Saturday, Saturday, Saturday....

Jet - Get Born

The Kinks - Low Budget

Huey Lewis - Sports

Honeymoon Suite

Roger Hodgson, Writer and Composer - School

They tell you not to hang around and learn what life’s about And grow up just like them, won’t let you work it out – And you’re full of doubt

70's Pick of the Week

“School”, Supertramp (1974)

In its quirky way, this was a band that cheered up the down-trodden, the weary, and the struggling. The average person loved Supertramp, but the critics, not so much, at least not initially.

In 1969 Stanley 'Sam' August Miesegaes, a Dutch millionaire, gave his friend Rick Davies money to form a band. Davies did what all musicians did at the time when looking for a band, and placed an ad in ‘Melody Maker’ magazine. The initial band produced two albums that really didn’t go anywhere, and in 1972 Miesegaes withdrew his financial support – he has probably been kicking himself for a long time since.

Robert Johnson- Crossroad

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, Save poor Bob if you please

Quick Hit

“Cross Road”, Robert Johnson, 1936

Happy Birthday Robert - born 100 years ago this week.

Eric Clapton called him “the most important blues singer that ever lived”, and spent his entire career trying to get a sound even approaching his. (Check out “Me and Mr. Johnson” to see if you think he got close).

This week it is a full 100 years since the birth of an acclaimed blues legend who many attribute to be essential, to ultimately what became rock and roll. Of course this was clearly delta blues music in its finest form.  Johson, born May 8, 2011 and died August 16, 1938), lived a life shrouded in mystery and myth.

Suzanne Vega "Luka" Live

I think it's because I'm clumsy I try not to talk too loud Maybe it's because I'm crazy I try not to act too proud

Pick of the Week

“Luka”, Suzanne Vega (1987)

The last time I was in a serious physical altercation I was 10 years old. O.K. Well at least it seemed serious at the time. Believe it or not it was over a record.

I was coming back from one of my friends house down a walk-way to my house, when this kid that I did not particularly like, Mark E.,  jumped out and knocked a record out of my arm and stomped on it. You see I had been using it as background music for my ‘multi-media’ presentation on the Vietnam War. It was the Gordon Lightfoot album “If You Could Read My Mind”. I thought the title song sounded good and I was using it as background music. It was moving and it made my presentation better – my teacher seemed to dig it too which didn’t hurt.

Spinning and Playing on a Sunday Afternoon...

Suzanne Vega - 99.9 F

Bob Seger - Against the Wind

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash

April Wine - Forever For Now

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

In your eyes the light the heat In your eyes I am complete In your eyes I see the doorway to a thousand churches

From the Sappy Song Department

“In Your Eyes”, Peter Gabriel, (1986)

I remember wearing the cassette tape out of this album in my knock-off ‘walkman’ tape player. I played the crap out of the “So” album. I loved “Red Rain”, “Sledgehammer”, “Don’t Give Up”, and “Mercy Street”. The one that struck me the deepest was “In Your Eyes”.  I played this tape walking, doing my laundry, washing my dishes, driving my car, in a plane, on a train. I believe I liked it Sam-I-Am!

Peter Gabriel, (already hugely famous in Genesis¹), left the band to pursue his own projects in 1975. His wife had a very difficult pregnancy and he opted to stay home with his subsequently sick daughter and wife. The rest of the band resented it, but that was the end of Genesis. The song “Salisbury Hill”, his first solo single is about leaving Genesis. It seems to me that Gabriel made the right call.

Gabriel used to recite dream-like stories before songs on stage with Genesis. His work is deeply emotional and symbolic, even spiritual. The sound darkly engineered at times – he worked with Robert Fripp, who was highly experimental with the production of sound. Add some Afro-World percussion and the soulful Senegalese Youssou N'Dour, and you have a monumental, unforgettable song.

One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head (HQ Audio)

One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble Can't be too careful with your company I can feel the devil walking next to me

Quick Hit

“One Night in Bangkok”, Murray Head (1984)

Clearly he was Björn again, when former the Abba member Björn Ulvaeus wrote this song - cynical and jaded even. Originally from the theatrical musical “Chess:” the lyrics were written with Tim Rice, and the music composed with Abba buddy Benny Andersson.  Murray Head sang the lead in the Theatrical version of this which ran successfully in the U.K. till 1989, whilst the single was a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic.