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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 27, 2017 14:42:29 GMT -5
Seventy years ago Tex Williams recorded Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) written by Merle Travis and Williams. It spent 16 weeks at number one on the Country Charts in 1947. The song was subsequently covered by Sammy Davis, Jr., Willie Nelson, Jimmy Dean, Commander Cody, Asleep at the Wheel and others. This is classic western swing and shows that the line between country and pop has always been very thin.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 28, 2017 4:16:34 GMT -5
Seventy years ago Tex Williams recorded Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) written by Merle Travis and Williams. It spent 16 weeks at number one on the Country Charts in 1947. The song was subsequently covered by Sammy Davis, Jr., Willie Nelson, Jimmy Dean, Commander Cody, Asleep at the Wheel and others. This is classic western swing and shows that the line between country and pop has always been very thin. Great song! The Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen version is the one I like best from those I've heard. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 29, 2017 6:48:53 GMT -5
Intimate, half-whispered bossa-nova verses and a big, surging, power-pop chorus; has there ever been a better evocation of the heady rush of young love? This Wannadies classic still sounds sublime more than 20 years since its original release...
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Post by berkley on Mar 29, 2017 22:42:17 GMT -5
Seventy years ago Tex Williams recorded Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) written by Merle Travis and Williams. It spent 16 weeks at number one on the Country Charts in 1947. The song was subsequently covered by Sammy Davis, Jr., Willie Nelson, Jimmy Dean, Commander Cody, Asleep at the Wheel and others. This is classic western swing and shows that the line between country and pop has always been very thin. Great song! The Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen version is the one I like best from those I've heard. I remember that one when it was a hit in the early 70s. Never knew until now that it was a cover of an old song that had already been recorded by several different artists. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 31, 2017 17:42:47 GMT -5
Close Encounters Of The Musical Kind-Part 5
Izzy or Izzy Not
There were a few occasions of disappointments and suspected fraud regarding my meeting some musical performers. The first came in 1968.
I was 14 years old and there was a big wedding coming up with one of my cousins. It would be the biggest gathering of the family, many I've never seen before. As the wedding date came closer I began to hear for the first time an interesting fact about my clan.
It seemed that Art Garfunkel, he of Simon and Garfunkel fame was some distant cousin of mine and used to be a good friend as youngsters with the groom. So I would hear the adults drop his name from time to time-"Is Artie going to show up at the wedding?". "I heard he was invited.I wonder if he could make it?". "do you think he'll sing at the wedding?"
Simon and Garfunkel was a big deal in 1968. They had been superstars already for a few years and Mrs. Robinson was recently a #1 song for a long time. I felt uncomfortable dressing up and gong to a huge family reception, but in this case, I was psyched.
And ultimately disappointed. No Garfunkle. Just Gefilte Fish.
Back to my after hours club days. I was talking to some guy, a newbie as far as I knew, and the subject must have been music. At some point, I must have mentioned I was a fan of Joe Walsh and the guy claimed he was Walsh's drummer, Joe Vitale. I was kind of taken aback. Who the hell knew the name Joe Vitale? But I did as a Walsh fan. I stared at him real hard. I knew the covers of all of Joe's albums, back and front by heart. I brought to mind the pictures of Walsh's band on those albums. No effn' way. This guy is BS'ing me. But I let him go on and on, not calling him out-you know, as a manager of the club, let the customer have fun as long as he does no harm. Finally I excused myself from his self-congratulations of Rock 'N Roll life. When I got home that night, I went straight for my record collection and pulled out some Walsh LPs. That rotten liar
But this one, I admit, has me going to this very day.
This was in 1980. One of the hostesses that worked at the club was named Amy. A pretty leggy blonde from Long Island. She had worked at the club for a while and was dependable. During a chat with her, she mentioned that she knew Billy Joel as a teenager and occasionally spoke with him. By this time, he was one of the biggest stars in Rock-his last 2 albums, 52nd St and the new Glass Houses were #1s.
Anyway, Amy took a week vacation. The day before she was due back, I got a call from here at the club. She was asking for another week off. I started giving her a hard time about it-no notice, the schedule has already been done, etc. Then she told me she was out in California with Billy Joel and he wanted her to stay with him. "Is Joe Vitale with you?" I was thinking to myself. Then she said, wait, here's Billy, he wants to talk with you
"Is this Ish?"
"Sure, (heh heh), this is Ish"
" This Is William Marston Joel, but you can call me Bill"
" Sure....Bill"
"Look man, I'd really appreciate you doing me the favor and let Amy stay out here for another week. It would be a real solid and I'll make sure, when she returns, you will be rewarded. I'm working on my live album, it's going to be the biggest selling live album ever, and I like her company"
"OK ...Bill, put Amy back on the phone"
My Joe Vitale alarms were ringing in my head but I granted Amy her request. It really wasn't something I couldn't work out at the club to cover for her. A week later she came back to work and a bit later she came to my office. She was thanking me profusely for the favor. She didn't plan on meeting Billy Joel from the onset but it happened and how could she cut it short? Then she told me Billy sends his regards and some gifts.
First was his 2nd Album, Piano Man, with a whole bunch of writing on the back cover. How I was a great guy for the favor and best wishes and a big autograph. My Joe Vitale alarm did not shut off.And anyway, pre-internet days and all, how was I to know if the autograph was fake or not.
Then she gave me a wrapped box. Opening it I was a bit stunned, to say the least. For inside was a smorgasbord of various illicit substances in quantities easily valued at $500 or more. The Vitale alarm shut down.
So, I guess I believe I did converse with Billy. Amy wouldn't go into any great details about her vacation. And sure enough, Billy's next release was the live Songs From The Attic ( a bit disappointing in sales since it only peaked at #8). And Billy later married Christie Brinkley and Amy looked somewhat like her. And that box was worth a hell of a lot of money. Made a believer out of me
Next: The final musical encounter-The Best of All
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 3, 2017 0:51:58 GMT -5
1967-As I continue the journey through that year of pop music, you can see how it was a time of transition and growth of certain trends. First of all, many of the original first wave British Invasion bands began to fade away and be replaced in popularity by American performers-mostly from San Francisco, L.A. and New York. Motown was king of R&B for the last several years but now they were seriously challenged by the roster found on Atlantic Records (Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Booker T & the MGs) The weekly posts of mine highlight the songs you would typically hear on AM pop radio back then.Mostly the ones in heavy rotation. Even my occasional Songs To Make You Cringe posts were played quite often. What I really have not included wre the songs on the chart fringe. The ones that broke into the top 100 but forever reason, good or bad, did not get too far. They might have been a little before their time, a little too strange, a 45 from a performer that was past their prime..many reasons but some should be brought to the attention of the 2 or 3 people following this thread  So let's call these posts 1967: Odds and Sods (forgive me members of The Who) and uncover the unappreciated Starting back in January, a great song from the Kinks that only barely made the charts in the USA as a single.It was an non-album single originally but is now included as a bonus on their Face To Face CD. Shame on America for ignoring this When was the last time you heard Big Maybelle? Here's her remake of a big 1966 hit If Buddy Holly was still alive, he might have been the leader of this Florida garage band called The Nightcrawlers. The Classic IV had a big hit with this song in 1968. But here is the original by Mike Sharpe-and it's so much better We'll wrap up January's Odds and Sods with this ditty by The Music Machine. They had an early psychedelic hit with Talk Talk in 1966 that did fairly well on the charts. This follow up single did not do as well but deserved better |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 3, 2017 5:15:40 GMT -5
