life is almost parody-like. A thinking man’s funk, Steely Dan delivers a diverse, rich sound while taking you to some of the weirdest places you could ever go – and yet they seem familiar in some strange way…

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years and the slow parade of fears without crying. Now I want to understand.

70’s Song of the week

“Doctor My Eyes” by Jackson Browne (1970)

The first time I really paid attention to the Jackson Browne “Running on Empty” album I was at a friend’s place; actually his older sister’s.  We were playing charades. I couldn’t believe we were playing charades – it seems pretty lame to me; I already had a pretty healthy cynicism about me in my teens. What had caught my attention though was the Jackson Browne album on the stereo. When it was my turn to demonstrate something and my clue was’ Deep Purple’ I was kind of useless

I remember there’s a radio coming from the room next door, my mother laughs the way some ladies do

Pick of the Week

“Late in the Evening” by Paul Simon (1980)

Imagine for a moment what the world would be like if the 5 o’clock train never showed up, or there were no such thing as hot dogs, or your grandma hopelessly and endlessly missed a stitch every time she knitted. Now think of a world without Paul Simon songs...........sucks right?  It was Simon himself who said “every generation throws a hero up the pop charts”. He may not have been talking about himself, but damn he wrote some catchy pop songs.

I couldn't stop moving when it first took hold.It was a warm spring night in the ol' town hall There was a group called The Jokers, they were layin' it down. Don'tcha know I'm never gonna lose that funky sound.

Quick Hit

“Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” by  Rick Derringer (1973)

When I was in my early teens I would babysit the odd time for a bit of spare money. I remember this song was on a K-tel record that I took with me babysitting one time. This couple I babysat for had a grand piano. The guy could play like there’s no tomorrow and I thought that was pretty cool - although you wouldn’t know it from looking at him. He looked like your typical business man.

Anyway he let me use his stereo when I was over babysitting and encouraged me to bring my own albums to play (although he had a few good ones). His stereo was pretty high end. To me this seemed a bit odd. He was paying me to hang out and listen to records while his sons slept and I ate bar-b-qued potato chips and drank 7-Up. Not a bad deal!

You want to stay out with your fancy friends I'm telling you it's gotta be the end Don’t Bring me down....grrooss!

70’s Pick of the Week

“Don’t Bring Me Down” by Electric Light Orchestra (1979)

When Electric Light Orchestra, aka ELO released the album “Discovery”, my friends and I called it ‘Disco –Very’. Not that we didn’t like the album, but it was that all groups around that time seemed to go through a disco phase, even the Rolling Stones, and this was ELO’s disco album. The strange thing about ELO is that they never had a number one hit in the U.K. or in the U.S., yet they have had the most top 40 songs in the U.S. than any band in history.  Weird huh?

Birmingham, England’s Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne set out to make pop songs that had a bit of classical music interwoven. Wood left after the debut album and its lukewarm reviews. Lynne of course went on to write, arrange and produce every album after that – all 11 of them.

Twenty original hits, original stars, be sure to get the best from K-Tel. LP $5.99, tape $6.99.

A little Musical History

“K-Tel Block Buster Commercial” circa 1976

There is no getting around the fact that the seventies were pretty funky. There was such a wide variety of music produced that if you did not like something, next week there would be something you did like.There was a huge market of teenagers to tap into and hucksters and hustlers alike were there with knives, fry pans, and mood rings for the average guy watching the tube, kicking back in his platform shoes and colourful shirt.

The boomers were veraciously buying music like it was going out of style so it was no wonder a company called K-tel targeted this and made out like bandits. Their famous compilations made it an affordable way to get a good sample of current hits, putting up with the other ‘stuff’ they put on them. As they advertised though, the songs were the original songs by the original artists. That was their appeal. Clearly the songs were shortened at times so the compressed groves of the records could fit all 20 or even 25 songs on the album. When you compress the grooves on the records so much, you tend to lose some of the ‘information’ so the recordings although ‘stereo’ were not of the highest quality; although few noticed I’m sure.  The compilations were the best, but K-Tel did do other collections such as Michael Jackson, Elvis, even an obscure Nanette Workman.

Jo Jo dig those spinning lights, way out games and dizzy heights below him. It’s all below him

Quick Hit

“Jo Jo” by Boz Scaggs (1980)

I was on vacation last week and started to frequent this coffee shop called ‘Jo-Jo’s Cafe”. It reminded me of the Boz Scaggs song “Jo Jo”. Very strangely (yes this really did happen!) when I snapped on the radio to drive to the restaurant for dinner they were playing “Jo Jo” on the radio. Just days before that I had purchased some great Boz Scaggs at the Fillmore posters.  These combined events had me thinking that the universe was implying something and I decided I better do a blog on Boz before I am struck down by lightening or something.

 Born in Ohio and raised in Oklahoma and Texas, Boz met Steve Miller while there were still in school. They went on to university together and Boz sang in their band the Marksmen, the Ardells and then the Fabulous Knight Trains.

Play that funky music white boy Play that funky music right Play that funky music white boy Lay down that boogie and play that funky music till you die…

Quick Hit

“Play that Funky Music” by Wild Cherry (1976)

They used to be called “Wild Cherry” flavoured, but now if you check the box of cherry Vicks cough drops they just say “Cherry”. When they were called “Wild Cherry”, Rob Parissi (lead singer, guitar) was recovering from a hospital stay and thought the name on the box sounded like a good name for his new band. From Steubenville, Ohio, the band originally played straight up rock music and produced a few fairly unknown albums.

Nothin' the matter with your head Baby find it, come on and find it

70's Pick of the Week

“Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone (1973)

Redbone was influential on the East L.A. music in the '60's and that would follow. Brothers Patrick and Lolly Vasquez, originally from Fresno, California moved to Los Angeles in 1969 to form a band. They were of ‘mixed’ blood (they were N.A. aboriginal and Mexican) and used the Cajun term ‘redbone’ to jokingly refer to their ancestry. Tribal, Cajun, R&B and rock music is intermingled in their music.

Give me all your money cause I know you think I’m funny. Can’t you hear me laughing. Can’t you see me smile.

70’s Pick of the Week

“I’m The Man”, by Joe Jackson (1979)

Right around the time when Nike were becoming popular, people danced sort of pogo-style and we were transitioning from punk to new wave, there came a guy from England that had something different. I had the good fortune to see Joe Jackson live that year and it was a superb show. Not the roughness of the punk band 999 that had just played a few months before, we knew there was something refreshingly original about the guy. It was almost a sensitive punk; a commentary on real life.

On the album cover of what was his second album, Jackson appears as what they call in the U.K. a ‘spiv’, and as Jackson himself said they, “always wears a gross polka-dot tie and a pencil-thin mustache, and he's always trying to sell you a watch or something like that real cheap. I think people always want to put a label on what you do, so I thought I'd be one step ahead of them and invent one myself - spiv rock.”

Young man, there's no need to feel down I said young man, pick yourself off the ground I said young man, 'cause you’re in a new town There's no need to be unhappy

Songs You Should Know

“YMCA”, The Village People (1978)

This disco song is now played at sporting events, and is a gay anthem; although it was not originally meant to be according to heterosexual Victor Willis. At face value, it is about his times at the Young Men’s Christian Association when he was young – playing basketball and swimming.

I was taught swimming at the YMCA. After not doing so well when I was 6 years old at the local pool, my Dad decided I was going to learn dammit! So I was given bus fare and a membership card he had purchased for me, and downtown I went by myself. I was scared spit-less. I was 10 years old.

Every time I think of you it always turns out good Every time I’ve held you I thought you understood

70’s Pick of the Week

“Everytime I think of You”, The Babys (1979)

We previously talked about John Waite in the context of “Bad English” in the late 80’s. Now let’s go back to his days in the band, the Babys.