Starting back in January, a great song from the Kinks that only barely made the charts in the USA as a single.It was an non-album single originally but is now included as a bonus on their Face To Face CD. Shame on America for ignoring this Aside from a couple of early hits, most of The Kinks' 60s output was ignored by the U.S. This was partly due the band not being allowed to tour in America between 1965 and 1969, due to an American Federation of Musicians ban, but it was also because their music was just too English for the yanks. Traditionally, America can't really handle very English sounding music, which is why the likes of The Jam, Blur, Squeeze, Suede and The Smiths never achieved mainstream U.S. sucess, despite being absolutely massive in the UK and Europe. However, The Kinks were a really big band over here in the UK during the '60s, and, along with the likes of The Hollies and The Who, were really second only to the Beatles and the Stones in terms of chart success. "Dead End Street" was another top 5 hit for the band over here in early 1967. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 3, 2017 9:28:26 GMT -5
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 3, 2017 12:25:15 GMT -5
Starting back in January, a great song from the Kinks that only barely made the charts in the USA as a single.It was an non-album single originally but is now included as a bonus on their Face To Face CD. Shame on America for ignoring this Aside from a couple of early hits, most of The Kinks' 60s output was ignored by the U.S. This was partly due the band not being allowed to tour in America between 1965 and 1969, due to an American Federation of Musicians ban, but it was also because their music was just too English for the yanks. Traditionally, America can't really handle very English sounding music, which is why the likes of The Jam, Blur, Squeeze, Suede and The Smiths never achieved mainstream U.S. sucess, despite being absolutely massive in the UK and Europe. However, The Kinks were a really big band over here in the UK during the '60s, and, along with the likes of The Hollies and The Who, were really second only to the Beatles and the Stones in terms of chart success. "Dead End Street" was another top 5 hit for the band over here in early 1967. Amen to that. The Kinks had 5 Top 20 hits in the US through 1966 but each never charted as well as they did in England. With one exception.And that's the one I personally bought in 1965. "A Well Respected Man" reached #13 in the States. It looks like it never came out in the UK as a single at all. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 4, 2017 13:47:52 GMT -5
It is 104th anniversary of the birth of Muddy Waters.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 4, 2017 16:39:38 GMT -5
It is 104th anniversary of the birth of Muddy Waters. Ah, McKinley Morganfield, the man who discovered 'lectricity! Here's my all-time favourite Muddy Waters song, "Rollin' and Tumblin'". I heard this when I was just 13 years old on BBC Radio 2's Blues on 2 program and something about it -- that voice, the slide guitar sound, the lyrics, the groove of it -- just absolutely blew me away. This is one of those seminal blues recordings for me -- one of the songs that inspired a lifetime love of blues music. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 4, 2017 17:16:37 GMT -5
First time I heard Rollin' and Tumblin' was the Canned Heat version. Here is their version done for The Monterrey Festival in, how about that, 1967
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 4, 2017 17:50:42 GMT -5
First time I heard Rollin' and Tumblin' was the Canned Heat version. Here is their version done for The Monterrey Festival in, how about that, 1967 Love me some Canned Heat! Yeah, their version of that song is a really good and pretty faithful cover. Al "Blind Owl" Wilson was one hell of a blues guitarist. Later on, they also had Harvey Mandel on lead guitar. Actually, just to digress for a moment, Mandel's Cristo Redentor and Righteous albums, from 1968 and 1969 respectively, are well worth hearing if instrumental, blues-tinged psychedelia is your thing. I love loads of Canned Heat's '60s stuff. One of my favourite deep cuts of theirs is the non-album single "Poor Moon" from 1969. It has a wonderful groove, nice wordless backing vocals, great lunar/ecological lyrics, and a unique, high-pitched lead vocal from Al Wilson... |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 4, 2017 17:57:06 GMT -5
I share your admiration of Canned Heat. Boogie and Blues was what they were all about. It was reputed that the late lead singer, Bob "The Bear" Hite had one of the largest collections of blues albums on the West Coast. He was a walking encyclopedia on that subject
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 4, 2017 18:01:19 GMT -5
Canned Heat always make me smile. There's something resoundingly good humoured about their music or something. When I put an album of their's on I always feel a bit of a better than I did before.
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