Oh my little pretty one, pretty one When you gonna give me some time Sharona When you make my motor run, my motor run Gun it coming, off the line Sharona

Quick Hit

“My Sharona”, The Knack (1979)

If you snapped on the radio in 1979 you may have heard “Born to Be Alive” by Patrick Hernandez, or “Good Times” by Chic. In the midst of the new wave craze an American band, dressing up in the skinny ties hit us with “My Sharona” that year. This crazy little song went to #1 and sold a million copies. The album “Get the Knack” sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone.

Whoso fly up in th' sky Faster than any boy could ever describe Whos got that love so deep And everything alive

The origins of “Alternative Music” and the rise of Punk  Part I

“Jet Boy”, New York Dolls (1973)  

Often cited as a major influence on the punk, (as I stated in my previous blog) and later new wave movement in the U.K., the New York Dolls are not all that well know in the mainstream of music. As I embark on one of my longest blogs ever, bear with me as this build-up is important in understanding the influence and impact this strange band had. 

As I said, there were a lot of things going on in the U.K. to stem the backlash of Punk and then new wave against the establishment. The American influence was there, but I am not convinced it was the ‘cause’ per se of Punk. What was happening was that you had a complacent record industry cranking out mega-bands; you had Vietnam War vets returning to a poor economy, often disliked by the hippies who now also lacked a cause. The U.S. government was having its own problems, wallowing in the corruption of Watergate, broke from the long war, and floundering in the face of an economy falling apart.

Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of men who need more than they get. Daylight deals a bad hand to a woman that has laid too many bets

Pick of the Week

“Boogie Wonderland”, Earth Wind and Fire (1979)

 A disco staple tonight.

You may not like disco, but EWF’s music - this was well-crafted. It blended an underlying funk with Latin, African, & R&B, added a horn section and produced a very big sound that was perfect to dance to. Nothing too deep lyrically, which was typical of disco, but that is not what disco was after. It was about dancing. 

Steve Dahl was a DJ in Chicago. He hated disco and even made a parody of Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy”, he called “Do You Think I’m Disco”.

It never felt so good It never felt so right And we were glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife

70's Pick of the Week

“Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, Meatloaf (1977)

The twins had this album first. I was over there shooting pool and drinking beer. It seems like that was long ago and far away now. The older I got, the more I realized this album had an impact on a lot of people’s lives. Everybody can think of some melodrama around it, at least it sure seems like it...

This was not new or groundbreaking. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” had done it already in terms of being a glam-Rock Opera. Rock Operas themselves were not new: The U.K. band the ‘Pretty Things’ did the brilliant “S.F. Sorrow” (1968), The Who did “Tommy” (1969) and “Quadrophenia” (1973). David Bowie did “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” (1972). Bizarrely the first reference to the term “Rock Opera” seems to have been in RPM magazine (published in Toronto) in 1966, noting that Bruce Cockburn and William Hawkins, were working on a ‘Rock opera” which they did not seem to complete.

This is music that had a time and a place. The relevance now, or to us now, is limited. It did for a small window in time give us a soundtrack for what was the teenage soap-opera of our lives. Now it stands as a bit of a curious time piece for those that were not around for it.

We sing about beauty and we sing about truth at ten thousand dollars a show

Songs Everyone Should Know

“The Cover of the Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (1973)

Whenever I hear Terry Jacks “Seasons in Sun” or “Cover of the Rolling Stone”, I always think of my friend Brad, who died of a brain tumor when we were 15 years old. He liked Dr. Hook and liked to sing this song.

Brad played guitar a bit and tried to show me, but I really did not have the patience for it yet, (although I would later, and his influence was definitely at work there). He liked country-influenced music mostly, like Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLachlan, the Eagles, and Stompin’ Tom Connors. He was the one that decided that faded jean jackets looked better and that the way we would ‘fade them’ was to put our jackets in a big mud puddle in the alley and ride our motorcycles over them till they were ‘good’. It actually worked, once your disgusted Mom washed them; well except for a couple of crooked buttons.